Happy Veterans Day

More Random Thoughts from Iowa Bob. On this Veterans Day, I dedicate this column to my Mother and My father, both veterans of World War II. Bob & Esther Peters, I salute you.

U First of all, If you scroll a little further down on the right side of my blog, you’ll see an orange box that states “This blogs reading level: High School." If you have a blog, or if you have a favorite blog, click on the bottom of that orange box and see what the reading level of YOUR blog is.

U Secondly, congratulations to the University of Northern Iowa Panthers on their 68-14 win Saturday over Indiana State. UNI, my Alma Mater, is currently ranked #1 in the nation in I-AA division, and one win away from a perfect season. Go Purple & Gold!!

U I see a pattern here: In a telephone interview with Fox, Geoffrey Mitchell, 32, says he was approached by an operative for the Clinton campaign to ask a planted question about standing up to President Bush on Iraq war funding. The encounter happened before an event on a farm outside Fort Madison, Iowa. Mitchell tells Fox that Clinton campaign worker Chris Hayler approached him and asked him to ask Sen. Clinton a question about how she was standing up to President Bush on the question of funding the Iraq war and a troop withdrawal timeline. Oh well, I guess if she doesn’t win the presidency there will always be a place for her at FEMA!

U You know, I love Air America radio, I really do. They do more to undermine liberalism than Rush, Sean and the rest of them combined. Consider this gem from Randi Rhodes from a couple of weeks ago:

And you know, every time I look for it what comes up, believe it or not, is that
Blackwater wants to move to San Diego and build this giant complex in San Diego
right where most of the evacuations are taking place and you know. ...Some of
them are thought to be the work of arsonists and in the same breath you've got a
community that's on fire that just recently protested Blackwater West. Just
recently said no to Blackwater and apparently you don't do that. ...You know,
nobody is saying Blackwater set the fires, that is nobody that doesn't want their house burned down. Nobody is saying that, but it is all so bizarre that this is America and you have to sort of sit there and wonder... arson, same
place Blackwater West wants to be, people protesting. And then you find out that
some of the guys that used to work for Blackwater are now in Schwarzenegger's
administration. It's all so creepy.

I would call her a conspiracy wacko, but I might get the tin foil hat crowd suing me for defamation of character.

U Last week 13-year-old Megan Coulter of Mascoutah, Ill. Received two days of detention at her school. Her crime? Hugging two of her friends goodbye. It seems she violated a “zero tolerance” school policy against public displays of affection.

According to the school handbook: “Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved.” Yeah, Megan really discredited her school by hugging her friends. It reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw not that long ago that read “Hugs, not Guns”. It seems your in trouble for bringing either to school these days.


U Silence of The Lambs: It seems that Lions For Lambs, the new Tom Cruise/Robert Redford movie is doing horrible business at the box office. It has been getting horrible reviews from critics and audiences alike, despite the star power of Cruise, Redford and Meryl Streep. Why? Some say it is because of it’s overtly anti-American liberal message, and that’s probably part of it.

Look, I don’t mind overtly liberal message entertainment, as long as it’s good entertainment. Aaron Sorkin, the man who brought us the very liberal The West Wing is also responsible for my favorite television show of all time: Sports Night. Though less liberal than West Wing, it still had a leftist slant, but I didn’t care, because it was terrifically well written. I was also a big fan of The West Wing for the first several years.

If you want to put a political message into a movie, fine – just make sure it makes sense in the context of the film. If you want to take a political message and make a film surrounding that, you’re probably going to fail. But that doesn’t seem to stop the liberal film makers. And lets face it, the only place where a liberal message works is in a piece of fiction.