RECOUNT

For several years after I was critically ill in late 2004 - 2005, I would get sick to my stomach when I was driving down Buena Vista Street in Burbank. The reason was that St Joseph's Hospital is on that street, and the time I spent there was very traumatic.

I may be over most of those demons, but to this day, I still get that same sick feeling when I think about the events in late 2000 surrounding the election. Eight years later, I remember the pendulum of my emotions as they called Florida for Gore, then Bush, then no one... Gore gave up, then he didn't, then it went to court after court.

For that reason, I did not want to see RECOUNT, even though it had a great cast, good reviews, and was directed by one of the nicest guys I knew at film school, Jay Roach. Tonight I finally screwed up my courage and watched it.

It was very, very painful to watch.

But thank you, Jay for making it. The film is very good, and a very good thriller, even though we all know the outcome. But it is an important reminder of the events that shaped our country for the last 8 years.

There is also another tie-in between my illness and the election. If you've read my account of being sick, you'll know that I got sick just after the incredible depression of the 2004 election. And I don't think that's any coincidence. I had never in my wildest dreams imagined that this country could be stupid enough to re-elect a moron who lied to get us into an unnecessary war. But, as George Carlin says, "Imagine how stupid the average American is; then realize that, by definition, 50% of the country is even dumber than that."

There is a weird irony, though. No one could possibly have done more damage to the Republican Party than George himself has done in the last 8 years. At the same time, no one could have done more to help stop global warming than Al Gore, which he almost certainly could not have done if he had been elected.

Mysterious ways.