Counting slowly

Conditions: Overcast, cool.


Tony Blair

I suppose it is a shame that Blair's reign will only really be remembered for his decision to join Bush in the wrong-in-so-many-ways war in Iraq. By all accounts he is an intelligent and even wise man, who made many good decisions on other things. But in Iraq is where Blair failed in the eyes of history. He had a chance, a few chances actually, to stop the war from happening, to stand with the U.N, to convince Bush publicly, and especially privately, that the invasion wasn't going to work, that it would actually make things worse. In the end, if Bush couldn't have been persuaded (and I suspect he could not have been), Blair could have made a stand like so many other leaders did, but he did worse, he joined in. And for that his legacy too is tainted. Bella gerant alii - Let others wage war.



Earth's secret places



Hey you! Yes, you! Do you feel like traveling the world, seeking out strange phenomena? Perhaps while accompanied by a great soundtrack? Well too late, they've all already been found. See for yourself, thanks to the folks @ Google Earth:

The Secret Places of the Earth



Spider-man to swing on, and on. And on.

In the light of the big freaking pile of money the latest Spiderman movie has made on opening, the studio has been quick to confirm they want to make much more money in the future as well. What a shock!

Sony Pictures chief executive Michael Lynton told the BBC: "Everybody has every intention of making a fourth, a fifth and a sixth and on and on."

There would be "as many as we can make good stories for", he pledged.

bbc.co.uk

HA! Ha Ha HA! That must be Hollywoodese for 'We'll keep vacuuming the money from peoples pockets for as long as they'll keep standing around with their jackets open.'



Boom in space

WASHINGTON — A massive exploding faraway star _ the brightest supernova astronomers have ever seen _ has scientists wondering whether a similar celestial fireworks show may light up the sky much closer to Earth sometime soon.

The discovery, announced Monday by NASA, drew oohs and aahs for months from the handful of astronomers who peered through telescopes to see the fuzzy remnants of the spectacular explosion after it was first spotted last fall.

Huffpost

I have nothing to add, I just thought it was neat. You're sipping a coffee, thinking about Paris Hilton, and somewhere in space a titanic star blows up. Cool.



Oil in Iraq

Truthout.org

So, Bush invaded Iraq to secure the oil supply that keeps America big and strong. But he totally underestimated just what would be needed to settle the country. Now the emerging power in the country is organizing itself around the only real asset they have, could America be for the high-jump? Recently American authorities have tried to introduce a bill into Iraqi parliament that will help give them control of the oil.

When the "Draft Hydrocarbon Law" was finally delivered to the Iraqi Parliament on February 18, 2007, key provisions had already been leaked and immediately denounced by the full spectrum of the Iraqi opposition. Taking turns registering dismay were the majority of the Parliament, a wide range of government officials, the leadership of major Sunni political parties, the union of oil workers, the Sadrists - the most powerful Shia grouping - and the visible leadership of the insurgency.
[...]

The petrochemical law is hardly assured of successful passage, and - even if passed - is in no way assured of successful implementation. Resistance to it, spread as it is throughout Iraqi society, has already shown itself to be a formidable opponent to the dwindling power of the American occupation.

Everyone from the parliament to the armed insurgents are against this bill, and unless Bush wants to try and fight the war all over again, it looks like even the evil 'realpolitik' reasons for the war may be defeated.


Tenet comes clean

Speaking of which, remember how the accepted reasons for war with Iraq were total bullshit? Well the ex-CIA director at the time, George 'Medal of freedom?' Tenet, has written a book in which he reveals what really happened in the Bush White House in the run up to the war.

Truthout.org:

Team Feith’s [Feith, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Cheny] main task was to create and maintain the fiction of a connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden when no solid evidence supported that assertion. The intelligence unit Feith headed set about discrediting the conclusions of every other intelligence operation while cherry-picking evidence to support the invasion of Iraq as a logical response to 9/11. Tenet’s high crime—and it is just that—was that he knew of this treachery from the start, yet never exposed it to Congress or the public.

Take Tenet’s description of the briefing, provided by Feith’s office throughout the higher reaches of government, entitled “Iraq and al-Qaa’ida—Making the Case.” As Tenet notes, Feith’s briefer, Tina Shelton, “started out by saying that there should be ‘no more debate’ on the Iraq-al Qaeda relationship. ‘It is an open-and-shut case,’ she said. ‘No further analysis is required.’ This statement instantly got my attention. I knew we had trouble on our hands.”

Shelton ran through a series of fraudulent claims, including one that lead hijacker Mohamed Atta had met with an Iraqi agent in Prague, which the CIA had previously investigated but found to be fraudulent. Tenet then adds: “I listened for a few more minutes trying to be polite, before saying, ‘that’s very interesting.’ This was one of my rare moments of trying to be subtle. What I was really thinking was, this is complete crap, and I want this to end right now.”

But he didn’t say it. And the “complete crap” of Team Feith carried the day with the Bush administration, from Bush on down, not because they had facts or logic on their side, but because their intellectual bullying served the political agenda of the Karl Rove juggernaut. The bullying was effective only because Congress and the media were traumatized by 9/11 and because those who knew better, most prominently Tenet, failed to speak out. In the end, Tenet betrayed the bedrock freedom of representative democracy—the right of the people to be informed—and failed, when it mattered most, his sworn duty to honestly inform the government about issues of vital importance to its security.

