The Up-or-Down Vote on Obama’s Presidency

The money in Washington is on Health Care legislation not passing this year. FRANK RICH is hedging his bets on this issue.  But he articulates forcefully that Obama needs to create an overarching narrative before it is too late for his presidency. WEDNESDAY’S health care rally was one of President Obama’s finest hours. image [Read More]

An Amazing Nordic Tale

David Brooks reports an amazing Nordic Tale that I want to see made into a movie. The Hard and the Soft (NY Times) The United States, a nation of 300 million, won nine gold medals this year in the Winter Olympics. Norway, a nation of 4.7 million, also won nine. This was no anomaly. Over the years, image [Read More]

Somebody’s Mother

by Mary Dow Brine The woman was old and ragged and gray And bent with the chill of the Winter’s day. The street was wet with a recent snow And the woman’s feet were aged and slow. She stood at the crossing and waited long, Alone, uncared for, amid the throng Of human beings who passed her by Nor heeded the glance of image [Read More]

Candy

The first half of the film was so painful to watch that I considered turning off the DVD player. Strangely enough when words on the screen announce that we are now entering HELL (this is after the two lovers Dan (Heath Ledger) and Candy (Abbie Cornish), according to earlier words of the screen, were in image [Read More]

Romance in the Age of Facebook

Here is a great story by Joe Flint in the LA Times about the challenges about starting and ending a romance with facebook. More than just Facebook friended Two longtime acquaintances connect on the website, and it’s like a whirlwind—it sweeps them up together and then hurls them apart. It was my first romance of the Facebook era. image [Read More]

How to Train the Aging Brain

Here are some useful tips for middle aged people on how to get their brain to perform better. By BARBARA STRAUCH (NY Times) I LOVE reading history, and the shelves in my living room are lined with fat, fact-filled books. There’s “The Hemingses of Monticello,” about the family of Thomas Jefferson’s slave mistress; there’s “House of Cards,” image [Read More]

Now Obama crashes a Party

Health care reforms is hanging in the balance. This is not a good time to have to fly to Copenhagen to salvage even a minimal agreement to contain global warming. President Obama had to resort to some unusual diplomatic tactics: to crash private negotiations. The NYT provides details. The deal eventually came together after a dramatic image image [Read More]

Two Cars, One Night

Rarely do I see good short films. Two Cars, One Night is a sweat little film. I stumbled across it on home page of youtube. I have no idea how this film became so popular within little more than a week. I guess most of us appreciated the romance of childhood once we are adults. image [Read More]

Free Ride in the Presidential Flight Simulator

So your mother told you that one day you also can be president …She exaggerated a bit your chances of getting into the White House—nothwithstanding the recent episode with Michaele and Tareq Salahi. But today you can step into the presidential flight simulator and make a decision about how to handle the request of your image [Read More]