SHARING IS GOOD.....I THINK

PUniversity of Louisville, Kentucky Author Forum is a literary event on T.V. that I watch at 3a.m. Monday morning on PBS. 

Late Sunday night has  a succession of interesting programs. 

At eleven p.m. A  book program with authors and critic.

 Eleven -thirty, Theatre Talk. Playwrights,Directors,Actors and two critics of the New York Times. 

 Twelve ,midnight  Charlie Rose , a review of the week and coming week.

Then two half hours shows of Focus on Europe and Out if Ireland. Finally the best of all , at three a.m., Great Conversations.

Last night, still another interview show followed with Oliver Stone talking about his latest movie and 

What drives him. 

Like many  Americans,  he has serious concerns about the politics and control of the arms industry and gun lobby. 

When patriotism rises to a frenzy, he says , and Presidents have to war the country's flag in a lapel pin to prove they are loyal Americans, things are very dangerous.  He quoted Martin Luther King  in 1966 that America is responsible for the greatest level of  all the violence in the world .

He cited a figure of $587 billion for the Defense Budget having doubled in a few short years.

And how many of the country's problems could be solved with that money.

Last  week, General Wesley Clarke was the author on Great Conversations. He was in charge during the Bosnia and Kosovo conflict. He had some scathing things to say about the Pentagon. And that was before Donald  Rumsfeld's time there.

General Clarke was a Rhodes Scholar at West Point.  Not usual. His rose to the top in the military.

Still, his career came to an abrupt and peremptory end.

He was a candidate for presidential nomination but had to withdraw for lack of funding. 

He cited his current career as an investment banker and other satisfactory aspects of his life.  Then he said; 

"I would put my uniformon to-morrow to serve my country." 

Oliver Stone ended his conversation with the comment;  " I love this country.  We have  great people living here "

The guest on Great Conversations last night was an Iranian woman Professor living in the States with her husband and two children . Her book is about the nuances of life in Iran under Ayatollah Khommeni.

On Monday morning ,my mind is always full of all everything I've heard on these great programs. 

I just thought I would share.