Webs’ Random Ideas

Saw Lars and the Real Girl tonight. What a fantastic movie! I can’t say enough good things about it. Top noch directing, writing, and acting. And contrary to the crap that we see put out all the time, this is just well done.

The two points I really appreciated from it was the stress on family and community. When one person was truly down for the count, people pulled through for him tell he made it out. Not in some corny fashion or with a song a dance, but people made an attempt to help someone in a time of need.

There are still plenty of signs of this in our society but they can become easily lost with the “hustle and bustle” if you will. Anyways it’s a good theme to revisit to remind us to put others before ourselves. I especially liked the scene with the pastor, “What would Jesus do?” Well I don’t think he would think only of himself in the given situation…

A new documentary by scientist Randy Olsen. Go check out the trailer.

No that’s not a misspelling, What Would Jesus Buy? It’s a damn good question and a new film produced by Morgan Spurlock. I can’t wait to see it!

A movie that shows the dark side of the Catholic Church.

The director of this movie followed the story of a Priest, Father O’Grady, that raped many children in California. And you would think after the Bishop in charge of said Priest found out about the first incident he would put an end to it right? Nope. It continued on for around 20 years. Boys, girls, and parents (parents were abused to get closer to the children). And to make matters even worse O’Grady didn’t discriminate against the victims’ age and apparently had a victim 9 months old.

For twenty years he continued to destroy the lives of families and children. Meanwhile the Bishops in charge shuffled him from Church to Church. And the last church he was at was in an area were no Bishop has control over the area. Meaning O’Grady was left to govern himself. But it doesn’t end there. To keep O’Grady from having to testify in civil court (once he got out of jail, which would have forced out some catastrophic info) the church moved him to Ireland (where he lives a free life). Apparently he only had to serve 10 years in prison for what he did.

What makes it even worse is that an estimated 80% of child abuse victims do not come forward. For various reasons, but I can only imagine what it would be like to tell my parents. But this number puts estimates in the tens of thousands for actual number of abuses in United States alone. Other countries are starting to have cases pop up.

And the Priests, for whatever reason, are being hidden under the cloud of the entire Catholic organization. Essentially making it impossible for prosecutors to go after the abusers. Which is why there are a lot of civil suites going on. And most of those civil suites are solved out of court because if they weren’t the Church would have to divulge some pretty devastating information. And the money being used to settle the cases comes from… that’s right, the abuse victims that gave money to the parish when they attended church and were being abused.

The whole issue of Priests abusing children stems from a variety of issues but one of the key ones seems to be in how the Church views sex. Sex, in Catholicism, is generally viewed as evil (especially before marriage). And because of this the church views all forms of sex as evil, there are no varying degrees of evil. So sex with a child is just as evil as sex between two men, just as sex before marriage. So naturally the bishops deal with sex with a minor as a sin, and go from there.

But the obvious problem here is there is a difference between having sex with a 9 year old and a consenting adult. From a medical and psychological perspective, it’s a widely accepted difference.

With this issue as with most issues of religion, the problem isn’t with the Catholic Religion itself. I know plenty of good Catholics, ones that would never rape a child or do other terrible things. The problem is how the Religion is run. With power coming down from the top and filtering through lower levels. It allows for many terrible things to happen because faith is blindly accepted from top and forced down to others. And an outside looking in viewpoint is neither accepted or used by those toward the top.

I consider myself atheist but I do not write such posts to go off on a rant about specific religions. I leave that job to PZ Myers and other atheists. I do not believe that abolishing religion would solves the world’s problems because there is no easy way to abolish religion. When you are reasonably happy, loosing your faith can be a terrible thing and I don’t wish that upon anyone.

I think instead the world would be a better place if people learned to truly love themselves and others. And stopped trying to use religion to explain the universe and instead used it to find solace in their life.

I have seen at least a half dozen of these movies where a young idealist teacher tries to save the world by taking underprivileged children and giving them hope. Well the movie “Freedom Writers” is this type of movie, but a little different… well and the same.

It’s a great story of an LA school that used to have only the best and brightest, A-List. But due to the school district’s integration program suddenly lower class children of different races and backgrounds get thrown into the mix and we find a teacher struggling to cope with the whole issue.

