Despite the fact that our system of justice works when accused criminals are allowed to have at least one lawyer to fight against the full might of the government, we defense attorneys are still daily insulted by people who think that if we defend bad guys, we must be bad guys too. This is despite the fact that defense attorneys are the ones who are making sure the government doesn’t just stop and search everyone all the time, ignore all your rights, and lock you up without reason.
Not good enough for the US Congress. They denied the appointment of one of our nation’s greatest defense attorneys today to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights division because the guy had spent his career defending people’s civil rights. Clearly, this makes him perfectly unsuitable for the position. Worse yet, many Democrats (including my own Senator) voted against him.
Obama rightly criticized those who voted against him: “The Senate’s failure to confirm Debo Adegbile to lead the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice is a travesty based on wildly unfair character attacks against a good and qualified public servant. As a lawyer, Mr. Adgebile has played by the rules. And now, Washington politics have used the rules against him. The fact that his nomination was defeated solely based on his legal representation of a defendant runs contrary to a fundamental principle of our system of justice — and those who voted against his nomination denied the American people an outstanding public servant.”
Apparently the only person who should be eligible to head the Civil Rights division is someone who has absolutely no experience with it. Because otherwise, he or she may actually take action to address problems or something, and we can’t have that.
All lawyers should be insulted by this.
“Well, obviously it’s beyond our control. The Russians are advancing. There is nothing that will stop them. We are not going to go to war over it.” — Charles Krauthammer
“There’s really no danger the United States or Europe will get in involved in what is really a civil war.” — Jeff Birnbaum 
“We simply don’t have the ground forces to do it. And confronting the Russians in the air would lead to major hostilities that the USA cannot afford right now.” — Bill O’Reilly
Not one blamed the President for the invasion or implied that Putin did this because the President was “weak.”
Oh, wait! My bad! Sorry, these are quotes from Fox News after Putin invaded Georgia when George W. Bush was President. You remember Bush, who said that he looked into Putin’s soul and saw a good man.
I don’t really have to post what these exact same people are saying about Obama now, do I? I mean, it’s so predictable, you could write it yourself.
Damn, I wish I could type that headline more often.
But the fact remains that this is so rare that we should call attention to it.
Fox news host Clayton Morris had mocked Facebook’s new settings where people can choose options other than “male” or “female.”
Now he says this: “I made a pretty ignorant statement a few weeks ago, we were talking about the Facebook story where they added a bunch of different gender-identifying things. And I made sort of an offhanded comment and I regretted it later because now, ‘Wait a second. There are people who are actually dealing with this and I’m an idiot for saying something stupid like that.’ So before you open your mouth, just think about it a little bit. There are millions of Americans and children who are born with the sexual organs who are not there or are not fully developed and therefore don’t define themselves by a particular gender. It’s not as black and white as we would like to make it.”
That’s — that’s the right answer. I’m stunned. It’s so infrequent that a Fox commentator thinks to put him or herself into the shoes of the people they criticize.
So let’s encourage this. Seriously. Send him a thank you tweet or something.
I’m one of those unusual straight guys who doesn’t know who won the Super Bowl, but can tell you what won Best Picture for the past thirty years.
Below are my predictions for tonight’s show. This is not my list of what I want to win, but merely what I think will win. Oscar loves serious movies about important topics and movies about movies. (That’s why “Argo” and “The Artist” won the past two years). “12 Years a Slave” has that Oscar seriousness the voters like. Even if it’s not the Best Picture Of The Year, sometimes Oscar likes to pat itself on the back for tacking serious issues, which is why it is rare that films like “The Return of the King” win. (And why “The Hobbit” was not nominated for best makeup this year.)
Feel free to post your predictions below and we’ll compare tomorrow.
