A War Diminished

• What I'm Watching/Listening To/Reading:
• Watched In The Valley of Elah, starring Tommy Lee Jones (he was nominated for an Oscar for his role), Charlize Theron, and a cast of others including Josh Brolin, Jason Patric, and James Franco. It deals with the disappearance of a soldier just back from Iraq and his father's quest to find him. Powerful, powerful stuff, written and directed by Paul Haggis (Crash). 2007 had to be one of the best movie years in a very long time. All five of the Best Picture nominees were very good and there were so many other fantastic movies like this one, American Gangster, Sweeney Todd, Hairspray, and Gone, Baby, Gone.
• And last year was the year of Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Casey Affleck. All three were brilliant in a variety of great movies.
• Random Thoughts/Links:
• Painting today and some other housework. I'm covered in primer, Mediterranean, and Ligonier Tan.
• The big event is tomorrow with a work day from 8AM to 6PM. It'll fly by and should actually be a lot of fun.
• Daily Rant:
• After watching Scott McClellan's interview on "Countdown" and the movie I watched tonight, I can't help but be incredibly, incredibly sad about the state of our country. Nobody denies that we entered this war under illegitimate circumstances, yet the stubborness in "staying the course" is heart-breaking. The government, both parties, has used our soldiers as pawns, sending them to mitigate another country's civil war, being misleading or misguided in their statements about progress. More than 4,000 are dead and many, many more wounded physically and emotionally, yet it still continues with no end in sight. Bush and McCain would honor their service, yet they move the bar constantly on what meant success for the Surge and they deny them a generous GI Bill. The Democrats took Congress in 2006 with the promises of ending the war and have not taken one small step in that direction. You may say that I can't really argue this, that I haven't served so I don't know what it's like or what respect our soldiers get, and therefore take anything I say as just unrealistic negativity. This idea of serving in order to do something positive and not just complain is why Pat Tillman signed up. What respect did he get?