"United 93"

I have seen a ton of movies in my 22 years, but there has never truly been one that has stuck in my mind longer than a half hour, and not one that made me feel compelled to write. Tonight, just because, Shaun and I watched United 93. I'm glad I saw it for a number of reasons.

United 93

9/11 will always be a black mark on the history of our country, not one to be ever remembered fondly. It was a day that may have saved us though. I was too young to really understand what was happening, I was only 11. I could never have fathomed the social and political implications of a thing like this. There was no understanding for a kid in that situation. It looked bad, that was all we knew as kids because we were home watching it on television.

Now, the older we get the more it can be appreciated when we relive the moments. I think the thing that strikes me the most is how angry we became as a country. You don't think of a country as a solitary unit, but in this case that is exactly what we got. It didn't matter if you were from New York City or from California, you were shocked, shaken, and pissed.

It mobilized us as a country to realize that we were "one". That our state's borders didn't need to keep us separated. While many will look at 9/11 as the event that made us socially aware and able to come together; I see it in other ways too.

I think in some ways it has made the United States government turn for the better. Granted, we are not looking so great right now...but that is due to a number of other issues. However, we got stricter which believe it or not, is something I think we needed at that point. If we had continued on our, "we are the best and strongest country in the world parade", for much longer I think we'd be in a far worse place than we are currently. We were arrogant, we felt like we couldn't be touched, and when in fact we were proven wrong, it may have brought us a certain humility that we had been lacking.

In my own opinion we are hearing more about charity, and other country's major problems and how there are people out there finding a solution much more than we ever used to. It may never be enough, but we have become more sympathetic to others in and out of our country.

I feel this even just tonight, as I watched the Rachel Maddow Show, and they were commenting on the politicization  of the shooting in Colorado. They said not to politicize it event, it wouldn't be right. Ezra Klein spoke about how we as a country are mourning the event, and for a moment I thought, "The people in Colorado should be mourning, not everyone else." My thought process being, it happened to a relatively small community not everyone. But then I thought, of course we'd all be mourning. Not because we lost someone, but because once again there was a flaw in the system and we were showing strength, not weakness.

We as a country were showing this community that we understand and see that you are hurting and scared and we are here standing behind you. A part of me feels like 9/11 helped us become that country. Would it be better if it never happened? Of course. Then again, if it hadn't of happened where would we be today?

Political Round-up Craziness

I have been absent from the blog for a while and I apologize school has overtaken any free time I might have, plus I am desperately trying to find moments to sleep and reduce the large deficit I have :)

However, a lot has been happening in the media/political world and it has gotten a little weird.

First up, that beautiful man George Clooney got arrested, with his father no less. What endears Mr. Clooney is that he was leading a protest at the Sudanese embassy in Washington D.C. Well done sir, you have just made yourself all that more appealing to women. Now that is how you get arrested!

Photo credit: Washington Post


My mother just informed me that Mitt Romney spouted some more nonsense today. While that as a whole does not surprise me in the least bit, what he said gave me a laugh. He said that when he becomes President, he will get rid of Planned Parenthood and Obamacare. Okay, so you are going to get rid of an organization that according to their 2009-2010 annual report, administered over 11 million different services? Need I remind you that abortion is not their only service? Included in the 11 million was: STI/STD testing for men and women, contraception (including sterilization for women and vasectomies for men), 6 different types of cancer screenings, pregnancy tests and prenatal services, and finally adoption referrals and family services.

Not to mention for many, Planned Parenthood is their only source of health care! Which is why it blows my mind that he wants to do this. Why mess with a good thing? Because you don't believe in the pill and abortion? Politicians need to stop toying with people's health and lives because of their opinions. It is getting to a dangerous standpoint.

This week, my boyfriend and I eagerly watched the new movie "Game Change". Let me tell you, there were some things I was not expecting. As a whole the movie was pretty good, it had a lot of dramatics and generally stayed true to what the media was saying about McCain's campaign. Except that was sort of the problem. They took what the media played up most about Palin and exaggerated it. They made Sarah Palin look like a total bitch. She was mean and downright nasty in the movie. Which okay, even if she was in real life, I never heard about it before this movie.

 Photo credit: IMDB.com

The thing that bothered me the most, was how dumb Palin was in the movie. Now, I know that even I knew more about politics than this woman, but did she really not know what the Federal Reserve was? How could she have become Governor of Alaska without knowing that? Better question: How did she graduate high school or even middle school without knowing that? It only bothers me that she was portrayed that way because I am seriously afraid that it was truth and she really was that ignorant. 

The only other thing I'll add is this: Woody Harrelson gave a great performance, I continue to be impressed by him. Ed Harris was also pretty good, but McCain in the movie does raise some questions about what the real McCain was really like too.

Finally, the last thing I'm going to hit on today is too good to be true. But the best part is it is true. The founder of Invisible Children, Jason Russell went nutso and was arrested today, for get this, masturbating in public, damaging cars, and being drunk in public. There is a video on TMZ of him naked just flipping his shit on a sidewalk...really weird.

Photo credit: Reuters