Manns Medium

  The movie “Mending the Line” is a story about a Marine wounded in Afghanistan who is sent to a V.A. facility in Montana where he meets a Vietnam Vet who teaches him how to fly fish as a way of dealing with his emotional and physical trauma. The films director is Joshua Caldwell, writer Stephen Camelio and stars Brian Cox, Patricia Heaton, and Perry Mattfeld. Now when I saw the trailer, I was a little apprehensive about watching the movie because lately it seems that almost anything sends me back to my time in the Marines and host of unreconciled feelings as well as a few more nightmares but this one was different.   It showed true emotions and feelings as well as top notch action and drama, but the overall ending result was a massive feeling of joy and happiness that could never be explained or put into words. I am not about to sit here and try and tell you the entire movie because there is no way that I could capture the beauty and satisfying mark it will leave on you. ...

When can 30 percent of the GOP and Russia take control of an entire nation and its people and rewrite a nation’s history?  It happens when 100 percent of Democrats, 100 percent of Independents and the entire rest of the globe sit idly by an allow it.  Many now say taking down statues could be the answer to our nation’s ills and some say waving of the Confederate Flag is offensive because of what that flag stands for.  Others say that the statues are a piece of our history and that the Confederate Flag is a symbol of our democracy where those who disagree with the current course are free to stand and resist both may have a valid point but all are missing the deeper and real issue.  It is not the statues that possess an issue, it is those who idolize and worship those statues.   It is not the Confederate Flag that is offensive and carries with it the dark history of a nation; it is those who stand beneath it and behind that way of life.  It is not nor n...

One of the best things about watching team sports is seeing the raw talent of many different style players being meshed together to build a nearly unstoppable force whether it is on the field or the court.  It did your heart good to see a well-played game come down to the final seconds and the true determination of a team willing itself to victory when it first looked like their number was up.  I’ve seen money, millionaires and corporations attach themselves to a sport and through their sheer will of influence turn a sporting event into a franchise played for the flavor of ownership and ignore those truly dedicated hard working people who pads their pockets, the fans.  The advantage used to be the team which wanted it more, now it’s more about the owners whose connections are better. For the true fan, it is becoming painfully obvious that the NBA has gone the way of Hollywood and instead of pitting talent against talent, it’s turn against turn.  Many of us was l...

Ask any parent what is the number one responsibility of a parent and they will say to protect their children.  I know this because I have asked plenty of them and this was the same response from me as well.  I have recently discovered that this reason ad this reason alone may be the primary reason that so many parents fail and so many children are then lost to the streets.  A parent’s number one responsibility is not to protect our children, it is to educate them. Now the title of this piece is how Hollywood can help but before we get to that, we need to explain why protection is not number one and education is.  Think on this; as a parent you set yourself to believe that you need to protect your child and when you fail to do just that, a world of misery is dumped directly upon you.  You feel inferior and weak because your child is hurting and there seems to be nothing you can do to ease or stop it.  You sit there with your head up your butt wondering ...

To hear reports coming from those reporters keeping a close eye on what’s going on in Washington, you would think we were talking about Hollywood.   Hearing how difficult it is to get things done and decisions made would make you think that life is so very hard there.   It’s not and it’s about time someone said what many of us have been thinking for far too long.   Washington is full of drama kings and queens. Take this debt reduction thing for instance, according to Andy Sullivan of Reuters he reports that the group meeting with Vice President Joe Biden is deadlocked over two items.   Two items, how that is possible.   That’s like spending six months in the cereal aisle of your local grocery store trying to decide which cereal to buy.   Not all Washington decisions may be easy but listen how Sullivan laid it out in his article titled “ Taxes on the menu in debt reduction talks ” and you tell me.   “Democrats say tax increases must be part of the s...

In an age where so many are not being held responsible for their actions or inactions, this article was not such a surprise but it did make me want to offer a few thoughts.   These thoughts are nothing new and have been expressed by more than I at one time or another.   The Associated Press article titled Feds: TV producer should be extradited to Mexico reported that “ U.S. Justice Department officials say former "Survivor" reality television producer Bruce Beresford-Redman should be extradited to Mexico to stand trial for the killing of his wife during a Cancun vacation last spring.”   It further explained that “the 39-year-old and has been fighting extradition in jail since Nov. 16 as well as “the body of 41-year-old Monica Beresford-Redman was found April 8 in a wastewater treatment pump at a Cancun resort. An autopsy says she was struck on the head and asphyxiated.”   Even though Redman has publicly protested his innocence of this crime, it is still a responsibi...