UCLA in the Final Four

I just saw Shooter. The one with Marky Mark of the Funky Bunch. It was ace actually....chock full of liberal commentary, so I naturally ate it up. I particularly liked how in one of the first scenes of the movie, they enter into a CIA office to have an incredibly corrupt discussion and the picture that is in the background as they enter the room is the Gipper himself. Any movie that rightly aligns Ronald Reagan with a murderous, renegade CIA is fine by me.

My father's criticism of the movie was that with the current political climate it is just too easy to make it believable that a politician of that level could wield so much under-the-table influence. I don't quite understand what he was getting at, but it sounds to me more like a criticism of the current political climate. My only question about the movie was whether it is worth it to kill that many people in self defense. Believe me, even though I say I am a pacifist, I am all for the use of extreme violence if someone is trying to kill you. But at what point is it okay to shoot, stab, and blow up tens and tens of officers who are coming to kill you? At that point is seems like you are making a statement that your life is worth more than all the lives you are taking. I'm not saying that he should have just laid down his life to avoid conflict, especially when most of the people trying to kill him were completely corrupt, it just seems a little destructive.

What is also destructive is cancer. I know this probably sounds incredibly trite and not worth mentioning at all, but it is truly shocking how many people are affected by cancer. I bet every single person I know has known someone who had it, has it, or died from it. It's odd because, I think most people are like I was when I thought about cancer before this year. Yes, it's scary and everything, but it doesn't seem that terrifying because you always hear about radiation treatment and cancer survivors and doctors being able to fix everything. But they can't. And with cancer, nobody knows what the fuck to do. People are literally dropping like flies and we have no cure. Elizabeth Edwards, Olive, Tiger Woods' dad, my little sister's best friend and her twin, the women's college basteball coach who just died, my dad's best friend, the Jewish one's dad, Chloe's aunt. I know this doesn't really make a point, because it's just random people that I've heard of or have known, but it astonishes me, because I never considered it such a deadly problem for so many people. But it is. And we have Ronald Reagan to thank for preventing us getting a jump start on necessary stem cell research into a cure for cancer. Biatch.






Me: "My pet peeve is when basketball players can't make their free throws."
My dad: "I know. If they can't make their free throws, they shouldn't be allowed to have tattoos."
My mom: "Or facial hair....or underwear."
Me: "Are they allowed to wear thongs still, then?"
My mom: "Only on the outside of their clothing."