Camera Obscura - District B-13, Aeon Flux and More

Yay Friday! Time for movie news, reviews, DVDs, some hot summer movies just ahead and a few thoughts on the week's entertainment news. This includes a new summer action film based on "Escape From New York" and a kind of street-gymnastic-fu craze that boasts worldwide membership, even here in Tennessee, but more on that in a moment. Let's start with the story of li'l Katie Couric and her jump to the Big Show.

Katie Couric says she's the best, mostest hard-nosed journalist going, and is vowing to end what she called the "pretentious era" in TV news. I have no idea what that comment - or several of the other comments she made to CBS execs, really means. One function she has filled for years is to talk extensively without really saying anything.

She's no Edward R. Murrow and she's no journalist - for instance, the late, great Peter Jennings worked his way from field reporter to bureau chief to anchor, not from Morning Face to Evening Face. We are all better off searching for news on our own. And she might consider the words Mr. Murrow offered to news directors in 1958:

"It is not necessary to remind you that the fact that your voice is amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other does not confer upon you greater wisdom or understanding than you possessed when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other."

Last week, I mentioned that there wasn't much success at the screening for "Southland Tales," and new reports indicate a major re-edit for the movie is on the way so it can find a U.S. distributor. Which also means you'll have to wait for the DVD to see the original cut.

For summer viewing fun, a reader notes his most-anticipated movie is the "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel. Enjoy a lengthy preview here. Personally, I am looking forward to the 3rd movie, which was shot simultaneously with part 2, which will feature Chow Yun Fat. Fat is my hero.

Opening today (though not anywhere locally I could find) is the movie "District B-13," which has captured outstanding reviews. It's a sort-of "Escape From New York" story. Set in the near future, Paris has become so ridden with riots and crime (as it actually has been) that the government was walled in several communities and ghettos, including B-13. A cop and a criminal join forces in typical buddy movie fashion and the action in this Luc Besson-produced adventure takes the action of "Transporter" and endless king-fu features and ramps up the intensity several notches, thanks to a recent urban sport called Parkour. Oh, and the presence of nuclear weapons in the ghetto.

The website for the movie has tons of previews and explanations. Parkour-participant David Belle stars in the movie. Parkour is a sport of sorts, where people sort of jump, dance, bounce, fly, leap, in a freestyle extreme sport kind of way. Tennesseans from Bristol to Knoxville to Monterey to Memphis have joined in the action, according to this website.

I also finally watched the movie "Aeon Flux", based on the cartoon series created by Peter Chung and aired on MTV. An attempt to film this bizarre bio-nano-weirdo hi-tech future is an enormous chore and the results are only average. Charlize Theron stars as the semi-naked assassin and she does well as semi-naked assassins go. The movie's design work and effects are excellent, the writing is not so excellent. But it does compete well in the semi-naked babe sci-fi movie genre (see also "Barbarella" or "Fifth Element" or "Terminator:3" or "Danger: Diabolik")

Afraid of catching a true turkey of a movie this summer? Check out The Movie Binge, where a group of bloggers has vowed to watch and review 85 major releases over the summer. Might save some time and dollars for you.

I also found a good collection of movie scripts online, including David Lynch movies, Kubrick, Raimi, Tarantino, teen comedies and modern classics and many more. C'mon, aren't you tired of always quoting "Caddyshack"? There's a world of movie quotes ready for you!

On Haditha

Not wanting to marginalize or sensationalize the reports from the press concerning the actions of the military in November of last year in Haditha, Iraq, there are a few thoughts I'll offer about the reality of warfare.

The operations in Iraq are not typical military confrontations. It's military versus guerilla or insurgents or militias. The battlefields are streets and houses and neighborhoods. The sad truth of a house to house battle means non-combatants are likely to be killed.

There are ridiculous assertions that the insurgency is in it's last throes, that the media only reports negative stories, and even that this is anything except a continuation of military actions begun in the 1990s.

Good or bad, our troops are engaged in deadly missions each hour. The political strife increases and decreases one day to the next. Recently appointed Iraqi Ambassador Samir Sumaydi knows too well the situation is chaotic at best:

"The way it was reported to me, by word of mouth, seemed incredible," he said at the U.S. Institute of Peace in his first public appearance after being sworn in as ambassador. At the time, he did not have any other evidence and decided that the rumors might have been an exaggeration.

Haditha, he knew, was a chaotic town, virtually run by bands of insurgents. "There were no police," he said, "and, effectively, no Iraqi government." Sunni insurgents were terrorizing the population, even staging public executions of people suspected of opposing them. Residents, he said, were being "squeezed" between the insurgents on one side and, on the other, U.S. soldiers, who were caught up in frequent clashes with the heavily armed rebels. Sometimes, civilians would get caught up in these skirmishes.

Then came a report in Time magazine that as many as 24 civilians may have been deliberately gunned down by U.S. marines during an operation in November. The key piece of evidence was a videotape made by an Iraqi journalism student that shows the apparent civilian victims riddled with gunshot wounds, which contradicts the early accounts by marines stationed in Haditha that the residents were killed by a bomb. U.S. military officials have now launched an investigation into the alleged Haditha massacre, and Bush publicly vowed to punish anybody found to be responsible for killing civilians. Sumaydi says he will await the findings of the U.S. investigation. He has also requested a second inquiry by the U.S. military on the death of his cousin.

At the same time, Sumaydi has a hard-earned appreciation of the difficult challenges faced by the U.S. military. As a former interior minister, he tried to battle both Sunni insurgents as well as shady Shiite militias, who operated both inside and outside the Interior Ministry. He also knows that the militia problem has not gone away.

Just two days ago, another cousin of his was kidnapped in Baghdad from the small supermarket that he owns."

"Core values" training for US troops may help provide some measure of understanding as to how to cope with a house-to-house insurgency battle, but the simple fact remains that Iraq, all of it, is a battlefield and there is no safety for residents or troops.

If the deaths in the Haditha community were unprovoked, it will encourage those opposed to US involvement and erode political support around the world and around our own nation.

A License To Have Kids?

A reader for yesterday's post offered these thoughts for consideration:

"Maybe couples shouldn't start a family until they have the resources (however they want to define that)to care for that family themselves. If that means somebody has to stay home, so be it. I'm all for requiring a license to breed. Too many people are having too many kids without a thought of the consequences."

I have multiple responses and perhaps you do too, feel free to add them.

First, if prospective parents had to wait for the Most Perfect Time to have kids, there would certainly be fewer - however how often in the course of living do any of us have the luxury of realizing Most Perfect Moments? Living is an imperfect thing, and often we don't realize our best moments until they have passed. In short, living is all about chances and risk. We are all faced with the unknown from birth til death, and I generally think we cannot ever hope to alter that.

Second, I dread the idea of having to have a license for having children. Are their couples and/or singles who should not have children? Most likely. Yet, a far worse notion is some government or quasi-government agency determining the requirements needed to have children. Go ahead and call me a Darwinian, but sometimes our sheer numbers, increased wisely or unwisely, often offer our best chances for continuation. While any of us can question the wisdom of some who decide to have or not have children, I put far more faith in the individual decision than those made by some appointed committee on procreation.

