Monday, November 24, 2003

Good God.

Check this crazy story out:Yahoo! News - Bush Signs $401 Billion Defense Bill.

According to the story, some of the provisions in this record-high defense budget are:

- Raising salaries for soldiers by an average of 4.15 percent, and extends increases in combat and family separation pay. Nearly half a TRILLION dollars, and the raises still barely beat inflation?

- Calls for the Air Force to lease 20 Boeing 767 planes as in-flight refueling tankers and buy 80 more. Hmmm, 767s were the planes used to attack the World Trade Center. Now the Air Force wants to use them as flying fuel tanks.

- Partially overturns rules preventing disabled veterans from receiving some retirement pay as well as disability compensation. What do they mean by "partially"? Take care of the veterans!

- Grants Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld increased control over 700,000 civilian employees. Pentagon officials said restrictions on hiring, firing and promoting employees forced them to use military personnel for jobs better suited for civilians. Democrats said the bill goes too far in stripping overtime guarantees and job protection rules. Does this make any sense at all?

- Lifts a decade-old ban on research into low-yield nuclear weapons and authorizes $15 million for continued research into a powerful nuclear weapon capable of destroying deep underground bunkers. Why?

- Exempts the military to provisions of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Pentagon claimed environmental laws restrict training exercises; environmentalists said the laws have had little effect on training and that the exemptions go too far. Why does this cost $401 Billion?

- Includes $9 Billion for ballistic missile defense research. $9 BILLION?

The real problem is that no one knows what $401 Billion really is...it is such a huge amount, it's hard to fathom. Well, here it is: it is the eqivalent of spending $300,000 a day, 365 days a year, FOR 4 THOUSAND YEARS! Bush intends for our military to spend this in ONE year. You tell me if this is a good value; remember, it's YOUR money.

More later...
Paul

Friday, November 21, 2003

What do you know about Patriot II?

Most of us know that the PATRIOT ACT is an un-American piece of legislation that promotes police state tactics. But what do we know about it's sister, the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, more commonly known as PATRIOT ACT II? Well, here are a few points of interest:

Here are some of its provisions:
1) The attorney general is given the power to deport any foreign national, even people who are legal permanent residents. No crime need be asserted, no proof offered, and the deportation can occur in complete secrecy. [St. Petersburg Times, 2/16/03]

2) It would authorize secret arrests in terrorism investigations, which would overturn a court order requiring the release of names of their detainees. [St. Petersburg Times, 2/16/03] Not even an attorney or family need be informed until the person is formally charged, if that ever happens. [ABC News, 3/12/03]

3) The citizenship of any US citizen can be revoked, if they are members of or have supported any group the attorney general designates as terrorist. [St. Petersburg Times, 2/16/03] A person who gives money to a charity that only later turns out to have some terrorist connection could then lose his or her citizenship. [CNN, 3/6/03]

4) "Whole sections ... are devoted to removing judicial oversight." Federal agents investigating terrorism could have access to credit reports, without judicial permission. [St. Petersburg Times, 2/16/03]

5) Federal investigators can conduct wiretaps without a court order for 15 days whenever Congress authorizes force or in response to an attack on the United States. [UPI, 3/10/03]

6) It creates a DNA database of anyone the Justice Department determines to be a "suspect,'' without court order. [San Jose Mercury News, 2/20/03]

7) It would be a crime for someone subpoenaed in connection with an investigation being carried out under the Patriot Act to alert Congress to any possible abuses committed by federal agents. [ABC News, 3/12/03]

8) Businesses and their personnel who provide information to anti-terrorism investigators are granted immunity even if the information is fraudulent. [ABC News, 3/12/03]

9) The government would be allowed to carry out electronic searches of virtually all information available about an individual without having to show probable cause and without informing the individual that the investigation was being carried out. Critics say this provision "would fundamentally change American society" because everyone would be under suspicion at all times. [ABC News, 3/12/03]

10) Federal agents would be immune from prosecution when they engage in illegal surveillance acts. [UPI, 3/10/03]

11) Restrictions are eased on the use of secret evidence in the prosecution of terror cases. [UPI, 3/10/03]

12) Existing judicial consent decrees preventing local police departments from spying on civil rights groups and other organizations are canceled. [Salon, 3/24/03]

I found this at this interesting website: Assistance needed, along with a ton of more information. Open your eyes.

More later...
Paul

Sunday, November 09, 2003

Matrix Revolutions.

I guess I’m just a Matrix fanatic, because I still don’t see why so many critics have chosen to pan the third installment of the Matrix trilogy. It’s as if the mainstream press has finally tired of the Wachowski Brothers Hollywood juggernaut, and the hating has come out in full force. Whatever it is, I think they’re all missing the point.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel that “Revolutions” is a flawed movie, just as I felt there were some problems with the second movie, “Reloaded.” But taken as a whole, “Revolutions” is a kick-ass action movie, fully laden with incredible special effects.

A few critics have taken the movie to task because it wasn’t able to create the same genre-jumpstarting buzz that the first Matrix did. All I can say to that is it is the rare sequel that trumps it’s predecessor. Sure, “Aliens” improved upon “Alien”, but none of the following installments were able to hold a candle to number two. “T2” certainly kicked the original “Terminator’s” butt; the jury is still out on “T3” (which I enjoyed immensely, by the way). And perhaps “Godfather II” was better than the first. But that’s about it. And considering the gazillions of movies that the studios insist upon building into so-called “tent peg” films, those successes are just a drop in the bucket.

My point is that just because “Matrices” 2 and 3 didn’t shock the mind as strongly as the first, doesn’t mean that they weren’t effective movies. Yes, they had problems, but they were still good movies. Ah, I guess I’m just a fanatic.

