Well, then. this changes everything. All that Christian rock that sounds outdated by about 10-15 years isn’t cheesy, it’s “cool”, as are those women’s hairstyles with the poofy bangs. Thanks, MySpace.
They say Nero fiddled while Rome burned…
White House photo by Eric DraperDumber than anything I’ve ever seen in any of those bad movies I’m so fond of, although by some stretch of the imagination I guess you could call this ‘blaxploitation’. Anyone wanna take a shot at a caption?
crossposted at Green Mountain Daily
By now, in our fifth year of Iraq war fatigue, no single term has been bandied about and abused as “Support the Troops”. Part of it has its origins in guilt about the way returning Vietnam Vets were treated by certain people. And naturally, no matter how much one may or may not support what the troops are actually doing, I hope it’s still safe to say that we support them as human beings in a difficult situation. And many of us reading this blog know that the best way to ’support the troops’ is to remove them from harm’s way and bring them home as soon as humanly possible.
Unfortunately, the Bush Administration, as you all know, often views the troops as nothing more than props and political pawns. They talk about ’supporting the troops’ every chance they get, yet their policies do anything but, whether it be the Bush-McCain-Lieberman escalation, the atrocities at Walter Reed Hospital, cuts in Veteran’s services, insufficient body armor, you name it. I’m sure you’re well aware of them. Yes, it’s criminal.
So, today I was a bit stunned (but not surprised) to read in the Times Argus that the VT GOP is proposing a resolution that will declare “full support to our troops and their mission in conducting the War on Terror.” The TA reports that “The bill seeks to designate May 6 as “Vermont Vets for Victory Day” and coincides with a six-day support-the-troops rally beginning on May 1 through several communities, including Rutland, Chester and Bennington.” It’s not as simple as it sounds, however…
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Well, this is interesting. Whod’a thunk there’s be a film that could be both a spaghetti western AND a blaxploitation flick? An Italian production directed by Antonio Margheretti, 1975’s Take A Hard Ride, actually fits the bill. It stars Spag Western legend Lee Van Cleef, as well as three of the biggest blaxploitation stars: Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, and Jim Kelly, who also starred in the hilarious (but not a comedy) Three The Hard Way.
The three of them yet again ‘join forces’ to deliver an $86,000 bankroll that is also desired by a bunch of other people, most notably a bounty hunter named Keifer (Van Cleef). That’s the plot in a nutshell. And, for the most part, breathtaking scenery aside, this film was pretty lame. Lots to poke fun at, however, so here it goes.
Jim Kelly plays a mute Indian with a tiny afro who karate kicks people in the nuts! Yeeeah, boy!
I had to meet a friend for lunch to day in Montpelier, and then sauntered over to the Statehouse to catch the impeachment proceedings in the House. It was defeated, 87-60. I’d like to offer a big thanks who stood up for accountability and voted for the resolution. Odum has the roll call at GMD here.
Yes, as others have noted, it was inspiring, and it truly was a case of democracy in action. But I left rather pissed.
The VT blogosphere was on hand… from who I could see, Norsehorse, Snarky Boy, GMD, Carpetbagger Report and yours truly were all there to report on the carnival. The house was packed, as you can see from the photo I took.
There were people of all kinds in the crowd on hand (over 300) to do that ‘democracy’ thing that seems to be in short supply lately. The Republican speeches were pretty pathetic, ranging from Tom Koch (Barre Town) keeping consistent and speaking out against it on procedural grounds, partisanship and everything but the kitchen sink. Not surprising, because that guy, when not trying to pass laws forbidding driving-while-flute-playing pretty much opposes anything good that ever gets presented, regardless of the issue. Another Repub whose name I didn’t catch acted as though the various misdeeds of Bushco were somehow still in doubt, then rehashed a bunch of statements from prominent Dems from almost ten years ago. Others just looked annoyed. Continue reading
I recently discovered and am still digesting a band from Norway called Jaga Jazzist. Now, I have sort of a love/hate relationship with electronica music. J.J. seems to blend elements of uptempo electronica rhythms with serious jazz composition, something quite rare. It’s not always easy to get into, but I’m warming up to it. Here’s the vid for their “Animal Chin”… starts of kinda Zappa-ish then gets kinda strange. Enjoy.
As much as I love the wide-open spaces of the American West, I take comfort living in the northeastern U.S., because even if the religious right whackjobs managed to get more power (thankfully, looking less and less likely lately), I think that they’d hit a wall as soon as they hit New York state, maybe New Jersey. N.H. just passed civil unions, without a court order. New York is considering gay marriage. As I type this, the masses are congregating at the VT Statehouse demanding that the impeachment resolution passes the House of Reps.
Now that’s not to say we’re immune from it. The cave dwellers were out in full force during the civil unions debate back in ‘00, and we still unfortunately have ‘my-insanely-tight-pucker-cracks-diamonds-at-the-mention-of- “the free market” John McLaughry, and paranoid wingnut Paul Beaudry of TrueNorth Radio. But at least in Vermont, if you’re a far-right whack job, you’re marginalized, and rightly so.
Anyways, to get on another tangent, one of my atheist criticisms is that religious liberals and moderates don’t do enough to fight the extremist elements. I found a rare exception, and a great story, as well. Over at Talk to Action, an organization that includes many religious moderates intent on keeping a leash on the Religious Right, there’s a great piece about how the new governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, is standing up to the christofascists and rejecting federal grant money to pay for “abstinence only” education in the public schools.
