A comment from Bob Herbert’s blog

The following in red was a comment from a writer that signed him/her self “BT in NYC”, it was posted on Bob Herbert’s New York Times blog today, and it nicely sums up the reality behind all the noise (and smoke and mirrors) at most of the town hall meetings reported on around the U.S.

I suggest that you read Mr. Herbert’s blog, if only to be able to appreciate what this person had to say regarding it. Actually you would do well to hit up the New York Times daily to read his and Paul Krugman’s writings as they appear, this might help offset the quickly spreading turd footprint that’s left by those at the Faux (pronounced “Fox”) network.

The insurance companies are not merely “delighted at the way reform has been unfolding,” but have in fact steered the way that reform has been unfolding. The Town Hall disruptions are a smokescreen to attract the media, draw out crazies and ideologues, and otherwise create the impression that a significant portion of the American public opposes health care reform. Everyone covers the Town Halls and both interviews, tries to answer the crazies and ideologues. Meanwhile, the real action is unfolding elsewhere, and was set in stone months ago. The Senators who control health care reform — Grassley, Conrad, Baucus –are bought. The disruptions are to provide them with a fig leaf for votes that were never at issue. The purpose of the month long delay, as Grassley let slip yesterday, has been to give the disruptions a chance to happen. It’s all camouflage for the hard truth that our leaders in Congress are corporate tools.

The media has been totally hooked into this charade, and President Obama has been duped into believing that (1) good faith bargaining was going on and (2) public opinion matters. In fact, public opinion polls show that the public still favors a public option. This entire campaign by the insurance industry has been aimed at creating the illusion that such opinion has changed, to give certain Senators cover for a vote that has nothing to do what what the voters want.

As Wendell Potter, the Cigna exec turned whistleblower, wrote yesterday in an article, published on the CNN web site, the slogans and platitudes of the Town Halls and talking points of the Congressional opponents of reform were put together by public relations firms working for the insurance companies, for the precise purpose of drawing out extremists and other fringe elements. Everyone is out covering the resultant circus, and nobody realizes that the circus is a mere diversion.

The real story is in the Finance Committee; the deal was cut months ago; the public option will be killed and the rest of the bill gutted; and, readers, we have all been had.

Nothing more for me to add, good luck and good night…..

And The Winner Is… WTF, Who’s Sharito Copley?

In case you missed it, a new (sorta) Sci-Fi film opened this last week here in Movieville.  District 9 is an outstanding creation from Neill Blomkamp, a somewhat new feature film director who comes to us from the world of music videos. This film is one that at first glance you’d think might be just another “Independence Day” or “Alien Mine” kind of diversion, but be aware, D9 is no K9.

That first glance would be so wrong, not that there’s anything wrong with the former or anything right to emulate with the latter. And when I say “sorta” Sci-Fi, it’s meant to be in high praise because this one goes so much more deeply into the dissection of humanity (no pun intended here) than any of  your basic ET/UFO/Dinosaur driven cinema.

The first standout differences you’ll notice are that, with absolutely no offense meant to Mr. Copley who plays an MNU (Multi National Unit, sort of the equivalent of the “Blackwater” group in South Africa) field operative named Wikus van der Merwe, there’s not one actor in this film that you’ve likely ever seen before on any screen, at least not in North America. Nor does it seem that there is any sort of limit to, even after all of these years of years of CGI and Green screen improvements, exactly how many times you’ll say “how the fuck did they do that” in one sitting.

Don’t panic Earthlings, we’re not from the NSA

And don’t be so quick to chug that Diabetes friendly mega serving of soda because you can count on sitting through the whole thing, not one person in attendance got up during the nearly two hours including time spent watching the credits roll by looking for even one recognizable name other than executive producer Peter Jackson’s.

Therefore, count on there being a long line at the restroom when the last credits do fade out. In that credit roll, the list of the visual effect crew alone runs almost 6 screens on my Macbook, people that certainly earned their can of cat food (inside joke that you’ll get when you see the film).

I don’t need your damned anal probe, I’m the good guy!

In an award winning way, the above mentioned Mr. Copley at first brings to the screen an early John Cleese, circa Fawlty towers. He manages to morph that comical performance persona into one that Henry Fonda would have been proud of.

