You see “Thibs” as he is called (to avoid spelling his name) lacks self restraint and he has demonstrated this on repeated occasions in his brief tenure as head coach of the Bulls. One look no further than his voice where night after night he screams himself hoarse unable to control himself and let his team play without his constant instruction from the sidelines. He’s free to do that, he’s only damaging his own vocal cords, but last night it was Derrick Rose crumpled on the floor like Icarus because, again, Thibodeau asked too much.

Rewind to the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals. The Miami Heat finally get the Bulls’ number when they put LeBron James on Rose at the end game. Why not the whole game? Clearly James could not keep up with him for the whole game for certain but also because Rose is worn down by then. Rose is severely limited in the series and looks, quite frankly, exhausted. The rumbles of criticism had already been seeded all season that Thibodeau is unable to take his foot off the gas and get his stars, particularly Rose, enough rest despite the deepest bench in the NBA.

So after the lockout this year and the resulting compressed schedule one would think Thibodeau would be ready for this development and have a plan to rest his players. No such luck. In February Thibodeau was quoted: “If a guy is injured, he shouldn’t play. But if he can play, he should play.” Not surprising from a man who can’t take his foot off the throttle, even to spend the holidays with his family. This may be a sharp point to make but if you connect the dots you see the Type A maniac that resides within the shell of Tom Thibodeau. After his quote about being injured or not he went on to say: “Somehow there’s this notion of guys sitting out games. Pretty soon we’ll be at the point where a guy sits out the whole season and just plays in the playoffs — if he can get there. I don’t get that.”

Do you get it now Tom? The worse part of it, he is passing this ethic on to his players. Just a few days ago he stated how he wouldn’t get his players rest for the playoffs. ”When you look at what the starters have done, our guys up front, really no one’s playing starter’s minutes,” Thibodeau said. “And they haven’t all season. And then when you look at the backcourt guys, I think Derrick played 1,300 minutes this year.” Thibodeau went on to mention other players but Rose was at the top of the list. The other players circled to support the philosophy, voiced by Taj Gibson, “I know Thibs isn’t a fan of resting guys. We don’t want rest. It’s the time of the season where you can’t really rest. You have to go into the playoffs ready and have a good spark.”

The problem is these statements are completely ignorant of this year’s compressed schedule. They are played 16 less games so of course minutes were down from normal. It is also ignorant of the concept of recovery time that is needed in a sport like basketball. Given the heavy level of exertion and endurance demanded of NBA players they need time to recover to avoid exhaustion and injury. This year every team played three games in three nights, some played five games in six night and despite only losing 16 games two months were lopped off the front end of the schedule. This has been a recipe for disaster for team trainers with many teams, including the Bulls, suffering the injury bug. This isn’t an outside fringe theory, this is fact and this was predicted by many including former NBA head coach and ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy.

With these facts in the back of my mind I sat stunned watching the Bulls’ franchise player crumpled on the court. I had gone to my computer with the win secured thinking he had been removed from the game. When the call of him being hurt was made I turned in dismay and before even seeing it I thought “what was he doing in there?” I’m even more dismayed by the likes of Sam Smith who will readily give Thibodeau a pass and wax romantic about how the Bulls could still do something in the playoffs and how “there’s no blame there” for him. Michael Wilbon rightfully blames the NBA as part of the problem with this ridiculous schedule but also gives Thibodeau the pass.

I’m not buying it. Thibodeau and the apologists are free to claim “The score was going the other way” yet when injury made the substitution Thibodeau should have the Bulls still won the game by the exact same margin. The Bulls also do not play baseball where once a player is removed he can’t go back in. Say in the La-La land Thibodeau and the apologists exist the Sixers put up a quick six, why at that point you can put Rose right back out there can’t you? There were seventy-two seconds left in the game.

What crumpled Rose to the court on Saturday was surely a freak thing. Is there any surprise the knee that suffered the injury is the same leg where he suffered his big toe? The knee has been compensating for the injured toe all season. If you ask any physician or any competent trainer they will tell you of the dangers of overexertion. The fact the injury was suffered from a collision, accident or coming down wrong is further proof it is from overexertion. Rose was driven to overexertion by Thibodeau. He has been driven to try to come back and play too early all year. This isn’t an otherwise healthy player who suddenly had a freak injury, this is a player who has been hampered by injuries all season.

