You must really be living in fear. "If I use my real name, or even a regular handle, the terrorists will win and be at my door to kill me and my single-guy cat."

Tarantino is a braggard and a fraud. He is plowing the same old violence and gore fields that people plowed decades ago. At least in the 60's, Corman and the other B directors were competing against a corrupt A-list Hollywood system. These days, Tarantino, del Toro and the others gladly work for that same corrupt system.

There are people doing subversive, wild films with intrinsic meaning out there on the Internet. They are not trying to make a fortune from an audience that they perceive to be trained monkeys. And since the megacorps that run Hollywood are afraid of ideas, they'll stick with the kind of schlock Tarantino pours out.

Now, I don't have a chance in hell to see any of the films that won at Cannes. Blockbuster won't even carry the DVD's, while they load up on multiple copies of anything Bruckheimer produces. The only way I'll be able to see them is via Bittorrent, which of course makes me a criminal. But at least Tarantino will get what he wanted at Cannes; not an award, but distribution contacts for all those third-world nations that eat up anything gory and nonsensical.

...well, you're courageous enough to use a continual name instead of a pseudonym...face me off at either Atlanta's Dragon*Con or San Diego Comic-Con. If you want to provide round-trip air fare to your location, I may also accept a debate in your home city, at the cardboard box where you live.

Repeat what you said to me, face to face, man to weasel. Be prepared to bring bandages for your tongue, for you will be biting it.

This is an honest offer. And of course, I expect you to duck it. Nice being able to assault people over the Internet without any sense of responsibility, isn't it? Every time one of these people have to stand and deliver in person, they shrivel.

And I'm not even talking about the men who fought that war, God bless them and their families. (I was of draft age then; I didn't go, but I didn't protest either.)

I'm talking about the people who quite often never went, but who staked a lot of their self-esteem on the war's outcome. They were humiliated by our retreat from Vietnam. They believed that America could "tough out" any problem, even if that problem was something they synthesized that America didn't support.

And I've been reading about a critical bunch of these people in Woodward's State of Denial. Anyone who think Bush and Cheney are the only ones responsible should read this book. All along the chain of command, everyone shows the same delusions about "toughness" and "will" and all that other nonsense.

I have a mechanic who is a good man, an honest man, but a man burned by Vietnam. He still keeps bumper stickers on his cars proclaiming Jane Fonda as the running mate for Kerry, screaming about Gore's "flip flops," every right wing bumper sticker thought for the last eight years. His Vietnam wounds still bleed.

I don't think there will be any kind of peace until the last of the people affected by Vietnam finally die. And then, there'll be the generation traumatized by Iraq and Iran to worry about.

The Bush Family Evil Empire has always broadcast the message that there's no reason for "ordinary" Americans to sacrifice anything for this war. Sure, the poor - the people Bush made poor - do most of the fighting and killing, and the Big Boys keep track of the money, the oil, the power. All we've been asked to do is keep buying gas-wasting SUV's and stick magnetic ribbons on 'em.

The characters of Heroes joined together to fight Sylar (the brain-eating guy) and the New York explosion. Even if that wasn't their intention. Of them all, Hiro (the time-warping Japanese salaryman) is the only one truly focussed on it; he saw it happen and its aftermath. Parkman (the mind-reading cop) did it only incidentally, since the FBI asked for his help in finding Sylar. His own life was ruined, and he sought something between revenge and closure. Niki/Jessica (the super-strong schitzoid mom) and D.L. (the black ex-con who walks through walls) only want to help their son - and fought through most of the series because they didn't believe in each other's committment. They only came into the bomb scenario due to the manipulation of Linderman (the British Person who can heal).

In other words, many of them cooperated out of accident. But they all did it. Nathan Petrelli (the flying Congressman) apparently sacrificed his life as a last-minute decision, something he showed no signs of doing in advance. (This being a superhero story, he could still be alive with the proper elements.) For whatever reason, all contributed to saving the world. Most Americans in this time and place have contributed little or nothing - because there is no guiding spirit, in political office, in church, in the media or elsewhere, suggesting that we should.

By the way, I spelled out who the characters are above, because Heather Havrilesky is too caffein-addled to know any of them, even if she gave a damn. This article was excellent, and I am so glad she wasn't assigned to write it.