The Long Winters : putting the days to bed ****
Their best album of songs so far. Finely crafted, expertly played, they seem to take as many alt/indie rock cliches as they can cram into one song, tweak them a bit, and turn up the tempo. Interesting and emotion-packed power pop.

Rice ready for new Mideast trip if needed - Yahoo! News:
"U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice would return to the Middle East this weekend if needed, U.S. officials said on Friday, as calls grew across the world for an end to the war between
Israel and Hizbollah."

If needed? IF NEEDED? What the FUCK is going on here??? She should NOT LEAVE until a peace accord is struck! If they blame Syria and Iran for Hezbollah, then surely the USA is to blame for Israel. And if that is the case we have a MORAL obligation to see that peace is reached as soon as possible NOW. Not "if needed". Jesus Christ please save us from these imbeciles.

UNDERNEWS: ENTROPY BEAT:
"The ten top grossing touring musical groups for the first half of 2006 include these seven. Next to the names is the year they got started.

1960 PAUL MCCARTNEY
1962 ROLLING STONES
1969 AEROSMITH
1971 BILLY JOEL
1976 U2
1981 LUIS MIGUEL
1983 BON JOVI

This supports the thesis of western cultural entropy outlined in 'The Quiet Storm: Blowin' in the Wind of Cultural Decay.' While there is nothing wrong with these groups, a thriving civilization would be expected to have a higher percentage of more recent bands."

WTF? Does this make any logical sense? I never even considered that civilization thrives when more recent bands make the most money in a given 6 month period.

Independent Online Edition > Middle East > Britain and US defy demand for immediate ceasefire
Shameful. "Culture of Life" indeed.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Cheney sued in CIA identity case:
"'This lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials of the federal government of [Ms Plame], whose job it was to gather intelligence to make the nation safer and who risked her life for her country,' it says. The couple say the officials violated their constitutional and privacy rights in order to 'punish' Mr Wilson for his comments. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensation and punitive damages as well as legal costs. Mr Corallo [spokesman for Mr. Rove] said of the lawsuit: 'Without even having had a chance to review the complaint, it is clear that the allegations are absolutely and utterly without merit.'"

Good for her! It's apparent that they are going to get away with this in the criminal courts, maybe the civil courts can find some semblance of justice here. I would also like to know how something you haven't even read can be clear to you?

The US Military Descends on Paraguay
"Some activists, military analysts and politicians in the region believe the operations could be part of a plan to overthrow the left-leaning government of Evo Morales in neighboring Bolivia and take control of the area's vast gas and water reserves. Human rights reports from Paraguay suggest the US military presence is, at the very least, heightening tensions in the country."

This was probably not the main reason for the military buildup since that began in early 2005 and Morales was not elected president until December 2005 (although he came in a close second in 2002). But it still bears close scrutiny.

Box Office Mojo > News > 'Pirates' Raid Record Books
I have not seen this flick, nor do I intend to until it's out on video, but I am somewhat pleased that Johnny Depp's box office clout has been solidified for at least another 10 years or so. That means he gets to call the shots for his pet projects and favorite directors and maybe, just maybe will be able to finance a completion for Gilliam's Don Quixote opus?

Leftist has early lead in Mexican election - Yahoo! News:
"The Harvard-educated Calderon would be an ally of the United States in Latin America, where left-wing leaders critical of Washington have taken power in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela in recent years."

No, this isn't Fox News, it's Yahoo News. The slant in this article almost makes it unreadable. You have to tilt your head a bit. The implication here is that anyone other than Calderon would NOT be an "ally of the US". Mexico will always be an "ally" of the US. That does not mean they will agree with everything our government does or our leaders say. Yes they will, and should, be critical of US policy if it is wrong. But that does not mean they are no longer an ally. And don't you love the phrasing of "left-wing leaders...have taken power"? That seems to imply some sort of coup d'etat or military uprising when in fact these are the democratically elected governments of their respective states. The overall tone of this piece is that anarchy is imminent. Yet Mexico has a cleaner election process than we do. The result will be close but I don't know why we expect anarchy to take place when all is said and done.

U.S. Air Force discovers blogs | FP Passport
I can't believe this is happening.

Israel hits Palestinian PM's office - Yahoo! News
"Israel's air force attacked the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Sunday in the latest phase of a Gaza offensive designed to force militants into freeing an abducted soldier. Haniyeh, a leader of the ruling militant Islamist party Hamas, was not in his Gaza City office at the time of the helicopter strike, witnesses said. One Hamas member was killed in a second attack on an office used by forces loyal to Hamas. A third strike hit a Hamas school, but there were no casualties."

