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Monday, April 30, 2007 12:00 AM

Beyond the Multiplex

A movie about the Bush-Cheney policy of torture that will make you shake with rage. Plus: Alec Baldwin's unintended laugh lines.

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  • Monday, April 30, 2007 04:52 PM

    Thinking beyond tit for tat:

    Comparison and Contrast is one of the simplest essay forms. It is taught in high school, and, in remedial classes, it is taught yet again in college. You don't have to be especially smart to write to the formula.

    Here is an example of the simple formula:

    America is the good guys.

    1.

    2.

    3.

    (list three supporting reasons why we are the good guys)

    Those Arabs over there are the bad guys.

    1.

    2.

    3.

    (list three supporting reasons why those Arabs in Iraq (Afganistan, Iran, etc.) are the bad guys.

    Follow with a brief concluding statement.

    Now that everyone had passed basic essay writing, would anyone like to consider this: We are a democracy. Therefore, we must earn our good guy badge every day. We don't get to act like everyone else whom we abhor. We don't even get to discard others' rights and keep our own constitutional rights to ourselves. We have to consider the rights of all on every possible level. This is because, once we disregard the rights of others, the bad guys in our own nation "will come for us."

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