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) 
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyongo (12 Years a Slave)
Best Original Screenplay: American Hustle
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave
Best Animated Feature: Frozen
Best Foreign Film: The Great Beauty
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby
Best Cinematography: Gravity
Best Documentary Feature: 20 Feet from Stardom
Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby
Best Editing: Gravity
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club
Best Score: Gravity
Best Sound Mixing: Gravity
Best Sound Editing: Gravity
Best Song: Let it Go (Frozen)
Best Visual Effects: Gravity
Best Animated Short: Get a Horse!
Best Documentary Short: The Lady in Number 6
Best Live Action Short: The Voorman Problem
And now, my updated list of the films that won Best Picture and my choice of what should have won. This is an entirely subjective list, although I did consider Oscar worthiness. For instance, while “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” may be one of my favorite films, even I don’t think it deserved an Oscar.
Admittedly, I have not seen every single film on this list. Sometimes I really don’t need to — I don’t have to see “The Greatest Show on Earth” to know that “Singin’ in the Rain” is better. Just about every critic in the world would agree on that.
| What Won | What Should Have Won | ||
| 1928 | Wings | The Circus | |
| 1929 | Broadway Melody | Steamboat Bill, Jr. | |
| 1930 | All Quiet on the Western Front | All Quiet on the Western Front | |
| 1931 | Cimarron | City Lights | |
| 1932 | Grand Hotel | Scarface | |
| 1933 | Calvacade | King Kong | |
| 1934 | It Happened One Night | It Happened One Night | |
| 1935 | Mutiny on the Bounty | Mutiny on the Bounty | |
| 1936 | The Great Ziegfeld | Modern Times | |
| 1937 | The Life of Emile Zola | Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs | |
| 1938 | You Can’t Take it With You | The Adventures of Robin Hood | |
| 1939 | Gone With the Wind | The Wizard of Oz | |
| 1940 | Rebecca | The Grapes of Wrath | |
| 1941 | How Green Was My Valley | Citizen Kane | |
| 1942 | Mrs. Miniver | Sullivan’s Travels | |
| 1943 | Casablanca | Casablanca | |
| 1944 | Going My Way | Double Indemnity | |
| 1945 | The Lost Weekend | Spellbound | |
| 1946 | The Best Years of Our Lives | It’s a Wonderful Life | |
| 1947 | Gentleman’s Agreement | Monsieur Verdoux | |
| 1948 | Hamlet | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | |
| 1949 | All the King’s Men | All the King’s Men | |
| 1950 | All About Eve | Sunset Boulevard | |
| 1951 | An American in Paris | An American in Paris | |
| 1952 | The Greatest Show on Earth | Singin’ in the Rain | |
| 1953 | From Here to Eternity | From Here to Eternity | |
| 1954 | On the Waterfront | Rear Window | |
| 1955 | Marty | Mister Roberts | |
| 1956 | Around the World in 80 Days | The Searchers | |
| 1957 | The Bridge on the River Kwai | Witness for the Prosecution | |
| 1958 | Gigi | Touch of Evil | |
| 1959 | Ben-Hur | Some Like it Hot | |
| 1960 | The Apartment | Psycho | |
| 1961 | West Side Story | Judgment at Nuremberg | |
| 1962 | Lawrence of Arabia | Lawrence of Arabia | |
| 1963 | Tom Jones | Tom Jones | |
| 1964 | My Fair Lady | Dr. Strangelove | |
| 1965 | The Sound of Music | The Sound of Music | |
| 1966 | A Man for All Seasons | A Man for All Seasons | |
| 1967 | In The Heat of the Night | Bonnie and Clyde | |
| 1968 | Oliver | 2001: A Space Odyssey | |
| 1969 | Midnight Cowboy | Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid | |
| 1970 | Patton | M*A*S*H | |
| 1971 | The French Connection | A Clockwork Orange | |
| 1972 | The Godfather | The Godfather | |
| 1973 | The Sting | American Graffiti | |
| 1974 | The Godfather Part 2 | The Godfather Part 2 | |
| 1975 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | |
| 1976 | Rocky | Taxi Driver | |
| 1977 | Annie Hall | Annie Hall | |
