Incertus

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

If ever there were a movie where the previews absolutely turned me off beforehand, this was it. I'm glad I saw it anyway.

A lot of love went into this film. It's over the top silly, and Jude Law is the perfect leading man here. I've never been a big fan of Gwyneth Paltrow or Angelina Jolie, but they both do well in this film, perhaps because the characters are all caricatures--but in this film, any attempt at real depth in character would have rung false. It's just a rollicking good time, as long as you roll with the cheesiness, and the cheesiness is so infectious that it's hard not to.

The 700 Club (and not the crazy fundamentalist kind)

Short and sweet posting here. Barry got number 700 tonight, and I was there.



Jealous?

A post-election Iraq hypothetical.

Sid Blumenthal has the lead story today over at Salon, and it scared me to death.

From the article:

Gen. Hoare believes from the information he has received that "a decision has been made" to attack Fallujah "after the first Tuesday in November. That's the cynical part of it -- after the election.

This got me to thinking--we can all believe that Bush would do this, whether or not he won, maybe even more so if he lost. The real question for me is--if the neocons know they're going out, and that they're not likely to make a comeback, is there anything they wouldn't consider? Would they potentially lob a "fuck you" nuke into the Sunni Triangle on January 18th and leave a brand new Kerry administration to pick up the pieces?

The Killian Memos

Are they forgeries? I don't know. And I don't care, personally. But if it turns out that they are, I'm gonna be pissed at CBS for one simple reason. They'll have reopened the debate on whether or not the "liberal media" exists.

The "liberal media" doesn't exist, of course. It's been debunked by people far more informed than me and I'm not going to go into the details. Read the books on the subject and argue with the authors if you want.

But after making some real headway into the destruction of the "liberal media" meme over the last couple of years, suddenly CBS has reopened it, and because of the particular way it has been reopened--especially if the memos end up being forged--CBS is now going to be unable to criticize George W. Bush for the rest of this campaign without the wingnuts dismissing it as "liberal bias." And the other media outlets--who are already doing a weak job at best--will be worried about backlash as well. Our jobs just got harder.

I have one hope--well, two. Either the memos will be proven to be legitimate, or the forger will turn out to be a Republican operative in the pay of someone connected to Karl Rove. I'm not holding out much hope for either.

Results!

Yesterday, I posted the text of a diary I wrote over at the Daily Kos which generated a ton of attention in that net community. Well, it seems we had an effect.

Timothy Noah of Slate's Chatterbox column posts this beautiful story.

After summarizing Gobbel's situation, and quoting the original article (in much the same way I did), Noah adds this bit to the story.

The story was picked up by Daily Kos, a political Web log, and spread quickly around the Web. By this morning, Geddes, who has declined to comment publicly on the matter, had apparently had enough of the bad publicity. Through an intermediary, he offered Gobbell an apology and said she could have her old job back. But Gobbell said she wouldn't return without some written guarantee that Geddes wouldn't turn around and fire her once he was out of the spotlight. Then, late this afternoon, Kerry himself phoned Gobbell. "He was telling me how proud he was that I stood up," Gobbell told me. "He'd read the part where Phil said I could either work for him or work for John Kerry. He said, 'you let him know you're working for me as of today.' I was just so shocked."

I only just found out about this--I've been at work and at the dental school all day. There is no better way to come out of a root canal than to find out that you had a hand in correcting an injustice and helping a person in need.

I'm not taking any credit for this. Even if I had never written about this on the Daily Kos, someone else would have--I feel certain of that. It was the combined efforts of that community, as well as the other net people who got involved and gave these people hell that made the difference. I'm proud to be a part of that community.

Woman fired for Kerry bumpersticker
This story has been generating some buzz both at the Daily Kos (where this was originally posted as a diary) and at the Smirking Chimp (where a close friend started a thread), so I figured I'd post it here as well. Mega-props to the people at the Daily Rotten for posting this on their site, and bringing it to my friend's attention.

Here's my diary from the Daily Kos.

I wish to God I was making this up. Sorry.

Lynne Gobbell of Moulton, Alabama, was told by her boss that she had to remove her Kerry/Edwards bumpersticker from her car or she would lose her job.

Gobbell gave this account:

"We were going back to work from break, and my manager told me that Phil said to remove the sticker off my car or I was fired," she said. "I told him that Phil couldn't tell me who to vote for. He said, 'Go tell him.' "

She went to Gaddis' office, knocked on the door and entered on his orders.

"Phil and another man who works there were there," she said. "I asked him if he said to remove the sticker and he said, 'Yes, I did.' I told him he couldn't tell me who to vote for. When I told him that, he told me, 'I own this place.' I told him he still couldn't tell me who to vote for."

Gobbell said Gaddis told her to "get out of here."

"I asked him if I was fired and he told me he was thinking about it," she said. "I said, 'Well, am I fired?' He hollered and said, 'Get out of here and shut the door.' "

She said her manager was standing in another room and she asked him if that meant for her to go back to work or go home. The manager told her to go back to work, but he came back a few minutes later and said, " 'I reckon you're fired. You could either work for him or John Kerry,' " Gobbell said.

"I took off my gloves and threw them in the garbage and left," Gobbell said.

But wait--it gets worse.

Seems the owner, Phil Gaddis, had been placing this letter in his employees' paycheck each month.

"Just so you will know, because of the Bush tax (cut):
I was able to buy the new Hammer Mill
I was able to finance our receivables
I was able to get the new CAT skid steer
I was able to get the wire cutter
I was able to give you a job"
It further says:
"You got the benefit of the Bush tax cut. Everyone did."

So it's okay for the owner to push his politics on his employees, but not for them to express themselves on their private property? God, I wish Alabama were anything remotely resembling a swing state.

Anyway, does anyone know how to set up something to help this woman out? I get paid on Wednesday, and I'd kick in a couple of bucks to help her out until her unemployment starts. I've got no idea on how to contact her, but I'm glad to hear suggestions and recommendations.

Has Kerry grown a set?

Damn. If he makes statements like this the rest of the way in, I might not have to take a shower after voting for him in November.

In his statement Sunday, Kerry complained that Cheney "continues to intentionally mislead the American public by drawing a link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 in an attempt to make the invasion of Iraq part of the global war on terror.

"The president needs to answer the question: Who do you think is right? Vice President Cheney or Secretary Powell? And if it's Secretary Powell, will you direct your vice president to stop misleading the American people?"

Cheney has been shamefully making the connection for years now--3 to be exact--and it's no truer now than it was in 2001.

Now if only Democrats in general would get past their abhorrence of the word "lying," we might get somewhere, because there's really no other way to describe what Cheney does every time he links Iraq and al Qaeda. It's not "misleading;" it's not "obfuscation;" it's lying, plain and simple, and it's past time that someone high up in the Democratic party called him on it. Preferably to his face.

Political dirty tricks and other bullshit

It looks like an innocuous story about people stealing Kerry/Edwards campaign signs from yards. It's bush-league, it's grade school, and according to a local Republican, it's not limited to Kerry/Edwards signs either.

But then there's this little nugget in the story:

Bryan Platt, chairman of the Jackson County Republican Central Committee, said he had heard of only one report of Bush/Cheney signs taken recently.

He pointed out that there aren’t many locally, however, because the Bush/Cheney campaign has selected Sept. 11 as the big day for putting up signs.

Remember back when the Republican party swore up and down that they would never, ever, ever try to use the 9/11 attacks for political purposes?