Bob Schloss' News, Views and Cues

Film: Haevnen/In A Better World (2010, dir by Susanne Bier, written by Anders Thomas Jensen, Sony Pictures Classics)

2011-04-24T06:13:00.000-07:00

In A Better World (Wikipedia, IMDB, Trailer) is a fabulous film. Danish director Susanne Bier (known for After the Wedding, and Brothers) won the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 2010 for this tightly-wound, emotional, family drama about forgiveness and revenge. The film is set in two very different locations - a refugee camp in an unnamed African country and a small town in Denmark. The lives of two families, each in their own period of crisis, cross each other. US film lovers can check the Sony Pictures Classics website to find theater venues.

Film: The Tillman Story by Amir Bar-Lev

2010-09-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

The Tillman Story (A&E Indie Films, The Weinstein Company, Passion Pictures; directed by Amir Bar-Lev), is the story of Pat Tillman, a football player, an American soldier, his family, his army buddies, and much more. Highly recommended!

Thomas Friedman: We're Number 1(1)!

2010-09-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

We're Number 1(1)! was Thomas Friedman's Op-Ed for September 12, 2010, and I recommend it.

The New Rove-Cheney Assault on Reality by Frank Rich (NY Times, March 13)

2010-03-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

The New Rove-Cheney Assault on Reality, Frank Rich's column on March 13th in the New York Times, shows how propoganda and self-deception work among leaders of the George W Bush wing of the Republican Party. Recommended.

NYTimes.com: Thomas Friedman "The Fat Lady Has Sung"

2010-02-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

Thomas Friedman's February 21, 2010 opinion piece for the New York Times, entitled The Fat Lady Has Sung, is an excellent summary of where the United States currently is, and what we need to expect and demand from the political class, including our President, and from taxpayers, workers, citizens, small business owners.

Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday at Madison Square Garden Benefiting Clearwater (May 3, 2009)

2009-12-22T19:39:00.000-08:00

PBS' Great Performance has a wonderful website with videos giving the flavor of the Fabulous event held in New York's Madison Square Garden in honor of Peter Seeger's 90th birthday and his contributions to social justice, the environment and folk music.

The 2-disc DVD recording of the concert is available for purchase here.

Photographing World Leaders in 1 minute sitting at the UN: Platon (for The New Yorker)

2009-12-21T17:49:00.000-08:00

You can listen to or download a 10-minute interview of The New Yorker's staff photographer Platon, as he talks about spending 5 days without a break taking 60-second portrait photos of world leaders just before or after their addresses to the UN General Assembly.

2009-12-20T11:06:00.000-08:00

Anna Daevere Smith's Let Me Down Easy in New York City is pretty timely, now that the US Congress is trying to address health care.

Lauretta Jones (Artist, Nature Lover)

2009-12-20T10:50:00.000-08:00

The website of my friend Lauretta Jones, is, not surprising, one of the most attractive ones I've seen, and gives you a good flavor of her work teaching, exhibiting, and preserving plants and natural spaces.

Young People Need Progress on Climate Protection - Photos

2009-12-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

Photos of Young People whose safety is at risk if human-accelerated Climate Change is not slowed.

MIT's Bicycle Wheel Announced in Copenhagen

2009-12-16T21:12:00.000-08:00

Copenhagen Wheel for bicycles, designed at MIT's SENSEable City Lab, was premiered in Copenhagen Denmark on December 15th. I think you'll like the video at the bottom of MIT's Press Release.

The Analytic Mode by David Brooks (NY Times, 2009 Dec 03)

2009-12-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

David Brooks' column about President Obama, titled The Analytic Mode, is a sober assessment of why decision-making in the White House is pretty far removed from the visionary rhetoric of the 2008 Presidential Campaign.

YouTube: The Web is Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch

2009-12-16T19:39:00.001-08:00

The Web is Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch is a 4-minute and 31 second statement about the cultural transformation which has just started as a result of Web 2.0 .

Bob Herbert: In Search of Education Leaders (NY Times, 2009 Dec 5)

2009-12-16T19:16:00.000-08:00

In Search of Education Leaders, Bob Herbert's column in the New York Times, is well worth a read.

Daily Video Program: MOSAIC from LinkTV

2009-12-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

MOSAIC: World News from the Middle East provides, 5 days per week, 30 minutes of translated television news from Israel, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Arab nations, and the Arabic Services of the BBC and of Russia. This is an absolutely wonderful service.

Also from the same producers, is the less regular but very high-quality program Earth Focus.

Film: A Sea Change (dir by Barbara Ettinger, Niijii Films, 2009, 86 min)

2009-10-24T06:24:00.000-07:00

Films about Environmental degregadation can be boring, technical or depressing... but sometimes they are uplifting and inspiring, and this is such a film.

A Sea Change follows the journey of retired history teacher Sven Huseby on his quest to discover what is happening to the world’s oceans.

After reading Elizabeth Kolbert’s November 2006 article The Darkening Sea in The New Yorker magazine, Sven becomes obsessed with the rising acidity of the oceans and what this “sea change” bodes for mankind. His quest takes him to Alaska, California, Washington, and Norway as he uncovers a worldwide crisis that most people are unaware of. Speaking with oceanographers, marine biologists, climatologists, artists and policy experts, Sven discovers that global warming is only half the story of the environmental catastrophe that awaits us. Excess carbon dioxide is dissolving in our oceans, changing seawater chemistry. The increasing acidity of the water makes it difficult for tiny creatures at the bottom of the food web – such as the pteropods in the films – to form their shells. The effects could work their way up to the fish one billion people depend upon for their source of protein.

A Sea Change is also a touching portrait of Sven’s relationship with his grandchild Elias. As Sven keeps a correspondence with the little boy, he mulls over the world that he is leaving for future generations. A disturbing and essential companion piece to films such as Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, A Sea Change brings home the indisputable fact that our lifestyle is changing the earth, despite our rhetoric or wishful thinking.

A Sea Change is the first documentary about ocean acidification, directed by Barbara Ettinger and co-produced by Sven Huseby of Niijii Films. While emphasizing new scientific information, the film is also a beautiful paen to the ocean world and an intimate story of a Norwegian-American family whose heritage is bound up with the sea.

More information can be found on the film's website.

“There are massive unrecognized changes of geologic scale taking place in the ocean. Ocean chemistry is being altered on a scale not seen for millions of years. And we don’t know what the consequences will be.”
- Dr. Edward L. Miles, Virginia & Prentice Bloedel Professor of Marine & Public
Affairs, University of Washington

“We put the equivalent of 118 billion VW Bugs’ worth of CO2 into the ocean for the last 200 years and 43% of that has happened just in the last 20 years and it’s growing exponentially. You as we start to project out to the future it really gets scary.” - Dr. Chris Sabine, oceanographer, Natl. Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

“A Sea Change could not be more timely. I believe acidification of our oceans is actually a greater threat to our survival than is temperature or sea level rise, the conventional ‘global warming’ threats. Acidification is confusing and difficult to even imagine for most people — we need your film.” - Rob Moir, PhD., Executive Director, Ocean River Institute

"A Sea Change offers a searching, emotionally powerful look at ocean acidification. This problem is sometimes called the "evil twin" of climate change, and many of us regard it as an existential threat to the future of fishing. The story is full of heart, scientifically accurate, and lyrical. It also offers good reason for hope, which is indispensable in the face of such a huge challenge." - Brad Warren, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership

Film: Earth Days: The Seeds of a Revolution (Robert Stone, 2008, Zeitgeist Films, 102 min)

2009-10-10T19:33:00.000-07:00

Director Robert Stone interviews 9 of the key thought leaders behind the emergence of the late 20th century United States branch of the modern Environmental Movement, showing how a sequence of events initially, primarily using new laws passed in the 1970s, reversed the upward trend in industrial pollution. But now the movement has plateaued and is not keeping pace with global population growth and consumption growth, once again causing grave concern that industrial civilization could lead to dangerous undermining of the ecosystem during the next 30 years. Some of these thinkers now advocate advanced design for comfortable lower-impact living, others advocate transformation of lifestyles away from materialism and towards bio-regionalism.

