Please consider adding Elf. Christian oriented but funny for all audiences. Also, Tremors has a lot of profanity for younger kids. It is probably best for middle school and up, which I think the author mentioned needs their own list. Anyone want to start one? It is a challenging age group that tends to watch a lot of movies.

Most likely some of the Chinese gymnasts are not of Olympic age. This concern is not new in gymnastic though. Romania, East Germany and others were accused of this same violation in their heyday. The same goes for doping. These kids (if from poor families) are carrying the welfare of many on their shoulders. I do root for the Americans but feel sick for the Chinese when things go poorly and will not be upset if the Chinese win gold. They are under a level of pressure, and at a very young age, that the US women cannot relate to. The Chinese take a gamble though in assuming the very young can handle it.

Also, the lack of fear and so forth is mentioned as a reason to use younger gymnasts. The elephant in the room is the prepubescent body. It performs gymnastics better, on a whole, than a mature female body does.

Also rooting for Oksana from Germany (age 33)! She is exactly what the sport needs right now.

I realize this is a liberal blog and we are more prone to support the underdog. In this Olympics, in terms of media coverage, anyone not Phelps is the underdog.

Bolt's run was amazing but to detract from what Phelps did is wrong. I am not a track fan but has anyone ever won the 100, 200, 400, 100 hurdles, 200 hurdles, the steeplechase and relays, all in one Olympics? I am guessing if someone did that they would be getting even more attention than Phelps. Some people want to compare the different strokes in swimming to running backward, forward etc. That is silly. Have these people ever swam competitively? Anyone who has any knowledge of swimming would never use this analogy. If Usian Bolt competed in all of the event listed above he would have a few close calls (if he could even win them all).

Phelps won his two specialties, the 200 IM and 200 Fly by a wide margin.

Bolt is great, Phelps is great. Yes, Phelps coverage is a bit much but just deal with it. Just because one athlete is great does not mean another is less so.

This may not be quite the right forum for this question but as the responses are covering a range of issues I will ask.

Is being shot down as a pilot really something to be proud of (in pilot circles)? Is there some level of embarrassment in that? Didn't WWII vets feel being a POW was shameful?

Not saying I agree, but wondering as a friend was mentioning how public opinion on these things has changed.

Same friend wonders if Biden can say something to the effect of "we honor McCain's service as we honor that of the several thousand pilots that did not get shot down."

Too harsh and disrespectful, but question remains how do pilots feel about it? Is it just an unfortunate thing that happens or a commentary on ability?

My background: liberal was not planning on voting for Obama after FISA but am back in his camp after the DNC.

This morning: in an afterglow from the convention and particularly last night. Seeking out people to talk about how great Obama was. Having feeling of healing, hope for future etc. (however naive that may be).

Fast forward to McCain's announcement. WTF? smiles, checkmate, we win.

Then, notice news not about Obama anymore, conversations not either. McCain's crazy announcement completely turned the attention away from Obama, the day after one of the most important political events in American history.

Notice Obama can fill a stadium, not just last night, but any time he feels like it? Has anything like this ever occurred? No. A populist candidate that can bring more people into the political arena than a rock star to a concert must be very challenging to the repubs, who have nothing to offer but fear, and now sideshows.

Palin, with a one year old child with special needs, will have the perfect excuse to exit.

This was a masterful move by Rove. He managed to take the attention off Obama when we would otherwise be talking about his speech and the convention for weeks. At the same time, he made whoever is the real VP seem suddenly mus=ch better than before. Finally, by including a woman that could theoretically be president, who has in no way earned it, took a swipe at the significance of what Hilliary accomplished.

We cannot underestimate Republican campaign tactics. Feel free to underestimate Palin. She will be gone in a week.

As an aside, can we not act like all special needs kids should be aborted or that women with ambition are bad moms-it is really distasteful. I do not doubt that trolls are writing this as it is completely out of line with both feminism and decency.