Questionable Questions

Big surprise: G. O. P. Opens Intense Attack on the Choice and the Chooser (NY Times).

It's a little disconcerting that the Bush-Cheney Campaign shows how quick on its feet it can be, with a plethora of information ready to publish to one of it's many secured domains (KerryPicksEdwards.com, KerryPicksGephardt.com, KerryPicksVilsack.com, KerryPicksClark.com, KerryPicksBiden.com all now lead to a GOP "fact" sheet on Edwards [via Wonkette]) in an attempt to tear down an opponent when they can't even get their facts straight regarding the war on terror or the war in Iraq. Hey, guys, how about worrying about your own problems before Edwards'?

Their main arguments seem to be that:

1. Neither Edwards, nor Kerry for that matter, are "ready" to be President, which is funny since we don't even currently seem to have a President that's ready to be President. Yes, Bush was Governor of Texas for six years and being chief executive of a state is usually considered good training for a potential chief executive of the nation, but Edwards has been in the Senate for six years and probably has a greater understanding of foreign relations than Bush had when he moved to Washington.

2. Edwards is Kerry's second choice (after John McCain, which always seemed like more of a media wet dream than an actual possibility), which is funny because the president we currently have was a majority of voters' second choice in an election in which so many citizens were so unenthusiastic about either choice that they made no choice at all. Not to mention the fact that Cheney may very well have been Bush's second choice in 2000 (after John McCain supposedly declined, unwilling to be number two to the guy who basically called him a nut in the primaries). And to go even further back, wasn't George H.W. Bush Reagan's second choice after Gerald Ford declined the offer in 1980?

Ronald Reagan

As you have probably already learned, Ronald Reagan died today. I'm no great lover of conservatism, but, for some reason, I've always had a soft spot for Reagan. He was a likeable personality and I grew up with him as my President, some mythical leader of the country and the world-- and at my then-young age, beyond any sense of partisanship; I was not yet aware of the differences between Republicans and Democrats, just that every four years, for some reason, one person decided to challenge another person to be President. I was much more aware of the difference between America and the Soviet Union, with Reagan as our leader against what he called the "Evil Empire." To think of him makes me remember my childhood and what I remember most of all is the Challenger disaster. Like so many children in the Eighties, I dreamed of flying through space as an astronaut and whittled my crayons away drawing space shuttle after space shuttle. My parents always took the time to explain things to me that they must have known I couldn't have understood at the time, but because of their willingness, I was aware of what had happened with the hostages in Iran and I remember always being annoyed that Oliver North was on the television instead of cartoons during the Iran-Contra scandal. And I was even aware of Communism and the threat of nuclear build-up. But all this was very abstract to me, important, but beyond my grasp at the time. In contrast, the destruction of the space shuttle was not absract in the least. It was immediately tragic and I was shaken by it. Therefore, I've always appreciated the very simple, short speech Reagan gave in eulogy for the victims of the shuttle disaster:

"I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them...

"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honoured us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"
(read the full text)

Reagan has been out of the public view for a decade, suffering from Alzheimer's (a disease I unfortunately have some first hand experience with and perhaps another cause for the soft spot Reagan holds for me), but now that he is actually gone I will miss him.

Draft In June 2005?

It appears that the Bush Administration is basically preparing to reinstate the draft while no one is looking. If a war can't be supported by voluntary service, something is clearly wrong... and something was clearly wrong when this country was taken into a war that we didn't need to fight in the first place. How about changes in policy instead of flinging unwilling, probably demoralized kids into a meatgrinder.

If you hope that Congress will seek to and be successful in stopping this disgustingly reprehensible act, you should enter your Zip code in the "Take Action Now" section near the top of the alert. It's a very simple process and you should speak up whether you're for or against this.

MTA To Ban Shooting?

The MTA is considering a ban on photography in the subway system and on buses. Their claim is that picture-taking is a security concern and that this would be an action against would-be terrorists, supposedly trying to document our public transit system in planning their schemes.

At first, this seemed like a really bad idea, but you have to admit that if this ban was already in effect, we could have avoided that deadly rush hour incident a year and half ago with the suicide bomber on the Manhattan-bound 7 train; or the notorious R train hostage situation last month. Oh, wait, those never happened, did they? And if they had happened, no cameras would have been needed to carry them out. Why distract the police from looking for real criminals with silly bans?