A thoughtful film.

Film: The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (dir by Judih Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, ITVS, 2009)

2009-10-02T07:22:00.000-07:00

I just saw a magnificent documentary. It's about how a pro-military decision-analyst at the RAND Corporation had a series of experiences (first as a child, then at the Pentagon, in Vietnam, and at meetings of activist groups) that made him decide that the U.S. Congress and the American Public had no true idea of the real policy of war-making the United States had pursued in Vietnam for decades, and that he would chage that. His photocopying of a Pentagon study eventually set in motion events that brought down a U.S. President (the impeachment and resignation of Richard Nixon), led to a critical U.S. Supreme Court decision on Freedom of the Press, and contributed to ending a major debacle and military quagmire. If you want to see a film about a true patriot, who risked life-in-prison and gave up his career to serve the higher values this country should be about, see this documentary by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith.

The Most Dangerous Man in America Website

The New Sputnik (Thomas Friedman, 9/26/2009, New York Times)

2009-09-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman entitled his piece about Green Energy Research, Manufacturing and Deployment in China "The New Sputnik".

He indicates that in China, where the percentage of engineers among political leaders and among business leaders is far higher than it is in the United States, the realization that Green Energy needs are unavoidable was reached rather quickly. Meanwhile, the U.S. political elites, aware of all the Coal plants China has commissioned, still thinks China is committed to low-tech and polluting energy sources.

As usual, U.S. political elites are deceiving themselves. I agree with Friedman and the people he quotes, such as Lester Brown, that China's leap to Green won't be realized immediately, but when it comes, it will be sudden. Should the U.S. compete? Will we have the resources to compete if we continuing pouring large amounts of funds into maintaining a huge military force around the world? Questions that I wish more of my political leaders were carefully pondering....

Andrew Sullivan Blog Entry: The Rotten Core

2009-08-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

Andrew Sullivan, on his blog "The Daily Dish" makes a point about The Rotten Core of political innovation leadership stagnation quite apparent in Washington DC thanks to the successful "protect the status quo" activitie of corporate lobbysts and a shallow media. I suggest you read his blog entry.

Robin Chase argues for open peer-to-peer mesh networking built into vehicles! (TED.com talk March 2007)

2009-08-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

TED.com, the web site of the Technology, Entertainment and Design set of conferences and their regular participant communities, has taken significant steps in the last 2 years to put more of their talks on the web in audio or video form or both... and allow people to comment on these talks.

One of the most curious talks was given in March 2007, by Robin Chase, one of the founders of Zipcar.com, who believes that charging people in real-time for the vehicle and road usage they initiate, can lower the transportation contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change.

In the second part of her talk, she indicates that rather than put special communication network systems in place to do only this function, such as having video cameras snap photos of license plates, or having special tags such as the EZPass that is used in many US NorthEastern and MidAtlantic States, what should actually be done is to create, as infrastructure, the mandate that all mobile devices and machines support peer-to-peer wireless communication, known as mesh networking.

I think this is a provocative idea. See her 14-minute talk yourself at Robin Chase on Zipcar and her next big idea.

Film: Lemon Tree (Etz Limon) (Eran Riklis, 2008, 1 hr 46 min, distributed by IFC Films)

2009-08-02T19:52:00.000-07:00

This fictionalized film, shot in Hebrew and Arabic, starts with the newly appointed Israeli Defense Minister (played by Doron Tavory) and his wife (played by Rona Lipaz-Michael) moving to a part of Israel abutting (within meters) the Palestinian-agricultural lands at the extreme West of the "West Bank" ... and ends with the transformation of the Minister and his wife and a number of Palestinian's... especially neighboring Lemon Tree grower Mrs. Salma Zidane (played by Hiam Abbass), and Ziad Daud (played by Ali Suliman).

I have had the fortune to see this film twice and it is beautifully acted and full of quiet symbolism and the touching sense of people who want to be true to themselves but find themselves caught in conventional systems that spiral away from win-win solutions and spiral towards conflicts... "as I simply try to protect my home and family".

Highly Recommended

It's a landfill - and an ecopark (Christian Science Monitor covers Singapore)

2009-07-19T07:49:00.001-07:00

In the May 31, 2009 issue of the Christian Science Monitor, correspondent Vijaysree Venkataram visits Pulau Semakau and reports It's a landfill -- and an ecopark.

Documentary: LIFE. SUPPORT. MUSIC. (Merigold Moving Pictures 2008; dir by Eric Daniel Metzgar)

2009-07-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

LIFE. SUPPORT. MUSIC. is a magnificent documentary of 2 years in the life of Jason Crigler, a humble person in his early 30s, but also one of New York's most sought-after guitarists, who suffered what the medical profession thought would be a devastating brain hemorrhage but who instead gradually recovered a great deal of his function, in large part because of the extraordinary attention and support his wife, parents, sister, and in-laws gave him, at the same time as his daughter was being born.

The story is compelling, the filmmaking brilliant, the family members articulate and honest... This is love and determination in action. I very highly recommend this extraordinary film.

NPR Interview: Stained Glass Artist Lets The Light Through At Last

2009-06-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

Scott Simon's interview (for NPR's Weekend Edition) with Rowan LeCompte, Stained Glass Artist Lets The Light Through At Last (April 11, 2009; 9 minutes) is a gem. Mr. LeCompte has designed stained glass windows at the Washington DC Cathedral since 1941. Highly recommended. NPR's website also links to photos of Mr. LeCompte and the Cathedral.

IBM is supplying technology to enable A Smarter Planet, led by IBM Research

2009-04-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

I work at IBM's Thomas J Watson Research Center, and we have started to deploy some of our technologies for what we call Smarter Planet solutions. Some background on IBM and IBM Research, and some early results from IBM's Smarter Planet initiatives, all in layman's terms, are in these short videos:

Attorney Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate) harrassed as Iranian Government Brings Bahais to Trial

2009-02-24T14:57:00.000-08:00

Britain's News 4 Channel interviewed Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Human Rights Attorney Shirin Ebadi.

Film: Seasons in the Valley (Adam Matalon, 2008, Chatsby Films)

2009-02-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

I love films about relationships between men. I love films about how men think about their work. The lyrical Seasons in the Valley is both: a feature-length documentary that chronicles the journeys of highly-skilled Jamaican migrant workers (with full support of the US and Jamaican government), the plight of the New York Apple Farmers who have been employing them for decades, and the bonds that have formed between these men as the fiercely competitive, global economy for fruit squeezes the Hudson Valley apple growing businesses. This is a human film, with a background of economics, but is not directly a political film.