| 1978 | The Deer Hunter | The Deer Hunter | |
| 1979 | Kramer verses Kramer | Apocalypse Now | |
| 1980 | Ordinary People | The Empire Strikes Back | |
| 1981 | Chariots of Fire | Raiders of the Lost Ark | |
| 1982 | Gandhi | ET | |
| 1983 | Terms of Endearment | The Right Stuff | |
| 1984 | Amadeus | Amadeus | |
| 1985 | Out of Africa | Brazil | |
| 1986 | Platoon | Platoon | |
| 1987 | The Last Emperor | Empire of the Sun | |
| 1988 | Rain Man | Rain Man | |
| 1989 | Driving Miss Daisy | Do The Right Thing | |
| 1990 | Dances with Wolves | Goodfellas | |
| 1991 | The Silence of the Lambs | The Silence of the Lambs | |
| 1992 | Unforgiven | Malcolm X | |
| 1993 | Schindler’s List | Schindler’s List | |
| 1994 | Forrest Gump | Pulp Fiction | |
| 1995 | Braveheart | The American President | |
| 1996 | The English Patient | Fargo | |
| 1997 | Titanic | Amistad | |
| 1998 | Shakespeare in Love | Saving Private Ryan | |
| 1999 | American Beauty | American Beauty | |
| 2000 | Gladiator | Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon | |
| 2001 | A Beautiful Mind | The Fellowship of the Ring | |
| 2002 | Chicago | The Two Towers | |
| 2003 | The Return of the King | The Return of the King | |
| 2004 | Million Dollar Baby | Kill Bill 2 | |
| 2005 | Crash | Munich | |
| 2006 | The Departed | The Departed | |
| 2007 | No Country for Old Men | No Country For Old Men | |
| 2008 | Slumdog Millionaire | The Dark Knight | |
| 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Inglorius Basterds | |
| 2010 | The King’s Speech | The Social Network | |
| 2011 | The Artist | Hugo | |
| 2012 | Argo | Lincoln |
If Obama tries to solve the Ukraine situation with diplomacy: He’s weak and ineffectual.
If Obama takes military action: He’s rash and careless with our troops’ lives.
Remember, if you are a Republican, the bottom line is this: No matter what Obama does, it’s always the wrong thing.
This “Obama is always wrong” attitude must really hurt them, because in their hearts they can’t really believe it, can they? I recall when bin Laden was killed, and you could see it in their faces. They wanted so much to cheer and celebrate like the rest of us, but they had to find some fault with Obama. It was just impossible for them to give him credit. Then they had to deal with Gaddafi. Had George W. Bush gotten rid of him, the praises would never end. But Obama doing it? It’s terrible.
They are now blaming Obama for the Ukraine/Russia situation because, of course, the world reacts to the United States and never does anything on its own. In all seriousness, the situation in the Ukraine has nothing to do with Obama. This protest would have happened no matter who was President, and Putin would have taken action no matter what. You know that’s true.
But some conservatives are pointing to Sarah Palin and giving her credit (I am not making this up) for predicting that Putin would attack the Ukraine if Obama was President. Why Putin waited six years until Ukraine rebelled against him with no encouragement or backing from Obama, she hasn’t explained yet. (Palin also predicted that Obama would invade Pakistan, too.)
The Ukraine uprising is a good thing. It is a move towards modernization and away from the repressive Russian government. We should be encouraging this completely.
Ironically, many of the conservatives who are criticizing Putin had just months ago praised him and called him “The Leader of the Free World” for his cracking down on gays. Seriously, because when you think of “free world” you immediately think of throwing people in jail because you’re a bigot.
So let’s revisit this post in a bit and see if I am correct. No matter what decision Obama makes, the right will criticize it. And I predict this as well: Someone on the right will have said beforehand what they would do in his place — and then when Obama does that, they will back down and claim that it is a bad idea. Wait and see.
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