It’s pretty clear that all concerned are willing to give a pass to Thibodeau on this, his fantastic record has earned him that pass. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future though. Every ACL recovery is different and while I certainly hope Rose will return with that same explosiveness he had that is no guarantee. That’s an awful big gamble for seventy-two seconds in the first game of the first round with a double-digit lead. I think Thibodeau’s vocal cords are on my side at least.

My final word, before I cut to the chase, is there are a lot of great candidates this year. I have folks pitted against each other in a few races that I really like. I could take the easy way out and not tell anybody but then again, I’ve never shied away from telling people how I feel. So, for what it’s worth, and I apologize to those I am endorsing, it may be the kiss of death!

President of the United States of America

I’m not a happy Republican this year. I came out early for Gary Johnson and unfortunately he couldn’t get the media attention he deserved and he decided to pack it in as the funds were dwindling. He has since gone over to the Libertarian Party to run for their nomination, he should win that quite easily.

At this point the vote has boiled down to two choices, you’re either with Mitt Romney or you are against him. I don’t like the collection of against hims so I am endorsing Mitt Romney for president. I have numerous qualms with him but he has the best chance to defeat the President and the array of choices aligned against him is not favorable:

Ron Paul - For whatever reason, he decided to run again. He has zero chance against Obama. Lost opportunity for Gary Johnson or Rand Paul to pick up the torch but it is what it is. I can’t bring myself to vote for Ron Paul, sorry (latest round of anti-Semitism from a Paul supporter did me in).

Newt Gingrich - Newt’s a smart guy, I admire many of his positions but he has made some really bone headed moves this election. It seems a part of his character to make them. I danced on the edge of switching to him when Johnson dropped out, can’t do it though as he seems willing to say whatever he needs to in order to get elected.

Rick Santorum - If there is one candidate, above all others (including President Obama) who advocates for the government to infiltrate and control as much of your life as possible it is Rick Santorum. If he manages to win the nomination, I am leaving the party, period. I will not be embarrassed by him and, given a choice, I would vote for President Obama over him in a head to head vote. Santorum symbolizes everything that is wrong with the GOP and none of what it should be about. He’s an embarrassment, if he wins the LP candidate, whoever it is, gets my vote.

Illinois 10th Congressional District

The Democratic gerrymandering of Illinois now finds me in the 10th District. Robert Dold is running unopposed.

Illinois 31st Legislative District (Senator)

The Democratic gerrymandering leaves me in Suzi Schmidt’s district over Dan Duffy whom I heartily campaigned for four years ago. This was a definite disappointment to me as Dan has done a great job and I was proud to have him as my “rogue” Senator.

This has left me in the unenviable spot of having three people I genuinely like running against each other for the seat. After a thorough and honest review of them all and a lot of thought I have decided to endorse Lennie Jarratt. I think Lennie is solid in his beliefs, unique and thoughtful and stands up for what he believes in. I think we could use a lot more people like that in Springfield and ultimately that’s what led me to Lennie in what was a very tough call for me.

Illinois 62nd Representative District

Democratic gerrymandering now finds me in Sandy Cole’s 62nd District, she is running unopposed.

Lake County Circuit Court Clerk

The campaign I have worked on the most this year (although in a diminished capacity), this is a no brainer for Gerald T. Dietz. Jerry is a RLHS alumnus, has a great platform of change he wants to bring to the clerk’s office and, most of all, a great guy. We need more people from Round Lake at the county level, this is an easy endorsement for me.

Lake County Coroner

Steve Newton has worked too long and too hard for me not to give him this endorsement. He decided a long time ago he was running and he has the experience needed to fix a coroner’s office that has been plagued by scandal and mismanagement. We really need a coroner that will return the compassion and professionalism to the office that Barbara Richardson was known for, Steve Newton is that man and is heartily endorsed.

Lake County Recorder

Sometimes it’s all about who goes to functions and works for votes and who doesn’t. Bob Bednar has and gets my vote.

Lake County State’s Attorney

Think this one has been a bit nasty and competitive? I do and so does my mailbox. To me one of these candidates has consistently tried to stay above the fray and on message about who he is and what he is about, that candidate is Bryan Winter and gets my endorsement.

Lake County Board District 16

Another tough one for me with two people that I like. After a lot of thought and consideration though I am endorsing Michael Carbone. Michael has spent the past several years on the Grayslake Elementary school board, that experience will serve him well on county board. I would encourage Rene Hernandez to keep at it though, this was a tough call for me but I have to go with Michael and his experience as a board member.

