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Saw Avatar tonight in 3D at the 4:20 showing. I was split between disgust with the "message" and curiosity about the CGI and 3D, and the latter won out. ( SPOILERS BELOW ) The 3D works very well, with only occasional funky edges to it in some of the busier scenes. I had read about people getting sick from it, and I did feel a little funny after just a few minutes of watching some of the 3D previews, but I got used to it after that. In the beginning of the movie I felt a lot of "Gee, this...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama had a golden opportunity to become a peacemaker compared to his hawkish predecessor. But he has let that opening evaporate by escalating the war in Afghanistan. Now he is called a "war president" -- a dubious title that former President George W. Bush personally embraced after starting two devastating wars, one in Afghanistan, the other in Iraq. In both cases, the U.S. is touting its exit plans. In Iraq, Obama has declared a victory and plans to pull out many troops next year, though leaving thousands behind to secure the Baghdad government. In Afghanistan, Obama...

With President Barack Obama's decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan by sending 30,000 additional troops to battle Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, he has put his imprint on the war on terror, and at the same time, given up the Democrats' most famous fallback position: blame George W. Bush. Couple that with the economy and we are seeing the end of the president's first year in office coincide with him having to accept the full responsibility for the condition of the country. Obama rode into office on the "blame Bush" tidal wave as the nation sickened of everything he touched....

WASHINGTON -- The Palestinians had hoped they would see a new day coming after the Bush administration’s eight-year capitulation to all that Israel wanted. But they were wrong. The Obama administration is moving down the same Bush road -- perhaps a little slower -- but nonetheless still enabling the Israelis to continue to violate international law and the U.N. Charter by annexing occupied Arab land. First, the new administration made it clear that U.S. policy opposed new Jewish settlements on the West Bank. This declaration was met with a thumping rejection from the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu. Then,...

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that almost half of all voters would NOT vote for President Obama if he was running for election today, 49% say they would be unlikely to vote for the president’s reelection vs. the 45% of adults say they would be at least somewhat likely to vote for Obama if he was up for reelection right now. Obama carried 53% of the vote nationally over Republican candidate John McCain’s 46% in last November’s election. Among the key independent bloc , those not at all likely to vote for the president’s reelection have a...

Part of the speculation about why Chicago didn't get the Olympics is that maybe the President wasn't at his best, after all he doesn't have a lot of experience in saying good things about the United States. But there is no worry, the president didn't have to say anything nice, what he said is he wanted the Olympics because America needed to repair its Image because of what was going on during the past few years, a code for "We Suck Because of George Bush."

"Hear our cry, Obama." "Deliver us, Obama." Video at link.

For a while there, when President Obama was riding high off the passing of the Porkulus plan, and his narrow house victory on Cap and Trade, he backed off his standard excuse for each of the nation's problems; "Bush, Bush,Bush, Bush,Bush, Bush!" That was before unemployment got up to 9.5%, America discovered that the stimulus plan did not involve "shovel-ready" projects, and the President was pushing a Health Care plan that was nothing more than another attempt at redistributing `income and a new attempt at euthanizing old people. Now that America is realizing that the "Emperor has no clothes" Obama...

The Republican Party is in the political wilderness. Out of power after eight years of George Bush, its minorities in Congress and state governors are hammered daily by the media, heirs to every mistake -- real or imagined - that Bush made. The bubble of Japan’s economic “miracle” came to a crashing halt in the early 1990s. Floundering politicians left the Japanese economy flat on its back for what became known as Japan’s “lost decade.” The GOP needs to face the fact that it may be in the wilderness for a very long time. Unless it can shake the Bush...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama’s 100 days in office have not shaken the world, but he has been compelled to focus on the legacy bequeathed by former President George W. Bush: the worst economic slump since the Great Depression and two wars. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, avoiding any credibility-destroying urge to praise his boss with ridiculous extravagance, gives the president a "B-plus" on his report card. "What the president has achieved is something we’re proud of," Gibbs said, adding: "There is room for improvement." Probably the biggest change Obama has brought about is the country’s new hopeful spirit,...

Back to the Future: Capitol Hill Dems Call for Largest Discretionary Spending Hike Since Carter Administration GOP Leaders Call for Spending Freeze as House Democrats Prepare to Pass Half-Trillion Dollar Spending Bill Crafted in Secret Washington, Feb 23 - Remarkably, as President Obama convenes a fiscal responsibility summit at the White House today, Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are putting the finishing touches on the largest discretionary spending increase, aside from legislation after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, since the Carter Administration – a nearly half-trillion spending bill that’s due to hit the floor later this week. The dichotomy could not be...

