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Michael Parker's Journal
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Friday, October 29, 2004 |
In 1984, the Reagan administration attempted to use Bruce Springsteen's gargantuan hit anthem Born In the USA as their election campaign theme song. Twenty years later, we are not hearing just a Springsteen song piped over loud-speakers at a Kerry campaign. We have Springsteen in the flesh, singing and campaigning for Kerry in person.
After today's appearance before an estimated crowd of 100,000 in Madison, Wisconsin, Springsteen may be the best thing that could happen to Kerry's campaign in the closing weeks. Forget Clinton, folks. He may be the adoration of the Democratic base and appeal to the moderates, but even Bubba can't touch the appeal Springsteen has to the common man of heartland America, whether that heartland is upstate New York, the cornfields of Iowa, the high deserts of New Mexico, or the suburbs of San Diego.
For over thirty years, and over seven albums, Springsteen's exuberant and thoughtful lyrics have been about the plight of the common man. The stories he has told and the characters that have been born from his songs have described the life of the lower-working-class, highlighting sometimes tragic and haunting scenes of street-life, teenage angst, dead-end life, conflicts within the family, and Vietnam veterans returning home to a government and a society who had forsaken them.
He sang about the disillusionment of the common man, their fear of being trapped in a life they can't get out of. His characters struggled to live; they lived with little or nothing. And they were always on the verge of losing everything. In his albums Darkeness at the Edge of Town and The River, the only hope for redemption his characters had was in working harder. The common man, Springsteen would later tell us in his darkest work Nebraska, always has the wherewithal to hope-- "people find some reason to believe."
This resilient spirit of the working-class would find a voice again in the gargantuan hit album Born In the USA. In this album, his characters had not changed, they simply had moved to a point where they realized the road they had traveled and saw the direction they wanted or needed to go to feel acceptance or to receive redemption. If they had to fight their way to this place of reconciliation, they would fight. This was especially true for the Vietnam vet character in the title track. And his statement of bold affirmation (the chorus) turned an angry song into an anthem that propelled the sales of the album into the stratosphere where only the likes of Michael Jackson and Prince enjoyed such success.
It is this champion and storyteller of the working-class that has endeared fans of all walks of life. And today in Wisconsin, he spoke like a Moses who had wandered for forty-years in the heartland and streets of America observing our strengths and weaknesses. His words did not disappoint.
Tim Grieve of Salon wrote a beautiful article on the Madison rally titled "I believe in the Promised Land."
Consider these opening paragraphs in which Grieve has documented Springsteens' speech:
The presidential campaign comes rushing toward you in a million shrill words, a noisy, cross-country game of tit-for-tat played through TV feeds and the sharp remarks of a hundred sniping surrogates. It's loud and it's relentless, or at least it was until Bruce Springsteen stepped onto a small stage here Thursday afternoon.
....Springsteen played a wistful, acoustic version of "The Promised Land" then quietly offered the most eloquent stump speech of this long presidential race. "I've been writing about America for 30 years," he said. "I've tried to write about who we are, what we stand for, what we fight for. I believe that these essential ideals of American identity are what's at stake on Nov. 2."
Springsteen talked about the choice facing America on the recent "Vote for Change" tour benefiting America Coming Together, but this time he delivered his remarks with much more of the world watching. Hundreds of journalists from around the globe hung on Springsteen's every word. And with people jammed through the streets leading to Wisconsin's State Capitol, the city of Madison literally stood still to listen.
Springsteen ticked off a long list of the things that matter: economic justice, a living wage, a "sane and responsible foreign policy," civil rights, and "the protection and safeguarding of our precious democracy here at home." He said: "I believe that John Kerry honors these ideals. He has lived our history over the past 60 years, and he has formed an adult view of America and its people. "
Quietly strumming his guitar as he spoke, Springsteen said Kerry understands that people are not infallible, that struggle and heartbreak are an inevitable part of the human experience. "That's why we need each other," he said. "That's why 'United We Stand' ... and 'one nation indivisible' aren't just slogans. They need to remain the guiding principles of our public life."
Springsteen called on the country to face "America's hard truths, both the good and the bad." "That's where we find a deeper patriotism, that's where we find a more complete view of who we are. That's where we find a more authentic experience as citizens, and that's where we find the power ... to make our world a better and a safer place."
...."That's why I'm here today to stand alongside Senator Kerry and to tell you that the country we carry in our hearts is waiting." When he was done, Springsteen reached for his guitar and leaned into "No Surrender," the song that opens every Kerry campaign rally. As autumn leaves fell around him, Springsteen reinvented the song. The anthemic rock 'n' roll song became a meditation on promises made and hopes held tight, and he dedicated it to John Kerry.
Yes, the fact that Bruce Springsteen sought out this chance to campaign for Kerry is an amazing endorsement. His words carried in the late-autumn Madison air rang as true as the fact that we have to breathe air to stay alive. If there is hope to be found in our future, Springsteen reminded us that it is in each other, in unity, in hope, in determination, and in John Kerry. Springsteen may have given Kerry the very key to the future.
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Regarding Kerry's speech today, I thought Kerry gave one of the best comeback responses to Bush this year. Grieve explains it as follows:
Earlier in the day in Toledo, Kerry said Bush's response to the munitions charge provides a powerful argument for voting him out of office. In Pennsylvania Wednesday, Bush accused Kerry of making "wild charges" about the missing munitions and said that a "candidate who jumps to conclusions" isn't qualified to be commander in chief. Kerry responded Thursday: "Mr. President, I agree with you." He then applied what he called "the Bush standard" to judge the president's decisions leading to the war in Iraq. "George Bush jumped to conclusions about 9/11 and Saddam Hussein," Kerry said. "George Bush jumped to conclusions about weapons of mass destruction, and he rushed to war. George Bush jumped to conclusions about how the Iraqi people would receive us. He not only jumped to conclusions, he ignored the facts that were given to him."
12:10:29 AM  | |
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Wednesday, October 27, 2004 |
Mary Mape Dodge, in her 1865 work Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates, immortalized the story of a young boy who one day found a leak in the dike. Sticking his finger at the source of the leak, he stopped the flow of sea water from slowly tearing down the dike until help arrived to patch it.
