Review -- "Good Night and Good Luck" on DVD

Nick Clooney's boy has made a powerful film.
I only refer to George Clooney and "Good Night and Good Luck," the film which ebuted on DVD this week in that fashion because Nick was a TV anchor in Cincinnati. George, as he tells it in the commentary track of the DVD, used to sit on the floor of the TV studio and watch his dad do the news.
Doing the news is what the movie is all about.
As a boy, I sometimes became frustrated with CBS' news programs and documentaries, the ones people like Ed Murrow and "his boys" from World War II did. Because even then I knew something important was going on but I couldn't "get it" because of my tender years.
This wonderful DVD fills in a lot of those gaps for me.
As a writer, reporter and newspaper editor, I prefer the commentary over watching the film alone, because it is a wonderful education, listening to George and his partner, Grant Heslov, talk about how they made the film and the way the decisions were made.
It is also entertaining to hear the gentle give and take between them. At least twice, George points out that he was voted the "sexiest man alive." You get a sense of their friendship, their passion for their work and their mutual respect. You get the idea you would like to hang out with these guys at some point, hoping their creativity somehow migrates to you.
As a newsman, the film points out how important is the Fourth Estate.
While President Bush seems willing to circumvent the rights given Americans by the Constitution, so did Joe McCarthy.
While TV is still the source of news for most Americans, the film points out that editorial cartoonists and the newspapers they worked for first went after McCarthy, and as Clooney says, TV entered the fray later.
I have never had the opportunity to work for TV news, though I came close a couple times.
In college I worked as a stringer, covering a murder trial for a local TV station. I was a reporter on another station's "radio roundup" years later.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy newspaper work. In fact, we are using TV and radio skills as well as writing and photography on our newspaper Web site and those lines will only blur in the years ahead.
So, I'm thankful to be part -- a very small part -- of an important industry.
If TV was the thing in 1953, what will be the thing this year and down the road. You're using it. Right now.

Indiana Legislature approves 'Major Moves'

By FRANK PHILLIPS / frankphi@hotmail.com
Late Tuesday night, Gov. Mitch Daniels sent the following letter to state legislators who supported his Major Moves proposal. The bill passed Tuesday night. The House passed the measure 51-48 and the Senate approved the bill 31-19.
“Dear [legislative supporter of Major Moves],” the letter said.
“Public life presents few, if any opportunities to take one decisive action that changes the future in a measurable way, and improves the lives of thousands. Your vote for the Major Moves Roads and Jobs plan was, undeniably, one of those rare events.
“In his ‘Profiles in Courage,’ recounting moments of legislative heroism when people summoned the bravery to do what they knew to be right, at risk of criticism or even defeat, John Kennedy wrote:
“‘The true democracy, living and growing and inspiring, puts its faith in the people … faith that the people will not condemn those whose devotion to principle leads them to unpopular courses, but will reward courage, respect honor and ultimately recognize right.’
“Years later his brother Robert said progress requires change, and ‘change has its enemies.’ On the (Chamber) floor, you proved yourself a friend of change, and of progress, and a person of true courage.
“I thank you, as will Hoosiers of the future.
“Sincerely,
“Mitch Daniels”
Th letter was released by the governor’s office.
The highway bill passed both houses shortly before midnight Tuesday.
Support had been divided along party lines, with a few exceptions. No Democrats voted for the bill in the House and two Democrats voted for it in the Senate. One Republican opposed it in the House and four Republicans voted against final passage in the Senate.
Weeks ago, Brazil Mayor Tom Arthur told The Brazil Times he supported the measure because the Indiana Toll Road lease would bring tens of thousands of dollars of much needed revenue to the city.
But fellow Democrat, State Rep. Vern Tincher (D-Riley) was skeptical and told the latest cracker barrel meeting at Jackson Twp. Firehouse Indiana should have more time to look into the matter before acting upon it.
After the final vote, Tincher still felt that way.
“It’s still one of those deals where we’re not certain of the consequences,” he said in a telephone interview from his home Wednesday morning. “(The 75-year lease) is a long time. We should have studied it longer.”
Tincher noted amendments to the bill before its passage.
“It was obvious a few provisions were included to entice votes from the majority side,” he said.
One of those enticements was to make the proposed I-69 a freeway north of Martinsville to Indianapolis and a toll road south of Martinsville to Evansville, so Martinsville residents could drive to Indianapolis free of charge but residents south of Martinsville will have to pay a toll to use the highway.
State Rep. Clyde Kersey (D-Terre Haute) said his mail was running 80 percent against foreign control of American public property, such as the toll road.
At the same meeting, Republicans Rep. Andy Thomas (R-Brazil) and Sen. Richard Bray (R-Martinsville) supported the bill.
“This is a 10-year, $10.6 billion plan to provide infrastructure investment in Indiana, including building new highways and repairing existing ones,” Thomas wrote in a handout distributed at the meeting. “Under the current version, Clay County would receive $290,191.54 each year over the next three years.”
Thomas did not return a call from The Brazil Times by deadline Wednesday.
“I don’t like globalization, but that is history,” Bray said.
British Petroleum is a large investor in Indiana and the state was glad to get the Isuzu plant, he said.
“It’s a fact of life,” Bray said. “(Globalization) is here. I’m glad to see $3 billion coming into the country, not leaving it.”

The Associated Press contributred to this report.