When is somebody in the Bush administration going to put a stop to this? This is an incredibly way over the top response to a soldier being kidnapped. This is an extremely dangerous series of events for the whole world and Mr. Bush is yukking it up in Graceland with the Japanese PM. Just par for the course with this clown.

And a note to Yahoo News (or Reuters or AP) regarding their "objective" phrase "ruling militant Islamist party Hamas". For one thing, it is the democratically elected government of a sovereign state. And if you call them "militant Islamist" why not call the government of Israel "ruling militant Jewish"? Or our own "ruling militant Christian"? It certainly seems to fit given Israel's actions and our actions.

Duma (2005)****
I'm not turning into Roger Ebert I SWEAR! It's really just a coincidence that my entertainment choices lately have all been worthy of 4 stars. This is a Carroll Ballard film so you expect superb visuals, realistic animal scenes, and bonding between humans and the animals. This one though has a bit more dialogue and human interaction than I remember in his previous films. Truly a very good family film in all the best senses of the phrase.

Cars (2006)****
I really believe these Pixar guys have this stuff down now. The animation in this film is just phenomenal. The level of detail is incredible. There are so many sight gags in DEEP background, so many beautiful touches all over the screen. You can enjoy this film with no sound whatsoever. And that is a bit of a drawback since the story is not really all that engaging and the characters kind of 2 dimensional (I KNOW it's a cartoon!) and there is an extended sequence in the middle of the picture that really slows things down and seems very unnecessary. So this isn't a perfect film all things considered. But it sure comes pretty close.

Bank Data Is Sifted by U.S. in Secret to Block Terror - New York Times:
"The program, however, is a significant departure from typical practice in how the government acquires Americans' financial records. Treasury officials did not seek individual court-approved warrants or subpoenas to examine specific transactions, instead relying on broad administrative subpoenas for millions of records from the cooperative, known as Swift....While many of those transactions have occurred entirely on foreign soil, officials have also been keenly interested in international transfers of money by individuals, businesses, charities and other groups under suspicion inside the United States, officials said. A small fraction of Swift's records involve transactions entirely within this country, but Treasury officials said they were uncertain whether any had been examined....Treasury officials said Swift was exempt from American laws restricting government access to private financial records because the cooperative was considered a messaging service, not a bank or financial institution. But at the outset of the operation, Treasury and Justice Department lawyers debated whether the program had to comply with such laws before concluding that it did not, people with knowledge of the debate said. "

Well all righty then. Treasury officials concluded that this was all legal after a presumed strongly spirited debate. See, it's not really financial information, it's just "messages". And really, only a "small fraction" of the data is "messages" sent solely within the USA even though they have no idea if that data was examined.

This is very, very bad.

Loud Family - What If It Works? (2006) ****
This is not an album...this is an EVENT! The initial 10 song cycle is the best I've heard in quite a while. This is meta-power pop at its finest. Songs about songs and about our relationship to the songs and the relationships IN the songs. Typically brainy fare from Scott Miller and Anton Barbeau but with an extra layer of back beat and melody somehow squeezed in. 3 covers, 3 Millers, 3 Barbeaus and one collaboration plus 2 bonus tracks besides. I have not been a big fan of Mr. Barbeau's in the past but his contributions to this opus, especially the title track, are exceptional and much more cohesive than what I have heard from him before. Here's hoping this excellent effort gives Scott Miller the success in the marketplace that has eluded him so far.

HNN: Jonathan Zimmerman: A Florida law banning relativism in classes ignores reality and 75 years of academic tradition:
"And just last week, in an unprecedented move, the president's brother approved a law barring revisionist history in Florida public schools. 'The history of the United States shall be taught as genuine history and shall not follow the revisionist or postmodernist viewpoints of relative truth,' declares Florida's Education Omnibus Bill, signed by Gov. Jeb Bush. 'American history shall be viewed as factual, not as constructed.' "

You can "view" it as factual all you want but that doesn't make it so. This is what happens when fear takes control of government. Or when power hungry people are allowed to use fear for their own ends.

The Big Lebowski (1998)****
Supremely funny sendup of LA and whodunits. When I first saw it, I thought it was "minor" Coens, but with each viewing I appreciate it more. Jeff Bridges delivers a tour de force performance, but even so, John Goodman nearly steals the picture with one of the most hilarious comedic performances ever. Beautifully shot by Roger Deakins.

