I watched Coco before Chanel last night. I didn't think I would like it since I have absolutely zero interest in fashion, but I did like it. "Coco" Chanel was a strong and independent woman. The movie is about her life before she became an instantly recognizable fashion icon.
The movie piqued my interest in more of her life, so I went here and here .
Posted by William Astore at 10:50am, March 18, 2010.
"Here’s an American reality: the Pentagon is our true welfare state, the weapons makers our real “welfare queens,” and we never stop shoveling money their way."
"The most important and dangerous pretense has been that American and Israeli interests in the Middle East coincide. They actually conflict in basic respects. The American interest in the region is permanent good relations with the oil-producing Arab states, which remain in doubt so long as the Palestine question is unresolved."
The violence will magically end if the "Palestine question is resolved?" Well, by all means, wave that magic wand.
I'm watching The King . I found myself irritated with some of the details. I'm trying to figure out why the filmmakers chose to focus on the rifle. Dude got out of the Navy. I've been here in this Navy town all my life and never met anybody who developed such an important relationship with his rifle and got out and kept his rifle. Especially if they got a dishonorable discharge, which is a given for this particular character. I'm irritated with the way Gael pronounced Chula Vista. I lived there, my kid was born there, & I've lived around squids my whole life. Even Hispanic squids pronounce it 'Chew-lah 'Vih-stah, not the Spanish pronunciation 'Shoe-lah 'Vees-tah. I've also never seen anybody tattoo their ship on themselves. "Tribal" silliness, gang signs, girl's names, all kinds of crap, but a ship? Puhleeeeeeeeeze! Captive on a fucking tin can for 6 and sometimes up to 9 months and they're going to put a picture of their cage on their body forever? What nonsense. To listen to the commentary is difficult enough for me because I find it annoying when the writers congratulate themselves on how fucking brilliant ("genius") they are. Their obvious disdain for ordinary people gets on my last nerve.
If the point of this movie is to horrify, disgust and paint a picture of a truly reprehensible character then the movie is a success. Gael García Bernal can play some really creepy parts, and William Hurt can do anything you put in front of him, but come on, this would have the movie walked out on, or the DVD pulled out of the player in a LOT of homes. If not for the actors' and actresses' performances this piece of shit wouldn't be worth a fiddler's fart. I just hope that I don't ever come face to face that whoever wrote this sick piece of crap.
Shit, I missed Chuck watching this thing? Oy. Chuck is way over the top, but it doesn't take itself seriously.
ps, I wonder how many residents of that cutthroat, hamburger grinder-like county of LA are aware of how close to death they are on a weekly basis? I know I'm aware of it now, but it's not something my stupid parents chose to inform me of.
Married for a Minute Is Iran's mullah-backed system of temporary marriage a godsend for the sexually frustrated—or religious prostitution? — By Nadya Labi
"...Iranian feminists ardently oppose sigheh. In the summer of 2008, they were infuriated by President Ahmadinejad's attempts to push through a new "family protection" law that would have made it easier for men to contract temporary marriages...
...Only a man has the right to renew a sigheh when it expires—for another mehr—or to terminate it early. While women may have only one husband at a time, men may have four wives and are permitted unlimited temporary wives..."
"Many experts have pointed out that militarizing the drug war is counterproductive. Shortly after his inauguration in 2006, President Felipe Calderon began assigning large numbers of troops to fighting the drug war. The National Human Rights Commission specifically cited the case of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico’s murder capital, when it concluded that “using the Mexican military against drug cartels has brought no improvement in public safety.” "
That's what this movie was about. Juarez and dead journalists and dead factory worker girls. It's about murders, not about the drug trade, but with journalism being so dangerous, how do we know those girls were not just collateral damage?
I've been reading this site for years. They are all over the Americas. I guess I missed this one:
Yeesh, the article doesn't make me want to run out and get a passport to go play tourist in Tijuana, that's for sure. Didn't used to have to have a passport to go to Tijuana.
"...Shortly after the killings were disclosed by the White House, the State Department issued a travel warning for Mexico.
It said Americans working in consulates in the northern cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros were authorized to send family members home until April 12 because of security concerns.
The departure authorization only affect relatives of US government personnel in those cities, the statement said..."
The travel warning said that due to the "recent violent attacks," US citizens were urged to "delay unnecessary travel to parts of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua states." Full State Dept (Mexico) warning
Do you really think congress cares more about your health than they do the campaign contributions they get from Big Ag? Allooooo? Watch King Corn on Netflix. You really think health insurance companies and Big Ag want to fight over subsidies? Fuck no they don't. They're gonna take your money to make you sick and they're gonna take your money to send your ass to the hospital and they're gonna be subsidized by your taxes for the whole sick cycle. The whole fucking time. My suspicion is that that is why we ain't getting a public option if THEIR congresswhores have anything to say about it. There. I said it.
Oversight in who's pocket this time?
