@Randem

The results for The Greatest American are in. I tried to leave this one alone, but it’s eating me up… I have to comment.

The top 25 on the list are:

1. Ronald Reagan
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. Martin Luther King Jr.
4. George Washington
5. Benjamin Franklin
6. George W. Bush
7. Bill Clinton
8. Elvis Presley
9. Oprah Winfrey
10. Franklin D. Roosevelt
11. Billy Graham
12. Thomas Jefferson
13. Walt Disney
14. Albert Einstein
15. Thomas A. Edison
16. John F. Kennedy
17. Bob Hope
18. Bill Gates
19. Eleanor Roosevelt
20. Lance Armstrong
21. Muhammad Ali
22. Rosa Parks
23. The Wright Brothers
24. Henry Ford
25. Neil Armstrong

Look, this is a problem for me. Ronald Reagan did almost NOTHING for this country. The economy was little changed over the course of his term. Same with unemployment.. in fact, it’s the same for nearly every indicator of progress. Reagan fought a fictitious war against drugs, wasted billions of dollars, and accomplished nothing. He fought a fictitious war on homelessness, wasted millions of dollars, and accomplished nothing. He even carried on the fictitious war on communism and wasted trillions of dollars, until the Soviet Union ran out of money and the Cold War was over. The only thing Ronald Reagan was good at was declaring fictitious wars, and wasting money.

George W. Bush has failed at everything he ever tried. As a student, he was average. As a member of the National Guard, he never showed up. As the head of Arbusto Energy, he ran his company deep into the red ink. As the head of Spectrum 7 energy, after the merger with Arbusto, Bush dried up all the money in only two years. Harken - who acquired Spectrum 7 - knew better than to let him run the company. His first attempt at politics, running for state congress in Texas was an embarrassment. And as the “war President” he claims to be, he has failed to find Bin Laden, failed to rebuild Afghanistan, failed to control Iraq, failed to pass his Social Security reform. How does this bumbling idiot even make the list?

One can argue for or against Billy Graham’s contribution to religion (I will refrain), but he has done nothing for America. Neil Armstrong is a hero to some, but his name also misses the point of what a great American might be. The same also goes for Lance Armstrong.

I want to know why nobody mentioned Lenny Bruce? Why did nobody think of Larry Flynt? When I consider who might have been the Greatest American, I can’t ignore the contributions of people who fought within the system, and sacrificed their health, in order to ensure our freedoms and make our country a better place.

Courtesy of Ed Thibodeau [via Jerome Doolittle]

The Barbary Treaties of 1786-1816, as negotiated by George Washington in a treaty with the nation of Tripoli on November 4, 1796 and ratified by the United States Senate on June 10, 1797, specifically say:

ARTICLE 11.
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion,-as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Looks like proof to me. We keep hearing arguments these days from the leaders of the religious right, trying to convince us that our nation was founded on Christianity. They are wrong. Or else they are liars. Neither is hard for me to believe.

AFP reports that “a skeptical US public seems less afraid of another terrorist attack on US soil.”

Another Gallup poll this week found that, for the first time, one in two Americans do not believe the war in Iraq is part of Washington’s global war on terror.

David Rothkopf, a terrorism expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, calls a spade a spade:

Clearly a political decision has been taken in the White House that the only way that they can regain momentum is by going back to the sort of primal source of their support, September 11. I think it is just unvarnished demagoguery

And my political hero, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, said this:

Facing an historic opportunity for leadership, George Bush turned to the darkness of divisiveness, attempting to garner support for his failed policies by pandering to fear, rather than inspiring us with a plan for hope.

Read it.

Richard Cohen believes Iraq is starting to look like Vietnam. I couldn’t agree more.

I found it interesting yeasterday when I read this AP headline in my Yahoo news feed. Since Armando pointed it out on DailyKOS today, I feel moved to comment.

Hollywood is far too formulaic — nobody does anything original any more. Every month we get spoon-fed another crap movie about some girl who falls in love with some guy, then she’s mean to him, then he get’s mad and tells her to fuck off, and then at the end he turns into a chump and begs her to take him back. I understand that hopelessly romantic women who hate the man they’re with (women are never single) eat up the fantasy, but Hitch and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days don’t come anywhere close to Cassablanca or Gone With The Wind. Instead of churning out a mass-produced girlie film every month, maybe they could slow down and write a good movie.

