A Bit of Humbug...

Our town is really great in a bazillion ways. I love the fireworks on the 4th of July, for example. But, the parade... I stayed home this year in protest. C and c went. The jet fly-over was great.. The high school marching band is awesome... the floats were lovely... both of them... :( Our parade is usually a bunch of guys in their trucks with signs advertising their local businesses. I have less difficulty with the commercialism at Christmas (at least then, it may be helpful in that you need a gift for someone..) Where C was standing, the populace of our town could only make a weak applause for the truckload of Veterans, you know those people who've served our country in foreign lands and lost their friends and sometime their limbs defending OUR freedom. I'm so glad I wasn't there. I would have said something I think. It's not THAT hot people, you can stand up and cheer. C and c came home a bit disgusted.

I think reading the Paul Revere book was a great way to celebrate the approaching Independence Day, but it made me wonder how many people really know what we are celebrating.. me included. My guess is that my cousin Mike, who is on his way back to Iraq for a third time, who has seen the devastation of tyrant rule and the ensuing poverty and hopelessness has some idea what a gift liberty really is.

The Girl in the Cafe...

This film was fairly well written and acted. Bill Nighy plays a work worn and lonely man who is highly placed in the British government. His work involves trying to solve third-world poverty. He meets a girl in a cafe, Gina played by Kelly Macdonald who is also a lonely care-worn sort of person. They try to become friends and companions and a romance ensues which is stressed by her honest expression of HIS opinions to his bosses.

The political part is quite naive and very Hollywood. Just hand out tons of money and that will solve Africa. How many billions of dollars have just been stolen by the corrupt governments of that continent... will we ever know? It is a far more complicated problem than it's made to seem in the film. Still, the idea of being the generation that rises to the occasion and solves the problems of extreme poverty is inspiring to contemplate.

There is a love scene with nudity... so not for kids.