The movie ties together many different issues such as race, gang violence, learning, teaching, and the public school system. All of which is something a teacher at this high school has to cope with and face. Before the movie even started I probably could have given a fairly concise description of what was going to happen, but good acting and great writing kept me watching the movie.

One scene that grabbed my attention was when the teacher took a note that was being passed around in class and made sure to talk about it. The note was a picture of a black kid in class and was making fun of how black people have big lips. The teacher made the point that what the students were doing in class was no different than what the Nazis did during WW2. Justifying their racism by humiliating the other race, and showing how they are inferior.

What was the reaction of the students? Well the token white kid in the class was the only one that knew what the Holocaust was. I would go on and explain more, but I would rather you read the book or see the movie than have my explanation ruin it.

The movie had two scenes that were completely unnecessary in my opinion, but besides that I really didn’t have any beef with the film. Just the usual Hollywood over-dramatization of a heart warming story of at-risk teenagers. I think rather than seeing the film I would recommend reading the book, but I can’t technically say that till I have read it.

Besides my personal thoughts on the movie I really liked what I believe is one of the major underlying ideas of the film. If we spent just a little more on education we really could make a difference. In the movie, the main character takes on two other jobs to pay for the activities that she feels she needs to use to be able to grab the students attention. She didn’t use the two jobs to pay for her personal activities but to pay for her student’s activities.

What kind of school system do we have when teachers are funding their classroom? There are so many issues with our school system I don’t even know where to start. But rather than turn this into a ridiculously long post about our public education system I leave you with this… Once the Indian students in my program graduate they are going to take their families back to India for their kids to go to school, rather than stay here and have the US educate them K-12.

That's right, I have now joined the ranks of those that have seen Al Gore's new movie, An Inconvenient Truth.  It took awhile but it finally happened.  And if it were not for the Normal Theater in downtown Normal, I would have probably waited till it came out on DVD.  But to my luck, not only did the Normal Theater have the movie, but my Mom was in town, and wanted to see it as well.  So we both went, and all I have to say is WOW!!!!  This movie is a must see for everyone.  The movie starts out with Al Gore talking to everyone, just as himself.  You get hear how he actually feels, and why this issue of global warming is important to him.  Then the infamous slideshow starts.  And what a slideshow it is, packed full of beautiful images, movies, graphs, and a wealth of knowledge.  If you want to know nothing about the movie going in, which I love to do for movies I really want to see, then skip the next paragraph.

Now about the content of the movie.  I will try not to ruin too much of it here.  The big issue of global warming is the carbon emissions and how they contribute to it.  This issue was first studied around 1960.  Weather balloons were released into the air over the pacific ocean.  The data they have collected gives a frightening portrayal of what is happening.  Carbon emissions are increasing and at an alarming rate.  Right now we are currently at a carbon level, this planet has never been before within the last 650,000 years.  And throughout our planets history there has been an event that has brought the planet back to a state of equilibrium.  And every time the carbon levels get too high, there has been an ice age that has brought the carbon levels back down.  What can lead to this new ice age.  Many things can, and all of them are easily preventable.  One big thing that is noticeable and happening right now are the polar ice caps melting.  Around the world Al Gore shows us pictures of some polar ice caps, some were taken thirty years ago, some over 70.  He shows us what they used to look like, and what they look like now.  The difference is startling and visibly clear.  Lake Chad is another great example.  Lake Chad in Africa used to be one of the largest lakes in the World.  Now it is almost all gone.  The biggest problem with the polar caps, or glaciers melting, is that ice reflects 90% of the Sun's rays.  As the ice continually the melts, the Earth increasingly warms up since the Sun's rays are no longer being blocked.  I would tell more, but I want everyone in the World to see this movie, so the impact can be everlasting.

