I went to the movies tonight with my sister Terri and saw The Hours. This will serve as another example of a movie I was told is "brilliant" but I just don't like. I suppose there may be a bit more inner meaning that hasn't quite clicked with me, but I'm just going to say that this type of movie is not the type of movie I happen to enjoy or from which find much enlightenment. Of course the acting is amazing. I'm talking about the movie. Depressed, tortured women who hardly even speak of their pain, we just have to see it in their faces, feel it with all their tears, hear it in their tone of voice. It's just watching agony. I don't know about you, but I don't like watching agony. I don't like watching people dying inside themselves without much plotline, without much resolution. It's just this realization that life is horribly dim. Do I need this? So, I don't like the movie.

I also don't feel well. I'm sick, but I don't know what's wrong. Have you ever just felt...wrong? Your body can feel that it's not working properly, but you're not even quite sure what your symptoms are. In the last few years of getting sick on and off - it's usually in the form of a stuffy nose, a cough, a headache. This is different. My stomach doesn't feel right. I have no appetite. I can eat a little bit, but not much. I gave the tiniest waves of nausea, but nothing that has me leaning over the toilet in anticipation. I don't know what's wrong. But I know I need to get better soon because I would like to be in LA just once without having some physical problem like constipation or a bee sting.

I walked by this anti-war protest today. It was...interesting. Some girl had a sign that read, "Draft beer, not people." I'm not quite sure how to react to that. I personally thought she was a moron. It was a little TOO college-y of a statement to march around with on a stick. Also, I heard that there is no draft anymore. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think she is.

Again, I know I sort of want to talk about all that's going on in the world, but I don't feel like it's my place. Yes, I know that we all have the right to say how we feel, to speak our minds, but I feel that if you don't know all the facts, then you should keep your mouth shut about it. I mean, it just seems that people are preaching that war is bad, but are talking more generally. Everyone knows that war is bad. No one LOVES war, but we have to look at the circumstances involved, don't we? I just don't know how many people are doing that.

It seems like some people are just being silly. In Boston this morning, this man and woman (along with a few others) were blocking the entrance to some financial building while the people who worked there were trying to get in to their jobs. There was a clip on the news of this man trying to get past these people, but they all just sat there blocking his way. When the news crew came up and asked the man and his wife what they were doing and why, the couple replied that they were so proud that they were executing their rights to stand up for what they believe in. They said that they were deliberately "inconveniencing" these people going to work to illustrate how "inconvenient" war is. Okay, I feel that I don't have to know all the details of the world and politics to say that this is fucking ridiculous. This dude is trying to get to work while these morons are being Inconvenience Personified? I'm telling you, if I were trying to get to work, I would have walked right over these people...would've stepped on them if I had to. They were not accomplishing a goddamn thing, if you ask me.

Anyway, I digressed a bit. My point was that even though I don't know enough to make any quotable statements about what I think the world should be doing (and even if I did know enough, I still don't think it'd be appropriate to act like I know what's best for the world), I still think that it's appropriate to address OTHER people's opinions. I do not take any responsibility for these opinions, and I won't say that I necessarily share them, but I found them to be thought-provoking. Any time I hear a statement either for or against the war, I think it's worth noting because I think there is nothing wrong with supplying people with something more to think about. Well, I'm not supplying these thoughts, I'm just showing you a few things that were shown to me...

I received an email last night from a friend. Most emails about the war that I receive from people are anti-war, they are petitions of some sort that they ask me to sign. Well, this one took a very different direction, which I wanted to share with you. It's long, but it's interesting:

"Subject:Who's smarter?

Today's quote from the Left Coast
"George W Bush is like a bad comic working the crowd, a moron, if you'll pardon
the expression."
Martin Sheen

Instead of making a 'smartass' comment on the above quote, I ask you to take 5
minutes and read the following article:
Who's Smarter? by Cindy Osborne

The Hollywood group is at it again. Holding antiwar rallies, screaming about
the Bush Administration, running ads in major newspapers, defaming the President
and his Cabinet every chance they get, to anyone and everyone who will listen.
They publicly defile them and call them names like "stupid," "morons," and
"idiots". Jessica Lange went so far as to tell a crowd in Spain that she hates
President Bush and is embarrassed to be an American.

