Richard Nixon was a traitor.

The new release of extended versions of Nixon's papers now confirms this long-standing belief, usually dismissed as a "conspiracy theory" by Republican conservatives. Now it has been substantiated by none other than right-wing columnist George Will.

Nixon's newly revealed records show for certain that in 1968, as a presidential candidate, he ordered Anna Chennault, his liaison to the South Vietnam government, to persuade them refuse a cease-fire being brokered by President Lyndon Johnson.

Nixon's interference with these negotiations violated President John Adams's 1797 Logan Act, banning private citizens from intruding into official government negotiations with a foreign nation.

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.