Top Ten Movies

If anyone is out there, I would love to hear what your top 10 movies are in your Netflix queue. A lot of people do this with music on their blogs, and I find it a great way to discover new and exciting songs, so I'm trying it with movies.

The movies at the top of my queue currently ( I count series disks as one place on the list):

1. Ranma 1/2 Outta Control
2. Ju-Rei: The Uncanny
3. Shutter
4. Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden
5. Rocket Science
6. Please Teacher!
7. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring
8. Kamichu!
9. Carved: The Slit Mouthed Woman
10. City of God

A lot of the stuff on there is anime (Ranma, Mahoromatic, Please Teacher!, Kamichu!). I'm also a big J-horror fan, so that accounts for Ju-Rei, Shutter, and Carved. Rocket Science and City of God were recommended to me by friends who though the movies were "me". Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring is a Korean movie that has been praised for its lush cinematography and profound message.

Stuff that I've watched lately that I liked: The Wrestler, The Amazing Screw-on Head, The Spirit, The Quiet American, Moon Child, Death Note II: The Last Name, L: Save The World.

Like I said, please share your list if you read this! I'm always looking for interesting new movies to watch.

My Obama Report Card

Well, President Obama has been in office for almost six months now, and I think it is fair to really weigh in on his performance. (I vehemently disagree with the "100 days" crap- that's just not long enough to make real policy decisions). This is my personal opinion, of course, and is heavily weighted towards the issues I see as pressing.

Foreign Affairs- A I think Obama has done a really good job of mending the fences internationally. After Eight years of Bush doing everything he could to inflame hatred of America and Americans globally, Obama has made a real effort to back away from the former administration's incendiary rhetoric. He's had a couple of missteps- the gift gaffe and a generally weak response to North Korea- but overall, he's been saying and doing what needs to be said and done. I especially commend his Egypt speech- a conciliatory statement to the Muslim community was long overdue.

Economy- B Obama, by and large, is as much along for the ride on the whole economic runaway train just like the rest of us. He inherited the tanking econ, he inherited the bailout, he inherited the underlying causes of the problem. All he can do now is stay the course, which is pretty much what he has done. I, for one, have no problem with things like the "nationalization" of GM, but I would like to see more emphasis on corporate responsibility and accountability so that we don't keep ending up in these messes.

Iraq/Afghanistan/War on Terror Abroad- C After a really strong start on Guantanamo, Obama has really been floundering with his policies and statements on these issues. Six months after taking office, I have seen very little actual change in the war, and the Guantanamo and torture backpedaling are most disheartening. Obama needs to fulfill his campaign promises by getting us out of Iraq, articulating a timeframe and goals for Afghanistan, and unequivically renouncing the use of terror or the holding of "detainees" without due process.

Civil Rights- D This is where Obama is really falling down. He needs to end DADT now. It would be so easy, and would cost him so little. While he was at it, I wish he would start pushing hard on the restrictions on women in combat. He also needs to use the bully pulpit to move towards federal recognition of same-sex marriage. There is simply no good argument against same sex marriage, and unless Obama wants to be on the wrong side of history, he better act now. It would also behoove him to take a firm stand for womens' reproductive freedom. Repealing the global Gag Rule was an excellent first step, but all of this "abortion is a necessary evil" talk he puts out needs to end. He is giving the high ground away to the forced birthers, and we can clearly see what they do with the "high ground"- see Dr. Tiller's assassination.

Health care- B- OK. Obama has put health care on the national agenda, but he needs to articulate a vision, and stand firm. The system is irretrievably broken, and wishy-washy stop gap measures are not going to fix it.

Energy/Environment- C Obama needs to get on the ball, and really articulate a vision here. The time is ripe- people want to see change in this area. With the grassroots behind him, Obama could take on big business, and force change.

Domestic Terrorism- C Obama needs to make strong, sweeping statements against things like Dr. Tiller's assassination, and the shooting at the Holocaust Museum. He also needs to use these incidents to draw out the links between so-called mainstream "conservative" groups and the actions of this terrorists, because believe me, there IS a connection. The president MUST go on record strongly condemning such acts AND the organizations that spew the hatred that agitates the actors. In short, he must frame them as terrorism.

Overall- B- Obama is off to a good start, but he has plenty of room for improvement. He needs to worry less about political strategy and expending political capital, and more about being true to the vision he articulated during the campaign. It was that vision that got him elected, and it is only that vision being realized that will keep him there.

Now What?

In the wake of Dr. Tiller's assassination, I have submitted an application to be a Planned Parenthood volunteer. I can't sit back and do nothing. I hope a lot of other people decide they can't sit back, either. I hope that this tragic murder will be the thing that finally galvanizes sane, fair-minded individuals to act, to stand up to the hatred the "pro-life" camp is spewing. I'm tired of all of the vicious bullshit, actually. It turns my stomach every time I read some loon talking about the slutty sluts who get late term abortions, the evil of "abortionists" who kill innocent babies, etc. Feministe has compiled patient stories that show the true face of late term abortion, and Dr. Tiller's work. I'm also scared to death that only two doctors in the country are prepared to continue this vital work.