So, just how ignorant are these people who are running the country? Let's look
at the biographies of these "stupid", "ignorant" , "moronic" leaders, and then
at the celebrities who are castigating them: President George W. Bush: Received
a Bachelors Degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School He
served as an F-102 pilot for the Texas Air National Guard. He began his career
in the oil and gas business in Midland in 1975 and worked in the energy industry
until 1986. He was elected Governor on November 8, 1994, with 53.5 percent of
the vote. In a historic reelection victory, he became the first Texas Governor
to be elected to consecutive four-year terms on November 3, 1998winning 68.6
percent of the vote. In 1998 Governor Bush won 49 percent of the Hispanic vote,
27 percent of the African-American vote, 27 percent of Democrats and 65 percent
of women. He won more Texas counties, 240 of 254, than any modern Republican
other than Richard Nixon in 1972 and is the first Republican gubernatorial
candidate to win the heavily Hispanic and Democratic border counties of El Paso,
Cameron and Hidalgo. (Someone began circulating a false story about his I.Q.
being lower than any other President. If you believed it, you might want to go
to URBANLEGENDS.COM and see the truth.

Vice President Dick Cheney: Earned a B.A. in 1965 and a M.A. in 1966, both in
political science. Two years later, he won an American Political Science
Association congressional fellowship. One of Vice President Cheney's primary
duties is to share with individuals, members of Congress and foreign leaders,
President Bush's vision to strengthen our economy, secure our homeland and win
the War on Terrorism. In his official role as President of the Senate, Vice
President Cheney regularly goes to Capital Hill to meet with Senators and
members of the House of Representatives to work on the Administration's
legislative goals. In his travels as Vice President, he has seen first hand the
great demands the war on terrorism is placing on the men and women of our
military, and he is proud of the tremendous job they are doing for the United
States of America.

Secretary of State Colin Powell: Educated in the New York City public schools,
graduating from the City College of New York (CCNY), where he earned a
Bachelor's Degree in geology. He also participated in ROTC at CCNY and received
a commission as an Army second lieutenant upon graduation in June 1958. His
further academic achievements include a Master of Business Administration Degree
from George Washington University. Secretary Powell is the recipient of numerous
U.S.and foreign military awards and decorations. Secretary Powell's civilian
awards include two Presidential Medals of Freedom, the President's Citizens
Medal, the Congressional Gold Medal, the Secretary of State Distinguished
Service Medal, and the Secretary of Energy Distinguished Service Medal. Several
schools and other institutions have been named in his honor and he holds
honorary degrees from universities and colleges across the country. (Note: He
retired as Four Star General in the United States Army)

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: Attended Princeton University on
Scholarship (AB, 1954) and served in the U.S. Navy (1954-57) as a Naval aviator;
Congressional Assistant to Rep. Robert Griffin (R-MI), 1957-59; U.S.
Representative, Illinois, 1962-69; Assistant to the President, Director of the
Office of Economic Opportunity, Director of the Cost of Living Council, 1969-74;
U.S. Ambassador to NATO, 1973-74; head of Presidential Transition Team, 1974;
Assistant to the President, Director of White House Office of Operations, White
House Chief of Staff, 1974-77; Secretary of Defense, 1975-77.

Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge: Raised in a working class family in
veterans' public housing in Erie. He earned a scholarship to Harvard, graduating
with honors in 1967. After his first year at The Dickinson School of Law, he was
drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served as an infantry staff sergeant in
Vietnam, earning the Bronze Star for Valor. After returning to Pennsylvania,
he earned his Law Degree and was in private practice before becoming Assistant
District Attorney in Erie County. He was elected to Congress in 1982. He was the
first enlisted Vietnam combat veteran elected to the U.S. House, and was
overwhelmingly re-elected six times.

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice: Earned her Bachelor's Degree in
Political Science, Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver
in 1974; her Master's from the University of Notre Dame in
1975; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the
University of Denver in 1981. (Note: Rice enrolled at the University of Denver at
the age of 15, graduating at 19 with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science
(Cum Laude). She earned a Master's Degree at the University of Notre Dame and a
Doctorate from the University of Denver's Graduate School of International
Studies. Both of her advanced degrees are also in Political Science.) She is
a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded
Honorary Doctorates from Morehouse College in 1991, the University of Alabama in
1994, and the University of Notre Dame in 1995. At Stanford, she has been a
member of the Center for International Security and Arms Control, a Senior
Fellow of the Institute for International Studies, and a Fellow (by courtesy) of
the Hoover Institution. Her books include Germany Unified and Europe Transformed
(1995) with Philip Zelikow, The Gorbachev Era
(1986) with Alexander Dallin, and Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the
Czechoslovak Army (1984). She also has written numerous articles on Soviet and
East European foreign and defense policy, and has addressed audiences in
settings ranging from the U.S. Ambassador's Residence in Moscow to the
Commonwealth Club to the 1992 and 2000 Republican National Conventions. From
1989 through March 1991, the period of German reunification and the final days
of the Soviet Union, she served in the Bush Administration as Director, and then
Senior Director, of Soviet and East European Affairs in the National Security
Council, and a Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.
In 1986, while an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign
Relations, she served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff. In 1997, she served on the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender --
Integrated Training in the Military. She was a member of the boards of directors
for the Chevron Corporation, the Charles Schwab Corporation, the William and
Flora Hewlett Foundation, the University of Notre Dame, the International
Advisory Council of J.P. Morgan and the San Francisco Symphony Board of
Governors. She was a Founding Board member of the Center for a New Generation,
an educational support fund for schools in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park,
California and was Vice President of the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula. In
addition, her past board service has encompassed such organizations as
Transamerica Corporation, Hewlett Packard, the Carnegie Corporation, Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, The Rand Corporation, the National Council
for Soviet and East European Studies, the Mid-Peninsula Urban Coalition and
KQED, public broadcasting for San Francisco. Born November 14, 1954in
Birmingham, Al abama, she resides in Washington, D.C.

