SHAME, BLAME, AND A BRAND NEW GAME

Let's get this straight. After years of debate, the infamous "don't ask, don't tell" bill has been abolished and President Obama will sign a new bill on tomorrow allowing men and women to serve their country without being thrown out because of their sexuality. No longer will vitally needed, highly educated translators, engineers, soldiers, and many others have to lie about who they are. What lessons have we been teaching our young people over the last decade? It's okay to be gay as long as you lie about it. It's okay to betray your fellow worker if his or her choices are not in agreement with yours.....AND THIS IS WHAT JOHN MCCAIN AND MANY OTHER SPINELESS LEADERS ENDORSED?!

Bravo to the GOP senators and representatives who voted for the new measure and SHAME on those GOP and DEMOCRATIC members who voted against it or stayed away out of cowardice. 80% of Americans were for the change, the major military brass were for it, and the rank and file of military were for it or just didn't care. And what's left hanging in the wind? A tattered old man still raving along with his cronies. If John McCain were King Lear, we could pity him. But he's not, and we don't.

Finally....

Last night we watched the serious comedy THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, which has been touted as an Oscar contender for 2010. This film reeks with the California life style and weather. It never rains, people drink too much, crises loom in every corner of the kitchen or bedroom, and that's just for openers. Filled with some of the best actors around, KIDS explores the lives of two happily married lesbians, one an uptight doctor, the other a free spirit who wants to talk everything through. They are the parents of two delightful teens. All is well until the kids hook up with their sperm donor. At first glance, Mark Ruffalo is certainly more than all right--he's casual, cool, owns his own restaurant, rides a motorcycle, the works. But things develop, putting a great strain on the relationship of the lesbian parents. Annette Beining and Julianne Moore give heart-wrenching performances as their love is tested by their children and this new man in their lives. In fact, all the acting is natural. This could be any married couple facing the reefs in their mid=years. Except for the excessive use of graphic sex and language, this is a very fine film.