Some say this story is a myth, that the inhabitants of the Netherlands had never heard of the story until American tourists invaded, looking for the site. But a cursory search on the Internet unearthed information that a statue actually memorializes the event.
I'm not here to debate the truth of the little Dutch boy who saved a village. Rather, I just wanted to give you a visual of what I am about to suggest:
With election day less than one week away, I see Bush as that little Dutch boy who is trying to save his presidency by holding back some ominous issues plaguing his re-election campaign.
If I were a political cartoonist, I'd depict Bush (wearing a Pinochio-like costume) standing at a leaky dike that is taller than his cartoon caricature. Re-election 2004 is written across its front. Nearly all of his digits, and even his right foot, are jammed into the dike at various locations. His miniature body is stretched wide, sweat is popping off of his face, and he looks stressed and gravely concerned.
Above the dike, we see a series of waves making their way toward the dike, each one of them represents some of the issues that threaten Bush's re-election. Each wave carries the name of an issue -- national deficit, weak economy, lost jobs, high gas prices, higher health care costs, flu-vaccine debacle*, bad education program, environmental neglect, rise of nuclear proliferation worldwide, under-funded homeland security, threat of draft, Abu Ghraib, and the costly Iraq war. The last wave is the largest, it reads: Qa Qaa**.
Will Bush fall under the weight of the waves or will he be able to withstand the deluge till November 2nd? It's the biggest suspense thriller of this fall season lineup.
* Regarding the flu-vaccine debacle, do you know that NO other country in the world is having a shortage. It is just the U.S. News today also reports that the cause of this debacle is being held back until the election is over.
** Regarding Qa Qaa-- 385 TONS of explosives have gone missing. The important point behind this news is that it validates the concerns the top generals were saying at the build-up and beginning of the invasion-- that they needed more troops to do the job right. It validates the notion that the invasion and phases of reconstruction and winning the peace were simply poorly planned.
9:33:11 PM | |
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Tuesday, October 26, 2004 |
I don't care if your computer does not have a sound card.
I don't care if you do not like Emminem or his hip-hop rap music.
He has released the animated music video for his latest single "Mosh." If you need a description of it, let me say you could call it the music industry's equivalent of Michael Moore's blockbuster Fahrenheit 9/11.
One of the intriguing stories that unfolds in the song is of a soldier who returns home from serving in Iraq, only to find at his homecoming a letter informing him that he's being re-deployed. Then, while he is gone, his wife receives a notice informing her that they are being evicted from their home. (Anyone who has been reading newspapers since March 2003 knows that these two incidents I've just named have occurred to families all over this vast country.)
And you are probably thinking "Yah, I betcha the video ends with masses of people rioting and storming the White House led by Eminem himself." Well, you're wrong.
The resolution in the film displays all of those citizens who have felt disenfranchised, abused, or foraken by this government march on city hall and stand in line to vote.
It's a very powerful message backed up with an amazing creation of animation. I'm impressed. I see golden statues in their future.
9:33:49 PM | |
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Monday, October 25, 2004 |
Directed by : Mark Rosman
Written by: Leigh Dunlap
Starring: Hilary Duff (Sam), Jennifer Coolidge (Fiona), Chad Michael Murray (Austin), Dan Byrd (Carter), Regina King (Rhonda), Julie Gonzalo (Shelby), Lin Shaye (Mrs. Wells), Madeline Zima (Brianna), Andrea Avery (Gabriella), Mary Pat Gleason (Eleanor), Paul Rodriguez (Bobby), Whip Hubley (Sam's Dad), Kevin Kilner (Austin's Dad), Erica Hubbard (Madison), Simon Helberg (Terry).
(PG-13)
Hilary Duff as Hollywood's latest Cinderella
Is not a far reach considering our Bubble Gum era--
Mouseketeer mentality owns the radio and screen--
"Run to the nearest audition, be the new American Idol dream!"--
We demand Barbie looks like Britney, Ashlee, and Mandy--
An insta-makeover turns you into the latest eye candy.
Leigh Dunlap's script is sugary-sweet nonsense overload--
A gum-chewing cheerleader in passion melon dumb mode.
It's not the characters but the lines she's created
That leave the actors appearing bored and deflated--
Fiona the Flouse competes for the year's worst Botox queen
But she's far too dingy as the Threat to any of Sam's dreams.
And Brianna and Gabriella, so poorly created
Torture via scratching chalkboards might as well be reinstated.
Rosman's Cinderella tries too hard to catch the romance--
Eating cotten candy fluff, realizing there's no substance--
Even discussing Tennyson while phone-messaging Austin
Can't rescue the inanity this film gets lost in.
So for what it is worth, there was a film much less lamented
There's a more clever Cinderella. Take note: Ella Enchanted.
10:23:07 PM | |
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Sunday, October 24, 2004 |
This is a test. I'm attempting to update the links to some of my film reviews in the left panel. Hope it works this time.
9:57:11 PM | |
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Saturday, October 23, 2004 |
Directed by: Gary Winick
Written by: Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa
Starring: Jennifer Garner (Jenna Rink), Mark Ruffalo (Matt Flamhaff), Judy Greer (Lucy Wyman), Andy Serkis (Richard Kneeland), Kathy Baker (Bev Rink), Phil Reeves (Wayne Rink), Samuel Ball (Alex Carlson), Marcia DeBonis (Arlene), Christa B. Allen (Young Jenna), Sean Marquette (Young Matt), Kiersten Warren (Trish Sackett), Joe Grifasi (Mr. Flamhaff), Mary Pat Gleason (Mrs. Flamhaff), Susan Egan (Tracy Hansen), Lynn Collins (Wendy)
Rated PG-13 (some sexual content and brief drug references)
Films in which the main character suddenly wake up twenty-years older are hard to sell because they have to successfully suspend reality well enough that the audience believes the trick and the plot.
Penny Marshall’s hit film Big (1988) succeeded not really because we believed that a possessed or magical fortune-teller machine could turn an 11 year-old boy into a 30 year old man but because the script stayed within its bounds-- it never had Josh talking, reacting, or acting older than the ten year old that he was. There was a stated innocence and aloofness that never was compromised.
