MatthewMaynard.net

Jennifer and I just got back from seeing United 93. I’m not normally an opening weekend movie goer. Heck, I’m not typically a movie goer, period. But this is different. America has forgotten what that morning was like, and this movie brings it back. In real time.

My first thought going into it was I hope I don’t end up weeping like I did when I saw Passion. I didn’t. I don’t think I came close, but I can’t say the same for other movie goers. It brings out many of the emotions we felt that day, but the distance of time and events makes them as old, dusty relics from a closet in the trunk. We look, we remember, and we know the emotions, but they’ve faded.

This is not entertainment. This is not docudrama. It is as accurate a portrayal of their actions as we can make. This is like making a movie about Pearl Harbor – you can make a historical movie, like Tora! Tora! Tora!, or a romance, one like Pearl Harbor, from a few years ago. This is a historical portrayal, done in almost nearly real time.

And done tastefully, too. The final crash is not shown. The screen goes black, just as the cockpit view fills with the Shanksville field. You feel the confusion of the air traffic controllers, as well as the despair of the passengers as they call their relatives. It moves you, but the movement depends on the hardness of your heart towards the events of the day. Pink Team will cast their aspersions, Grey Team will have their inner doubts and their sadness. But it is definitely an emotional movie.

I recommend it, but be prepared to deal with the emotions it can bring up. The dominant one for me was doubt. I wonder if, put in the same position, I could ever do what they did.

By God, I can.

Greenpeace founder advocates nuclear power plants. No joke.

I generally find myself with more contempt and disagreement towards environmentalists than concurrence and agreement, but I have to concede one of his points: coal-fired plants make for dirty air, and that is the one thing I can’t stand.

As for the sacrament of recycling in the church of Gaia, fuggedabowdit. There’s no way I’m going to believe that it takes less energy to recycle than it does to manufacture new.

My inbox this morning had an unrequested email from Dell, sent to my insinkerator at matthewmaynard dot net email address. So FYI, if you have to give an email address to register for your Insinkerator food disposer, be aware that they will probably sell it to the highest bidder.

So Tony Snow takes the position of Press Secretary at the White House, and his first act in the position is to give an acceptance statement, then ignore David Gregory?

I think he’ll fit the position very well.

There is a weapon called the Lewis Gun, used by the British in the two World Wars. International Military Antiques is a militaria dealer who carries the magazine pouches for the gun.

Brings a whole new definition to the term “Mae West vest”, doesn’t it? I can only imagine the jokes the poor Tommy assigned that weapon had to endure…

• We rented Batman Begins, an excellent movie. Favorite funny line: “Do I look like a cop?!?” Favorite serious line: “Criminals thrive on the indulgence of society’s understanding.”
• Michelle Malkin’s new site has an excellent rundown on the CIA politically-motivated leak story.
• We had the carpets cleaned on Saturday. Arcadia Cleaning did a good job for a reasonable price. I recommend them, if the need arises and you don’t want to do it yourself.
• Jen’s birthday just passed, and our 2-year anniversary is coming up. I wanted to get her a Ruger 10/22 rifle for her birthday and bedsheets for the anniversary (the 2-year gift is china or cotton, depending on which list you look at), but she was insistent on the bedsheets. After she received them and I told her about the rifle, she joked about getting the rifle for our anniversary just for fun. Dare I do it?

I like the 30 minute guarantee.

I’ve recently become aware of RightTalk.com and tuned in at lunchtime today, when I heard Newt Gingrich opine on immigration law enforcement at the city level.

Gingrich is advocating that cities which do not enforce federal immigration law should get their federal funding removed. He would do well to remember a particular issue he took up in 1994, shortly before he became speaker: The Job Creation And Wage Enhancement Act (passed in part as H.R.5, 104th Congress), requiring Federal funding for state spending mandated by Congressional action.

He should apply the same standard now that he did then, if he wishes to avoid the monikers of idiot, hypocrite, and/or opportunist. If Congress decides to adopt his policy, it should make available to the cities the funds necessary to do so, then punish them if they use the funds for something else.

So, Michelle Malkin republishes contact info that was on the Internet, then has her own contact info (never previously published) put out by those who pulled the original content off the Net.

It makes my head swim.

Anyway, Jeremy points to the IndyMedia horde who decided it was a good idea to publish the addresses of other right-wing pundits, even if they had nothing to do with the story in the first place.

Trouble is, they published the wrong addresses for some of the individuals – Hugh Hewitt, Stephen Green, and others. Hugh is in CA, they listed him as being in MN. Stephen Green is in CO, not CA. So is Jeff Goldstein.

Oops.

What do you get when you mix a Contender with the .600 NE cartridge?

Warning: a completely expected expletive comes at the end. If, for some reason it doesn’t work, download the video here (1MB wmv).