First, there has been no movement on the extension of Route 53. Bill Morris of Grayslake was the only Tollway director to try to speak on behalf of Lake County when he said “there are people that live north of Chicago.” Apparently not according to the Tollway Authority. The Route 53 extension falls right within the purview of the Tollway Authority, while it is making improvements to link up the Elgin-O’Hare expressway (currently freeway) and a bypass around O’Hare it kicks the Route 53 can down the road again.

As if that weren’t enough, the Waukegan Toll Plaza is included in the tolls being hiked, it will go up to $1.40. This will mean the current bad situation with Wisconsin commuters bypassing the Waukegan Toll. Currently they will use side streets and Highway 41 to get around the toll. One only need sit at one of the truck stops on Russell Road and watch the Wisconsin plates go by every morning. How many more will there be now that the till had increased?

All in all this sorry situation shows the Lake County contingent of politicians is in an obvious decline. This isn’t to say we don’t have many hard working politicians but when Lake County Board Chairman David Stohlman and Libertyville Village President Terry Weppler endorse a plan that completely leaves out Lake County what other conclusion can be drawn?

This plan does nothing to solve traffic problems in Lake County, it only increases the burden on Lake County taxpayers and it only increases the traffic on Lake County roads. Do you hear that sound? It’s Adeline Geo-Karis rolling over in her grave.

 Photo: “Traffic” by Kim Scarborough Some rights reserved

I was hoping that Ron Paul was not going to run this year, that he would realize he had done all he could and would pass the torch to someone else. Gary Johnson came out and said he was running and I was hoping that would be good enough for Paul. Johnson is an attractive candidate — former governor, successful businessman, thoughtful and well spoken, impeccable libertarian credentials (better than Paul’s). Surely Paul would see this and realize he need not run. Of course, I was wrong.

Once that took place the teeth gnashing started and the thrashing in liberty circles started and it has become a full-on Paul versus Johnson war. I’m fairly certain that neither candidate wanted this to happen, yet it has. The problem is the “Paulistas” as I call them: rabid and zealous Paul devotees who hold him with messianic zeal. They are easy to spot:

1. Nearly always refer to him as “Dr. Paul” (funny, I never heard them utter “Dr. Frist” but I digress…).
2. Every other sentence refers to either the latest Ron Paul poll or is encouraging participation in a poll.
3. If you are a Democrat they will sell you Paul’s stands on drugs, war and social issues while concealing Paul’s vote on DOMA.
4. If you are a Republican they will sell you Paul’s stands on the Fed, taxes, balanced budget amendment while concealing his request for earmarks despite Speaker Boehner’s ban on them.
5. If you are a member of the Tea Party they will tell you how the Tea Party was all because of Ron Paul and you should support him automatically (and stop your corporatist shilling for the Koch Brothers).
6. If you are a Libertarian they will tell you how Dr. Paul is the only one with a chance to win.
7. If you are a libertarian Republican they will gut and fillet you if you don’t support Ron Paul.

I’ve had it with the Paulistas and I can’t stand by any more. Any time I have thought about giving up on Johnson and supporting Paul there’s a mass of sneering Paulistas reminding me why I can’t be affiliated with them. That, and the fact Ron Paul is not electable.

First, any debate involving Ron Paul and Barack Obama would be over the first time the President got to speak. He would ignore whatever question was asked and say, “Let me read you a bit of a Ron Paul newsletter“. As you know, the President is black and is our first black president. The sight of our first black president reciting things like “if you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be” would turn the stomach of any American. The Paulistas call it the “newsletter hoax” or the newsletters “have been debunked” but they cannot get around the fact that racist diatribes appeared in these newsletters with Paul’s name on the top. Whether he wrote them or not (I doubt he did) is irrelevant, if he can’t watch a newsletter how can he watch the United States?

That is just the opening round. Ron Paul is protected by a cloak of obscurity right now. Few people take him seriously and his opponents see him as little more than a nuisance. Therefore no political espionage efforts are undertaken against him, why waste money on someone that has no chance? The second he became a real threat that cloak would be yanked from him and Ron Paul would be out there warts and all. An Axelrod led team would easily have Paul labeled an anti-semite  and point out donations he’s accepted from less than desirable groups.

My honest opinion is this is all bunk, none of it is true about Paul. I question why he makes sure to single out Israel but I think it’s a strategy to get the most attention. I also wonder why he doesn’t pay closer attention to donations but he has a laissez faire attitude about it, he got the cash and will spread his message with it, end of story.

