'round the world - thank you!

I'm always amazed at the thousands of people who read my blog from around the world - up to 68 nations a month!

I hope to have a translator for folks who don't speak English here soon, which should help those who need a little help with the language.

For some reason, outside English speaking countries, I'm huge in Poland. I think that's awesome, and with a little help from a friend, let me say, dziekuje Ci,ze czytasz moj "blog." Thank you for reading my blog!

Where ever you may be reading "wassup!", thank you so much for taking your valuable time to read my thoughts.

I do wish you'd share more of your thoughts with me on the blog site. I receive many emails, which is also wonderful, but I'd love to read what you're thinking as well on the blog. You don't have to sign up or join anything, you can post anonymously.

Dog fighting: help shut them down

While it is sickening to read how Michael Vick and his cohorts tortured and killed dogs trained to fight to the death, as well as put smaller breeds with the fighters for "bait" dogs, used to teach the dogs to fight and kill, it's important that the general public understand this illegal and horrific treatment of dogs has been going on for many years in the US.

Dog fighting, called a blood sport for good reason, is illegal for obvious reasons in most nations, but it still exists in many US cities because it's closely related to gang activity.

The tip offs to find dogfighting in your area: dogs heard barking all hours of the day and night (when they're chained up) without actually seeing them, lots of people trafficking in and out of a place, and any yelps of dogs sounding like they're hurt heard more than once from the same area.

Some people are afraid to report dogs barking, etc., for fear the dogs will be put down if they are taken in. This almost *never* happens. Even higher kill shelters give owners two or three chances before they actually take the dog away from its owner and put the dog in a shelter for adoption.

Meanwhile, if it is a dog fighting operation, the authorities will rescue the dogs and put the dog fighting criminals out of business.

People who treat dogs like this have zero empathy; they tend not to feel or understand the pain they are inflicting on helpless animals. People who abuse animals have been found in too many cases to parlay that behavior to abusing human beings as well.

When I worked as a volunteer for two years at the Seattle Animal Shelter, helping to care for the animals, calm them and match them with new owners, we were instructed how to identify the behavior of people seeking either fighting or bait dogs.

There are specific behaviors and questions they ask that tip anyone off that they're looking for either fighting or bait dogs. Because they didn't want to pay adoption fees, they would come in looking for their "lost" dog. It would always be a certain type or breed, pit bulls were at the top of their list, but they could never specifically identify a particular dog.

We knew the dogs' personalities and idiosyncrasies well enough to know that these folks were just fishing, that they had not actually lost their pet, and when we asked what sorts of activities they did with their dog or about specific personality or physical traits, they wouldn't have the foggiest notion what we were talking about.

They would become excited when they saw one of the larger breeds or pit bulls respond in a menacing or rambunctious way and try to claim it was their dog.

You know your pet at first sight, you don't "test" or check them out to decide it's your dog. To adopt a pet, you need to jump through hoops the fighting/bait dog seeker don't want leap into because personal information forms need to be filled and checked out, identifying where they live, etc., before the adoption would be permitted.

We would not let them know we were on to them, and we didn't have enough specific information, of course, to report them to authorities. I'm sure they come in hoping to be helped by someone less aware than I am, and who knows if they ever got "lucky" with a newbie.

When fighting and bait dogs would be brought to us by police who shut down a dog fight operation, what we saw was heartbreaking. The injuries, the scars, the fear, the rage. Those who may have been against the death penalty changed their minds at that moment - at least for that moment - when they saw the ravages beset on victims of dog fighting.

People associated with dog fighting are not the only people who come in claiming to "find" their lost pet - dog or cat - when of course it's not their pet at all. Some would come in high or drunk, I think looking for a companion they couldn't afford to adopt; others for who knows what reason, but it certainly wasn't for the welfare of the animal.

The only thing we could do in every case, equally, was adhere to our policy: the right pet for the right person. A Great Dane won't work if you live in a small apartment, for instance, no matter how much you love Great Danes.

Shelter pets are all "personality" tested - some animals should not live with other animals or children, for example. Others are just love bugs and would be perfect for kids.

Some have been abused and react strongly to certain elements that remind them of those nightmares, so they need someone who understands how to work with problematic pets.

