Good Night and Good Luck

Good Night and Good Luck: If you don't see this movie, you're a Communist. Or even worse - a supporter of current President George W McCarthy :)

This evening we popped down to Sunrise Cinemas, our favorite Tampa theatre. After a wonderful dinner and some great wine at The Wine Exchange - the attached restaurant that could do well anywhere - we watched "Good Night and Good Luck". This movie was directed by George Clooney, who also co-wrote the screenplay and co-stars in the movie. The story is about Edward R Murrow of CBS News speaking out against Senator Joseph McCarthy during the time of McCarthy's crusade against Communism.

The parallels to current events are striking. The "you're with us or against us" stance. Accusations without allowing the accused to face their accusers. A preponderance of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt). How can anyone not see this?

Next movie I want to see: Why We Fight

Danish cartoon re Mohammed - misc thoughts

Flemming Rose, the editor of the Danish paper that published the cartoons is now on indefinite vacation. That might be appropriate, given his incredibly poor judgement.

The newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, had invited caricatures of Mohammad. 25 cartoonists responded, and some of the drawings / cartoons were published. I hope that most people could understand that these cartoons would be offensive. But I'm hesitant to join those chanting about free speech rights if they ignore that Muslims would be offended. Here is the USA, there are millions who profess to be Christians. Imagine how Christians would feel if there were caricatures of Jesus - in an uncomplimentary portrayal.

In fact, there had been some caricatures of Jesus submitted to Jyllands-Posten, but the editor refused to publish them, believing that many of the 175,000 subscribers to the paper - mostly conservative - would be offended. Shouldn't it be obvious as well that Muslims would be offended by the cartoons that were published? ...Especially given that the Muslim religion teaches that there should be no worship of idols and that there should be no paintings or statues of Mohammad.

Unfortunately, Mr. Rose must have thought that his newspaper would not be seen by many Muslims. It must have not even entered his mind that anyone viewing the paper would have a problem with the cartoons. Well, some lessons are not easily learned. In a further display of incredibly poor judgement, Mr Rose actually offered to assist Iran in their quest to acquire and publish cartoons of the Holocaust! Two wrongs do not make a right.

Yup. An indefinite vacation is a good idea.

Culture of Corruption: Convicted in New Hampshire

OK, I missed this story back on Dec 16 2005. As reported by the Concord Monitor in New Hanpshire, James Tobin, who (among other Republican Party posts) served for a time as the New England chair of the 2004 Bush campaign, was convicted on two counts related to his work to jam Democratic phone lines on Election Day in 2002. A Washington Post article last year reported that John Durkin, attorney for Allen Raymond (convicted last year for his part in this scheme), had told the judge that Allen Raymond was acting on orders from James Tobin.

Democrats who kept pushing for investigation had been chastised by some - folks who would say that the Demo's were just pouting over a lost election. Well it's important to keep fighting for the truth to be revealed.

And now Tobin and Raymond have both been convicted, and the civil trial against Tobin - that had been on hold pending the federal investigation - can move forward.

More evidence re lying and spying from Bush camp

Articles on Daily Kos and on Slate discuss details from yesterday's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing and possible law-breaking by the Bush administration regarding data mining of citizens' personal data (emails, phone calls, banking records, travel records) in direct violation of congressional ban of Sept 23, 2003. Interesting reading.

And sadly, not surprising, as the details of the Culture of Corruption continue to be revealed.

Dubya is not a liar

OK, personally I think of Bush as a murderer. He started a war based on deception ...he never said that Saddam had anything to do with 9/11, but he implied it over and over by mentioning Saddam and 9/11 together ...and of course the whole WMD deception. Thousands have died (Americans, Iraqis, and coalition partners), for Bush's war started on false pretense.

And Bush - through inheritance - stands to make a handsome sum of money in war profits, since his dad has been heavily involved with The Carlyle Group (Bush senior retired in Oct 2003).

The Iraq war and Bush's statements about it are just one of a series of deceptions from Dubya. But he rarely tells an outright lie; he says things that are usually literally  true, but intentionally misleading. Well, personally I couldn't stomach watching and listening to the SOTU address last night; the man makes me sick. I think I lasted about 3 minutes. But fortunately the good folks at FactCheck.org (who rip apart misleading statements from any party) have posted an analysis of the speech.

The Culture of Corruption and the Dubya Deceptions haven't changed a bit.