Derrick Rose Is VERY Young

He makes us forget it with his unselfish play, his calm demeanor, his lack of outbursts, but D Rose is still but 22 years old. This is only his third year in the league and he won the MVP. Many times I get irritated at the NBA for announcing their awards in the middle of the playoffs, it makes you forget just how big of a deal and how uncommon it has been for someone this young to win an MVP in all of sports let alone the NBA.

LeBron James hasn’t been to the Finals at all in his 7 years in the league, it took Kobe until his 4th year. Dwyane Wade got a championship his second year in the league but it was only with a team of thoroughbreds around him. The fact we are even mentioning D Rose in the same breath of these guys is a testament to how special the kid is (and how wrong I was about him).

He made some mistakes with decisions and a lot of turnovers. He lost a lot of his aggressiveness but that was in large part to a very effective game plan against him run to perfection by the Heat. He’s got time and he learned something.

Tom Thibodeau Is A First Year Head Coach

After being subjected to two years of a graduate assistant the Bulls finally had a real head coach for the first time since Scott Skiles was dismissed after essentially giving up on his own team (which was hardly head coach-like). Thibs was so impressive he too had the fantastic accomplishment of being selected NBA Coach of the Year overshadowed by the playoff run.

We forget the 53-year-old’s previous head coaching gig was with Salem State during the Reagan Administration. He’s been an assistant, a great one but still an assistant, for most of his career. He’s only the third first-year coach to win 60 games. These phenomenal accomplishments made us forget he’s still learning the ropes too.

I think it’s clear Thibs needs a better offensive mind on the bench with him. He failed to put a play out there in the last two Bulls losses, games they could have and arguably should have won. Clearing out for a 3rd year player to manufacture a shot out of thin air with probably the best defender in the NBA on him is not a plan. It was unfair to do that to Derrick and I hope Thibs recognizes that.

Down the stretch of games he has also shown he can close in on what he feels the right lineup is and will stick to it – even when it’s failing. Why can’t Keith Bogans be trusted in the 4th Quarter? Why continue to run Kyle Korver out there when he hasn’t been making his shots? Why hardly play Kurt Thomas at all and then suddenly throw him in only after Omer Asik went down? These are all legitimate questions to ask a head coach.

The Heat Were Supposed To Win

Let’s just be honest with ourselves now. I hate them just as much as the rest of you do but the team Miami has put together is truly scary. They got some serviceable players to put around their Big 3 and the Bulls may well have woken Chris Bosh up for Miami. To their credit the Bulls were in every game with Miami, only Miami got blown out and gave up in Game 1. They took that and responded and the Bulls were never able to close down the stretch – being worn down by some of the best players in the game will do that to you.

It’s alright to hate them. It’s alright to notice the Bulls well could have been the ones celebrating last night if a few things go their way. Don’t deny the pure talent Miami comes to the floor with night after night though and while, yes, I don’t believe Derrick gets his due from the referees they weren’t the reason it didn’t happen for the Bulls this year.

The Finals Aren’t Given

It’s been so long since the Bulls had a legitimate shot at the NBA Finals that we forget what Michael Jordan et al went though when they went for the first time – a tough Detroit team that took them years to beat. I will predict right now that we will see Bulls v Heat Part II next year. It took the Bulls four attempts before they were finally able to defeat the Pistons and go to the Finals, if the Bulls make the right moves in the offseason (OJ Mayo please) they could one up MJ and the boys and do it in two.  Maybe then we can forget about this and celebrate another NBA title.

Things have boiled down to a nasty gurgling simmer in Wisconsin since the fracas over Governor Scott Walker’s plan to require public workers to contribute more to their healthcare and retirement. Union protestors claim they are willing to deal but they refuse to deal on losing their rights to collective bargaining. In the meantime the Democratic members of the Senate have skipped town for the friendly confines of Illinois to shut the government down. Things may be simmering, but they’re ready to boil over.

We’ve had protest groups and counter-protest groups. We’ve had polls that seem to favor Walker and others that seem to favor the unions. We have allegations of plutocracy, autocracy and the obligatory reference to Nazis. I could write on all this ad nauseam but I thought I would spend some time talking about what I know most about — working with a public employee union.

As you may know I spent several years on the Round Lake Area Schools Board of Education, the last three of them as its president. I stayed out of union negotiations for the most part. Why? For much of my tenure I am the son of one of the members of the bargaining unit in Round Lake, the Education Association of Round Lake (EARL), a local of the Illinois Education Association (IEA) the biggest teacher’s union in Illinois.

