How Much BP Oil Has Leaked Into the Gulf of Mexico?

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Damn Great Idea from the Wood-Meister

I enthusiastically endorse this concept of an outdoors NHL at Mile High Stadium on New Years Eve in the next year or two. I was part of the largest baseball crowd in major league history on opening day 1993 and would welcome the chance to be part of hockey's biggest crowd ever. I would need to buy some electric socks and determine the best way to stay warm on a frigid night in an outdoors stadium. Some day I would like to attend a college football game at a huge venue like Ann Arbor Stadium for the University of Michigan where the capacity is over 110,000 spectators.

*****

Movie Recommendation

This Sunday was the first without football since Labor Day. It was also our nicest day in over two months as the temperature cracked 50 degrees for the first time since the weekend before last Thanksgiving as it got to 54 degrees under partly sunny skies with only very light breezes. Todd came by around 1:30 and we decided to go catch a movie. I caught Charlie Wilson's War at the Dollar Movies. It was a splendid film and well made. I heartily recommend it, but certain scenes are of an adult nature so it probably should not be viewed by those under age 16. Philip Seymour Thomas is outstanding in his role. Tom Hanks does great, but Julia Roberts was less so as it appears time has caught up with her in her abilities, screen presence, and appearance.

Overall the film appeared to be historically accurate for the most part. Its too bad the US screwed things tremendously by not further helping the Afghans after they whipped the Russians and drove them out of Afghanistan in the mid to late '80s.


*****

Suharto, 1921 - 2008

Suharto was a despotic tyrannical dictator of Indonesia from 1967 t0 1998. During his reign, Indonesia modernized tremendously but around one million Indonesian individuals that were opposed to Suharto were executed by his police and military forces. He and his "New Order" government maintained power for so long due to his ardent anti-Communist stance which brought him unquestioned support from the West, including the United States and Australia. Suharto was the greatest embezzler in world history with assets taken from the Indonesian treasury estimated to be at least $15 billion and probably over $35 billion. Corruption was the order of the day through his reign and he was only ousted due to the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 90s. Individuals who are Javanese commonly has just one name which explains his seemingly unique odd name.


*****