Illegal Immigrants: The Free Market People

Some Americans would think most illegal immigrants are socialists, wanting to come here and take over, and live off of welfare. While it might be politically true that their culture would tend to support big governments, they are living more of a free market lifestyle here in the U.S. than we Americans are. The ironic part about this whole immigration debate is that the Republicans, who often preach about the glories of a free market, have failed to see these people as an example of their principals and have instead reverted to socialism to punish them.

Some of you might be scratching your heads right now wondering how an illegal immigrants live in a free market. Well, it's not entirely Free Since they still must work around strict government rules, and it's more of a black market, but it is more free than what your typical American citizen lives in. Yes, they are breaking the law to do so, but ignoring the fact that they, or their employer, are breaking the law, or have to work around the laws, the image of a free market is still there. I'll give you some examples:

1. Illegal immigrants don't have to pay income taxes, pay into social security, or any of the other government mandated schemes. They still have to pay sales taxes when they buy something from a store, but overall, they'll be able to keep more percentage of what they earn than an American.

2. They can work bellow minimum wage. This is what makes it so hard for Americans to compete for lower paying jobs is because they will work for such low wages. Many of them will come here to work for a wage that no typical American could survive on, but they will take the money back home and thrive on it because it can go farther there.

3. They don't apply for government authorization documents. We get assigned a social security number, we get drivers licenses, and go through all of this government bureaucratic process just to carry out or daily lives. While many of them will obtain fake documents and break the law, they don't have to go through the same process we have to get these. The though that you have to get government approval to carry out the many things in your day to day life should anger anyone that loves the free market. However, many who say they support the free market, while supporting this war on illegal immigration, ignore the fact that this is what they are supporting.

4. They sell and transport drugs, weapons, and other banned items. Now, I'm not saying all illegal immigrants do this and certainly plenty of Americans do this, but I thought I would include this anyway. In a free market, you are allowed to buy, sell, use, or trade whatever you want as long as you aren't harming someone else without their consent. Everyone knows drugs are bad for you, but if you still want to take drugs, I think you should be free to do so. Government bans have no place in a free market. People against illegal immigrants will tell of horrible violence along the border, which is true, but it is from the war on drugs creating a black market, which is kind of like a free market, only it comes with many problems that a free market doesn't. A black market sells item x, which is banned, expensive, hard to obtain, and people live under the threat that government is going to lock them in jail. A free market sells item x, which isn't banned, cheap, easy to obtain, and there's no threat of going to jail. Black markets require the use of violence to stay in business. Free markets require peaceful competition to stay in business. Alcohol was banned at one time and we saw the black market explode and people killed each other over it all the time. It was then legalized and liquor store owners never kill each other to get ahead. I think later on I'll write a post devoted to comparing and contrasting the black market and the free market, but to stay on topic, I'll skip the long details.

5. Illegal immigrants are free to go as they please. When Americans want to cross into Mexico, we stop at a government check point, show papers, and get approval to cross over, or come back in. An illegal immigrant doesn't want to go through this process. Imaginary lines drawn on a map does not confine them to one area. The imaginary line that surrounds the area they came out of their mother in does not dictate what rights they have as a human being.

Now what I have just said is actually a black market instead of a free market. However, the only difference in the two is the presence of government rules. Most would think I'm crazy for making an argument to support the free market by using people that most think of as poor. However, they might be poor by American standards, but they are rich when compared to where they originally came from. The only reason they can't get rich here is because government rules won't allow it. It's harder for them to get an education without the right documents and it's harder for them to make lots of money without drawing attention and risk being deported. If we lifted government restrictions on them, they could flourish even more.

The main point I'm trying to make is that Republicans, Conservatives, and even some Libertarians that say they support a free market, but still support closed borders are missing a great opportunity. They see these people as a problem and want to punish them by making stricter government rules to prevent them from succeeding in life. I look at this see these free people not only surviving, but thriving under in a black market, which could easily be made a free market.