I do understand a desire to provide some kind of "quality control" over emerging li'l humans - but again, I have far more trust in Nature than in government or rule-by-committee. Imagine the horrors of those who live in China, where both the number and the sex of a child has been given a pre-determined government status.

On a side note, the longer we follow a national ignorance regarding sexuality, pregnancy, STDs, and a foolish concept of "abstinence", the longer we endanger our current and future generations. It's as if we fear the result of an informed and educated population, while I can only see the many benefits of a less repressed and more informed and personally responsible attitude.

It's something I've mentioned before - we are Free to choose are actions, but that does not mean we are free from consequences.

The agenda of the group mentioned yesterday includes some insidious claims - significantly, that most often parents "choose" to both work. In the reality of our economic systems, it is nearly impossible for a single income to provide all the needs of a three or more member family. If a couple has that ability - marvelous! As a rule, however, most couples and individuals struggle mightily to make enough to provide for themselves.

Also, I firmly believe that parents and educators, not administrators, need to be far more involved in creating educational systems in their communities. Endless testing is not a solution - the realization that education is a process and not a means to a career is far more vital.

For all the yearnings of various lobbying cultural warriors, abandoning our own abilities to reach a positive, self-actualized community of individuals is a prescription for tyranny and horror.

Is it hard to live with the bad decisions others might make? Yes. Are parents sometimes the worst enemy of the child? Yes. But attempting to control or constrain nature is a path to far worse outcomes.

That's my two cents. How about yours?

Preschool Liberation Army?

Stop the War on Toddlers is a cry from kids to voters, demanding an end to Weapons of Mass Instruction, citing studies that show enforced governmental preschool programs do far more harm to kids than good.

Yes, in the state that takes any and all issues to the ballot box via referendum, that wacky California, a call for a preschool boycott and a no vote on Proposition 92 - Preschool For All Act has been proclaimed.

A group called Tykes on Trikes has issued a Manifesto and is urging the boycott. I might be more convinced if I could find a preschooler who could spell "manifesto" or if teen students were better able to find Louisiana or Iraq on a map.

The Manifesto says:

"Government propaganda, disseminated through the media, insists that society commit to developing future workforces for the global economy as well as thwart crime and social deviance by confining young children in preschools. We have been brainwashed to believe that in order to protect adult interests, we must deny children their right to childhood.

In the name of education and social reform, young children are now detained in weapons of mass instruction called preschools."

Further, the group makes these demands:

" -- Immediate withdrawal of children ages 0-5 from government daycare and preschool facilities and closure of all government preschool and daycare detention centers.

-- The repeal of all preschool legislation currently enacted or in committee in federal and state governments

-- Disarmament and destruction of all weapons of mass instruction known as government preschools and discontinuing government subsidies of private preschool facilities that are required to brainwash children via state sanctioned curriculum standards and testing delivered by state-credentialed agents (i.e., teachers).

-- Abolishing Head Start and other government universal preschool programs. Forty years ago Head Start was instituted to assist disadvantaged children. It has yet to be shown that it helped the 40 million children it claims to have helped at a cost of 50 billion dollars. Instead, Head Start incorrectly led to the cultural misconception that "institutional programs" were the key to early childhood education. As a result, thousands of preschoolers have spent the most formative years of their lives confined in institutions; scores of innocent children ages 0-5 spent years imprisoned on false assumptions about how children learn; childhoods were smashed to pieces; parental rights usurped; entitlement thinking was reinforced; and families torn apart. This infliction of misery has not improved society. It has caused irreparable damage."

You can learn more via the many links offered on this press release page.

Or you may just want to celebrate the fact you and your kids don't live in California. Or you may want to join the movement. Or maybe this movement will help you get started on a science fiction story or the next Fox/MTV/WB pre-teen soap opera.

Supreme Court Backs Crooked Officials

The new Bush appointees to the Supreme Court reversed the stand previously upheld by the majority including Justice O'Connor when it comes to government employees reporting fraud, waste, abuse or other violations and removes protections offered the rest of the nation via the First Ammendment.

The 5-4 opinion issued Monday is clear notice to those who might have reported problems - if you do, you have no rights to protection by law. This decision protects crooked officials and their behavior and endangers the public good and the public trust.

In dissenting statements, Justice Stevens wrote:

"The proper answer to the question `whether the First Amendment protects a government employee from discipline based on speech made pursuant to the employee's official duties,' is `Sometimes,' not `Never.' Of course a supervisor may take corrective action when such speech is `inflammatory or misguided.' But what if it is just unwelcome speech because it reveals facts that the supervisor would rather not have anyone else discover?"

Also, Justice Souter wrote:

"This significant, albeit qualified, protection of public employees who irritate the government is understood to flow from the First Amendment, in part, because a government paycheck does nothing to eliminate the value to an individual of speaking on public matters, and there is no good reason for categorically discounting a speaker's interest in commenting on a matter of public concern just because the government employs him. Still, the First Amendment safeguard rests on something more, being the value to the public of receiving the opinions and information that a public employee may disclose."

From Justice Breyer's dissent:

"The speech of vast numbers of public employees deals with wrongdoing, health, safety, and honesty; for example, police officers, firefighters, environmental protection agents, building inspectors, hospital workers, bank regulators, and so on. Indeed, this categorization could encompass speech by an employee performing almost any public function, except perhaps setting electricity rates."

A Web Walkabout

So many oddities and curiosities abound across the internet, many of which defy explanation, such as the first entry -- using the crucifixtion to encourage voters in a bid to combat a proposal to allow for sales of alcohol. (via Joshua Blankenship)

The next entry takes us to Japan to view a new craze, hikaru dorodango I really do not understand how it can be possible to make a shiny mud ball. Then again, it was mostly pity that prompted my geology professor to give me a passing grade.

Some sad news - last Saturday one of the great artists and animators of the last 50 years passed away, Alex Toth. Toth created Space Ghost, Josie and the Pussycats, took the TV show Zorro to the comics and helped create characters for shows like Jonny Quest and many other Hannah-Barbera cartoons in the 1960s. He worked in just about every genre - westerns, romance, adaptions, superheroes, mystery and horror, and much more.

Samples of his style are featured on his web site.

I've noticed some discussions of late about the federal government's Video News Releases programs, often showing up on a local newscast unidentified as a government-created news release. Despite the FCC's memo from April of this year, incidents continue to occur.

Between 2003 and 2005 the Bush administration has spent $1.3 billion on "pre-packaged news."
And, uh ... hint for the DC cabal ... it's not working.

Million Dollar Budget Errors, Growing Deficits

A very real concern for local taxpayers is being mostly ignored and rising costs of operations at almost every level of Hamblen County government indicates a major tax increase is on the way.

One county commissioner has been actively trying to correct the problems in accounting and budget records, literally catching million dollar mistakes, though Commissioner Linda Noe is often dismissed by others on the commission and on county government as some sort of loose cannon. It's obvious however that her efforts continue uncover serious problems.

