The Last Movie Stars by Mark Hooper

Make sure you check out the video I posted yesterday if you haven't already.

How Hollywood's power elite lost the plot
The very public transgressions of Lindsay Lohan, Tom Cruise and Mel gibson mark the end of an era. Say goodbye to the last movie stars
By Mark Hooper
Published: 19 November 2006

It's been an extraordinary few months for Hollywood's A-list actors: embarrassing outbursts, drunken tirades and - here's the real issue - their films tanking spectacularly at the box office. Are we witnessing the last generation of true movie stars?

In a recently published biography of Jimmy Stewart, it emerged that - when he was just starting out, in the 1930s - his studio, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, deemed it necessary to scotch any rumours that the young actor might be gay. He was packed off, under the instruction of Louis B Mayer, to the private, studio-owned brothel located just off the MGM lot, with the following words ringing in his ears: "Get your ass over there and get those rocks off with at least two of those broads."

Ah, the golden age of Hollywood. When stars were stars - otherworldly and untouchable - and a selection of discreet broads were readily available to help a not-gay-anyway man to get his rocks off. It's a relief that Stewart and, most of all, Mayer are not alive today to witness the antics of the present crop of Hollywood's finest. What would they make of Tom Cruise jumping up and down on Oprah's couch screaming, "Whaaooo!" What advice would they give "teen queen" Lindsay Lohan as she is drunkenly and very publicly scraped off the sidewalk, offering indecent photo opportunities to the expectant paparazzi? And you can be sure they would have an uncompromising view on Mel Gibson, who added to this summer's A-list implosion after his drunken, anti-Semitic and sexist remarks to police officers were leaked to the press.

But also, what are we - the people who pay their wages (well, £8 every so often, anyway) - to make of it? Hollywood has always been a strange place, but increasingly it seems to be out-and-out dysfunctional.

The isolated incidents with major stars hint at a much larger truth: the business of movie-making is undergoing a major shift, one that will be felt a long way from California. The reality is stark and impossible to ignore. Box-office figures are down: the returns from 2005 - due to high-profile flops such as The Island and Kingdom of Heaven - were the lowest for 15 years. DVD sales, so lucrative during the past few (omega) years, have flattened. Piracy is rampant: according to industry experts, illegal copying now accounts for $1.3bn annually in lost revenue in the US alone. All the while, the stars want more money for their performances. In 1995, the average cost of making and marketing a movie was $54.1m; by last year, it had spiralled to $96.2m.

The bottom line is that the figures do not add up. The boom years of the 1990s - when Bruce Willis earned more than $100m for starring in The Sixth Sense, and Keanu Reeves negotiated a deal that would see him paid $206m for The Matrix trilogy - are over. The studios are looking to cut costs, and an obvious place to start is the grossly overblown salaries of the performers. Meanwhile, our culture is changing: once, we viewed actors like Jimmy Stewart as heroes and role models; now we live in a society defined by gossip rags such as Heat and Grazia, determined to show that celebrities have zits and beer bellies like the rest of us.

If you need proof of how the situation has changed, you need look no further than the ignominy suffered by the world's biggest movie star, Tom Cruise. In August, Paramount terminated his 14-year production deal due to frustration over his increasingly "erratic" conduct and, more specifically, a 15 per cent "loss of anticipation" for Mission: Impossible III. The more pertinent question is: can there be a sequel for any of this generation's action heroes?

A rundown of the most successful films of all time makes surprising and somewhat unedifying reading. Titanic heads the list, naturally, with returns of $1.8bn, but the top 10 also includes a couple from the Lord of the Rings franchise, two Harry Potters, one Star Wars and a Pirates of the Caribbean. The one thing that these movies share in common is that they are all driven by the story, rather than relying on a specific actor's name above the title. No one goes to see a film because Elijah Wood or Hayden Christensen is in it (well, we hope not anyway) and this is good news for the studios. Why waste your budget on expensive - and difficult - talent, when you can save your pennies for the things that really matter?

