So-called “scientific study” perpetrated in early 70′s, and sold by zombie ghoul Ronald Reagan, deliberately suffocated monkeys and then claimed that it was cannabis that had killed their brains.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRrQWIX2QcA&feature=player_embedded
As is expected in this action / crime / military genre, right wing ideology is a stock in trade.
Jack Reacher is a lawman outside the law. He’ll do the “right thing” no matter what the law is. Stuffed with interesting fight scenarios, car chases, shootouts, in the end the story is one lengthy sales pitch for the death penalty. As in all death penalty propaganda, the innocent men wrongly executed get no mention. The moral qualms of US governors who placed moratoriums on the practice get no mention. Problems in the “justice” system, however, do appear – but is this simply the bad apple lament? Ooops, I guess there’s a spoiler in there somewhere, sort of, maybe.
Essentially the city’s DA has a daughter, and she opposes daddy’s death penalty policies. A heinous, complex spree murder though is set to change her mind on the matter. It gets all up into its intrigue and Tom Cruise-isms for a while, and Werner Herzog shows up as a creepy former Siberian prisoner monster crime lord of sorts. I hadn’t expected Herzog, and this was interesting. With Herzog’s recent death house documentary (which I hadn’t seen) I surely didn’t expect what is essentially an argument in favor of executions. The Jack Reacher way wins out in the end, as if anyone ever doubted that. Death is the appropriate sentence. The formerly pacifistic lawyer woman is now okay with daddy’s policies. Barf bags optional.
Let’s talk about the kind of “terrorism” that’s a hell of a lot more likely to affect you and your family: corporate responsibility without accountability. The “deregulation” offensive led by people like governor of Texas G.W. Bush and the right wing corporatists, including Obama, is responsible for killing large numbers of workers, a disturbingly increasing number. Miners, plant workers, the regulations to ensure worker safety are little more than a joke after decades of erosion and deal making in the slimy halls of power.
“We know that the EPA, back in 2006, cited West Fertilizer for not having an emergency risk management plan. That is, a dangerous and explosion-prone plant that was using a hazardous chemical in large quantities, and that was storing highly explosive material also in large quantities, had made little or no effort to assess the risks of what it was doing. Indeed, it has been reported that the company had assured the EPA, in response to the complaint, that there was “no risk” of an explosion at the plant! An AP article reports that the company, five years after being cited for lacking a risk plan, did file one with the EPA, but that the report claimed the company “…was not handling flammable materials and did not have sprinklers, water-deluge systems, blast walls, fire walls or other safety mechanisms in place at the plant.”
Two Acts of Terror, Only One Investigation
by DAVE LINDORFF
“After all, it was Obama’s Justice Department that in December 2011 settled the case of the April 2010 Massey Energy Upper Big Branch explosion, which killed 29 miners, with a “non prosecution agreement.”
Outrageously, the Justice Department said it would not criminally prosecute Massey even though the Labor Department concluded that Massey’s “unlawful policies and practices” were the “root cause of this tragedy.”
Corporate Terrorism in West Texas
by RUSSELL MOKHIBER
Well here’s a simple exercise in hypocrisy. Those who cheer the loudest for war also want to cut the taxes that would help treat the predictable casualties of war. This is not a new issue, and stems back to the beginning of time. The warmongering, often racist, militant right wants to pay nothing toward services that would actually help people, the victims of their own wars, even their own allegedly beloved “troops.” Such monstrous, callous, barbarous stupidity is now normalized across large swaths of the population.
Veterans Affairs: Support a 90 yr old Purple Heart recipient and veteran of two wars
By Nicole M.
Sun City Center, FloridaMy dad, James March, is a World War II and Korean War veteran with a Purple Heart he received in WW2 — but now that he’s seriously ill, the VA is refusing to help him.
