Tommyjournal archive June 2007
I saw Michael Moore's latest film, Sicko. Despite what anyone says about it being better than his last two films, it is still a Michael Moore film, with all that implies.
Like his other films, it's about a significant topic and it is at times entertaining, stirring, and informative; but it's infuriating when it is crude, when it omits important details, and when it treats viewers as if they were naïve. I mean, if you're going to diss politicians for not telling it like it is, it would be nice to set a better example.
That said, it has its moments. It recounts some interesting history (e.g, recordings from a conference Nixon had about health care), it spanks Hillary Clinton, and parts of it are striking and/or funny.
Fahrenheit 911 failed to achieve its objective (thwart Bush's reëlection). Sicko will succeed to the extent it leads to improvement in health care and insurance in America. I'm not optimistic that it'll have much effect, but I wish something would; the system is so broken.
Monday 25 Jun 2007 5 comments
The last couple times someone has told me two words are related etymologically, the dictionary I checked with said they weren't. The pairs I'd been told were related were
priest and prostitute
bacchanalia and bachelor
If you have reason to believe either of these pairs are related despite what my dictionary says, please let me know.
Saturday 16 Jun 2007 3 comments
I have been following Scooter Libby's trial and sentencing with interest. Quite a few of his fans have shown their contempt for justice and honesty by calling for lenience or a pardon.
I think Libby should go to prison.
There's a lot more I could say, but I'll let a few people in the administration speak for themselves. Keep these pieces of history in mind if and when Bush pardons Libby.
From a White House press briefing with Scott McClellan, September 29, 2003:
The President wants anyone, anyone who has information relating to this [the Plame matter] to report that information to the appropriate agency, the Department of Justice. That's what the President wants, and I've been very clear about that.
...
The President has set high standards, the highest of standards for people in his administration. He's made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct.
From Libby's grand jury testimony, March 5, 2004:
| Fitzgerald: | And do you understand that any testimony that you give is under oath and that if you make any deliberate false statement about a material or important fact, you could be prosecuted for perjury? Do you understand that? |
| Libby: | I do understand that. |
| ... | |
| Fitzgerald: | And if, if someone does commit a false statement or commit perjury, they could be prosecuted by up to five years in jail for each such false statement. Do you understand that? |
| Libby: | Yes, sir. |
Sunday 10 Jun 2007 comment?
Artwork with (unintended?) double meaning:
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Friday 08 Jun 2007 4 comments
A friend told me this morning that she has stopped watching the news, as so much of it is discouraging and there's not much she can do about any of it.
There isn't a lot I can do about world affairs, but I can blog. I know some readers have liked Tommyjournal better when it has avoided politics; I'm not forcing anyone to read today's entry.
In the Republican candidates' debate earlier this week, John McCain said:
The fact is that Saddam Hussein had used weapons of mass destruction before on his own people and on his enemies, and if he'd gotten them again, he'd have used them again.I find it discouraging as hell that a politician can say that kind of thing, and no one calls him on the fact that the USA was supporting and arming Saddam Hussein when he was using those weapons in the Iran-Iraq war.
For several reasons, I find it discouraging that every GOP candidate, to a man, supports the military's don't ask don't tell policy. It sucks that politicians toe party lines in general, it sucks that one party's members are essentially forced to take this position lest they lose the support of their voters who don't like homosexuality, and it sucks that a few of the candidates don't seem to understand that the policy doesn't prohibit behavior but rather the disclosure of one's sexual orientation.
To be fair, the Democrats suck too in their own ways. I diss the GOP more because I think they're the bigger danger.
And to be fair--to a large degree, politicians reflect the public that they represent.
Thursday 07 Jun 2007 comment?
T-cells (light red is after starting antivirals)--
For what it's worth, my overall health and vitality have correlated pretty well with my T-cell count. Correlated--I make no claims about the details of causality.
The drugs seem to suppress reproduction of HIV, but that hasn't translated into that much of a rebound in T-cells. Long story; the body is complicated.
My advice, as usual: if you don't have HIV, try to stay that way.
Sunday 03 Jun 2007 comment?
Snideness is potent; a little bit goes a long way. A few examples:
Around 17 years ago, when the religious right in the USA was up in arms over public funding of provocative art, this passage about Jesse Helms appeared in
"Old Helms will win every time" on cutting Federal money for art projext with homosexual themes. "This Mapplethorpe fellow," said Mr. Helms, who pronounces the artist's name several ways, "was an acknowledged homosexual. He's dead now, but the homosexual theme goes throughout his work."It was a put-down just to call attention to Helms' wobbly pronunciation of Mapplethorpe's name.
Decades ago, when the Long Island Rail Road still had smoking cars on their trains, their schedules included a notice saying
If you smoke, as many still do, ...... please use the smoking cars (or something like that, I don't recall the rest of the sentence verbatim). That "as many still do" phrase was deliciously, understatedly snide.
A quotation without comment can be implicitly snide if what was said was embarrassing in its own right. From the NY Times 18 years ago:
The President, clearly hoping to put the Iran-contra issue to rest, derided what he termed "needless, mindless, needless speculation about my word of honor."Ahem. There were fair reasons to speculate about the word of the President in question (Bush 41), in my opinion.
Whereas snideness is potent, saying "trust me" is negatively potent, and emphatically saying "don't question my honor" (in this case, with duplicate words) is thoroughly negatively potent.
Thanks to Arnold Zwicky for posting the Bush quote in Language Log today.
[revised on June 4; it was Bush, not Reagan]
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