The money was previously funneled by then-GOP governor Mitt Romney to a project of the anti-abortion group, A Woman’s Concern — whose medical director the controversial Dr. Eric Keroack; recently resigned from the Bush adminstration under a cloud. Although many polititians have feared standing-up to the religious right’s abstinence only tide, Massachusetts joins eight states have refused the restrictive federal grant money — and a dozen others considering it — rather than teach unscientfic, bogus and counterproductive approaches to sexuality. A Woman’s Concern is the chain of antiabortion “crisis pregnancy centers” that employed Dr. Eric Keroack, whose crackpot medical views were controversial at the time of his appointment to a federal family planning post, from which he recently resigned, apparently due to investigations by state Medicaid officials.
It’s really about common sense and living in a reality-based society. Sex rocks. Kids are going to have sex, so it’s important that those who do are educated to make the right choices and stay safe. Part of the problem is the fearmongerers think we’re all as stupid as they are. They really don’t get ’cause and effect’ down too well. They assume that giving kids an HPV vaccine (which I have to say I am not necessarily for, for other reasons) wil ‘encourage’ kids ot have sex. RU-486 (the abortifacient pill) will ‘encourage’ people to have sex. Teaching kids about birth control will ‘encourage’ people to have sex. Um, no. Sex is fun. That’s usually what ‘encourages’ people to have sex. And one could make the valid argument that keeping it in a ‘taboo’ nature also encourages kids to pluck the forbidden fruit. That’s why countries who are more open abut sex end to have fewer abortions and teen pregnancy rates. Hats off to Gov. Patrick for bringing some sanity and common sense back to Massachusetts.
Yep. They’re still here. But so am I. You may have heard of a right-wing hate-group called the ‘Concerned Women for America’. It’s yet another brain-dead organization hellbent on imposing a literalist Biblical worldview on the rest of us. Science is just another satanic tool to these people (although did you ever notice how many people that take fertility drugs and have quintuplets seem to be fundies? Apparently, they’re blind to the fact that ‘God’s will’ was for them not to reproduce – but that’s another story). A look at their ‘care issues’ page shows such nuggets of wisdom such as, “Populating the earth is a mandate from God, not a threat to humanity,” and “Western Civilization has willingly chosen to exchange the faith and logic of a Biblical worldview for an irrational secularism based on an unthinking and cruel relativism.” “Faith and logic of a Biblical worldview? Uh, ok.
CWA was formed by Beverly LaHaye, wife of Tim La Haye, co-author of those wacky dominionist “Left Behind” sci-fi novels that are always hot sellers to the discriminating literary critics who buy their books at Wal-Mart. And like most far-right hate groups, they are obsessed with gay sex.
Anwyays, I saw something interesting on Americablog yesterday, about a man named Stephen Bennett. He’s one of those nutballs who believes you can ‘pray away the gay’. He oughta know, he used to be one himself. And he’s also a spokesman for CWA. And as the Americablog post points out, he’s a batshit insane racist, as well. Turns out he’s promoting the work of crazy white supremacists on YouTube.
Now, I’ve often asserted that although not all conservatives are racist, most racists tend to be conservative. And the common defense that those cons fall back on is if something doesn’t fit the textbook definition of racism (meaning if it doesn’t actually involve one explicitly declaring that their race is superior to another), it’s not racist. Insititutional racism doesn’t exist (perhaps it’s too complicated for them to understand). Heck, by their definition, Imus’ comments weren’t racist, because he just said ‘Nappy headed ho’s’, not “White players are superior to nappy headed ho’s”. Perhaps taking pride in being part of the “privileged” race really blinds one to it. Funny, then how they love to play the victim. Whether it’s how ‘white Christian males are under attack’ or whatever the horseshit line of the day is, these people typify the crybaby, whiny victim.
Anyways, I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but I really have to wonder if the CWA are ‘concerned’ at all about their spokesman’s views. Considering how they’ve mastered the use of the Bible as a cudgel of hatred, I seriously doubt it.
UPDATE: The filmaker’s YouTube account has been suspended.
Now that I finally stumped Bill Simmon with last week’s NTM, my life is complete, I’m selling all of my possessions and moving to Tanzania. Well, no, not really. But I am downgrading my Name that Movie feature to an occasional occurrence.
Anyways, last week’s movie was 1971’s ‘Play Misty For Me’, starring and directed by Clint Eastwood. it was his first film as a director, about a studly jazz DJ who has a one-night stand with a woman who becomes rather unhinged and quite dangerous when she realizes it was just a one-nighter. It was a great, suspenseful movie. Oddly enough, two people guessed ‘Vanishing Point’.
The photo was Eastwood’s hip pot-smokin’ DJ buddy Al Monte, played by James McEachin. I had to smudge the call letters on the microphone, for they were for jazz radio station KRML. Considering that their brand new current studio is in the ‘Eastwood Building’, I figured it might be a bit of a giveaway.
The trivia questionabout ‘Weather Report’? A scene takes place in the movie at the real Monterey Jazz Festival, where Cannonball Adderly and his band are performing. The keyboardist was Joe Zawinul, who later went on to form the popular fusion band, “Weather Report”, with saxman Wayne Shorter.
The VT Senate has signed off on the impeachment resolution, in no small part to the continuos pressure from activists. Now it’s time to put the squeeze on the House of Reps. Details here. Read the comments for more info.