Film: USA vs. Al-Arian (Line Halvorsen, 2007, Dalchows verden Films)

2009-02-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

The US Government has held former University of South Florida Professor Sami Al-Arian under arrest since February 2003. Dr. Al-Arian, who was born in Kuwait to parents who were refugees from Palestine, and has spent all his adult life in the United States, has been an outspoken political advocate for Palestinians, and a severe critic of Israel, but the US Government thinks he may have been doing something much more sinister. This is in part because of his association with a former US academic who returned to Palestine and founded the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization, an organization the US Government classifies as a Terrorist organization. The US would like to convict him and continue to imprison him; his family's hope right now is that he would be deported and perhaps start a new life with his mother who lives in Egypt.

Norwegian filmmaker Line Halvorsen was able to spend much of 2003-2006 with Dr. Al-Arian's wife and children and his attorneys, as well as with the US Prosecutor, and also interviewed Dr. Al-Arian in prison, and she has made an amazing, and disturbing film. If you can see this film, which has won a number of film festival awards, I think you will find it amazing. Otherwise see the 12-page Overview prepared for the press.

Information about the film, where it will be shown, where it can be obtained on DVD, is at USAvsAlArian.com.

Nicholas Kristof in NYTimes: Putting Torture Behind Us

2009-01-29T14:58:00.000-08:00

Putting Torture Behind Us, a column in the New York Times by Nicholas Kristof, is well worth reading. I support both suggestions about harvesting insights through a post-Guantanimo commission and repurposing the facility for health research.

Inaugural Speech of President Barack Obama

2009-01-20T15:34:00.000-08:00

Inaugural Speech of President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009, video and text from NYTimes.com .

Eloquent as always, but with enough specifics about how government, business, and personal behavior ought to be changed.

How happy I am with this dramatic improvement in the quality of our national political leadership!

There was also a touching and classy musical performance during the Inauguration ceremony (you can listen here, or watch here) as well as eloquent invocation, benediction, and poem.

An editorial in the New York Times gives a good summary of why this inaugural address was one that spoke to Americans as thoughtful and needed citizens, and not simply as consumers of political rhetorhic.

HBO.com and HBO - 7pm ET, 11:30pm ET January 18, 2009 Inauguration Celebration Concert

2009-01-18T13:08:00.000-08:00

President-elect Barack Obama's remarks, as prepared for delivery to "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial"

Broadway Show: In The Heights

2009-01-05T12:21:00.000-08:00

In the Heights won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical, and I highly recommend it. With dancing, a variety of music, a strong ensemble cast, and story line blending elements of Fiddler on the Roof (Old Country-New Country, Adults-Young People), Rent, and West Side Story, it is a most enjoyable and touching show. The action takes place in Washington Heights in the late 1990s, as Puerto Rican and Dominican Republic Immigrants deal with a hot July and struggles of keeping their small businesses solvent. The music and lyrics were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also plays Usnavi, a Bodego owner, in the show.

IBM's Approach, and Results, with Corporate Responsibility

2008-12-28T16:06:00.000-08:00

Tom Raferty of Greenmonk interviews IBM VP Stan Litow (MP3) on IBM's approach to Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability, and meeting social challenges, posted on December 2, 2008, is an excellent overview of what IBM is doing. Details are in the IBM Corporate Responsibility website.

Paul Krugman: The Madoff Economy (Dec 19, 2008)

2008-12-19T14:11:00.000-08:00

The Madoff Economy by Paul Krugman captures much of what I have been thinking for several years. By luring bright individuals into the financial sector, rather than into other fields, we have reduced the true wealth and the true capacity of our civilization. We can all be angry at those who were dishonest, but maybe we want to ask some questions about the honest people whose work is mostly about concentrating or allocating funds but not about applying them more directly to actual social and human needs.

Film: In A Dream (2008, Jeremiah Zagar, Herzliya Films)

2008-12-10T19:09:00.000-08:00

Herzliya Films with Red Lights Films created a truly touching and provocative portrait of an artist and his family. Filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar began in 2001 to film the work and philosophy of his father, Mosaic-maker extraordinare Isaiah Zagar, and his mother, gallery owner Julia Zagar... and through the honesty of his father and his mother, during a period of personal and family challenges, we understand how, for some people, making art becomes the salvation from some of the unresolved demons which haunt their lives.

Very highly recommended. Will be shown in July 2009 on HBO.

Film: Under Our Skin: The Untold Story of Lyme Disease (dir by Andy Abrahams Wilson, Open Eye Picutres, 2008)

2008-09-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

Under Our Skin: The Untold Story of Lymn Disease is an interesting film which follows a series of patients struggling with what apparently is chronic or persistant Lyme disease, and a series of physicians trying to treat them, and another series of physicians convinced that chronic Lyme disease does not exist, and another physician who on his own time is studying the behavior of the bacterial agent which causes Lyme disease and comparing it to other bacterial vectors of disease.

This is a film about medicine, microbes, mavericks and money.

Film: Ne le dis à personne / Tell No One (Guillaume Canet 2006, based on a novel by Harlan Coben)

2008-08-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

Ne le dis à personne / Tell No One is a thriller directed by Guillaume Canet, staring Francois Cluzet in the role of Docteur Alex Beck. This film has suspense in almost every second, includes excellent supporting performances by Marie-Josée Croze, Kristen Scott-Thomas, Nathalie Baye, André Dussollier, Jean Rochefort, Marina Hands and others, and I highly recommend it. It is currently playing in select US theaters with subtitles - the film was made in France, and a DVD release is planned for mid-October.

Trumbo (dir by Peter Askin, Written by Christopher Trumbo, 2007, Samuel Goldwyn/Red Envelope)

2008-07-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

Trumbo is the movie which blends interviews, original footage, and beautiful letters written by the eccentric and brilliantly eloquent blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo .. and it beautifully explores this unique personality as seen by his colleagues, friends and family, and conveys the human effects of the Red Scare Mongering that gripped the US Congress and the Entertainment Media in the 1950s and 1960s. Very highly recommended.

Audio Essay: A Kind and Generous Heart (Christine Little, This I Believe, 2008, 4:41)

2008-07-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

The NPR Audio Series This I Believe consistency has insightful and honest essays, contributed by both little known and well known individuals. I particular was touched by Christine Little's statement A Kind and Generous Heart.

Film: The Singing Revolution (James and Maureen Tusty, 2007)

2008-05-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

The Singing Revolution (made by American filmmakers James and Maureen Tusty with partners from the Estonia film community) documents Estonia's history in the 20th century, through interviews with about 20 participants in the critical period during which the Baltic Nations broke away from the Soviet Union. The question is: How did the people pull off a non-violent overthrow of foreign rulers... and the answer, in large part, is by using music and massive public song festivals as a way to reinforce unity and national identity. This is a most unusual documentary, very touching.

National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth - 2 new episodes

2008-04-23T20:32:00.000-07:00

National Geographic and Sea Studios Foundation have produced two brilliant episodes of Strange Days on Planet Earth with Edward Norton. The series producer is David Elisco.

I highly recommend these engaging, beautiful, documentaries, which connect everyday small actions taken by millions of people around the world to the significant changes affecting our estuaries, rivers, lakes, oceans and atmosphere which are beginning of have profound and disturbing consequences for fish, bird, animal, plant and human health.