Commissioner Noe's blog has been focused of late on what she calls a "perfect tax storm" and here are some excerpts:

"Our first budget meeting on May 16 got us off to an odd start as we looked at the county debt budget for next year. About midway through the discussion, I pointed out that there was a $1,000,000 error (yes, that's one million dollars) in the debt payment budget we had just been given for the 06-07 budget year.

The budget we had been given showed that our debt payments would be a little over $1,300,000 in 06-07. I asked Finance Director Nicole Epps to check her figures and see if debt payments would actually be closer to $2,300,000.

Nicole looked back through debt information, did some calculations, and then told us that, yes, one debt payment (line-item) was "off" by $130,000 and, yes, another debt payment (line-item) was "off" by $870,000, and, yes, the total general debt payments would be $2,300,000 (instead of the $1,300,000 we had been given).

We got the corrected debt payment budget at our May 23 meeting. What a rude awakening there would have been down the road if we had approved the debt budget with the $1,000,000 error!

We also discussed the overall county debt. The total debt is about $46 million in principal alone (not including yearly interest charges that have to be paid). And that $46 million county debt figure does not include any of the huge M-H hospital debt that is kept in a separate debt fund.

In discussing the county debt, I asked whether the county had just been paying interest only on the four big $10 million dollar bond issues. Joe Ayers of Cumberland Securities answered "yes."

What this means is that over the past 6-7 years, we have added $40 million worth of debt but we have yet to pay a dime toward the principal of that debt. We are currently scheduled to start paying down this $40 million bond debt in 2009."

Here's another entry:

"If the revenue and expenditure figures do not change a lot in the next few weeks and if we keep approving all the spending that is in front of us, then we will be looking at a deficit general fund budget for 06-07. We will have slowly approved spending more than we expect to take in.

And that would be a deficit budget before there is any talk at all about pay raises or the school budget!

It's full steam ahead to approve all the spending increases and then saddle the taxpayers with higher tax rates this year on top of last year's higher property appraisals--the old double whammy right in the pocketbook."

And again, it's noted that budget figures presented to the full commission are based on one set of estimates via the county mayor's office versus basing them on the correct audited figures available.

"Using the computer records means that we are using unaudited and uncorrected numbers even though Commission adopted audited-based budgeting years ago for the purpose of having the most accurate available record of county spending in front of us during each budget cycle.

All the historical spending (02-03, 03-04, 04-05) that commission has been given comes from unaudited/uncorrected computer records even though audits for all three of those years were available on March 31.

This commission wanted and voted for more accuracy in the budgeting process by adopting audited-based budgeting, but we didn't get it.

It is unfortunate that the County Mayor and his Finance Department have snubbed the entire Commission.

Actually, it is more than unfortunate and it is more than a snub.

Taxpayers, too, deserve to know that the most accurate records available --audited records--are given to their commissioners and are used by the County Mayor and the Finance Department in the budget cycle.

This is just one of the reasons I spoke yesterday of the mess we are in after just three budget meetings."

As I have mentioned before - ignoring these critical funding discrepancies is perilous for taxpayers.

Confessions of a "Lost" American

Confessing my shallow interests in television is not a proud moment, but I'm not alone in my interest in the "Lost" series. It is a rather finely constructed web of deceits and mysteries which can both follow typical TV conventions as well as distort them, reminding me of such other great programs which I became addicted to like "Twin Peaks" and "The Prisoner".

Thanks to Big Orange Michael, I read a most interesting theory about the Real Meaning of the events on the show in Entertainment Weekly. (Side note: Being caught reading EW is akin to someone catching you reading US Weekly and as I rule I read neither. Honest-to-Pete I don't.)

Writing here about a TV show is a feat of sheer Geekiness, but thanks to Bill Gates and bad reality television, Geek is In. Embracing your inner (or outer for that matter) Geek is the hallmark of the moment.

Apologies aside, the above-mentioned theory calls into importance the writings of Charles Dickens, master storyteller and the man who perfected serial storytelling. I'm sure the writers of "Lost" have more than a passing admiration for Dickens, as most good writers do. And you can read the book which the character of Desmond, one-time hatch-inhabitant, holds so dear in the last episode, "Our Mutual Friend", by clicking here.

Speaking of television viewing - I did not realize at the time that I had chosen to watch the 3-hour movie of Stephen King's "Desperation" rather than watch the finale of "American Idol" -- wouldn't watch that anyway, unless someone was holding a gun to my pointed little head. It was a fine peice of work -- and Stephen himself was most annoyed the suits at ABC put his gem up against the Idol finale.

And that leads to one other noteworthy event for summer viewing - TNT has made a mini-series of his "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" which will air in July.

OK, enough of this attention paid to television. A writer has no place discussing it - or does he??

Song For Memorial Day

WWBD??

Cowabunga, dude.

Be sure to make one of your own.

Yeah, Right, I Made *Smirk* Mistakes

Take a look at the smirk on our President's face as he and British P.M. Blair tell reporters that their efforts to combat terrorism have had a few mistakes.

As noted in other blogs, it appears the confession really wasn't an admission of mistakes, more a regret for the choice of wording.

As before, the lyrics to "My Way" must be running through the mind of the Commander In Chief.

"Regrets, I've had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way."

Congress Squeals For Protection- UPDATE

UPDATE: A Katrina-style storm is about to breach the levees in Washington as the Congress, the President, the FBI, Justice Dept. and the courts wrangle and battle over the corruption investigations in Congress.

The Post today says the top three officials at Justice, including Attorney General Gonzales, threatened to resign if records and documents seized in the court-approved raid on Congressman Jefferson's office had to be returned. That prompted President Bush to step into a real hornets nest to order the info be sealed.

From Friday:

Congressional leaders continue to allow liberty and individual rights to drift further and further away from average citizens, but when it comes to keeping themselves free from scrutiny and investigaton, they are united.

I doubt may voters have any sympathy for them, since they have abandoned us. Scandals, corruption, and the inability to encourage ethical behavior has meant their approval ratings are even below the Bushh free fall into negativity.

An editorial in today's USA Today (the less filling, more taste newspaper) they call the political leaders out:

"Now we know what it takes to make Congress mad enough to stand up for constitutional rights.

When the government snoops on your phone calls and records without warrants, lawmakers barely kick up a fuss. But when the target is a fellow congressman — one under investigation for taking a bribe, no less — they're ready to rumble.

Witness the bipartisan frenzy set off after the FBI searched the Capitol Hill offices of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., on Saturday. The FBI had a court order. According to an FBI affidavit, he was videotaped taking $100,000 in cash from an investor working undercover for the FBI. Agents found $90,000 of it stuffed in his freezer at home, the affidavit said.

Never mind all that. Leaders of the House of Representatives are appalled. They say the search violated the Constitution's separation of powers, "designed to protect the Congress and the American people from abuse of power."

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who rarely agree on anything, demanded that the Justice Department return the "unconstitutionally seized" documents. House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said the episode raised "profoundly disturbing" questions. He set a hearing for Tuesday to ask: "Did the Saturday night raid of Congress trample the Constitution?"