Letting people know the truth about caring for a new pet is important. The average age of a cat born today and raised indoors, for example, is 20. It's a many years-long commitment.

I'll never forget the day a very tired and very pregnant woman came in with her three children - one of whom was small enough that she had to hold her, another was in a stroller, and the the third was a very active little boy.

I asked if I could help her, and the little boy squealed, "We want a puppy!"

I looked the woman in the eye and said, "You realize a puppy is just as much work as another kid .."

Without taking a breath, she turned and left, the little boy screaming, "I want a puppy! I want a puppy!" behind her.

Something that helped keep shelter dogs out of the hands of people who potentially might use or abuse them was not just our training.

Seattle has a very low kill policy - they keep the animals alive, which means that only in dire cases of disease or terminal injury would the animal be put down.

So we worked hard to take care of them and find new owners; many volunteers take the displaced animals in as "foster parents" to help the pet (dog, cat, or other animal) recover from illness or injury, adjust to normal living or even socialized and trained.

There is a separate fund for helping sick and injured pets that does not tap into any city money, for which an annual fundraiser is held.

So while we were very eager to get the animals adopted, we could be careful to match the animal with the right home because we weren't desperate to get the animals out of the shelter. Since the animals weren't facing a ticking clock death sentence, we could take our time to assist people find the proper pet as well as show them how to care for them. It's astonishing how many people know nothing about the proper care, socializing and training of a pet - particularly dogs.

I suggested that we make a 15-minute video on the proper care, socializing and training of a dog that everyone coming through the door looking for a dog should watch so they could make their decision knowledgeably and be confident that when they got home, they were in for a great experience with their new pet.

I believe that since we have taken animals out of their natural habitat, living in the wild, that we have a responsibility to care for them since in so many ways, they can no longer fend for themselves as they could when they were not domesticated.

At any rate, the adoption rate was very high because most people come to the shelter ready and willing to learn how to take care of their new family members if they don't already know how, and we took time to be sure they got the right companion for their lifestyle, companion needs or family.




















My Allie Cat is adopted from the shelter. What a terrific experience I've had with her.

But it's because I knew how to socialize and train her little crazy wild heart.

All that peripatetic energy and desire to desecrate was redirected into the most affectionate, sweet, fun kitty ever! 20 years? I hope she has 30!

"God's Warriors" have no faith

CNN's Christiane Amanpour did a sensational three-part, six hour documentary, "God's Warriors," on religious fundamentalists - Christian, Muslim and Jewish - who have declared war on the world - or at least some parts of it.

It occurred to me that as I watched these angry, vicious and desperate peoples fight to change the world to suit their philosophy or to force people to behave as they wish, that none of them had any real faith.

They apparently think that God or Allah is so weak and incapable of running the show, that rather than surrender to the universal commandments, tenants and philosophies of any great religion, these self-proclaimed warriors take matters into their own hands, see things in only a humanistic way and take physical action to harm or kill their avowed enemies.

An eye for an eye, never turn the other cheek. Wait, aren't both philosophies written in sacred books? I suppose it comes down to what you want to believe and practice.

Each group works from a core not of faith but of fear.

Fear and love cannot exist at the same moment. This fear is fomented with the perception of the world that, in their minds, insults - hurts - their sensibility. The primary feeling of fear, coupled with hurt, can develop into the secondary emotion of anger.

Fear, hurt and anger is what I saw over and over again in the series. Where is their true spirituality?

Where is any relationship at all to God and spirit.

It felt like the people fighting in the name of God or Allah - the vast, vast majority of whom are men - do not represent God at all. It all seems to be lip service - say the words, have no emotional, personal or real connection with what they're saying.

Finally, it hit me: they're not God's Warriors at all, they're My Own Religious Domination Warriors. They call themselves God's Warriors to rationalize their brutality, greed and psychotic need to dominate.

When I write my scripts, I am aware of each character's spiritual and material sides. Without a balance of both, the character will be lonely, addictive, suffer and/or die.

George Bush says God made him president because, he says, God wants the world to live in an American-type freedom, and to do this he is sending soldiers to commit a near-suicide mission to force Iraqi's to live that way. Well, in Iraq there are the Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis, each of whom may want to split up the country and NOT live in a democracy.