Raymond J. Learsy Scholar and author, "Over a Barrel: Breaking Oil's Grip on Our Future" Posted: March 13, 2010 12:14 PM
Dirt Diggers Digest chronicling corporate misbehavior (and how to research it) Attacking the Wrong Earmarks March 11th, 2010 by Phil Mattera
"...It’s amusing to watch the posturing about these small amounts at a time when Congress may be about to endorse what can be seen as perhaps the largest earmark ever: the healthcare subsidies that will pass from lower-income Americans to private insurers in a public-option-less system..."
And it’s co-author – Alan Ellis – wants you know – there is prison, and there is prison.
While the guidebook profiles each of the nation’s 178 federal prisons, only about a third of them are minimum security prisons – or federal prison camps – suitable for your average CEO.
And Ellis says – this is what you want – a federal prison camp.
Yo luche por tu amor por la buena y por la mala Yo renuncie a volar cuando cortaste tus alas Si se que hay cosas que nunca se deben perder Pero entiende que yo te amaba
Si yo luche la guerra a veces hasta por los dos Y como perdí y como sangre las batallas Y hoy te puedo ver partir con mucho dolor Pero sin cargo de conciencia Sin cargo de conciencia no,
No lo puedo fingir siento mucho temor Pero sin cargos de conciencia Sin cargos de conciencia no
Di lo mejor de mi nunca me he guardado nada Di todo lo que soy creo que a ti no te gustaba Si se que hay veces que ya nada se puede hacer Pero hasta hoy murió la esperanza
Si se que todo el equilibrio siempre lo mantuve yo El que se mato por equilibrar la balanza Y hoy te puedo ver partir con mucho dolor Pero sin cargo de conciencia Sin cargo de conciencia no
No lo puedo fingir siento mucho temor Pero sin cargos de conciencia Sin cargos de conciencia no
Hoy te puedo ver partir con mucho dolor Pero sin cargo de conciencia Sin cargo de conciencia no,
No lo puedo fingir siento mucho temor Pero sin cargos de conciencia Sin cargos de conciencia no
I have been critical of some of our military personnel here. Some of that was personal, you guys know you're hard on the local girls, especially when your girl back home dumped you. "Young and dumb and full of cum" ring a bell?
However, those of us who have waited for a phone call or a letter knowing that our loved ones might have had to make this leg of the trip know. We know the world is ungrateful for what our guys do. Of course, not all of the world is disinterested in what happens there, so our guys don't do it all alone.
It's the corruption, greed, waste and mismanagement of the big shots who tell our guys what to do that pisses me off to no end.
I was listening to this report on KPBS this morning on the power of surfing to heal ex-service members with serious injuries and I wondered if they have any problems with surfer turf. They didn't mention specific beaches, so I'm thinking the recovering service members are not using the same beaches. The surf's probably too rough and the competition gets ugly.
5:14 PM 3/9/2010 See if you can watch Body of War without tearing up. I couldn't, I cried. I got mad and wanted to pound W's face. I don't even want to know how many times Nathan has been deployed or what happened to him.
I know Baer had something to do with Syriana and I love that movie, I threw a fit till my husband bought me a copy and I only own about a dozen movies. I don't beg my husband any more, I buy what I want. Between Neflix and the public library systems in this county, I don't need much.
I haven't read the book yet, so I don't know if I agree with the review, but I do know that we don't know shit about Iranian culture, my neighbor has been there for years and I'm still baffled, even after reading . this book , but reading it helped. The Ayatollah Begs to Differ by Hooman Majd is definitely worth reading if you are curious about Iranians, and easier to read than some Iranian authors because dude is Iranian-American who has lived here most of his life.
I came across this this morning while I was trying to remember the name of the book and author who helped me understand Iranians.
re: Amber "The news media showed little interest."
Not true. Escondido PD is busier than the Poway sheriff's dept, though, the population is larger and there are more lower income people in Escondido. Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Fallujah birth defects blamed on US weapons By Daniel Tencer Thursday, March 4th, 2010 -- 1:26 pm Iraqi doctors reportedly warn women not to have children; Doctors pressured not to 'embarrass the United States': claim
Those previous stories are just "collateral damage" or ... ummm... "tools" or some shit, lets define "success."
Yeah, that's the ticket! *sigh* Just 1/2 way though Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay , and wondering if season 3 of Leverage and season 4 of Dexter(Showtime TV) will ever show up on Netflix. I refuse to pay $60 a month for cable to be barraged with more ads. I'm also wondering if Dexter will ever kill any mass murderers, umm, say this guy?
Update 12:16 PM 3/3/2010 Published on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 by Published on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 by CommonDreams.org Chile's Socialist Rebar by Naomi Klein
There might not be any connection here, but I can't help wondering if energy interests who basically controlled the Bush administration are afraid they might not be able to do whatever the fuck they want to do any more. Not that Obama is having much luck re-regulating what the Bunnypants/Cheney administration managed to get deregulated.