If only those leaders were as profoundly disturbed about executive branch incursions on the rights of average citizens. You certainly have to wonder where they've been for the past several years while the Bush administration ran roughshod over the legislative branch and launched anti-terror programs of questionable legality.

Last December, The New York Times revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) was wiretapping international phone calls without court warrants. Hastert didn't make a peep. Pelosi and other Democrats loudly protested, but nothing came of it. As it turns out, Pelosi was part of a tiny leadership group that had been briefed on the program since October 2001.

The scenario repeated itself this month when USA TODAY revealed that the NSA has collected millions of phone records.

So now the leadership swings into action because the FBI searched a Capitol Hill office for evidence of criminal activity?"

Camera Obscura: Cemetery Man, X-Men, Comics Galore

The critic is: IN. The movies: Obscure and Mainstream. The News: Sneak peeks at movies out this summer. Ah, yes, faithful followers, it's time to talk movies and we have a bona fide horror gem from the early 90s fresh to DVD; a Canadian treasure; a look at what oddities are ahead this summer and the bad news about X-Men 3.

This week new previews of Marvel Comics "Ghost Rider" were released (the movie stars Nicolas Cage, who turned down a proposed "Superman" role and went for the flamin' skeleton on a motorcycle. Who wouldn't? The preview is here.

Director Jon Favreau has "Iron Man" details here, in a deal that takes all the Marvel titles away from Hollywood control. In fact, Marvel has a whole stack of heroes in the pipeline, including Nick Fury!! (Please never watch that lousy David Hasselhoff TV movie from a few years ago.)

The big comics-to-movies news is the third X-Men movie - and the critics so far say it's all hat and no cattle. Meaning it's effects-heavy and story-light. I admit, the idea of Kelsey Grammer as The Beast is almost enough to keep me away from the movie. It opens everywhere today. (and remember, film critics seldom get the comic book lovers appreciation for the stories told in panels and word balloons.)

And wouldn't you know it - the one movie featured at the Cannes Festival I'd like to see, "Southland Tales" by the director/writer of "Donnie Darko" can't seem to find a distributor. J. Hoberman has a review of "Southland Tales", a Phillip Dick inspired sci-fi end-of-the world musical and satiric jab at national security issues, along with a wrap-up of all things Cannes here. He calls "Southland" one of the first great, visionary flicks of 2006. (Also the movie is linked to a series of soon to be released graphic novels.)

"Southland Tales"

Constant readers here know how much I looooove horror films and I have a real gem from the 1990s today, thanks to the folks at Anchor Bay and M-80 Teams for the screener copy of "Cemetery Man."

Released in the mid-90s and made in 1994 "Cemetery Man" is a jaw-dropping mix of zombies and doomed love starrring Rupert Everett. I caught this movie on it's original run and the Italian-French production (dubbed in English) presents a very stylish and gruesome movie -- imagine if Fellini and Bergman made a zombie movie with Sam Raimi and you'll get an idea of what the movie is like. I think it's the only art-house zombie flick I've ever seen.

"Cemetery Man"

Rupert plays the watchman at a cemetery, along with a nearly mute helper, who has a problem - the dead keep coming back. He does his best to keep the zombies at bay, but when he sees a widow, an ephemeral beauty in black, one day, he falls in love - of course, she's bitten by her dead husband and becomes a member of the walking dead club.

This is the surface of the story, but the real surprise is how smart the script is and how gorgeous the visuals look. There are many layers here and many surprises. It's very funny, grim and artfully made. It was way past time for a decent DVD version of this movie and I think it's a forgotten classic of the genre. Pick up a copy when it's released in June. (And remember, NEVER bury a motorcyle with a corpse.)

This week a reader asked if I had seen a very odd release from director Guy Maddin, called "The Saddest Music In The World", and what my thoughts on it were. This is not a typical movie in any way. Maddin, a Canadian, seldom uses any technology not available to filmmakers in the early silent cinema of the 1900s. Using eight and sixteen millimeter for the most part, filming mostly black and white, smearing lenses with vaseline and using iris-outs, his movies seldom appeal to the masses.

"Saddest Music" is about a competition to find the saddest music, hosted by beer baroness Isabella Rossellini, who has lost her legs and replaced them with glass legs. It only gets stranger as you watch it. There is much satire here and much, much strangeness as only Maddin could make.

I first encountered Maddin in 1991 when I saw his movie "Archangel" in a dinky screening room in Greenwich Village. Maddin somehow always makes amputees and amnesia central to his movies, which I suppose is his preferred metaphor for the theme in all his movies - loss. He's an acquired taste, no doubt. Though I have enjoyed his movies, I was not able to sit through his version of Dracula, titled "Dracula: Pages From A Virgin's Diary", as it was really a filmed ballet. Yes, I said ballet.

Some things are too weird, even for me.

UPDATE: The announced release of the original theatrical "Star Wars" movies got worse - no letterbox version, just a pan and scan format for TV screens.

And weep for Britney/Federline 'cause it's over.

"Kung Fu" creators are taking Caine's story to the big screen.

Is Hell Freezing Over?

A tax on long distance service dating back to the late 1800s and used to help finance the Spanish American war is being repealed and more amazing, the government says you can reclaim some of the money on next year's tax return. Details here.

Efforts are still underway to eliminate an excise tax on local phone service.

"So taxpayers won't have to spend time digging through old telephone bills, we're designing a straightforward process that taxpayers may use when they file their tax returns next year, said IRS Commissioner Mark Everson. "Claiming a refund will be simple and fair."

[Treasury Secretary] Snow said he could not specify how much of the refund might be made to businesses and how much to individuals, or estimate the size of refund an average individual could expect to get.

He also urged Congress to repeal the excise tax on local telephone service. The Justice Department had appealed in U.S. courts to keep the long-distance tax but was turned back several times."

Did it just get frosty in Hell? How unreadable and obscure are other sections of a typical phone bill?

In an unrelated yet pertinent event, I noticed in a movie from 1989 that a character was speaking to someone thru a device that was a heavy-looking rectangle of black with a curly cord attached to one end ... and I thought, how many people have never used a phone with one of those unmanageable loops of cord connecting a handset to a base? (Handset?? Base???)

It's Officially Towel Day!

It's time to grab a towel and flag down an interstellar ride!

" A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough."

Principal Told To Drop Case Against Student

Some updates on stories from yesterday.

As mentioned yesterday, the case involving a Gallatin senior who spoke out at the school's graduation won't be charged with a crime after all. National and international bloggers and news reports seems to have made the necessary impact. Criminal charges against the student were just wrong. And maybe the school will start allowing for academic achievers to have a voice in graduation ceremonies. Maybe.

Also, the Justice Dept. says that House Speaker Hastert is not under investigation and requested ABC issue a retraction to the story - however ABC maintains that the story was meant to indicate he is "in the mix" of persons involved in congressional probes of bribery and corruption. This story will tumble about for months before it ends - how many will be charged? Hard to say at this point, but I expect after a few perfunctory fall guys get pinned, the whole mess will get swept aside until after this fall's elections.

