Movie Review

Last evening the memsahib and I watched Cold Mountain starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger. There are also excellent cameos by Donald Sutherland and Emily Deschanel. We had owned the DVD since it first came out but had never opened it.

Although long, it is a good film. The battle scenes are graphic: both bloody and muddy. The folk music is nice, too. Most of the film takes place outdoors, which made filming difficult.

Afterward, the other DrC asked me why I hadn't wanted to see it for several years. I replied, "because I believed it to be sad." She said "So...?" and I replied "I don't like sad films." It is almost a truism that films about the U.S. Civil War will be sad.

Verdict: Yes, it is a sad film, but very well done and worth your time.

Movie Review

This evening the other DrC and I watched the film The Hurt Locker about a team of EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) guys in Baghdad during the Iraq War. The film won six Oscars, those for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Sound Editing.

Hurt Locker has an Oscar-winning woman director but if the results in my household are any indication, this is a guy film. I liked it, the other DrC did not. In fact, she tuned it out about a half hour in and started doing stuff on her laptop. So I guess we give it one thumb up, one thumb down.

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During the month of March the DrsC will watch more films than we'll see during the other 11 months. Once a year we do a deal with Blockbuster where for around $25 we can watch a new movie every night for a month if we choose. Some years it might be January or February, this year it is March. We don't get around to getting a new DVD every night, so in the month we may see 15 films - for us that's a lot and the price is right.

Doctors Don't Like Obamacare

See this article which summarizes a poll summary in the New England Journal of Medicine. NEJM is the #1 medical journal in the U.S. Their poll finds that nearly 3 physicians out of 10 would retire early or try to leave the profession if the bill called Obamacare passes.

That means you have nearly a 1 in 3 chance that your family physician would quit. In other words, if it doesn't happen to you, it will happen to one of your two next-door neighbors.

So...we'll have greatly increased demand for medical services and many fewer doctors to provide it. That will bring a whole new meaning to the term "waiting room."

If you are represented in the House by a Democrat, perhaps you should remind him or her that you expect a "no" vote if they hope to be reelected this fall.

Trouble in South Africa

Here are links to two articles describing attacks on the farmers of South Africa. One speaks of literal attacks, murders and the like. The other speaks of a proposed governmental "attack" which will shift the ownership of farm land from farmers to the state.

These look very much like what happened to the farmers of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. I fear we are watching the slow, inexorable slide of South Africa into the corruption, chaos, disease and poverty that characterize most of Africa. If I had money invested in SA, I'd be moving it somewhere safer and doing it sooner rather than later.

Movie Review

The other DrC and I watched Up in the Air with George Clooney last evening. For a couple of serious travelers and former road warriors, the film rang a lot of bells.

To be sure, the character Clooney portrays is extreme. Not many people travel 320 days or fly 350,000 miles a year. Not many make their living firing people either.

Was it a good flick? Yes. Not a great film but a good one. It had elements that made it both a guy film and a chick flick, an uncommon combination. We each give it a thumb up.

Influence of Tea Party Movement

In this article for RealClearPolitics, Michael Barone posits that the influence of the Tea Party movement on the GOP may be to shift the party's emphasis toward holding down government expenditures and away from cultural issues. This may give the GOP a broader base, as there have been those who were uncomfortable with the lock the religious right had on the party.

Barone also compares the influence of the Tea Party movement on the GOP to the antiwar movement's influence on the Dems during the Vietnam War. It will be interesting to see if he is correct.

Movie Reviews

Today was a beautiful blue-sky day with some wind. It was a little cool for shirt-sleeves. The awkward sort of weather that means you are always dressed wrong - it's too hot in the car with a jacket on and too cold outside without one.

Last night we viewed the DVD of Inglorious Basterds. If you haven't yet seen it, don't bother. The story doesn't hang together, the use of "chapters" within the film seems artificial and phony, and the pacing is all wrong - it spends entirely too much time on some scenes and not enough on others. Folks in Hollywood may wish the war had turned out this way, but it did not, not even close. So we got subjected to this piece of Hollywood wish fulfillment. Don't let it happen to you.

Earlier this evening we viewed Maiden Heist, a comedy art theft film. It was so-so, not bad but not great either. It has a good cast, except for the gal who played Christopher Walken's wife=she had the lines and accent of a shrew but the appearance of an attractive young woman. The dialog and accent didn't go with her appearance. They tried to cover this but the cover didn't work.

Earlier in the week we viewed Johnny Depp's Public Enemy - I wasn't as impressed as I expected to be. The picture captures the feel of the era but I never felt like I was siding with John Dillinger, and in that sense I suspect the picture was a failure. Where films are concerned, I am hard to please.

Quote of the Day

Howard Fineman, writing in Newsweek, about the dying love affair between President Obama and the Mainstream Media or MSM:

The truth is, we in the press are bored with Barack. The "mainstream media" are losing patience with, and even interest in, their erstwhile hero.

Fineman tries to spin this as being good for Obama - I don't believe it. Adoration by the MSM was one of the few things he had going for him.

Musings on Health Care

I found myself in an emergency room Saturday, after taking a fall. The ER doctor had several Xrays taken of joints that I could move without pain. His rationale: covering his backside against some possible future lawsuit. My guess: it added hundreds of dollars to the bill.

