I'm Sick of All the Same Answers, Lost Chances, Cold Stones

Congratulations to Mr. Stephen Olson for correctly naming "U.S. Blues" by the Grateful Dead as the Tuesday Song of the Day.

I could have given you the performance of "U.S. Blues" from The Grateful Dead Movie, but I thought that with all of the Phish videos that I post here I've probably met my monthly quota for footage of stoned white people dancing.

Last month I wrote about how constant access to communications devices such as Blackberrys, iPhones, and other smart phones is threatening to turn us into a society that needs to be constantly entertained lest we lose interest and move on to the next thing that catches our eye, but another troubling consequence of our current age is the tendency to reduce someone's life, especially at the time of their death, to a soundbite, to a more manageable chunk.

I truly wish I could contribute to the shocking dearth of programming/content generation that has accompanied Michael Jackson's death, but due to this blog's commitment to its readers, I'm going in another direction.

Robert McNamara, the United States Secretary of Defense in both the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations, died two days ago at the age of 93. If there's a reason why journalism and media still matter, it is this: When someone like McNamara, someone who for good or ill had an impact the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, dies, doesn't that person deserve to have their life examined in all of its complexities and not simply glossed over as a footnote in the wake of Michael Jackson's death?
Here's an op-ed from former UT/current Columbia law professor Phillip Bobbitt on the hidden qualities of McNamara.

Finally, here's the trailer to Errol Morris's superb documentary on "the life and times of Robert S. McNamara", The Fog of War.

If you're a fan at all of documentaries, this one's a treat.