Every two months we’re force-fed another ridiculous movie spun out of a comic book. If I have to see another Spiderman, Hulk, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Hellboy, League of Extraordinary Gentleman, or Underworld, I can’t be responsible for my actions. It was done well 25 years ago with Superman, and 10 years later with Batman, and then 5 years later with The Crow, but they always ruin a good thing with a string of sequels that aren’t good at all. Now, it’s a new comic book movie every two months, and they’ve run out of good comic books to base it on so we’re just getting the comics that nobody ever heard of.

Every three months Hollywood makes a 2-and-a-half-hour festival of special effects and shoves it down our throat without any kind of plot to wash it down. I’d rather shave my genitals with a cheese grater than sit through another 200-minute epileptic seizure like The Day After Tomorrow, Lord of the Rings - Return of the King, Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith, The Matrix Revolutions, and I, Robot.

So why are the box offices in a slump? Well, let’s look at the line up. This week at the cineplex my options are: Batman Begins, Bewitched, Cinderella Man, Herbie: Fully Loaded, Land of the Dead, Honeymooners, The Longest Yard, Madagascar, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Perfect Man, The Sisterhood of Travelling Pants, and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D. Are you kidding me? After reading that list, there is actually a question about why people aren’t going to the movies?

Here’s an idea, Hollywood: if you want to bring in more viewers, how about if you get rid of Adam Sandler, Kate Hudson, Will Ferrell, Brittany Murphy, Owen Wilson, and Ashton Kutcher, and make a little more room for actual actors. What ever happened to Edward Norton? Diane Keaton? Sean Connery? Steve Buscemi? Harrison Ford?

Here’s an idea, Hollywood: if you want to bring in more viewers, why not try something new, rather than remaking yet another old tv show? I really don’t want to see The Dukes of Hazzard, or Bewitched, or Starsky and Hutch, or The Honeymooners, or Charlie’s Angels, or Fat Albert, or Scooby Doo. You can’t do it better, and you’re not even trying. Thank the gods for Quentin Tarantino, David Fincher, and Paul Thomas Anderson for giving us something new to watch once in a while.

Here’s an idea, Hollywood: Farenheit 9/11 made almost $24 million on opening weekend on 868 screens, while Batman Begins brought in $48 million on 3,858 screens. In other words, a DOCUMENTARY was worth $27,500 per screen while yet another comic book action movie is worth $12,600 per screen. (Incidentally, Supersize Me earned $12,600 per screen and it showed on only 41 screens nationwide.) I think you’re missing the big picture, Hollywood. Americans want to see Morgan Spurlock and Michael Moore, at least as much as some guy in leotards with a cape… almost twice as much in Michael Moore’s case.

Instead of putting Supersize Me on a lousy 41 screens… instead of limiting Farenheit 9/11 to 868 screens… instead of pushing all that CRAP onto us with 4,000 screens per film, maybe you could try giving movie watchers what they want to see. That might be just the thing to get your box office numbers to go up. After all, people spend more money on things they want than they do on things they don’t want.

Shadow of Evil

One of my favorite things to use in photography is shadows. It’s often too easy to pay so much attention to your subject that you miss the shadow they’re casting. Each person’s body, arms, legs, head, and hair combine with posture to form a unique shadow unlike that of anyone else, and as a photographer, each subject’s shadow can be very interesting.

I like to think of it as playing shadow puppets with a whole body. You can make a a hedgehog, or a witch, or a statue.

Since Tuesday, fighting in Afghanistan [via] has killed 114 people. Remember that other country we were supposed to be bringing democracy to? They’re still fighting in Afghanistan, what are we doing in Iraq?

For the first time, the US has acknowledged torture [via] in detention centers in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, said a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity. Apparently it’s getting easier to tell the truth… though it’s still not safe.

The White House is frantically trying to regain the slipping public opinion. Scott Reed, a Republican consultant close to the White House, says “I think you’re seeing the White House recognize that an offensive strategy is needed in light of these sinking polls.” He then admits to a “secret weapon called the bully pulpit”, capable of resetting the terms of the debate. No doubt Karl Rove was speaking from the bully pulpit Wednesday night.

