Dear Matt

"Why We Fight"

This evening I was coerced by my parents into watching documentary by Eugene Jarecki called "Why We Fight." Personally, I was expecting to be infuriated and upset by it since it was highly recommended to my parents by one of my brothers who I to a large extent disagree with on matters of war. I didn't want to watch it. I thought it would be inflammatory, emotionally charged, anti-war propaganda. There's a little trailer for it here, though I daresay it didn't sum up the points that interested me most very well. Also of note, Senator John McCain is featured in it talking about the United States military-industrial complex. I still want to rewatch those parts and see if I can fit what he was saying there in with what he's saying now about war. But at any rate, I must say it didn't get me near as upset and angry as I had expected. Far from it; it more had me sobered and pensive afterwards. Some of it was a bit too extremely put (use of the word "empire," for example), but certainly had a lot of information worthing thinking long and hard about. Definitely worth looking into.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go look up President Eisenhower's farewell address from back in '61...

I've been thinking about Breach again...

...Because of KP's latest post on how lame she is. And that list of "5 things about me" got me to thinking about how in the movie "Breach," Robert Hanssen had his assistant list 5 things about himself, 4 true and one a lie on his first day to test his mad lie-detector skillz. I've decided that the next time I meet someone new and I'm just making pleasant small talk, I'm gonna bust that out. So I can practice my lie detector skills.



I'm so excited... I think I'm gonna go for a walk down to the gas station/bus stop and see if I can meet anybody to practice on...

Breach

Pretty interesting movie. Or at least I thought so. Tomorrow after Mass and before the gym I think I'm gonna go to the library and get some books on Robert Hanssen and write him a letter in prison.

How does someone go from daily Mass and being a "practicing" Catholic to being the most destructive spy known to any country in the history of mankind? Pretty freaking crazy. I guess it goes to show you how going through the motions just isn't enough. But still. I wonder what the priest said to him when he confessed. That I'll never know, but I do wonder how he justified what he was doing in his mind? The movie said 1) it was a pride issue- and enjoyable at that... being the head of a committee trying to find the mole, when you ARE the mole, and 2) he somehow thought he was teaching the US that it's security measures were no good, and the way to do this was to undermine them himself. Crazy. But still, there must be more to it than that.

So that's why I'm reading up on him. And I really want to write him, because my heart goes out to him... granted, what he did was inexcusable and reflects badly on the Faith, but to be serving a life sentence, 23 hours a day in solitary confinement? I dunno. I guess if you spent most your time prayer you could pretend you were a cloistered monk or something... Although, I doubt that's the case. Anyways. I'll post when I actually know what it is I want to say to Robert Hanssen. That'll be more interesting...

What I learned from V for Vendetta

1. Guns are bad.
Our hero has about everything that is censored, forbidden or controlled by the government -from great works of art to butter- except for guns. Not one of the sympathetic characters ever uses a gun. Not quite sure how this reconciles with the observations "[only one thing] happens when people without guns stand up to people with guns" and "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

2. People in the entertainment industry who use their "art" to mock or discredit their evil governments are courageous heroes.
But if the evil totalitarian government against which they protest actually does something about it (like fucking kills them), they have every right to be shocked and appalled.

3. Killing in defense of self or others is bad. Cold-hearted vengeful murder is ok.
Our hero uses non-deadly force to neutralize rapist thugs when he shows up to save Evey (his most violent blow is dealt to an already helpless non-threat with his pants down.) On the other hand, he does not hesitate to kill in her sleep an old woman who has repented for her past evil.

4. Torture is ok as long as it's for a greater good.
Look, don't question us on the specifics here. Torture is ok when we say so. Otherwise it's horribly evil. So far, the only general rule seems to be that pathetically ineffectual torture is better.

5. Murderous, irrational hatred of homosexuals is a tenet of conservatism.
There's just no way around it. If you want to be a conservative you have to hate gay people. And don't be trying to just hate homosexuality either. No, you actually have to want to hunt down and kill the gay people.
That's evil, by the way. Gays are wonderful, beautiful people suffering from society's horribly unjust rejection and persecution. Also note that while Catholic priests and bishops are fucked up pedophiles (not to mention evil) they aren't gay pedophiles.

...and the final, most important lesson learned from V for Vendetta: It's not terrorism if there's fireworks.

Secondly (maybe)

On a lighter note...
Three things.

Firstly (unless you're really crazy and into reading individual posts from the bottom up): It shows just how desperate I am for any kind of recreational physical activity that I actually played frisbee last night (in the dark with a chemlight(glowstick) taped to the bottom. pretty cool, actually.)

Secondly (without a doubt. (well... I guess if you were really crazy and just refused to read things in any order at all... OK, enough)): Another crazy thunderstorm today. The Spic and I had to go about 1/4 mile down the road to pick up some engine oil.

2:05 pm (as we get into his car)
Spic: "Uh oh..." [pointing at a dark mass of clouds off in the distance]
Me: "Yeah, that doesn't look like it will be nice. I hope it holds off until we're done for the day."

2:09 pm (waiting for someone to come open the shed and give us our oil)
Spic: "I don't think it's going to wait until we get off."
Me: [looks apprehensively at the clouds of doom, now much closer]

2:16 pm (still waiting. the sky is apparently practicing for the apocalypse. half is already filled with black clouds that rush visibly towards us. a strong wind brings a chill and the taste of rain. the blue areas that still remain seem to be fleeing to the east.)

2:18 pm (guy shows up to let us into the shed. the sky is black.)
Me: "Yeah, we aren't even going to make our first trip without getting soaked."

2:21 pm (we've got the oil out of the shed but still have to move the seven five-gallon drums to Spic's car a couple hundred meters away. a light rain begins to fall)

2:21.30 pm (a heavy rain begins to fall)

2:22 pm (a heavier rain begins to fall)

2:25 pm (we get the last of the oil into the Spic's trunk, soaked to the skin)

Thirdly: Four Rooms. I cannot in good conscience (on several levels) recommend this movie. However, if you happen to come across a copy, I do recommend One Room.
The idea behind the movie is pretty creative: One main character (the bellhop) four parts to the movie (his experiences in four different rooms) four different directors and supporting casts. Good idea, but part one was awful. Two and three, meh. Part four is directed by Quentin Tarantino and also features him as one of the major actors. It, unsurprisingly, is awesome (if you're into Tarantino stuff.) So yeah, see that part.