So, I'm doing what I can. It won't bring back Dr. Tiller, it won't give more options to those women facing the traumas that lead to late term abortion, and it won't change the hardened hearts of the anti-abortion movement, but its the best I can do.

Dr. Tiller's Death, and Anti-Abortion Terrorism

Let's call this out for what it really is. The Anti-abortion movement, whether intentionally or not, has fanned the flames of domestic terrorism. Dr. George Tiller's assasination yesterday, as he stood in the door of his church, is the DIRECT RESULT of decades of the "Abortion is murder" campaign. I don't care how "mainstream" or "peaceful" a group alleges to be, if they go around spouting the abortion is murder line, they have helped create the climate of hatred that spawned this attack. In a reply to a post on Pandagon, I summed up my position on what needs to be done about this:

The so called condemnations of Dr. Tiller's assassination were anything but. They never once condemned the parties responsible inciting this kind of violence, never once called for all of the "pro-life" faithful to renounce such people or tactics. The National Review fanned the flames even more by continuously referring to Dr. tiller as an "abortionist" or even "late-term abortionist". Someone needs to call them on this at a national level. NARAL's response, while doing a good job of highlighting the pattern of ant-abortion violence, fails to make the critical connection between the mainstream rhetoric and the violence itself. Planned Parenthood never even approaches the connection. NOW is the only prominent national organization I've seen thus far to call this out-and-out terrorism. Dr. Warren Hern, another late-term abortion provider said exactly the right thing in his interview with the Wichita Eagle:

Warren Hern, a Colorado physician and close friend of Tiller's -- who described himself now as "the only doctor in the world" who performs very-late-term abortions -- said Tiller's death was predictable.

"I think it's the inevitable consequence of more than 35 years of constant anti-abortion terrorism, harassment and violence," he said.

When Obama was elected last fall, Hern predicted that anti-abortion violence would increase, he said. Because Obama supports legalized abortion, Hern said, its foes "have lost ground.... They want the doctors dead, and they invite people to assassinate us. No wonder that this happens.

"I am next on the list."

This is the message that needs to be repeated endlessly. I don't have much of a soapbox- I think I have about three regular readers at my blog ;-). However, Pandagon reaches a lot of folks, and I know there are readers here who have well-read sites, too. Let's spread the word that the time is past to be conciliatory, to pretend that the "abortion is murder" rhetoric has no bearing on actual terrorist acts. I'm going to contact NARAL and Planned Parenthood, urging them to issue stronger statements highlighting the link. If anyone else has media contacts, or ideas, let me know- you can comment on my blog, or react to my comment here. This is intensely personal for me, as it literally "hits me where I live"- the suspect in this case is from my metro area.

Please join with me in setting the record straight. We didn't start this "culture war" crap, but we've got to meet in face on.

The Good Stuff!

Mmmm. I got some of my favorite soda today- Apple Sidra. It's sooo yummy. It's kind of hard to describe- apple flavored battery acid is what comes to mind. Seriously, this is some super-carbonated stuff! I can almost feel my tooth enamel being eaten off when I drink this. It's from Taiwan, and like most Asian soda, its not as cloyingly sweet as American soda. I really prefer Asian sweets in general, as they seem to strike a better balance between sweet and flavor. Go and try some Apple Sidra today!

Yawn. Yep. Boring As Hell.

Well, if this doesn't beat all. From the woman who thinks... women are stupid. "This just in! Atheists are boring! Really, they are. So boring, in fact, I've got to write about...how boring they are."

Really, Charlotte Allen? "Boohoo victimism"? Is that anything like voodoo economics? Wow. I'm hoping this article is meant to be ironic, as in, "Look! I'm going to make all of these arguments about other people being meanie mean meanies, and just to up the ante, I'll use every single tactic I excoriate them for in my own arguments."

I for one, have nothing against meanie mean meanies. But I do really rankle at hypocrites, which is what Ms. Allen is being in this take on atheists.

Unintentional Irony in italics.

My problem with atheists is their tiresome -- and way old -- insistence that they are being oppressed and their fixation with the fine points of Christianity. What -- did their Sunday school teachers flog their behinds with a Bible when they were kids?

Charlotte Allen is taking this opportunity to berate atheists for their supposed victimization complex, and their odd "fixation" on religion, in an article saying meanie atheists should stop picking on believers, because C. Allen's exhaustive study of What Atheists Believe has found their beliefs wanting.

Pot? Kettle?

Read Dawkins, or Hitchens, or the works of fellow atheists Sam Harris ("The End of Faith") and Daniel Dennett ("Breaking the Spell"), or visit an atheist website or blog (there are zillions of them, bearing such titles as "God Is for Suckers," "God Is Imaginary" and "God Is Pretend"), and your eyes will glaze over as you peruse -- again and again -- the obsessively tiny range of topics around which atheists circle like water in a drain.