But like I said, I did find some flaws in “Revolutions”, and I intend to discuss them here, so be forewarned that I am going to reveal some plot points. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, you might not want to read any further. Final warning: here comes the noise!

Okay. First problem: why, oh why did they NOT spend more time in the Meringovian’s world? Morpheus, Trinity and Kato (well, I don’t remember his name, but he was the Oracle’s Asian bodyguard, and he seemed a lot like Bruce Lee’s “Green Hornet” character to me) had to confront this evil program in a fetish nightclub called “Hell”. Now in “Reloaded”, the W Bros. opened up a whole new world of possibilities by introducing the Meringovian and his luscious wife Persephone and their slew of vampire henchmen. In “Revolutions”, we see that they like to hang out with a TON of hardbodied freaks in an underground nightclub where the dancing seems to be just one second short of turning into an all-out orgy. Cool. But it ends much, much too fast and easy, and it never really addresses what the heck this guy is all about. And if he really “controls” the underworld of the Matrix, could we please see more of what that means? I also noted that while the Agent Smith virus seemed to infect the entire Matrix, the Meringovian not only seemed totally unaffected, but even blissfully unaware. What, was his McAfee Virus Shield updated?

Moving on, the battle scene at Zion was visually spectacular. The swarming sentinels were fantastic, but on second thought, why didn’t they just attack every living thing in the dock, instead of swarming around in circles? The most questionable part of the whole deal, though, was the idea that it took only one EMP (electromagnetic pulse) weapon to defeat the entire first wave of the invasion. Well, it was a cool idea, and it was executed heroically, but why did they only have these weapons on the ships? As well armored as Zion was, you would think they might have a spare EMP or two laying around, just in case.

Yes, the death of Trinity dragged on longer than necessary, and played to Keanu’s weakness: his lack of ability to emote (some would say “act”). Whatever. The true problem here was that their relationship seemed flat anyway, or at least one-sided. Perhaps we have to see all episodes back to back to follow the arc of their love. In the first Matrix, you really feel her love for Neo when she wills him back from the dead. In “Revolutions”, I sort of didn’t care, even though she risked her life (and those of Morpheus and “Kato”) for Neo. So she died in his arms. I guess that meant she was truly human and not, perhaps, a special program.

Oh yeah, it’s true: Neo is able to use his Matrix-powers outside of the Matrix, that is, he is able to stop sentinels with his mind. What does that mean? Who knows? I guess it means he really WAS “The One”. But he was only able to do it sporadically, and mostly forgot he even had the ability. At least, he didn’t try to use it during his battle with the “humanized” Smith.

The final flaw was the concept that Neo negotiated a deal with the machines to join together to defeat the Agent Smith virus. In return, the machines agreed to spare Zion. So the machines jacked Neo into the Matrix and the battle royale ensued. And just like the STOOPID Neo vs. Smith battle in “Reloaded”, they go through just too many histrionics before Neo pulls out the trump card he held all along. C’mon guys! If the critics have a point about anything, this would be it. Yet most of them failed to pick this one up. Why would anyone get bloodied in a knife fight, when they have a Glock in their pocket all along?

So at the end of the movie, Zion is saved, the Matrix is restored and the machines take Neo’s body…somewhere. Can you say “M4”? I sat through the closing credits, not out of respect or interest, but just to take a few minutes to process what had just happened. I knew I had a good time watching the film, but I also felt let down because my expectations were not met. I had expected the Wachowski Brothers to answer all of my questions, and it didn’t happen. I wondered if it was intentional or just carelessness. And it created the expectation that the story was not over yet. We’ll see.

More later…
Paul
Kill Bill, Volume I.

You know what? Quentin Tarantino is not the greatest filmmaker in the world. Maybe he wants to be, and that is a noble endeavor on his part. But he’s not there yet, despite what some critics would have you believe.

You know something else? “Kill Bill” is not a bloody movie. Unless you consider bright red colored liquid “blood”. “Kill Bill” IS a truly entertaining movie, though, and there is a LOT of that bright red wet stuff spurting all over the place. It looks so fake that it is very clear that Tarantino MEANT for it to look fake. C’mon, in “Reservoir Dogs” there was a lot of blood, and it looked real, so Quentin certainly knows how to do blood. He was just sending a different message in “Kill Bill”.

This is a lightweight movie. By that, I mean that it is a simple revenge flick, with very few twists or plot complexities. Or at least that’s for this first installment. We’ll see what Volume II will bring. But in this Volume, the plot progresses in a very predictable fashion. We already know, before the movie even starts, that the heroine (the questionably lovely Uma Thurman) is going to get her revenge. The movie isn’t about making us wonder IF she’ll get her justice, it’s all about HOW she gets it. And it’s fun, fun, fun all the way. In a really fake-bloody sort of way.

Hey, if your revenge weapon of choice is a samurai sword, you have to expect a little blood to be spilled, right?

Undeniably, Tarantino brings a lot of style to this film. His choice to break the movie up into titled chapters, his use of black and white, silhouette and anime, even his inspired casting (bringing back his friends Thurman and Michael Madsen; making Lucy Liu seem even bitchier than usual; Darryl Hannah?) all combine to make an absolutely must-see cinematic event. You have to give the guy credit, he puts a lot of thought and work into his films.

The best part of “Kill Bill” for me? The fact that as soon as it was over, I was DYING to see Volume II. Not because of a cliff-hanger ending; there wasn’t one. Just because Tarantino told a story that was so interesting, I just have to know how it ends, even though the ending is a foregone conclusion: Uma WILL get her revenge; I can’t wait to see HOW (and why they wanted to kill her in the first place).

More later…
Paul