jamiebowen0306

I went to see the Angelina Jolie film "A Mighty Heart" yesterday. It's about the kidnapping (and subsequent murder) of Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl while he was on assignment in Afghanistan to report the war there (Jolie plays his wife Mariane).

The film was enjoyable, but spectacularly depressing. It's a story that people will know (if they are aware of the war), but it was well told all the same. The weirdest thing was Jolie (who was wearing colored contacts and had had her hair curled like Mariane Pearls). You could till it was Jolie but at the same time she wasn't immediately recognizable as Jolie (if that makes any sense). I'm not sure how she pulled it off.

Don't get me wrong, I like America and Americans, but of all the holidays they celebrate, I get most irritated by the 4th of July.

I've been to a bunch of historical sites and quite a few reference American Independence (I've been to Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Mount Vernon and Montecello for example). These sites impress me, but some of the language used in them infuriate me.

They all made reference to English tyranny. This is a novel idea to me (I'm English in case you don't know). To the English, we saved your butts in the 7-Years War and all we wanted you to was just pay your share of the costs (and the landed gentry in America didn't like this).

Could the English have recouped the costs you incurred more effectively? Yes, but were we tyrannical because we wanted Americans to recognize (and pay for) our help? Hell no.