In addition to backing the House health care reform bill, the AMA now is saying that marijuana is not dangerous.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/282054

Of veterans lacking health insurance in the US:

[A]n estimated 2,266 veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they did not have health insurance. That "translates to six preventable deaths per day" and more than twice the number killed in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.

Money quote: "Peace and profit are ultimately contradictory forces at work in Afghanistan."

Great article:

http://www.alternet.org/world/143828/afghanistan_is_worse_off_than_ever%2C_thanks_to_the_sham_army_we%27re_propping_up

Fans hoping to catch a glimpse Thursday of U2's free concert celebrating 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall will have to ''scale these city walls'' after organizers threw up a barrier to block the view for those without tickets.The move has triggered outrage from Berliners and tourists alike, all of whom see the irony in building wall around a concert dedicated to the wall that has come down.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/05/arts/AP-EU-Germany-MTV-Europe-Awards-U2.html

Great summary/analysis of the House bill on health care reform:

http://www.fcnl.org/issues/health/house-bill-1109.htm

Money quote:  "For the cost of a single additional soldier stationed in Afghanistan for one year, we could build roughly 20 schools there."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/opinion/29kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Headline: Auditor Faults Work on US Embassy in Iraq

The embassy compound, which cost more than $700 million to build, covers 104 acres along the Tigris River.  Which means it's not an embassy, but a major, permanent military base in the heart of Iraq.  Our "embassy" lets us swim in Saddam Hussein's private pools.  Our "embassy" gets regularly fired upon.  But wouldn't ya believe, Cheney couldn't even expand the US empire competently?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/world/middleeast/27embassy.html?_r=1&hp

I'm a huge Coen Brothers fan, so I just go to their movies on faith.  Unfortunately, this one was a serious disappointment, probably my biggest Coen Bros. disappointment since The Ladykillers.

I didn't find A Serious Man to be funny, although some of you might enjoy the overpowering Jewiness to the whole setting.  I also found the ending to be hugely disappointing.  The acting was strong and the writing was realistic, but usually when they make a movie that adds up to nothing I had a much better time during the journey.

I don't think much of Nicholas Kristof, but if a mainstream voice like his points out the futility of our efforts in Afghanistan, then I am optimistic about change ahead.  Isn't a "land war in Asia" supposed to be known as a huge blunder?  Isn't Afghanistan known as the "graveyard of empires?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/opinion/22kristof.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

Great medium length article about Barack Obama the author.

http://www.gq.com/news-politics/politics/200911/barack-obama-writing-books-writer-robert-draper

The newest Michael Moore film was a serious disappointment to me.  I know I'm not the intended audience, as I already knew everything presented in the film.  I've seen all of Moore's films, and unfortunately his worst tendencies as a filmmaker seem to be winning out.  There was zero humor in the film, and we didn't see Moore even pull off any interesting stunts like he did in TV Nation.  Way too much footage was spent manipulatively showing normal ugly Americans cry over various tragedies that have befallen them without really making the case that the blame lies solely with the corporations.  Even my friend who I saw it with left wanting to point out the culpability of the victims, something the movie never even addresses to refute.

There was no 'love story' of any thematic kind: it was apparently just a catchy subtitle for the film.  It took the most scattershot approach to critiquing "capitalism" and never focused on one thing long enough to really examine it. 

Granted, Moore is not a theoretical sort-- he's more interested in taking a phenomenological approach of just seeing what is happening and who is hurt and killed from it.  He's not that interested in spelling out specific solutions either.  He advocates getting mad at the gilded class screwing over everyone else, he showed co-ops as a democratic alternative to our normal workplaces, and he advocated resisting/striking and forming unions.  But that's all.

If people want to learn about what's wrong with what currently passes for capitalism, they would be much better off reading the excellent book, When Corporations Rule the World by David Korten.

I know it's only October, but this is the best film I've seen this year.  In some ways you can call it, as bassist has, "An American Shaun of the Dead."  In other ways it seems very true to the spirit of the '70s Dawn of the Dead, but I left the theater in a surprisingly good mood.  How could a zombie movie leave me feeling so happy?

It starts with Woody Harrelson getting a perfect role for him, adds an awesome cameo (I won't give it away), and stirs in a surprisingly good soundtrack.  It just seemed to hit all the right notes.  Strongly recommended.

Another short defense of Obama's Nobel:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/9/791680/-Nobel-Shock-shows-America-oblivious-to-its-reign-of-terror

Obama revealed to be collecting dynamite money.

Here's the text of the nobel award announcement:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”

Not that it's any of my business, but I'm glad that the First Lady's mother is living in the White House.