They're both about a man facing the end of a disappointing life, trying to achieve some meaning while he still can. (In the case of IKIRU, he's a bureaucrat whose reform plan came to grief long ago, estranged from his son and nicknamed "the mummy," who ends up devoting his last days to pushing through a seemingly hopeless project for a city park.) They both have a '50s existential sensibility.

Great movies about death, which both of these are, are really about life.

And seven presidents were wrong.

Funny, part of the US myth was that everyone living under communism wanted to leave but couldn't.

When exactly did Noam Chomsky support Pol Pot? (Words have often been put in his mouth.)

They expect to be given their due.

"Given the political realities, a cap-and-trade system is the best we're going to get..." What political reality exactly? The answer is: The political reality that Obama himself has created with his refusal to demand anything more than cap & trade. (Remember when the Clintons created the political reality that the only hope for health care reform was the "managed competition" muddle?)

Unfortunately, on an issue like climate change Obama isn't the sort of leader who changes political reality.

An enemy of the perfect is no friend of the good.

It isn't the respectful and dignified wheel that gets the grease.

If McCain were President, the inaugural invocation would have been given by a fundamentalist preacher, the US would still be in Iraq and increasing its presence in Afghanistan, Washington would still be giving billions to the banks, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" would still be in effect, the Department of Justice would be arguing that the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional, Robert Gates would still be Defence Secretary, the White House would be fighting to keep photos of US torture in Iraq secret...

Scary!

That would be TRUE ROMANCE (though THE HUNGER had some style). It had the advantages of a witty Quentin Tarantino script and several quirky cameos (Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt).

Speaking of Tarantino, the detail in RESERVOIR DOGS where the crooks were code-named after colors (Mr. White, Mr. Blond, etc.) was borrowed from the original PELHAM.

Ask for the impossible. Or at least the "not politically feasible."

"If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me!"

NEWSWEEK'S headline "We are all socialists now" clearly doesn't apply to the president.

Be realistic: ask for the "impossible."

Obama's tax increases are actually on the timid side.

What do you think he is, a leader?

"In this new landscape of magical Fed realism, we might well be past the point where morality is even an issue."

In that case, let's drop the pretentions and go for all-out fascism!

Some of them are budding fascists!

As for Churchill, his opponent Clement Attlee astutely called him "Fifty percent genius and fifty percent bloody fool."

What does this prove? That socialism is irrelevant, or that Joan Walsh is unimaginative?

For the record, I'm a bit younger than JW and Obama, but socialism is important to my thinking. Specifically, only socialists are serious about challenging the power of big business. And the current crises (both economic and environmental) show the necessity of thinking outside the box.

Socialism: Now more than ever.

You need to push him!

To argue that a vote for Geoghegan is wasted, you must................ show which candidate one should vote for instead.

You speak of the violent French anarchists of the 1890s as the Western world's first terrorists. Yet the Ku Klux Klan had been active 20 years before in the United States, and I'm sure most people would consider that a terrorist movement.

Nationalize 'em all and let the FDIC sort it out!

The fundamentalists oppose civil unions too. And the end of the day, they'll have to be defeated, not persuaded to stop opposing gay civil rights. Just as the segregationists had to be defeated.

Right after she blasts the Fairness Doctrine, CP mentions the disastrous invasion of Iraq, which happens to be Exhibit A in showing why the Fairness Doctrine is necessary. (Remember when MSNBC canned Phil Donahue's show, despite having the network's highest ratings, because he was challenging the coming war?)

It's characteristically disingenuous of CP to wonder why liberals can't succeed in talk radio while ignoring the fact that too many station owners prefer conservative shows. (The MSM's "undeniable liberal bias" is a particularly threadbare cliche.)

So how big can the deficit get before there's a run on the US dollar?

If they actually succeed in removing the invocation from Obama's inaugural, they'll be doing him a big, big favor.

Obama would gladly pay tomorrow for infrastructure today.

Maybe the strange ideas in Burkina Faso DO matter!

Remember when "the best and the brightest" took America into Vietnam? (See David Halberstam's book.)

And if he picks somebody else, THAT'S the right choice!

Check the Pink Floyd song. (I'd sing it at karaoke if only I could be sure of getting a version without the four-minute guitar solo.)

You know in the opening credits of THE SIMPSONS where they showed Bart writing "I will not..." messages over and over on the blackboard? One week he was writing "Bart Bucks are not legal tender."

He was also the best presidential nominee the Democratic Party had. And one of the best party chairmen they did have.

But don't expect them to say something interesting.

The most recent issue of HARPER'S magazine (October 2008) has the Rebecca Solnit report "News From Nowhere: Iceland's Polite Dystopia." It's very telling about the situation in Iceland today.

Instead of visiting each other by plane or car, see if you can take the train or a bus. It may not be comfortable, but it'll show your committment to saving the earth.

Tell that to the apologists for American terror.