There is evidence that this message is starting to hit home, and the wrangling over fees has started to get uncompromising and nasty. Russell Crowe recently dropped out of negotiations to star in a new movie directed by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!) and made no secret that he blamed 20th Century Fox. "I do charity work," he said. "But I don't do charity work for major studios."

The studios can afford a hard-line approach, driven on by the knowledge that the audience will remain faithful to a successful franchise (omega) regardless of the cast. Hence Daniel Craig emerges this week as the new Bond in Casino Royale after Pierce Brosnan fell out with MGM over his pay, believed to be around the $20m mark, plus 10 per cent of box-office profits. In comparison, Craig is rumoured to be on $1.5m for the same role. That's a saving of one fifth of the overall budget and he doesn't have that funny, mincy running style.

When it comes to spectacular falls from grace, you have to go a long way to beat the one that American director M Night Shyamalan has experienced. Aged 29, he wrote and directed The Sixth Sense, and the astonishing success of this 1999 supernatural thriller rocked the film industry. Made for $40m, it grossed more than $600m and saw Shyamalan held up as the heir to Steven Spielberg. The following year, the precocious auteur told US Esquire that he had discovered "the secret to making hit movies" and Hollywood believed him - for his follow-up film, Unbreakable, Disney paid him a record $5m for writing and another $5m to direct. He was allowed almost unprecedented creative freedom over all aspects of production.

Shyamalan has made four films since The Sixth Sense and none has come close to repeating its success. His "Oprah's sofa" moment was his bizarre, convoluted pet project Lady in the Water, originally bankrolled by Disney, which was released in August. As revealed in Michael Bamberger's book The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale, Shyamalan fell out with what he saw as overpowering studio influence - he claimed they "no longer valued individualism... no longer valued fighters". Another way of seeing it was that Disney realised they were throwing their money at an ego out of control, and backed out. When the film finally came out, produced by Warner Bros, most critics sided with Disney's verdict; the New York Post even called the director "a crackpot with messianic delusions". They had a point - in a film he wrote, produced and directed, Shyamalan also decided to cast himself in the pivotal role of a writer whose work influences a magical world. The public, needless to say, stayed away in droves.

The lesson here? Raw talent still needs structure. Disney had in effect become a victim of its own hype machine. Like one of those hyperbolic movie trailers that raises expectations to levels that are impossible to fulfil, they realised a little too late that their Boy Wonder was as human as the rest of us.

Hollywood, like nowhere else, loves a system. Everyone is in search of the perfect plot, of the golden rules to guarantee a box-office hit like Shyamalan claimed to have unearthed. Star Wars director George Lucas has spoken of the need to create "60 two-minute scenes" with which to sustain the public's excitement. He is also a famous proponent of the theories of Joseph Campbell, whose book The Hero With a Thousand Faces posited the concept of the "monomyth", an archetypal heroic plot that is supposedly common to all mythologies and religions. But it wasn't just Lucas's biblical sci-fi fantasy that benefited from Campbell's vision. A seven-page memo created for Disney by Hollywood producer Christopher Vogler reignited interest in the monomyth in the 1990s - inspiring films as diverse as The Lion King and The Matrix trilogy.

And a recurring thread running throughout many of these epic stories is that the hero is just as often an unknown, unproven actor. Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, for instance, were nobodies before Lucas cast them as the ultimate heroes, allowing the audience to empathise with their journey all the more. Even better, there's no reason why the hero can't be a cartoon cat. As long as the plot is in place, the rest will follow.

Recently, Hollywood has been all abuzz over a new golden formula. Epagogix is a system for determining the commercial potential of screenplays, being hawked by the entrepreneurs Dick Copaken, Nick Meaney and Sean Verity, as well as two boffins who refer to themselves only as "Mr Pink" and "Mr Brown" (after the characters in Reservoir Dogs). The team concentrates specifically on how to break the $50m barrier that is seen to mark the divide between a hit movie and a flop.

The Epagogix approach is elaborate and almost insanely detailed, but its strength, say its inventors, is that it is ruthlessly impartial: it is purely interested in what makes money (and what doesn't). One of the main findings, from their extensive research, was that neither the identity of the star nor the director was a major factor in guaranteeing success - plot development, locale and character are far more important. As one studio executive, quoted by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker, said: "They cared about venue, and whether it was a love story, and very specific things about the plot that they were convinced determined the outcome. It felt very objective. And they couldn't care less whether the lead was Tom Cruise of Tom Jones."

