1,000 US soldiers in Iraq attempt suicide - every month!

The VA reported that a total of 800 soldiers in Iraq attempted suicide last year.

It was a lie.

The truth, much to the ire of the US Senate's Military Affairs Committee, is that 12,000 soldiers pulling duty in Iraq attempted suicide last year.

This from an administration that declares it "supports the troops."

Read the details here.

There is no accurate report on how many soldiers succeed in their suicide attempt.

When is Congress going to do something to stop this administration from the incessant lies, deception and destruction of our economy, military, security and national morality?

Unfortunately, that is only a rhetorical question.

The all powerful Oz!

Ha!

Remember me complaining how all the dogs, cats, birds and other animals used in TV commercials and shows kicked off a barking spree by my three dogs and a strong verbal reaction from my cat? How crazy noises like those squeaky vacuum cleaners and squeegees also set them off?

It's hard to get them settled as they dash everywhere looking for the dogs, cats, birds or vacuums that are only inside the TV set.

I solved the problem!

I keep the TV remote control nearby.

When any of these noises comes on, I immediately grab it.

The dogs' ears perk up as they stand, taking a deep breath, ready to create a racket and find the intruder; the cat winds up to attack the guilty invader.

I quickly command, in a very stern voice: "Quiet!"

Then push the MUTE button.

Of course the animals or noisemakers onscreen or heard in the background are instantly hushed.

My pets look at me, amazed, as if I am the most powerful alpha dog - evah, and lie back down, extremely impressed - ready to bring me my slippers or whatever I ask. Well, if they knew how...

Oh, yeah.

In this wee household, I am, indeed, the all powerful Oz.

"Military media analysts" and viewers duped on Iraq

This is a New York Times story that must be read by anyone who wants to know what the heck is going on when independent media observers reported that the Iraq war was a futile, ignorant, horrible conundrum that the Bush administration dragged the US into, while former military officers of good standing, supposedly experts on what's going on in Iraq, said we were succeeding, it wasn't going as badly as all those negative network nitwits were reporting?

Turns out they were taken on orchestrated tours and fed bogus information by the Bush administration and military Bush sychophants, in what they *believed* to be, in all honesty, what was actually happening - that it wasn't going all that badly, yadda yadda yadda.

Many of those "military media analysts" now feel duped, used and abused by the Bush administration and, like General Colin Powell, that they ended up lying - unintentionally - to the public to persuade us that those lies were the truth.

Read it for yourself. God bless real journalists.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004361339_milanalyst20.html

The Whole Truth moves forward!

Our Heart Break Productionz comedy feature film project The Whole Truth is coming along beautifully. More splendid, topnotch professionals have come aboard, and it's so incredibly rewarding.

I can hardly wait to share the full crew list with you, as soon as all the positions are filled.

I continue to refine the script - the shooting script should be ready in two days. i'm extremely pleased with it; I hope the crew and cast are over the moon about it - and that the audience enjoys it even more.

It's going to be hard to let go of the basic writing process since I'm having so much fun with the characters and situations. But the finessing process through the shoot will also be a blast.

We're pushing ahead with prep, which means cameras may roll more than a month earlier than we planned if our cast comes together in time. Woo-hoo!

Frienemies...

Here's the deal:

A large number of Iraq governmental pooh-bahs - the people for whom US military personnel have forfeited their lives, their able bodies, their lifestyles as they once knew them with their friends and families - are close pals with the folks in Iran whom President Bush proclaims are the *real* enemy.

It's no accident there is such Iranian influence in the nation that is supposed to be our "ally." It's been there since the getgo.

Only we haven't been told about it. Well, I should say that CNN is just recently starting to catch on to this story.

What does that mean?

It means that the Bush administration has known about this influence and *tolerated* it until now, when he is threatening to invade Iran unless they back off.

And what does *that* mean?

It means that Bush has what he considers the political clout to invade Iran.

Yes, really.

He claims Iran is doing horrible stuff in Iraq against the US and Iraqis.

Even though our "ally" Iraqi pooh-bahs have been taking and wasting billions of US tax dollars as well as US military protection from the *civil war* that has been flaring in their country without doing their work to make any substantial strides toward gaining peaceful negotiations between the three fighting factions in Iraq.

In short, though the Iraqi pooh-bahs claim to be our ally - even as they have been hob nobbing with their close Iranian pals from the getgo, Bush says Iran should be taught a lesson.

Oh, yes.

Telling Iranians they better leave our/their Iraqi pooh-bah pals alone, or they'll be sorry. They'll risk US invasion.