Book: Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace..One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Viking, Penguin 2006-2007)

2008-02-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

Greg Mortenson had a passion for climbing. Something went wrong at the end of an attempted climb on K2 in 1993 -- or perhaps, something went right -- because while weak and disoriented, he met remote villagers in the Baltistan region of Northern Pakistan who nursed him back to strength, and Greg decided to repay them for their kindness and address a critical needs by raising money and returning to build their first school building, and began a truly heroic cross-cultural adventure spanning California, Montana, Pakistan, Afghanistan. In the course of the last 15 years, he has directly changed the lives on hundreds of young women, and indirectly changed the perception of America in scores of remote villages and towns of Central Asia.

"Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time. Greg Mortenson's dangerous and difficult quest to build schools in the wildest parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan is not only a thrilling read, it's proof that one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world." - Journalist and Author Tom Brokaw.

Highly recommended.

Film: Taxi to the Dark Side (dir by Alex Gibney, ThinkFilm/Jigsaw Productions, 2007)

2008-01-31T14:33:00.000-08:00

Taxi to the Dark Side is Alex Gibney's Critical study of extra-legal expansion of American Power in America's Global War on Terror.

The film focuses around the controversial death in custody of an Afghan Jitney taxi driver named Dilawar. Dilawar was beaten to death by American soldiers while being held in extrajudicial detention at the Bagram Air Base.

Taxi to the Dark Side also goes on to examine America's policy on torture and interrogation in general, specifically the CIA's use of torture and their research into sensory deprivation. There is description of the opposition to the use of torture from its political and military opponents, as well as the defence of such methods; the attempts by Congress to uphold the standards of the Geneva Convention forbidding torture; and the popularisation of the use of torture techniques in shows such as 24.

The film is said to be the first film to contain images taken within Bagram Air Base.

For those of us who feel that part of winning the vast majority of worldwide moderate Muslims over to a situation of tolerance and respect for Western peoples and governments requires that innocent civilians be treated with utmost respect and care, even in areas where terrorist militants have operations, this is one of those films that shows why it is going to take years of work by the next few American government leaders to undo the damage that was done in the Bush Administration.

The Tyranny of America's Great Expectations

2008-01-20T19:15:00.000-08:00

On January 8th, the Wall Street Journal's Bret Stephens wrote a piece about American politics and how we look at Iraq. He cites cases of "the perfect becoming the enemy of the good", something that also troubles me.

While the op-ed is somewhat oversimplified, I was taken by these two paragraphs towards the end of the piece:

There is great virtue in the American way, which expects CEOs to perform on a quarterly basis, presidents and Congresses to reinvent politics in 100 days, generals to wipe out opponents in 100 hours without taking significant casualties, doctors to save life and limb every time, search engines to yield a million results in less than a second, and so on. There is also great virtue in the belief that what is bad can be made good, and that what is good can be made great, and that what is fractionally less than great is downright awful.

But these virtues can spawn vices. One is impatience. Another is a culture of chronic complaint. A third is the belief that every problem has a solution, that trial is possible without error, that risks must always be zero, that every inconvenience is an outrage, every setback a disaster and every mishap a plausible basis for a lawsuit.

Film: Helvetica: A Documentary Film (Gary Hustwit, Swiss Dots, 2007)

2008-01-20T19:07:00.000-08:00

Quite an interesting documentary about visual culture has been made by Gary Hustwit. See Helvetica: A Documentary Film website.

Film: HotHouse by Shimon Doton (86 min, 2006)

2008-01-20T18:57:00.000-08:00

Media That Matters' David Courier writes:

Nearly 10,000 Palestinians are incarcerated in Israel today. Most Israelis regard these "security prisoners" as murderers and criminals. To the Palestinians, however, they are freedom fighters, heroes, and martyrs in the making. Granted extraordinary access to the highest-security institutions, renowned filmmaker Shimon Dotan uncovers a startling truth: Israeli prisons have become a breeding ground for the next generation of Palestinian leaders and a hotbed for terrorist plots.

Dotan focuses his camera on everyday prison life. What emerges is a surprising glimpse of the prisoners as informed thinkers who are immersed in the details of the centuries-old conflict through newspapers and television. Dotan interviews inmates who are committed to negotiations as well as others who are shockingly unrepentant about their participation in suicide bombings. The cold-blooded testimony of a female Hamas leader, proudly serving 16 life sentences for blowing up a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, is perhaps the most chilling.

Israel's prisons have evolved into virtual incubators for Palestinian nationalism, strengthening inmates' ideology and forging a political force that impacts far beyond their walls. Eschewing the simplistic "white hat, black hat" mentality that dominates discussions of terrorism today, Dotan's brilliantly constructed, disturbingly provocative film is both a humanizing force and an alarming wake-up call.

For more information about this amazing documentary, see First Run Icarus Films HotHouse page.

Film: Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita (Maria Finitzo, ITVS, 2007)

2008-01-20T18:35:00.000-08:00

Maria Finitzo has made, and PBS Independent Lens television series has aired, a beautiful and brilliant story about people involved in fundamental medical research. The film is called Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita and the central character is Northwestern University Neurologist Dr. Jack Kessler, but what makes this such a strong film is how the story is told from the point of view of 10 individuals.

Information about this extraordinary film is at Independent Lens' Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Ingcognita website.

The Great Rivers Partnership: IBM and the Earth

2007-10-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

It is going to take changes in consciousness, changes in legislation, changes in strategy, deeper scientific understanding, deeper communication of scientific understanding to business owners and managers, new production technologies, new philosophies AND MORE to prevent the ever growing negative footprint on the earth by industrial civilization.

But at least IBM is prepared to develop IT technologies that allow us to monitor and understand what is happening. You may find interesting The Great Rivers Partnership.

Column: Et Tu, George by Nicholas Kristof

2007-10-13T21:49:00.000-07:00

New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof has done amazing work bringing the situation in Darfur to the attention of the American public. He also has an elegant way of analyzing the failures of leadership of President George W. Bush.

I particularly like his January 23, 2007 column Et Tu, George?.

Column: China's Sunshine Boys by Thomas Friedman

2007-10-13T21:45:00.000-07:00

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has argued in many of his pieces that we America must consider energy policy as critical to the future of our security, economy and environment.

I particularly liked his December 6, 2006 article China's Sunshine Boys.

Column: Who Will Succeed Al Gore? Our Crucible Moment by Thomas Friedman

2007-10-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

A lot deservedly has been said about the Nobel Committee's decision to award the 2007 Peace Prize to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and to Al Gore. But I thought an interesting perspective on Mr. Gore and on American Politics is Thomas L. Friedman's October 14, 2007 column Who Will Succeed Al Gore?.

The War: Directed/Produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (Florentine Films, PBS-WETA)

2007-10-04T05:12:00.000-07:00

Six years in the making, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's The War is a magnificent documentary of World War II, and its affects on the Americans who served in the military, and those who lived through it at home. Focusing primarily on about a score of families from 4 smaller cities of the United States, and including many hours of actual combat footage, this is an amazingly comprehensive view of the War. The coverage of the social environment just before and during and after the War is elegant. Very highly recommended.

Financial Costs of Iraq War could be $2 Trillion

2007-09-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

While the deepest loses from the chaos in Iraq in which American troops participate are of course the deaths of Americans, non-combatant Iraqis, and other internationals, following by the severe life-altering injuries that Americans, non-combatant Iraqis and other internationals sustain, followed by the fact of how many Iraqis have been forced to flee the country or endure years of chaos... even the pure financial cost to the United States is already staggering. Based on recent work by well-regarded economists, using information from the Congressional Budget Office, the likely cost of this war is $2 Trillion. The amount of positive benefit this money could have provided to the people of the world, and to the non-military aspects of the struggle against terrorism, is almost beyond contemplation. (Low estimates are $1.2 Trillion BTW).