In fact, Islam is not as much a religion to fundamentalists as it is considered a nation. The Muslim religion=the Muslim nation, and fundamentalists want everyone to live the way they dictate. As in, there was no mention of women covering their heads or their bodies in the Koran - those are all "modern" rules declared by men who want to keep women subservient to men in the culture.

So of course their goal is to have the fundamentalist Muslim nation include the entire world, with women everywhere subsurvient to men, not permitted to drive a car, walk outside without a man at her side, etc. Women who have been journalists, broadcasters and held "men's" jobs have been brutally murdered. Likewise, if a woman "offends" the family men by doing anything Western women do freely - the men feel it's their "obligation," their duty, to kill these women, be they sister, mother or daughter, who stray from the near-psychotic need to keep women following the rules proclaimed by fundamentalist Muslim men, not Allah.

Just as fundamentalist Christian men believe women should remain subservient to them. At one time fundamentalist Christians used passages in the Christian bible as a reason to own slaves and consider black people "less than" white people.

Fundamentalist Jews believe they are God's Chosen People. Apart from everyone else. With Israel the chosen land. They do believe in the equality of women, however, including mandatory service in the Israeli militray alonside their Jewish brothers. Again, (is there an echo in here?) they believe there is one truth, theirs. And that the synagogue and state should be one.

A Jewish nation, just as Muslims want a Muslim nation (world), as Christians want a Christian nation (world).

Fundamentalist Jews believe theirs is the chosen religion.

Fundamentalist Muslims believe theirs is the only true religion.

Fundamentalist Christians believe theirs is the only true religion.

Actually, there are other religious groups who believe the same thing. That theirs is the only "real" "true" and "right" religion.

Christian fundamentalists have the same goal. Have Christians rule the world. There should be no division between church and state, with that ruling church being Christian. European nations and the UK went through this for hundreds of bloody years, finally realized it didn't work and have governed with a separation of church and state since.

Although fundamentalists ask, "How would Jesus vote?" It was pointed out that Jesus was never political. He was personal. He was spiritual. He related to God, not to gold.

But it's greed that moves people to try to rule the world. Power over people, their behavior and their money. Again, no separation between church and state.

I'll never forget interviewing an Iranian refugee living in the Pacific Northwest many years ago for a story I was doing on "sleeper cells" in the US, wherein he told me, "We thought nothing could be worse than the Shah. But the Ayatollah is a hundred times worse. We trusted that because he was a man of God he would work for the people, to show his love for people, to create peace and harmony among us and the world. He doesn't. It's just the opposite."

We had to photograph him in shadows because he said he would be killed for speaking to me if anyone discovered his identity. He showed me enough evidence to convince me this was true.

In case you don't know, the Shah of Iran was the constitutional monarch of Iran embraced by the US. He left to live in exile in 1979 during a violent revolution, replaced by the Ayatollah Khomeini, who called himself (in the "true ego-less spirit" of Allah's servant) the Supreme Leader, creating the Islamic Republic of Iran.

I think what happens to a lot of religious leaders who don't understand the humility they should have at the very core of their jobs, that of being a spiritual leader, is that they actually believe they ARE God. They see people react to them in such wonderment, they go, "Wow! Lookee me! I can say or do anything because I speak for God!"

They don't understand they have broken the first commandment, "Thou shalt put no other gods before me."

No matter what they say, or even if they believe they are fighting for a religion or a righteous cause, their actions say they fight for a secular, material cause - whatever that might be - above God. It looks to me as if they foresake his commandment, then use God's name to break it.

Interesting.

God must be shaking his/her head wondering, "what is with these human beings that they are so frightened of each other and so mired in their need to be "right" they don't understand how to let me help them make the most of their short time on earth. Don't they know they live in eternity as a spirit and have to account to me for their actions?

"Their need to be right and control others is so sadly apparent. It's obvious they have no faith in me or that others are capable of thinking for themselves or creating their own spiritual relationship with me. So much so they will destroy their time on earth - and others - in a profane quest that is now, and always has been, futile.

"LOL. Even *I* grant everyone free will. Which is why I let them play their shocking, heartbreaking, hurtful games. Perhaps one day when they are sick and tired of being sick and tired, they will understand that their spirits inherently supersede and transcend religion, politics and the need to be right or control anyone.