Of course such an invasion would completely crush our military and economic resources - both of which are stressed to the limit as it is.

But Bush doesn't seem to understand or care about these matters.

And there do not seem to be any leaders in the USA who can sound the alarm about this fraud and take action to get American soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen and civilians out of harm's way there before Bush makes any more ignorant, deceitful and deadly decisions that don't cost him, personally, a cent - or a night's sleep for that matter.

Now, you may find a lack of evidence to back my assertions here. It's done for a reason. I'm hoping people will start caring enough to find out the truth for themselves.

Please do not take my word for this.

Find out the truth for yourself. Start with CNN's reports on our Iraqi 'friends' and their relationship to Iranian leaders.

Then be a detective. Go to the links, check out the backgrounds, the facts and the truth.

You'll discover that many Saudis - another "frienemy" of the US and neighbor of Iraq - have been paying for and actually supplying forces fighting the US in Iraq.

Finding facts has been extremely difficult because of the outright lies, misinformation, propaganda and cover-ups of the Bush administration.

But there is hope to find out what's really going on now because so many people who have known the truth are starting to emerge.

It's important that more and more people dig up the truth for themselves. And pass it on.

Actors: do you want to join SAG -- or not?

My friend and fine actor Tommy Kendrick is compiling information from actors around the US (confidentially) about their feelings regarding joining SAG (Screen Actors Guild). While he won't divulge your name, he will publish your thoughts.

That should probably also include AFTRA because in some places the unions share the same office.

Many actors who are SAG-eligible (they are qualified to join the union) choose not to follow through and sign up for union membership.

You can go to Tommy's website to leave an anonymous comment on his blog, or send him an email at: txactor@gmail.com.

In some US cities, there is so little SAG work that actors put off joining the union as long as possible so they can do all sorts of non-union work that is available. Lower budgeted filmmakers can work with SAG actors by signing a funding disclosure, stating the budget of the film, proving the producers cannot afford to pay union wages at the shoot, but that if the film makes enough money later, union wages will be paid at that time.

Whatever your feelings about joining the actors' union, whatever your feelings about SAG, Tommy would like to hear from you. Again, your identity will be protected, but please let him know the city in which you work.

"Just"ice

So there I was, walking into a pretty decent restaurant for 1) lunch and 2) to do some writing before my next appointment.

I enjoy going places on my own, especially when I want to - or have to - write away from home.

I carried my laptop briefcase up to the host, followed by several people behind me, most of whom were in bunches of three or four.

"Hi," I smiled.

"How many?" he asked.

I looked around and replied, "me."

"Just one, then?" he responded, tilting his head in a near sypathetic "awwww" pose.

My smile disappeared.

"No, not just one," I corrected him. "One."

His eyebrows raised as the customers behind me nodded and grinned.

"One. Solo. Single. Unaccompanied. On my own. Proudly. Nothing 'just' about it."

Getting in the amusing spirit of my low-ku, the host laughed and said, "Right this way. Right away. One!"

Now that's more like it.

The script is finished!

Whew!

The Whole Truth script is off to the unit production manager (UPM), who's breaking down the budget and shooting schedule.

Now I'll go to work writing my next feature, Ghost Hound, and we're getting the crew together for The Whole Truth.

As soon as the budget and shooting schedule are up, we roll our sleeves up and it's off location scouting and putting all the pieces of the preproduction puzzle together so we'll be ready to have a great time shooting the film.

I've been drumming up good will around Seattle, telling people I'll be shooting a fun feature this fall in case they want to help us out, since we'll need lots of extras for a couple scenes, and we want real Seattle-ites mixing it up with actors so it's fun for the whole city.

We're now looking for a great, experienced Director of Photographer who hopefully has working with comedy in his or her background; we're shooting 35mm film. We should find him or her soon.

Lots of information will have to be confidential for awhile relating to casting -- but for now, I've listed the colors I think would set off each character in the milieu of the set pieces, as well as listed a musical instrument that I believe represents each character well.

We've got an unbelievable composer aboard - more about him later. He's in LA, but working long distance with composers is not a big deal to me. I've worked with composers in Manchester, England and Toronto, Canada.

God bless the internet and Skype.com!

OK - I'm going to take the rest of the evening off; I have an actors' seminar to conduct tomorrow (Saturday) and an improv group I've been invited to watch tomorrow evening on Bainbrindge Island. I'll give you a review - it reportedly features a remarkable, talented group of performers. I need an entertainment break!