So who are these celebrities? What is their education? What is their experience
in affairs of State or in National Security? While I will defend to the death
their right to express their opinions, I think that if they are going to call
into question the intelligence of our leaders, we should also have all the facts
on their educations and background:

Barbra Streisand : Completed high school Career: Singing and acting

Cher: Dropped out of school in 9th grade. Career: Singing and acting

Martin Sheen: Flunked exam to enter University of Dayton. Career: Acting

Jessica Lange: Dropped out college mid-freshman year. Career: Acting

Alec Baldwin: Dropped out of George Washington U. after scandal. Career: Acting

Julia Roberts: Completed high school. Career: Acting

Sean Penn: Completed High school. Career: Acting

Susan Sarandon: Degree in Drama from Catholic University of America in Washington,
D.C.Career: Acting

Ed Asner; Completed High school. Career: Acting

George Clooney: Dropped out of University of Kentucky. Career: Acting

Michael Moore: Dropped out first year University of Michigan. Career: Movie
Director

Sarah Jessica Parker: Completed High School. Career: Acting

Jennifer Anniston: Completed High School. Career: Acting

Mike Farrell: Completed High school. Career: Acting

Janeane Garofelo: Dropped out of College. Career: Stand up comedienne

Larry Hagman: Attended Bard College for one year. Career: Acting

While comparing the education and experience of these two groups, we should also
remember that President Bush and his cabinet are briefed daily, even hourly, on
the War on Terror and threats to our security. They are privy to information
gathered around the world concerning the Middle East, the threats to America,
the intentions of terrorists and terrorist-supporting governments. They are in
constant communication with the CIA, the FBI, Interpol, NATO, The United
Nations, our own military, and that of our allies around the world. We cannot
simply believe that we have full knowledge of the threats because we watch CNN!!
We cannot believe that we are in any way as informed as our leaders.

These celebrities have no intelligence-gathering agents, no fact-finding groups,
no insight into the minds of those who would destroy our country. They only have
a deep seated hatred for all things Republican. By nature, and no one knows
quite why, the Hollywood elitists detest Conservative views and anything that
supports or uplifts the United States of America. The silence was deafening
from the Left when Bill Clinton bombed a pharmaceutical factory outside of
Khartoum, or when he attacked the Bosnian Serbs in 1995 and 1999. He bombed
Serbia itself to get Slobodan Milosevic out of Kosovo, and not a single peace
rally was held. When our Rangers were ambushed in Somalia and 18 young American
lives were lost, not a peep was heard from Hollywood. Yet now, after our nation
has been attacked on its own soil, after 3,000 Americans were killed, by
freedom-hating terrorists, while going about their routine lives, they want to
hold rallies against the war. Why the change? Because an honest, God-fearing
Republican sits in the White House.

Another irony is that in 1987, when Ronald Reagan was in office, the
Hollywood group aligned themselves with disarmament groups like SANE, FREEZE and
PEACE ACTION, urging our own government to disarm and freeze the manufacturing
of any further nuclear weapons, in order to promote world peace. It is curious
that now, even after we have heard all the evidence that Saddam Hussein has
chemical, biological and is very close to obtaining nuclear weapons, their is no
cry from this group for HIM to disarm. They believe we should leave him alone
in his quest for these weapons of mass destruction, even though it is certain
that these deadly weapons will eventually be used against us in our own cities.