You can see the appeal to the studios: a supposedly foolproof system for delivering box-office returns - without the need for A-list tantrums or fees. As cold and clinical as it sounds, Epagogix provides the message all the studios want to hear: the script is everything. We can survive without prima donnas.

So, what does this mean for the stars? Film magazine Premiere recently claimed that we are witnessing the demise of "the last unironic movie-star generation".(omega) Certainly, Russell Crowe and the rest had better get used to considerably deflated salaries. In another high-profile case, 20th Century Fox and Universal clashed with the mighty Peter Jackson, Oscar-winning director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, over wage demands - the Jackson-produced Halo, based on the video game of the same name, has since been halted.

If Hollywood is beginning to question if it needs its Tom Cruises, think what that means for the Lindsay Lohans. This is partly to do with a loss of mystique. The movies are about escapism, and it's easier to escape when you can commit your imagination fully to the film's conceit rather than concentrating on the people you saw in the gossip rags this morning.

While it's true that scandal sheets are hardly a new phenomenon - they predate the broadsheet press itself in this country - the difference is that online gossip sites such as Holy Moly!, Popbitch and Perez Hilton rely on a steady stream of insider leaks from the A-list's coterie of minders, PRs and minions. Those nearest to them, those employed to keep the celebrity myth alive, are now contributing to their downfall, finally tiring of the demands of their clients.

Uncertain times are ahead for Hollywood. Many in the film industry are beginning to question the economic feasibility of films that cost upwards of $50m to produce. At the same time, some studios will always be willing to put their money behind a big name - Reese Witherspoon was recently paid a record, Julia Roberts-topping $29m for the upcoming horror film Our Family Trouble. It may be that the public will never tire of fame per se - just of particular egomaniacal individuals. And for every self-destructing A-lister, there's another hundred rising stars waiting in the wings for their chance. In the short term, we can expect more heroic fantasy epics with a cast of unknowns: the Spartan comic-book adaptation 300; the Viking saga Pathfinder; even Peter Jackson's rumoured film of The Hobbit.

But, in true Hollywood style, the hero may yet win the day. What do you do if you can't beat the system? You join it. Or, to be more precise, you buy your own. Earlier this month, MGM announced that Tom Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner had taken control of United Artists. The move neatly reflects the company's founding in 1919, when a group of disgruntled talents - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, DW Griffin and Douglas Fairbanks - formed their own solution to studio control, with a name reflecting their ambition. And with Cruise finally bringing the United Artists story full circle, who would deny him one last throw of the dice? Let's just hope he doesn't forget to build an on-set brothels.

Titanic (1997) $1.8bn

Fresh-faced Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet were paid $2.5m and $2m respectively for their career-making roles.

Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (2003) $1.1bn

Using a largely unknown cast, director Peter Jackson personally banked $125m for the Tolkein trilogy.

Pirates Of The Carribean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) $1bn

Johnny Depp's buccaneering Keith Richards impression led the actor to a $20m treasure chest.

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone (2001) $970m

Squeaky-voiced lead Daniel Radcliffe earnt pocket money to the tune of $250,000.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $922m

Director George Lucas's pay for his patchy six-part Star Wars series totals an astronomical $400m.

The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002) $921m

Burnley-born luvvie/ knight Sir Ian McKellen was paid $9m for his portrayal of Gandalf the Grey (or was it the White?) in the second part of the Lord of Rings trilogy.

Jurassic Park (1993) $919m

At a monstrous $250m, director Steven Spielberg's earnings dwarfed those of his cast.

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire (2005) $892m

The fourth film in the series that made writer JK Rowling Britain's Richest Woman.

Shrek 2 (2004) $880m

Mike Myers picked up $10m for providing the star voice in this computer-animated hit.

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002) $866m

Radcliffe saw his salary magically rise to $3m for his second Potter outing. And for later films, he has received further increases.

