The Big Red One

For some reason it's Mark Hamill month for me. Every time I turn on the set, there he is. AMC was showing "The Big Red One", and I knew that Hamill was in it - having seen it before. Yeah, I made it a thing to go see anything he was in, and besides "Corvette Summer" (and of course Star Wars) this was the only other movie that was available to me back then.
Lee Marvin was not and still isn't my favorite actors, but the movie played well and held a storyline even though at times it seemed a little infantile.

I wonder if AMC's programming exec really sits down and thinks about the movies they're showing, and what effect they may have upon the viewing public. I mean, we're at war, folks. During other wars it was customary to make movies about the war, against the war, and behind-the-scenes of the war. I've only seen one or two including a documentary of American critical care doctors in Iraq, and one about a group of soldiers and their thoughts on the war.


In contrast, WWII had hundreds of films dedicated to every theatre, island attack, and battlefront. We made propaganda films, we made cartoons, we even made commercials to fund the war. So why aren't we doing that now? How is it that the government is sucking up all the money causing a horrendous deficit, and they're not asking anything but more sons to lose over there?


I admit, these are a lot of questions. It's the first time I've ever seen a war handled this way. Every day the news channels talk about what's happened, if we're handling the withdrawal correctly, and if the American people are still behind Bush.
Yes, we lose boys everyday, no, we're not handling the withdrawal correctly, and no, the people are no longer behind Bush.
Can it be that our government is too sluggish to admit that Bush is a loony? Do they think that leaving him in office for another year will be good for America?
I don't see how. Sure, the senate and house persons are doing fine - they're getting a nice fat yearly salary. But what about middle-income Americans? We're fighting a war ourselves, trying to live. I'm right in the middle, and let me tell you, my taxes are insane, my paycheck is too low, gas is off-the-charts, my rent is sky-high, and food prices are terrible. How can I continue to live in these circumstances?
The answer for many middle income Americans is to become addicted to something, lose everything, and become (effectively) minorities. Then they can apply for social services, get Section 8 housing, get a little part-time job, and live off the government for the rest of their lives-- all the while sapping the rest of the middle income families until finally, the middle class will dissolve, leaving only the poor and the rich.
How is this good for our society?

Our boys come home from war mangled, and they get better care in Germany than they do here. What the heck is wrong with this picture?


Quite honestly, I'm sick of it. I'm going to go live in a rural community where these things won't touch me anymore. I'm going to hide by joining a food cooperative, growing my own food, and -- become a sort of old hippy-commune-type.
Heh...I'll get to be the Flower-child that I never was.