For an interesting summary, see this article from the May-June 2007 issue of Harvard Magazine: The $2-Trillion War.

Persistence of Myths - Recent Research Results

2007-09-09T20:33:00.000-07:00

On September 4, 2007, the Washington Post ran an article entitled Persistence of Myths Could Alter Public Policy Approach by Shankar Vedantam. Very interesting reports of research on how many people's minds work in terms of associating "truth" with messages they have heard many times, even when many of those times were statements saying the statement itself was incorrect.

Film: No End In Sight (2007, Charles Ferguson, Representational Films/Magnolia, 102 min)

2007-08-12T19:16:00.001-07:00

No End In Sight, directed by Charles Ferguson, reconstructs the period from 3 months before the US attacked Iraq through the period of the first Iraqi parliamentary elections using interviews with journalists, diplomats, military personnel, and intelligence officials. It argues that a series of willfully foolish decisions in Washington made civil war and insurgency in Iraqi extremely likely. Meanwhile, it explains the human, cultural and financial cost of this historic blunder. This is a film that you simply must see.

Film: The Ground Truth (Patricia Foulkrod, 2006, 80 min)

2007-07-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

Patricia Foulkrod's film
The Ground Truth is a series of interviews with US veterans of the Iraq War. This is a truly unique and important film.

Film: SiCKO by Michael Moore (Dog Eat Dog/Lionsgate/Weinstein, 2007, 116min)

2007-07-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

Michael Moore has blended several amazing tales in his new film about the American Healthcare System. One tale is about individual Americans who were covered by health insurance, but whose insurance companies, in an attempt to control costs, denied them coverage leading to human suffering.

Another tale is about how health care is delivered in 4 foreign countries, each of which developed its own version of universal no-cost or ultra-low-cost medical care, and each of which, while spending less than the US does, produces dramatically better health outcomes and seems to have much more satisfied health care providers.

A third tale is about Moore's hypothesis that making health coverage connected to employment is just one of several systematic tactics to keep citizens fearful, stressed, and passive.

Amazingly, using a wide-range of archival footage, interviews he did in 2004 through 2006, and a sense of irony and humor, this dense material, and often tragically sad material, comes across elegantly and enjoyably. In the end, Moore believes that foundational social values in a country end up determining how much the voices of citizens can influence how systems, like the health care system, are operated. A terrific and timely film.

View the trailer, or see the movie website.

April Fools Edition of News.com

2007-04-01T08:06:00.000-07:00

Enjoy yourself at the April Fools Day Edition of News.com.

Film: First Lesson in Peace by Yoram Honig (2006, Hebrew-Arabic-English)

2007-03-18T15:02:00.000-07:00

First Lesson in Peace is a 56-minute video letter from director Yoram Honig to his young daughter Michal, consisting of narrated video he took when she was 6-years-old and attending the School for Peace bi-national and bi-lingual elementary school at the Israeli village of
Neve Shalom/Wahat-al-Salaam. This is a real gem.

Film: Binta and The Great Idea by Javier Fesser

2007-02-24T12:40:00.000-08:00

A delightful 30-minute film is Binta and The Great Idea by Spanish Filmmaker Javier Fesser. The film takes place in Senegal and is a real gem.

Film: West Bank Story by Ari Sandel

2007-02-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

A very-well done 30 minute comedy musical film.

(Audio) Book: Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald (Broadway Books 2004)

2006-12-26T21:48:00.000-08:00

In her twenties, journalist Sarah Macdonald backpacked around India and came away with a lasting impression of heat, pollution and poverty. So when an airport beggar read her palm and told her she would return to India—and for love—she screamed, “Never!” and gave the country, and him, the finger.

But eleven years later, the prophecy comes true. When the love of Sarah’s life is posted to India, she quits her dream job to move to the most polluted city on earth, New Delhi. For Sarah this seems like the ultimate sacrifice for love, and it almost kills her, literally. Just settled, she falls dangerously ill with double pneumonia, an experience that compels her to face some serious questions about her own fragile mortality and inner spiritual void. “I must find peace in the only place possible in India,” she concludes. “Within.” Thus begins her journey of discovery through India in search of the meaning of life and death.

Holy Cow is Macdonald’s often hilarious chronicle of her adventures in a land of chaos and contradiction, of encounters with Hinduism, Islam and Jainism, Sufis, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians and a kaleidoscope of yogis, swamis and Bollywood stars. From spiritual retreats and crumbling nirvanas to war zones and New Delhi nightclubs, it is a journey that only a woman on a mission to save her soul, her love life—and her sanity—can survive.

See Holy Cow. I listened to the Audio reading of this book, which was excellently read by Kate Hosking.

A-to-Z Guide to Political Interference in Science (Union of Concerned Scientists)

2006-12-19T20:31:00.000-08:00

I am one of the signatories to the Scientists' Statement on Scientific Integrity.

See the clever, elegant and thorough A to Z Guide to Political Interference with Scientific Advice which documents why this is needed.

Film: Eva and the Fire Horse (directed by Julia Kwan, 2005)

2006-12-18T19:25:00.000-08:00

This is a delightful film about youth, the coming-of-age of children of immigrants, imagination, and family. Highly recommended.

Video: Frontline: Living Old (Miri Navasky, Karen O'Connor, Nov 21, 2006, 60 min)

2006-12-15T20:21:00.000-08:00

Producers Miri Navasky and Karen O'Connor's touching and insightful documentary program for the PBS/WGBH Frontline series, Living Old, examines how the United States is coping with an increasing number of 85-year-old to 105-year-old seniors, who need assistance that in general, neither their children nor the medical community can provide.

Besides the interviews with the anging, their children, there are amazing interviews with numerous medical professionals.

This program is available for purchase on DVD. It can also be watched online, and you can learn more about the issues, at the program website.

Very highly recommended.

Book: American Theocracy (Kevin Phillips, Viking Adult, 2006, 480 pages)

2006-11-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

This is an extended historical essay, very carefully researched, which explains how certain economic interests (especially big oil and financial services) are interacting with a Biblical worldview common among many Americans, and leading to all the symptoms which have led previous great powers to sharp declines after long periods of supremacy. Absolutely fascinating!

Film: Shut Up & Sing (Directed by Barbara Kopple & Cecilia Peck, Weinstein Company & Cabin Creek Films, 2006)

2006-11-25T18:09:00.000-08:00

The filmmakers travel with the country music trio the Dixie Chicks for three years - from the peak of their popularity as the darlings of country music through the now infamous anti-Bush comment made by the group's lead singer Natalie Maines in 2003 and the political firestorm that resulted - raising questions about freedom of speech and the negative consequences it sometimes has.

As we see the resistance from country music radio stations in the US South to playing their music during the War in Iraq solidify, we see it begin to affect these artists and their manager; we also see them grow from just musicians into honest independent heart-felt citizens. Two of the Dixie Chicks are sisters who have been giving concerts since age 12; now in their mid-thirties, they decide they will not choose between self-censorship and their goal of Arena-scale musical tours.

Highly recommended.