Newscoma has a great clip of newsman Jack Cafferty calling out the hypocrisy in Congress.

DeLay Uses Colbert as Defense and Other Ironies

As rumors of investigations and scandal continue to swirl over congress it is obvious that Weird and Ironic will be the twin dangers like Scylla and Charybdis, waiting to swallow those who are too close.

First is the truly amazing story that Tom DeLay's Legal Defense Fund has decided that comedian Steven Colbert's satire is DeLay's best defense. Astonishing on so many levels and just darned funny too.

And I must wonder, since the news was released today that the Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is under investigation by the FBI as part of a massive corruption scandal -- was that why he was so upset that the FBI actually raided a congressional office?

Hastert's web page even goes so far as to express grave concern about warrants or the lack of them, and the the importance of Constitutional rights and consolidating power in one branch of government.

Now, he's concerned. When it was just the average American whose rights were being trampled, well that's national security.

High School Grad Faces Criminal Charge For Speaking

I had thought of providing an address to the graduates of 2006, a commencement speech which might offer something useful to grads leaving school behind and entering the working world. However, I read a story today about a valedictorian from Gallatin who experienced a volatile blend of just how silly both school and non-school worlds truly are.

The school oddly does not allow for top academic performers to speak at graduation. Applause from the audience is also banned and spectators are threatened with criminal charges.

Criminal charges have been filed against valedictorian Chris Linzy for defying the ban on speaking at the ceremony and now school officials say his diploma is on hold and school officials have confiscated his records.

Welcome to America 2006, Chris.

He did write and submit an apology to the school board for "disrupting" the ceremony. Apparently, the board wants to pursue the issue into criminal court.

TGW has a post about this, including contact info to tell school officials what you think.

And here are Chris' comments which brought out the rabid, senseless anger of the principal of the school, titled:

People who need to be heard are silenced

By Christopher David Linzy

Guest commentary

Christopher David Linzy, member of a generation not without heroes but worse with counterfeit heroes.

This is not because those persons that deserve to be role models do not exist but instead because these people that need to be heard most in our society are silenced by the roar of counterfeit personalities.

The great industrialists and philosophers of our society are drowned out by nihilistic and altruistic celebrity voices that preach a message the end result of which is in fact the destruction of our industrial world.

These people have become our generation'’s only guides and this is why we live in a moral vacuum. With no one to inspire us to pursue our desires and personal goals we turn instead to the mindless goal of the so called collective mind. Individuals are lost in a sea of disillusion and decay.

This however can be stopped. Our generation can turn back the tide of decay and build a new America upon the values of reason and individuality. We can lead not only ourselves but all who follow us out of the swamp of the mind and onto ground paved with individual morality and reason driven ambitions.

UPDATE: The principal at the school was ordered to provide the diploma Linzy earned. No word yet if the idiotic criminal charge is going to be dismissed. However the one enormous positiver from this chuckle-headed, fearful action by the principal -- it has insured that bloggers and news sites around the state and the nation are providing copies of Linzy's words to a massive audience. Can't silence that, can they? (thanks to NiT for the news update)

Not To Be Missed

There's still time for you to get involved and add your questions to the ever-growing list of inquiries into what you, dear readers, want to have me answer. Perhaps it's personal or perhaps it's something more .... well, something more. Some samples from the list now include:

-- It is winter of 1874. You are leading the Brady Bunch (including Alice and Tiger) from Provo, Utah to Breckinridge, Colorado in search of gold, when something goes horribly awry. Which Brady do you cannibalize first, and why?

-- You have fallen out the window into a vat of toxic waste, and have transformed into the Toxic Joe-venger, super hero extraordinaire. What is your super power?

-- Who does your hair?

-- When did you decide journalism was for you?

And, who knew, some of the questions submitted got some answers already:

-- Zombies are overrunning Morristown! Which weapon do you grab first? Moonshine and a Moon Pie

I asked myself a question just last night - If I were a congressman would I rather be videotaped by the FBI for hauling giant packs of $100 bills in bribe money into my car or sneaking around Britney Spears waiting for a chance to trip her as she ran away from photographers while loosely holding an infant?

You can add yours to the comments on this post or on this one -- I am quite sure the final result will be a post not to be missed and thanks for asking.

Locals Foot Bill For Cheney Fundraiser

A couple of thoughts about how taxpayer dollars are being spent or should be spent.

Enclave has the details about how the $13,000 plus expenses for security were charged to taxpayers for a GOP fundraising event led by V.P. Cheney. I'd like one reason why fundraising dollars should NOT pay for this rather than taxpayers.

Also, some debate about extra revenue for the state is just silly. First, these are "projected increases" and haven't even been counted much less captured by the state yet. And second, for all the whining about funding education, why buck the notion that any extra earnings should go into education? What hypocrisy.

The spend, spend, spend philosphy needs to keep focused on improving fundings for programs that will increase jobs - like the proposal to encourage filmmaking in the state - and keeping the state's reserve fund strong. That also provides a better rating statewide for fiscal responsibility.

Science Helps Find Worst Song Ever

We all have our reasons for liking a certain song, and now we have science backing our gut reactions. Sometimes the tunes we encounter each day affect us in such a harsh and negative way it's almost inexplicable.

Not anymore. Now the scientific method has been applied to the issue and the result is categorized elements which lead to hating a song. The basic goal of the research was to find an answer to the question "What is the worst song ever?" The result is a paper titled "The Pain, The Pain: Modelling Music Information Behavior and The Songs We Hate." Glad to see college students are getting science and research into the burning questions of our time. Oh, and creating nifty terms like Music Information Retrieval

Read the full report here (via MetaFilter).

The report does identify the Worst Song Ever and I totally agree it is painfully awful. My question is what do we do to stop the millions of people who paid money to hear the tune voted most awful? Why did it irritate so much? The report says

" ... respondents objected to its earworm qualities, lyrics, overly-simple melody, its taste culture, and yes, even cited personal associations (“My ex used to try to dance to it when we went out, and I have hated it and him since”)."

One respondent to the inquiry claimed the Gershwin tune "Summertime" was the worst, leaving an emotional stain on the listener. I don't understand that at all - who hates a tune that can be covered by the likes of Janis Joplin, The Zombies, The Beatles, James Brown - in fact one site claims it has been recorded more than 2600 times!

And while I agree that the tune cited in the report as Worst is bad - the most recent winner of the Worst Song Award is the "My Humps" tune by The Black-Eyed Peas. Did I say tune? I meant "tuneless".

Smells Like A Raid On Teen Savings

Part of the much-praised tax cuts signed into law includes a provision to triple the taxes on teenagers who have savings acounts for college, and even higher on the interest generated, according to a report in the NYTimes.

Claims are made that nearly $2 billion in revenue over a 10 year period will be achieved. Taxes are to be applied retroactive to Jan 1, 2006.

