Quote: You Don't Cure a Stabbing by Removing the Knife

"But even if you could prove (that the war) was a mistake in every way, to say that it never should have happened is not a good argument for abandoning the project. If a man is stabbed in the chest, you don’t cure him by simply yanking the knife out."

- Jonah Goldberg
August 26, 2005
The National Review

Tragedy Now Politically Acceptable After Campaign

Edwards signals shift against the war

"Throughout his campaign for president and then vice president in 2004, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina made it clear that the death of his teenage son in a car accident was off-limits, not for discussion in a political context.

But now his wife, Elizabeth, has sent an e-mail to supporters voicing a connection she shares with Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq. As Sheehan was camped near President Bush's Texas ranch, protesting the war, Edwards called on her own family's backers to support Sheehan.

And, in a departure from a campaign-trail silence that the Edwardses kept about the death of their 16-year-old son, Wade, Elizabeth Edwards noted that Sheehan's son, Casey, 24, died in Iraq eight years to the day after her own son.

For John Edwards, who voted as a senator to support the invasion of Iraq, his wife's outreach to subscribers of their One America Committee Web site bears a distinct anti-war voice that could augur a new tack for Edwards as he prepares for a potential run for president in 2008.

"The president says he knows enough, doesn't need to hear from Casey's mother, doesn't need to assure her that Casey's is not one small death in a long and seemingly never-ending drip of deaths, that there is a plan here that will bring our sons and daughters home," Elizabeth Edwards wrote in her e-mail last week. "He claims he understands how some people feel about the deaths in Iraq. The president is wrong."

The Edwardses left questions about the e-mail to spokeswoman Kim Rubey, who said, "When Elizabeth read about Cindy Sheehan and her son, she immediately felt a strong personal connection."

Rob Tully, a Des Moines lawyer who campaigned for John Edwards in 2004, suggests that Elizabeth Edwards' battle with cancer since the election has given her an added perspective.

"She has gone through her own life-threatening experience, and that is life-changing," Tully said

What I really love is how they choose to open the can of worms...and then defer all questions on the topic to someone else. Classic Edwards. He can't be saved by a judge simply over-ruling an objection and having to move on to the next component of his trail.

The REAL interesting part of that article is that the author actually shared the information about how the death of the Edward's son was so off-limits during the campaign. The article could have easily been written without a single mention of the Edwards' changing standards on the topic. It wouldn't have been as thorough or as accurate, but since when does the media let that bother them?

I appreciated the added perspective. It certainly seemed relevant in this instance.

Lost in Translation (6 of 10)

Lost in Translation (6 out of 10)

Lost in Translation ended up being exactly what we expected. Nothing earth shattering, but it was unique and Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson turned in compelling performances that kept our attention.

The freshness rating on Rotten Tomatos is a little bloated. I think that the American public sometimes gets overly excited when they can get anywhere close to simply accepting a movie that the critics fawn over. Lost in Translation is one of those movies. I wouldn't discourage anyone under 45 years old from watching it, but it certainly won't make one of my 'top of mind' suggestions.

Movie: Million Dollar Baby (8.5 of 10)

Million Dollar Baby (8.5 of 10)

I have to ask one simple question --- "Why did nobody tell me the real deal with this movie!?" Has this been one huge conspiracy or was my head buried in the sand?

It's not really a big deal to share at this late date. I don't think that it cna be called a 'spoiler' if I spill the beans a year after the movie has been released -- but, JEEZ!!!

Talk about depression. We honestly had no idea that the movie turns out to be so depressing. We both cried like babies. I had planned on going to bed after watching the movie, but I ended up being too emotionally moved to get to sleep.

Don't misinterpret my comments -- I am not complaining about the movie or its sudden turn to sadness -- I just wish that I would have had some previous indication to expect it. All I knew of this movie before viewing was generated from Oscar-buzz and from vague word of mouth. I guess I shouldn't have presumed to know anything about it. BUT, with this being such a popular movie and so well-received in the mainstream, it was natural to have assumed that I would have heard something about its dramatic and depressing direction.

The only thing keeping this from a 9 or better was the fact that it drug just the tiniest bit at times. It didn't drag too long in any one spot, but just enough in total to make a comment about it. In fact, one of the only couple of negative comments at Rotten Tomatos indirectly expresses the same opinion:

"It's strange that so many have mistaken its dull sincerity for something profound and moving."

Obviously, we aren't letting that one small nit-pick of the movie make as profound of an impact on our overall assessment of the film.

Parting shot -- is there a point in an actor's career where the Screen Actors Guild replaces an actors card with a "narrator" card? If so, is Morgan Freeman actually allowed to act any more?

Ahhh...to be French (or at least "vacation" there)

The poor, poor French. One of their "privileges" is threatened as unemployment force many to drop their vacation plans.

August is the month of vacation for the French, who enjoy an average of seven weeks of paid time off annually. But with unemployment at 10 percent and travel costs rising, nearly 40 percent of the French no longer take an extended trip away from home, a trend threatening the summer ritual that has symbolized the good life a la francaise.

Considered a privilege of the elite for the first half of the 20th century, the vacation was "democratized" during the prolonged economic boom that followed World War II. The number of French who took annual vacations rose continuously in the following decades, growing from an estimated 30 percent of the population in 1950 to more than 70 percent in the early 1980s, Froidure said.

