December 2006 Archives
Today (or yesterday, from way over here in New Zealand), I'm 32.
"As President, my primary concern must always be the greatest good of all the people of the United States whose servant I am. As a man, my first consideration is to be true to my own convictions and my own conscience. My conscience tells me clearly and certainly that I cannot prolong the bad dreams that continue to reopen a chapter that is closed. My conscience tells me that only I, as President, have the constitutional power to firmly shut and seal this book." Gerald Ford, 1913-2006.
Premiering today on Amazon, the new trailer for Peter Webber's Hannibal Rising, with Gaspar Ulliel, Gong Li, Rhys Ifans, and Dominic West. Hmm....even with the Jimmy McNulty voiceover, I'm not enthused. What's next, Hannibal meets the Wolfman?
"If we actually want to change this country and we want to move America the way it needs to move, we're going to have to do it, all of us, together." As telegraphed by his official site a day early, the John Edwards train leaves the station from the Ninth District of New Orleans. I thought highly of Edwards last cycle -- and voted for him in 2004 -- so I for one am glad to see him back around for 2008. Right now, with Feingold out of the picture, it's a two-man race right now between him and Obama for my primary vote.
"I'm really sick of celebrities being dug up from their graves to sell us products. I was similarly upset when Gap used the image of deceased rapper Common in a Christmas commercial. (What's that you say? Common's still alive? Sorry, but after making that ad, he's dead to me.)" Old friend Seth Stevenson surveys the worst ads of 2006 for Slate.
Hey all...checking in from the Turangi/Taupo/Rotorua district, where we've recently zorbed down a large hill a couple of times, taken in a sheep shearing show at the (world-famous?) Agrodome, kicked around the Tongariro National Trout Centre, wandered through a (Wai-O-Tapu) thermal wonderland, and ventured into the very fires of Mt. Doom, a.k.a. Mt. Ruapehu. All in all, not a bad couple of days to close out our few weeks of New Zealand exploring...
"'When the president talks about staying the course, he never mentions cost as a factor,' Spratt said. 'But it is a factor, particularly when you get costs over $100 billion a year.'" Facing very little room to work with, the Dems attempt to sort out the fiscal fiasco Dubya has created over the past six years and counting.
"These poor contracting practices have left DOD vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse and DOI vulnerable to sanctions and the loss of the public trust." In related news, new audits disclose that a procurement collaboration between Dubya's departments of Defense and Interior has resulted in millions of dollars in waste and mark-ups. "More than half of the contracts examined were awarded without competition or without checks to determine that the prices were reasonable, according to the audits by the inspectors general for Defense (DOD) and Interior (DOI). Ninety-two percent of the work reviewed was awarded without verifying that the contractors' cost estimates were accurate; 96 percent was inadequately monitored."
"'It's a real tangled web between the congressman, the nonprofit, the defense contractors and the lobbyists,' said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group. 'It's hard to say where one stops and the others start.'" In troubling news that should test the commitment of the incoming Dem majority to real lobbying reform, the WP takes a long hard look at John Murtha's lobbyist-tinged relationship with the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals with Disabilities (PAID...an unfortunate acronym, to be sure). "'It sounds like DeLay Inc.,' said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Democratic-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington."
"I checked up on the late great J.B., His death is said on national TV..." Alas, James Brown is dead, 1933-2006.
Old news now, but it happened while on the track: Harry Potter's final chapter gets a title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Another wave of holiday trailers comes down the pike: Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez let their B-film freak flags fly (again) in the full trailer for Grindhouse, with Kurt Russell, Rose McGowan, and Freddy Rodriguez, among others; Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Chris Cooper, Jeremy Piven, and Richard Jenkins fight the war on terror in Saudi Arabia in this first look at Peter Berg's The Kingdom; and Shia la Boeuf and the US military run from metal toy-like things in the new preview for Michael Bay's Transformers (If you're interested, see also the pic of Optimus Prime here.) Word is the trailer for Fantastic Four 2 is also showing in theaters at the moment, although the only thing online right now is this rather meh image of the Silver Surfer...hopefully, they do a better job with Galactus. Update: The FF teaser is now up.