"Pity that it took a $4-million book contract for Tenet to come clean."

Indeed. If there was any justice, the money would be confiscated and used for Iraqi refugees. Perhaps his medal of freedom could be melted down and turned into ingots.



Related: The Ongoing Iraq Intel Fraud
"Almost five years and perhaps half a million deaths too late, it's finally the accepted wisdom in Washington that the intelligence that George W. Bush used to justify invading Iraq was garbage. But the pattern of twisting the truth about Iraq continues unabated and the President is still rarely called on it." - Truthout.org



Paris Hilton to jail

I didn't really want to address it, but like it or not, she is a part of our popular culture. Boy, our popular culture really sucks right now, uh? Anyway, for the rock-dwelling lifeforms on Mars, Paris recently was sentenced to 45 days in jail for multiple violations of her parole agreement re: driving her car. And for seemingly not caring about the parole agreement she signed. Of course everyone's in a tizzy, because it's Paris freaking Hilton. I think this is great news, for a few reasons. First: she deserves it. She had already been caught driving after being banned, and was let go with a warning. The last time she was stopped, she was on a motorway at night without her headlights on. An example needs to be made, and she needs to learn that she is only a human being, with the same responsibilities and rules as the rest of us peasants. And frankly, I think we need a break from her, and possibly she needs a break from herself - 45 days of her just sitting around, no pursuing pack of paparazzi, no adoring 'fans', no lifestyles of the rich and stupid. It might just be the bestest vacation ever.

Fat chance. The media will be all over this like a rash. There'll be interviews with everyone she knows, and any visitors to her jail will probably go on Oprah, or Leno, or whatever the hell they go on these days. Magazine articles will be written, and when she gets out we'll never hear the end of it. Not to mention the likely book and film adaptation down the road. So, it never ends, and she'll never learn. Life goes on, Indy.


Dancing about Architecture

Edgar Write is a clever guy who wrote and directed Hot Fuzz, and Shaun of the Dead. Shane Black is a cool dude who wrote Lethal Weapon, Last Kiss Goodnight, and Last Boy Scout. They decided to meet and talk about movies. The conversation was archived for the ages:

esquire.com



New Classical Music?

I was watching TV last night, and while channel surfing I caught the tail end of a piece of music that sounded so haunting that it stilled my very soul.

When you think of rock music, you're thinking of three guitars and a drum. And the same really goes for pop, funk, rap, hip hop, what have you. three guitars and a drum. Maybe a synthesizer every now and then. But why is this so? If you listen to classical music you find some wonderful sounds, but these sounds are not let into the divisions of 'current' music. Except for one category - the category that's hard to classify. It's the trip-hop-dance-club category. Anything goes here, and because of that you sometimes can get something that really works. And the occasional army of dancing bunnies. Anyway, Wax Tailor has combined together something that makes so much sense it makes you slap your forehead and think 'why didn't I think of that?' He's combined the haunting strings of a cello with the heartbeat-like rhythm employed in dance music. The result is really something.

Hypnosis Theme by Wax Tailor, on youtube.

Profile of Wax.




Film Review: Spider-man 3

Spiderman movies aren't like normal movies, or even normal comic-book movies. They're kinda goofy, oddball, and containing a lot of swoopy action but somehow avoiding the inherent violence or consequences that should follow. Two characters can fight, and the fight can seem very exciting, but the punches are pulled somehow. The violence of, say, falling through a window, or being thrown through a building, or falling 100 feet or so onto concrete, is softened somehow. The problem for me, at least, is that consequently, it doesn't seem real. Or even painful. Spidey 3 has more problems than that, though: The relationships between the characters are too simplified, with no real depth evident between anyone. Which is especially noticeable as the film has a distinct focus on the characters, rather than the action. That's okay, if a little surprising, as long as those relationships crackle across the screen. They do not. Instead, people seem to just veer wildly from one emotion to the other like bumper cars. It's very odd, based on the perceived strengths of this franchise overall. Did everyone stop caring? And I know it's par for the course, but the suspension of disbelief here is massive. Science is completely thrown out the window, followed closely by logic and common sense. Things happen simply because they'd look cool, or will help the story along, rather than actually make any sense at all.

Truly then, this is a film for kids. It must be, for I cannot imagine adults reacting to this with any real value. Spidey is a silly hero, who slings around New York one minute, and bumbles around it the next. He's a dork, and he revels in it. Good for him. In fact Tobey Maguire is probably the only one who can get out of this film with any real praise. Most disapointingly, his girlfriend is literally a damsel in distress, with no more character development than a prop. And the bad guys aren't really all that bad, so that everything can then work out in the end. There's always an Important Lesson, that must rain down like a shower of anvils throughout, and this time it's about arrogance causing one to become isolated, or something. That's fine. It's probably a great kids movie, but it didn't work for me.

And the ultimate standoff between Parker and his best friend, who thinks he killed his father, - the whole 'Big Thing' the movie is meant to be about? Dealt with in about three minutes. Likely in order that we can have more C.G shots of sand. The film is either far too short to properly deal with it's contents, or far too packed with things that are unnecessary to telling it's story. Two bombs out of five.


Summer Super Action Blockbuster Season Deathcount Score: 0/1



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