Food, Inc. Wow.
I eat animals just about everyday. I believe we have dominion over animals but cruelty isn’t included in that responsibility. I think we should be good stewards of the earth but a lot of environmentalists are out and out liars. I also feel revulsion when I se
e those reports about how animals are mistreated for bigtime agribusiness. What’s an omnivore to do?
I’m challenged to consider how I feel about these things because I just finished watching Food, Inc., one of the best documentaries I’ve ever watched. [Note: Link to view the film can be found at the end of this post]. I won’t be joining any causes anytime soon, and director Robert Kenner didn’t set out to create a propaganda piece for some organization. The film attempts to answer one main question: Where does our food come from?
I skip most of these projects when I know I’m going to be bombarded with punishing images of sick cows and chicken massacres only to be told in the end that I’m a horrible person. Food, Inc. is not about that. As a matter of fact, one of the main scenes that hooked me was a brief interview early in the film with Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation).
I expected the preaching to begin, but Schlosser (who I know very little about) was seated at a diner trying to decide what he wanted to eat. He chose a hamburger with fries and took a healthy bite. At once I knew I was going to hear from investigative journalists rather than preachy hypocrites. The experts in this film are not kooks like the jokers that spend their lives getting people to hate them so they can feel good about caged animals or dying trees.
This movie is about the veil between us and where our food comes from. That veil is heavily guarded by massive corporations and the American government. Surprise, surprise, Democrats and Republicans are guilty. The animals that suffer because of a few companies, and I mean a select group dominating everything, are only part of the story. People are hurt by this corrupt system as well. Read more »
Obama’s House Gives Censorship A Twirl
The White House got a kick in the pants this week from Constitution-wielding media networks. Fitting that at Halloween time our Executive branch would attempt one of the scariest violations of democratic rights I’ve seen in my lifetime. Obama’s had a problem with Fox News for some time now for what he feels is unfair treatment. By unfair, he means they report the news even if it’s critical of him. Love ’em or hate ‘em, if Fox News were making stuff up all the time, they wouldn’t be a part of the White House pool. 
The White House pool is a five network rotation of media outlets that share costs and responsibilities of covering White House happenings. Fox News has been a part of the pool since 1997. On Thursday, the White House tried to exclude Fox News from interviewing Obama’s pay czar Ken Feinberg. The decision to ban a major news network from the president’s administration is stunning, and I don’t mean stunning as in “look at Kate Beckinsale!” I’m talking stunning as in here’s a taser right to the gut of First Amendment rights.
Remember Thomas Jefferson’s take on the importance of the press? If you’ve never read this before, here you go.
“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.” — Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787.
Well, here comes the good part of this story. The other members of the D.C. press put aside partisan obsession and decided that Jefferson was right and Obama’s White House is wrong. ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN refused to interview Feinberg if Fox was to be ostracized. The White House caved. How cool is that? Read more »
Obama Get Nobel Peace Prize, Plans War In Middle East
The AP headline this morning read “In A Surprise, Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize.” In related news, other shocking announcements reveal that the sun rose, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers again, and David Letterman isn’t perfect. Quite frankly, I was more surprised this morning at how much Fruity Pebbles we had left.
A white-knuckled, teeth clenched Chelsea Clinton told reporters that “No, really, mom and dad are thrilled for the president. They have in no way turned the living room into an MMA fighting arena.”
Many observers won’t be stunned that Obama was given a Nobel. He has gone to great pains to hook up with the rest of the world, but you’re not gonna have to find Glenn Beck on the radio to hear someone question the merits of this award. Questions are already popping this week about Obama’s relationship with the left-wing media. Wolf Blitzer’s beard almost came off as he condemned Saturday Night Live’s sendup of the president’s year one lack of accomplishments. Early reaction to this morning’s announcement is drawing more criticism.
Newsweek blogger David A. Graham doesn’t share the Prize Committee’s zeal. In an article detailing some other controversial selections, Graham points out that it’s a bit early for such acclaim. After all, didn’t Arizona State University feel Obama shouldn’t even get an honorary degree? Furthermore, the author notes, “Obama is likely to order thousands more troops into a warzone within weeks.”
The president’s support
ers have been picking up criticism lately over Obama’s escalation of the war in Afghanistan and his failure to close Guantanamo or even release prisoners anywhere near the rate of the Bush administration. While Obama draws ire from his base, he ain’t exactly gathering new supporters from the right. One might suggest that Obama could end up a man without a country, but that’s not the case. Tons of countries love him; he just isn’t doing so well in America.
You can expect a parade of skepticism from all over the world similar to that of Lech Walesa, former President of Poland, the baddest Pole I’ve ever met, and 1983 Nobel Peace laureate. “So soon? Too early. [Obama] has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act.”
I can’t seem to find any lines in there to read between.