Hello again, and a belated Merry Christmas to you and yours. We've spent the past few days hiking the lovely and scenic Milford Track, followed by Christmas in Dunedin (no, not Dunedain, although I kept thinking it too) and then a drive back up the South Island through Christchurch to Blenheim (our current location.) Tomorrow, we head back to the North Island for our last extended stop, along the shores of Lake Taupo, for a few more days rest and relaxation. I expect a good deal of trout fishing, and I'm thinking I might try the Zorbing...
"'We're not winning, we're not losing,' Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. The assessment was a striking reversal for a president who, days before the November elections, declared, 'Absolutely, we're winning.'" While calling for an expansion of the army and marines, Dubya comes close to finally declaring the obvious in Iraq.
As you probably heard, a recent Knicks-Nuggets game turned into a melee, with ten ejections, seven suspensions (including, most notably, Denver's Carmelo Anthony for 15 games -- the Knicks only lost their scrubs, with the possible exception of instigator Nate Robinson for ten), and another cloud of controversy surrounding coach Isaiah Thomas. (Please, fire him already.) To be honest, I have yet to see a quality video of the fracas, but it sounds like yet another embarrassment for my lowly Knickerbockers, who've been in freefall for years now, ever since Ewing and Van Gundy left town. In happier news for the other team involved, the Denver Nuggets trade for Allan Iverson, giving up Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two first-rounders in the process. Great trade for Denver -- they're an injury prone team, but with the Answer, 'Melo, K-Mart, Camby, and Nene, they have to be considered a serious finals contender, even with notorious choker George Karl at the helm.
Another preview I haven't seen: This time, it's the new trailer for Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Thirteen, starring Clooney, Roberts, Pitt, Damon, and the usual assortment of Hollywood cads and roustabouts. I quite liked Twelve (and thought Eleven was so-so), so I'm up for another go.
Hey y'all. I must say, Queenstown/Glenorchy is a really fun area...I was going to regale y'all with pics of various "extreme" events partaken of over the past few days -- canyon swinging, jet boating, and the like (along with some not-so-extreme, like mountain luging and a Simpsonsesque mini-putt) -- but the Internet situation here in Te Anau, our current location, is a mite sketchy (I'm in a photomat at the moment), and I'm very soon off to hike the Milford Track for the next four days. So, the photos will have to wait -- until then, I hope everyone out there is enjoying the last week before Christmas... Update: Obviously, pics are now up.
Good riddance to the do-nothing 109th Congress, which wheedled its way into the history books last weekend. (And sayonara also to Donald Rumsfeld, who closed up shop yesterday.) A word of warning to the Dubya White House: Don't expect the 110th to play as nice...
Even more good news for Iowa leader (in October) John Edwards: Is Evan Bayh out of the running for 2008? FOX News says so.
"It's something that's been bothering me for quite some time, the direction in which the party has been going more and more toward big government and disregard toward privacy and civil liberties." Staunch conservative, defender of civil liberties, and Borat cameo Bob Barr leaves the Republican Party (for the Libertarians.) Now if only Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe would follow his example...
This year's Golden Globes nominees are announced, and it's a particularly strange bunch, with The Departed, Bobby, Little Children, The Queen, and Babel vying for best picture and Kazakhstan's finest up against Little Miss Sunshine, Thank You for Smoking, The Devil Wears Prada, and Dreamgirls on the comedy/musical side. (Also, lots of doubles, with Leonardo di Caprio (actor), Helen Mirren (actress, TV), and Clint Eastwood (director) all nominated twice in the same category.) Well, I haven't seen all of these, but suffice to say, these aren't the picks I would've made -- even if you discount The Prestige, Children of Men, and The Fountain as genre choices, United 93 is very conspicuously absent. At any rate, it should be an interesting awards season regardless -- the only real signed-and-sealed lock so far is Helen Mirren for The Queen.
