Carl Setzer

I'm puzzled. Why is Sony deferring to the PDRK?  There's nothing dramatically new about this latest round of adolescent posturing. Of course, the North Koreans haven't taken responsibility. But, why? Is it the threats of violence, which seem rather unexecutable at this point. Perhaps it's simple economics, with a significant lack of theatres willing to show it? Perhaps the other production companies lobbied hard enough, worried about getting caught in the crossfire, so to speak. Perhaps it's the hacking. Looks like Sony had been hit hard. But, is it really so bad that they'll dump the whole $44 million movie production investment? It's looking that way. Of course, most of the coverage I've read has been focused on the hacking. When a global company is reduced to handwritten paper memos, the threat must be considered severe. I'm disappointed that these self-styled Guardians of Peace won this round. Should give us all pause, though. This is a distur...

Early in the morning, 10 years ago, I dozed listening to NPR and heard something about a plane flying into a building in New York. Imagining a terrible accident, I rose, turning on CNN. I'm unaware of how much time passed before the second plane flew into the towers. At that point I knew this was deliberate; and horrible beyond imagination. The office manager of a church, I made my way there and we opened our chapel for prayers (it's an inner city parish; unmonitored open doors are generally a recipe for trouble). A predominately progressive church, but with a diversity of political views, I heard angry diatribes about Bush's destructive policies, to raging demands of blasting all Arabs to dust. My personal reaction was more complex, more focused on compassion; solidly progressive. Anyway, ten-years out, I'm trying to ascertain how this changed me. Clearly the world changed. But I wasn't at ground zero. Nor did I lose friends or family. My personal, direct impact ...