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This blog is the work of an educated civilian, not of an expert in the fields discussed.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Various



Craig: The "get rid of Craig" movement in on in the Senate Republican Caucus, as Talking Points Memo et. al. note. Do we have a "zero tolerance" rule now? We are talking about a petty crime here, even if some find it disgusting. For instance, will admitting guilt to soliciting a prostitute count too? Expect more lying and hypocrisy. We also have the audio of the post-Miranda interrogation of the arresting officer and Craig, which I personally don't see telling us too much more than we already knew.

Overall, the matter is depressing -- a joke on Conan suggesting rumors of another attempt to solicit in a public transportation hub underlines the depths* this can take us. The coverage of the intimate details, including the glee some have in them (though many probably honestly express sadness and such), seems to me on some level outrageous. I simply don't want to known about his "stance" or whatnot. Yeah, some sense of detail is needed sometimes to judge the situation, such as his claims he did nothing wrong. But, this spreading around intimate details should make us feel dirty on some level. Thanks senator.

Dedication: The father figure, so to speak, of the oh so slightly f-ed children book author in Dedication said at one point that women do not really mean it when they say they like troubled souls. They just like them sorta troubled, troubled in a way that can be discussed over wine at the restaurant. I think that is a good summary of the film itself: it has some charm as a look into the lives of a couple of troubled souls, but is not really willing to resist tiresome cliches.

The moviegoer apparently would not be willing to accept it otherwise. Billy Crudup and Mandy Moore [she has something ... I saw her in a few movies and think she has a future that overly wholesome flavor might not suggest] et. al. along with some creative camera work offer enough to make this worth seeing, but it is ultimately somewhat disappointing. BTW, why is the remake of Halloween coming out on Labor Day weekend? This doesn't suggest, even with a good genre guy at the helm, they think too much of it.

Katrina: We are now 'celebrating' the two year anniversary of Katrina, and some progressive leaning sorts (see, e.g., Democracy Now! and Air America, particularly Rachel Maddow, who was on the forefront as it happened in 2005) are taking the time to add some much needed perspectives to the anniversary. The fact is that many basically see this as just another event, sort of like the tsunami in Indonesia, that really does not affect their everyday lives much at all.

A major U.S. city is devastated and we as a whole just say "oh, how sad" and perhaps rout a bit more for the New Orleans Saints. This reflects a major lack in this country, one that in some general sense can be seen in my complaints over political matters like wimpy Democrats and not doing enough in response to particular things such as Gonzo (more on that later). In some real sense, sure, Katrina does not affect our every day lives. Nor does war/occupation, Social Security or any number of things ... unless we make it so.

The true responsibility of the next few years should be to reexamine our priorities, to perhaps make sure things of this nature DOES matter. To make both republican and human values and well being front and center. What we could do to prevent and help those harmed in public disasters as well as the perils of politics is somewhat limited. But, more can and should be done.

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* After an interference call led to the end of the game instead of a tie game ... the fourth loss in a row, third in Philly ... Ron Darling wondered what else could go wrong for the Mets. The next day the sweep was accomplished via El Duque finally having a bad day and the closer really blowing it at the end. Never ask "what else can go wrong," unless you want to hear it.