Huge Quake Hits Chile; Tsunami Threatens Pacific February 27, 2010 by The Associated Press Earthquake Strikes Chile
122 dead so far, but the toll will not be like Haiti because the building codes are followed. They are used to quakes in Chile. I find it amusing that we are under tsunami advisory here in San Diego. The lifeguards here didn't sound that freaked out. It's raining here. The scariest thing about storms here are the idiots on the road.
I do not feel well today. I am going back to bed and watch stuff on Netflix. I've been watching the 1st season of the Brotherhood. I dunno what's easier to hate, the obnoxious accents or the nasty things some of the characters do.
Theodore Olson and David Boies speak with Bill Moyers
February 26, 2010 Once adversaries in 2000's Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case, now two of the nation's premier lawyers – one conservative and one liberal – have teamed up to make the constitutional case for same-sex marriage.
"...Not surprisingly, perhaps, the latest poll on the American public’s attitude toward climate change shows startling drops in the belief in the very existence of climate change, in humanity's role in causing it, and in its import for the planet: a 14-point drop since October 2008 in Americans who believe climate change is happening at all (to 57%), a 10-point drop in those who believe that human activity is at the root of the problem (to 47%), and a 13-point drop in those who claim to be “somewhat” or “very” worried about the problem (to 50%). .."
Americans are affected by spin, because many don't know any better. They don't understand how news delivery gets paid for. The big money runs with any doubt. The same thing helps them win in the court room over and over again. That is my opinion, based on years of looking up how the news is delivered; TV is expensive, somebody sponsors it, finding out who owns what , and using a bit of common sense. And oh yeah, these guys helped...a LOT. So did figuring out that more often than not, the congress is bought and paid for by large corporate interests in the form of campaign contributions.
"...So let’s figure out how to talk about it. Let’s look at Exxon Mobil, which each of the last three years has made more money than any company in the history of money. Its business model involves using the atmosphere as an open sewer for the carbon dioxide that is the inevitable byproduct of the fossil fuel it sells. And yet we let it do this for free. It doesn't pay a red cent for potentially wrecking our world
Right now, there’s a bill in the Congress -- cap-and-dividend, it’s called -- that would charge Exxon for that right, and send a check to everyone in the country every month. Yes, the company would pass on the charge at the pump, but 80% of Americans (all except the top-income energy hogs) would still make money off the deal. That represents good science, because it starts to send a signal that we should park that SUV, but it’s also good politics...."
Read the Economist article, it's the last link in the last copied paragraph of McKibben's article ( ↑ ).
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Wow. Sounds an awful lot like what the author of the book I'm still slogging through has been trying to tell us. Unfortunately, this shit is not confined to within the United States borders.
The government of Israel is launching a citizens' campaign to change their image, including 70 workshops for Israelis on how to hold a civil discussion when they travel abroad.
What? No, I'm not disgusted that Israel needs some good PR, I know that. I've always known that, we lived in a Jewish neighborhood when I was little. Just read the article and see if you can spot why I'm disgusted.
Darth Cheney couldn't wait for KBR to get contracts in Iraq. KBR is being sued by over 300 people who's health has been seriously affected by the burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. So I wonder if all the war casualties from both sides of the conflict are worth anything to Darth Cheney other than financial profits that he scooted out of the country?
If there is a hell I hope he burns in it. He sure doesn't care who or what he burns in his quest for financial gain.
The only bipartisan agreement happening these days is amongst the corporatocracy. The rest is all show, and like your 70% of people wanting a public option, all meaningless.
The banksters, the corporatocracy and the congresshos don't care that 70% of the people want the public option.
Then I decided to watch Susan George Speaking Freely (on neoliberal globalization and inequality) and went to look at the headlines of some of the blogs I have linked and what do I come across?
About the woman who figured out that the derivatives market needed to be regulated in order to protect the American people's money. Boy was Greenspan blind-sided by his own ideology, he was an Ayn Rand fan. He obviously didn't spend any time with kids. That or he just made his money, did his job as a tool for the banksters that are still raping the poor with impunity and got the hell out of the game while those putzes are still safe in their country clubs and 5 star hotels around the world.
Part of the reason for the chirping (saw this cat later with a bird in it's jaws, no mighty squirrel hunter there. Nifty since they are cutting the trees back to naked trunks 12-15 ft high, this complex is going to suck in the summer with no shade and no birds)
Did you know that in 1833 President Jackson tried to reign in and destroy the greedy central banksters and their European central bankster buddies and one named Biddle actually boasted that he was going to create a depression and blame it on Jackson.
The only trouble I have with blogging the above information is that some of it is pushed out there for public consumption by (stealing this term from BadTux ) glibertarians and goldbugs. I generally don't agree with glibertarians and goldbugs.
Wall Street's Bailout Hustle Goldman Sachs and other big banks aren't just pocketing the trillions we gave them to rescue the economy - they're re-creating the conditions for another crash MATT TAIBBI Rolling Stone Posted Feb 17, 2010 5:57 AM