Elvis Costello - Allen Toussaint - The River In Reverse ****
Excellent recording. Elvis Costello continues his exploration of American southern music (see The Delivery Man) with this soulful and stirring collection of Allen Toussaint songs plus some new collaborations and the "Tramp the Dirt Down"-like Costello composition of the title track. Check out this final lyric:

So count your blessings when they ask permission
To govern with money and superstition
They tell you it's all for your own protection
'Til you fear your own reflection
But the times are passing from illumination
Like bodies falling from a constellation
An uncivil war divides the nation
So erase the tape on that final ape running down creation

Wake me up
Wake me up with a slap or kiss
There must be something better than this

Amen, brother EC, amen.

CJR Daily: Jim Lehrer on Billy Bob, Reports of Rain and Stenography As Journalism:
"JL: That's part of it. Absolutely that's part of it. I mean, if somebody says -- doesn't matter if it's the president or who --if somebody says, 'It rained on Thursday,' and you know for a fact it didn't rain on Thursday, if the person was of a nature that you felt you should quote him, 'It rained on Thursday.' Second paragraph, third paragraph -- or in television terms second or third sentence -- you would say, 'However, according to the weather bureau it didn't [rain Thursday].' But you don't call the person a liar. The person who would call that person a liar would be the person who'd read that story and say, 'My god, Billy Bob lied.' But I'm not doing that. I'm providing the information so that the person can make their decision. People might say, 'Well the weather bureau has lied. Or I was out that day and it was raining ...'
Most of the stories I have covered in 45 years have been gray stories. There are very few really stark black and white stories. On a daily basis there are some huge ones that are, sure, from time to time, but it is helping the reader sort through all this sort of gray stuff out there. It's not about, 'This guy is a liar, this guy isn't a liar.' I wish it was that simple. It seldom ever is.

LCB: Is there any place for writing, 'Billy Bob said it rained Thursday. The weather bureau said it didn't. I was out that day and I say it didn't.'

JL: I would never do that. That's not my function to do that.

LCB: Is it a newspaper's function?

JL: Look, I'm just telling you what I do, ok? I'm an expert on the NewsHour and it isn't how I practice journalism. I am not involved in the story. I serve only as a reporter or someone asking questions. I am not the story."

Unbelievably shocking stuff. I mean, why is there even a DEBATE about what happened to journalism in the past 25 years or so? Jim Lehrer, one of the most respected journalists in America, is an absolute IDIOT.

Commonweal - Merton's Enlightenment:
"It is apparent that it was not Merton’s keen intellect that had finally decoded this higher power. Rather, his heart and soul were so completely subsumed on that day at Gal Vihara that there was no longer any need to do anything. He could simply rest in the simplicity of it all. Everything and nothing were but different words for the same reality. The venerable stages of the contemplative life had worked their mysterious power in Merton: the purgative-through decades of an ascetic life-had yielded to the illuminative-revealed in so many of his books and journal notes-and now, the final stage-the unitive-was at hand."

A beloved Christian seeker has it all finally made clear 4 days before he is accidentally killed. As he said in his journal, "The thing about all this is that there is no puzzle, no problem, and really no 'mystery'. All problems are resolved and everything is clear, simply because what matters is clear."

:: rogerebert.com :: Great Movies :: Patton (xhtml):
"Franklin J. Schaffner's 'Patton' (1970), released at the height of the unpopular war in Vietnam, was described by many reviewers at the time as 'really' an anti-war film. It was nothing of the kind. It was a hard-line glorification of the military ethic, personified by a man whose flaws and eccentricities marginalized him in peacetime, but found the ideal theater in battle."

This is one of my favorite films and one of the best ever. I think Mr. Ebert is missing the thrust of this movie though. To my eyes, this is a sober, clear-eyed assessment of a madman who found his unique brand of madness most useful on the battlefield. What does that say about warfare then? Does that glorify it? Not logically. That means that war is MADNESS, hence ANTI-war. And you don't need to make an anti-war film by shoving your "message" down the throats of viewers a la Spielberg or Stone. I didn't find anything glorified in this picture. I understood that PATTON glorified war and warriors. But as we all could see he was INSANE! So what does that say about his glorification? It always surprises me to read reviews about this film that declare it as pro-war, pro-military, pro-ANYTHING. And maybe Coppola and Schaffner did intend it that way although I can't imagine why. I think they simply wanted to show Patton in all his madness and self-anointed glory and let the viewers decide if that was enough.