Americans against illegal immigration say they are a threat to jobs, so instead of doing away with minimum wage laws, income taxes, and other things that makes it hard for Americans to compete, they want to keep all that junk and spend more of our money to keep them out. If we were by some miraculous way able to keep them out, we would still be losing jobs in this country to countries overseas. I find it almost comical that the same people that want to use the government to protect their jobs from illegal immigrants will likely say how evil unions are and how much they hurt the economy. What bigger and more destructive union is there besides the United States Government? They see illegal immigrants as parasites on our welfare system, while ignoring the vast amount of American parasites who live on it. Instead of doing away with our welfare system and going to private organizations to help out people, we create more laws to discriminate who can and can't get help. They are afraid of all these violent illegal immigrants coming over hear and chopping people's heads off, so they want to put more money into border patrol and law enforcement to go after these people. They could end all the violence along the border and in most American cities overnight if they would end the war on drugs. Not only that, but they would be saving billions of dollars each year and freeing up jails for actual violent criminals like murderers, rapists, and thieves that threaten lives and property.

Instead of saying we should make these free people be more socialist like the rest of America, we should make America be more free like them. Bring ourselves to their level and let them be free and let ourselves be free from government rules. Let everyone compete on a level field for jobs. If we try to bring them to our level, we're going to spend billions, if not trillions more on border security and other government agencies to do so. Like the war on drugs, it will never be effective of stopping illegal immigrants. Besides that, we Americans will still be living under these same restrictive government rules. I say we make it easier for these people to come here by lifting the restrictions we ourselves live under. If we did that, the true supporters of free markets will be killing two birds with one stone.

9-11: The Tragedy That Keeps On Giving

Today is the 9th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks and all of these people say "Never Forget". However, I don't see the point in remembering it if you don't actually think about it, as in think really hard about what happened and what it has given us since then. To me, this tragedy has not ended and is still going on. The terrorists had hatred in their hearts for us and used violence as a way to react to that hatred. Our response to that hatred was not love, but more hate and the use of violence. The result of which has created more death, destruction, and sadness than the original attacks. We can use the excuse that we are freeing people in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of just killing them out of hatred, but that still doesn't change the fact that those civilians and our soldiers are going through the same death and destruction that those victims had on 9-11, just spread out more over time. There are people in this country that hate all Muslims for what a few Muslims have done. The hatred and violence is still there, just in a new form.

It has been 9 years and we haven't even started rebuilding at Ground Zero and it's still just a big hole in the ground. The main man responsible for the attacks, Bin Laden, is still on the loose. Ground Zero workers and others who survived the attack are now getting sick and dying from the the dust they inhaled. We could not save many who died on September 11, 2001 and there is no way to bring those people back to life. However, we have the chance to prevent more people from dying by ending these wars and finding peaceful solutions to our problems, but many of us refuse this idea. We could choose to love our enemies instead of hate them and try to make them not hate us, but many of us refuse this.

This tragedy should have been a wake-up call that we should change our ways and we did, but not for the better. We are no longer as free as we once were because we are so afraid of another attack that security is now more important to us than freedom. We are now at constant war instead of trying harder to find peace. We should have all come together as Americans and worked to make this country and the world a better place. That seemed to have happened for the first few months after the event, but we are now more divided than ever and more people in the world hate what we're doing.

When someone dies, you try to find some kind of positive meaning to come out of it, no matter how small. People want to be organ donors so when they die, others might live. Nobody wants their death to be meaningless, and they surely don't want it to bring more hatred, death, and destruction to the world. I don't know what kind of pain and suffering those victims went through in the last minutes of their lives, but I'm sure they wouldn't want anyone else going through that. I don't believe the victims of 9-11 have been blessed with having anything positive brought out of their deaths. It's not their fault though, it's ours. We failed to bring anything positive out of their loss and have used their deaths only as an excuse to cause more deaths. To me, that's the saddest thing of all about 9-11.