Yeah, I suppose that it’s a long stretch to imagine a person being able to go through that range in one film, but then I’ve seen it and have no problem with thinking of him that way, just one very long and smooth transformation.

See it and make a comment with your own “How the fuck did they do that?” count, including that very bizarre eye effect (take another, closer look at that photo above).

Me? I’m waiting for that richly deserved envelope to be handed to Mr Copley.

N.B., The ownership of any and all photos, opinions, and/ or quotes above (including those of my own) belong to the material’s creator(s). Credit is given when it’s known, but as always, success usually has a million parents and failure is an orphan.
Feel free to ignore any ads that are shown below this advisory, I don’t get to choose them and even more sadly, I don’t make a penny off any of them, so in the holy name of capitalism I rebuke and don’t endorse or support any of them, unless of course they’re made of funny stuff…..
P.S., check back for occasional updates and rewrites….
FAIR USE NOTICE: THIS SITE CONTAINS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL THE USE OF WHICH HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED BY THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. I AM MAKING SUCH MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN MY EFFORT TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, ECONOMIC, DEMOCRACY, SCIENTIFIC, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, ETC. I BELIEVE THIS CONSTITUTES A ‘FAIR USE’ OF ANY SUCH COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AS PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 107 OF THE US COPYRIGHT LAW. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: HTTP://WWW.LAW.CORNELL.EDU/USCODE/17/107.SHTML.  IF YOU WISH TO USE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FROM THIS SITE FOR PURPOSES OF YOUR OWN THAT GO BEYOND ‘FAIR USE’, YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.

“Ice Age”, If You Steal, Steal Quality

How shalt I steal thy frozen story ideas? Ah, let me count the plot lines.

Wait, a better idea, you count them yourself ….

Join in my newest and biggest contest ever, and still with no reward!

Warning, some potential spoilers ahead!

As I watched “Ice Age, Dawn Of The Dinosaurs” this evening, I felt a deja-vu sort of warmth flow over me, as if I were meeting with old friends for the first time all over again, driven by the images and the music they used.

When the “family” goes into the land filled with Brontosaurus looking beasts?

Hey, it’s just like we’re back in Jurassic Park once again.

And Rudy, that big white something-saurus they tripped with vines?

It’s like watching the lumbering battle robots getting tipped over in Star Wars.

O.K. fans, it’s time to call out your own favorites that this film cartoon uh, let’s just say an overly drawn out on screen adventure honors created by cloning parts from movies gone by.

And believe me, there’s a ton of them to find.

Hey, I’m waiting here……….

And you?

Just wait for that spin-off of “Jaws“.

N.B., The ownership of any and all photos, opinions, and / or quotes above (including those of my own) belong to the material’s creator(s). Credit is given when it’s known, but as we’ve found, success will have a million parents and failure will be an orphan.
Feel free to ignore any ads that are shown below this advisory, I don’t get to choose them and even more sadly, I don’t make a penny off any of them, so in the holy name of capitalism I rebuke and don’t endorse or support any of them, unless of course they’re made of funny stuff…..
P.S., check back for occasional updates and rewrites….
FAIR USE NOTICE: THIS SITE CONTAINS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL THE USE OF WHICH HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN SPECIFICALLY AUTHORIZED BY THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. I AM MAKING SUCH MATERIAL AVAILABLE IN MY EFFORT TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, ECONOMIC, DEMOCRACY, SCIENTIFIC, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, ETC. I BELIEVE THIS CONSTITUTES A ‘FAIR USE’ OF ANY SUCH COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AS PROVIDED FOR IN SECTION 107 OF THE US COPYRIGHT LAW. IN ACCORDANCE WITH TITLE 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107, THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PROFIT TO THOSE WHO HAVE EXPRESSED A PRIOR INTEREST IN RECEIVING THE INCLUDED INFORMATION FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: HTTP://WWW.LAW.CORNELL.EDU/USCODE/17/107.SHTML.  IF YOU WISH TO USE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FROM THIS SITE FOR PURPOSES OF YOUR OWN THAT GO BEYOND ‘FAIR USE’, YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.