If we wish to reduce the cost of health care, we need to create a disincentive for ambulance-chasing attorneys. My suggestions are four: first, have all injury liability lawsuits tried before a judge, not a jury; second, have whoever loses the lawsuit be responsible for both parties' trial costs, third, forbid insurance companies to settle cases without establishing culpability, and fourth, allow suits for actual damages only, do away with punitive damages and create other mechanisms for punishing malpractice.

Barone: Nancy's Dilemma

Michael Barone, writing for The Wall Street Journal, does a very interesting analysis of the issues facing Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she tries to round up 216 votes to pass the Senate bill in the House. It shows his normal attention to detail.

Barone is candidly skeptical of her ability to twist enough arms to get the votes. He identifies several groups of Democrats who will resist voting for the Senate bill.

Quote of the Day

Roger Cohen, writing in The New York Times about how Obama is viewed in Europe:

The Obama presidency has been a shock to Europe. At heart, Obama is not a Westerner, not an Atlanticist. He grew up partly in Indonesia and partly in Hawaii, which is about as far from the East Coast as you can get in the United States. “He’s very much a member of the post-Western world,” said Constanze Stelzenmüller of the German Marshall Fund.

I am not ready for a post-Western world, are you?

Maybe a Little....

See this Stanley Fish column in The New York Times which asks the question concerning President George W. Bush, "Do You Miss Him Yet?" It is basically a nicely written "I told you so" column.

Do I miss W yet? I am clear that I dislike different things about the Obama presidency than I disliked about the Bush years.

Bush knew enough to be friendly to nations that are our allies and ugly to nations that are not. He understood we need military strength and was willing to be tough with terrorists. And I miss Dick Cheney as Vice President.

I don't miss feeling I should defend him when he did or said stupid things. I don't miss the big spending impulse that supported a prescription drug benefit for seniors. I don't miss his sunny optimism that our way would be the best way for every country, every culture.

On balance, I guess I do miss W. I hope I live long enough to see a president I admire, respect, and agree with wholeheartedly. I think the odds are slim.

Poll: U.S. Less Respected, Weaker

The Associated Press reports the results of a poll done by two left-leaning organizations, results I am frankly surprised they released. To say these results don't make the Obama administration look good is an understatement. Go here to see the article on The Washington Times website.

Basically the poll shows that voters believe the Democrats currently in control have done a poor job in foreign policy and defense. Many of us have been talking about these issues for over a year. It is good to see folks have been listening.

Quote of the Day

John Hinderaker, of Power Line, writing about the President's attacks on medical insurers' premium increases:

Every time the federal government chisels on Medicare payments, doctors and hospitals shift costs to non-Medicare patients, that is to say, the ones covered by the carriers whom Obama wants to demonize.

That sounds right to me.

Sad Situation

See this column by Michael Yon, one of our premier war correspondents of the last decade, appearing in Big Journalism, a Breitbart website. It reports that American troops in Afghanistan, co-located on a Spanish base, are being treated badly by the Spanish. We certainly don't need this kind of 'cooperation' from what are supposed to be allies.

Read the column if you have a strong stomach. Defense Secretary Gates needs to lean on the relevant Spaniard.

Ahmadinejad a Truther

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has pronounced the September 11 attacks on the United States a "big fabrication" according to this piece in Reuters. I guess that makes him a truther, like the nutcases here in the U.S.

I wonder how long before he declares the world to be flat and the moon to be made of green cheese? Is he insane or just an opportunist with even less commitment to the truth that most politicians?

Asia's Missing Women

See this article in the news24.com website from South Africa. It reports that there are estimated to be 96,000,000 missing women in Asia. In Asia there are 119 boys born for every 100 girls, whereas the world average is 107 vs. 100. The article adds that India and China are responsible for most of the shortfall.

The article attributes the difference to the following, cited from a report on gender equality prepared by the UN Development Programme (UNDP):

Sex-selective abortion, infanticide, and death from health and nutritional neglect in Asia have left 96 million missing women... and the numbers seem to be increasing in absolute terms.

Such differences must have social and geopolitical implications in the years ahead, One could speculate on increased levels of male homosexuality, military adventurism, and sexual emigration not unlike the economic emigration which is prevalent today.

Quote of the Day II

Robert Samuelson, writing in The Washington Post, about Millennials (those 29 or younger):

In surveys, they say they're more disposed than older Americans to big and activist government. Their ardor for Obama is already cooling. Will higher taxes dim their enthusiasm for government?

As Churchill famously said, "If you aren't liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you aren't conservative at forty, you have no brain." Neo-conservatives are liberals who have been mugged by reality in the process of growing up. One suspects there are a lot of us.

Quote of the Day I

Larry Thornberry, writing in The American Spectator, with perhaps the meanest characterization of President Obama yet seen:

The late enchantment with the little hustler from Chicago appears to have largely dissipated. Buyers' remorse has set in.

Brrr, that is cold. Arguably accurate, but harsh.

Barone: TX a Winner, CA a Loser

Michael Barone, writing for the Washington Examiner, does a comparison of the governmental policies of California and Texas. He finds that Texas comes out a winner, California a loser. For example in CA:

Population growth has not been above the national average and, for the first time in history, it appears that California will gain no House seats or electoral votes from the reapportionment following the 2010 census.

Whereas in Texas:

That inflow has continued in 2008-09, in which 143,000 Americans moved into Texas, more than double the number in any other state, at the same time as 98,000 were moving out of California. Texas is on the way to gain four additional House seats and electoral votes in the 2010 reapportionment.

The difference is taxes and government controls, both of which are much less onerous in Texas.