Bereft of Anything Resembling a Social Conscience....

I am a member on a social networking site - Cafemom. I joined because this site was morphed from what used to be a wonderful site for women - Clubmom.com. Things certainly have changed in the past year that we have been at the new place. I have kept most of my old friends, made many great new friends. While some things change, other things sadly stay the same.

One of the most disappointing aspects of the new site is that it is completely bereft of anything even REMOTELY resembling a social conscience. I'll give you an example. The "team" that runs the site ignored Memorial Day. NOT OK. Then, they had the audacity to have the journal prompt for that day be " What is your child's favorite toy?" Talk about completely inappropriate!

September 11th, the anniversary of the largest terrorist attack on our country, the day the whole world changed, was also ignored. I'll give you that a journal prompt was not needed, but some commentary - a brief letter from the team - something - ANYTHING - acknowledging the day. But no. Sadly all we got that day was some survey on mayonnaise. Yeah, you heard me right. Mayonnaise. Way to go "team".....

Then on Halloween, the team changed the logo to reflect the holiday. I was excited. I thought that they were finally getting it. On Voters Day, I was encouraged further by the reminder to vote. Sadly today, those hopes have all been dashed. There was absolutely NO acknowledgement of Veterans Day whatsoever. Now, I grant you that Veterans Day is recognized tomorrow, so something is still possible... But considering - highly unlikely.

Now see if this makes any sense whatsoever to you. They have probably in excess of 9,000 members on this site that are in some way affiliated with the Military - active duty personnel, wives, mothers, grandmothers, girlfriends, etc..... And yet, every holiday like this one is ignored. The very individuals who fight for their right to lack a social conscience - ignored. Honestly it makes me sick. It doesn't even make good business sense pissing off at least 10% of your membership....

So I bet you are wondering why I am sharing this here? Well, the same " team" has made it against their policy for anyone to express an opinion about their policies anywhere on their site but the designated areas. Whatever. I am waiting until tomorrow.... giving them one more opportunity to grow a brain stem and then all hell breaks loose.

I'm breaking out the steel toes - kicking ass and taking names.....

What's Wrong with Hollywood?

Ok so Veterans day is just a few days away and it really has me thinking.... Scary, I know! What is wrong with Hollywood? Why are they so willing to portray the worst in our country? Why are they so willing to portray the worst about our military?

In my father's day, Hollywood actually supported the military and the war effort. That is nearly impossible to imagine now. These days we have movies like Rendition- New Line Cinema will release “Rendition,” in which Reese Witherspoon plays a woman whose Egyptian-born husband is snared by a runaway counterterrorism apparatus. Paul Greengrass, the director of “The Bourne Ultimatum,” in which the bad guys belong to a similar rogue unit, is adapting Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s book about the Green Zone in Baghdad, “Imperial Life in the Emerald City,” for Universal Pictures.Brian De Palma’s “Redacted,” focusing on an Army squad that persecutes an Iraqi family, is to be released in December by Magnolia Pictures. And Sony Pictures is developing a film based on the story of Richard A. Clarke, the former national security official and Bush administration critic. The love of anything anti- American in eclipsed only by the love of all things anti - American military.

We have certainly come a long way down. In years past, movie stars and movie studios considered supporting the troops their patriotic duty. They made many wonderful movies like A Bridge Too Far, The Longest Day, The Sands of Iwo Jima, Midway, Run Silent, Run Deep and even the Dirty Dozen. Headliners like John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, and Maureen O'Hara would never be seen saying something that was anti- American. Part of what made them stars was that they were emblematic of all that was best in American society, including the American Military.

For every terrible story about the war, there are just as many good stories. For every story about troops that do something wrong, there are a thousand more about those who are heroes. Yet, only the bad stories are portrayed by the media. We only hear about Haditha - not about how 2 out of 3 Marines that stood accused in this incident have been acquitted. Our media only wants to sell their medium and to do that, a story must be sensational, but sadly, not necessarily true. Is it any wonder, as the family member of an active duty military man, that I want little to no association with most civilians who the media and Hollywood claim to represent? I have no time for America haters... and I guess that means I won't be seeing many movies anytime soon.