South San Francisco

We arrived at the San Francisco airport a bit early, retrieved our luggage and took the AirTrain to the Thrifty Rental Car location. We were surprised to find that we were given a brand-new Sebring with only 9 miles on the odometer. I don't think I've ever driven a Chrysler before, but we eventually found the Holiday Inn I'd booked for the night and checked in. Not a bad place for a Holiday Inn, as far as they go. No pool, but it wasn't a dive like some of them are.

Holly and I dumped our stuff in our room, then attempted to find a place to eat. We drove around for about twenty minutes, getting lost in several directions without finding much, before settling on In 'n Out Burger, which was quite tasty. I've eaten at the one in Las Vegas a couple times, too bad we don't have these back in the midwest...

In Atlanta

I'm in the Atlanta airport, waiting for our flight to San Francisco. Gotta love that Delta routing, Minneapolis to Atlanta to San Francisco... At least I get a ton of extra frequent flier miles now.

Iowans in Iraq

The Washington Post has a story about many Iowans serving in Iraq:

Under the glare of a midmorning sun, Staff Sgt. Jody Hayes stands sweating in the hatch of his M-113 armored vehicle, scanning for insurgents. Hayes and his Iowa National Guard crew have been stalled for nearly 30 minutes on a risky, slow-moving mission to clear road bombs, and he's getting nervous.

Suddenly he hears the snap of a sniper's bullet flying past his head. The round pierces the neck of the soldier next to him, Spec. John Miller, entering the two-inch gap between his Kevlar vest collar and helmet.

"Get down!" Hayes yells. Miller falls heavily against Hayes's leg, and at first Hayes believes his friend is taking cover. "Man, he got down pretty quick," he recalls thinking. Then he glances down and sees Miller bleeding at his feet.

Sgt. Ty Dermer, who is manning a .50-caliber machine gun within arm's reach of Miller, radios for help: "We got a man down! We need a medic, ASAP!"

Hayes drops down and cradles Miller's head in his lap, while Dermer rips open a pressure dressing and places it on the neck wound. Each man grabs one of Miller's hands and feels for a pulse. They still haven't found one when medic Spec. Jaymie Holschlag pulls open the back door of the M-113 and rushes, breathless, to Miller's side.

"Doc," Hayes says, looking up at her. "He's gone."

Holschlag begins checking Miller's pulse herself, as if she hasn't heard.

"Doc," Hayes repeats, louder. "He's gone!"

It is 10:18 a.m. on April 12, and John Wayne Miller is no more.

In the frenzy to save Miller, no one was thinking about why the war had snatched away the gangly 21-year-old Wal-Mart stocker from West Burlington, Iowa. Only later, as darkness falls and details of the day's horrors ricochet through their camp, do that question and others begin to haunt Hayes and his tightknit Iowa platoon. With a fifth of its soldiers killed or wounded, the platoon is reeling from the trauma of repeated loss, facing a constant threat from bombs and gunfire on Ramadi's streets, or mortar strikes on their base. They are angry, anxious, wracked by guilt -- one soldier suffers from combat stress so acute that he is unable to go on missions, and stays behind camp walls.

Save PBS and NPR!

I sent off an e-mail to my senators and representatives about the proposed slashed budget (a 23% cut!) for NPR and PBS, and I encourage you all to do the same:

You know that email petition that keeps circulating about how Congress is slashing funding for NPR and PBS? Well, now it's actually true. (Really. Check at the bottom if you don't believe me.)

Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS:

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

A House committee has voted to slash half of the public funding for NPR and PBS, starting with "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and other commercial-free children's shows. If approved, this would be the most severe cut in the history of public broadcasting, threatening to pull the plug on Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch.

The cuts would eliminate more than $200 million for NPR, PBS and local stations immediately, with more cuts likely in the future. The loss could kill beloved children's shows like "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Arthur," and "Postcards from Buster." Rural stations and those serving low-income communities might not survive. Other stations would have to increase corporate sponsorships.

The House will vote on the cuts as soon as Tuesday. Can you help us reach 1 million signatures calling on Congress to save NPR and PBS? http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

Thanks!

P.S. Read the New York Times story on the threat to NPR and PBS at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=753

Batman

I saw Batman Begins today. It's a good movie, better than all previous Batman films, though I really only liked the first one. Michael Keaton was a great Batman, because he really made you believe that Bruce Wayne was more than a little nuts, as the character should be, unlike the smarmy George Clooney Batman or the be-nippled Batman of Val Kilmer. Well, Christian Bale is even better than Keaton, and once he dons the BatSuit, he'll creep you out. You know how in the average superhero movie you get a two-minute montage that shows them coming to grips with their superpowers/new identity? In this case, you get a whole movie of it, and it's great. This is a movie not dominated by special effects, but by storytelling, and good storytelling at that.

I have a few nitpicks though. I've got some physics problems with the "microwave generator" in the film, (which doesn't make sense to me for about 15 different reasons) and after watching some of the recent Chinese action films, the action scenes are hard to follow, because they cut so much you can't get any sense of the geography of the fight. I can understand this if you don't want to risk your star being injured, but since Batman is in a BatSuit, you'd think you could put some stunt guys in the suit and do some longer shots, no?

The supporting cast is outstanding, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Tom Wilkinson, Liam Neeson and Michael Caine, add a lot to the film, though the recently-brainswashed Katie Holmes was forgettable.

This is the Batman movie that makes you understand why Batman is Batman, why criminals fear him, why Alfred helps him, where the BatToys come from, why Commissioner Gordon trusts him, and even why he has a BatSignal.

This is the third excellent film I've seen by director Chris Nolan (the other two being Memento and Insomnia), and I can't wait for more. Please let him (and the cast) return for one or two more Batman movies, and bar Joel Schumacher, Michael Bay, or Paul Verhoeven from even coming on the lot. Want a second opinion? Roger Ebert's review is here.