Tom Cruise $67m

Despite his increasingly unhinged off-screen antics, huge earnings from War of the Worlds make Cruise the world's highest-paid actor over the past year.

Denzel Washington $38 m

Earned big bucks starring in Spike Lee's bank robbery drama Inside Man and in the upcoming Deja Vu.

Johnny Depp $29m

Took a tasty slice out of the $500m gross box-office takings for last year's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; added to his booty with the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.

Tom Hanks $29m

The 51-year-old was paid handsomely for the indignity of starring in the film version of The Da Vinci Code.

Adam Sandler $29m

Hollywood's highest paid comic laughed all the way to the bank with the September release of Click.

Jodie Foster $27m

The 44-year-old is still landing her fair share of lucrative roles, which have recently included Flightplan, Inside Man and The Brave One.

Brad Pitt $25m

The upheavals in his love life have kept him in the public eye, but he's also pocketed a tidy sum from his share of the profits from last year's Mr & Mrs Smith.

Will Smith $25m

Scored with DVD sales of Hitch. Also from The Pursuit of Happyness, out in January.

Leonardo DiCaprio $25m

Topped up his already groaning coffers by starring in Martin Scorsese's gangster flick The Departed; also in the forthcoming The Blood Diamond, set in South Africa.

Nicole Kidman $22

Remains a big player despite meagre box-office returns for last year's The Interpreter and Bewitched. Advertising contracts kept the wolf from the door.

Earnings listed are from June 2005 to June 2006, taken from Forbes Magazine's Celebrity 100

Bond, Katmandu, and more.

This is my second post for the day, but since I saw Casino Royale last night, I have decided to try my hand at that tried and true favored blogger pastime of weighing in with unsolicited opinions on Bond movies and James Bonds.

Two important facts about 007 and me before we begin:
1.) I've seen all Bond movies except for Moonraker and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. So I can't offer any feelings on George Lazenby.
2.) Although I enjoy the movies and own most of the DVDs (from when I was younger), I am definitely not a Bond-geek or -nut or -fanatic. I am, in fact, a fan, but being a a Bond fan is a prerequisite to being a movie fan or being an American the same way that an individual must like the Rolling Stones to like music.

Anyway, without further ado, my dramatically uncontroversial list of favorite James Bonds.

5. Pierce Brosnan - the only one who has left me feeling like I could, potentially, be James Bond if I wanted to (minus the beginning of Goldeneye)

4. Sir Roger Moore - God bless the guy, but Roger Moore James Bond lived in an alternate universe... not that the rest of them don't, but there is no stranger sex scene in all of Bond-dom than 60+ Moore-Bond and the Amazonian femme fatale from A View to a Kill

3. Timothy Dalton - now we're getting into the warm water... just as intense as Moore is goofy, he delivers for two films

2. Daniel Craig - the reason I don't talk ish about unorthodox casting choices (like Heath Ledger as the Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight) is because I assume that somebody knows something I don't... which is absolutely the case with Craig who brought down the house in Casino Royale as a young, cruel 007.

1. Sir Sean Connery - What can I say? He was and pretty much still is James Bond. The charm, the wit, the icy cunning... booyah kasha

Now onto my six favorite Bond movies in alphabetical order

Casino Royale - just as good as (better than?) everyone has been hoping

Diamonds Are Forever - I don't know why I like it so much more than Dr. No or You Only Live Twice... At least it's not Thunderball. I hated Thunderball.

From Russia With Love - only one that really seems like a Cold War spy film... better than Goldfinger

Goldeneye - might partially be a sentimental choice based on my junior high days playing the game on Nintendo 64

License to Kill - possibly my favorite Bond film of all time

Live and Let Die - a good mix of goofy and coo... no, I really have no good reason for this

By the way, if anyone is still with me, my least favorite Bond film of all time is The World Is Not Enough.

And if you're still reading, I will now share with you an anecdote from Utrecht. After seeing The Departed, Eliot, Nathalie, Kate, and I went to a bar in Kate's travel guide called Woohoo Mooshoo or something like that... whatever the Dutch is for "Fraternity Way."