The buck stops here? Not hardly. Grasping for historical validation wherever he can find it, Dubya has apparently begun to fancy himself a modern-day Truman. "James G. Hershberg, a Cold War historian at George Washington University, said he doubts that history will judge Bush as kindly as it has Truman, saying Truman's roles in fostering European recovery and building the NATO alliance were seen as solid accomplishments at the time. 'Bush, by contrast, lacks any successes of comparable magnitude to compensate for his mismanagement of the Iraq war and will be hard-pressed to produce any in his last two years'."
After suffering some bad press for backing away from the 9/11 recommendations last week, Speaker-Elect Pelosi announces two new oversight committees as a form of compromise: "a new panel within the Appropriations Committee to oversee the nation's intelligence agencies [thus maintaining Murtha's fiefdom] and a House task force to examine establishing an outside ethics panel." And, in related news, the House Dems announce their proposed rules changes. They "include a ban on gifts and travel from lobbyists, preapproval from the ethics committee on all lawmakers' travel funded by outside groups, a ban on the use of corporate jets, and mandatory ethics training."
Get well soon, Tim Johnson. Oof, talk about terrible news on several levels. One hopes the Senator will make a full and complete recovery after his AVM surgery, and we won't have to think too deeply about the possibility of a Senate turnover. Fortunately, there seems to be a good deal of precedent for long absences from the chamber -- my first thought (other than Nate Fisher and Narm!) was Charles Sumner's three-year absence after the caning, but there are apparently many 20th century examples too.
In the preview bin, the brand new teaser for Live Free or Die Hard (a.k.a. Die Hard 4) and the full trailer for Shrek the Third. I can't see either on my current connection, so sorry if they're terrible.
Guillermo Del Toro -- director of Blade 2, Hellboy, Devil's Backbone, and Pan's Labyrinth -- announces he's working on a remake of Tarzan with Master and Commander scribe John Collee. "'I'd love to create a new version that is still a family movie, but as edgy as I can make it,' Del Toro said. 'There are strong themes of survival of a defenseless child left behind in the most hostile environment.'"
Children of Men, Alfonso Cuaron's gritty dystopian parable of the near-future (which I saw in Nelson, NZ several days ago), is very, very close to being a great film. Boasting a standout performance by Clive Owen (other than Inside Man he hasn't been in much lately, so I'd forgotten how good he can be), great character work by Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and others; timely ruminations on issues ranging from the War on Terror to immigration reform; a wicked streak of black humor (note, for example, the bus and pharmaceutical ads, as well as the "Baby Diego" stuff and the casual nod to the similarly sardonic Pink Floyd); cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki (late of last year's best film, The New World) that's both striking and muted; and some of the most visceral urban-warfare scenes this side of Saving Private Ryan, the film has a lot in its corner, and is definitely worth checking out this holiday season. (Between this, The Fountain, and hopefully Pan's Labyrinth, it's been a banner time for heady, intelligent sci-fi/fantasy.) Alas, the film takes a few egregious missteps in the last act -- the last fifteen minutes, even -- which marred the experience for me. As a result, instead of leaving the theater stunned or moved by the otherwise impressive Children of Men, I left irritated with it. It's a very good, even a remarkable, movie, to be sure, but when it comes to the last few leaps of logic (and sentiment), Cuaron's film can't quite stick the landing.
Children of Men takes place in the London of the not-too-distant future, where, as part of a string of world calamities and catastrophes (including some that possibly, Cuaron coyly suggests, have their roots in the Iraq war), humankind has become infertile, western civilization is in the throes of decay, and England, true to stiff-upper-lip form, remains the one teetering bastion of order against the forces of anarchy and global chaos. In this childless city under siege, where immigrants (or "Fugi's") are rounded up in cages and coffee shops are bombed for no reason in particular, we meet a troubled Everyman named Theo (Owen -- we know he's troubled because he downs lugs of scotch from a hip-flask whenever possible, but don't worry -- this sort of clumsy screenwriting shorthand is generally the exception here rather than the rule.) At any rate, on his way to work one day, Theo is apprehended by several masked goons in a van, among them his activist ex-girlfriend Julian (Julianne Moore) and her #2 (Ejiofor), who, as it turns out, have a very important task for him -- one that only he can fulfill, and one that might just change the shape of this post-apocalyptic world...