"It's despairing to see them abuse, squander and destroy the gifts I have given them: life, peace, beauty, nature, water, food, emotions, bodies, hearts, minds and their very souls. Within that soul comes the answer to every question. Look inside - find the key to your soul, open it and you will understand how to use these gifts as they were meant to be enjoyed.

"The truly spiritual person courageously enhances the world for everyone, not just himself, his family, his community, his cause. He does this by being who he truly is and becoming all he is meant to be, and supporting others to do the same. By doing that, he shines his light in the world that makes it brighter.

"Instead of being that spiritual person, creating instead of destroying, he douses himself in the cloak of man-made religion, using my name in vain, because he is so fearful - because of his secular, harmful, soul-killing need to be right and control everything in my domain - which he never, never will."

By the way, unlike George Bush, I won't claim I actually heard God speak to me. I just thought, "What would God say?" And the words popped out as written. Except referring to God as "me" using a lower case. Originally, I had it capitalized, but was notified that God is not about ego or being "above" anyone. God is about the power of spirit and humility.

Just a thought.

Time to rest!

Wow.

Life is good.

I've been (mostly) writing, coaching, entertaining visiting out-of-state family, dealing with a puppy who needs lots of attention and training, and tending to other life priorities, just to name a few activities that have interfered with something called "sleep."

I sent the 2nd draft of my feature comedy script to LA this afternoon; the script conference for feedback and outlining the future of the script sale should be scheduled next week.

Result: this kid is *exhausted.*

I have so much to share - lots and lots of ideas as well as the excitement of working on two new projects I feel will not just be great films (one short, one feature) but also make a difference in the world. The contract should be signed, sealed and delivered next week. Potentially co-writer and director. Details worked out in the next few days.

I've also been paying attention to the "news" and have some background stuff to share.

Reflection #299,567.1

People in positions of power and authority can never be underestimated too greatly.


--Colleen Patrick, 2007

H'wood Pooh-Bahs: no more residuals

Last month, some of Hollywood's most influential executives said they don't want to pay any more residuals.

Residuals are fees paid to actors, writers, directors and production companies when films and TV shows are shown again after their original viewing. This includes DVD, screenings outside the US, Internet, new media, or in some way resold.

Ancillary market (airplane viewing, music, lunch boxes, clothes, action figures) sharing would no longer exist, either. Some films make more money from their ancillary markets and products than the film itself.

This sets the stage as the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to begin its bargaining with the Writers Guild of America unions on both coasts. What the AMPTP wants is to clear expenses and declare profits before they share any money with the people who created the film or TV project.

The WGA says no way, mostly because decades of experience shows that studios are notorious for under reporting profits to the participants. Now the residual is a flat fee.

I saw the producers of the indie "Alien" starring a then unknown Sigourney Weaver speak at a screenwriter's conference in H'wood, and they reported that years after its undeniable box office and ancillary success, they had yet to be paid what they were promised by the studio that bought it.

The makers of the indie flick "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks and it's writer/star Nia Vardalos are currently suing Gold Circle Films for not sharing its legal share of the profits with them. Gold Circle says it has paid them $44 million so far.

I can't believe they'd want to mess with the Hanks Dynasty.

Mr. Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, are the good guys of the industry and responsible for billions upon billions of dollars in profits for studios from their work in film, television and other positive, influential projects.

Check this out: according to industry stats, Greek Wedding was the 5th highest grossing film in 2002. US receipts for that year alone totalled nearly $250 million, while doing unbelievable business overseas, which easily matched or exceeded US Box Office numbers.

The film has also been viewed in a number of ancillary markets, television, etc., further building its profits.

Vardalos' script received an Academy Award nomination for best original script written for the screen, which didn't hurt BO after the awards were presented. Often, Oscar nominated and winning films get a BO spike the year after the film is released, when the nominees are ballyhooed and then the award presented to winners. Word of a $500 million-plus profit for the indie that cost $5 million to make was widely accepted for 2002 in the industry.

The Writer's Guild of America contract expires this coming October 31, SAG (Screen Actor's Guild) and DGA (Director's Guild of America) contracts end June 30 2008.

Executives plead the cost of advertising is exorbitant so they want to stop paying residuals in order to boost advertising funds. It's expensive because their advertising is neither efficient nor effective - they don't understand how to sell a movie these days.