Film: Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollack? (Picturehouse, 2006, Harry Moses)

2006-11-22T18:20:00.000-08:00

This is a humous and compelling documentary! At one level it is about the art market. At another level it is about some amazing people. See it if you can.
Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollack?.

Film: An Unreasonable Man (about Ralph Nader) (Henriette Mantel & Steve Skrovan, 2006)

2006-11-19T19:17:00.000-08:00

An Unreasonable Man follows the 40-year-long career of public interest attorney turned two-time Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader, bringing the insights of two dozen insiders who worked with him, for him, against him, and sometimes both for-and-against him at different times. The film is trying to explore several themes: What makes Nader tick? Are his recent Presidential runs advancing or detracting from the pro-citizen policies he articulates? How do third party candidates get treated by the press and by the two main parties? His most passionate defenders and his most ardent detractors are here, speaking candidly to the filmmakers.

Neither filmmaker had ever made a documentary, but this one is extremely thought-provoking... Try to see it when it comes to your town, or wait for the expected release on DVD in 2007.

Film: Encounter Point (2006, Ronit Avni, Just Vision)

2006-11-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

is playing at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville NY on November 5 and November 6.

Film: 51 Birch Street (Doug Block, Copacetic Films, 2006)

2006-11-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

51 Birch Street is a documentary that wasn't set out to be made until after 90% of the footage was shot for other purposes. Filmmaker Doug Block had been capturing little bits of video at all the usual family events, and decided to continue doing some of this with his retired parents at their home in Port Washington, New York. But a series of unexpected events leads him to learn, at age 50, some things about his parents that he had never known.

As he learns more about their lives, he captures a great deal about the dynamics of marraige, life in the suburbs, cultural shift over 60 years, all seen through what happened from his parent's immediately post-World War II courtship through a move to Florida at age 83.

What makes this such a powerful film is the honesty of his parents, their friends, his sisters, his spouse, and especially of Doug himself. This is a film that most people will identify with. Very highly recommended.

Film: Quinceanera by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmorland (Sony Pictures Classics, 2006)

2006-08-27T04:05:00.000-07:00

This is a film about 3 months in the lives of young Mexican-American teenagers in Los Angeles, and about the awkward transitions made as they dabble with sexuality, see classism, and are drawn towards materialism and modernity while their more traditional parents distrustfully judge their move away from tradition. The need for acceptance and understanding by these teenagers is paramount, and often it is found in the most surprising places.

The powerful music and the fabulous acting are what make this such a compelling and touching film. For a story blending coming of age and the immigrant experience, you are well advised to see
Quinceanera.

Colorado resort operator to invest heavily in wind power

2006-08-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

CNET News.com reprinted the August 2, 2006 report by the New York Times on the Vail Resorts decision to support wind-generated power going into the national grid equivalent to all electric power they use. Renewable Choice Energy will act as agent on behalf of Vail Results. See Colorado resort to invest heavily in wind power, and Ski with the Wind.

June 17-18: Clearwater Festival - Croton-on-Hudson, New York

2006-06-07T05:56:00.000-07:00

I highly recommend attending this music, story-telling, arts, food, dance and environmental event

.

A few opportunities to volunteer at the festival will remain open -- make sure to apply ASAP.

Film: An Inconvenient Truth takes on the Climate Crisis and What We Can Do

2006-06-06T08:52:00.000-07:00

An Inconvenient Truth (2006, Participant Productions, directed by Davis Guggenheim, featuring former-US Vice President Al Gore) is an engaging presentation of

the evidence that human-induced climate change is already well underway,

what causes it,

what is consequences would be if climate change is allowed (by inaction) to continue accelerating, and

what steps (many rather easy) are feasible for individuals, businesses and governments to take to slow it.

It sounds dry, but because of the fabulous footage from all over the world, animations, and the personal history that Gore recounts, showing how this topic came to seem to him as a major moral issue, this is a compelling and important experience. (The film includes scenes from some of the 1000 talks at Universities and to Civic Groups that Gore has given on this subject since being denied his bid for the Presidency in 2000).

A portion of the film proceeds are being donated to the Alliance for Climate Protection. Very very highly recommended.

Film: The Real Dirt on Farmer John by Taggart Siegel (2005)

2006-06-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN (2005, 82 min) by Taggart Siegel is the award-winning true story of third-generation American farmer John Peterson’s hero’s journey of success, tribulation, failure and rebirth, through his childhood in the ‘50s, the tumultuous ‘60s, the hippie-influenced ‘70s, and the farm-crisis ‘80s, culminating in his transformation-based creation of a biodynamic, organic CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm serving 1500 families in the Chicago area with weekly fresh produce.

John Peterson's honesty, breadth of perspective, and his good fortune to have film clips from many of the periods of his life all make this an amazing story. The film has won many many awards. Very highly recommended.

US Congress to Vote on COPE Telecom Bill - Net Neutrality At Stake!

2006-06-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

Costa Rica Rainforest Canopy Adventure

2006-05-29T08:03:00.000-07:00

Dream Forest Canopy near Quepos/Manuel Antonio lets you travel above the rainforest, sliding along zip lines between raised platforms. My cousin Maurice is one of the company principals. I haven't done this myself, but it sounds amazing.

Concerts: Holly Near & John Bucchino

2006-05-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

Singer/Songwriter/Activist Holly Near and Songwriter/Pianist John Bucchino are on tour, and I was fortunate enough to hear their fabulous concert in Manhattan. Recommended!

John Kamm's Mission by Frank Langfitt (NPR, Apr 20)

2006-04-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

John Kamm's Mission is the story of a US Business Lobbyist who has used his connections in China to win the release of numerous Chinese political prisoners.

How the US moved to Alternative Energy Sources 2006-2056

2006-04-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

How the US moved to Alternative Energy Sources, 2006-2056 is an inspiring 4-minute video.

SlamNation: A Film by Paul Devlin (1998)

2006-04-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

SlamNation is a documentary of the 4-day National Poetry Slam held in Portland Oregon in 1998. Very enjoyable!

A Year to Live, A Year To Die

2006-04-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

A Year to Live, A Year to Die was reported by Mary Beth Kirchner on National Public Radio on March 27, 2006. Mixing her interview with widow Rebecca Peterson with the excerpts from the audio diary that her dying husband Stewart Selman had recorded during his year-long decline from brain cancer, this 22 minute 49 second piece is touching and truthful.

The Little Coffee Plant that Wouldn't Die

2006-04-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

The Little Coffee Plant that Wouldn't Die is a National Public Radio report by Robert Krulwich that aired on March 28, 2006. (6 min, 22 seconds; or read transcript on the web).

Film: Live & Become / Va, Vis et Deviens (Radu Mihaileanu, 2004)

2006-03-23T18:35:00.000-08:00

Va, Vis et Deviens, or Live and Become is the Epic story of a young Ethiopian Christian refugee whose mother sends him to Israel at age 9, telling him to pretend he is a Jew, and what happens to him over the following 18 years. This is a beautiful and touching film on so many levels: the clash of ancient and modern cultures, coming to terms with racism, the refugee and immigrant experience, magnificently filmed and with a fabulous ensemble cast. Very highly recommended.

NY State Veterans Depleted Urananium/Hazardous Chemicals Testing/Registry/Care Act A9116

2006-02-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday February 7th in Albany, New York, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) hosted a press conference to introduce Bill A9116.