Review: Waltz With Bashir

Some people would say that war is beautiful. In an artistic sense, this can be true. It can offer some of the best colors, compositions, and subject matters for an artist, story teller, or photographer. The reason war is so beautiful is because it is so ugly and when you're talking about art, usually the ugliest of subjects are the most beautiful.

"Waltz With Bashir" has taken art and war and combined them into one of the most amazing films I've ever seen. It's an animated documentary, based on the stories of actual soldiers who were in the Lebanon War of 1982. The plot revolves around the film maker, Ari, not being able to remember what he did as a soldier during this war. He then sets off to question other soldiers who were there with him to try to regain his memory and mainly try to remember what he saw and did at the Sabra and Shatila Massacre.

The movie is mainly comprised of a number of flashbacks, dreams, and interviews, with some live action footage at the end. The animation is very unique, but I didn't find overly distracting. As you can see from the video, it kind of looks like a cross between 3D, cell shading, and rotoscoping. However, from what I understand, is actually done with Adobe Flash. The music in the movie was well done and actually fits well with telling the story instead of just being a backdrop for mood, or the setting.



However beautiful and entertaining this movie might be, at its heart is a serious message about a serious subject matter. Most war movies, at least nowadays, show the horrors of war, which this movie does show and it does show a lot of stuff that is not suitable for younger viewers. Besides gore, there are sex scenes and nudity. This is an R rated movie after all. However, unlike most other war movies, this doesn't go out to show how soldiers are heroes, to glorify battle, show the brotherhood of war, or to make it seem like some kind of test of manhood. This shows the opposite of that. It takes you into the lives of different soldiers as individuals and into their thoughts and feelings about the war they were in. What it shows instead of a group of soldiers bonding, is a single soldier alone with himself and his thoughts. In each of the stories is a sense of being alone and not belonging in a group. It shatters the whole notion of a band of brothers. This movie has successfully boiled war down to it's purest form, the individual soldier, and showed what he went through and what he was thinking. It shows the horrors that they saw that still haunt them, the actions that the still regret, and the fear that they went through.

I can see how many people would dismiss this movie just because it's a cartoon, because it might seem like Israeli propaganda, or just because it's a foreign movie with subtitles, but they'd really be missing out on a great and unique movie. I think the word "unique" really describes this movie since I really haven't seen anything like it before, and yet I just felt so comfortable watching it.

My only complaint was that some of the non-flashback scenes and interviews seemed kind of dull. It didn't look like a lot of effort was put into the background areas of these scenes, like they wanted to show them in a studio like a real documentary. It helped give the documentary feel to the film, but it also gave it a slight dull feeling one gets from watching documentaries sometimes. However, the film is mostly filled with eye catching visuals that will hold your attention.

It's hard to rate this movie since it's so original and there's nothing else out there to really compare it to. While this isn't exactly an anime, if your a fan of anime, or adult animated films, this ranks up there with "Akira" and "Princess Mononoke". If you're a fan of war movies, I think this ranks up there with "Apocalypse Now", or "Full Metal Jacket". "Apocalypse Now" is my favorite movie of all time, mainly because of the dark story and the beautiful visuals. To me, this was like an animated version of that. I loved the story, artwork, music, and everything so much that I have to give this movie a 10/10. There's always a few good movies that come out that everyone should see, that most people probably don't know about, and this is definitely one of them.

War Is Over! Just Kidding

At 5pm today, the combat mission in Iraq was officially declared over. This is great news, right? Actually, not really. We'll still have 50,000 American troops staying in the country until the end of 2011, or at least that's the current plan, so it's not really over.

To me, this is nothing but a sick PR stunt to make the Democrats look good for elections. As long as we got guys over in Iraq, the Iraq War is not over and combat sure as hell ain't over. We might have less troops in Iraq than when Bush was president, but just saying they are no longer combat troops doesn't change the fact that the remaining troops there aren't in harms way, or won't be used for combat. You can call an apple and orange, but it's still an apple. I would be somewhat happy if a lot did get to come home and stayed out of harms way, but I bet most will probably be used to fight in Afghanistan. Which in case you missed it, more U.S. soldiers have now died in the War in Afghanistan under Obama so far than during all of Bush's presidency.