An average studio release costs between $15-25 million to advertise. Ridiculous.

The cost of advertising on the web is negligible. Word of mouth about a great film is *free.*

Between high ticket prices, bad films, poor advertising practices, the studio film industry comes across as desperate instead of confident about putting out great stuff that we'd love to see.

Films whose distribution start small, whose audiences swell with word of mouth, emails to our friends and coworkers, posted on our blogs, etc? Those films are experienced as confident about their content and appeal to their audiences. Greek Wedding is just one of them. In fact the film was hardly advertised at all until it appeared to be a bona fide hit; something for which audiences worldwide obviously hungered .

Too many people have been burned too often by paying big money for tickets and concession food only to have to sit through bad films.

It doesn't matter if a film like Rush Hour 3 tops the BO the first weekend of release with $50 million if the second week it falls off the audience radar because it's just plain awful.

The way the system works now, no matter how poorly the film does, the actors, directors and writers still get paid a certain amount with every incarnation of viewing medium.

But instead of insisting on producing great films - entertaining as well as challenging, that are well done, respecting diverse audiences instead of trying to get teenage boys to the theaters every weekend with oh, so familiar material, they get into the small-minded, locked-in-the-box, "only so many slices of the pie" mentality. It's one of fear and because they are afraid, they want to cut off the very people who are in the position to turn around the industry's economy.

Fear drives too many of these folks - they're afraid of losing their jobs, of selecting films that could lose money for any number of false notions, fading profits, the new media etc.

Man up, people. (Wo)man up. Work from passion, not fear. How many times do we have to learn that passion is what creates the finest work, the work that resonates with audiences?

Don't cheat people like Wilson, Hanks and Vardalos out of what they are fairly due. Good heavens, MBFGW enjoyed an astonishing boon of publicity about the little project that could! It's the heart and soul of why so many of us are driven to make films in the first place.

Not necessarily for the paycheck, but for the opportunity to get our work out for millions of people to experience.

Distribution power/authority is going to be lost by you if you don't understand how to relate to and advertise for your audiences - current and future - as well as how to create solid material that will resonate with those audiences for a long time to come.

God bless cable - especially those who are giving us some fantastic work enjoyed by our kids and us adults when the kids are asleep!

And for heaven's sake, learn to understand the concept of "the more there is, the more there is."

The pie isn't just 9 inches in diameter - it can grow - as large as your imagination allows it to.

My Alec Baldwin interview online!

movieScope magazine has posted my interview with AB on its website.

If you subscribe to the magazine, you know all my interviews involve only the craft of acting, and primarily for the camera.

If you're an actor, you'll get some great tips. AB's notions of techniques and suggestions to enhance your performances are completely in line with what I teach and coach, so of course I think he's tops!

If you'd like to read it, click here.

Need a little pep in your step?

Here's how I start my mornings - I dare you not to dance.

The singer is Britian's Mika, the song: Love Today!



Mika - Love Today lyrics

Tired of "twisted" "blood-drenched" films?

Even "good" ones with great acting?

I am.

I think a lot of people are, which is why we're turning out in droves to watch some good clean fun films for the whole family.

After having been a journalist and seeing too much of the real thing I had no stomach for fake blood and guts, thank you, so I was pretty much out of the Quentin Tarantino fan club before it formed.

I think our troops in Iraq are seeing more blood and guts and gore than any movie could capture, and as much fun as it is to portray phony horror and grisly murders, I'd really rather find a reason to laugh these days - on set and in private.

It's why most of the scripts I'm writing are edgy comedies.

I'm really looking forward to the LA script conference I'm having this week for one of my new screenplays. Hopefully they will experience it as a pee-your-pants funny film that is, as one screenwriter who has read it declared it, a "one of a kind" family movie that will stay with you and make you smile for a long, long time.

I'll keep you in the "loop!" ;-)

So .. a draft IS possible

Despite previous denials by the White House, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the hand-picked "war czar" of the Bush administration said in an interview with National Public Radio that it "makes sense" for the US to consider a military draft to deal with recruiting shortcomings of its current all voluntary forces because of the consternation created by the Iraq war.

In other words, no matter what's been said by Bush administration representatives and President Bush himself, the draft is being considered.

