Hello, President Bush? Hello, yes, it's me Cindy Sheehan. I'm calling you from your front gate. I know you're on vacation and quite busy with golfing, barbecuing, and bike riding (on the occasions you can actually stay on the bike). Oh, yes, that was a bit rude but it is true. What? Oh, yes, I know the continuous playing of Holiday by Green Day and System Of A Down's B.Y.O.B. is getting quite annoying. Your neighbors did mow down our crosses. Just what kind of neighbors do you have living here? Anyway, look Mr. President, I'd really like to talk to you, just for a few minutes, about the death of my son and almost 2,000 others who have died in Iraq. Many, many of them were quite young or had families. I know you think things are going very well even though more soldiers are dying every day and the insurgents are becoming more clever in their violence, well we disagree on that point and I'm not the only one either. Ok, wait, Mr. President, don't you want one of your last acts as President, before you become a lame duck, to be one of goodwill? I mean let's face it you've had a lot of bad things during your presidency: cutting taxes during a war, letting Osama Bin Laden escape at Tora Bora, the ousting of Colin Powell, Margaret Spellings, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, appointing John Bolton to the UN.....oh, I'm sorry I got carried away. You have had some good things such as catching Saddam Hussein, bringing the country together after 9/11 (even if it was short lived), John Roberts as a US Supreme Court Justice looks promising. Many of your speeches and coining of new words has no doubt provided many hours of derision. And your facial expressions during the first Presidential debate with John Kerry were priceless. So what do you say President Bush? Won't you just take a few minutes out of your, I'm sure much deserved vacation, just to speak with me? Ok, Mr. Bush, I'll let you go now. I'll be right out here waiting and there's some Texas barbecued chicken wings for you too. Goodbye. Update: Sheehan's mother had a stroke and Cindy is leaving the ranch but she plans on being back as soon as possible.

My Oscar video pick of the week is a 1937 film that tells the story of a spoiled brat, who thinks he is entitled to everything he wants, who falls overboard while on a ship with his father. The film, Captains Courageous, is adapted from Rudyard Kipling's book and is one of the best adaptations I've ever seen. It stars Spencer Tracy as fisherman Manuel who saves Harvey, the young spoiled rich kid. This kid makes the Problem Child boy look like Mother Teresa. Most of the movie is spent out on the sea with Harvey learning what real life is like and Manuel and Harvey are soon bonding as a father and son would . One of the best scenes in the film is when Harvey tells Manuel he wants to stay with him. Another really good one is when Harvey is in the church praying to God that he wants to be with Manuel as Harvey's father listens in the back. Harvey's father, by the way, is played by Melvyn Douglas. Tracy won a much deserved Oscar, his first of two, for this film. He must have been one of the best actors of his time, his performance in the film is moving. In fact all of the acting is superb and the film is saved from melodrama and being sappy thanks to the actors. A 17-year old Mickey Rooney plays the son of the captain in the film. Check out this movie and revel in how movies used to be made.

Enjoy your day,

paul