Tom Hanks' incredible performance simply allowed the audience to not only suspend reality, to believe a highly unbelievable story, but to literally fall in love with it.
Gary Winick’s film 13 Going on 30 attempts to do the same with a story about a 13 year-old girl named Jenna (played by Jennifer Garner) who makes a wish one night and wakes up in the morning being 30 years-old. Unlike Big, however, Winick's film doesn't successfully suspend reality. It simply just doesn't make sense. Consider these two points:
1. Magic wishing powder. 13 year-old Jenna is given magic powder on her birthday by her best friend Matt. The package explains that whatever she wishes for, it will come true. Now I don't go out to Wal-Mart to check to see if they carry wishing powder but I'm sure that any store carrying party paraphernalia has some. Couldn't the vehicle for time travel have been something a bit more unique?
2. Illogical time jump. When Jenna wakes up into her new 30 year-old body, she is no longer in the place where she fell asleep. Nor is she in her house. She wakes up in a high-rise apartment in New York City. She's wearing lingerie. And there is a guy taking a shower in her bathroom.
This jump in location is a hard sell, indeed. But its even a harder sell to have a 30 year-old Jenna suddenly taken over by her 13 year-old personality.
How is a 30 year-old body suddenly going to be taken over by her 13 year-old personality to the point that all memories since age 13 are wiped out? Nada. No recollection of ages 14 to 30.
It doesn't help the befuddlement when, in the end of the film, the 13 year-old Jenna goes back to her 13 year-old body.
The writers Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa lay out a story that seems to indicate that there is a dual reality, one in which there is an older version of Jenna existing in a parallel time period.
What I think G & Y were going for was a type of personal realization similar to the one Scrooge experiences in Dicken's A Christmas Carol, in which Scrooge travels through time to see how personal choices have set him on a course that leads to unhappiness and an inevitable loss of his soul if he continues on the path he is on. Goldsmith and Yuspa's script captures the essence of this theme but it doesn't logically come through for me because of silly time travel aspect of it.
What they should have done was mimic The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy was sent off to Oz after she was knocked unconscious during a tornado. Similarly, G & Y could have written it so that the doll house that Matt gave Jenna would have fallen squarely on her head as she threw her tantrum in the closet, knocked her unconscience, and sent her on her merry way to New York where she would see herself as a rich and successful magazine editor. And at the opportune time in the story, when Matt is supposed to tell her that he will marry his fiance instead of her, Jenna would be shaken back into reality by the 13 year-old Matt.
Regarding the acting: Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo were great. I enjoyed Garner's interpretation of teenage antics and mannerisms, especially when placed in uncomfortable circumstances.
Ruffalo is quite an amazing actor. I don't know if this makes any sense whatsoever but his presence in many of the scenes brought a level of humanity to them. Maybe it was because he was playing the role of a guy who was ostricized as a teenager because he was overweight. Whatever it was, Ruffalo seemed to have internalized the pain of his character so that whenever he was on screen with Jenna, he portrayed raw emotion, honesty, hurt, and longing. As the older Matt, he was a wound reopened and barely bandaged.
In closing, I was touched by the message of the film -- that love is something we have to continually work at or it fades.
11:46:10 PM | |
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Thursday, October 21, 2004 |
Written and Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Dennis Quaid (Jack Hall), Jake Gyllenhaal (Sam Hall), Emmy Rossum (Laura Chapman), Dash Mihok (Jason Evans), Jay O. Sanders (Frank Harris), Sela Ward (Dr. Lucy Hall), Austin Nichols ( J.D.), Arjay Smith (Brian Parks), Tamlyn Tomita (Janet Tokada),
Sasha Roiz (Parker), Ian Holm (Terry Rapson), Kenneth Welsh (Vice President Becker),
Robin Wilcock (Tony), Jason Blicker (Paul), Kenneth Moskow (Bob), Tim Hamaguchi (Taka), Glenn Plummer (Luther), Adrian Lester (Simon), Richard McMillan (Dennis),
Nestor Serrano (Gomez), Christopher Britton (Vorsteen), Vlasta Vrana (Booker),
Pauline Little (Lanson), Frank Schorpion (DC Fireman), Perry King (President Blake),
Mimi Kuzyk (Secretary of State), Vitali Makarov (Yuri, Russian Astronaut), Russell Yuen (Hideki, Japanese Astronaut), Tim Bagley (Tommy).
Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. (PG-13 for intense scenes of violent weather and weather-related deaths)
I'm no meteoroligist or oceanographer but I can say that I highly doubt that global warming will some day cause a desalinization of the oceans that suddenly triggers, as if by turning on a light switch, catastrophic events that will send the entire Northern Hemisphere into a second ice age.
Roland Emmerich's script for his global disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow seems to want us to believe this, as the ice age blows in from the troposphere only three days after sudden extreme and destructful weather patterns around the globe start destroying cities -- snow falls in India; hail the size of softballs drop on Tokyo; the strongest hurricane in history destroys Florida; the ocean rises 25 feet in the Netherlands; Los Angeles city is completly destroyed by multiple tornadoes; airplanes are breaking apart in the US skies because of extreme turbulence, forcing the United States to cancel all flights; the temperatures in northern Atlantic ocean have decreased 13 degrees; and the North Atlantic ocean suddenly rises and sweeps into Manhattan with an initial wall of water five to eight stories high. The ice age comes when these giant inland hurricane-like storms churn so quickly that air from the troposphere is forced down into the eye of the storm. It freezes everything in its path.
The visuals for all of these disasters are more than impressive. They are freaking amazing, disturbingly realistic, and breathtaking to watch. I bet every meteoroligist who saw this film wet themselves from sheer excitement.
Unfortunately though, Emmerich does a terrible disservice to the film by not incorporating snippets of events attributed to global warming in the beginning of the film that point to the fact that our weather patterns are becoming more extreme and dangerous. (For example, the fact that four major hurricanes hit Florida this hurricane season could logically be attributed to global warming. Emmerich could have created a news item for the film that showed weather-related events progressively getting worse.)
