Ramdon Notes: Part One

Sorry for the cold shoulder for two weeks. I've been busy with school and the Ranch Review (now Opinion Editor!) and I have a lot to talk about.....in fact, this will be a two parter so without further ado, part one of my little segment, Random Notes!

Bonds is the new home run king: Seriously, am I the only one who didn't give a damn when Barry Bonds hit home run #756 to surpass Hank Arron as baseball's home run king? I'm a baseball fan, but I could not congratulate a cheating jackass like Bonds. What's even more pathetic is the phony speech he gave, thanking the fans for being there. Let me translate what Bonds meant to say to his fans:
Translation: 'thanks for putting up with my piss-poor attitude. Thanks for keeping me in San Fran when no other club would pick my ass up because of the fact that they don't want a cheating s.o.b. like me. I've made history, now i'm not going to play the rest of the game. Remember, it's all about me.'
Bonds, take your 30 pieces of silver, and fuck off.

Harry Potter and the Best Movie in the Franchise: Some critics are pissy that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix lacks the charm of the last four films. Fair point. Yes, Daniel Radcliffe isn't the same 11 year-old boy we loved in The Sorcerer's Stone or The Chamber of Secrets. Neither are the last four movies. But I think the filmmaker, David Yates would be doing a disservice to the spirit of the fifth novel in J.K. Rowling's wonderful and rich series. Like all things, there comes a point were childhood must end and the seams of adulthood must rear it's ugly head, among with the darkness and pain it eventually brings. For Harry Potter, that time has come. Hogwarts is no longer a safe haven since the return of the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). The Ministry of Magic and Cornelius Fudge are trying to dismiss Harry's claim that You-Know-Who has returned, even going as far to insert one of their own, Dolores Umbridge (a wonderful and nasty Imelda Staunton) to shut him up, and to keep the students from learning magic. And Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) avoids Potter at every turn. Add to that, Harry's growing teen problems: anger, growing up, and girls. These are the things taking place in this film. And it's by far the best one yet, thanks to some great performances from Radcliffe, Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, and Staunton as Umbridge, who is the Dick Cheney of the Harry Potter universe; the amazing set pieces from Stewart Craig; the excellent cinematography; and the great direction from Yates. It all adds up to one of the year's best movies.
***1/2 stars out of ****

Bush claims Executive Privilege over Tillman Death: You heard me right. The administration that couldn't sink any lower have yet again, found a new despicable low: by claiming the privilege over the death of NFL Quarterback/Army ranger, Pat Tillman.

WASHINGTON — The White House has refused to give Congress documents about the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman, with White House counsel Fred Fielding saying that certain papers relating to discussion of the friendly-fire shooting "implicate Executive Branch confidentiality interests."

Are you fucking kidding me? That family has gone through hell because of this endless and shameful saga, and now the president is withholding documents about how Tillman really died? It was bad enough that the Army lied about his death and it was sickening to learn that Gen. Stanley McChrystal knew that Tillman died by friendly fire but gave him the Silver Star anyway, but this is just nauseating, the kind of shit that the Bush Administration pulled here. The Tillman family deserves closure and better treatment than this, Mr. Bush, and you damn-well know it. Another fine example of how our commander-in-chief supports our soldiers.

Part 2, I will post later next week. Stay tuned.

Are Bush backers really this ignorant and stupid?

It is utterly amazing how divorced from reality Bush supporters are. From his job approval, to his handling of the Iraqi War, that small minority of Americans are still by his side, even though 2/3rds of Americans clearly see just how incompetent and untrustworthy the Bush administration have, and continue to be. Case in point: conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh talking to Dick Cheney:

RUSH: It may not just be Iraq. Yesterday I read that Ike Skelton, who chairs -- I forget the name of the committee -- in the next defense appropriations bill for fiscal '08, is going to actually remove the phrase "global war on terror," because they don't think it's applicable. They want to refer to conflicts as individual skirmishes, but they're going to try to rid the defense appropriation bill, and thus official government language, of that term. Does that give any indication of their motivation, or what they think of the current plight in which the country finds itself?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Sure. Well, it's just flawed thinking. I like Ike Skelton. I worked closely with Ike when I was secretary of defense. He's chairman of the Armed Services Committee now. Ike's a good man. He's just dead wrong about this, though. Think about it. Just to give you one example, Rush. Remember Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian terrorist, an Al-Qaeda affiliate. He ran a training camp in Afghanistan for Al-Qaeda, then migrated after we went into Afghanistan and shut 'em down there, he went to Baghdad. He took up residence there before we ever launched into Iraq, organized the Al-Qaeda operations inside Iraq before we even arrived on the scene and then of course led the charge for Iraq until we killed him last June. He's the guy who arranged the booming of the Samarra mosque that precipitated the sectarian violence between Shi'a and Sunni. This is Al-Qaeda operating in Iraq, and as I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq. There's no way you can segment out and say, "Well, we'll fight the war on terror in Pakistan or Afghanistan but we can separate Iraq. That's not really, in any way, shape, or form related." It's just dead wrong. Bin Laden has said this is the central battle in the war on terror...

That same day, the Pentagon issues a report, debunking the claim that Saddam Hussein had ties to Al-Qaeda terrorist network. Unfortunately, this is not the first time Cheney out and out lied about the link between Saddam and Al-Qaeda. A year after the president declared "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended," the 9/11 Commission Report found that

the panel had no credible evidence that Saddam Hussein had assisted al-Qaeda in preparing or executing the 9/11 attacks. The Report notes in Chapter 2 that "Bin Laden had in fact been sponsoring anti-Saddam Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan, and sought to attract them into his Islamic army."

And yet, Cheney is still lying about the debunked link, and lied about it again on Limbaugh's show.

What's even more amazing are the levels of blatant hypocrisy coming from the mouth of Cheney and the right-wing water carriers about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria.

RUSH: A couple of quick more things before you have to go. What's the administration's view today, what's the emotion, what are you thinking about Speaker Pelosi's trip to the Middle East, specifically the conveyance of the incorrect message to Bashar Assad in Syria about peace talks with Israel?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it's not helpful. I made it clear earlier that I thought this created difficulties, if I can put it in a gentle form. Obviously, she's the speaker of the House and ought to travel to foreign nations and ought to conduct visits.

RUSH: She's not entitled to make her own foreign policy, is she?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: She's not entitled to make policy. She, in this particular case, by going to Damascus at this stage it serves to reinforce, if you will, and reward Bashar Assad for his bad behavior. He's done all kinds of things that are not in the interests of the United States, including allowing Syria to be an area from which attacks are launched against our people inside Iraq. He obviously was heavily involved, right now, in supporting an effort by Hezbollah to try to topple the government in Lebanon. This is a bad actor, and until he changes his behavior he should not be rewarded about visits by the speaker of the House of Representatives.

Oddly enough, neither Cheney, nor Rush dare spoke of the three Republican Senators who visited Syria and talked to President Assad, just like Pelosi did.

And yet, with all the evidence of the lies and hypocrisy coming from Cheney's mouth, that minority still defend the Administration's load of bullshit, lies, and spin.