Americans For Tax Reform and their president Grover Norquist, who got 256 members of Congress to sign a pledge not to increase taxes, says:

"Mr. Norquist, in an interview Thursday, said he was unaware that the bill raised taxes and tax rates on teenagers with college savings funds because "no one here noticed" the provisions. But Mr. Norquist called the bill raising taxes on teenagers with investment income "a technical violation of the pledge" and noted that his group opposes all retroactive tax increases. He pledged to immediately begin a campaign to have the tax increases rescinded"

I understand some children save change in piggy banks and some mythical Tooth Fairy leaves currency for teeth, too. Is it time for a Tooth Tax?

300th Post and A Request

A minor milestone today, but large enough for me to take note of it. This marks the 300th post on this blog. I have discovered that my feeble mind encounters not a learning curve about web publishing but an line that goes straight up - and I know I have barely begun to scale this wall of knowledge and have miles to go.

For instance, some of you who use an Internet Explorer browser to view this page are getting some garbled layout. Myself, I use Mozilla/Firefox and on that it appears much as I planned for it to look.

That simply means reading lines of code looking for oddities and making sure some images are properly sized, yatta yatta boring stuff here.

On Day One of this Cup of digital Joe, I posted 4 times. but usually I keep it two or three a day. And my mom says I get long-winded and need to alter my style for this medium. Well, I am what I am.

Also on Day One I noted a report from Pew Research which claimed a new blog was created every 5.8 seconds or about 15,000 new ones each day. Getting any readers in such a crowded field has been a little easier than I thought, to be honest, and as I look at readership for this page, I find a line that goes straight up - just like that not-a-curved-line aspect to my education about web publishing.

Large thanks are due to many readers, fellow bloggers and blog groups which have helped me learn to share what I write here - especially the Rocky Top Brigade and more recently Nashville Is Talking (thanks too for allowing me to host the site this past weekend!!)

I still read far more than I write and often take a few days to consider what I've read in order to offer an informed opinion. Hopefully, anway.

Following the idea I stole - er, got - from a fellow blogger, in honor of this post, I'd like you, dear readers, to submit questions about me, your humble narrator, which you'd like to know. If I can get, oh, say 50 to 100, I'll answer them. If I don't get that many, I'm likely to remain obscure and quiet on biographical topics.

Place your question in the comments section or send them to my email address, which you can find in my profile.

Thanks for reading - and as always, there will be more later today!

Your Personal Invitation

I'm approaching my 300th post here - a minor achievement for some, but large for me - and to celebrate I'm guest-blogging at Nashville Is Talking for the weekend. Having grown up in Middle TN, it's nice to be back, virtually speaking.

Come join me - suggest topics or links, lurk, and generally add your 2 cents.

For NIT readers arriving here for the first time, please take your time, scan through the posts here and you'll understand why folks like their Cup of Joe.

Man, I love the shameless self-promotion opportunities like this.

Camera Obscura - A New Western and A Classic Turkey

Got a peek at some new movies, some not so new, and what??? The French don't like little Ronnie Howard's version of "DaVinci Code"? Yeah, like that will affect the ticket sales the first weekend. Also, Mr. Spielberg wants you to show off your filmmaking skills for a new "reality" show. Oh, and I'll be guest blogging at Nashville Is Talking this weekend, so be sure to come visit!

Wonder why it is that most of us film critics love the Western? Without Clint Eastwood though, can't say many filmmakers try the genre anymore - I said filmmakers not Kevin Costner.

Punk rock legend and now screenwriter Nick Cave has a new Australian western opening today called "Proposition" that is a grim and violent tale of moral wastelands and stars Guy Pearce and Danny Huston (yes, that Huston family) and follows the Sam Peckinpah style for Westerns. The story is set in the 19th century Australian outback as three deadly brothers run from the law and challenge each. Though likely to find a more welcome home on the Cult Movie Trail, you can read more about this feature here, which also has a preview of the movie.

You've got a directing call on "The Lot", which has the unlikely team of Steve Spielberg and Mark Burnett offering a $1 million development deal at DreamWorks. Contestants will have to make short films which please judges and viewers to win. Apply online at The Lot.com.

I had a most enjoyable time with the comedy-action-adventure "The Brothers Grimm" by Terry Gilliam starring Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. If you don't know, long before it was all Disneyfied, folk tales collected by these brothers shaped the creations of childhood stories from Sleeping Beauty to Snow White and far beyond. Monica Bellucci has the juicy part of the evil witch, evoking decades of Disney animation.

This movie is a great blending of fact, fantasy and history more in line with Gilliam's earlier work, like "Time Bandits", so if you liked that one - this will be most welcome. It's a phantasmagoria ride thru the con game of storytelling, myth, politics and innocence lost. And true to Gilliam's style, the movie was haunted with problems and delays but the end result was most fine. I particularly liked how Heath and Matt both kept skidding through the mud and rain - what's a Gilliam film without mud and rain??

I watched a real gem of a movie this week, haven't seen it in years. It was too hip for the room when it came out in 1971, and still has yet to find a DVD or VHS release, so look for it on cable - definitely worth the search.

"Cold Turkey" is a brilliant satire on America by writer/director Norman Lear and includes a great Randy Newman tune, "He Gives Us All His Love", which frames the movie perfectly. The story is about a giant tobacco corporation which decides to offer any town that can quit smoking for 30 days $25 million - thinking it's an impossible task. The lure of money is too great for Eagle Rock, Iowa and that premise is just a springboard for a stabbing satire on small towns, industry, television and personal politics.

Made in the days just after cigarette ads were banned on TV, it has a low-key comedy all-star lineup. Bob Newhart gets the role of the evil tobacco PR man who concocts the scheme, Dick Van Dyke as the self-righteous preacher who craves a better life and the best use ever on camera of comedy legends Bob and Ray, who blast the media impersonating Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Paul Harvey and many more.

I fell in love with the movie when I saw it decades ago and it remains all it's teeth and bite decades later.

Duh! Senate Realizes English Be Spoke Here

In a bold stroke of stating the obvious, the Senate has approved legislation making English the official language of this country. Um ... it already was. Did we need a federal law to make it so?

I agree with the following comment from Sen. Harry Reid on this one:

"Although the intent may not be there, I really believe this amendment is racist. I believe it is directed at people who speak Spanish"

All of the mangled mess of immigration legislation will require those who'll be elected in the fall to be on clean-up duty, meaning I doubt these current "reforms" will stand for very long. Seems there's so much unreasoning, isolationist fear that regular voters will have to do some cleaning out too.

Or we can continue the trend to pass meaningless law -

Like making the Sky and Clouds the official Overhead Part of the Country.

Silly, yes? Then the motives behind this legislation are clear - to exclude, isolate, imtimidate. Maybe we should pass a Dialect Law in Tennessee. Outlaw the Georgia Drawl!!

As Homer Simpson said, "Why should I learn English? I don't live in England!"

Since I have a degree in English - am I a Federal Employee now?

A Very Unscientific Survey

The following is meant to be a probe of reader's opinions, and as David Letterman might say, "please, no wagering". It's also a chance for readers here to share their views and ease my curiosity about the world around me and around you. So take a few moments, and leave a response. Much thanks!

1 - Is illegal immigration in the U.S. at a critical phase or is this issue being used to distract Americans from other problems?