As soon as we got there, we were approached by a well-sloshed Dutch college student named Peter who invited us up to the VIP room aptly named Katmandu because it exists at the top of an immense staircase.

Katmandu turned out to be the most disgusting room/bar I have ever been to, and keep in mind I've been to my fair share of parties at the former ADG house.

You could not possibly have found a worse group of people to run a bar.

This was the asylum not only being run by the inmates but by the inmates who are usually chained down. There were about 10-12 Dutch frat-boy types up there (no girls other than Nat and Kate), and they were all belligerent when we arrived). It was never clear to me just who worked there and who was just there visiting as there was a constant parade behind the bar. They gave us a nice little discount of all the beer the four of us could drink for 10 euros.

In large patches, the floor was covered in a layer of liquid that I assumed was spilled beer until ten minutes after arriving up there, our new friend Peter casually peed on the wall, a few feet from the bathroom door.

The Katmandu soundtrack consisted of a strange blend of Dutch pop music and the occasional Paris Hilton single to which all of a sudden there were three or four of the guys dancing on the bar. And then they took off there pants.

Then our old unsanitary friend Peter pulled a red car seat from his hat, and started throwing it as hard as he could... at the wall, at the floor, everywhere--throwing and kicking. Then all of the Dutchies, now riled up, started taking turns maniacally beating the crap out of this chair. Eliot, who had had a few beers at this point, joined in kicking the chair Office Space-style, but unfortunately slipped in the thin layer of liquid on the ground and splashed down hard on his back.

Peter finally picked up the chair and heaved it at the wall and with a crash of thunder, a large speaker hanging from the ceiling fell to the ground. At this point, I put my arm around Kate and said, "This is our cue to go." My last memory of Katmandu before going down to dance in Wooloo Mooloo below was hearing the red chair, temporarily forgotten as the obviously defunct speaker was reattached to the ceiling, crash against the wall.

Keep in mind this was a Wednesday night.

Keep it funky fresh, Junior Woodchucks.

Sometimes when we touch...

Here is some footage from my interview with Olaf Lehne of Germany's CDU, for my in-progress FILM 360 documentary Killing Voltaire.



Keep in mind that we are talking about the Holocaust and Holocaust revisionism. Finally started really editing the footage today...


Let's just say it's gonna be a pain.

Wednesday in Utrecht, Thanksgiving

Day trip to Utrecht, Holland.

Fairly ridiculous experience. Ask me about it.











...long day...


And then Thanksgiving at the AIB...




Yes. They are all evil.





Happy Thanksgiving.

Recent Adventures

Last Thursday evening, Nathalie, Jeff (the 18 year old intern here), and I climbed on a train and headed for a Holocaust memorial service about 15 minutes away with the understanding that there would be a Neo-Nazi counterprotest. This would give Nathalie and I excellent b-roll footage for our FILM 360 documentaries, Nathalie's dealing with the abstract topic of "hate" and mine dealing with free speech in Germany.

Although the counterprotest never showed up, we still managed to get some good footage of the rally. Here are a few pics that Jeff took that really don't do the evening justice...


on the train with Nathalie


on the train with Jeff


the protest (it'll look better in my documentary)



The following evening, it was time for Nathalie and I to do our scene for Conor's--the only senior here in the Deuce--460 thesis film. A little background info... in the words of director Conor Metz, "Nathalie stars as Grace Hart, a secret agent who in trying to uncover the plans of the evil Mr. Tracy, discovers that there is more to the situation than meets the eye."

Anyway, I was typecast as a psychotic torture specialist named Cyrano who pulls several of Ms. Hart's teeth before having my own throat ripped out with her teeth. We started filming at 6 or so and didn't finish until after midnight, at which point Nathalie and I, still in full costume and makeup, met up with Jeff, Eliot, and Leslie (Eliot's visiting girlfriend from the States) for some drinks it Altstadt.


Doobie and Leslie


Ms. Hart and Cyrano
















mmmm whopper...

Proud to be part of it

I'll be honest with you, folks. I only qualify as part of an "educated audience" because I get my education from Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert. Consider my list of the top 5 reasons I'm looking forward to coming home in a month...

