A Film Whose Heart Is Kinda In The Right Place: Saved! is a satire concerning evangelistic Christian high school students. One of them has a vision telling her that she has to sacrifice her virginity to save her gay boyfriend, resulting in her getting pregnant instead. This provides a launching board for a lesson of tolerance, provided in a heavy-handed way (Mandy Moore plays the villain as basically a sad sanctimonious bitch), ending with a much too bland message. The film is also not really fair to the religion involved, starting with the vision (an important aspect of many religions) influenced by head trauma to not providing one true believer of the faith not totally mixed up. Those upset about "bias" probably have a case here. The movie on the whole is commendable for trying to deal with the issue of religious intolerance and is mildly enjoyable overall, but it stacks its deck a wee too much to be totally successful.
A group of 26 former senior diplomats and military officials, several appointed to key positions by Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, plans to issue a joint statement this week arguing that President George W. Bush has damaged America's national security and should be defeated in November.
The group, which calls itself Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, will explicitly condemn Bush's foreign policy, according to several of those who signed the document.
-- LAT Article
Our Iraqi Adventure was motivated by at best troubling motives, sold in a fraudulent way with an assist from a supine Congress (Sen. Kerry sharing some of the blame), and carried forth in a more reckless way than was necessary (e.g., delaying elections [6/11], interrogation techniques [my local paper's disgusting defense, notwithstanding], and general war planning). This along with the expected bloodshed adds up to a bit of a mess.
Supporters of the administration agree with many of these things. Therefore, it is not surprising that many government veterans, actual adults who are long time professionals in this area, oppose the administration. This should be a bloody red flag to the public at large. Damn, I wish this election was over ... I'm just so tired of all of this shit.
And, then, you take a deep breath, take the fact that the need for change is more clear than usual as a positive, try to do your part, and go back to your everyday life. Hmm ... interesting article on the death penalty regarding the arbitrary nature of determining future danger to society. Or, isn't Tofutti Vanilla Almond Bark quite tasty?
You know, things like that.