2 - On illegal immigrants, the Senate has okayed a plan to build a 370-mile section of fence and the deployment of troops on the southwest border. Do you think this will help resolve the issue?

3 - Much press is given to the plummeting approval ratings for President Bush. His wife said such polls are meaningless. Has your view of the President, whether you voted for him or not, changed in a positive or negative direction since he took office?

4 - The state is considering a statewide increase to the minimum wage to $6.15, Good idea or not??

5 - Of all the movies hyped for release for summer, have you said, "Oh I got to see that one!" and which one is it (if any)?

Thanks. Tried to keep this one very short and simple. Have at it!

Computer Cookies

I was running one of those spyware programs on the computer today and I get this incredible warning about a dangerous amount of cookies lodged deep within the basic structure of my operating systems.

I cautiously explored the dangerous areas noted and much to my surprise, indeed I did find a huge collection of cookies.

Be very afraid.

Pimp Out Your Teeth On MTV

MTV is dead and empty as a place for music. I've noticed it and now so have much younger folk than I. Just read some of the thoughts of a high school sophomore.

"MTV is everything it wasn't born to be. It was born to be a music channel. It is now a reality-TV safe haven. It's a pathetic excuse for a music channel.

Let's change the name to the more appropriate "BTV"--Bad Reality Television."

It became pretty obvious during the late 80s and 90s that the M stood for Marketing, and at that, it's been most successful. That idea hit the other day when, coming back from Georgia, I made a stop in Cleveland, TN at a fast food place. (Not my choice, but my mom's.) Anyway, I talked to this black kid who worked there and he tried to respond, but he had a tough time talking around his silver teeth grill.

We even have a teeth grill shop in Morristown. How modern. Sorry, make that "grillz". No shizzle, dizzle.

I don't even see/hear decent videos or music on M2 or any of their variants. In the homemade world of YouTube, there are better videos, more of them and lots of classics too. Like this astonishing trio of Derek and the Dominoes, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins.

TN Suit Over Phones Database

One Tennessee resident has filed a suit against phone giant Bell South over their actions of providing phone information to the NSA. However, despite published reports, phone companies claim they have not provided any such info the the NSA. And to make this trail more twisty, the White House, which had claimed no such massive database in the NSA from phone records, has now decided now to inform congressional committees about the NSA domestic spying programs after congress invoked the always-spooky and murky maze of the 1947 National Security Act.

Oooooooh, I'm getting dizzy from all the spin. "Press one if you want to file suit, press two if you need a non-denial denial, press three if you're a reporter whose sources were outed, press three if you need a White House plumber, press four if you want to change the topic to illegal immigration and if you'd prefer to talk to a real person then hang up and go outside and one of our agents will meet you in the park by the old cannon. Your code phrase is "The chair is against the wall."

Both Bell South and Verizon claim they are not working with the NSA, though AT and T said they did work with law enforcement they avoided mention of the NSA. Since companies will track cell phone transactions and sell them to anyone, why all this secret investigation? Seems that all you need is a.) some cash and with the economy all good, no prob, or b.) a phone company employee who will provide the info on the sly so the company can claim no "official" action was taken.

Quick, which 1970s movie told the story of the phone company conspiracy behind a plot to take over the world and the assassination of a president??? Anyone?? Bueller? .... No? It's here.Time to put my aluminum hat back on!!

TN Death Penalty Debate

Inmate Sedley Alley, convicted of the 1985 murder of 19-year-old Suzanne Collins, is awaiting word from the state about whether or not his execution will take place Wednesday. The debate over his case in general and specific, as well as arguments from the tcask blog, are flying fast - you can view some of the state's blogosphere discussion via Nashville Is Talking.

The state Board of Probation and Parole has urged the governor to allow for a reprieve until some new DNA evidence is reviewed, a break for Ally and his decades-long appeals. The crime is plainly horrifying - the young girl was abducted, beaten, raped and impaled on a stick that had also been used to rape her. I can't imagine the grief and pain of her family and friends.

Also disgusting to me is use of the issue in the political world - but since this is a government-sanctioned process, politics rolls into the mix. Shame on those who use this tragedy to paint a political picture.

I've had friends whose parent died violently and the criminal convicted was not executed. I often saw and heard the rage and sorrow the event left behind. I know that nothing could have changed the emotional turmoil of that family. They were hurt in a way that couldn't be repaired. It was awful to see the damage done.

The endless appeals are in place for a reason - protection of a possibly innocent person. If guilt is clear and obvious 9 times out of 10, does that mean we, as a state and a people, sanction the death of that one innocent person?

I've yet to be shown in any way that the death penalty deters murder. And I know that just as a murderer can steal a life, a government - any government - can also make errors and take innocent lives too. Which means I'm opposed to the death penalty.

But we all should consider this issue since we, as a state, condone the death penalty. And the comments mentioned above merit much debate and reflection.

UPDATE: via The Tennessean ---Just eight hours before his appointed execution time, Sedley Alley was granted a reprieve by Gov. Phil Bredesen. The 15-day postponement would allow time for Alley to press his case in state court to get DNA testing done that could clear him.

Bredesen said in a statement issued shortly after 5 p.m. today that he believes Alley is guilty and issued the reprieve "reluctantly."

Alley’s attorneys said they are disappointed in the turn of events. They had hoped the governor would follow the parole board’s recommendation to order DNA testing be done.

The extra days, however, will permit Alley to pursue his petitions with the U.S. Supreme Court, said Kelley Henry, an assistant federal public defender representing Alley.

Voting Machines and Monkey-Eating Bears

A report finds it a bit too easy to hack into Diebold's electronic voting equipment, which the company says is no cause for alarm - that's the way the system was meant to function. The report reveals that a "malicious" person could add programming code which could lie dormant until needed - years, possibly. No - really? Voter fraud in the good ole U.S. of A.?

"One of them, however, seems to enable a malicious person to compromise the equipment even years before actually using the exploit, possibly leaving the voting terminal incurably compromised. These architectural defects are not in the election-processing system itself. However, they compromise the underlying platform and therefore cast a serious question over the integrity of the vote. These exploits can be used to affect the trustworthiness of the system or to selectively disenfranchise groups of voters through denial of service."

Darn those "malicious" people!!

You can access the full report from Black Box Voting via this link to PC World, where a Diebold spokesman says this issue is all in how you look at it:

"What they're proposing as a vulnerability is actually a functionality of the system," said spokesman David Bear. "Instead of recognizing the advantages of the technology, we keep ringing up 'what if' scenarios that serve no purpose other than to confuse and in some instances frighten voters."

Nevertheless, Diebold plans to address the issue in an upcoming version of the product, which will use cryptographic keys to ensure that only authorized software is installed on the machine, Bear said. He could not say when this feature would be added, but said that it could be available in time for the November 7 general election in the U.S."

Nothing to see here - just move along.

Now here's where all that time I spent reading science-fiction and fact becomes useful - computerized systems can be hacked by outsiders or insiders. It's sort of the nature of the beast - codewriters can change code to fit so a desired outcome is achieved.

