And all we have to show for our adventure in Iraq is an unstable ethinicly based oligarchy and a constant low level civil war that will extend out for years to come and risks getting larger. And the potentail for a full scale civil war between the Kurds and Shiites if no agreement can be reached on how to handle control of the northern oil fields (which has been punted down the road several times now) as well as the north's relative autonomy from the central government. Not to mention an empowered Iran that exerts a great deal of influence in Iraqi affairs that it was unable to do before. And by diverting resources away from Afghanistan we allowed bin Laden to escape and the Taliban to reform itself.

Human Power hits the nail on the head. Cars have FAR more costs than just fuel. There are hundreds of different natural resources that go into producing a 1,500 pound vechicle to move one person a few miles a day. Not to mention all the roads, parking lots, support services etc etc needed to maintain that one person-one car culture. We need to start developing and encouraging alternatives. More mass transit. A reduction in the suburb culture that moves people further and further away from work, shopping and school.

Yes that means we all have to pay a price. But we are well past the point where surviving the damage we are doing to the eco-system will not impose a cost.

Say Anything (by a hair) - Came out the year I graduated. A romatic comedy that even guys like (at least the smart ones).

Benny and Joon - Johnny Depp's Chaplin impersonation is amazing and Mary Stuart Masterson gives a wonderful performance.

I sat through the pilot for Vampire Diaries at Comic Con so I could see the awesome Mythbusters panel that followed.

The problem is the show is trying so relentlessly hard to be earnest and 'deep' that it just falls flat. It desperately needs a sense of humor. It doesn't need to be blatant, but just a small acknowledgement that this has all been done before, a small in-joke, something. Williamson has shown in the past that he is capable of playing on cliches but fails miserably here.

And the lead actor is bad. He has about as much charisma as a can of paint only with less acting range. It makes all those scenes of high school girls drooling over him the whenever he walks by seem really dumb.

That being said the two teenage girls in front of me found the show great and gushed about it. So I guess they are hitting there target demo.

As for the show being based on a book series that came out ahead of Twilight, Tru Blood and Buffy, that's true, the writers and actors spent a LOT of time stressing that fact. But lets run down the cliches:

Good vampire wants to feed on female lead the second he sees blood.

Girl wonders off into woods alone (I hope nothing bad happens)

Sassy best friend

Good vamp just wants to be normal - Bad vamp just wants to feed and enjoy the 'freedom'

etc etc

I was predicting dialogue for pity's sake.

Skip it.

We pay huge amounts of money for healthcare, and get an unhealthy population. We pay huge amounts of money on education relative to the rest of world and we end up with uneducated kids.

We like to spend money in the US. What we don't do very well is spend wisely (look at military vs infrastructure spending).

The 'debate' about a provision in the healthcare bill that would actually evaluate outcomes for differing procedures is a clear example of this. This seems a farily reasonable idea. Find out what treatments work well and steer people towards those treatments. But we can't do that because that might sterr people away from the newest and/or most expensive treatments which we in the US equate to 'best' treatments.

The best things a person can do for their health are actually pretty inexpensive. Eat less food overall. Try and eat more fresh food. Try and set aside 30 minutes to an hour a day for excersize (even it's just to take a walk). Instead we spend huge amounts of money on designer diet food and health club memberships and the outcomes are rarely any better than if you just followed the above advice.

I wasn't certain this was a joke until I got to the section where the unamed legislator claimed white people would be forced to buy from the farmers market. And even then it seemed a little plausible.

So instead of spending the rest of the week and having the Sunday shows do pieces on the substantive message of the Presidents we are going to barraged with whether or not the Republicans are polite enough.

That really isn't much better than what's going on now. The news media once again gets to avoid educating the public about healthcare.

And even worse I guarantee by Sunday the meme will work around to whether or not the Republicans were justified. The media will trot out all the lies that have been told over August and talk about all the 'anger' in America over Obama's plans and how the Republicans were just expressing the natural (and justified) emotions of their constituents.

And then they will move on to how this just PROVES Obama needs to do more to reach out to Republicans.