Monday, May 23, 2005

No subject

Sorry, my brain is fried.

Ernie Fletcher should resign as Governor of Kentucky. It becomes more clear each day that he does not know how to do his job at all.

Natalie hates her haircut. I knew it and may her hair grow back sooner. However, this appears to be bad news for anyone who has a crush on the actress. This may take some time to digest.

Professor Alan Dershowitz released a statement today:
Jews have been defined as a people by their veneration of laws -- and the process of grappling with those laws to reach a better and deeper understanding. We therefore take laws very seriously.

Additionally, as American Jews, we have benefited from a system of law that has protected us as a religious minority. Nowhere else in the world has religion flourished so much or so diversely.

It is with that background in mind that American Jews approach the strong likelihood that President Bush will have an opportunity to nominate multiple Justices to the Supreme Court in the next months and years. These will be the first such lifetime appointment, or appointments, since President Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer to the Court in 1993 and 1994, respectively.

It is clear that we as Jews have much at stake in this battle, and it is important that we make our point of view heard as Americans -- as members of a religious minority, and as members of a law-loving faith.

I believe that we ought to make sure that President Bush appreciates fully the shared American values and principles that we as Jews tend to hold particularly dear. As the president of all Americans, he should ensure that his nominees embrace these ecumenical principles:

-That the religious liberty protected by the First Amendment includes strong protections for the practices of even unpopular minorities, and absolute protections for the beliefs, or disbeliefs, of all citizens.
-That such religious liberty is undermined if the government uses its coercive power and resources to compel people to support, in a substantial or meaningful way, religious belief and practice to which they do not adhere.
-That an overwhelming majority of American Jews understand that a woman's reproductive decisions are personal ones between her, her mate, and her chosen spiritual and medical advisers, with only the most limited intervention by civic authorities.
-That our Constitution reflects the principle that the federal government has the power, and even the obligation, to intervene in various aspects of economic life on behalf of the weak and the destitute, with private charity supplementing but not replacing official efforts.
The following is from Bob Fraser who runs You Must Act:
Here's what I think we can gain from George's journey:

Don't give up your dream. Even if everyone else is saying that it's stupid or not worthy – as many in the Hollywood mainstream insisted when George went around itching the Star Wars idea.

Don't listen to critics. They will always be around and they will always be mostly wrong. A famous writer once compared critics to eunuchs: "They've seen it done. They know HOW it's done. They just can't do it themselves."

Collaborate. Lucas would never have realized his dream without the help of many other artists. He knew that and surrounded himself with people who wanted to realize their dreams as much as he did.

Along the way, these dreamers have invented computer editing, a new sound paradigm, computer-generated special effects, and Lord only knows how many other new approaches to old problems. LucasFilm is at the center of the film industry today - all because of one man's vision and his willingness to share the work and the glory.

So, whether Star Wars is your cup of java, or not – you should keep in mind that George Lucas, with his "silly" sci-fi dream, almost single-handedly managed to rescue a film industry that was on life support -- and then went on to re-invent how movies are made and what they mean to the audience.

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