The Democrats said they were all for ending the war when George Bush was in office (despite many of them actually voting for it) and they conned people into thinking they were the anti-war party. However, I knew that once they got into power, they wouldn't really end the wars in Iraq, or Afghanistan. I wish now I had bet all the Democrats I knew that by the end of Obama's second year, we'd still have troops in Iraq. It would have been a sick thing to bet on, but I really could have made a fortune off of all the gullible people who voted for him thinking he was going to end the wars. We'll probably have guys there for the rest of the century, just like we got in Germany, Japan, and Korea. Do they still look like the anti-war party? I guess the fact that you never see any huge anti-war rallies anymore since Obama become president says it all.

The Democrats were out marching on the streets, yelling all the time how we needed to bring the troops home and how Bush was a war criminal, but now that they got their guys in there, they're silent. They aren't telling Obama to bring all the troops home. They aren't calling Obama a war criminal. Are the Democrats all pro war now? I don't think so. I think the real problem with them is that they know it's wrong, but they stay silent about it. They think if they speak up against their own side, it'll make their side look weak and they're willing to sacrifice soldiers if they think it'll help them stay in power. Republicans are just as much to blame for these wars, but they aren't in power anymore. It's the Democrats turn and they have nobody to blame, but themselves at this point.

The main reason you have more and more people like me who are becoming either libertarians, independents, siding with some other third party, or don't even bother voting is because the two main parties in this country are neck deep in hypocrisy. There's no principle behind either one besides lie as much as you can to get more power. They'll whisper sweet things in your ear around election time, but when they get into power they'll do the exact opposite of what they promised. That's the only thing you can really trust them on.

More Arkansas Liquor Laws...Really?

City politicians in Little Rock, AR are currently contemplating putting more limits on what size liquor can be sold and what hours liquor stores can be open. You can read more about it here. Unfortunately, this is another case of the politicians wanting to look like they're doing some good, but actually doing more harm.

I don't want people getting on the road drunk, but if people want to buy alcohol and enjoy it at home, they should be able to buy it anywhere that wants to sell it, any time of the week. I live in Yell County, which is a dry county. For those lucky souls who don't know what a dry county is, it's a county where it's illegal to sell liquor (you can still drink it here though). However, it doesn't stop people in this county from getting liquor. They just burn a bunch of gas and take their money to other counties, or out of the state, where it is legal to buy it. Liquor stores in the state are also now allowed to sell alcohol on Sundays. These religious blue laws, first off, shouldn't be allowed since they're RELIGIOUS LAWS! Besides that, they aren't really stopping people from getting drunk on Sundays. None of these laws are going to make people who drink stop drinking, or drinking and driving.

Not only do these laws not prevent drinking and drunk driving, but they can actually make it worse. Dry counties make drunk drivers drive further to get more liquor, increasing the risk of an accident. I'm not defending people who drink and drive and there's no safe distance to drive while drunk. However, some people are going to be stupid enough to do it and the longer they are at the wheel, the higher the odds get that they're gonna get in an accident. While the stores in LR might close down, stores outside the city will still be open, making people drive further to get their liquor. Instead of staggering down the sidewalk to the store, they'll get in a car, drunk, and try to drive to another county.

It's time Arkansas wakes up to reality and start saving some lives instead of living in a fantasy world. If you're an Arkie like me, ask yourself the following questions. How many of our friends and neighbors have been killed because some drunk guy had to drive 30 miles to get more liquor when he could have just walked to the store to get it, if it were legal to buy it there at that time? Are the current laws really stopping people who want to drink, or get drunk?

And with that, I give you one of the greatest songs ever wrote...