In these situations, individuals in appropriate positions of power are sent out by government administrations to release "trial message balloons." Which means that they'll see just how people respond to the test pronouncements. If they don't seem to respond loudly and quickly? They proceed with plans they have clearly told us they are considering.

The spokesperson, say, Lt. General Lute, indicates it would only be common sense to re-institute the military draft. This generally means that every able-bodied man is supposed to serve in the military at the age of 18 unless he has deferrals - such as college or other "legitimate" reasons to postpone their service.

In today's world, this may also mean every man and woman.

Although in the past draft, there has been an upper age limit for service, that age limit has been raised by the Bush administration to allow more people to volunteer these days.

When you sign up for the military, you become government property. They can send you where they wish and have you perform jobs for which they believe you are most suited. More, after your "active" service is supposed to end, the government can extend it.

I believe in national service, such as Peace Corps or Americorps, as well as a military enlistment. There are other ways to serve our citizens, too.

I believe two years is fair. It gives us an opportunity to serve our country in a way that makes us feel more a part of it, and that part is positive when it deals with peace keeping and positive support and constructive contribution.

I served in the US Air Force just shy of four years. I felt it was two years too long, but a USAF enlistment is for four years.

I am not anti-military. I am anti-government misusing our troops, putting them needlessly in harm's way and then not taking proper care of them when they come home wounded, maimed for life or psychologically impaired. Some 80% of our troops returning from Iraq have exhibited symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

That is an astonishingly high number, and my hunch is that it's because when they get there, no matter how supportive of the war they may have been when they went over, the duty turns out to be not at all what they expected - in terms of their mission and what they are expected to do and what they must put up with (not enough equipment, not enough protection, hideous living conditions).

So, now you know there is, in deed and in fact, a consideration to re-institute the military draft.

This should please you if you support President Bush and his plan to keep fighting in Iraq no matter how long he believes we "should" be there or how many American lives are claimed in his crusade. You and/or (probably) your children could be drafted into the military to fight shoulder to shoulder with the brave soldiers there now!

If there's any question that our less advantaged citizens are fighting that war now, the Army's giving enlistees a $20,000 award to sign up now! If you or your family desperately need money for essentials (health care, food, housing), you'll be more tempted to consider joining, no matter how risky.

With a draft - conservatives will be pleased that all these sign-up bonuses will be saved because everyone (if women are also part of the draft) who is able-bodied and under 40 or so will suddenly become part of the mandatory military picture.

Because of the many, many stories of privileged family members who dodged the draft when it existed before, you can be sure those loopholes will be closed so that everyone has an equal opportunity to put their lives on the line for their country.

I would think that the first person who would be in favor of the new draft would be super-Hawk Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. He's all about sending American soldiers to fight wars. He has 5 able-bodies sons who, I'm sure, he would love to see in those snappy uniforms. Especially since he did not join the military when he had the chance.

Come to think of it, there are an awfully lot of conservatives supporting this (IMO) needless, endless war who have never served in the military and, further, who don't want their kids to go over there to fight, either.

The draft would give these folks the opportunity to step up and walk their talk, wouldn't it?

Tick tick tick tick. Only a matter of time as long as the Iraq war continues. Meanwhile the majority of insurgents we're fighting in Iraq as well those responsible for the attack on the Twin Towers September 11 are Saudi Arabians.

How are all those insurgents getting weapons and ammunition? Well, some 19-20 BILLION dollars/US of artillery and ammo have been lost by the US in the past two years in Iraq. I wonder how many bullets taken out of the bodies of our wounded, maimed and killed soldiers are being tracked back to our own weapons. They're also being paid for with Saudi Arabia money.

All fighting for "democracy," which is a vague, impossible to-implement-philosophy to warring Middle Eastern peoples fighting US forces and one another.

Especially with the Iraqi congress taking off on vacation for a month or two, basking outside their nation's danger zone.

I wish our soldiers could get those kinds of breaks and vacations.

Iraqi congress members fly in for confabs, don't you know, to avoid the noise, *heat* (as Presidential Press Secretary Tony Snow answered when asked how could the Iraqi congress go on vacation when their country is in the middle of a war... "It's hot over there.")

And fighting. Of course they want to get away from all the fighting surrounding them.