The bill assumes commits the New York State Adjutant General (presumably with assistance from the Department of Health) to finding causes and sources of illnesses that returning soldiers from overseas conflicts experience, when those soldiers at New York residents, and for enabling care for those illnesses of NY returning soldiers.

Similar bills are now law in Connecticut and Louisiana, unfortunately because the US Department of Defense and the US Veterans Administration are stonewalling veterns who return from Iraq will illnesses, although there is extensive evidence that theese veterans have contracted Radiation Sickness as a result of the large amount of depleted uraninian that US Forces are exposed to during their Iraq duties.

Following an article in the New York Daily News in 2004, briefings by some vets were held on Capitol Hill, but so far with little effect. Here is an excerpt from a letter by one national guard member, Herbert Rudolph Reed, that was sent to our Representatives before the 2005 briefing in Washington:

My NG Unit, the 442nd Military Police Company, Orangeburg, New York Armory, served in Samawah, Iraq in 2003. Our base and living area was within a railway yard, in this town which was a “burial” site for radioactive Iraqi tanks partially destroyed in the First Gulf War. Trenches were dug. The vehicles and equipment, “hot” with radioactivity from U.S. depleted uranium shells which had incapacitated them, were covered with desert sand. That sand where we camped was tested with Geiger counters by the Dutch military who were supposed to replace us when our deployment was over. They pronounced the area “uninhabitable.”

That highly contaminated desert sand was used to form traffic islands in the local roads we traveled. Our mess tent was next to the road. The microscopic particles of uranium, still radioactive of course, were continually blowing around for us to inhale and also ingest when we ate and even talked. Every morning we broom-swept the layers of brown dust which had settled on the floor. The train yard itself, where we slept every night for months, held abandoned flat cars with wrecks of Iraqi tanks sitting on them.

These tanks, I know now, contained uranium particles in a thick layer of “dust,” the product of the intense burn of the dense depleted uranium shells which had penetrated the tank armor and incinerated the occupants. Uranium oxides particles are microscopic and in the form of jagged molecules which, easily inhaled, lodge in the lungs, the kidneys, and eventually settle in the bones. Their active alpha rays steadily destroy adjacent cells including stem cells in the bone marrow and DNA strands.

I must emphasize here that I have learned all this after serving in Iraq. While serving there, none of us knew the danger we were in. I had never heard of depleted uranium. The U.S. Army had sent us
there with out mentioning the radioactivity, let alone supplying us with protective equipment.

When we returned to the United States, we of the 442nd had no ideas why we experienced sleeplessness, skin rashes, muscle and joint aches, enlarged thyroids, burning urination, blood in urine and stools, headaches, difficulty breathing and gum disease. Then we received our positive test results, funded by the Daily News, done in a German laboratory with an advanced mass spectometry testing process sensitive to the various isotopes of uranium, unlike the crude full body tests done by the VA. We learned that these symptoms, lumped into the phony category of “Gulf War Syndrome,” are in reality the symptoms of radiation poisoning. My positive test included U236, which, like U238, is only found in processed uranium. not in nature. One of us, Gerard Matthews fathered a beautiful baby girl with a specific anomaly, missing fingers, which is found now in Iraqi children and in at least one girl whose parent grew up next door to a DU weapon fabrication plant in this country..

Before we called Juan Gonzales of the Daily News, we tried to get answers to our illnesses through military channels. One of us, a medic, had heard of depleted uranium as a health issue. We approached the Medical staff at Fort Dix to inquire about a test for exposure. They promised to check with Walter Reed Hospital and notify us immediately upon receiving a reply. In one week we were summoned to a meeting.

At that meeting I lost all respect for the military after having given nineteen years, nine months and twenty days of faithful service to my country. We were told there was no test to detect depleted uranium in a human body. Our own word of mouth research had discovered the existence of an unmarked door in the basement of an unmarked building which led to a special unit set up to test soldiers suspected of being exposed to depleted uranium. Several members of our unit went to Washington and asked to be tested but were refused. We immediately contacted our Senators, Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer. Senator Clinton had served on the Armed Services Committee. She expressed interest in our plight and held a press conference on the subject. At this point, we began to receive more cooperation from the VA.

We were amazed by what we learned. The Department of Defense had issued after the first Gulf War several Army Regulations (ARS) on the subject of depleted uranium’s danger to human health. These were endorsed by the Armed Services Committee including Senator Clinton. Those regs have never been followed in this present Iraq War although uranium munitions are being delivered all over the country by Abrams tanks, armored vehicles, A-10 Warthog planes, missiles. Every soldier was supposed to receive a full physical prior to being sent to a combat area, including blood and urine tests which would be repeated upon return to civilian life to identify contamination.

For example, Army Regulation 700-48, Headquarters, Department Of The Army, Washington, D.C. September 16, 2002, was the result of Major Douglas Rokke’s mission to clean up the initial radioactive debris from the First Gulf War. It states in part that
1) Military personnel “identify, segregate, isolate, secure, and label all RCE--radiologically contaminated equipment.
2) Procedures to minimize the spread of radioactivity will be implemented as soon as possible.
3) Radioactive material and waste will not be locally disposed of through burial, submersion, incineration or abandonment.”

It also mandates that the Commander, U.S. Army will “provide general awareness (of radioactive materials) to all soldiers who are currently entering or in the U.S. Army.” We are living proof that none of this has been done. Directives are arrogantly ignored that require the United States DOD officials to provide prompt and effective medical care of all exposed individuals (Medical Management of Unusual Depleted Uranium Casualties-Pentagon 10/14/93.)

Here we have 12 year old information that could have prevented others from becoming contaminated, and it was concealed. We have not been protected from this radioactive poison. Our government is riskng its own troops and the human gene pool. I think this is a crime and requires a full investigation. Ten of our ill “Daily News Vets” have retained counsel and filed a notice of claim against the United States Government that we will file a lawsuit in Federal Court.

Will we never learn from our mistakes? All who have served in these contaminated areas, which now includes Baghdad, Fallujah and the Western towns being bombed this June will not know why they are sick or where to turn for help. I think we are only asking for what was promised us when we joined our Armed Forces to serve our country. We think it is time they held up their part of the bargain, and we will not wait another thirty years before they tell the TRUTH.

Congress, the governmental arm of the people, must be a vehicle for exposing and changing this truth. There are too many lives at stake, and we are talking about future generations, about men and women having children and then grandchildren with deformities and cancers, their genes altered forever. Do we really need this? Don’t we have enough diseases we cannot cure now? A crime is being perpetuated against our soldiers and future generations. I pray that you as members of Congress get on board, support our day in Washington by attending our briefing and by helping us make this best kept of all criminal secrets known to all Americans. If you support the truth, you will support the troops.

NY Theater: The Light in the Piazza (Craig Lucas, Adam Guettel, dir by Bartlett Sher)

2005-12-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

I was tremendously impressed with the acting, staging, scenery, story and music of "The Light in the Piazza", a musical based on a late 1950s novella by Elizabeth Spencer that began as a story in The New Yorker magazine. Victoria Clark's performance, as the American mother revisiting Italy over the summer with her 20-something daughter, Clara (played by Katie Clarke) is excellent. It is a summer that transforms both of them.

Very highly recommended.

See Lincoln Center Theater website.

