Tonight we saw Michael Clayton, an excellent but mildly predictable drama with great performances by George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson. Check it out before it leaves your local cineplex.

Prior to the movie we got to watch the lovely little piece of propaganda below:

Created as a promotional piece for the National Guard (note the logo in the lower right), this slick, big-budget music video with Hollywood production values is currently playing at movie theaters everywhere, and is obviously targeting those who spend the most time at the movies… teenage males. The piece reeked of MTV and video games, and not in a good way. The video frequently cuts back and forth between natural disasters, the Revolutionary War, and what appears to be Iraq, and throws in a 9/11 reference for good measure. What a surprise that was. Well, not really. I expected to see it 15 seconds in.

For the record I support the troops. I will always support the troops that serve honorably here and abroad. And in part this little diddy pays tribute to those who have served, or at least I think so. But I certainly question the timing, the method of execution and the intentions behind it. War is a dirty business. Not some video game. Not an episode of American Idol. And this war in Irag is made even dirtier by those who were hell bent on going to war since arriving in office. Granted propaganda has been around as long as man has taken up arms. But in a war worth fighting (WW II comes to mind) the propaganda then seems somehow more palatable (if not always pleasant or right).

I hope teens (who I hope are smarter than I sometimes give them credit for) will see this video for what it is. A slick sales pitch designed to glamorize war, and suck them into the quagmire that is Iraq.

Wars are only glamorous (and profitable) to those who wage them, not to those who fight them.

It’s been terrible these past few days watching the fires ravage Southern California. It’s also been amazing to see the community come together to assist, and the brave men and women struggling to bring the fires under control and help the injured and displaced through the ordeal. In such an event, politics should take a back seat. But not according to Glen Beck, conservative talker who also somehow managed to snag a show on CNN Headline News.

Check out the audio clip below…

This is simply the latest in series of incendiary statements made by Beck over the last several months. To believe I spent the better part of a year listening to him in the car just to get a sense of how the other side thinks. In a later broadcast, Beck indicated he was only joking with regards to that little quip about those losing their homes to the fire were America Haters. Funny thing was.. didn’t sound like a joke… Didn’t feel like a joke. It actually wasn’t very funny. Perhaps you should dial in a laugh track when your joking, Mr. Beck. Might be helpful. Then we’d know.

And with any luck, like most recent shows with a laugh track, you’d be canceled.

Well, truth be told, we’ve been back for some time but it’s always difficult getting back into the swing of things.

For those of you who don’t know we decided to go domestic this time around and went on an “east coast tour.” We started in Atlanta and ended up in New York by way of Washington D.C. It was a fun trip despite the abnormally hot weather, and it’s always good to spend time with old friends. I’ve posted some pictures from the Washington D.C. portion of the trip, with New York and Atlanta to follow.

D.C. is a walking city, and there is much to be seen on foot. The architecture and monuments that surround you are both amazing and formidable, their scale more than a little symbolic. And it’s hard not to feel a sense of reverence for the history and sacrifice that envelopes every monument and every historical document, as you stand where MLK gave his famous speech, or look down on the fading words of the Declaration of Independence. For a moment you forget the politics and you’re filled with pride — pride in what we as a people, now and in the past, have accomplished.

That is, until you get back to the hotel and turn on the local news. But that’s another story…

Now, back to the swinging. 🙂

Flat Earthers… I think you have you have finally found your new spokeswoman, newly minted host of the view, Sherri Shepherd.

I’m definitely going to have to revisit my old science books. Could she possibly be right?