Instead, we are treated to that Armageddon-like scenario in which life as we know it suddenly goes bye bye. In fact, Day After Tomorrow plays out much like his alien invasion film Independence Day-- but instead of aliens, it's Mother Nature. And one day she simply wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and realizes that she has had it up to her eyeballs with our insolent, greedy, natural resource wasting, and polluting asses and unleashes the Titans of weather hell and takes her revenge.
Disaster movies rarely are written well -- you have your myriad of characters who are simply pawns to the disaster; and then there are the minor characters whose sole purpose is to be the antagonist to the major characters. And most of the time the minor characters are the over-reactive, foolish kind that don't do anything the major characters tell them to do. So throughout the film we have all of these shallow "I told you so" affirmations. This film has many of these moments. And then of course you have your heros who defy logic and complete unrealistic acts, such as walking to Manhattan without freezing, like everyone else who was exposed did. And I would truly be amiss if I didn't mention the martyrs who bring that softer-side-of-Sears emotion to the film. Sometimes it works. Other times, especially if the music swells too much in the background, you end up with a heavy plate of schmaltz.
Emmerich has a sense of humor, though. I greatly enjoyed the turning of the tables -- 1. Americans storming into Mexico by the thousands illegally in order to flee the coming ice age. 2. To appease the Mexican government into allowing Americans to set up interim camps, the US government forgave all of their debt.
Overall, superior marks for visual effects.
11:57:16 PM | |
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Wednesday, October 20, 2004 |
Laugh if you must but these kids voting at Nickelodeon have picked the president in the last four elections, according to this AP report today.
NEW YORK - Kid power! Democrat John Kerry is the winner, and the rest of the country should pay attention because the vote on Nickelodeon's Web site has correctly chosen the president of the United States in the past four elections.
Nearly 400,000 children and teens voted, and the results were released Wednesday. Kerry received 57 percent of the vote; President Bush got 43 percent.
Nickelodeon has been airing information on the Nov. 2 election, plus sponsoring debates where kids could put forth their views on the environment, the war in Iraq and terrorism. Some animated shows on the cable channel also have been focusing on the election.
Linda Ellerbee, who writes and hosts "Nick News," says their voting usually reflects their parents' views — but not all the time.
"Every so often you get a kid that says, `My parents are voting for X, but I'm voting for Y,'" she said. "It's amazing, the point when kids start forming their own ideas about issues."
Ellerbee said Nickelodeon has been traveling the country teaching about the election and the importance of being socially informed. Seven-year-old Anthony Viggiano of Baldwin, N.Y., won a contest for the best song lyrics about freedom of speech and performed it with rocker John Mellencamp.
"If we can get kids interested earlier in voting, when they can legally vote, they will," she said. "They will run for office, they will be the candidates (that) people want to vote for."
Ellerbee, who will announce the results on "U-PICK Live" Wednesday night, said many children wonder why they can't vote in the real election.
"Kids aren't dumb, they're just younger and shorter," she said. "In fact, last election, a boy came up to me and said, `We picked George Bush to win, and he didn't really win. Al Gore won the popular vote, so we were kinda wrong.' Quite an observation."
Let's roll.
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Tuesday, October 19, 2004 |
On October 9th, the Los Angeles Times broke a story that one of the major broadcasting corporations in the country, Sinclair Broadcasting, announced that they were going to air an anti-Kerry film titled Stolen Honor days before the election.
Within days, DailyKos, Atrios, and Josh Micah Marshall helped instigate a major offensive on Sinclair, calling for viewers to contact Ad Managers and Sales Reps for station advertisers in their local Sinclair affiliate. After ten days, and under extreme pressure from shareholders and advertisors, Sinclair announces it will not air Stolen Honor.
How effective was this offensive? In less than ten days, $100 million dollars in shareholder value has been erased, according to Atrios.
Below is a compilation of some of the key moments from the past ten days (from posts from the three bloggers mentioned above):
October 10
- Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt sent a letter to the executives at Sinclair Broadcasting Group admonishing them not to air Stolen Honor. An excerpt of the letter:
How can it be part of a broadcaster's public interest obligation to aspire to alter the perceptions of the audience about a presidential candidate by showing biased content that in no way reflects either breaking news or even-handed treatment of the issues? Why should a broadcaster keep its licenses if it behaves in this manner? I hope you will reconsider your edict --
October 12
- Sinclair's VP Mark Hyman gets rebuffed by the Anti-Defammation League for his comment that Kerry and the Democrats were "acting like Holocaust deniers."
- The movement to get advertisors to pull funding from Sinclair news channels gains some legs. Josh Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo instructs readers on who to contact. Josh starts getting word that advertisers are contacting Sinclair about their concerns.
- CEO David Smith arrested and charged with committing a perverted sex act in a company-owned Mercedes.
October 14
- Non-shareholders continue calling Sinclair advertisors to pull funding for airing Stolen Honor.
October 15
- A Lehman Brothers analyst report titled Mgmt Chooses Politics over Shareholders states that the airing of Stolen Honor is potentially damaging, resulting in lost ad revenues. Because of the risk, they reduced the 12-month price target to $9 (from $10).
- Eighteen senators, all Democrats, wrote last week to the Federal Communications Commission to ask it to investigate Sinclair's plans.
October 16
- The FCC refuses to intervene in the Sinclair controversy.
October 18
- Sinclair fired their Washington Bureau chief Jonathon Lieberman after denouncing Sinclair's move to show Stolen Honor in an interview for the Baltimore Sun. His comment:
"It's biased political propoganda, with clear intentions to sway this election.... For me, it's not about right or left -- it's about what's right or wrong in news coverage close to an election."
- Sinclair stock dropped approximately 8 percent.
October 19
- (Morning) New York State Comptroller, Alan Hevesi, which owns 256, 000 shares in Sinclair, sent a letter expressing concern to Sinclair on behalf of the state's $115 billion dollar common retirement fund. He posed over 10 questions to David Smith, CEO of Sinclair, directly, requesting that he reply with answers at the close of business today. The letter can be found at Atrios site, link here.