After stagnating for about two decades, these numbers appear on the decline. Nearly four out of every 10 French people don't go on vacation at any time of the year — nearly half of them because they can't afford it, according to a 2004 study by the Tourism Ministry. The study defined a vacation as spending four or more nights away from home.

All European nations guarantee employees between four and five weeks of paid vacation a year. The United States and Australia are the only industrialized countries without national minimums on the length of vacations, according to the International Labor Organization.

The French average seven weeks of paid vacation a year — two more than the country's labor laws stipulate.

They work an average of 1,441 hours per year, compared with 1,661 hours for the British, and 1,824 for Americans, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports.

Despite the downward trend in vacations, France still all but shuts down in August. In Paris, so many shops, restaurants and pharmacies close that those staying open often put up signs: "We're here in August."

The Growth of Premium Tequilas

In "The Perfect Margarita" entry, I talked a lot about tequila and some about the current boom in the industry.

Today's Houston Chronicle profiles the current boom in the high end of the "premium" tequila sector in this feature.

'Kerry on Iraq' Film

Ok...so, where was I over the last year?

I was just giving a podcast a try (that I wasn't so sure that I liked after my first try) and stumbled across a mention of this short film, "Kerry on Iraq".

It is available for free on iFilm and was, evidently, pretty popular and well known. Somehow I missed it, but wanted to link it here.

Of course I know that the election was last year, but I thought that it was “fun” to watch in hindsight of Bush victory.

Additionally, I love this kind of stuff. Through the years, I have always wondered why the public didn't see more of this style of using a past news footage and a candidates own words against them.

Then I grew-up and realized that the general member is not interested in:
(1) ...working hard enough to put this together
(2) ...focusing any kind of effort on nailing a liberal with their wordspeak
(3) ...being smart enough to realize the interest that the average person would have in this
(4) ...coming to grasp with the reality that this kind of flip-flopping and avoidance of commitment to very important American interests are tremendously important issues worthy of focus.

With the continued proliferation of the internet, you can expect these kinds of films to become more and more prevelant. Just like the boom in talk radio...just like the rise of Fox News...just like the boom in blogs and now podcasting...very few barriers now exist for the "average" American to gain access to information in the form of audio and video. If the mainstream media cannot see the interest of the citizenry in this kind of information, then they will continue to be slowly replaced by those that fill the need.

Peter Jennings (RIAP)

Peter Jennings: Rest in Accurate Peace

Obviously there was a lot "wrong" with Jennings' coverage of September 11th, or so many people in the world wouldn't have come to the same conclusion at the same time. It isn't like anyone was out to "get" Jennings.

I personalize the situation with my own experience ---

Jennings was my #1 newscaster my entire life. Before 9/11, the only broadcast news that I watched was ABC News and...and that was solely because of Jennings. I hate(d) Rather, and found Brokaw "fine" but NBC's overall coverage a little drub and boring.

On September 11th, I was so flabbergasted at what I was witnessing/experiencing from Jennings that I thought that I must have been falsely reacting because of emotional trauma from the attacks. That was, until I spoke with my two best friends (independently of each other) and both of them brought up the topic of Jennings' behavior, perspective, and coverage.

Then, the rest of the world started talking about it and I (unfortunately) felt 'vindicated'.

Think about this. This wasn't Dan Rather whom I would have been looking to criticize. This was Jennings, whom I was completely looking NOT to criticize. I came to this conclusion DESPITE a (strong) pre-determination that he was "my guy". That is VERY HARD to do.

I can understand everyone's aversion to want to criticize Jennings' so close to his death. I agree with not slandering the character of the dead in principal.

However, I'm not sure that limiting comments to those related to Jennings' performance and not his character is so wrong. "Miss Ellie" just died this week...would it be out of bounds for me to comment that I didn't think that her work in Dallas Episode #97 was her finest hour?

I am not sure that there is ever a time that it is not "right" to try to be both accurate and fair. If anyone is going to talk about Jennings this close after his death, why is it acceptable that only certain parts of his story be told?

Isn't NOT telling the whole story the true bias and editorializing (by omission)? How many times have you heard about Jennings' four wives and anything else about what some people claim to be a controversial personal life? Isn't the kind of "journalism" that the paragons of virtue in the media supposedly subscribe to based on telling the whole story and letting you decide? Isn't that the kind of bahvior that Jennings himself believed he employed?

At a time that all of these reflections and biographies of Jennings' life and work are being promulgated into the public consciousness -- how is NOT the right to try to be as accurate and complete as possible? Isn't that what the journalists so piously claim is their job and purpose? Why is it so different now?


http://wascallywabbitt.blogspot.com/2005/08/peter-jennings-rip.html

http://takingnotes.blogspot.com/2005/08/peter-jennings.html

Movie: The Interpreter (6 of 10)

6 out of 10

Rented it in a hotel room in Washington, DC.

Was worth the rental, but not as good of a movie as it could have been.

It was disjointed and not put together as cleanly as one would like. Tried to take on too many different African names that weren't introduced until too late in the movie and didn't carry with them enough education and exposure for the average viewer to differentiate amongst all of the African contingenies.

Nicole Kidman was as attractive in this as she has been in a movie in a very long time.