There are not movie "stars" today - OK Streep when she is speaking in some accent or other but not the ones with character back around the time when I was born in the early '40s. You really captured the history of film disconnect here and the part of Anne Frank I learned about is so touching. Most movies today just don't carry you away from where you are sitting like the old ones - for all of their "special effects." I have no desire to see another world or world within a world from machines that try to fool the senses. I was forced to see a transformer movie and I have to say that special effects in the service of comedy do work! But really, the imagery of the old "special" effects lasts a lifetime - Judy awaking in colorful OZ, Astaire dancing in front of Bo Jangle's feet or "around" a room, or the painted backdrops of "Gone With the Wind." Everything on screen was 100% quality; 100% class. We have not gained an inch since the 1940s. I know. I have the Eastman House of Photography's Dryden Theater to instruct me in this. To see a film fully restored from its flickering is to see that it could have been shot today. Thanks for unlocking this torrent!

Not so fast with your quick story. It needs more discussion. Great post.

"The Oil Spill Drama: Dispersal of Deception, Chemicals, Ignorance and Inaction"

The chemical being used by BP has been banned in Britain. Undersea dispersants (this is how EPA wants it used) have not been tested sufficiently for safety. The US government is reacting in its usual tortoise-like fashion. It's all here, folks at "On My Watch - the writings of SamHenry" at http://samandimp.wordpress.com

Mikatollah - remember, the founders of our country - Washington and Jefferson and later Grant all had slaves. Many in the North had slaves. It was an insidious, evil institution but the blame game went beyond the Southern borders and beyond political hacks.

Respectfully, while the issue of slavery was important, critical was the issue of secession. Lincoln did not want a "house divided" and to preside over the breakup of the United States. Actually there were compromises suggested that would have allowed the South to keep slaves. Lincoln did not carry one Southern state.

I think I may have hit "report' instead of "reply" in my response to your comment above. If I do not see you here again, I will know what happened. Sorry. My response was "I could not agree with you more."

WOW - powerful thinking.

Sadly, we have been moving from the Constitution over decades toward a welfare state and in other ways. People without jobs have no time to read up on their constitutional rights. All they know is they are starving and homeless and this breeds a response that is less than civilized. In an ideal world where there are enough resources for all this would work. This is why life in America has been so peaceful until, well, probably this summer. The riots of the past have been by minority have-nots and the oppressed. Future riots will be by middle-class white Americans who suffer job loss and the oppression of the Obama Administration and its taxation and rule-making.

This summer with people now off of unemployment insurance and desperate. Even the Chinese fear social instability if they have more months of trade deficits and have to lay off workers.

Globally, governments have been preparing for this. Of course Obama is out front in this effort. It will not come as a surprise to world governments. The response will come as a surprise to those rioting and looting to survive.

How about the fact that Brazil's Lula is in the middle east garnering support as a leader in the peace process. Obama fiddles with health care and loses grasp of key diplomatic opportunities. See my post at http://samandimp.wordpress.com
Does Obama Health Care Obsession Mean Leadership Loss to Lula