- (Approx. 10:00 AM) Glickhenhaus & Co, in conjunction with Media Matters, sends letter to David Smith representing their clients who demand that Sinclair "provide those with views opposed to the allegations in [Stolen Honor] an equal opportunity to respond....in terms of timing, format, and content."
- (Approx. 11:00 AM) SINCLAIR BROADCASTING SHAREHOLDERS DEMAND OFFICERS RETURN PROFITS FROM INSIDER TRADING. Officers Who Ordered Stations to Show Anti-Kerry Film Also Sold Stocks at High Mark, then Drove Values Down
- (Approx. 1:00 PM) California philanthropist Deborah Rappaport and her husband offered to pay for an hour of air time on Sinclair stations to air the documentary "Going Upriver," a positive portrayal of Kerry's service in Vietnam, before the Nov. 2 election day.
Mother Jones Magazine offered Sinclair a half-hour video of four prominent Republicans — including John Dean and Pete Peterson — condemning the Bush administration.
- Sinclair shares dropped more than 3 percent, falling 23 cents to $6.26 a share on the NASDAQ market.
- Sinclair's CEO David Smith says that it was a misconception or rumor that Stolen Honor was going to be played (despite the TV guide offered at Yahoo listing it in their upcoming schedule). Instead, they will be playing A POW Story: Politics, Pressure and the Media. This is what the financial news report had to say about the change:
At no time did Sinclair ever publicly announce that it intended to do so. In fact, since the controversy began, Sinclair's website has prominently displayed the following statement: "The program has not been videotaped and the exact format of this unscripted event has not been finalized. Characterizations regarding the content are premature and are based on ill- informed sources."
The film replacing Stolen Honor will examine "role of the media in filtering the information contained in these documentaries, allegations of media bias by media organizations that ignore or filter legitimate news and the attempts by candidates and other organizations to influence media coverage."
In closing, Josh Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo wonders if Sinclair will simply leave the content of film in tact and just change the title.
With stocks plummeting and shareholders preparing to cry "off with their heads," I don't know if they would be so foolish. But to discredit myself, in favor of Josh -- Josh is good at playing the sixth sense with corporate and/or government antics such this.
10:29:46 PM | |
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Monday, October 18, 2004 |
I just got hit by an email revealing an incredible piece of info:
The Republican candidate for Utah's Governorship, Jon Huntsman, Jr., son of a multi-millionaire, dropped out of high school to join a new wave band, took seven years to finish college, and got positions in corporations because of his dad.
First, find evidence that this true.
Talking off the hip, if these facts are indeed true, someone is going to have to sit me down and explain to me how Huntsman believes education is important when he obviously detested it growing up. How much of an impact will he be able to have with the teens of the state who need encouragement to stay in school? How much will his policies be colored by his teenage notions of school-- what he felt was wrong then is still wrong now?
Research topic: Will he be the first governor of modern times who didn't complete high school?
This news, if true, just doesn't bode well for the image of Utah. I can hear it now around the water coolers-- Utah just changed the motto on their license plate. Instead of Pretty Great State, it now reads "Pretty Dumb State."
OK, so that was pretty dumb. But people simply like to make light of Utah when the opportunity arises. After all, how long has it taken the state to shake off the polygamy stigma?
10:51:38 PM | |
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The Supreme Court.
Adam Cohen's special editorial feature in The New York Times paints a picture of what America could evolve into if Bush was re-elected and nominated the next two or three justices. Consider the Cohen's closing remarks to Imagining America if George Bush Chose the Supreme Court:
President Bush claims to want judges who will apply law, not make it. But Justices Scalia and Thomas are judicial activists, eager to use the fast-expanding federalism doctrine to strike down laws that protect people's rights. Last year, they dissented from a decision upholding the Family and Medical Leave Act, which guarantees most workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a loved one. They said Congress did not have that power. They have expressed a desire to strike down air pollution and campaign finance laws for similar reasons.
Neither President Bush nor John Kerry has said much about Supreme Court nominations, wary of any issue whose impact on undecided voters cannot be readily predicted. But voters have to think about the Supreme Court. If President Bush gets the chance to name three young justices who share the views of Justices Scalia and Thomas, it could fundamentally change America for decades.
I already feel like I'm living in a Twilight Zone episode. This is good food for thought going into the closing weeks of the election.
(By the way, Florida voters started going to the polls today! NPR reported that in many places today, there were more people standing in lines than at the primaries earlier this year. I'm hoping tomorrow's news will report that the process is going smoothly for all voters.)
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Terrorism is Clinton's fault. The economy is Clinton's fault. Nuclear Proliferation is Clinton's fault. Yes, it used to be that if something failed or or wasn't going as planned, it wasn't anyone else's fault but Clinton's, in the eyes of the Republicans. Well, it looks like Kerry is taking over the reigns-- the lack of funding for the troops in Iraq; the lack of security gear for the troops in Iraq; and any failings in the Patriot Act, Homeland Security measures, etc.
And today, the Bush campaign is saying that Kerry is to blame for the shortage in the Flu Vaccine. According the Center for American Progress, Ken Mehlman of the Bush campaign explained that John Kerry was responsible because "he opposed a 2003 bill that would limit legal liability for drug manufacturers whose products injure patients."
Why is this a lie? The bill never even came up for a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Can you spell desperate?
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Sunday, October 17, 2004 |
For the thrid week in a row, Shark Tale topped the box office, bringing in $21 million over the weekend. Shark Tale has brought in $118 million overall, which is impressive since it was generally panned by the critics.
For me, the shock heard round the world was the abysmal receipts for Team America, $12. 5 million, especially when you consider the extensive marketing and advertising campaign for the puppet film and the fact that it has many critics in its corner of the ring calling it the best comedy of the year.
I want to say that it is too early to predict the fate of this film. But I really expected a bigger weekend. Could this be the fallout of the Sean Penn letter and the Salon article that featured some controversial comments from Trey Parker and Matt Stone? Or, is it simply a non-interest in the subject matter? Maybe America isn't ready for puppets, fornicating ones no less.
10:36:04 PM | |
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A must read by Ron Suskind in the New York Times today, Without A Doubt.