Yes, I'm talking about the Iraqi congress that is supposed to find ways to unite the nation - another task considered impossible because of the generations-long warring between the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds - or at least figure out ways to reduce the bloodshed among innocent Iraqis.

So while all those Saudis are fighting us in Iraq and the small numbers of al qaeda terrorists use the Iraq war as a temporary training ground, then move out of Iraq as soon as they're trained, our borders continue to remain vulnerable to all those terrorists.

Terrorists President Bush insists we're fighting "over there" to prevent them from coming "over here."

We're so busy investing our military resources in Iraq, they are not here prepared to defend us.

And of course there are the hundreds of billions of dollars we're paying Haliburton to rebuild the warring region that only sucks taxpayer dollars without an ounce of return because anything they build is again destroyed by insurgents, and Haliburton moved its primary headquarters to Dubai in order to avoid paying taxes here in the US.

Yep, a draft would definitely be the solution to have enough military power not just to wage war in Iraq, but Iran and other nations in which Bush wants to install "democracy," (without including Saudi Arabia) as well as have *some* people here to take care of us, natural and other disasters, forget the possibility of another massive terrorist attack.

If this sounds like a "leftist" analysis? It's not.

It's just someone trying to inform herself and understand how our nation allowed anyone to put us in the horrific situation we are in - whether in New Orleans or Iraq.

And we'll have no one to blame but ourselves because most have only stood by and let it happen - Democrats and Republicans.

Ketchup!

Here's the Heinz ketchup commercial I shot last week and finished editing last night with the assistance of Seattle writer/director Laudon Williams - just in time to meet the submission deadline for the Heinz 57 Ketchup commercial competition!

Thousands of entries from all over the world have been received.

The superb Mom in the :30 second piece is Kelli, the great kids are Konnor (blond) and Joe.

The shoot turned out to be very stressful for me, much more so than it had to be (through no fault of the cast!).

Technical and sound problems abounded in editing, but of course we made the very most with what we had, and you can judge the outcome for yourself.

Here it is:

"Mother of the Year's little secret for getting her kids to eat all their vegetables is divulged in this shocking expose!"

If you love what you do ....

... you never work a day in your life.

--Confucious

Wanna live a fearless life?

So many people come to me wanting to know how to overcome their fear.

They have the mistaken idea that I'm somehow fearless. Of course I'm not, but I try to keep what fears I do experience to a minimum - to those that are absolutely necessary.

Here's how I suggest they flip their fears into either excitement or having the clarity to understand what part of their fear is not realistic or actually necessary:

First, write down what your life would be like if you were fearless.

As in, "If I were fearless, if I lived life fearlessly --" what?

"I'd walk into a room and look for people I want to meet." (This instead of, "When I walk into a room, I'm afraid that everyone is looking at me and judging me.")

"I would speak up for myself. If that upset someone, I'd automatically know how to deal with the situation confidently."

List literally everything you can possibly think of that you would do and meet head on, fearlessly, instead of timidly or being too frightened to address as you are now. Don't leave anything out!

Remember, this list is all about "what if?" What if you lived your life 100% of the time fearlessly? Be as imaginative as you wish.

The flip side must also be be admitted and worked through.

How has being fearful screwed up your life? Hurt your relationships, work situations? List them - again, as completely as possible. Write down every tiny little "ick" memory of lost opportunities, feeling like a coward, whatever.

Being aware not only that you'd prefer to live your life fearlessly, but how you'd like to act fearless from your first list, you can systematically replace each incident of fear if not being outright fearless, at least coming up with a plan to help you deal with your feelings and act more courageously.

Normally these fears emanate from having low self-esteem. Almost everyone has challenges with self-esteem and there are lots of hints and tips online as well as in books at the library to pump up our self-worth and self-esteem.

Meanwhile, you've already made a map of how you'd like to behave; how you prefer to behave and react to the emotional skirmishes life hands you! It's not that great a leap from declaring "what if" to doing what you claim you want to do in real life.

Iraq's Congress takes off -- all of August ..

Without passing any laws that would help stabilize the country before they flew away for their vacation.

Every day they are vacationing, living it up outside the dangerous areas of "their nation," more than 8 million of their fellow Iraqis are suffering - trying to survive without basic resources like water, food, electricity, health care, housing and any measure of safety.