5. First run movies in English
4. No more routine communication disasters
3. My friends & family
2. The Daily Show/The Colbert Report
1. Unlimited free refills when I go out to eat

I think the question isn't whether or not The Daily Show and the Report are what won the election for the Dems. I think it's whether my generation will be remembered as Stewart's Children or Colbert's Children. I'm gonna vote for Stewart's Children due to seniority, but we'll see.

And I'm damn proud to be a part of it.

I just hope my mom remembered to TiVo all the Reports and Daily Shows for the past three months so I can watch them in December.

Speaking of people who are making a difference, I saw Borat: Cultural Learnings For Make Better Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan on Wednesday night. It was quite possibly the funniest movie I've ever seen. Mom, if you're reading this, you would hate it and walk out indignantly. But everybody else would probably cry from laughter like I did. My friend Nathalie (and many others) said that she thought it made America look bad, and while there are certain scenes that did: the rodeo, the frat boys (who are now suing if you didn't already know), the New Yorkers... I thought it could have been a lot worse. There were certainly some patient, kind people that Borat encountered.

And besides, he went through the South, which, well, we all know about them anyway. If he had gone through Northwest Ohio, there would probably be an overly massive international migration there so it's probably for the best that he didn't. I can't believe the ishstorm that movie is raising though.

I think I have some new photos laying around here somewhere to post in the near future... random stuff from around the Deuce. Read Cindy Sheehan's new open letter to George I posted below if you haven't already.

Oh, and here's the trailer for Jesus Camp. I think I probly already linked it, but whatever. Everybody go see it and let me know how it is.

Another Open Letter to George by Cindy Sheehan

George,

First of all, I would have given anything to be a fly on the wall on November 8th, when we all knew fairly early that the Democrats had taken back the House of Representatives. I would also have loved to be in the room when Senator George Allen conceded and the Senate was lost. I hope you realize that your demented policies and miserably failed leadership style is responsible for the thumping that your party took this week. Even though I couldn't be a secret first hand witness to your political demise, it was good to be in front of your soon to be vacated premises in DC.

On November 4th, 2004, after you stole yet another election, I wrote an open letter to you promising that I would use every last ounce of strength that I had to see you held accountable for the death of my son and for all of the gratuitous bloodshed that you have foisted on humanity since you have been president.

As committed as I am to bringing the troops home, I am as much committed to seeing you investigated, impeached, ejected from office, and imprisoned in the same cell with Saddam for crimes against humanity. After all, you yourself, have said over and over again that the troops aren't leaving Iraq alone while you are in office...so get out of office so our young people can come home. A recent MSNBC poll said that 86% of their viewers are in favor of putting you on trial, George. 86% is exactly the same percentage of Iraqis who want our troops to leave their Bush-torn country.

Americans (you remember us, don't you?), turned out in huge numbers the other day to hold you accountable. You had yourself another accountability moment there, and you lost, didn't you? We Americans did not vote to retain the Republican status quo of murder, mayhem, and oppression. We voted to change politics as usual in this country. We voted against you and your wars of terror. We voted against you and your spies. We voted against you and your torturers. We voted against you and your definition of freedom as something that can be spread by bombing a country into oblivion. We voted against you and your definition of peace as something that can be spread by violence. We voted against you and your definition of security while your state sanctioned terrorism is creating more terrorists. We voted against you and your most atrocious and abominable exploitation of the right to life to continue your genocidal policies in Iraq.

We the people have a mandate for change. If you think that we are going to squander our mandate and permit you to slide away into obscurity in Crawford, as a footnote as the worst president in US history, to lick your wounded pride and count your stacks of ill-gotten gains, you are wrong. You are not escaping punishment as other war criminal presidents have in our past. No matter if you and Rep. Pelosi become best buddies and take tea regularly in the oval office, we the people with our mandate are not going to allow you to get off scott-free.

After the 110th Democratic Congress is sworn in, we the people with all the power, will be out in force in the halls and offices of our elected officials to make sure that our mandate for change is carried out. Gone are the days when we will permit our elected officials to bow before the special interests and allow the war machine to run our country. Here are the days where we the people with the mandate will enforce our mandate.