Quarter of Russians blame U.S. for conflict - poll 13 Aug 2008 18:47:42 GMT Source: Reuters MOSCOW, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Russians blame the United States and Georgia for triggering the conflict in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, with just one percent pointing the finger at Moscow, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday. When asked who was guilty for the conflict in South Ossetia, 54 percent of those polled blamed Georgia and another 22 percent blamed the United States, a survey carried out by Russia's largest pollsters VTsIOM showed. A further 12 percent said Russia, South Ossetia and Georgia...

The rebuilding effort in tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kansas, likely will be hampered because some much-needed equipment is in Iraq, said that state’s governor. Governor Kathleen Sebelius said much of the National Guard equipment usually positioned around the state to respond to emergencies is gone. She said not having immediate access to things like tents, trucks and semitrailers will really handicap the rebuilding effort.

Spokesman doesn't see any reason to alter procedures. Airport officials didn't promise any changes Tuesday despite the avalanche of criticism about the 45- hour closure of Denver International Airport that snarled holiday traffic across the nation. Even a suggestion by their boss, Mayor John Hickenlooper, that some of the equipment that cleared both lanes of Peña Boulevard might be diverted to runways was dismissed. "I don't know why we would do anything differently," DIA spokesman Chuck Cannon said when asked about plans to handle another major storm bearing down on the Front Range that might hit Thursday... Cannon... a debriefing...

EL PASO, Texas — Two U.S. Border Patrol agents were watching the Mexican boundary last year when they stopped a van carrying 743 pounds of marijuana. The driver fled back across the Rio Grande — with a gunshot wound in his buttocks. Federal prosecutors convinced a jury in March that the agents had shot a defenseless man and schemed to cover it up. Much of the evidence against them came from the drug runner, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, who reported the shooting to a friend at the Border Patrol in Arizona. Aldrete-Davila was given immunity from prosecution by the U.S. attorney's office....

With the full backing of Iran and Syria, the murderous Shi'ite bigots are well-positioned for taking full control of Lebanon, for rearming and rebuilding to attack Israel another day and for preparing its fanatical cadres to envelop the Middle East and strike directly at the United States. The situation is so grave that it can accurately be said the latest U.N. resolution has opened the door to a new wave of autocratic terror throughout the Muslim world that makes previous regimes -- Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Hafez Assad in Syria, even the Taliban in Afghanistan -- pale in comparison.

Ceuta, Spain, Jul 25 (EFE).- A Spaniard held for two years without charge by the United States at its prison camp in Guantanamo denounced terrorism here Tuesday, while saying he was unjustly jailed, that mistreatment harmed his eyesight and that he intends to sue President George W. Bush for millions of dollars. Hamed Abderraman Ahmed, who was absolved by the Spanish judicial system in June of allegedly having links to Al Qaeda, discussed his capture in Afghanistan and his confinement at the U.S. military prison in far eastern Cuba. Ahmed was captured in Afghanistan and transferred to U.S. Army custody...

Schwarzenegger takes Congress and White House to task for failing to enact immigration strategy and says they are to blame for protests. ROSEVILLE, Calif. — In some of the harshest terms he has used to date, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday said the federal government has left the nation's borders dangerously vulnerable while failing to come up with a sensible approach to immigration. Schwarzenegger, taking questions at a news conference on a multibillion-dollar public works package passed by the Legislature early Friday, blamed the Bush administration and Congress for the massive street protests and widespread public unhappiness over federal immigration...

New research shows a potential link between prosperous times and fatal heart attacks. Careful what you wish for. You're more likely to die from a heart attack when the economy is strong and unemployment is low, new research shows. An uptick in the nation's economy corresponds to an increased number of fatal heart attacks, according to a recent study by University of North Carolina-Greensboro economist Christopher Ruhm. The study, which tracked heart attacks against economic activity from 1979 to 1998, found that when unemployment drops by 1%, the number of heart-attack fatalities grows by 1.3%. Why? A go-go economy generally...

Just when you thought Hollywood had reached the limit of things they could blame on President Bush, along comes the director of “Hostel”, Eli Roth. Roth was a guest on Friday’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto”. When asked why horror movies were resurging in such troubling times, Roth pointed directly at the Bush Administration...