This after the US has paid some 200 billion *borrowed* dollars for reconstruction of the nation devastated from invasion and now civil war, with US soldiers caught in the middle.

Every day in August that American soldiers and civilian workers are wounded, maimed or killed because the Iraqi government literally refuses to stay and work to take control of their country is another day that President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney claim they need to "stay the course" and "win the war."

Exactly what does that "win" look like?

We Americans will have to pay for the hundreds of billions that Bush has borrowed to invade and fight that war, plus interest. A war we ought to have never entered to begin with.

Iraqi congress members are not stupid. Why should they stay and do their work when they can be on a paid vacation while the US keeps spending money on their corruption and time off, letting Americans die for President Bush's "crusade."

Rightly, those 8 million suffering Iraqis blame the US for their plight. If we had not invaded and occupied their nation, these problems would literally not exist.

Our military would have actually been able to disarm the terrorists at their previous and current headquarters in Afghanistan along the Pakistani border.

And, gosh, it's been proved a dozen times over that half the insurgents in Iraq killing Americans are from our "ally" Saudi Arabia. Just like the terrorists who flew planes into the Twin Towers on 9-11.

More, Saudis are funding these insurgents.

But what did we do for Saudi Arabia just last week?

President Bush asked the US Congress to allow the sale to Saudi Arabia $20 billion dollars in state-of-the-art weapons! They include advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to its fighter planes and spanking new naval vessels.

Why give the Saudis all those advanced weapons?

In the minds of the Saudis, to offset Iran's supposed building of nuclear power, and President Bush agrees with his Saudi friends.

His close Saudi friends who warned him NOT to invade Iraq because he would set off more problems than he solved if he did.

And of course arming the Saudis means that we'll have to give another ally, Israel, more billions in support and sell them the same state-of-art weaponry because you *know* Israel is screaming that they are now more vulnerable with the Arabians having those state-of-the art weapons.

Hmm. True. But do you understand that this escalation is because of President Bush's "crusade?"

Do you understand that it's only common sense that many more world stability dominos will fall thanks to the "crusade" that President Bush is hell bent on "winning" at our expense.

Our "ally" Pakistan, which also houses terrorists, right on the border of Afghanistan from which Bush ordered our forces withdrawn to be redeployed to Iraq a few years ago, already has nuclear weapon capability.

So does India (thanks to the US), Pakistan's longstanding enemy.

Before President Bush invaded Iraq, there were serious concerns about these nations, their growing ability to arm themselves with nuclear weaponry because the stability of the entire region hung by a thread.

Please look at the map to see the close proximity of all these nations to one another and understand that leaders from all other nations and many members of the US Congress who voted against giving President Bush authority to invade Iraq were well aware of the tenuous relationships they had before the invasion of Iraq.

Um, none of those countries have moved. They were in the same place and just as close to one another before President Bush decided to make Iraq a democracy. Which it has no chance of becoming because of the additional warring factions of the Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds.

All three factions of Iraq who are no different now than they were before the invasion. Except they're armed. And dangerous to each other as well as to American soldiers.

Yep, the Bush-Cheney team not only broke the thread, they cut it with a hachet in 20 places.

All compliments of you and me paying our taxes, unlike Haliburton, which is paid billions to "rebuild" Iraq. It moved its headquarters from Texas to Dubai in order to avoid paying taxes in the US.

I have no idea how it could possibly happen - seriously - but I believe that as more and more facts emerge about the astonishingly dishonest actions and proclamations made by Bush and Cheney and their henchmen over the past six years, US Attorney General Alberto ("I don't remember.") Gonzales will be out within a month; and that Bush and Cheney will be out of jobs long before the end of their term.

Not because of any sort of liberal movement - but because conservatives are just as upset with him as the liberals. They believe Bush lied to them and is in no way reflecting a conservative agenda.

Piling up so much national debt is a good start; conservatives don't like government spending money. Disregarding the US Constitution and Bill of Rights comes a close second. Not supporting our troops comes right behind that - the troops are not getting what they need in the way of armaments to protect themselves (perhaps if they were Saudi Arabians....), the war in Iraq was mismanaged from the getgo, and US veterans are not receiving proper care when they come back wounded, maimed and in coffins.