There's a festive poster on a door here at work that reads: Only Positive Attitudes Beyond This Point!. I am itching to make up a little sign that says Or Else and tack it onto the bottom. Just can't seem to find the energy.

My husband's favorite joke: What did the fish say when he hit the wall? Damn.

Nancy's friend, Hally, has honored me today with a musical tribute to my obsession with the changing zoology of my swimming hole. Laughed my ass off, which if you live in a cubicle like I do, can make other denizens curious.

I haven't done a top 10 list in a while. Here is my top 10 movies with a libertarian theme (no particular order):

Gattaca
This movie is one of those that celebrates the human spirit. This science fiction film extrapolates the ideas of genetic manipulation. Ethan Hawke plays a man born of genetic randomness - and because he has a heart defect, society considers him defective (or an in-valid). He doesn't buy into

that and with the help of a genetically perfect man (Jude Law) who was paralyzed in an accident, sets out to achieve his goals in life. Low budget but does a great job of conveying its themes.

Traffic
The ultimate condemnation on the stupid drug war and why we are losing. Fascinating, with a great cast. Topher Grace's speech caps it. Really!

People vs. Larry Flynt
Larry Flynt is a scumbag, and Hustler is a disgusting magazine. And he has every right to publish it. Ed Norton as Flynt's put-upon lawyer is the best thing about this movie.

Tucker:The Man and his dream
This movie is about a man who had some great ideas about automobiles and challenged the giant automaking corporations and lost. A good example of what happens to innovation when Big Industry collaborates with Big Government.

Other People's Money
When I watched this movie, I was expecting Danny DeVito's greedy corporate raider to get his comuppance. The movie cops out a little at the end, but I was gobsmacked by one occurence: DeVito is engineering a hostile takeover of a company and its owner (Gregory Peck) is trying to stop him basically for the sake of the employees and their community. And the movie allows DeVito's character to prove why he's *right* to do what he does!

Rollerball
Odd that I have 2 Norman Jewison movies here. Nontheless, this movie isn't perfect. I didn't *like* James Caan's character. In the future, there are no more cities or states; merely humungous corporations. Rollerball is a game to appease the masses. Caan plays Jonathan E, the best damn player to ever play. The hero-worship of his character troubles the Corporate leaders and they try to get him to retire. He refuses, so they change the rules of the game. This movie is another about the strength of the individual. Could have been better.

Demolition Man
I have a soft spot in my brain for this cheesy movie. In the future (funny how a lot of science fiction is on this list) there is no crime because everyone is lojacked. Unfortunately, a criminal (Wesley Snipes) who was frozen in the past (an economical way to incarcerate criminals) gets freed into this utopian future, so the leaders unfreeze another criminal, an ex-law enforcement official (Sylvester Stallone), to go after him. This movie contains a lot of jabs at political correctness and censorship. Plus it has Denis Leary commentary on steak and gravy fries.

Brazil
All libertarians know that True Evil does not wear the face of a Hannibal Lecter, Ted Bundy, or even (que reverb) Satan. It is the stupidity of faceless, banal bereacracy where people's lives get ground up because of mistakes, and other people become criminals because they simply can't comply with all the rules and regulations that exist.

The Edge
I have yet to see this movie on a libertarian list. It surprises me, because there are some strong themes here. For one thing, Anthony Hopkins is the protagonist and he plays a millionaire businessman. Shock number 1, he didn't become rich by exploitation, trust funds, or just sheer Eeevilness. He is obviously super-smart and made his money by using his brain. Imagine that!

He has a trophy bride wife; he's oblivious to the fact that she married him for his money. She is a model and is having an affair with a photographer (One of the Baldwin Brothers. I'm always confusing them. Alec?). Anyway, this guy is envious of the man's money.Hopkins and Baldwin are thrown together in a bad situation: the airplane they are in gets downed deep in a forest and they are a long way away from any civilization. Baldwin sees this as a chance to murder Hokins and gain possession of everything he owns. But he *can't* kill him right away, because Hopkins possesses a lot of knowledge about survival because he reads a lot of books; and because he's a businessman he knows how to solve problems. He is Baldwin's only hope of making it out alive.

Shock 2: The concept of someone being jealous of someone else's success, scheming to take it from him, but depending on him for everything. This is more of an Objectivist theme than anything. Shocked that this made it into a movie, that's all.

Minority Report
In the future blah blah blah. On this list because it hits on something near and dear to my heart. Here's a troubling philosophy question for you: Would you advocate the enslavement of a few people to save the lives of thousands? Millions? Three precognitive humans see murders before they happen. The police use this information to arrest the murderers before they can commit their crimes. Tom Cruise is a police officer who leads these pre-crime raids, and chaos ensues when he starts working on a case where he realizes the precogs have seen him commit a murder. For the record, no; I can't possibly advocate that. Human beings are not the means to someone else's ends. If I say it's okay to turn someone else into a tool, then I'm telling the world it's okay if they want to turn me into a tool. I'm quite parsimonious in my beliefs; there is no excuse for slavery of any kind, even if millions have to suffer.

That word will be my vocabulary word-o-the-day:

parsimonious
SYLLABICATION: par·si·mo·ni·ous
ADJECTIVE: Excessively sparing or frugal.