Even though his injury from the war caused him terrible back and leg pain throughout his life, my dad never complained to the VA — he rarely asks for help from anyone. But now that he’s 90 years old, dad is really sick and he urgently needs help from an assisted living facility. Our whole family is worried about him: he’s barely eating, he’s nearly lost his eyesight, and he’s suffering from dementia. In just a few months, he lost 70 pounds.
Dad needs constant care, but Mom isn’t able to be a full-time caregiver because she’s struggling with cancer recovery and diabetes — and my family doesn’t have enough money to pay out of pocket for him to get a home aide.
The VA lost our application for assistance two times before they denied our claim. Even though my parents are crippled by medical costs and their home was foreclosed on 2/27/2013, the VA says my dad “makes too much money” to qualify for help. In reality, my parents barely have enough left over at the end of the month to buy their groceries, let alone pay for at-home care.
My dad was there when our country needed him to fight in WWII, healing others as a medic on the battlefield where he earned a Purple Heart. Now that he needs us, will we turn our back on him? Sign my petition asking that the VA give my dad the benefits he and all veterans deserve for their service and sacrifice.
Greedy Lying Bastards coming to theaters…
What finally convinced me was the satellite data measurements over time:
The Global Warming crowd has done a botched job of proving their case, politically. Changing the name from “Global Warming” to “Climate Change” was a major moronic miscue. One of the stupider branding exercises of the modern age. If you’re going to say it, fucking say it. Don’t hide behind weasel words. They also tend to have these A-R-R-O-G-A-N-T appeals to authority, which are so endearing.
Right wing poster child for abortion Glenn Beck thinks he’s Ayn Rand now.
Cult Leader One will set up a magnet for the radical looney tunes to gather and build their movement. The Beck wants to leave “future generations” a monument to his damaged brain, and apparently spewing the angry, irrational Jeremiads pays well enough to do it. [Note to self: more anger.]
“You’ll literally have to wipe us off the face of the earth and wipe us off the map!”
PS.
Watch out for them cows, Glenn.
If Seven Psychopaths weren’t enough psychopaths, Super offers another handful to keep you cringing and laughing. I was stunned this movie failed so awfully at the box office. It has Ellen Paige, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon and even Nathan Fillion makes an appearance that you won’t quite expect.
It’s one of those comic book hero wannabe films, as Michael Rappaport muddled through in Special. It was done quite more impressively in Kick Ass as well, but Super lands somewhere in the middle, only with a gritty bit of the old ultra-violence thrown in.
Super’s over the top psychosis seems intended to make a statement on these obsessive hard right “law and order” maniacs. The line between criminal and vigilante is constantly shifting around. While Super’s goal is clear and morally good, some of his antics put him on the wrong side, and this is hammered home with the addition of his lunatic sidekick Boltie. Ellen Paige plays the craziest little sidekick in memory, and really should have found some psychiatric help instead.
The characters are as pathetic as they are misguided, but still the film seems to make some kind of a point about extreme lunatics redeeming themselves and making good in the world, through unconventional means.
It’s not Disney.
This appeared at the Redbox, and I was on the fence whether to click the trailer. Turns out, it’s a satire of midwest, red-state America, through the lens of an Iowa butter carving competition. Funny film, easily overlooked.
In the small world department, Olivia Wilde, who plays the outrageous stripper/hooker Brooke (above, right), is actually the niece of Alexander Cockburn of Counterpunch. The ten year old black girl, Destiny, is the child prodigy in butter carving who stands the best chance of knocking down Jennifer Garner – the obsessed right-wing hyper-ambitious social climber. Ethics fly out the window once the competition heats up.
Butter is out on DVD now (Netflix).
Revolution Now
With John Sayles, Tom Morello, Chuck D, Public Enemy, Gogol Bordello, Lewis Black and others, the film takes on the system, the music, the right-wing assault, the movements to break their stranglehold on us all. I’m going to call that a “Must See” film:
Rough, raw and unapologetically inspirational, LET FURY HAVE THE HOUR is a charged journey into the heart of the creative counter-culture in 2012. In a time of global challenges, big questions and by-the-numbers politics, this upbeat, outspoken film tracks the story of the artists, writers, thinkers and musicians who have gone underground to re-imagine the world – honing in on equality, community and engaged creativity – in exuberantly paradigm-busting ways.
