Latest must-see: Donahue's Body of War

Phil Donahue was on Real Time With Bill Maher last night to talk about his new film, Body of War, which he executive produced. In short, it's an absolute must-see; this one just vaulted to the top of my movie list. By all accounts I've heard and read, it's an extremely moving movie - last night, even Maher said, without humor, that he teared up watching the movie. A brief description of the film:

Body of War is a 2007 documentary following Tomas Young, an Iraq War veteran paralyzed from a bullet to the spine, on a physical and emotional journey as he adapts to his new body and begins to question the decision to go to war in Iraq. From soldier to anti-war activist, the film takes an unflinching view of the physical and emotional aftermath of war through the eyes of an American soldier.

A pretty poignant description of the movie comes from Donahue himself, who last night was speaking about the fallacy of the GOP Supporting the Troops and about the war in general:

...[Young] is paralyzed from the chest down, and he wants his fellow soldiers to come home; he is a full-time anti-war voice, you can't take your eyes off him when he speaks, he's out there with his mom, and he thinks that one more death in this war is morally indefensible.

[Snip]

[On Democrats and the GOP regarding the Iraq War] Thomas Frank, who wrote the book What's the Matter With Kansas, offers us an explanation as to why the core of the Democratic Party has rushed to the Republicans - because the Republicans have convinced [Democrats] that they are the party of values. They've got God, and no one else does. The party of values has been a trojan horse that has concealed an economic agenda that has allowed wealthy people to become more wealthy, reduce taxes during war time, which doesn't oblige us to pay it, but will give the bill to our children.

Those last few sentences just about had me jumping out of my chair in agreement.

By the way, Donahue knows just a little bit about getting screwed in a time of war, too. Mind you, not nearly on par with the subject of his movie, Tomas Young, but Donahue knows the cost of war in a different way. His former political program, Donahue, was canceled in 2003, despite being MSNBC's highest rated show. The reason? The New York Times revealed an internal NBC memo that stated Donahue should be fired because he would be a "difficult public face for NBC in a time of war."

Example 8,955,411 of how our so-called media has morphed into a talking piece for this administration; it's also turned into a virtual cheerleading squad for John McSame. Yes, I know, there are exceptions, but far too few dissenting voices are being heard today, about the war, the economy, and the disgraces and outrages that have become so commonplace in the federal government under Bush that they've almost become cliché. Abuses of power by a rogue administration should never become cliché, they should become impeachable offenses for all the world to see.

Democratically controlled Congress, you incomplete me.

Anyway, see Body of War - support Tomas Young, one of many Ron Kovics from our latest military disaster, and also support Donahue, who certainly deserves it after being railroaded by a network for having the temerity to stand up to a government that had lost its mind in 2002-2003. Sadly, things are worse than ever. I really do wish MSNBC would give him another shot - a time slot right after Olbermann would be just about right.