Brooke's List:

1. JFK
2. American Beauty
3. Pan’s Labyrinth
4. There Will Be Blood
5. Wall-E
6. American History X
7. Full Metal Jacket
8. The Outlaw Josie Wales
9. Hearts and Minds
10. The Matrix

MaZhira’s List:

1. Amistad
2. Bambi
3. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
4. Wall-E
5. Brave New World
6. Jesus Camp
7. Independence Day
8. Desperado
9. The Patriot*
10. A Day Without Mexicans

*Z’s reasoning is “Mel Gibson is a wacko, if he can star in a movie based on freedom it restores my faith in a nation that allows everyone to voice their opinions no matter how hate-filled they are.”

1.) High gas prices got you down? Blame Bush and Cheney! Pelosi does.

2.) Obama goes international and may even convince doubters that he knows a thing or two about world affairs (with the media's help).

3.) Bad financial times may have lasting effects on democracy as we know it.

4.) McCain humor watch: why bad jokes may lead to a bad president.

5.) In addition to enjoying stimulating democratic discussion, everyone at Netroots Nation in Texas can savor some of the highest-priced electricity in the nation! Thanks, deregulation!

6.) Evidently, both autism and athsma are the genius inventions of spoiled child extortionists-- at least according to conservative radio host Michael Savage.

(With a click of her mouse, EatingLiberally’s kat corners Dr. Marion Nestle, NYU professor of nutrition and author of Food Politics and What to Eat:)

Kat: Two of America’s most entrenched traditions--our meat-centric meals and car-crazy culture—are undermining our health and degrading our environment (and, with the rising cost of fuel, breaking our budgets) on an unprecedented scale. It seems that our way of life has essentially become a recipe for disease and pollution.

So why do so many other countries aspire to live the way we do? Meat consumption is on the rise the world over, and more cars are on the road in China and India everyday. The demand for more grain to feed livestock and produce biofuels is surely worsening the global food crisis. Are human beings just hardwired to crave animal flesh and horsepower?

Dr. Nestle: Kat—I think you may be asking the wrong question, this time. The real question is: Why wouldn’t they? Why wouldn’t hungry people who have to work really hard to get food and to get from one place to another want to live the way we do? Some of us give up meat because we have a choice. But I can’t see that we have any right to expect people who don’t have that choice to make sacrifices. I don’t see too many of us giving up our cars, however (I don’t have one so can be somewhat smug about this point but I also live in a zipcode where owning one is a liability). It’s pretty hard to worry about climate change when you wonder where the next meal is coming from or how you are going to get to work.

I’m not sure it’s hardwired, but it’s practically a law of nutrition that meat intake rises with income. So does intake of sugar, soft drinks, and processed foods, not to mention cigarettes and alcohol (where these are socially acceptable). All you have to do to see this phenomenon in action is to take a look at Peter Menzel and Faith d’Aluisio’s glorious book, Hungry Planet,in which families all over the world pose in front of everything they ate for an entire week. The instant they have a little money, their diets become more diverse, processed, convenient, and meat-laden. We are, after all, omnivores at the top of the food chain. If we want others to give up meat and cars, we have to do that first.

Screening Liberally Big Picture
by Seth Pearce

Will Smith's new summer blockbuster Hancock is pretty good. Smith is awesome as usual, but that was to be expected. (Remember, this is the guy who made Hitch into a profoundly watchable film.) What I want to focus on today, however, is what the progressive movement can learn from this run-of-the-mill homeless, alcoholic, anti-social superhero movie.

Jason Bateman's character, Ray, is an idealistic PR man hoping to use branding (the "All-Heart" symbol) to convince big corporations to good for the world. The good he seeks is not your average "Cough up a couple thousand bucks and I'll put my stamp on your product. In his first scene, Ray tries to convicne ht board of a pharmaceutical company to give away their new tuberculosis vaccine for free, to families that couldn't afford it.

Unfortunately, the Pharm doesn't bite. At his next meeting, after the rise of his client Hancock as a popular superhero, all the company wants to talk about is...guess what... Hancock!

We all know this experience: wanting to talk about the issues when all people get hung up on is the controversy (See: Jeremiah Wright, Swift Boat Veterans, Willie Horton etc.). Now, we can respond to this by saying screw these jerks who don't care about the issues, or we can acknowledge their lack of interest and take from it a natural human condition: we love a good story!