Without going into a whole lot of detail into that experience (that would be a very long post) suffice it to say I have participated in collective bargaining negotiations, grievances, stayed up until the wee hours of the morning negotiating with the association and fielding hundreds of phone calls related to union matters. I’m not a lawyer but I consider myself well experienced in this area and familiar with the process.

I respect the core tenets of unions and what they stand for — protecting the rights of workers and ensuring that everyone receives fair treatment.  The problem is when you deal with things as a collective you soon run into difficulty dealing with the individual and on more levels than one.

Governor Walker has a budget deficit looming and his state spends a lot of money on two things in particular — public employees and entitlements (Medicaid, welfare, social programs).  Wisconsin is not different from any other state in this regard. Most of what the state spends on education does not go directly into education – it goes to the local school districts in the form of state aid. School districts receive federal money (usually for special programs for at risk students), state money (general state aid and categorical grants – money earmarked for specific programs if the district complies) and local money (property taxes).

If you broke down the figures most districts receive little to no federal money, it mainly goes to poorer districts or districts with a large population of kids with special needs. All of them though rely on state and local money . The biggest expenditure the local school district makes? Overwhelmingly (to the tune of 70-85% in many cases) salary and benefits for its employees, mostly teachers. So, this is how the different levels work and how it is broken.

Governor Walker wants to balance his budget, he needs to cut spending by a billion from somewhere. For the purposes of this exercise let’s say he wants to take it all in education. Does Governor Walker now go to the state teachers unions (most states have two) and get their approval? He could, but it would be as meaningless as any state union assurance now they will take the deal on reduced benefits. They don’t negotiate the contracts, the local teachers unions do!

So Governor Walker puts together a plan and tells the state Board of Education to reduce spending by $1 bil. The state board comes up with the formula in elimination of categoricals (very common here in Illinois) and then reduction in general state aid.  Or, maybe a state aid payment or two, or four gets skipped.  Now imagine you are the local school district — your boss came to you and said that work you did last week on that special project?  Sorry, not paying for it, it was very nice work but we have to cut expenses. Also, “I need to dip into your pay a bit, I’m not going to pay you this week, I might pay you again in two weeks but I’m not sure yet, I’ll let you know.” That’s reality here in Illinois and I doubt it’s much different in Wisconsin.

What would you do? You would cut back your expenses right? Well imagine for a moment if you went to cut your biggest expense then, let’s say it’s your mortgage. Do you think you could get a reduction in your mortgage? Maybe eliminate some of the things you built into the loan or you could sell your house and live in a smaller one though, right? Maybe sell and rent a smaller place? Not if you’re a school district. No, see you collectively bargained a contract with these folks a year or so ago and not only can you not do anything to change that you said you were going to give them a raise next year and they want it. They are also going to enforce the class size provision that we bargained for. Some locals will see the district is in trouble and negotiate, this has been happening in Illinois and to the credit of those locals, others won’t. It’s up to the local to decide how they wish to balance reduced benefits for their members versus loss of members in the form of layoffs.

So what is left for the local school district to do? Cut administrators and lay off the teachers you can. Maybe the union will bargain with you on how many of its members it will let go without too much of a fuss. Only bad teachers would be let go right? Nope, can’t do that, because a union is about seniority.  No, you can’t lay off Mrs. Smith who has been mailing it in for the past decade trying to get enough years in to retire early. You need to lay off Mrs. Jones who is a new and enthusiastic teacher getting great results in her classroom. She’s only been here two years though and doesn’t have the protection of tenure.

This, my friends, is a glimpse into how things are done year after year in a school district. It doesn’t make unions all bad – it makes them misguided by tradition. It doesn’t make all school districts right, many of them planned recklessly. At the end of the day though the money comes from somewhere, not a magic tree or pot of gold over the rainbow. The taxpayers have been taking a haircut for the past few years and it’s coming time for the public employees’ turn in the chair.

The system is unsustainable as it is constituted so call me a little crazy for secretly hoping Wisconsin will become a disaster. A little revolution every now and then is good, no?  Maybe then we can talk about what the real problem is.

I’ve had a wave of friends over the past few months that have had a case of Facebook emo rage.  Emo rage is defined if you follow that link for those non-gamer nerds of you who follow my (neglected) blog.  To be honest, I understand the frustration but I have to tell you — you brought it on yourself.