And finally, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the government can sieze private property [via] and turn it over to developers under the auspices of eminent domain. This is my favorite bit of news, because it is fucking scary. Anyone who works their entire life to own their own home and a little bit of land must now constantly look over their shoulder in fear that the government is going to give away their one safe haven. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, a conservative or a liberal. I wonder what effect this will have on Bush’s banter about “the American dream of home ownership.” And what effect will it have on the housing bubble?

America’s turning point is fast approaching. With all the holes our country is digging itself into, I hate that the single issue is this illegal war in Iraq, but I’ll take a turning point anywhere I can get it.

The entire house of cards for this administration is built around our conflict in Iraq. Bush had designs on going to Iraq since before 9/11, and after 9/11 he tried everything he could to pin a war on Iraq until eventually something stuck. He got us there illegally, and personally I don’t think he ever cared about legality - right or wrong, legal or illegal, our oil-baron administration was intent on punishing Iraq… and using that conflict to affect the voters here at home.

Well, now he’s finding out just how difficult it is to operate a prolonged military action in another country: the media asks a lot of questions; recruits stop signing up; troops stop re-enlisting; voters start wondering when the administration is going to pay some attention to the issues here in OUR country. Criticism is mounting. Public support for the war is painfully low. Public opinion of the administration is at an all-time low. Words like “impeachment” are popping up everywhere you look.

Numbers of new recruits are far below the military’s targets, as are the number of re-enlistments, even while the military continues to lower their targets. There is only one possible way in which this military effort can be prolonged: they’re going to have to consider a draft. It’s fast becoming a reality. If you have no army, there can be no war. The turning point is coming. Bush is going to have to make a choice: either accept the enormous public outcry to bring our troops home, or else re-enstate the draft.

Re-enstating a draft is not as easy as it sounds. That has to be passed by the House and the Senate, it can’t just be ordered by a President. But you see, the President can’t be re-elected after this term, whereas members of the House and Senate can be (and most of them want to be) re-elected. Since no one in the voting public wants a draft - parents don’t want to send their kids to die any more than the kids want to be sent to die - our elected officials know that voting for a draft would be political suicide.

The administration knows this, but the desperation is growing. They can’t keep their bank accounts and the accounts of their closest friends (Halliburton, Exxon, et al) filled with cash if there’s not a war on in Iraq. But with the public quickly growing unhappy with this war and with the conditions here in the US, the administration has to do something soon or they will suffer the same fate as Truman with Korea and Johnson with Vietnam.

The one sure thing is this: whatever they decide to do, it will definitely be a turning point in America. The only question is whether we’ll turn for the better, or turn for the worse. Based on Bush’s record, I fear the latter…

That’s right. Karl Rove is an asshole. The insult of his McCarthyist comments have now reached the troops… you know, those people he says we should support.

The Families of September 11 chastised Rove’s comments [via], saying:

As families whose relatives were victims of the 9/11 terror attacks, we believe it is an outrage that any Democrat, any Republican, any conservative or any liberal, stakes a “high ground” position based upon the September 11th death and destruction. Doing so assumes that all those who died and their loved ones would agree. In truth, some would and some would not. By definition the conduct is divisive and, because it is intended to be self-serving and politicizes 9/11, it is offensive.

We are calling on Karl Rove to resist his temptations and stop trying to reap political gain in the tragic misfortune of others. His comments are not welcome.

Well, just to make it perfectly clear, the White House has emphatically rejected calls for apology [via], and further clarified that Rove was referring to all liberal voters, not just Democrats.

White House communications director Nicolle Devenish said Rove was speaking “very broadly about the liberal movement” and that he never referred to Democrats.

While these divisive tactics are insulting and counter-productive, I do find some reason for hope in all of this — it’s evidence that the Bush administration is a sinking ship. They’re all desperately trying to tread water. Andrew Sullivan says:

You expect that kind of moronic extremism from a Michelle Malkin, but from the most influential figure in an administration leading a country in wartime? Ok, ok, I’m not surprised. Rove is a brutal operator. But to my mind, the hysterical attacks on Durbin and now this outburst (and the White House’s subsequent endorsement of it) are an indication of some level of panic. If you want to know how well the administration really believes the war is going, listen to their rhetoric. And start worrying.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says for Rove “to try to exploit 9/11 for political purposes once again just shows you how desperate they are.”

Bush’s stubbornness is not a symbol of inner strength, it’s a side-effect of insecurity.