Wil, I vividly remember when this came out, following my high school graduation. I had been a Stephen King fan for many many years, and went to see the movie with much trepidation (not many flattering or even entertaining adaptations have been made of his books and stories). I was VERY pleasantly surprised by the movie and how it captured the essence of the narrative. I have always wondered how much, if at all, Stephen King was involved in the screenplay or production of the movie. Thanks again!

Wil, I may not agree with you on, well, just about anything, but that post was excellent. Really really excellent. Thank you. Steve in Flyover country

Wil, Let me first say that your points are spot on. This is the LAST thing that the government needs to be involved in. The ratings system is in place, so that a consumer who cares to be informed can read it and know what is supposedly in it. To those of you in Australia and New Zealand, I don't see how you can blame the US ratings board for your governments requiring censored versions to be imported. That's not US policy, unless I'm missing something? Now, to those of you blaming this on Conservatives, that's a bit short-sighted and opportunistic. Wil mentioned the Satanic Panic from the '80s. Who was that? Oh yeah. Tipper Gore. Both sides of the political isle have their personal axes to grind where The Children (TM) are concerned. It all boils down to parents needing to step up and do their job - parent their children by applying their personal beliefs and standards and enforcing them in their own homes. If a parent abdicates that role and leaves their kids to their own devices, they will only have themselves to blame for whatever comes of that decision. Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. Kahuna

"In the American media there are two constants. In politics, it is always and forever 1968, and liberals are Dirty Fucking Hippies." Do you actually believe that? Have you watched the national news on ABC, CBS or NBC lately? Or CNN? Or MSNBC? I have NEVER seen liberals portrayed that way by the MSM. Not in the last two decades, anyway.

Don't worry about him. William Jefferson (D-LA) said that he'd loan him some cold, hard cash for his defense.

Wil, I hate to nitpick, but since you have always been a stickler for details and getting it right, I just wanted to point out that we don't live in a Democracy, but rather, we live in a Representative Republic. Just wanted to point that out. In a true Democracy, every Citizen (note capital 'C') would have a vote on every issue before the nation. Every Citizen. Every issue. Not real workable. Hence a Representative Republic. Not that I disagree with your sentiment about the length of the election cycle at all, I'm just saying...

Wil, Once again, you are using a pretty broad brush to paint "our good pals in the religious right" and blame us for the horrendous spread of HIV and the AIDS virus. Here's a nugget that I bet you didn't know. The original AND ongoing spread of the AIDS virus on the African continent is NOT primarily due to widespread unprotected sex. Initially, the disease was spread by the re-use of unsterilized hypodermic needles. It seems that there was an outbreak of a bacteriological infection in the early 60's. World health organizations (not, I believe, today's WHO) sprang in to action and brought millions of doses of pennicillin to the continent and snuffed out the disease. This gave the population of Africa a mindset that, when you get sick, you go to the doctor for a shot and you get better. The problem is, resources in Africa are so scarce that they did not sterilize their syringes. With the advent of our modern, single-use plastic syringes (my daughter is a Type-1 diabetic, so I am intimitely familiar with these), the people of Africa still did not throw away the syringes, and so one infected person coming in could and did infect HUNDREDS of people as that syringe was being re-used. On another note, you say "The best way to protect yourself and your sexual partner from HIV is by consistent and proper use of condoms." That is patently false. By your own admission, "It can take only a single episode of unprotected sex (for example not using a condom or a condom splitting) with an infected partner for HIV to be passed on" (emphasis mine). The best way to protect yourself from AIDS is to not have sex. This is also known as ABSTINENCE. By using this method, you are 100% guaranteed not to contract a sexually transmitted disease. We on the so-called religious right, or as I like to say, Christians, believe that God had it right when he set up the system where you don't have sex until you are married. Guess what that leads to? NO SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES!!!! Why is this concept so hard to accept? I am not an intolerant person, but rather quite the opposite. I have definite and absolute beliefs, and will attempt to convince others of my beliefs, but if you want to go off into the woods and worship a tree, you will NEVER hear me judge or condemn you for it. In all honesty, some of the most intolerant, judgemental people I have ever heard are of the left-leaning variety. They believe that their belief system is the only valid way to think, and insult and condemn anyone who disagrees with them. I will readily admit that there are PLENTY of intolerant people on both sides. That is an absolute given. But don't get up on your soapbox and say that the "religious right" is the sole source of misinformation and intolerant policies. Just look at what the "Freedom From Religion" foundation espouses as fact. If you want to be listened to as a source of un-biased, or at least equally tolerant opinion and thoughts, you need to be more careful with your use of loaded phrases.

Well, Rob "Boilingfish" Berryman made the local radio news here in the Home of the Packers (that's Green Bay, WI for those of you who don't follow footbal). Just wanted to let you know that it's out there! A $16 buy-in gets him, with the application of LOTS of skill, talent and luck, over $300,000. Way to be ahead of the curve, Wil!

Wil, Knowing that you are both a HUGE Dodgers fan (sorry, I can't recall their new officially unofficial name), as well as a HUGE history buff, I thought I would throw this little bit of top-100 moments in Baseball history moment: Rick Monday Saves Old Glory Kahuna

Wil, Like you, I have invested many years - 24, in fact, since I read "The Gunslinger" when it was first published in 1982. I started to get disappointed as the series went along, knowing that King was going to tie the majority of his work into one "Uber-Series", linking more than half of his books together. Also, I thought the ending was very "Altman-esque". All-in-all, I still love that series, but I was let down by the ending and the course the series took toward the end. I still recommend them to other people though, so I guess I wasn't that disappointed.