To me, Facebook is a wondrous invention and Mark Zuckerberg is a visionary for having brought it to us.  I can’t list the number of folks I thought were lost to me forever that I have found.  A few of the things that will never be the same because of Facebook:

Reunions

I actually enjoyed my 20-year reunion as I had caught up with most of my friends on Facebook and could spend time having a good time instead of spending time “catching up”.

Work Relationships

Work is a big part of your life, I spent over a decade of my life at one company.  Through the power of Facebook I’ve been able to catch up with a lot of my old friends that, before Facebook, I probably would have never seen or talked to again and that would be a shame.

Family

Recently I’ve been able to catch up with a lot of family that, for one reason or the other, lost track of each other.  Facebook has been a great way to catch up, start trading family trees or what have you.

Lost Friends

Thirtysomethings brought back to high school.

Life is a journey that can take us down many roads and many paths.  At different stages you create new relationships for yourself and some stay while some fall by the wayside.  Some things should be abandoned so you can move on.  However, others should be there when you need them and want them to be.  I’ve caught up with friends who moved across the country after high school and we just didn’t stay in regular touch, now we can whenever we would like.  A group of guys that hadn’t played together in 20 years got together and played for all their classmates because of Facebook.  Without it I doubt the crazy idea of “we should have a band reunion at the reunion” would have ever flown.

How Do You Want It?

Best of all, Facebook puts you in control of how you want to use it.  If you find yourself getting overburdened with drama then take a break, don’t log in for a while.  Or, perhaps, you need to change your Facebook experience.  Because it is so new I think all of us have a tendency to fully indulge, friend everyone who asks and make all these connections that we didn’t before.  It’s like the funny video with the guy from high school you didn’t even like now at your door.  You can friend him or you can tell him no by just not accepting the request.

Is there a chance people are going to see you as rude if you don’t accept their friend request?  Perhaps.  If someone brought it up I would simply say “because of privacy reasons I keep my Facebook friends list to only my closest friends, I hope you can understand.”  Who wouldn’t accept that?  If they wouldn’t do you really care what they thin anyway?

I’m sorry if I sound like a commercial for Facebook, I don’t mean to be.  I just see so many people who are getting chewed up by the teething period of social networking.  This is completely new stuff, we have not been here before and it’s going to take us a while to figure it out.  Me, personally, I believe anyone can find whatever they want about me without much work so I share a lot on Facebook.  I also do it because I am socially inept and Facebook is like training wheels for me.

What my message is that you can make your Facebook experience whatever you wish it to be.  You can cut it down and keep it exclusive or you can open it up, or you can find somewhere in-between, it’s up to you.  Maybe you make that guy earn a few dates before you friend him on Facebook or maybe you do it right away, it’s up to you.   Maybe you care what your Aunt Tilly says about that political article you posted or maybe you could care less and don’t let anyone comment on what you post.  It’s all up to you so get into your privacy settings and decide for yourself.

Liked

• Fantastic cinematography: Really wish the Academy voters would have rewarded some great old school cinematography over the 3D gimmickry.
• Great core characters: The three core characters of the film are well fleshed out, they are what drives the film.  Wow, a film with characters, how un-Hollywood!
• Kathryn Bigelow: Best Director was well deserved, I was floored.  I thought this was hype (i.e. how could the director of Point Break get best director?) but it surely was not.  Excellent work.
• Core theme:  The core theme about combat and what it does to soldiers was, I think, well done.  In that regard this film is probably one of the best films about war ever made.  I don’t like all of how it got there (see below) but it was well done.
• Jeremy Renner: Absolutely fantastic job.  He had his John Wayne game face but could flip it around and show the vulnerability (i.e. Beckham parts and shower scene).  It’s too bad he ran into someone who was owed an Oscar.

Disliked

• Complete fancy: This film is a joke when it comes to representing the job of an EOD.  They don’t act like this, if they do they are dead EODs.
• Unit of supermen: Hey let’s make ourselves snipers and we won’t call for any support we’ll just hang out here with these mercs all day!  Let’s split up in a hostile area at night!  Let’s never use a radio or call for support!  It helps isolate the core characters but there is no doubt this film fails miserably when it comes to realism.
• Military stereotypes: We have another “all officers are idiots” film.  I love David Morse, he’s one of my favorite actors but to see him do this cheesy stereotypical good ole boy full bird colonel imitation was terrible and pointless.  Depicting our troops acting this way I think bordered on disrespectful and stretched artistic license.  Then we have the lieutenant colonel psychologist which was equally nauseating (like the team would just leave him to hang out in the street).
• US stereotypes: Just what we needed, another movie portraying Americans as a bunch of “yee ha let’s go kill ‘em all” types.

