Torture and The Spirit

Disappointment

Well he wasn’t unlike the GOP seem to imagine our beloved lord – just a politician who is in a critical place at a critical time in American History (part of the GOP’s problems is they don’t quite understand what the stakes are here – but we have to leave that evergreen topic to move one) and who will make good choices and bad choices.

Well I think, hell I know, this is a bad choice - not to release a second group of pictures from the prison in Iraq – for reasons that don’t quite make real sense – the stated motive is not to inflame anti-Americanism – but the whole trouble is that the people being kept in dark are Americans – the Iraqis know damn well the prisoners were tortured and killed – it’s like when the bombing in Cambodia was covered up – it wasn’t the Cambodians who were being kept in the dark – they knew they were being bombed “here come the bombs” goes one classic Doonesbury punch line about the ‘secret’ bombings’.

There are several reasons the photos are being sat on – none of them good – mostly the involve at best not embarrassing the high ups in the military or at worst coving up the higher ups complicity in the torture and killing.

So I am disappointed – we’re still in a save the corporation mode thinking about this – which isn’t going to work – too many people with no real vested interest in the survival of the beltway culture (which is per my opinion these days corrupt to the core) that these photos are going to come out (legally or otherwise) and there will be hell to pay – more so for the attempt to cover it up by Obama.

This has been a sickening episode in our nation’s history – and the only real way to deal with it is to lance the goddamn boil and have done with it. This corrupt arguing over ‘in some cases torture works” is simply pathological – take that track and locking up citizens who’s politics you don’t agree with because some of them might be dangerous at another time – and torture is the weapon autocrats who desire confessions not justice – water boarding –(the not torture per the apologists) was used by Pol Pot in Cambodia and the Spanish Inquisition and the Witch Hunters to extract among other things – confessions about riding naked on a broom to a witches Sabbath. That came in real handy I’ll bet.

Disappointing on another level was I finally saw Frank Miller’s The Spirit last night. And god what a turkey it was.

I knew I was in trouble when about 20 minutes into the film I didn’t know what the hell was going on and I didn’t care.

The Spirit is a series of highly regarded comics done by one of the early master of the form Will Eisner – in his hands the Spirit often had little to do but observe the story unfold which you can’t do in a movie but still –

Miller just took the idea of a man in mask and put him in black – and by the by what the hell was so wrong with the dark blue from the comic? And then made him some kind of weird batman/wolverine/daredevil remix borrowing heavily from his own work – like his young love how went bad after her father was killed and becomes the femme Fatal bad one – (Electra rip off); the spirit’s dad was a boxer (check daredevil) the pensive narration about the city below him (Batman and well about a 1,000 noir films so he gets a pass on that). One of the actors even says the Femme Fatal has an Electra complex which is really the director rubbing your nose in it while screaming “I have no ideas left! None! I’m ripping myself off!”

And the Sin city style cinematography pretty much obliterated any detail except the red tie.

The comic scenes with the clones were painfully unfunny as only flat comedy scenes can be.

And lastly this is the first time I’ve seen Samuel Jackson mail a role in – I know he’s probably done that other times but this was the first time I’ve seen him. And there is a moment when he shows up dressed in a Nazi uniform is a good for the bad taste scene of the year. Miller WTF?

It was very depressing and disappointing

The ladies all looked good – Eva Mendes is continuing in her trend of playing the ethnic girlfriend (see Ghost Rider) which isn’t going to give her a lot of roles in the future.

In face the only guy that is okay is the one who played the Spirit – he had his mask on all all the time so nobody will recognize him.

Well enough – and anyway the Green Hornet film looks it’ll worse. Seth Morgan oh come on.

Peace, Love, Disappointments

Rat over the side & notes

I think it was John Kenneth Galbraith who once pointed out that while Political courage is greatly respected and grandly celebrated, the beneficial effects of political cowardice are not as appreciated.