Here is a teaser:
The democrat Biden and the Republican Bartlett are trying to make sense of the same thing -- a president who has been an extraordinary blend of forcefulness and inscrutability, opacity and action.
But lately, words and deeds are beginning to connect.
The Delaware senator was, in fact, hearing what Bush's top deputies -- from cabinet members like Paul O'Neill, Christine Todd Whitman and Colin Powell to generals fighting in Iraq -- have been told for years when they requested explanations for many of the president's decisions, policies that often seemed to collide with accepted facts. The president would say that he relied on his ''gut'' or his ''instinct'' to guide the ship of state, and then he ''prayed over it.'' The old pro Bartlett, a deliberative, fact-based wonk, is finally hearing a tune that has been hummed quietly by evangelicals (so as not to trouble the secular) for years as they gazed upon President George W. Bush. This evangelical group -- the core of the energetic ''base'' that may well usher Bush to victory -- believes that their leader is a messenger from God. And in the first presidential debate, many Americans heard the discursive John Kerry succinctly raise, for the first time, the issue of Bush's certainty -- the issue being, as Kerry put it, that ''you can be certain and be wrong.''
What underlies Bush's certainty? And can it be assessed in the temporal realm of informed consent?
All of this -- the ''gut'' and ''instincts,'' the certainty and religiosity -connects to a single word, ''faith,'' and faith asserts its hold ever more on debates in this country and abroad. That a deep Christian faith illuminated the personal journey of George W. Bush is common knowledge. But faith has also shaped his presidency in profound, nonreligious ways. The president has demanded unquestioning faith from his followers, his staff, his senior aides and his kindred in the Republican Party. Once he makes a decision -- often swiftly, based on a creed or moral position -- he expects complete faith in its rightness.
10:06:23 PM | |
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Thursday, October 14, 2004 |
New to me this election cycle is vote pairing, or vote swapping. I read about it in the Salt Lake City Tribune today. In effect, it allows Democratic and/or third-party voters to swap their votes with voters in pivotal swing states (a.k.a. Ohio, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico) in order for your vote to really matter. Object: Bypass silly Electoral College. Hand Kerry key wins. Send Bush back to Crawford.
Written by Nicole Warburton, she gives some key points about the practice of swapping at the bottom of her article (which, by the way, has a hint of "look what the Democrats are doing now" attitude to it):
What is vote swapping?
An effort to elect Sen. John Kerry to the White House, while encouraging support of third-party candidates like Ralph Nader.
How does it work?
For a Democrat in Utah, vote swapping means trading a vote for Kerry with a third-party supporter in a "swing" state. For instance, the Utah Democrat would vote for Nader, while her swing-state partner would vote for Kerry.
Why does it work?
This philosophy is based on the "winner-take-all" rule of the Electoral College. The president is elected after winning a majority of electoral votes, not the popular vote. In swing states like Florida or Ohio, electoral votes can be decided by a few hundred voters.
Is this legal?
Legality is still in question, but vote swapping may not be against the law because votes are "paired," not sold.
If you are interested, you can locate a willing voter to swap votes with by visiting www.votepair.org. (This is the crux of the debate for me--do you trust the person in the other state to vote for Kerry?)
In regards to legality: After the voter registration fraud being reported in Nevada and Oregon, in which employees of Sproul and Associates were seen tearing up voter registrations for Democrats, Republicans have no room to call vote swapping unfair or illigel. Update: DailyKos today posted the link to the LA Times article stating that Oregon is opening a criminal probe regarding this.
Nevertheless, I will keep my vote for Kerry here in Utah so when the tallies are displayed at the end of the day, the Republicans can see that they are not the only political inhabitants in this pretty great state.
On the other hand, the rebel yell in me says: "Hey Electoral College! Neener, neener, neener!"
9:15:32 PM | |
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Tuesday, October 12, 2004 |
Awhile back, I introduced you to James Bowman, the poet who was analyzing the Republican National Convention in the form of poetry. He is back with NPR's national radio show "All Things Considered," writing poetry about the presidential and vp debates. Here is his poem based off of the second debate. You can hear him read his poems at NPR.
You can read the other poems he has written for the previous debates at his website, James Bowman. The following poem is titled The Temptation of John Kerry, or "Right into the Camera." [Emphasis is Bowman's]
"Senator Kerry. . ."
Said James Varner of St. Louis.
". . .would you be willing to look directly into the camera. . ."
For the camera doesn’t lie.
For the camera is the window into the soul of the electorate.
". . .and using simple and unequivocal language give the American people your solemn pledge. . ."
For to pledge is to commit oneself.
To pledge is to buy the ring and to meet the parents.
". . .not to sign any legislation that will increase the tax burden. . ."
And faintly stirs the echo:
"And The Congress will push me to raise taxes.
And I''ll say no.
And they''ll push again, and all I can say to them is ‘Read my lips: no new taxes.’"
". . .on families earning less than $200,000 a year during your first term?"
And so the young hero turned his face to the camera.
He did not hesitate, that one brave in battle.
"Absolutely. Yes. . ."
And yes I said yes I will Yes.
". . .Right into the camera. Yes. I am not going to raise taxes."
So passion’s debt was paid.
And so it fell to a man named George Bush to tell us that our wooer -
Ours and the camera’s -
Was "just not credible."
Well, he ought to know.
8:23:06 PM | |
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Jonathan Schwartz typed up a part of Seymour Hersh's speech at Berkeley on October 8th in which he explained the details of a conversation he had with an American lieutenant in Iraq who had just witnessed other American soldiers massacring Iraqis.
Here is the content of this lieutenant's conversation with Hersh:
HERSH: I got a call last week from a soldier -- it's different now, a lot of communication, 800 numbers. He's an American officer and he was in a unit halfway between Baghdad and the Syrian border. It's a place where we claim we've done great work at cleaning out the insurgency. He was a platoon commander. First lieutenant, ROTC guy.