Film/Video: WinterSoldier (1971, re-release 2005, 95 min)

2005-11-12T06:58:00.000-08:00

I saw a fascinating and disturbing documentary, called
Winter Soldier (Winterfilm Collective including Barbara Koppel, Robert Fiore, Rhetta Barron, Michael Lesser, USA, 1971, 16mm to BetaSP, 95 min.) .

Chronicling the extraordinary Winter Soldier Investigation conducted by Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) in Detroit during the winter of 1971, Winterfilm Collective (18 filmmakers) shot footage of more than 125 Vietnam veterans (including a very young John Kerry) that gave eyewitness testimony to war crimes and atrocities they either participated in or witnessed.

The testimony given was occuring about one month after the US Media started covering the charges against Lt. Calley and others for the My Lai massacre, and a critical question was "Is this a rare exception, or more widespread throughout our troops?".

Virtually unreported by the media, WINTER SOLDIER is the only record of this historic gathering, a turning point in American history. Shown at the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals and lauded throughout Europe, it only opened briefly in Manhattan, and was broadcast for a single showing on New York's WNET Television.

Then it was not seen anywhere else in North America after 1972. It was too painful for the American public to see how a combination of bad army policy (centered on body counts) and fear were causing some of our field troops in Vietnam to become callous to the point of criminality. At the same time, since 85% of American troops were not out in the field, but doing support work at supply depots, communication hubs, helicopter repair sites, many of the troops did not know or experience what was going on.

Thirty-five years later, the veterans' courage in testifying and their desire to prevent further atrocities and regain their own humanity makes WINTER SOLDIER an unforgettable experience.

The recent abuses of prisoners of Abu Ghraib, and in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo have sometimes been reported as unprecedented. The voices of the veterans in Winter Soldier attest that they were not. The difficulties of Americans in distinguishing between Viet Cong undercover militants and simply distrustful Vietnamese villagers, and the disasterous consequences, is beginning to repeat in Iraq, where Improvised Explosive Devices have scarred enough of our troops that they also struggle to distinguish, in a second or two, undercover insurgents from simply distrustful Iraqi civilians, and sometimes make the wrong choice.

If you can see this film, which is playing sporadically around the US, please do. Otherwise, I believe a DVD version will become available in January.

National Public Radio did a story about the plans to re-release the film which includes some audio excerpts - View/Listen (reported by John Kalish, 7 min).

Vice President Cheney should resign

2005-10-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

This is a letter to the Editor I wrote today.
When a private-sector executive, or a not-for-profit executive, or a university or hospital executive hires and retains a chief-of-staff who violates the law, the Board of Trustees usually expects the Executive to tender his/her resignation; because they are responsible for supervising the people who work for them.

Vice President Dick Cheney is the person that hired and supervised Scotter Libby. In my analogy, the people of America are the Board of Trustees. I expect Vice President Cheney to resign.

This is not a hair-splitting issue. The US Senate impeached President Clinton for his sexual improprietaries with an intern, a matter of no great historical consequence. If Vice President Cheney does not resign, then Senators Schumer and Clinton must begin the process of impeaching the Vice President. He clearly played an active role in deceiving the American people as to the true reasons the US chose to invade Iraq. Trying to discredit Ambassador Joe Wilson's report was one of these actions.

This deception of the American people, to me, is close to treason. Over 2000 American service men and women and tens of thousands of Iraqis perished; and resources were diverted from the true effort against Jihadist Terrorism around the globe.

Its time for a new, honest, Vice President -- one who can be straight with the American people.

Sincerely,
Robert J Schloss

Winning the Oil Endgame (Rocky Mountain Institute)

2005-10-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

The United States could eliminate the need to import oil and natural gas from unstable overseas suppliers AT A PROFIT, with about 20 years of change that would create jobs and strengthen our agriculture sector. The change would primarily be to the transportation sector. This book explains how, and a 4-page executive summary is available online.

Film: Good Night, And Good Luck (George Clooney & Grant Heslov, Warner Independent, 2005)

2005-10-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

Good Night, And Good Luck is a brilliantly filmed, acted, and written story of 5 years in the life of CBS Television News Reporter Edward R. Morrow and his team. Based on actual events, and including some archival footage, this is one of the best films of 2005 and possibly of the last 5 years. Not to be missed!

Science of the Earth: Sea Ice Decline Accelerates

2005-09-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

Scientists from the National Snow and Ice Data Center and the University of Washington reported on September 28th that four the 4th year in a row, Arctic Ice mass declined, and in an accelerating trend. See their Web Press Release.

Documentary: Paperclips (2004)

2005-09-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

Paperclips (directed by Joe Fab and Elliot Berlin, Johnson/Ergo/Miramax) is a sweet film about a middle school in Tennessee, in a poor town mostly full of white protestant families, which has an after-school club to learn about the Holocaust. Following 3 staff members, a handful of 8th graders, and some reporters who learn about their project to collect 6 million paperclips, one for each Jewish victim murdered by the Nazi's, the 4-year window into this project which was is in the film contains many twists and turns, and shows what happens when adults and youth begin to confront the uglier side of history. Highly recommended.

Gulf Coast Hurricane Relief - Donating Beyond the American Red Cross

2005-09-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

Despite the billions of dollars that the US Federal Government will distribute for mitigation of the suffering and destruction caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, private moneys are needed throughout September and October. You can channel this through many organizations, especially the American Red Cross, or through these channels.

Mazon

In the Metro-NY area,
UJA-Federation Katrina Relief.

Cartoonists Imagine Republican Strategies for Disaster Assistance

2005-09-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ted Rall's Bushist Disaster Relief is one of my favorites.

Jen Sorensen's Slowpoke cartoon "The Bush Administration Responds to Katrina" is also insightful. See Slowpoke Comics Cartoon Achives

Garrison Keillor on College Majors and Cultural Chatter, including Blogs

2005-09-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

When I was in college, the smart people were going into engineering, which had solid long-term prospects, and only we dweezils majored in English, and look what happened: Engineers are being laid off, America is losing its capacity to manufacture things, but every day we out trillians of words about ourselves, bloggers blogging, floods of memoir, day-dreaming, carpet-chewing, and when the Chinese repo men eventually come to collect on our debt, they will find a nation of highly articulate self-aware people who can't change an oil filter but maintain wonderful websites. A nation of English majors.

(Garrison Keillor)

Reinhold Neiburh Quote: Saved by hope, faith, love, forgiveness

2005-09-23T22:29:00.000-07:00

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,

Therefore, we are saved by hope.

Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;

Therefore, we are saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.

Therefore, we are saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;

Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

Reinhold Niebuhr

How Lousiana spent its FEMA grant to plan for evacuation of New Orelans

2005-09-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

From John Tierney's NY Times column "From FEMA to WEMA" of September 20th:

In 1997, Congress gave FEMA $500,000 and ordered it to develop a comprehensive plan to evacuate New Orleans. The agency passed on the money to Louisiana, which used it instead to study building a new bridge. As Rita Beamish of The Associated Press reported on Sunday, FEMA didn't bother making sure a plan was drawn up - an aide to James Lee Witt (FEMA director under President Clinton) said its job had just been to pass on the money.

Number of Category 4 and 5 Hurricanes Doubled In the Last 35 Years

2005-09-18T19:59:00.000-07:00

Scientists at Georgia Tech and the National Center for Atmospheric Research reported in the journal Science that, while Sea temperatures rose between 1970-2004, the number of Category 4 and 5 Hurricanes Doubled In the Last 35 Years. Details are in a National Science Foundation Press Release.