The Place where RFK And Public Education Died

Los Angeles has just spent $578 million on the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, which is really just one big honkin' public school. It's the most expensive public school in the nation. This isn't a school for 50,000 students. Oh no, only about 4,200 students will be able to go there, which means it will cost about $135,000 per student for the first year alone. At that rate, they could have provided a regular education to these kids, paid for their college, and probably got them a down payment on a house. The voters voted on it before the economic collapse, but even in regular times, this was an insane waste of money. The money isn't going to get better teachers, or books. No, the main cost is on architectural features. As you can see in the video on this page (sorry, I tried to find a YouTube video), the inside is pretty damn snazzy.

This was once the location of the The Ambassador Hotel, the hostel where Robert F. Kennedy was shot in (hence the name). They designed it based on the old hotel, but does the environment really matter for teaching kids? Will this school produce doctors and scientists that will cure cancer and other diseases? It damn well better! Of course anyone with half a brain can see that's not going to be the case. If you stick a kid in a barn with a good teacher and access to good books and the internet, you're going to end up with a better educated kid than one who goes to a school with magnificent architectural details and swimming pools and lacks good teachers. When you have dropout rates like this, it's hard to imagine the thinking behind funding such a building.

This isn't just a one time thing either. There are many schools around the country that are costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to build. This video from CATO explains how school districts are hiding a lot of the costs of educating our kids. Even without these added expenses, they seem like a waste of money. More people need to wake up and realize that more money and fancier classrooms do not always equal better educated students.



It's time that money stops going to buildings and finally starts going to the students. If we are going to be publicly funding education, we must have school choice for students and parents and get rid of this bloated public educational system as it currently is. If we don't, there will be a country with nobody smart enough to run it. This doesn't mean we have to abandon the old schools and fire all the teachers. All we need to do is go to a voucher system where the students get the money and spend it on the best school for them. The schools are then required to operate like a private business and use the money they get from students to run it, and expand it in a way that makes sense, instead of a way that exploits the taxpayers and does nothing to help the students learn.

Lots of parents already support this, but a lot of teachers and their unions don't. However, building this school should be a wake-up call to teachers. Building these new schools will only put your jobs in danger. California and all of these other states are cutting back on education spending. They aren't going to sell their buildings they spent millions to build, they'll just get rid of teachers and staff. If you're a teacher, would you rather work in a regular building and have job security, or an expensive, new building to work in that will probably cost you your job? If parents had the choice, most wouldn't give a damn about the building, but what kind of education their kids get. That comes down to how well the teachers actually teach their kids. If you truly are a good teacher, then you'll not only have job security, but you'll probably get paid more for doing a good job instead of having that money spent on a school swimming pool, or Tiki themed auditorium. If you're just in it for the government benefits, then how long do you think the taxpayers are going to bend to your demand?

If we can't get teachers to agree, then another option that we really should look into is online learning. One of my favorite sites is The Khan Academy, which is a totally free, and probably better, way of learning the same stuff we pay tens of thousands of dollars for each year. Whatever choice we make for the future education of this country, we have to make some kind of choice now, because the status quo is not working and we can't afford to put this off any longer.

FM Radio On Cell Phones By Law

I came across this article the other day. Basically, the music industry is in a dispute for more money from radio stations. To counter this, radio broadcasters are willing to agree if they get help to pressure the government to force cell phones makers to build FM receivers into their phones.

This is a clear example of how regulation really works. Regulation isn't about protecting the consumer, but rather, making money for businesses. FM radio and the music industry in general have been on the decline since the internet and cell phones became popular. They see cell phones as competition for business, so they naturally want to take control over cell phones and force their product on it. They can't do this using free market principals (since they suck and fewer people really want them hanging around), so they want to use the government to force it on them with laws. Using the force of government is the only way they can keep making money. I wonder if telegraph operators were this annoying back in the day when telephones came around to drive them into extinction.