If you've seen the trailer, then you know what Theo's charge is for the remainder of the movie. (But if you haven't, I won't spoil it here.) Suffice to say, his travels take him to various dilapidated locales in this babyless Purgatory (including, memorably, the hideaway of Theo's aging drug buddy Jasper (Michael Caine)), and we get a full sense of how the demise of the future, in the form of the next generation, has caused the world to wither and rot. This culminates in some of the most powerful and immersive urban war footage to come down the pike in a good while (note the long, uninterrupted shots in the final act, which are particularly impressive.) But, as you'll come to find, one of the escape scenarios near the end -- you'll know which one I mean -- is completely and utterly implausible, to the detriment of everything that's come before. And, coupled with the ridiculously over-the-top symbolism in the final moments, Cuaron's film unfortunately ends on a sour note. Still, if you can forgive the movie its wince of an ending, it's well worth it to suffer the Children. It may step away from greatness in the last act, but it's still very easily in the top echelon of movies I've seen this year.
Hello again. We've ventured from Mount Cook towards the South, and have now established a new base of operations at Glenorchy, northwest of Queenstown. (For those of you keeping score, we passed the Pelennor Fields, the Misty Mountains and the site of the Argonath on the way here, and Amon Hen, Ithilien, Isengard, and the entrance to Lothlorien are all nearby.) For this leg of the journey, we'll hopefully be getting in some jet-boating, canyon-swinging and/or bungee-jumping to go along with the hiking and trout-fishing, before we head off for the Milford Track later in the week. Hope all goes well in your respective corners of the world.
Unfortunately, crooked Dem congressman William Jefferson won his runoff in Louisiana, forcing Speaker-elect Pelosi into another touchy committee assignment situation. And, in related ethics news, the Dems put a moratorium on earmarks and extend current funding levels on various spending bills until next fiscal year (Oct. 1), so as to avoid a nasty budget fight right out of the box in January. ""We will work to restore an accountable, above-board, transparent process for funding decisions and put an end to the abuses that have harmed the credibility of Congress."
"Democrats were swept into power on November 7 because of widespread voter discontent with the war in Iraq. Instead of heeding those concerns and responding with a strong and immediate change in policies and direction, the Democratic congressional leadership seems inclined to continue funding the perpetuation of the war." Irate over Iraq, Democrat Dennis Kucinich returns for another go at the presidency. And, more intriguingly, Senate wunderkind Barack Obama seems to be testing the waters in New Hampshire: "'America is ready to turn the page,' he said. 'America is ready for a new set of challenges. This is our time. A new generation is prepared to lead.'"
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Sam Raimi, apparently. The Evil Dead/Spidey director looks to be moving forward on another version of The Shadow (which should in all likelihood be better than the 1994 Alec Baldwin version.)
"As [Harry] Truman said, 'We must, once and for all, prove by our acts conclusively that right has might.' That's why this country has historically been in the vanguard of the global human rights movement. But that lead can only be maintained if America remains true to its principles, including in the struggle against terrorism. When it appears to abandon its own ideas and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused." As Kofi Annan bids farewell to his post at the UN, he offers some words of wisdom to America -- and to Dubya -- on our nation's role in the world.
Hello all from the South Island...Just checking in from an egregiously expensive Internet cafe at our current location, the Hermitage (a.k.a. New Zealand's answer to the Overlook), nestled by the base of the spectacularly scenic Aoraki/Mt. Cook (the tallest mountain in New Zealand. and the one featured in the opening moments of The Two Towers.) Before here, we spent a few days in the very pleasant backpacker village of Nelson, where we briefly checked out the area around Abel Tasman National Park, and then drove down the western coast and through Arthur's Pass, taking in many breathtaking vistas along the way. (Also caught Children of Men late the other night -- a full review will have to wait until a cheaper connection, I'm afraid, but in brief: I liked it quite a bit and it's worth seeing, although the film jumps off a cliff in the last twenty minutes.)
