Best Oscars in Years!

Truly, I will have lots to say about real history again in the near future - very near future. And I've found a way to save my site for a while - and I'll have more to say about that soon as well.

But meanwhile. The Oscars! Hugh Jackman rocked as a host. As he told Barbara Walters, the Oscars needed "a little more show, and a little less biz." Boy, did he deliver.

And you know why he's the sexiest man alive? Because he loves his wife now more than the day he married her, and she's an older woman. I mean, it doesn't get any sexier than that! What a guy. And what a voice, and what a dancer. What a nice guy. He surely helped the show immensely.

The movies this year were also really stellar. I was so happy to see the very youngest actors from Slumdog up there on the Kodak stage. What a huge victory for the slums in Mumbai. What a way to give people hope in desperate times.

I was moved to tears when the family of Heath Ledger came up to accept the award. Instead of mourning his loss, they had chosen to celebrate this moment, making it all the more touching. I'm crying again just thinking about that.

I loved when the tightrope walker from "Man on Wire" did a little magic trick, and then balanced the Oscar on his chin. It was so spontaneous and wonderful.

Finally, Kate Winslet got the Oscar she had so earned this year. I thought all the actresses most worthy this year, but her performance was truly a standout, and I would have felt robbed had she not gotten the nod this time. She was fantastic. I have to give a nod to Anne Hathaway though. I saw her film almost by accident. Had I known what it was about, I probably wouldn't have gone. But I didn't, and I went, and she delivered a tremendous performance. I was happy to see her singing and playing the role of Richard Nixon in the opening number, as well. What a delightful twist!

And thank goodness Sean Penn won the Oscar for best actor. Truly, he deserved it, and he said what needed to be said. We need to expose that hate, born of religious dogma, NOT born of anything Jesus ever said, as the ignorance that it is. Jesus would not have tolerated anti-gay sentiments. I love my gay friends and want them to be able to have all the rights of all the non-gay people I also love. It pains me to personally know people who are still discriminated against, this far into our collective history.

I want to draw your attention to an important article by Bob Parry recently, re the enemies Obama is making simply by trying to do the right thing:

Obama faces near-unanimous Republican opposition to his strategy for salvaging the U.S. economy (and a GOP readiness to use the Senate filibuster at every turn); right-wing talk radio and cable-TV personalities are stoking a populist anger against him; Wall Street executives are miffed at limits on their compensation; and key military commanders are resisting his promised drawdown in Iraq.

In addition, former Bush administration officials are making clear that they will fight any effort to hold them accountable for torture and other war crimes, denouncing it as a “witch-hunt” that will be met with an aggressive counterattack accusing Obama of endangering American security.

It is not entirely inconceivable that Obama’s powerful enemies could coalesce into a kind of “Seven Days in May” moment, the novel and movie about an incipient coup aimed at a President who was perceived as going too far against the country’s political-military power structure.

I'll have more to say about that in the near future. Definitely read the piece.