I want to thank JJ for the provocative comments, but must respond briefly. What angers me most about this film is that a man like Spielberg has such potential to shape the emotions of the viewing public as well as their perception of reality. Instead of asking questions (as he is quoted as saying he hopes they will), I think many will come away with conclusions based on what he put in his film or more pointedly, left out. Granted, it's not a documentary...it's art...... but it seems to paint an unbalanced view of extremely complicated issues. Spielberg told film critic Roger Ebert, "I don't have an answer.", yet by stating that he seems to deny the very message of his own film. His agenda of the futility of violence promotes the idea that revenge is by definition wrong. I think it is human nature to want to see people suffer commensurate with the evil they have inflicted. Those who have no desire to do so have become desensitized not only to violence, but to justice. Dennis Praeger (radio talk show host, author) asks us if justice would have been served if Israel did not seek the death of the murderers. He says that argument is never advanced in the movie. I, like many, still believe that we must (when we can) recognize evil and not be afraid to fight it. So many of the left have seemingly lost this ability.

As far as my comment about Spielberg making movies about gay cowboys........perhaps you read more into it than intended. ("What does a statement like that say to someone else about what you believe?") I was merely making a comparison to another current movie with a political agenda....perhaps a little less politically charged than terrorism at this point in time. What does your assumption that you know what I meant say about you? Thank you for pointing out that I am here to seek my own truth and find my own path. Thank you for telling me about my 1st amendment rights. Thank you for reminding me.... "we cannot pretend they don't exist, can we?"

"Found a culture, have you, Rita? Found a better song to sing, have you? No--you have found a different song, that's all. And on your lips it's shrill and hollow and tuneless. Oh, Rita, Rita...." Dr Frank Bryant in "Educating Rita"

One of the first terrorist attacks to receive the attention of the world was the 1972 slaughter of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. According to a recently released interview, the man (I won''t even give him the courtesy of putting his name in print) who orchestrated the attack, told his German interviewer that , "I regret nothing. You can only dream that I would apologize." He then proceeds to say that they never intended on killing the Israelis, though the facts make it clear they had every opportunity to release them instead of executing them while they were restrained. So which truth are we to believe?

This brings me to Steven Spielberg's recently released film, Munich. A recently published interview with Spielberg quotes him as saying "he would die for Israel." Who is he kidding? As a Jewish American he prides himself on "humanizing" these terrorists and suggesting the need to understand our enemy and what motivates them. I find this so outrageous I can hardly respond in language that is printable. How other Jews can judge him as anything but a blind pacifist and a traitor is beyond my understanding. These athletes were massacred for being Jews....not for anything they did. He told Time magazine that this movie was his "prayer for peace", yet he is trying to morally equate acts of the Palestinian terrorists with the Israeli response (in the movie it was fictionalized, but the ones found and killed were killed for what they did, not who they were) . I understand that somewhere near the end of the movie, there is a shot of the twin towers. How can we think anything other than he is trying to parallel the U.S. response to the terrorists attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 with the Israeli response to the massacres in Munich? This is sick! This kind of moral relativism only trivializes the deaths of those innocent young men as well as all other innocents who have been massacred by these Muslim terrorists. Is almost everyone in Hollywood morally bankrupt? ( I know the answer to that)

Until reading these last interviews, I had seriously contemplated seeing this movie, but in good conscience cannot imagine spending money to see it now. I will have to think some more about whether I want to ever see another Spielberg movie. Perhaps he would be better off making movies about gay cowboys.

GETTING STARTED...........

The hardest part of any journey is the first step. (I know someone must have said that before) Bear with me while I ....... RUMINATE, CONTEMPLATE, BLOVIATE, COGITATE, and maybe, even on occasion, CAPITULATE.

Opinions are just that.......everyone has one. Some of us are known to have one on most any subject. (just ask us if you have any doubts) Some are based on feelings. Some are based on facts. Some are based on values. I like to think mine are mostly a combination of facts and values ..........preferring not to let "feelings" influence what I know to be morally right. (I've said more than once,there are a couple of people I have felt like murdering, but so far, have been able to restrain myself.)

STAY TUNED........opinions forthcoming!