Apparently none too pleased with the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, the Dubya administration tries to conjure up alternative policies for Iraq: "The major alternatives include a short-term surge of 15,000 to 30,000 additional U.S. troops to secure Baghdad and accelerate the training of Iraqi forces. Another strategy would redirect the U.S. military away from the internal strife to focus mainly on hunting terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda. And the third would concentrate political attention on supporting the majority Shiites and abandon U.S. efforts to reach out to Sunni insurgents."
"The pistols are poppin' and the power is down, I'd like to try somethin' but I'm so far from town..." Ok, I'll admit it -- I reupped for more time, to catch up on political news. And, while doing so, I discovered that Slate, of all places, is not only premiering Bob Dylan's new video for Thunder on the Mountain, which is chock-full of vintage Dylan footage, but offering a chance to win a guitar signed by the man himself. Cool...but is it strung lefty?
Two more minutes before my Internet time runs out and I disappear back into the ether...so, before I go, here's the full trailer for Zack Snyder's 300. Not as effective as -- and somewhat derivative of -- the grand teaser (and still no sign of McNulty or Faramir), but I'll probably still catch it, if nothing else than to see what's in store for The Watchmen.
Hey y'all -- A quick update: After a full day of flying (VA to Dallas to LAX to Auckland, most of which I spent engrossed in George Packer's The Assassins' Gate) and a full day of driving across the North Island (Auckland to Wellington), we've made it here safely, and our New Zealand trip has begun in earnest. Tomorrow, we take the ferry to the South Island, where we'll be spending most of our time here. (Also, I noticed while exploring downtown Wellington that Children of Men is already out here, so, should a slow day present itself, perhaps I'll be able to post one of those movie reviews after all.) Hope all goes well Stateside and elsewhere.
"I want to see mountains again, mountains, Gandalf! And then find somewhere quiet where I can finish my book...I need a holiday -- a very long holiday -- and I don't expect I shall return. In fact, I mean not to!" Or at least for a couple of weeks. Yes y'all, Christmas is arriving early this year in these parts: Later today I and several other members of the Clan Murphy are headed off to Middle Earth, a.k.a, the World of (18 hours in) the Future, a.k.a. New Zealand, so as to enjoy a few holiday weeks of traveling, hiking, trout-fishing, and general exploring. So, as you might expect, updates here at GitM will undoubtedly be more intermittent (and the comment-spam more pronounced) than usual, although I'll try to check in every now and again should the Internet present itself. (Also, reviews of the season's big films -- Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, Inland Empire, The Good German/Shepherd -- will likely be posted late, upon my return.) Until then, be safe, stay warm, and happy holidays...I'll see you when I'll see you.
"From now on I'll be busy, Ain't goin' nowhere fast..." In what will hopefully amount to both a transformation in the debate over the war and a much-needed moment of clarity for the Dubya administration (alas, not likely), the Baker-Hamilton Commission officially releases its Iraq report (Exec Sum/Assessments). While perhaps vague on the details, it calls the situation in Iraq "grave and deteriorating" and argues that a "slide toward chaos" is a very real possibility (if, in fact, it hasn't already happened.) "Despite a list of 79 recommendations meant to encourage regional diplomacy and lead to a reduction of U.S. forces over the next year, the panel acknowledges that stability in Iraq may be impossible to achieve any time soon."
"'What we heard this morning was a welcome breath of honest, candid realism about the situation in Iraq,' Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said during a midday break." The Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously approved Robert Gates, who helped his case considerably by admitting the obvious fact that Iraq's looking ugly, as Rumsfeld's replacement at the Pentagon yesterday. Among those impressed with Gates was Slate's Fred Kaplan: "I've been watching defense secretaries in confirmation hearings for 30 years, off and on, but I don't think I've seen any perform more forthrightly than Gates did this morning." Update: Gates goes through, 95-2.