Siren Gets Louder

Think you can brave the swarming, overheated, pale-turning-red, pushy hipster mass? Well, if you're not averse to cooking in an oven made up of asphalt and metal fencing while being basted in the sweat of people who don't know how to dress for the beach, the 2004 Village Voice Siren Music Festival will be the place for you come Saturday, July 17th. In addition to the previously announced line-up, five more acts were added this week. including the noisy delights of Mission Of Burma, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, and The Thermals. Altogether, this makes for a very tempting day at Coney Island, but every year of the festival so far has ended up being marred by frustations with the low quality sound (outdoor concerts almost always sound bad), the rudeness of the attendees (aforementioned hipsterati), and the logistical nightmare of simply getting to and from each of the stages. It comes down to these conditions versus seeing some great bands for free.

This new development was brought to our attention in various ways by Subinev.

No More Cameras

Time's website has a cartoon this week that begs the question: What kind of idiots break the law by torturing and violating prisoners and record the moment for posterity? Obviously, the way those prisoners were treated was horifically wrong, but is that type of thing really so shocking? It's war, and things like that happen, whether we find out or not. More shocking was that the soldiers took photos documenting their crimes. You have to be a fool to think that kind of behavior is acceptable, but you have to be a bigger fool to take pictures of it.

Troy

Troy is pretty much what you'd probably expect: an action movie in the guise of historical drama. It mostly moves from battle to battle with dramatic scenes in between that aim mostly to invest some sort of respect or likeability in whoever will be featured in the next fight so that you care whether they live or die. There is talk of "the gods" and their will, but they aren't treated as characters and are even called into question by a few of the main characters. Perhaps most interesting, is the way in which neither the Trojans or Greeks is really portrayed as the "bad guys." Achilles, the ostensible hero of the story from the Greek standpoint, is actually played quite skillfully by Brad Pitt as a reluctant warrior just as much at odds with the Greek king he despises as with the Trojan warrior he respects. That would be Hector, Prince of Troy, played by Eric Bana, who, through portraying his fear as well as his courage, makes him possibly the most likable character in the film. Oh, and of course there's that scene between Peter O'Toole and Brad Pitt which everyone's talking about. O'Toole is the King.

Where'd He Go?

Watching NBC's Meet The Press Sunday morning, you may have been surprised to see the camera suddenly pan away from Colin Powell during a taped interview with the Secretary Of State. Tim Russert, on his side of the split screen looked surprised and offended, while Powell, off camera, sounded angry as a woman's voice seemd to urge him to end the interview. From the transcript (via Gothamist):

Russert: Finally, Mr. Secretary, in February of 2003, you placed your enormous personal credibility before the United Nations and laid out a case against Saddam Hussein citing...

[blogger's note: it's at this point that the camera on Powell suddenly pans away]

Powell: Not off.

Emily: No.  They can't use it.  They're editing it.  They (unintelligible).

Powell: He's still asking me questions.  Tim.

Emily: He was not...

Powell: Tim, I'm sorry, I lost you.

Russert: I'm right here, Mr. Secretary.  I would hope they would put you back on camera.  I don't know who did that.

Powell: We really...

Russert: I think that was one of your staff, Mr. Secretary.  I don't think that's appropriate.

Powell: Emily, get out of the way.

Emily: OK.

Powell: Bring the camera back, please.  I think we're back on, Tim.  Go ahead with your last question.

Russert then asks his final question, which Powell answers and the tape ends. Live, Russert continues:

Russert:  And that was an unedited interview with the secretary of state taped earlier this morning from Jordan.  We appreciate Secretary Powell's willingness to overrule his press aide's attempt to abruptly cut off our discussion as I began to ask my final question.

Powell was impressive in his handling of a potentially bad situation for him and perhaps Russert and MTP were a bit ballsy to show the interview without editing. After seeing it, I wondered if it would get any attention, but so far I've only seen mention of it on Gothamist.

The Weekend

Plans for the weekend? Troy opens today. Director Wolfgang Petersen has made at least one great movie: Das Boot; but since then, besides the admittedly entertaining In The Line Of Firethere hasn't much to impress (Outbreak? Air Force One? Please...). However, I'm a sucker for a well-done historical epic. Throw in one of the greatest actors of all-time-- Peter O'Toole in a role that could finally land him the Oscar he's deserved for over forty years-- and that's a deal.

I also suggest heading out to see A Place To Bury Strangers tomorrow at Rothko on the LES. You'll thank yourself in the morning.

Doll Parts

For Courtney Love the proverbial "ugly stick" has struck again (via whatevs via gothamist)-- apparently she's been hanging out in a stable because it looks like a horse kicked her in the face. No, wait, that's just really bad plastic surgery

I am doll eyes
Doll mouth, doll legs
I am doll arms
Big veins, dog bait

I am doll parts
Bad skin, doll heart
It stands for a knife
For the rest of my life