It was a call about this. He had been bivouacing outside of town with his platoon. It was near, it was an agricultural area, and there was a granary around. And the guys that owned the granary, the Iraqis that owned the granary... It was an area that the insurgency had some control, but it was very quiet, it was not Fallujah. It was a town that was off the mainstream. Not much violence there. And his guys, the guys that owned the granary, had hired, my guess is from his language, I wasn't explicit -- we're talking not more than three dozen, thirty or so guards. Any kind of work people were dying to do. So Iraqis were guarding the granary. His troops were bivouaced, they were stationed there, they got to know everybody...
They were a couple weeks together, they knew each other. So orders came down from the generals in Baghdad, we want to clear the village, like in Samarra. And as he told the story, another platoon from his company came and executed all the guards, as his people were screaming, stop. And he said they just shot them one by one. He went nuts, and his soldiers went nuts. And he's hysterical. He's totally hysterical. And he went to the captain. He was a lieutenant, he went to the company captain. And the company captain said, "No, you don't understand. That's a kill. We got thirty-six insurgents."
You read those stories where the Americans, we take a city, we had a combat, a hundred and fifteen insurgents are killed. You read those stories. It's shades of Vietnam again, folks, body counts...
You know what I told him? I said, fella, I said: you've complained to the captain. He knows you think they committed murder. Your troops know their fellow soldiers committed murder. Shut up. Just shut up. Get through your tour and just shut up. You're going to get a bullet in the back. You don't need that. And that's where we are with this war.
While I was growing up, I was not cognizant of the Vietnam war. But from what I have read, this story reminds me of that war; it reminds me of the extermination of Jews under Hitler throughout Europe; and it echoes the ethnic genocide in the war torn lands of Slovokia and Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur. We should be above this behavior.
7:22:00 PM | |
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Monday, October 11, 2004 |
Christoper Reeves died yesterday due to heart failure. He was 52 years old.
Reeves came onto the silver screen playing one of the world's greatest superheros, Superman (1978). After the huge success of the film, Reeves would go on to star in three sequels, the last released in 1987.
It is known that Reeves sought to step out of the shadow of Superman. He didn't want to be typecast for only playing the caped hero. The truth of this may have become most apparent to him when he had to turn down the lead role in American Gigolo (1980). He was filming Superman II (1980) around this same time.
And he was offered the lead roles in other films which may have paved a way for a more illustrious career, such as the lead role in Body Heat (1981) and The Bounty (1984).
And it is known that he gave Arnold a huge break when he turned down the lead role in The Running Man (1987), because he wanted more of a challenging role, and Total Recall (1990).
Looking back at Reeves career, he captivated audiences in the romantic time-travel drama Somewhere in Time (1980) and he stunned audiences to the point of vocal boos when he planted a long kiss on Michael Caine in Deathtrap (1982).
Reeves also appeared in the following popular films and TV shows: The Muppets Go to Hollywood (1979), Monsignor (1982), The Bostonians (1984), The Aviator (1985), Anna Karenina (1985) (TV), Street Smart (1987), Switching Channels (1988), Noises Off... (1992), The Sea Wolf (1993) (TV), The Remains of the Day (1993), Speechless (1994), Village of the Damned (1995), Above Suspicion (1995), and Rear Window (1998) (TV).
Christopher Reeves was paralyzed in a horse riding accident on May 27, 1995. But he did not let this dampen his spirits.
He and his wife, Dana Reeve opened the Parlysis Resource Center in 2002, devoting their efforts and money toward helping paralyzed people live a more independent life. And the Reeve family foundation has also distributed grants to paralysis researchers totalling some $22 million dollars. They were advocates for stem-cell research, hoping
Christopher Reeve once said the following about playing Superman:
"I've seen first hand how Superman actually transforms people's lives. I have seen children dying of brain tumors who wanted as their last request to be able to talk to me, and have gone to their graves with a peace brought on by knowing that their belief in this kind of character is intact. I've seen that Superman really matters. They're connecting with something very basic: the ability to overcome obstacles, the ability to persevere, the ability to understand difficulty and to turn your back on it."
Though Reeves could not run from the shadow of his most famous character, his latter life showed the world that he truly was a Superman at heart. Christopher Reeves will be missed.
He received his star on the Walk of Fame on April 15, 1997.
Note: Film biography, quotes, and accomplishments obtained from The Film Encyclopedia and IMDB.
10:22:20 PM | |
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Sunday, October 10, 2004 |
Kenneth Bigley was beheaded last Friday. Evidentally, rumors abound that Bigley escaped and was on his way to a US-controlled area when he and those who helped him escape were re-captured. The Guardian Unlimited today gives more of the details.
Just prior to his death, with cameras rolling, Bigley is seen kneeling in front of his captors, seemingly resolved knowing that he was taking in his last moments of life. Bigley is heard saying: "Here I am again, Mr. Blair....very, very close to the end of my life. You don't appear to have done anything to help me. I'm not a difficult person. I am a simple man who just wants to live a simple life with his family."
His captors, a militant group suspected of being allies with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who previously beheaded the Bigley's housemates, the two Americans Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong in September, were demanding the release of Iraqi women in Abu Grhaib. Though Britain attempted to work with the captors, they kept communicating that they have no Iraqi women as prisoners.
After Bigley's statements, one of the captors added: "Britain is not serious in releasing our sisters. There is nothing further for this wicked Briton than the sword."
The captor then drew his knife from his belt while three of the others grabbed Bigley and shoved him to the floor. Bigley's head was then severed and held up.
I am devastated by Bigley's loss. Like Armstrong and Hensley, Bigley was in Iraq working on the reconstruction of Iraq. His intentions were good and noble. His heart was in the right place. Rest in peace, Kenneth Bigley.
One of the editorials from Sunday's mail in the Guardian Unlimited, October 10 wrote the following about Bigley's tragic death:
"The gross, cruel murder of Mr Bigley has touched the British people in a way that many other more anonymous horrors in Iraq have failed to do ...
"Mr Bigley was in Iraq to take part in its reconstruction, a task much valued and encouraged by the government ... Tony Blair has a responsibility towards those, especially Britons, who are brave enough to undertake this work. We should also remember that none of this would be happening if the invasion had not taken place. Mr Blair is most certainly personally responsible for Britain's involvement in this war ... While Mr Bigley may have been a volunteer, thousands of young soldiers have no choice in the matter. They must stay in Iraq for as long as Mr Blair wants them to, and under conditions that are far from safe."