It makes me think of a story I saw today, where visitors went to see "wild animals" at a Dutch Zoo - and my God, the animals were wild! Bears ate a monkey! And people saw it! Just too real a wildlife experience for ticket-buyers, I suppose

And problems with voting machines and memory cards were quite evident in the 2000 presidential election, as Black Box voting reported years ago and other news organizations reported in 2000. If you're like me, reading this account of Diebold's own memos about voter fraud might give you a headache.

You've been warned.

Just Record Everyone and Everything Maybe That'll Help

Since ABC news and their reporters have been told their phones are being tapped, recorded and stored in a database, it's Deja Vu time. The taps are not in search of terrorists, but in search for "leaks" of White House activities and policies. Welcome to another seige-mentality and the ever-reliable "plumbers" -- perhaps it's the inevitable mindset of group of wartime leaders whose military strategies can't seem to find the boat that actually takes them to the Port of Mission Accomplished.

Perhaps the Us vs.Them philosophy only allows for the inevitable paranoia even here within our own country, where an act of protest is ruled an act of "mental instability". Don't think that could happen? Ask Carol Fisher, who was forced into a psych unit by a judge just for daring to express a non-White House opinion. (Hey, we all have enemies lists ... don't we??)

Or maybe ABC shouldn't be reporting this, or this or this.

Even those in charge of warrentless domestic spying knew two years ago an investigation was inevitable, why else hire someone to train NSA workers about answering questions during a Congressional investigation into what the agency had been doing.

So they brought back the one person who had first-hand experience in just such matters:

"[Joseph] Tomba has a unique perspective on the subject. On Feb. 25, 1976, the West Virginia-born engineer became the first, and so far the only, NSA employee subpoenaed by Congress for his role in a domestic surveillance program. And because he was a less-than-cooperative witness before a House Government Operations subcommittee, he also became the only NSA employee to be recommended for a citation for contempt of Congress. The lack of cooperation wasn’t entirely his idea. As part of a sweeping assertion of executive privilege by President Gerald Ford, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered Tomba not to answer legislators’ questions, particularly those about Project Shamrock, under which NSA had spent the previous three decades intercepting almost all outgoing U.S. telegram traffic.

So we've all been here before. But that doesn't mean we should assume this is normal governmental attitudes or policies. It isn't. And thinking that it is makes it worse.

Plop - I Mean Pop Culture Roundup

So many, many joke present themselves when you mention that Paris Hilton is a video game. But the best one so far is that she dosen't know the name of it, despite making sure to hit the E3 show to promote it. The again, those who consume all things Hilton don't care what it's called do they?

The info is here, at a web site for snarky people. The even have a real life meeting of the famously failed Letterman-at-the-Oscars joke of "Oprah ... Uma ... Uma ... Oprah."

A very funny interview with actor Tom Hanks and the upcoming "DaVinci Code" hype was tackled with much style on the NPR game show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" which you can listen to here. I liked it when Roy Blount Jr asked Hanks "Did you deal directly to Satan or did His People talk to Your People?"

Also worth noting was a fine round of jokes about Drinking Monkeys and Marlon Brando's pants.

Students Ask Candidates About Patriot Act

The kids in the local schools know something about our nation and it's Constitution, and they have other smarts too, of course. But I was most happy the first question they brought before GOP candidates running for congress was about the Bill of Rights and concerns that the Patriot Act violates those standards.

"We studied the Bill of Rights, and it says we have the right of protection from unreasonable search and seizure. Do you think that parts of the Patriot Act violate that right? Why or why not, and what do you think should be done differently?”

The 4th Ammendment also says such searches require a court-issed warrant, too. According to the report in the Greeneville Sun, here's how the candidates asked that question responded and I'm not very surprised by their answers:

"Richard Roberts, a Greeneville attorney and businessman, said he does not think this right is violated by the Patriot Act, and noted that the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution to ensure its passage, and its protections are very important.

“The Patriot Act was a response to an attack,” Roberts said, mentioning the attacks on U.S. soil on Sept. 11, 2001, “and was a logical response to that threat.”

Of national concern today, Roberts said, is Americans’ disclosing information about the secrecy of telecommunications and wire fund transfers. “If we have questions about the appropriateness of a wiretap,” the law calls for having a judge look into the matter, he said.

Dr. Phil Roe, vice mayor of Johnson City and an obstetrician/gynecologist, said privacy is “a huge issue” in medicine, but the Constitution asks the president to see to the country’s security.

Roe said bioterrorism threats from “scary viruses” are something the Patriot Act can and should address, and he said he agreed with Roberts “completely. When people break the law, they should be punished.”

Retired federal prosecutor Dan Smith, of Johnson City, noted that the 4th Amendment does give the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, “but the emphasis is on ‘unreasonable,’” Smith said.

He said talk of “illegal wiretaps — that’s the liberal media saying it’s illegal.” Smith said he sees nothing improper about listening in to telephone calls from other countries to known or suspected terrorists."

No surprise to me the GOP sees Fear as motivation and reason enough to violate the Amendmment, and that the President's power to override courts and be the ultimate "decider".

It's a key element to the Bush presidency - he (and many of his supporters) - simply prefer a single "decider" to determine which laws are viable and which need only Presidential interpretation. Oh, and it's all the "liberal media's" fault that anyone has doubts about the need to create and store a massive databse of phone conversations.

Some argue that Congress gave him that authority after 9-11 and I'm happy the kids at least know to raise the question.

The entire article shows how much the candidates are following the president's key talking points on Iraq and the loss of jobs to overseas development and other issues.

If We'd Had Six Years of Al Gore

You know he enjoyed this. So did I.

Halliburton Solves Global Warming

An astonishing Truth is revealed, the problem of Global Warming has been resolved thanks to a simple but high-tech Halliburton survivial suit - check out the incredible pictures and this astonishing speech:

"An advanced new technology will keep corporate managers safe even when climate change makes life as we know it impossible."

"The SurvivaBall is designed to protect the corporate manager no matter what Mother Nature throws his or her way," said Fred Wolf, a Halliburton representative who spoke today at the Catastrophic Loss conference held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Amelia Island, Florida. "This technology is the only rational response to abrupt climate change," he said to an attentive and appreciative audience."
......
" The conference attendees peppered the duo with questions. One asked how the device would fare against terrorism, another whether the array of embedded technologies might make the unit too cumbersome; a third brought up the issue of the unit's cost feasibility. Wolf and Goody assured the audience that these problems and others were being addressed. "The SurvivaBall builds on Halliburton's reputation as a disaster and conflict industry innovator," said Wolf. "Just as the Black Plague led to the Renaissance and the Great Deluge gave Noah a monopoly of the animals, so tomorrow's catastrophes could well lead to good - and industry must be ready to seize that good."

Oh wait --- it's the Yes Men.

Once again they prove that comedy and satire cut to the heart of absurdity in the corporate and government mindset. Just as Steven Colbert did so recently. And these guys have shown just how gullible the working world can be, putting forth the outrageous and insane in a polished 3-peice suit and the ideas gain acceptance. Their movie is amazing, too.

Is what they do legal? They say, so far, so good!