The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the United States is a full blown oxymoron when it comes to protecting U.S. residents from the danger of increased exposure to ionizing radiation. That’s the kind of radiation that comes from natural sources like Uranium and the sun, as well as unnatural sources like Uranium mines, nuclear weapons, and nuclear power plants (even when they haven’t melted down like Fukushima). The EPA is presently considering allowing everyone in the U.S. to be exposed to higher levels of ionizing radiation.  

Presumably, you’ll be able to see The Hundred-Foot Journey without sitting through the intro that preceded preview screenings. Lucky you.

In the short teaser, producers Steven Spielberg and the “a-ma-zing!” Oprah Winfrey talked about the flick’s cross-cultural significance. This was obviously meant to whet viewers’ appetites, but it could well have backfired by making Journey sound like a self-righteous sermon.

Fortunately, the new film from director Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat) manages to leaven its message with humor. Even more fortunately, the humor avoids the cultural stereotypes that marked, for example, the recent Million Dollar Arm.

“Papa” (Om Puri), son Hassan (Manish Dayal) and the rest of their family are depicted as intelligent but lovably quarrelsome human beings who happen to operate a restaurant in Mumbai, India. In the opening scenes, Hassan’s mother is shown infusing him with the love of cooking before a tragic fire takes her life and forces the family to relocate.

August releases aren’t a sign of confidence in the Summer Blockbuster Movie business. Studios usually schedule their tentpole action movies for May or June, with Oscar wannabes showing up in the fall. But Guardians of the Galaxy has been all about chances for Marvel Studios — a $175 million action-comedy based on a Marvel comic that non-comic nerds had never even heard of until movie trailers started showing up earlier this year — and the movie’s August 1st release date seemed less an early concession of defeat against a summer with multiple movies fighting for that elusive $100 million opening weekend and more of a gambit to give them time to sell audiences on the idea of a superhero movie in space. But the risk there was potential burnout and overhype: Could this movie really live up to an entire summer’s movie season worth of build-up? Could it be as good as the hotly-anticipated trailers promised with their strangely fitting 70s-pop soundtracks and their talking raccoon?

It turns out it really can be that good.

The State of Israel's propaganda machine soared to new heights this morning as Google News featured a Google Plus post strait from the State of Israel in its news aggregate feed about the the war in Gaza.

The post was rapped in a hash tag that gives us a glimpse into what is motivating Israel's aggressive military campaign in Gaza – #terrortunnels. Each war gives us a new language of spin, as each side in a conflict try to win the battle for “hearts and minds,” through the use of propaganda. #terrortunnels is fast becoming this war's meme. And it was this meme that greeted me this morning in my Google news feed, presented as news.

“Israel 10 hours ago  -  Google+ Who builds Hamas' terror tunnels? The children of Gaza. Hamas uses child laborers to build their terror tunnels because, “much as in Victorian coal mines, they are prized for their nimble bodies”. According to Hamas officials, at least 160 children have been killed in the tunnels. #humanshields #hamasterrorists #israelunderfire #terrortunnels