It is difficult to have an civil and in-depth discussion about what race means in America, what should it mean, how far we come, how far we have to go, etc. In the past few years we had various sound bytes about race from Obama's former preacher, from celebrities such as Mel Gibson and Kramer and more recently another singer. These people say incredible stupid -- if not mean -- things and the debate becomes focused on what some politician or celebrity said in a speech or sound byte. Yet, how does that really help anything beyond asserting that such-and-such said a stupid thing and might be a ass@&#@? Personally, I feel that we have come a long way, but have a long way to go and that their are indeed con artists who shout, "racist" or "quotas" in order to push people's emotional buttons --- turning any debate into a war over bumper sticker slogans and fear -- hard enough to write checks.

I must confused something; I missed the film in the theaters -- crazy schedule with family, school, work, etc -- but the people I know (of various political affiliations and beliefs) generally enjoy the film, but did not expect or dig deeply into any sort of political or philosophical message. Will probably wait and see it on DVD. Sometimes people (across the political spectrum) read waaay too much into a film. I liked the film adaptions of CS Lewis books, but thought it was silly when some conservative friends of mine were treating as this great divinely inspired, moral film. Likewise, we got some liberals here who are probably reading waay too much into Avatar ("do you want to date my avatar?") . Granted, that's their right, it helps generate buzz for the film and subtext can be fun. But, I doubt its going to change my own political/philosophical beliefs or solve real life problems. Yup, my family and I have recently discovered (and fallen in love with), 'Chuck' and are on the second season via the miracle of Netflix.

Sarah Silverman is sometimes very witty and funny -- even when she is crude and vulgar -- and other times her jokes make me cringe more so then anything else. She is not one of my favorite Jewish comedians, as some one who is also Jewish, but, oh well. I would agree that marriage is indeed sacred and is oftentimes, needlessly, bashed by the popular culture or improperly used by politicians. However, humor is oftentimes required in any successful marriage and maybe Sarah is just a bit bitter -- in terms of public policy -- I personally do not see a rational basis for the government to care about the sex of a prospective couple. I avoid the Israeli geopolitical debate (for now) because that is a very passionate issue for us 'Old Testament' folk.