I’ve never had such a film that struck me with this kind of mixed verdict.  I am going Machiavelli on this one in that I like the point the film made and I liked this as a film so overall I score it as a great film.  However, I certainly didn’t like how it got there.  It leaves me asking the question if Bigelow could have gotten to that message without taking the shortcuts or not?  Did she have to create these utterly unrealistic situations to isolate the core characters?  I’ve come to the conclusion that, to an extent, she did.

There’s a great risk you take when you make a war film about a war that is still going on.  Many will demand accuracy and this film was very inaccurate in a lot of areas.  Also, as I said, it bordered on being disrespectful and cartoonish with how it portrayed its characters.  Do I think there are some characters like this in the military?  Probably, but not many and not the ones we should be focused on.  At the same time I loved one of those characters even though he was completely unrealistic.

So there you have it, if you are looking for an accurate war movie, this is not your film.  However, if you are looking for a great movie about war, that sums up The Hurt Locker I believe.

The beginning starts out true to the original, Perseus and his mother are cast off in a coffin by his father Acrisius (who later comes back as Callibos is a bizarre time saving twist), you don’t know why at the time but they just are.  The coffin is pulled from the water by, to my shock, Pete Postlethwaite (In The Name of the Father) making his appearance as the first character you will have no clue what his name is (there will be many more).  You will only know him as Perseus’ dad and, amazingly, we all have British accents in Ancient Greece.  The first departure of the film takes place as Perseus’ mom dies (didn’t happen that way in myth or the original) and Pete and his family raise Perseus until, you know, he gets that higher calling.

From there on the stories really have little in common other than the general framework — the gods are pissed and they’re going to let the kracken out to go aggro on Argos (Joppa in the original) unless someone does something about it.  They get the magnificent Polly Walker (Rome and now Caprica) and they kill her after about three lines.  Perseus leaves with his band of droogs after a little encouragement from another demi-god named Io (hey, we know someone else’s name and it’s a hot Bond girl, Gemma Arterton). Perseus is out to avenge his human father, no saving the damsel this time, he doesn’t have a thing for Andromeda like Harry Hamlin did.

Then non-stop action takes place as they quickly dispatch one trial after the next and whittle the band of droogs down.  You learn none of their names really even though they are about the only human element to the film.  I’m completely serious you only hear their names a couple times and usually when they’re dying, “Eusebios!” Perseus utters as the stone head crumbles to the floor and you say to yourself “oh wow, that was that dude’s name.”

All in all a few things save this film from being completely mindless.  Mads Mikkelsen, the Dane better known for previously playing Le Chiffre in the last two Bond films is great as the captain of the guard who heads up the droogs who head out with Perseus (he also gives Perseus a 2 minute sword lesson and immediately after Perseus nearly kills him, being a demi-god rules). I wouldn’t be surprised if he had the most lines in the film, he’s earnest and personable and quickly allows you to build some admiration for him with very little dialogue. His partner in crime, who I’ll be darned if you ever hear that character’s name in the film is played by Liam Cunningham, he gets all the jokes as a character called Solon apparently. The play between Mikkelsen and Cunningham is great and really livens things up and hits you on a human level.  Aside from that you’ll find yourself grasping at a lot of names — those two funny dudes who come along (we don’t know who they are or where they came from but, by all means, come along with us and survive even), another sort of weird creature made out of scorpion hides and blue fire and one hot yet deadly looking Medusa and you have this film summed up.

Sure, there’s Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades but there’s little for them to do except play it easy as two brothers in need of a serious intervention and some time to hug it out but that’s about it. Sam Worthington is buff and does a bit of fighting, he’s the reluctant hero we really don’t get invested in at all. You think he doesn’t care about anything until he starts to put the moves on Io on what turns into Charon’s fantasy pleasure death cruise ship of the River Styx apparently!  Oh sure, the moment gets broken up but the gratuitous romance was thrown in. A completely forgettable performance from Worthington as far as I’m concerned.

The effects are pretty dang good, the girls are gorgeous and it moves along quickly and before you know it it’s over.  If this film were a magazine it would be Maxim, what can I say. There is a nice tip of the hat to Harryhausen with Bobo the owl but he only makes a cameo. We also have two interesting “oh that’s where they are now” moments with Alexandar Siddig of Deep Space Nine fame as Hermes and Jane March (The Lover and Color of Night) as Hestia where she not only manages to not have sex with anybody, she keeps her clothes on as well! Well done, Jane!

