"- these journalists, given their network affiliation, have probably maintained in the past that GITMO was gulag. Do they still stand by that assertion, now that they have been to a real gulag?

- do they still think people get tortured by the US, now that they've seen (and probably experienced) real torture?"

So our bragging rights are that we're not as bad as North Korea? I set my bar for this country quite a bit higher than that.

I guess we could send them to Abu Ghraib and have them experience the "enhanced interrogation" techniques and ask them if it's better or worse than what they went through in North Korea. Maybe have Lyndie England come out and walk them around naked on a leash, waterboard them, sic vicious dogs on them, force them into stress positions for hours on end, and God knows what else that hasn't been made public. I could go on, but you get the picture, your comments are pretty much nonsense.

I'm sure they love their country. Suggesting that those that have high standards for their country don't appreciate or love it is reprehensible. I spent most of my adult life serving my country, and even though I was deeply ashamed of many of the things the Bush administration said and did in the name of the United States, I never once wavered in my devotion to my country. I knew that as bad as Bush was, our country was strong enough to withstand his presidency.

But it's not an either or situation, you can enjoy many types of films. The Breakfast Club really spoke to me and my friends at the time. Until Freaks and Geeks came out, it came the closest to capturing the feel of my high school experience. Sure it didn't capture everybody's, but I don't think it needed to.

I also disagree that all the adult characters were bad. Even as a teen, I really liked Vernon. I could feel his frustration at trying to find a way to deal with, as he viewed him, a criminal like Bender. After they have their shouting match, he's shown privately for a moment, and the expression on Vernon's face showed how conflicted he was about what just happened. That was some great acting by Paul Gleeson there.

And hey, if you didn't like his teen comedies, he also made Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, that is definately a comedy classic.

Bravo, I loved reading your comparison of Ferris and Dubya, very funny stuff! I was always struck by the sort of dark subtext of the film. On one hand it's light and funny, Ferris impersonating the 'sausage king', everybody dancing to Twist and Shout, the hapless principal Rooney. But on the other hand, we all know what's going to happen to Cameron when his father gets home.

I've seen this a lot, with people wondering why Allison had to change to get the guy. But I don't think she did, Andrew was already attracted to her. I think it was more about the snobbish Claire doing something, she felt, that was nice for her.

I know what you're saying about Vacation, at least the first one. It was in many ways a very dark comedy, the dog being dragged behind the car, the dead aunt tied to the roof, leaving the dead aunt in a chair with a note pinned to her, the implied incest between Cousin Eddy and his daughter, Clark having a mental breakdown and taking hostages. I hated European Vacation, Christmas Vacation was watered down but ok, and I never saw Vegas Vacation.

I thought there was always a darker theme running through his movies, along with the cheery fun. I don't agree with a lot of your feelings toward his movies, but they were well thought out and I enjoyed reading your opinions.

"Only in the movies does a bicycle delivery guy get to bed the hottie."

I don't know about that, they might not marry the bicycle delivery guy, but they'll date him. At this place I used to work, there was a guy that worked there that got caught robbing a convenience store, with a snake. All he asked for was forty dollars and two packs of cigarettes, so he was dumb as well as a criminal. Because of priors, he was looking at twenty years in prison. But he dated the best looking girls there, and eventually ended up marrying one of them. He eventually was convicted, and sent to prison. I don't know if she stuck it out, but she knew exactly what his prospects were when she dated and married him

Personally, I wouldn't want to date a woman that would be interested in a guy like that, no matter how beautful she was, but I think there's some truth to women being attracted to the bad boy.

I loved all those movies you mentioned, but I don't understand why online it always becomes an either/or situation. I can enjoy the lighter John Hughes movies, Pretty In Pink and Sixteen Candles were ok, but always seemed more geared to girls. But The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off are the ones I think really stand the test of time. Both of them have darker elements in them that people tend to forget. The Breakfast Club especially, it's sort of like a teen version of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf.

But enjoying those films doesn't preclude me from loving Heathers, Real Genius, or Risky Business. Someone else mentioned Suburbia, and I would agree, that was a great movie. It's possible to enjoy a wide spectrum of films.

Also, the leading characters of all those movies you mentioned were white, suburban teenagers.