Thursday, November 03, 2005
Movie Review -- Good Night and Good Luck
by guest-poster Bill Patterson
I went in to see George Clooney’s new film Good Night and Good Luck prepared for a lefty blast of mythmaking about the Horror of our very own Terror, and was pleased to find nothing of the sort. The script was intelligent, the performances understated, the use of archival footage extremely well done, and the ideological pitch neither left nor right, but American. This pleased me more than I can say. My respect for Clooney went up several notches.
So pervasive has become the “red state-blue state” crap that it is probably not obvious what I mean by an “American” ideological pitch. What I mean by it is what used to be called “American liberal” before the lefties destroyed the meaning of the term: Clooney’s target—and he portrays Murrow’s target—is not the Communist Menace, for or against; it is strictly limited to McCarthys sleazy methods, concluding its argument with Murrow watching the McCarthy-Army hearings “Have you no sense of decency?”
It is McCarthy’s conspicuous lack of those fundamental American virtues of fairness and decency and respect, even if only minimal, for even one’s opponents—which is, parenthetically, the only thing that has made the Republic work as a republic for the first 209 of the last 229 years. Murrow and Fred Friendly (the role Clooney played as actor in this production) were spoiling for a fight; whatever the complex of motivations, the ground they chose to make their stand on was in the solid tradition of American liberalism (which is also the foundation of that core part of the Republican and conservative movement that is not rightist or “religious rightist").
The left mythology of the so-called McCarthy Era is that the entire country was terrorized; the right mythology goes something like “true, but so what? They were Commies. Fuck ‘em.” Neither mythology bears any relationship to what actually went on. By not engaging the mythologies, Clooney has found common ground and given us that rarity in modern cinema, a thoughtful, engaging, and truthful work of art.
from Tramp Royale by Robert Heinlein:
“The interest in Senator McCarthy was enormous; the total lack of understanding of what was really going on was even more enormous. Now I am neither a constituent nor an admirer of the Senator, but I found myself repeatedly in the odd position of trying to explain what he was doing, why it was legal in a free country for him to do it, and how it was impossible for a congressional investigation to cause a ‘reign of terorr’ in 160,000,000 people.
My task was made more difficult by the fact that many Americans with other attributes of a horse than horse sense were asserting loudly that McCarthy had indeed created a ‘reign of terror.’ Are you terrified? I am not, yet I have in my background much political activity well to the left of Senator McCarthy’s position. The worst that Senator McCarthy can do to me is to ask me a lot of questions and demand answers under oath. I may resent some of the questions, but I can answer them without taking refuge in the Fifth Amendment; there is no treason in my record.
To call such investigation a ‘reign of terror’ is to stretch language out of all shape. My notion of a ‘reign of terror’ . . . does not mean questioning people under the safeguards of the most thorough system for the protection of individual rights this world has ever known. It does not mean a few dozen traitors and/or custard heads taking refuge behind the Fifth Amendment on the sole grounds that to tell the truth would be to incriminate themselves.
I am not defending McCarthy’s thumb-fingered approach nor his sweeping public statements. It has been argued that McCarthy’s personality and methods have played into the hands of our enemies and enabled Communism International to make effective propaganda against us. There is some truth in this thesis, but, in my opinion, not much. I think that a Senate investigation of communism in the United States would have been fought by propaganda just as angry, just as vicious, had the investigation been chairmanned by Thomas Jefferson with Daniel Webster as his chief council. The thing that the communists hate is not McCarthy’s unloveable personality but the fact that he is daring to attack communism at all. . . .
The point of this aside while our party drives through beautiful new Lima is that the political institutions of another country are hard to understand. Outside the United States very few people comprehend the nature of a congressional investigation and it is almost impossible to explain it to them. They have it mixed up with the Inquisition, with Senator McCarthy having all the functions and powers of Torquemada. The idea that a private citizen can answer or refuse to answer a series of questions put to him by a senator, such that the record shows clearly that the citizen being questioned is now or has in the past been actively engaged in treason against the United States—and then get up and walk out a free man—is so foreign to most other people that they simply cannot believe it.
Furthermore, if they did believe it, they would be even more contemptuous of us for being so soft than they now are for ‘McCarthyism’ as they comprehend it, i.e., which they conceive to be a policy of take-him-away-and-lock-him-up-I-don’t-like-his-politics. Our extreme leniency, if they understood it, would strike them as preposterous, asinine."
Cultural Artifacts • (4) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Link This
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Is this what the Senate will be investigating in its Closed Door Session?
*bats eyelashes*
“Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America’s response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real...”
- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003 | Source
“I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force—if necessary—to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.”
- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002 | Source
“One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line.”
- President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998 | Source
“If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.”
- President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998 | Source
“We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction.”
- Madeline Albright, Feb 1, 1998 | Source
“He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.”
- Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998 | Source
“[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq’s refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.”
Letter to President Clinton.
- (D) Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, others, Oct. 9, 1998 | Source
“Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.”
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998 | Source
“Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies.”
- Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999 | Source
“We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them.”
- Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002 | Source
“We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.”
- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 | Source
“Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power.”
- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002 | Source
“We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction.”
- Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002 | Source
“The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons...”
- Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002 | Source
“There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years ... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction.”
- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002 | Source
“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”
- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002 | Source
“We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction.”
- Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002 | Source
ThanQ! Staff of Gleeeeeeeen Beck!!
Propaganda Watch • (2) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Link This
Lemmeknow, eh?
Anyone in my vast readership need me to explain why it’s a good idea to vote for Props 74, 75, 76 & 77?
Life in The Country™ • (4) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Link This
Here's a Big One for the new SCOTUS
changing face of America? ...even more?
Take Kelo. Add a generous helping of Katrina-destroyed N.O. neighborhoods. Salt with Nagin/Landreau Brand avarice and stir with the stiff resolve of hard-working black homeowners who don’t have large savings and cannot possibly get other-than-government loans to fix up their trashed, moldy homes. Serve on a bed of ancient “usufruct," step well back and watch the fireworks.
--------------
One interestingly written approach.
A Leaky Rowboat Sinks • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Link This
Le Kulchah Superior, donchanooo
seems Paris Is Burning...
Rioting has spread to more suburbs of Paris on a sixth night of unrest in the outskirts of the French capital. At Aulnay-sous-Bois, cars were torched as gangs of youths hurled stones at police in riot gear, who responded by firing rubber bullets. ... at least 60 vehicles had been torched
bwahahahahaha *ahem* sorry—ungracious of me. Let me start over:
So… what is the dealio—it’s not like they have the terrible race problems like in icky old America.
The unrest was sparked by the death of two boys whom locals think were fleeing police, despite official denials.
Ok—I’d give that an hour—tops. There must be more.
Correspondents say anger has been fuelled by a tear gas canister hurled into the town’s mosque on Sunday night, and arrests.
uh oh.
The authorities have denied rumours that policemen were chasing the two boys who were electrocuted on Thursday after entering an electricity sub-station. Flowers now lie near the spot where Ziad, aged 17, and Banou, 15, died. An official investigation into the boys’ deaths is under way.
ah.
“If they [special police units] didn’t come here, into our area, nothing would happen,” [an area resident] says. “If they come here it’s to provoke us, so we provoke back.”
The French Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has promised to send in special police units to “occupy” difficult estates, describing urban gangs as “scum”.
So… ya’ll riot because the police are paying special attention to ya?
“We’re not scum,” says the man, “we’re human beings, but we’re neglected."
Ah… you riot because no one pays enough attention to you. er....
Most families on the estate [translation: “projects"] are originally from [Muslim North] African countries. Unemployment is high and the area is poorly served by public transport.
..."It’s the French mentality. They still haven’t understood that even children with foreign origins have their place in society,” says [area resident] Boubaker. “They still think we’re cleaners, and that’s not good."
[Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy] is also an advocate of positive discrimination for ethnic minorities, and of voting rights for foreigners.
Yeeeeszzz. I can see that’s worked out well…
“I speak with real words,” Sarkozy told Wednesday’s Le Parisien newspaper. “When you fire real bullets at police, you’re not a ‘youth,’ you’re a thug."
“speak with real words”—must be an idiom. ...or an idiot. Hard to say; the rest of the statement rings true.
France-Info said about 150 fires were burning in suburbs of the Seine-Saint-Denis region.
Sarkozy - blamed by many for fanning the violence with tough talk and harsh tactics - met in Paris with youths and officials from Clichy-sous-Bois in an effort to end days of rioting.
But the unrest spread even as they met.
Paris ‘Youth’
Now—sit right down and tell me about how well-regulated immigration and a country’s insistence that legal immigrants be personally invested in their new country and able to function well within their new country is “racist” and “mean,” hmmmm?
A Leaky Rowboat Sinks • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Link This
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
*The* Quintessential -- nay, Definitional Twit
The Fops Are Coming! The Fops Are Coming!!
Their Royal Hinders are planning to visit the Bay Area, in particular the spawning grounds of the Moonbattus Organicus Snobosius—Bolinas and Pt Reyes. Yes, that once beautiful, slightly isolated farming community of 40 years ago has been invaded, coopted, spun, turned and warped into the Hippy-Dippy capitol of the Universe. The Prints-ly visit is part of their kick-off campaign to become The First like-Totally Organic County In The Nation. You read it right—and ya read it first here. ...but that’s not important, now.
La Royalles will visit the Point Reyes Organic Farmers’ Market, then lunch at an organic farm in Moron Marin County with their day topped by attendance at the theatre production of Beach Blanket Babylon at Club Fugazi [aka Gonads & Hats. weee]
Among the gala dinners and Giant Suck-Up Events, the Paire Royale will visit an ‘organic, edible schoolyard’ at Martin Luther King Jr School in Bezerkeley, and His Royal Twittiness the Prince will favour US with a lecture on the environment [yes, he completely believes in the Global Warming thing—and is, to quote, “terrified"] and visit the homeless domicile-challenged shelter project.
Thus will end the 20-year cycle of Moonbatticus Brittanicus Twittisocialist.
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{/if}