It's often difficult and confusing to just talk about our issues in an abstract, theoretical way, even though for some us that are deeply involved it can feel like the most elegant method of discussing it. Instead, we need to highlight the progressive superheroes, the real people that power the progressive movement and the real people that government policies and actions affect. We need to tell their stories in order to reach out to a wider audience and truly engage people. We need to give them Hancock and use Hancock to effectively illustrate our points. Otherwise, our message gets lost in the echo chambers of the elite.

It turns out that this lack of story is also Hancock's key flaw. There are many interesting concepts woven into the movie such as power, sacrifice, angelology and mythology, and celibacy as well as several unique motifs such as the PR training of a superhero, i.e. smooth takeoffs and landings, always saying "good job" to fellow do-gooders even though what they have done might be inadequate, going to group therapy sessions etc. But these concepts are not effectively woven into the story and are sometimes put in seemingly at the expense of deeper background information about the characters.

Overall, Hancock is worth seeing. It's lots of fun. Will Smith is the bomb. Jason Bateman has a part that fits him perfectly and the plot ain't half bad. Check it out.

The one post that every liberal must read today:

WHISTLING PAST THE GRAVEYARD: MCCAIN'S STUPID ECONOMY
by Ian Welsh, firedoglake

Ian Welsh gives us an in-depth analysis of John McCain's brand new economic plan and why, like many of McCain's plans, it won't work for the average American. The MSM might not subject this plan to the scrutiny it deserves, but as liberals, it's our job to make sure that the facts get out there.

Street Prophets is an awesome blog. It's great to see so many religious progressives getting together to talk about issues of religion and politics, organize around them and most importantly, build community.

This community building is at the heart of what Living Liberally does. We believe that our political identity should be part of our regular lives. Too often politics is restricted to one day every four years, or to long, uninviting meetings in fluorescent-lit, linoleum-floored rooms.

Through our social networks and events, we promote this kind of social/political engagement.. These networks include over 260 Drinking Liberally, Laughing Liberally, Screening Liberally, Reading Liberally, and Eating Liberally chapters in all 50 states.

Through these happy hours, comedy shows, film screenings, book clubs and meals, we fulfill our key mission of bringing politics into places where we gather, socialize, learn, love and live. One of these places to which we have yet to reach out is the liberal religious community, one that, unfortunately, has found few spaces to gather and organize in person, in public, loud and proud.

For this reason we are developing a brand new Living Liberally network: Praying Liberally!

Like our other chapters, Praying Liberally chapters will have weekly, semi-monthly or monthly meetings of local liberals from a wide range of faiths including, as pastordan so excellently phrases it, "those whose deepest faith is in the conviction that there is no God." At these meetings, faithfully-minded liberals could talk politics, say a collective prayer for "the least of these" in our community, our country and our world, and build community to organize around our common causes.

Also like our other chapters, Praying Liberally chapters will receive a web site, chapter blog, listserv and other online organizing tools and support features from the Living Liberally national network.

Hosting a chapter is fun and EASY! All you have to do is decide on a time and location, anywhere from a local religious space to the neighborhood cafe, and send out a quick e-mail reminder before you meet - that's it. Overall, it's no more difficult than meeting with your spiritually progressive friends to hang out and talk politics.

If you're interested in being one of the first to start a Praying Liberally chapter or know someone who might be interested, email info@livingliberally.org.

It's time to find out what it means to Pray Liberally!

As we said in our last Saving People Liberally post, our two Lincoln, NE DL chapter leaders, Paul and Troy, just left the chapter for a month to help fight the California wild fires as volunteer Helicopter Flight Engineers. Paul sent me an update a couple days ago:

We made it here to CA fine. And are readying the aircraft to start dropping water today on the Northern Area fires.

Just so you know there are National Guard Aircrews from many other states here helping also, ND , NV, OR, WA, UT.

We are currently in Sacramento and working from here, but go where ever they need us, so our location may change as the fires are fought in different areas.

To say that this is the worst set of fires ever in CA would be a big understatement, the fire fighters here (CALFIRE) here readily say they have never seen this many fires or this many big fires ever.

This is why crews from all over are here helping, (including us), in addition to all the CA National Guard aircraft, and Navy, Marine and Air Force Helicopters helping out as well.

I don't know if we will get a chance to, but we will try and hook up with the local chapter of DL / LL where ever we are later these coming weeks.

Great to hear from you guys. We wish you the best of luck. Keep living liberally!