Giving "Peace" a Chance

I was told yesterday that we should "give peace a chance," and that the sanctions against Iran are working. We just need to give it time. I asked the person who told me that what makes them so certain the sanctions are working, even as Iran continues to amass and enrich uranium and conduct missile tests? I asked what are the criteria for success? I did not get an answer. Ahmadinejad is openly laughing at the U.N. In a televised interview four months ago, he said “If they want to continue with that path of sanctions, we will not be harmed. They can issue resolutions for 100 years.”
While we are "giving peace a chance," Ahmadinejad is building a nuclear arsenal.
Another person told me today that, if we were to take military action against Iran, the world would condemn us because they already think we're a bully. Apparently, some people believe we need to wait for Iran to make the first strike, so the world will "approve" when we retaliate. How many American and/or Israeli lives are we willing to sacrifice to world opinion?
It's frustrating to know what your enemy is up to (because he has brazenly told you), but be unable to do anything about it because you don't want to look bad to somebody else, while your enemy gloats because he knows your hands are tied by public opinion.
Within the past three months, Iran has been installing 6000 new super high efficiency centrifuges for enriching uranium, that work five times faster than the old centrifuges. Some people are willing to believe Ahmadinejad when he says he's going to use all that enriched uranium for nuclear energy just to produce electricity, but are unwilling to believe him when he declares the time is very near when America (the Great Satan) will be destroyed and Israel will be wiped off the map.
I'm not suggesting we should jump into a war with Iran tomorrow. But I have a great deal of concern over the confluence of:
Their recent dramatic increase in uranium enrichment capabilities.
Their mounting increase in apocalyptic rhetoric against both the U.S. and Israel.
Their recent saber rattling exercises, indicating that they feel invincible.All of this concerns me a great deal. It also concerns me that so many people seem determined to ignore these facts, or refuse to consider their potential underlying significance. Any one, by itself, might be dismissible but, taken together, there appears to be a certain momentum building.
I acknowledge that we're too overextended militarily right now to be able to effectively engage in direct military action against Iran. I see that as a huge problem, as Iran shores up it's military might in obvious preparation for a conflict we are not prepared to undertake. I also grasp the urgency to take some kind of action to thwart their build-up of nuclear capability before it gets to the point that we cannot, without exacting a retaliatory strike. (Or first strike, as some would have it.) Once they have a nuclear arsenal in place, it's too late.
How ironic that "giving peace a chance" might lead us down the path to a nuclear war that could have been avoided...

The Box Office: Hollywood's Gage for Movie Quality?

Why Bother With the Box Office?
Every once in a while I read the box office stats. Why? To see if any movie has come close to topping Star Wars as the highest grossing movie off all time. My trust in the box office was firm adn secure until 1997 when Titanic blew everything away and became (and still is) the highest grossing box office movie of all time. What did this mean? Was my world shattered because Star Wars was defeated according to Box Office Mojo? Hardly. All it meant was that people went in huge numbers to see Leonardo DiCaprio while Star Wars continues to be the greatest cinematic experience of all time. The box office make no judgement on movies, it just tells us which movies people are going to see. But it does affect what people see. That's the catch. If a movie has a high gross at the box office people will perceive it as being good and more will go and see the movie. There are plenty of examples where this is true. the opening weekend for Spiderman 3 was huge and people continued to go see it. The film had more of a run than it should have had because the box office (although not a person) compelled people to go see it. "It must be good because it's a blockbuster!" people would say. Sadly, the movie was poor and if the box office had accurately reflected the picture's quality, the franchise would be in trouble. But the people came, so another movie is sure to follow
What Can We Really Learn from the Box Office?
Movies and the Hollywood industry continue to fascinate us (mostly North Americans but people around the world are being sucked into it's vortex) and the box office is a fun way to track what trends in film are popular. So you can see how reading the box office gross numbers could benefit enyone related to the film industry. Writers, merchandisers, set designers, for example, should keep a close eye on the box office and see what types of movies are doing well at present and what have done well in the past. So the box office can be a valuable research tool for people interested in gaging popular viewing opinions.
The website below contains more articles to help you learn a bit more about the box office. If you love movies new or old, it's always fun to go through the box office stats and see just how much money was spent at the movie theater. Sometimes it's reassuring that good movies are being seen by lots of people. Sometimes you'll be left scratching your head and wondering, "Why'd they go see that?"
http://www.boxofficefacts.com