If people actually wanted this in all of their phones, it would already be in place. There is no need to require this to be on all phones. It's not like millions of people are dying because their cell phones don't get FM radio. Most people's phones can play MP3s, Pandora, and access to the internet. Any information, or music they want, or need is already there. I don't know about you, but it's been years since I've tuned in to a local radio station. With all of this new stuff around us, who needs to? I'm not saying do away with FM radio, since there's some people that can only afford, or know how to use a radio, but if you're able to buy a cell phone, you really don't need an FM radio in it. It's like forcing you to buy a horse just because you own a car.

It's just a tiny radio receiver, so what's the big problem? Well, first off it's not right when people who aren't harming anyone are forced to by the government to do something, especially just so someone (the music industry and radio stations) who refuse to adapt to new technologies can be kept on life support, or just get more money than they're already getting. One regulation doesn't kill an inustry and free market, but where there is one regulation, there will be more...LOTS MORE. All those regulations can kill companies, prevent newer companies from starting up. Worst of all, they will create huge corporate monopolies that thrive in an ocean of regulation by drowning other companies in those same regulations. While I doubt requiring FM radios would actually make a cell phone company go under, it does put them under more pressure to have to comply with regulations.

Most people don't care that much about companies surviving(even though they should), but their main concern is how can it hurt them the consumer. Well, if it's mandated they have to put FM radios in their phones, then that will either add to the cost of the phone. It could make them design a phone with less features to fit an FM radio into it physically and economically. Adding an FM radio feature might drain your battery life faster. Besides, there are already phones out there with FM radio features if you want one. It's not like FM radio is some precious resource that cell phone companies are keeping you from enjoying. FM radio is like a dinosaur and should just go extinct already. Actually, now that I think about it, they aren't, since dinosaurs are still cool and popular. FM radio is like a dodo bird...

Outrage At Ground Zero

As most of you are probably aware, there are plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero. This has sparked outrage throughout the country among some people who think that it's offensive and some people even think they shouldn't be allowed to build there. A lot of people might be asking themselves if we have a Muslim problem in America. To that, I would say no.

However, it is far too clear that America has a hate problem and an ignoring real issues for ones that don't really matter problem. I find it outrageous that it's been 9 years since 9-11 and billions of dollars spent there and nothing has been built at Ground Zero! That's the story that should be making people angry. Oh, and while this story is the major headline, a Florida church is planning on burning Korans on 9-11. How about stop worrying about Muslims for a second and start worrying about this country making Hitler's Thousand Year Reich a reality. I'm not saying they don't have a right to burn Korans, but if you're going to be protesting people for doing something, this seems like something more important than building a mosque. If anybody is going to help terrorists recruit others, don't you think these book burners would be doing so? Terrorists are going to look at these stories and say to new recruits, "They burned your Koran and took away the freedoms of your fellow Muslims in New York. They hate your people and your Mosques. Here's your proof that America is evil and hates you. Now go kill them!"

I think a lot of the individuals who are opposed to this Mosque are so swept up in their own anger that they are too blind to see themselves for what they are. It doesn't matter if it's gays, Muslims, illegal immigrants, or whatever, as long as you aren't similar to them, they automatically hate you. There are Americans out there that don't judge people as individuals, but as a group. They will group together people based on the negative actions of a few individuals, or more often, what they think those people are like without really meeting with them. Human beings who aren't like they are will always be seen as nothing more than cattle that need to be rounded up and sent to the slaughter house. A lot probably wouldn't be willing to go that far, but if it did happen, they wouldn't feel any remorse about it. These individuals ignore, or are just ignorant to, the fact that innocent American Muslims died on 9-11; some even trying to rescue people.

With these haters, there is no "turn the other cheek". There is no, "Americans embrace freedom". Yes, we should speak out against radical Muslims that kill people and use their governments to oppress people, but these are those Muslims. If we don't change our ways and speak out against our people who want to do the same things the radical Muslims are doing, their hatred is going to spread and the only thing left in America anymore will be a bunch of crybabies that get offended over the littlest thing, or worse. I've studied history enough to know that America is looking a lot like pre-Nazi Germany right now. The economic crash and all of this anger and blame placed on minority groups for "causing our problems" is just like it. If we don't change, we will no longer deserve this Republic. We will no longer be the land of the free, or the home of the brave. We will have become cowards, scared of a few people wanting to build a mosque, or like Germany did, we'll become something much more horrible than just cowards.