So why the hype out of Hollywood? Could these celebrities believe that since
they draw such astronomical salaries, they are entitled to also determine the
course of our Nation? That they can make viable decisions concerning war and
peace? Did Michael Moore have the backing of the Nation when he recently
thanked France, on our behalf, for being a "good enough friend to tell us we
were wrong"? I know for certain he was not speaking for me. Does Sean Penn
fancy himself a Diplomat, in going to Iraq when we are just weeks away from war?
Does he believe that his High School Diploma gives him the knowledge (and the
right) to go to a country that is controlled by a maniacal dictator, and speak
on behalf of the American people? Or is it the fact that he pulls in more money
per year than the average American worker will see in a lifetime? Does his bank
account give him clout?

The ultimate irony is that many of these celebrities have made a shambles of
their own lives, with drug abuse, alcoholism, numerous marriages and divorces,
scrapes with the law, publicized temper tantrums, etc. How dare they pretend
to know what is best for an entire nation! What is even more bizarre is how
many people in this country will listen and accept their views, simply because
they liked them in a certain movie, or have fond memories of an old television
sitcom!

It is time for us, as citizens of the United States, to educate ourselves about
the world around us. If future generations are going to enjoy the freedoms that
our forefathers bequeathed us, if they are ever to know peace in their own
country and their world, to live without fear of terrorism striking in their own
cities, we must assure that this nation remains strong. We must make certain
that those who would destroy us are made aware of the severe consequences that
will befall them.

Yes, it is a wonderful dream to sit down with dictators and terrorists and join
hands, singing Cumbaya and talking of world peace. But it is not real. We
did not stop Adolf Hitler from taking over the entire continent of Europe by
simply talking to him. We sent our best and brightest, with the strength and
determination that this Country is known for, and defeated the Nazi regime.
President John F. Kennedy did not stop the Soviet ships from unloading their
nuclear missiles in Cubain 1962 with mere words. He stopped them with action,
and threat of immediate war if the ships did not turn around. We did not end
the Cold War with conferences. It ended with the strong belief of President
Ronald Reagan... PEACE through STRENGTH."

Well, you have to admit, this brings up some interesting points. Hollywood all seems to agree on this. I have a friend at work who has found politics and history to be one of his greatest passions in life (next to sports), and his belief is that being anti-war in this situation we are in today is just what the "cool crowd" does for popularity. He says that they are all morons out there waving their two-finger peace signs around like assholes because they are selfish. That's what he thinks>

It's true that we look up to these celebrities, and we listen to them, but what DOES make them experts on the matter? I feel that if you are an American heavily in the public eye, you do have a responsibility - and I personally find it to be very irresponsible to speak up too much about something you know too little about. Again, it is our right to speak our minds, but when people are really listening to you, it just seems wrong to act like you know any more than the people who have worked their whole lives at doing what they do. These celebrities know only as much as you do. They know JUST as much as you do, and they know NO more. They do not have any "in's". They watch the news, they read the paper. They can't really think they know what's best for the world?

I know I'm being redundant, but we're all going in circles about this anyway, aren't we? I could never say that Bush is going about this all wrong. I'll never know after the fact if what he did was wrong in retrospect. Bush and all the professionals around him are working to do what they think is best. It wouldn't matter if I disagreed because I don't know a thing about the world. They know more than we even hear about. I personally do not believe Bush would just lead us into war if he really didn't think there was a good reason. I assume that they know something that we don't, and that "something" may be a VERY good reason to go to war. I can't assume that I know what Bush knows, and if I don't think we should go to war, then we shouldn't. I don't WANT us to go to war, but I DEFINITELY don't want whatever they think will happen if we DON'T go to war. Our nation's leaders believe it's in our best interests to risk the lives of our own young, healthy, smart, and brave soldiers. I shudder to think what the inside scoop really is that we'll never know leading to why war is our best decision here.

I have a group of friends that think Bush is crazy. I think I sound very naive to have so much faith in our government. It's not that I have so much faith, it's that I feel like I have to. I don't have much choice otherwise, do I? Sometimes, I think we're all kids, and our country's leaders are like our parents. It's their job to know what's best for us. It's our job to disagree and rebel, like a nation of adolescents. Parents are NOT always right, but they do see life from a perspective that we cannot. This is why we're supposed to trust them. However, we can't pick our moms, but we PICKED these people. If we picked them, then we damn well better trust them, don't you think?

Bush may be very wrong. He very well may be making the worst decision a human being can make, and we very well may suffer our whole lives from it, and our grandchildren may suffer as well. I cannot claim that Bush is right. I cannot claim that he is wrong. We don't know. You'll think you do, but you really REALLY don't. We can only guess. In this case, I really hope that Bush made the right decision. I'd personally rather put my energy into hoping he's right than screaming that I'm pretty sure he's wrong.