The AP makes this business sound like dog training. The peace prize committe meant to scold former President Bush while luring the young president with a Nobel bone. “Come on Obama. You’re doing good! Keep it up!” If the criticism ever gets too tough, die-hards can always fall back on the comforting knowledge that Obama only makes mistakes because of what George Bush did to America. Read more »
Most Influential Man Of The Year
Who is the most influential man of the year? Askmen.com ranked the top 49 in this area. Lists may be a cheap way to throw together click-inducing articles, but recapping t
hose lists is even dirtier. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna do that. Much.
As you would expect, the opinion of whoever selected these names is a mess. Of course, it’s also meaningless, just good water cooler chat. So here’s a few thunderbolts from the list.
#38–Bear Grylls
My readers know how I feel about the star of Man Vs. Wild. I see quite a few men who shouldn’t have beat Bear Grylls. Some of the higher names include Renaldo, some other soccer loser at #22, the lead singer of Coldplay, and even a couple of fashion gurus! Internationally known fashion designers have about as much impact on society as Rupaul. Vince from Shamwow made a bigger impact than most of these fools.
#34–Sidney Crosby
Sid is at once the reason I heard of this list, wrote this article, and give the site’s authors zero credibility. Crosby at #34? I suppose they think he wasn’t the most important human on the planet in the past year.
#33–Kobe Bryant
I don’ know who is more annoying, Kobe or…
#26–Kanye West
You know what I think of the president’s favorite jackass. It’s kind of like when Time suggests Iranian tyrant Ahmadinejad for Man of the Year. Read more »
Mario Lemieux Day
For many sports fans, today is all about Brett Favre, but October 5 belongs to the big guy, Mario Lemieux. Today number 66 turns 44.
Crazy how many famous types share this birthday. A bunch of athletes join actors like Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce. The 2nd best goalie of all-time Patrick Roy even shares the exact same birthday, but Mario was and is more than all those other characters combined.
In case you’re not clear on this, I’m coming from the perspective that Mario Lemieux is the greatest athlete who ever lived. Unless Jesus was on a wrestling squad I’m unfamiliar with.
When it comes to Le Magnifique, words are unnecessary. All you need is video. So do yourselves a freakin’ service and watch the greatest of all-time be amazing.
(Btw, See if you recognize the guy dishing Mario the puck in Great Goal #2.)
“What’s My Destiny Momma?”
Do you believe in destiny? In 1994, Forrest Gump asked his dying mother a powerful question: ”What’s my destiny Momma?” Did she have the answer? Do you? Is her response any good? If you believe the movie, perhaps not.
It’s been 15 years since that film came out (and in the process made nearly $700 million). Paramount’s been kicking around the idea of a sequel for years. Producers would now like to get the movie out sometime in the next couple of years, but it takes an awful lot to get such projects going and completed even though a script’s been in place for years. Some complications have held the thing up. Most of all, will Tom Hanks reclaim the role he mastered? If he doesn’t, would you be interested? Me neither probably.
You may not recognize the name of the movie’s screenwriter Eric Roth, but you’ve probably heard of a couple of his films like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Good Shepherd, Munich, Ali, and more. Yeah, he’s pretty good and has probably made more money than Gump & Co., the title of the planned sequel to his 1994 masterpiece.
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It’s almost as if Winston Groom, author of the original 1986 novel, listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man and then created Forrest. So much of the simple
ton’s story can be summed up in the first verse of that song.
“Take your time… dont live too fast,
Troubles will come and they will pass.
Go find a woman and you’ll find love,
And dont forget son,
There is someone up above.”
Someone said Forrest believes in God, Momma, and Jenny, and “everything else has to be filtered through those three things.”
He encounters one character after another with bigtime dreams. Jenny seeks fame; Bubba wants to run a shrimpin’ business; Lt. Dan longs to fulfill his military destiny. None of them achieve the success they long for, yet Forrest attains all those things and more without ever 
realizing what he has. He just want to make his mama proud and be loved by Jenny.
People think he’s a genius, a brave hero, an inspiration, and more. Forrest accomplished all this stuff without trying, but as far as he was concerned, he didn’t achieve much. Those things didn’t matter to him, and after Jenny left he felt so alone and empty that he literally ran for years. He thought a lot about the people who’d impacted his life, but mostly he thought about Jenny. Like many of us, he was obsessed with that one thing he couldn’t have, life’s biggest regret.
He just knew that “Momma always said you gotta put the past behind you before you can move on.” That’s what his run was all about. Everyone wants to know the reason he runs or does anything. The answer is often the simplest possible explanation.
We want to believe that we too can maintain our innocence despite all the terrible realities around us. We’re drawn to themes of heartfelt innocence and simplicity because the more we understand, the harder life is to digest. Read more »
Welcome To Here
In The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo he can take the blue pill and go on believing whatever he wants to believe. Or he can take the red pill to stay in Wonderland and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.
This is a red pill type site with a weekly column (and some extras in between) that provides information in an entertaining way. It’s about clear thinking and good writing. It’s about truth.
I’m a writer/speaker who teaches history and political science at a local college by day. Where is local, you say? Well, that would be Wonderland of course.
From pop culture to pop politics, this is my column.
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