Best Movies Of The Decade

Here's my list of the best movies of the past 10 years. I should say that there are some movies out there that I haven't seen, or haven't had a chance to see all the way through, so I guess these are the best movies to come out in the past decade that I have happened to see. Anyway, if you have not seen one of these movies, rent it, try to catch it on TV, or whatever.

10. The Pianist
09. Children of Men
08. Inglourious Basterds
07. No Country For Old Men
06. The Hurt Locker
05. Let The Right One In
04. Superbad
03. Thank You For Smoking
02. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
01. The Dark Knight

Review: The Hurt Locker

I know it is suppose to be Brad News of the "Day", but I've been taking a break from the blog for a while. Sorry for not posting in a while.

Anyway, I saw "The Hurt Locker" today and I loved it. This is a really great war movie and probably the best one I've seen on Iraq. I haven't really seen one like it before, but for the subject given, I think it was done right. It's not really that gore driven like most war movies nowadays. There is some gore in it, but it's nothing that's just shoved in your face as if to say, "Look at the horrors of war!" Instead, it relies on the suspense of disabling bombs and wondering where the enemy is to really draw you in. Some of the cinematic camera work I thought was really good, especially the slow motion, but they also had some shaky cam and quick cuts in parts that I think distracted a bit. The shaky cam was the only really part I hated about this movie, but it wasn't all over the place, so you can probably easily overlook it.

The story, which follows a U.S. Army bomb disposal unit in Iraq, is split up into mini stories about the same three guys during their tour instead of just one event they go through. I think it works pretty well given the subject. There are some gunfights and good action scenes, but it's not one of these films where you have a huge battle and people are shooting all the time and there's just total chaos and gore everywhere. Like I said, it's a lot more suspense driven. The acting was good. The main character, played by Jeremy Renner, is kind of a James Dean bad ass of guy that always seems to have a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He's like those old Hollywood cool guys, which I haven't really seen in a movie in a while.

As far as politics, it doesn't really take the pro war/anti war position, but takes the approach that war is a drug and some guys just want that Adrenalin rush, which I think makes sense. There are parts that remind me of something out of "Trainspotting", or some other movie about addicts. That whole pro war/anti war thing has been done a million times before anyway. If anyone's mind about war has to be made up by watching a movie about it, then I think they really shouldn't put themselves in a position to make a call on if it's right, or wrong. I like the whole "take it as it is" attitude when it comes to war movies.

I think this movie did a really great job of conveying the sense that you don't know where the enemy is at, or who the enemy is. Just about every place they stop to dismantle a bomb, there are onlookers, people with cameras, etc. and you kept getting the sense that one of those guys has the detonator and you're at the edge of your seat wondering if they'd shoot him in time. You really get a sense of paranoia that these guys must go through on a daily basis of not knowing who to trust. Over and over you find yourself almost positive some guy is the enemy and then come to find out they're not. Then you're left with kind of a sense of guilt that you wanted him to get shot when he wasn't guilty. A lot of movies have shown people what war looks like, but very few have really made the viewer make moral decisions that the soldiers themselves have to make. This movie did a great job of drawing you into making those decisions in your head.

Some of the Iraq War Vets might call BS on some of the stuff since this is a work of fiction and not based exactly on true events. I'd love to hear a review for this movie done by an actual Iraq War veteran, so if you are one and saw the movie, or found a link to one, please send one my way. I think if you're looking for that perfect cinematic masterpiece, you might be little disappointed, even though there are a few great visuals in the movie, it kind of has a B movie feel to it. On the other hand, I think it was a good action film, with good acting, was really well thought out, and the suspense really kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I give "The Hurt Locker" a 9/10 and highly suggest checking it out.