As for solutions, one easy way to reduce carbon emission is by looking at your mode of transportation.   Is your SUV really necessary.  I counted 8 SUV's alone in the parking lot my Mom and I were in.  8 people drove their SUV's to see a movie about global warming.  Now what follows is not pointed at those needing SUV's and big trucks to get around, so if you are living in a remote place or on a farm, you can disregard this message.  SUV's contribute the worst of any vehicle, because the have the lowest emission standards of any type of car, and they get horrible gas mileage.  So not only are you producing more emissions right off the bat, since their standards are lower, but you have to fill up quicker with an SUV, so you produce those emissions quicker than a smaller car would.  The reason for the SUV being incredibly popular is two fold, people feel safer in them and there is an image associated with them that was created by the automobile industry.  As far as safety goes, SUV's are more dangerous in every category.  They cause more deaths to the drivers, passengers, other automobile drivers, and pedestrians.  Ricardo Martinez, the former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), declared in 1998 that if the light trucks on the nation’s roadways were replaced with cars, up to 2,000 lives could be saved annually.¹  In another study conducted by the NHTSA, "Mid-size sport utility vehicles are nine times as likely as passenger cars to be involved in fatal rollover crashes and twice as likely to kill the occupants of other vehicles in crashes."²  And there is:

[SUV owners] tend to be people who are insecure and vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their driving skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbors and communities. No, that’s not a cynic talking – that’s the auto industry’s own market researchers and executives.³
 

Studies across the board conclude that SUV's are dangerous and not just because of their weight but their height as well.  If you drive an SUV for safety be my guest, ignorance is bliss.  As far as the image produced by auto companies.  In the early 1990's, Detroit auto makers were faced with the dilemma of having to increase their emission standards for the state of California.  They all thought they were going to go bankrupt, until someone came up with a brilliant idea.  The day after the law took effect, billboards were everywhere showing off this wonderful new class of car, the SUV.  Man those families never looked happier.  Now it seems that car/engine size correlates with penis size.  Or there is the feeling the other side has, "Man I sure look wimpy driving my small car next to all these big cars and fast cars."  It's too bad.  Well I for one will never own an SUV, and my next car, when I can afford one, will be a plugin hybrid or an electric car.

The only thing I can say going against An Inconvenient Truth, is that it should have been longer.  The slideshow presentation felt rushed.  The whole thing should have been slowed down, not a lot, but enough to where a better look at the pictures could be obtained.  I felt as though if I looked away for half a second I would miss something.  Other than that it was the best documentary I have ever seen.  I guarantee that after seeing this movie, your life will be changed in some way (not to worry, I mean in a good way).  If you want to help, there are links to the left of my website in the Tree Hugging section.  Other things you can do are to check out the movie's website, Climate Crisis.  If you cannot afford to see the movie, or just want to give others the opportunity to see it, check out Share The Truth.  Also, educate yourself and start taking action.  Educate others, but don't force anything on them.  Show them simple ways they can help.

References:

1. The Truth About Light Trucks. By:  Douglas Coate and James Vanderhoff.
   
2. Government Study Questions Safety of SUV's. By: CNN.
3. SUV Safety Myth: Children are Just as Safe in Cars. By: Terra Pass. Actual quotes used comes from Keith Bradsher in his book, High and Mighty: SUV's – The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way.

New Features of Vista .  LOL this is pretty funny.  Click the link to the left to see how a MAC guy slams MS for the "original" features Vista will have, when in all actuality they are features MAC OSx had.  But either way, I am sure they will look great in Vista.

Well I saw "V for Vendetta" last night.  What a phenomenal movie.  It had everything I like in a movie, great acting, directing, writing and some awesome action.  But it also was a great story.  Right from the beginning you find yourself trapped into the film in part by the performance of Hugo Weaving who played V.  His performance will not win an Oscar but it certainly was not an easy role to play since he did the entire movie behind a mask.  What also brings you in is the struggle you have throughout the film with your conscience.  V’s tactics for overthrowing the government are pretty intense.  He doesn’t just ask for the resignation of the "High Chancellor" of England, or walk around Parliament holding up a sign.  No he blows up buildings and kills people.  You find yourself thinking, do I really feel empathy for this charactor, what side am I on?  Or better yet, which side is good?  This is why the movie has had some protests and backlash.  Some are making claims that the movie promotes terrorism.  Well if this is the case than our current government has done the same thing.  You don’t believe me, look up the definition of Terror and Terrorism.

(more…)