Writer/director Antonino D’Ambrosio unites 50 powerful, of-the-moment voices –from street artist Shepard Fairey to rapper Chuck D to playwright Eve Ensler to musicians Tom Morello and Billy Bragg to novelist Edwidge Danticat to filmmaker John Sayles to comic Lewis Black – who share personal and powerful tales of how they transformed anger and angst into provocative art and ideas. Mix-mastered with historical footage, animation and performances, D’Ambrosio presents a visceral portrait of a generation looking to re-jigger a system that has failed to address the most pressing problems of our times . . . or human potential.
The story begins in the 1980s with the rise of Reagan and Thatcher — and a cultural shift towards fierce individualism and rampant consumerism. Coming of age in a world seemingly gone mad or at least gone shopping, some kids started searching for something more authentic. This was the start of a renegade movement D’Ambrosio calls “creative-response.” It was a hybrid, haphazard collective of skateboarders, punk rockers, rappers, street poets, feminists and graffitists whose reaction to this brave new world was not to turn away, but to turn up the volume and have their say.
Now that generation is coming to the fore, sparking a global movement focused not just on pushing the boundaries with guitars, paint, dance, storytelling, graphics and subcultural style – but on coming together around real reasons for hope.
Set to a stirring soundtrack from the film’s artists – including Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy, Billy Bragg, Gogol Bordello, MC5, DJ Spooky and Sean Hayes – LET FURY HAVE THE HOUR is a fast and furious trip into the grass roots of art and activism, 21st Century style. The film is written and directed by author and visual artist Antonino D’Ambrosio in his feature debut. The producers are D’Ambrosio and James L. Reid and the executive producers are Jonathan Gray, Brian Devine, Rob McKay, Mark Urman and Chaz Zelus. The film features original music from composer and MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer. A CAVU Pictures release.
Ohio Romney Rally – Interviews with Supporters
(May induce nausea and fits of hysterical, nervous laughter.)
Unholy Dalliance
Poor Dinesh D’Souza. He was hoisted on his own “petar,” Shakespeare’s little joke in Hamlet, substituting the old word for flatulence in place of petard, the spear. There he was on Rick Scarborough’s windy conference call pillorying President Obama for “attacking the traditional values agenda.” It was the typical stuff: Gay Marriage and Abortion are bad, Obama like them, so ergo “Obama doesn’t like traditional Christianity because he identifies it with colonialism.” This is all material that appears in his soporiferous movie, 2016: Obama’s America. It is not new. It is a cliché.
Then, from World Magazine, the Christian publication that tries to be “salt not sugar,” came a story on October 16 that D’Souza arrived at a conference in Spartanburg, South Carolina in late September, and checked into a Comfort Suites motel with his partner, Denise Odie Joseph II, a right-wing blogger. Joseph, it turns out, is not D’Souza’s wife, and nor could she be his fiancé. Not only is D’Souza married to someone else (although he says they are separated), but that Joseph herself has only recently been married. In any other planet, this would be a non-story: two consenting adults should be allowed to do what they like. But the world of conservative Christianity is not that planet.
A conference organizer, Alex McFarland, confronted D’Souza, who told him that Joseph was his fiancé, and that “nothing happened.” The World’s Warren Cole Smith called D’Souza, who told him that he had filed for divorce and was now engaged to Joseph. Smith’s sleuthing found out that D’Souza only filed those divorce papers after the Spartanburg tryst.
As Jeffrey St. Clair put it, D’Souza “was apparently just preparing himself for the coming Mormon Republic of the US” with the impending electoral sweep of what is now called Romneysia.
The World’s article set the ball rolling, and within a few days, D’Souza lost his seven-figure salary from the presidency of King’s College in New York City.