Read other editorials from Britain here.
10:07:33 PM | |
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Saturday, October 09, 2004 |
I didn't get the opportunity to watch all of the debate last night. I was able to see about 25 minutes of it. Here are a few comments:
1. Laura must have smacked him senseless after the last debate for displaying such immature and unprofessional faces. Bush was much better in this regard.
2. Bush looked alive. Kerry looked like Lazurus coming back from the dead. Note to Kerry: I know the campaign is tough but for the love of all that is important, force Kerry to get a couple of days of sleep.
3. You know when someone is insecure or desperately wanting to be heard. They talk loudly. I wonder if anyone in that audience felt like they were being screamed at. Bush answered the questions and replied to Kerry's comments as if he were attacking physical enemies. It was very uncomfortable watching and listening to him.
4. Holy schnikeys! Bush lost his composure, screaming down Charles Gibson. I'm biased. But if I were an undecided, this is where Bush would have lost my vote. If the president can't listen to critical analysis, play along with basic protocol, keep his cool, and reply with reason, how is it that he can work with ambassadors and leaders of other countries. This instance might just be the paradigm for why we don't have good relations with other countries. Back in the sandbox, the kid who wants to have it all his way, wants the other kids to play by his rules only, those other kids simply leave and learn to avoid him, play with the nice kids.
5. Candadian drugs. I can't believe that Bush has just described Canada as a third-world country with unsafe drugs. If drugs were so unsafe there, wouldn't we be hearing about it in the news. Most definitely. Bush's answer was simply absurd.
In my search for reviews of the rest of the debate, I came across hilarious stuff from Wonkette. Here is an excerpt of some of her live-blogging comments:
9:00 Charlie Gibson's gonna hold them to their time limits "forcefully but politely." Funny, that's what we like about Mr. Wonkette.
9:03 Kerry pats Bush on the back! Checking for that wire. . .
9:05 Weapon of mass deception! Hey, that's a. . . joke!
9:07 "I can see why your colleagues think he changes his position a lot... Because he does!" Bush was like wetting his pants to say that. And so he said it again!
9:09 Is it just me, or does Bush get more drawly when he's talking to, uhm, "a group of folks"?
9:14 Global test! Global test! Global test! Bush is so psyched. He's going to start jumping up and down and clapping his hands if someone asks about "frivolous lawsuits."
.....
9:29 Oh, yes. The rumors on the "internets." The interweb. Whatever. You have to excuse him. . . he mainly just uses it for porn.
9:31 Hmmmm. . . back door draft . . .
9:33 Good thing that no one really knows who Charlie Gibson is, or Bush steamrolling over him like a grumpy elderly driver would probably get noticed.
9:37Shorter Bush: "Stop fucking with me! Stop it! Stop fucking with me!"
9:39 The voice in his ear just told him to speak more quietly.
9:40 BREAKING: Canadians want to kill you with their pretend drugs.
.....
9:54 I THINK I AM LOSING MY HEARING BECAUSE BUSH IS SCREAMING SO LOUD.
9:55 Mr. Kerry: Please do not look straight the camera again. You frighten me. (Not as much as BUSH'S SCREAMING, though.)
9:57 Kerry acknowledges wealth of the the men on the stage. Charlie Gibson chuckles, thinks to self, "Yes... yes, I am rich."
I found this great list of pundits at DailyKos, compiled from thirdparty:
Andrew Sullivan: "There were moments early on... when he seemed to me to be close to shouting; and his hyper-aggressiveness, having to respond to everything, went at times over the line of persuasiveness."
Ron Forunier, AP: "As he fought to keep his emotions in check in a testy, personal debate with Sen. John Kerry, the president asserted 'That answer almost made me scowl.'... Several answers brought Bush's emotions to the surface, for better or worse, as he sought to curb Kerry's momentum.... Bush was the most aggressive, at one point overrunning moderator Charles Gibson's attempt to pose a question.."
David Niven, political science professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton (from the above article):"Bush seemed wound a bit too tight. He was a little like Nixon sort of jumping out of his suit... He looked bad on the TV close-ups.""
Jonah Goldberg, National Review: "WHY DOES BUSH... Sound like he's angry at the guy asking about making drugs cheaper?
Paul Begala, CNN: "Good debate. The press will say it's a draw, but I think Kerry bested Bush -- or rather Bush made a few errors. Two words for President Bush: anger management. He spent much of the debate nearly yelling at the audience."
John Whitesides, Reuters: "An angry Bush at one point cut off moderator Charles Gibson to upbraid Kerry for criticising the size of the coalition backing the United States in Iraq, saying it denigrated allies like Britain and Poland."
Beth Gorham, CBC News: "It all added up to a major challenge for the president, who appeared angry and defensive during attacks from Kerry in a tense sparring match on Sept. 30 that was watched by some 62 million Americans."
Oliver Willis: "BUSH FLIPS OUT: Click here to watch your President flip out of his gourd. I've never seen anything like it.
Billmon (back from the dead): "If Kerry and the Dems can't make an issue out of the fact that the president of the United States is utterly incapable of controlling his hairtrigger temper, they don't deserve to win this election... I mean, the man is a walking time bomb."
David Paul Kuhn, CBSNews.com: "BUSH MAD, KERRY COMPOSED... Though Mr. Bush was more composed than in last week's first presidential debate, all agreed his tone was sometimes antagonistic and he again appeared uncomfortable being challenged. Kerry, on the other hand, was viewed as measured and articulate. " ---
From Scott Rosenberg:
I imagine the Bush people are happy tonight -- this debate wasn't the obvious rout the last one was. But I still think the essential dynamic here helps Kerry. The problem for Bush is simple: The more time he spends in front of the American people in a forum that is not handpicked and tightly controlled by his own handlers, the more it's clear that there's nothing more to Bush.....Love him or hate him, you couldn't come away from this debate feeling that you'd heard or learned a single new thing from Bush.
7:47:02 PM | |
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Tuesday, October 05, 2004 |
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