Overall a relaxing piece of afternoon fun, I’d catch it at the matinée showing, definitely not worth paying full price for or just catch it on video. I wasn’t expecting a faithful remake, I was expecting it to stand on its own and it really doesn’t do that. But for the fame of the original I don’t see the appeal. Percy Jackson & the Olympians had a far better plot, action that was at least as good and actual characters. Your two coins for the boatman are far better spent there.

Now this is just a proposal at this point so while I am giddy as all get-out about it I’m still not holding my breath. He can champion this all he would like but he still has to turn to Congress to get this done. I’m hopeful there is support in Congress for this and I’m hopeful Republicans are leading the charge because this is a transformation of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind (NLCB) and takes important steps to fix what is wrong with it while still insisting on accountability.

First we need to talk about what is broken with NCLB and that is ever increasing standards that can’t possibly be met. Standardized tests are based on percentiles so if you require schools to place within a certain percentile you are creating a glass ceiling — there will be a point where you can’t improve and if everyone improves someone still has to be at the bottom. This is the fundamental flaw of NCLB — it punishes districts even if they are making improvements.

While the administration has put out what it is calling a “blueprint” and not legislation, and I’ve been unable to find any outline yet what Duncan and Obama are saying is highly encouraging. According to the USA Today:

1. Raise the current standards by 2014.
2. Scrap the 2014 reading and math requirements and replace them with “college readiness” requirements by 2020.
3. Use subjects other than reading and math in their ratings.
4. “Value-added” indicators for teachers and schools.
5. Use indicators other than just test scores in assessing teachers.

These are all great changes to NCLB. The only one I am leery of the teachers unions getting their hands on is the subjective assessments. They could twist this into a means of keeping teachers who are not up to par by subjective means. That needs to be discouraged. The rest of these are great improvements on NCLB that open up the restrictions and bring reality to eduction — it’s not all reading and math.

What they added next though was the real kicker. For schools that are struggling, down in the bottom 5% they would have to take one of the following actions in order to maintain federal funding:

1. Shut the school down.
2. Bring in an outside company to manage the school as a charter school.
3. Fire the entire staff and rehire no more than 50% of them.
4. Fire the principal and bring in a new one with a transformation plan.

Wow. That’s about all I can say about that, wow. This is absolutely, without a doubt, EXACTLY what is needed to put teeth in NCLB. Right now a struggling school will only get worse; most of the parents will have nowhere else to go, that school will lose federal funds and with less funding it will only get worse. That’s broken. This puts the teeth in NCLB and frees school districts to make the kind of changes they would need to transform a failing school.

You can guarantee the teachers unions will be fighting these provisions tooth and nail in Congress. ”Let me be clear” here for a moment if I can steal one of the President’s lines, I have a message for teachers. I have nothing against the rank and file teacher doing everything he or she can to educate our kids. It’s a tough and often thankless job. You get to deal with a slew of parents who just don’t care. However, there’s no legislation on the planet that is going to make them care. This is all that can be done.

The prescription from NCLB right now just gets in the way of a teacher being able to be a teacher. A slew of requirements are put on them, the district office is in their classroom, creating some new set of guidelines for them to follow or the like. Teachers aren’t allowed to innovate and educate. You need to tell your leadership right now that the President’s plan will let you innovate and educate again and stand on your own.

Your leadership is about to barrage you with a mountain of scare tactics and try to get you behind opposition to this plan. You need to stand up to your leadership and tell them no. Have you seen the headlines over the past few weeks? In Illinois we have a complete disaster on our hands and districts are cutting staff left and right. This is what your leadership has gotten you with their hold on power and their refusal to innovate. Many a good teacher is being fired so many a bad teacher that’s been doing it forever can keep his or her job. That’s not right and you need to stand up for it as not right.

I’m sure you can easily count the bad teachers in your building right now. The ones who don’t care, the ones who “phone it in”, the ones you are constantly covering for. Admit it, you know they are there. Are you prepared to lose your job for them? That’s what your leadership will be asking you to do. Under this proposal YOU will be responsible for YOUR own results. If you are doing all that you can it will be seen and measured and you won’t be held responsible for your failing peers. This plan is a plan for good teachers and good teachers should stand up to their national leaders and get behind it.

I’m hopeful this plan can be put into place and it stays as it is outlined. You can rest assured I will be watching it as it comes out, but this is a great start and the first reason for hope and change I’ve seen out of President Obama.  Well done.