"Said's everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach is counterproductive. It may have swelled the ranks of subaltern studies programs and provided grist for numerous postcolonial studies Ph.D. theses, but that doesn't make his argument correct. In the end, bad books are just bad books, and when they are canonized for instrumental reasons, the result is a coarsening of thought and an ever-widening and unhealthy divide between the academy and mainstream culture." In his review of Robert Irwin's Dangerous Knowledge: Orientalism and Its Discontents, Salon's Gary Kamiya rails against the canonical status of Edward Said's Orientalism. "Said's radically skeptical position...was so abstract and chameleonic that it was impossible to disprove it, since it constantly dissolved (and hid behind) a multitude of deconstructive readings." At the risk of seeming relentlessly pre-mo, I also tend to get irritated with arguments that rely on the immutability and inescapability of an all-powerful, trans-historical discourse. But at least, unlike too many of his advocates, Said's work is relatively clear and readable. When it comes to a lot of post-colonial writing, I wonder: Is it that the subaltern cannot speak, or that nobody can hear him/her over all the jargon-riddled shouting?
New photos released by NASA from the Mars Global Surveyor seem to suggest the possibility of surface water on Mars, which would make any attempt to visit -- or colonize -- the red planet considerably easier (although, obviously, it's still no walk in the park.)
"We had a good talk about how to run a campaign there...She understands that this will take a significant amount of hard work and campaigning and getting to know Iowans more up close and personal." To no one's surprise, Senator Hillary Clinton begins laying the groundwork for a 2008 bid.
By way of Ed Rants and Youtube, the trailer to David Lynch's forthcoming three-hour Inland Empire, with Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Justin Theroux, Grace Zabriskie, Harry Dean Stanton, and Diane Ladd (as well a gaggle of cameos, from Naomi Watts to William H. Macy and Laura Harring to Mary Steenburgen.) Strange also to see Lynch shooting on DV, but I'll definitely give it a look-see.
Happy day at the UN (if not at the White House): Facing unbeatable opposition on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (thanks to outgoing Senator Lincoln Chafee, to his credit, joining the Dems against him), interim UN ambassador John Bolton is forced to resign as predicted. Good riddance. "'The president now has an opportunity to nominate an ambassador who can garner strong bipartisan and international support and effectively represent the interests of the United States at the United Nations at a time of extraordinary international challenge,' [incoming committee chairman] Biden said. 'If the president nominates such a person, I look forward to scheduling hearings promptly in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.'"
"British intelligence. The term seemed redundant. It conjured up vast experience, levels upon levels of history, and, more than that, a cynical realism. When Americans were eschewing spying -- 'Gentlemen do not read each other's mail,' Secretary of State Henry Stimson said in 1929 -- the Brits, uber-gents to a man, were steaming open envelopes galore, keeping a vast empire together with only a handful of spies, assassins, and dissolute diplomats who were not worth a damn after lunch." In Slate, Richard Cohen asks, less facetiously than you might think, if James Bond might be responsible for the Iraq War.
In "world of the future" news, NASA announces it plans to establish a permanently-staffed base camp on the moon by 2024, preferably at one of its poles. (Here's the rationale.) A moonbase within 18 years? I'm all for it...just keep an eye out for monoliths and make sure Sean Connery runs a tight ship.
"Clearly, what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough." Hewing closer to the McNamara paradigm than I'd earlier thought, Rumsfeld apparently questioned the Iraq war's course on his way out the door. "Michael O'Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Brookings Institution, said the revelation of the memo would undercut any attempt by President Bush to defend anything resembling a 'stay the course' policy in Iraq.'When you have the outgoing secretary of defense, the main architect of Bush's policy, saying it's failing, that puts a lot more pressure on Bush.'"
