Archive For January 2010
To Pass Health Care, Dems Should Be Against It
on January 31, 2010 by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
President Obama made a point the other day in speaking at the Republican retreat to say he wasn’t an ideologue, and while there was skepticism in his audience about whether that was true, there was agreement in both parties that not being an ideologue is a good thing.
Is it? Maybe the problem is that neither party has any ideology anymore — its just all about getting the money you need to run commercials at election time, and being against whatever the other party is for. For example, why is the decision to have the trial of Khalid “Shake Shake Shake” Mohammed in New York a Democratic position, and not having it in New York a Republican position? Republicans are usually the 24 loving macho warriors. Isn’t it the more macho position to be saying, “Damn right we’re going to try them at the scene of the crime! We’re going to make that bastard look at Ground Zero right out the window of the courtroom every day — we’re going to stick his nose in it like a dog who’s made a mess on the rug: ‘Look what you did! Bad dog! Bad!!’”? I can much more easily imagine Bill O’Reilly making that case than Obama.
Korea maintains mandatory HIV testing despite lifting travel ban
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
January 2010 has seen the lifting of travel bans for HIV-positive people in two countries: the United States and South Korea. Barack Obama referred to the ban in the US as a “step that will encourage people to get tested and get treatment. It’s a step that will keep families together, and it’s a step that will save lives.”
In South Korea, however, the lifting of the HIV-travel ban appears more like an empty gesture. While the government has announced a change in “internal policy” that allows HIV-positive foreigners to enter the country, there have been no actual legislative changes that make the decision legally binding.
HuffPost Weekend Box Office Review: Avatar Crosses $2 Billion Worldwide
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Avatar won the box office derby for the seventh straight weekend, taking the record for the biggest seventh weekend gross ($30 million) from Titanic ($25 million). Dropping just 14%, the unstoppable monster has now grossed $594 million, meaning it will cross Titanic’s $600 million gross in the next 2-3 days, perhaps on the very day (Tuesday the 2nd) that the Oscar nominations are announced. Early last week, it surpassed Titanic’s worldwide box office gross to become the world’s highest-grossing movie. This weekend it crossed the seemingly unfathomable $2 billion mark worldwide. You can babble all you want about inflation, 3D and IMAX ticket prices, and what have you to your hearts’ content, but check out this little statistic: When Avatar reaches $2.239 billion, which it will in the next two or three weeks, it will have doubled the worldwide take of every other movie ever made except Titanic. It will also soon have an over $1 billion lead over any movie not directed by James Cameron. There’s not much more to say at this point than ‘wow’ and don’t make a sequel, so let’s move on…
Second place went to the Mel Gibson comeback vehicle Edge of Darkness. The Martin Campbell suspense thriller (remade from the director’s own 1985 BBC miniseries) pulled in $17 million. All eyes were focused on this one, as it was Gibson’s first starring role since 2002’s Signs. The opening isn’t terrific but it’s not terrible either. The film was advertised as a variation on Taken, but anyone paying attention to the preview could tell that it was more of a procedural investigation drama than a slam-bang thriller. The opening is right in line with Martin Campbell’s non-blockbuster debuts, just above the $16.3 million opening for 2005’s The Legend of Zorro and the $15.5 million debut of 2000’s Vertical Limit. Considering this picture cost $80 million (or about what the other two Campbell films cost), I’m sure Warner is hoping for something closer to Vertical Limit’s $69 million finish as opposed to The Legend of Zorro’s $46 million end total. Pardon the pun, but this was neither his brightest day nor his blackest night.
Gray Matters–A Kennedy Dream Denied
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Another piece of Ted Kennedy’s dream of universal health care may be lost in the compromise meat grinder that has produced a deformed, complicated, top heavy and unpopular pro-insurance company bill-his proposal to begin building, for the first time, a civilized policy for the long term care of millions of elderly and disabled Americans.
First, the apparent loss of a strong public Medicare-like choice among the insurance options, included in Kennedy’s bill, will likely mean that private insurers won’t offer younger workers and aging boomers long term care insurance at an affordable price. Only a few employers, including the federal government, offers such policies.
Peaceful Revolution: Rhodes Scholar Mothers Face Inequality Too
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
A great deal of our popular discourse on “successful women” is centered around the alleged question of “work-life balance.” Can a professional woman, at the top of her career, really, ever, “Have it all?”
For many, the words “Rhodes Scholar” represent Success with a capital ”S.” As a woman — and one of the first among us to be a Rhodes Scholar — I’ve always been interested in what, precisely, defines “Success” for our generation, and what will define it for generations to come. It is interesting and I must admit, disappointing, that at Rhodes Scholar reunions, women are still shepherded to panels on “work life balance.” And that we are told — by our Rhodes women peers — that we are “redefining success.” Why can’t we succeed on the same plane as the men?
When the French Spiced Up Film: Rohmer, Truffaut, Godard and Cahiers Du Cinema
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
I happened to meet recently with a film student from Paris who wondered why so few Americans attended a certain French film festival held recently in New York City. My somewhat involved response came with some brief historical perspective, which follows.
Just as Hollywood began losing its way in the fifties (much like today, except then their feeble response was Cinemascope, not CGE), France was becoming known for something new and different: a whole new take on how films should be made and assessed.
Credit Card Legislation Means Consumers Under 21 Need a Way to Navigate the ‘Plastic Gap’
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
In the past several decades, the way we pay for things has made plastic, not cash, king. The rise of plastic began with credit cards which for years have attracted consumers despite high interest rates and constantly changing fine print. The new Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, which takes full effect on February 22, promises to give consumers much-needed relief by keeping more of the hard-earned money in the pockets of the people who earned it.
This sweeping legislation cracks down on rate increases, eliminates certain tricky practices, improves transparency and protects arguably the most vulnerable among us – young consumers. Anxious to make their way in the world and not always aware of the long-term financial consequences of their actions, anyone under the age of 21 will be much more protected from the dangers of credit cards. However, there are consequences they may not like.
Praise the Lord and Pass the Football
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Next Sunday, we rededicate ourselves to the proposition that football is America. The commercial enterprise, humbly termed by Pete Rozelle as “The Super Bowl,” features orchestrated violence, women in short skirts and creative advertising designed to make us all eager consumers. Many prayers will be said between now and then in the hope and anticipation that divine intervention will steer the fates towards our favored team. This combination — all scheduled for the Lord’s Day — is our contribution to modern culture.
The Super Bowl this year features two extraordinary quarterbacks and 52 other players on each squad prepared to do battle. Both teams count on God’s support, and the victory will be His. That is somewhat confusing, however. I did not know God took sides in a football game.
Wal-Mart Billionaire Wants $8 Million Subsidy
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Missouri Sports Mogul Needs Welfare To Build Superstore
By Al Norman
Is Apathy Socially Redeeming?
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Many an activist and other members of the liberal left (sorry, conservatives, there’s nothing derogatory about that term you use for us) has torn out his or her hair over apathy on the part of the general public. Why do so few Americans care about inhumanity and injustice? Worse, why do they often vote against their own interests?
What compounds our frustration and bewilderment over our fellow Americans’ negligible participation in the political process is the overarching irony. We’re citizens of the nation that put participatory democracy on the map for God’s sake. How did we arrive at this sad state of affairs, which I call the enduring enigma of the American public?