Take for example something like Social Security – I’m sure that many members of congress would given their druthers would gleefully aid wall street in gutting the system like a trout and giving most of the money (in exchange for campaign contributions of course) to the tender cares of the same folks who just finished wrecking the economy. And it isn’t just greed these fine folks

What prevents this kind of sell out (at least such a naked one) is that this sweet gang is concerned that if they actually do this they would get slaughtered in the next election and lose their damn job.

This brings us to one Arlen Spector who just announced that he will be running for Senate in 2010 on the Democratic Party line.

After a pause to allow the heads of the right wing to explode (always a pleasant noise) – it becomes pretty obvious that Arlen jumped ship because he wants to stay in the Senate – there was a nasty primary fight coming up between Arlen and, by all reports, a barking mad right wing challenger, but since the Pennsylvania GOP is now mostly barking mad right wingers Arlen looked to lose soooooo

He jumped Parties – now if the head of the democrats in the Senate was anybody but the slinky spined milksop Harry Reid - Arlen’s desire to jump parties would be a met with a gee that’s too bad Arlen – how about you lick my desk clean and we’ll think about it. But Reid acts like the senate is some kind of special boys’ club and his job is to protect those club members from the mean outside world soooooo Arlen’s in without apparently any preconditions – hell he can keep on voting the way he’s always voted.

Now maybe, just maybe, they’re gotten his promise to vote in a helpful manner when health care comes up – and if that gets passed – not a lock there are some very very evil and entrenched interests that need to overcome there, mabye having a rat on our side will be a good thing. We don’t know yet. Still if I was in charge of the GOP I’d be worried – Arlen was and is an unprincipled cad who was only out for himself – but when those people leave you, it’s not a good sign.

The above was written some days ago – recently Arlen learned a couple of lessons in how the Democratic Party differs from the Republican. Arlen made a few comments on meet the press suggesting he’d continue to vote troglodyte on numerous issues and then said he was hoping that Coleman would be named senator form Minnesota (Coleman is the gop candidate who has stretched the recount out to what looks like June now with wave after wave after wave of the finest legal objections money can buy when you don’t have a legal leg to stand on) and weird mouth noises about the Obama’s pick for supreme court.

This did not sit well with the Democratic rank and file and before Harry Reid could stop them they stripped Arlen of his seniority and all committee assignments – which made me understand why they put up with such a milksop as Reid as their leader – democrats as a group rarely like to be told what to do – if they had an effective leader in the Senate well they would have to do what they are told. Having hapless Harry well they really don’t have to listen to him that much.

Anyway a few days later they did give Arlen some committee chairmanship – something having to do with lint I think.

Reid has since tried to explain Arlen’s remarks as either a joke or that he was confused – which is polite code for a senile old man - of which there are enough in the Senate so he won’t stand out much.

Band had a nice gig at the John Street Bar and grill – props to everybody who came risking instant death from the swine flu – which I’m happy to see is a bit over blown on the causing death bit – but it’s still serious – the last time I had the flu I couldn’t move for 3 days – I just lay on the couch in pain watching Charlton Heston as El Sid something like 5 times in a row – only some of the pain came from the flu.

So again thanks for coming we had a bit of ring rust and sadly Mistress B couldn’t make it as she’s directing a play (this is a very talented band I have to say) and was at Rehearsal.

More later

Peace Love No Flu

Just something quick to share.

Well I was spinning through the webs when I found on Crooked Timber a blog I wander onto from time to time this:



It’s from an early comic book called Fero Planet Detective (does he trace lost planets?) – and is just an awesome piece of dialog – That it is a complete non-sequitur only adds to its magnificence.

Looking at this you begin to wonder if he does that a lot.

“Fero would you like a sandwich?”
“We have to stamp out these vampires of Pluto that have invaded the earth.”
“Okay I’ll order a pizza then.”
“We have to stamp out these vampires of…”
“why don’t you go lie down for a bit okay?”
“we…”
“Just take the pills and try to relax.”

More later. But I needed to share.

Peace Love Vampires of Pluto that have invaded the Earth.