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This afternoon, I had some car trouble.  And, as I sat in the hot, dingy waiting room of what will undoubtedly be a an overpriced mechanic, of course the TV show blaring in the corner of the room was Jerry Springer.  Today’s topic was “I Spent All the Money on the Hooker”.  Well.  Now, I’m invested.

As I sat and watched the physical and emotional carnage, I felt absolutely no empathy.  Now, I know that it’s probably staged – all an act.  But, even so what does that say about our society?  That whether it’s real or not, we don’t even stop to check, do we?  We just sit there and gaze, slack-jawed at the screen.  I started to feel bad… well as much as I could until one realizes that someone else in the history of the world has done something MUCH worse.

That’s when it occurred to me, Jerry Springer, and it’s Maury Povich, Judge Judy counterparts are the modern day equivalents to the epic battles, hunts and live executions that took place at the Roman Coliseum.  Royalty and peasants alike gathered around as innocent people were killed, eaten or maimed.  Pure entertainment.  No empathy.  And, these TV shows are no different.

But, like so many others sometimes I just can’t look away.

Everyone knows that the newest James Bond movies have not exactly been at the level that the other James Bond movies of the past have been. Plenty of people like to blame the new actor Daniel Craig for the decline but I do not think that the acting is the problem.

I have seen Daniel Craig in other movies that I have enjoyed. I usually really enjoy his characters. Daniel Craig always looks and acts so cool that you would think he would make a perfect James Bond. I do not think his performance as the super spy was that bad. I think that the script and story line that he was supplied with is the real problem. If they had been up to par with the rest of the Bond movies then people would not have criticized Craig.

On top of that, perhaps the 007 movies need to end. There are more twenty different Bond movies and they have been being made since Sean Connery was a young actor. He was, after all, an early 007. It is just time for the Bond movies to go.