We are also going to enforce our mandate for change to insure that you do not invade another country, in our names, that is no threat to the USA. We will not allow any more war for the war profiteers.

George, you and your buddy, Karl, frightened us into thinking that we needed you to protect us. We are not afraid anymore, George, but you should be very afraid. A sleeping giant has been awakened and we are starving for justice and peace. I hope your successors remember who employs them and who has the real power in the country, because you forgot and it is going to cost you your job and your nice life in Central Texas, or Paraguay...wherever you thought you were going to retire in infamy to.

George, you said that you have been to rodeos before. I am not so sure what you meant. A rodeo is filled with real cowboys and bucking broncos. You are a fake cowboy who is about to be thrown from the horse that you have been illegitimately and incompetently riding for almost six years now. Enjoy the rest of the ride while you can, George. Pad your seat, things are going to get even bumpier for you!

In Peace and Hope,
Cindy Sheehan
Mother of Casey Sheehan...murdered by your fake and failed war of terror.
Co-Founder and President of Gold Star Families for Peace.
Founder of Camp Casey Peace Institute in Crawford, Texas.

People of Iraq: Don't kill Saddam.

First of all, I'm never a fan of the Death penalty. Granted, I think the whole anti-taking a life for taking a life argument is retarded: we put people in jail for kidnapping and fine people for stealing. How is it so much less fair to kill for killing than to imprison for imprisoning?

I do not support the Death penalty in any circumstance because of the following reasoning:

Who decides what crimes deserve Death, and how do they decide that? What are the criteria? Do all killers deserve Death? Do all premeditative killers deserve Death? Do those whose dispositions make it possible for them to kill in moments of extreme passion deserve Death? Do those who disrespect life to the extreme of recklessly endangering the lives of others by drinking and driving deserve Death? Do mass murderers, serial killers, or rampage killers deserve Death? Do sociopathic killers deserve Death? What about those who know someone is being killed and do nothing to stop it? Do 18-year olds deserve Death? 17-year olds? 19-year olds?

Any or all of these have been suggested, but what makes one individual any more qualified to decide than anyone else? And what rock hard logic can they offer in support? Many more qualified bloggers than I (Socrates, for example) have touched on human imperfection, but we are dealing with a perfect thing when we are dealing with Death. Which brings me to my next point:

When you kill someone, that's it. Game over. When an individual goes to jail, he/she/it has the rest of his/her/its life to consider the crime and idealistically, seek forgiveness and/or atonement. When that individual is put to Death, it is the result of a microscopic percentage of the human race saying that he/she/it has forfeited one of the most basic rights I feel we hold as humans: the Right to Redemption. The right to seek forgiveness from those whom we have hurt and consequentially, whatever force governs the universe. And the right to create a better world. Sentencing an individual to Death is banishing that person to whatever eternal reward lies for murderers on the other side of Death.

Who are we, as imperfect beings, to claim such a massive responsibility? No matter whom we decide deserves death, it will always be an arbitrary decision. 18-year olds... 19-year olds... 20-year olds... 21-year olds... And honestly, what is scarier than the thought of arbitrarily deciding who deserves to die? (Not to mention the number of people who have been proven innocent with scientific evidence after they have already been executed... Check it out.)

Which brings me to the point of my blog.

Saddam Hussein may be quite the santorum, but don't kill him.

There must, in fact, be good in him the same way that there must be good even in Dick Cheney. And because, in fact, there must be... what right do we have as imperfect creatures to take away his Right to Redemption? Granted, I know the murder he's being executed for was over 20 years ago, and he still hasn't seeked any sort of redemption but still:

Is he really a threat to anyone in the world at this point?

Is he really being killed in the name of Justice rather than Revenge?

Is he really going to be hanged?

Is it really 2006? And he's being hanged? And everyone's... okay with this?

So, Kofi Annan, George Bush, Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi Court of Appeals, next time you guys check my blog, please take a little extra time to think about things before you kill the man/allow the man to be killed. Think about the ramifications of putting a man even like Saddam Hussein to death.

Keep in mind... we're imperfect, but Death isn't.