"Historians are loath to predict the future. It is impossible to say with certainty how Bush will be ranked in, say, 2050. But somehow, in his first six years in office he has managed to combine the lapses of leadership, misguided policies and abuse of power of his failed predecessors. I think there is no alternative but to rank him as the worst president in U.S. history." Columbia's Eric Foner makes the case for Dubya as the worst president ever. Also weighing in on the question: Columbia PhD (and Slate columnist) David Greenberg, Douglas Brinkley, Michael Lind, and Vincent J. Cannato. (I discussed Dubya's ranking briefly here.)
"We are all sick because of AIDS - and we are all tested by this crisis." -- Sen. Barack Obama
"Thematically, it's about the very simple idea that, in this Postmodern world of ours, human beings -- all of us -- are worth less. We're worth less every day, despite the fact that some of us are achieving more and more. It's the triumph of capitalism...The show is written in a 21st-century city-state that is incredibly bureaucratic, and in which a legal pursuit of an unenforceable prohibition has created great absurdity."
Slate publishes a fascinating extended interview with Wire creator David Simon, which touches on, among other things, why there won't be a Season 6 focusing on Latino immigrants, and what we can expect from Season 5. "Yes, the last season. The last theme is basically asking the question, why aren't we paying attention? If we got everything right in the last four seasons in depicting this city-state, how is it that these problems -- which have been attendant problems regardless of who is in power -- how is it that they endure? That brings into mind one last institution, which is the media. What are we paying attention to?" I can't say it enough -- if you're not paying attention to The Wire, you owe it to yourself to rent Season 1 and start playing catch-up next to immediately. It really is far and away the best show on television, perhaps ever. Certainly, it's the savviest take on American politics ever put to the small screen.
"We think this is extremely crucial...[but there are] a lot of old bulls in both parties who just don't want to do it." Speaking of which, paging Tommy Carcetti...Finding it's harder to shake out the old system than anticipated, the incoming Dems are already backing away from a key 9/11 panel suggestion, one that would centralize congressional oversight and funding of intelligence matters in the intelligence subcommittee (to be chaired by Reyes, a.k.a. not-Hastings/Harman) at the expense of the armed services and appropriations defense subcommittees (the latter of which will be chaired by also-ran Murtha.) "Democratic leadership dust-ups this month severely limited the ability of House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) to implement the commission's recommendations, according to Democratic aides."
In the trailer bin, a second look at Joe Carnahan's Smokin' Aces (or as one AICN wag dubbed it, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Underworld) -- I actually had a pass to a screening for this last week, but ended up skipping it...Oh well. And the Shaun of the Dead team of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost get backup from Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, and Timothy Dalton in the full trailer for Hot Fuzz.
"So the choice is between a terrible decision and one that is even worse. The terrible decision is just to begin leaving, knowing that even more innocent civilians will be killed and that we'll be dealing with agitation out of Iraq for years to come. The worse decision would be to wait another year, or two, or three and then take that terrible course." While parsing the forthcoming recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton commission (which, among other things, calls for Iraqification of the war (sound familiar?) and a near-complete troop withdrawal by early 2008), journalist and Blind into Baghdad author James Fallows changes his mind about the merits of maintaining our military presence in Iraq: "If it is not in our power to prevent these disasters, then it is better to do as little extra damage to ourselves as possible before they occur."
"To talk of grand schemes -- partitioning Iraq or pressuring Maliki to form a 'reconciliation government' and amend his constitution -- is, quite apart from their merits, plainly absurd, because we have no control over what the Iraqis do. We still have some control, though, over what we do and, maybe, over what we can persuade others to do with us." In related news, Slate's Fred Kaplan, who seems to advocate hunkering down for the long haul over withdrawal, ponders what to do should the Maliki government in Iraq fall apart.
A new report by NIST comes out against electronic voting machines, mainly for their lack of an independently verifiable paper trail. Instead, the report recommends an optical-scan system "in which voters mark paper ballots that are read by a computer and electronic systems that print a paper summary of each ballot, which voters review and elections officials save for recounts."
