Whatever your political persuasion, I think it’s not difficult to be moved by some of the scenes in F-9/11. Moore isn’t a raving anti-American peacenik as some people have tried to portray him. His interviews with American soldiers and their families are deeply respectful and compassionate. Moore’s beef isn’t with the military; it’s with Bush and his administration for getting us into this mess. The clips of Bush should be particularly embarrassing for any self-respecting American. He comes across as decidedly un-Presidential, often behaving vacuous or simply overwhelmed. I don’t know if this movie will give Kerry any bounce in the polls, but it definitely can’t hurt him.
I should note that it was a good thing I bought tickets in advance because the 7:00 showing at the Lagoon was sold out when I got there. And almost everyone applauded at the end.
Oh, and I’m not sure what Bush is trying to accomplish when he commissioned an ad juxtaposing Hitler with Kerry. It’s more puzzling than upsetting. Is his campaign starting to feel a little desperate? The Hitler card is usually a strategy of last resort in political debates.

I had the CBS Early Show on while I was getting ready for work and they were showing a human interest story about a couple who adopted a baby after being scammed by a fertility clinic. The wife happened to have cerebral palsy and, at the end of the story, the interviewer made a point to say that “Mom is never alone with the baby” and that “advocates for people with cerebral palsy say that there is nothing about her disability that prevents her from being a mother.”
Hey, CBS, condescending much? The very fact that those statements were uttered implies that the audience should feel a little nervous about the whole situation. I’ve read about a number of situations where where parents with disabilities are assumed to be incompetent and/or neglectful and it’s maddening. Last time I checked, there wasn’t a job description for parents that mentioned physical ability as a prerequisite. Witness all the crappy able-bodied parents in the world. I think I’ll e-mail a brief admonishment to CBS for having such bone-headed reporters. But I got a small measure of comfort when Michael Moore came on as the next guest and lambasted the network for being completely dropping the ball in its reporting during the lead-up to the Iraqi invasion.

Mattie Stepanek, child author of Heartsongs and its many sequels, died today. Whatever you may have thought of his poetry, the kid had a lot of heart. He accomplished what most writers only dream of, getting his work published and read by millions of people. And along the way, he got to hang with Oprah and Jimmy Carter. Mattie made his mark on the world and he will be remembered by others, which I think is the most any of us can hope for.
Jeri Ryan was the only reason I watched Star Trek: Voyager (some of you may be noticing that my viewing choices are easily swayed by a pretty face). Divorce papers recently made public indicate that her Jack Ryan, her ex, a millionaire running for the Senate in Illinois, wasn’t content to simply show her off at the restaurants and country clubs. He took the whole concept of public displays of affection to an extreme, taking his wife to sex clubs and asking for a little nookie in front of the other patrons. I’m relieved to know that not all Republicans are sexless cyborgs like Cheney. People should get as freaky as they want, assuming the other party is welcoming of said freakiness. The Democratic candidate (Barack Obama, my favorite person to watch in this election cycle) is too classy to make an issue of this, but the GOP morality police (I’m looking at you, DeLay) will would be well-advised to tone down their “family values” diatribes.

It never fails. Every six months I have to fill out paperwork to demonstrate that I am still eligible for Medical Assistance. And 50% of the time, Hennepin County manages to foul things up. I got a letter from them today saying they never received my documentation. Damn bureaucrats. Er, not that there’s anything wrong with bureaucrats per se. I hear some of them are quite capable.
Isaac Asimov included the concept of a “neural whip” in some of his books. The basic concept of the whip was that it was a kind of mob control device; you simply pointed it at a person and it would inflict severe pain sensations throughout the individual’s nervous system. Looks like someone in the military liked Asimov’s idea so much that they decided to build the real thing. We can probably expect to see it deployed in Iraq by the end of the year, giving the Iraqi people another reason to love us.
Today marks the summer solstice. Show of hands: how many of you were at Stonehenge at 3 a.m. this morning to celebrate? Nobody? How disappointing. It’s a bit discouraging to know that after today, the nights are only going to get longer. The bright mornings make it so much easier to wake up.

On Monday morning in the Mojave desert, an extraordinary thing may happen. A privately funded, privately manned vehicle will be attempt to ascend to 65 miles above Earth, the threshold of space. SpaceShipOne is part of a larger effort to privatize space exploration. Motivated by the X Prize (given to the first team that can launch a crew of three into space in the same machine twice in two weeks’ time), several teams are working to show that spaceflight is not the exclusive domain of governments. This might be the kind of thing that finally gives NASA a kick in the ass. If space is ever going to be accessible to more than a few dozen people, corporate interests have to see that people and goods can be ferried into space cheaply and easily. Of course, an even better technology for getting into orbit, the space elevator, lies on the horizon. I may never get my space station, but maybe by the time I retire I can take a vacation at an orbiting Holiday Inn.