Charlotte Allen is surprised and disgusted to find atheists talking about atheism in books on atheism and websites on atheism, so she writes an article on atheisim...to point that out (and talks about atheism in the process). I mean, the audacity of those windbags! talking about atheism on an atheism blog or in an atheism book like its a valid topic, or something? Where is Dawkins' Best Cinnamon Rolls Ever! recipe in "The God Delusion"? Why doesn't the "God is Imaginary" website offer more celebrity gossip- that's what Charlotte Allen wants to know!

First off, there's atheist victimology: Boohoo, everybody hates us 'cuz we don't believe in God. Although a recent Pew Forum survey on religion found that 16% of Americans describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated, only 1.6% call themselves atheists...Maybe atheists wouldn't be so unpopular if they stopped beating the drum until the hide splits on their second-favorite topic: How stupid people are who believe in God.

Now, Charolotte Allen will conclusively put the nail in the coffin of the atheists' whiny argument that they are unpopular, by pointing out how unpopular they are. In a mocking way. I think that really speaks for itself.

Then there's P.Z. Myers, biology professor at the University of Minnesota's Morris campus, whose blog, Pharyngula, is supposedly about Myers' field, evolutionary biology, but is actually about his fanatical propensity to label religious believers as "idiots," "morons," "loony" or "imbecilic" in nearly every post. The university deactivated its link to Myers' blog in July after he posted a photo of a consecrated host from a Mass that he had pierced with a rusty nail and thrown into the garbage ("I hope Jesus' tetanus shots are up to date") in an effort to prove that Catholicism is bunk -- or something.

Charolotte Allen wants to assure us that no one, in fact is trying to silence the wacky atheists, by pointing out that an atheists' blog which was found 'offensive' was de-linked from an institutional website. Again, with a heavy dose of snark. I actually read Pharyngula, was reading during the hubub, and Charlotte is leaving out one crucial point- while PZ was calling the belief that a cracker becomes the body of a dead mangod "loony", those sweet believers were leveling death threats at him. Who is being outlandish and incendiary, again?

Another topic that atheists beat like the hammer on the anvil in the old Anacin commercials is Darwinism versus creationism. Maybe Darwin-o-mania stems from the fact that this year marks the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth in 1809, but haven't atheists heard that many religious people (including the late Pope John Paul II) don't have a problem with evolution but, rather, regard it as God's way of letting his living creation unfold? Furthermore, even if human nature as we know it is a matter of lucky adaptations, how exactly does that disprove the existence of God?

Charlotte is in rare form now. How dare those brutish atheists get all worked up over evolution (does anyone really call it Darwinism any more? I thought that went out with the Scopes trial). She takes them to task for their incessant re-hashing of the same old tropes...by throwing out the oldest, tropeist trope- "God isn't disproved by evolution, 'cause maybe evolution was really His idea! NaaaNaa!" Clearly, no atheist has ever heard that before. And obviously, Charlotte is missing the point entirely if she thinks "...many religious people (including the late Pope John Paul II) don't have a problem with evolution but, rather, regard it as God's way of letting his living creation unfold?" is anything but the very thing atheists would take issue with. Psst- here's a clue, Charlotte- atheists don't believe God exists! That would be like an atheist saying to a Christian, "Gee. I think "God" is just an evolutionary adaptation of the human brain. We really believe the same thing, buddy!"

The problem with atheists -- and what makes them such excruciating snoozes -- is that few of them are interested in making serious metaphysical or epistemological arguments against God's existence, or in taking on the serious arguments that theologians have made attempting to reconcile, say, God's omniscience with free will or God's goodness with human suffering. Atheists seem to assume that the whole idea of God is a ridiculous absurdity, the "flying spaghetti monster" of atheists' typically lame jokes. They think that lobbing a few Gaza-style rockets accusing God of failing to create a world more to their liking ("If there's a God, why aren't I rich?" "If there's a God, why didn't he give me two heads so I could sleep with one head while I get some work done with the other?") will suffice to knock down the entire edifice of belief.

Oh, ho! Now we get to the meat of it! Charlotte is going to enlighten us as to the real problem with atheists. They don't engage in intellectually honest or rigorous arguments with believers! To that end, she's going to let a brief listing of the titles of some recent, serious books on this very subject stand in for a real takedown of any of the arguments these works present, and instead, poke at some strawmen ("If there's a God, why aren't I rich?" is just the absolute basis of Dawkins, Hitchens, Denett, et al's works, doncha know?). Flying Spaghetti Monster! LOL! That's not intellectually dishonest in the slightest, now is it?

What atheists don't seem to realize is that even for believers, faith is never easy in this world of injustice, pain and delusion. Even for believers, God exists just beyond the scrim of the senses. So, atheists, how about losing the tired sarcasm and boring self-pity and engaging believers seriously?

Finally, for her coup de grace, Charlotte wishes to take those nasty atheists to task for their boring, hurtful screeds that harp on the fact that there is no proof that God exists, and its silly to believe in something that there is no proof for, by boldly asserting that even believers can muster no real proof for God. Way to go, Charlotte! Knockout punch! That'll teach those uppity atheists!

...or will it? Whaaaahahahah!!!!

Mush and Peanut On Creationism

Mush and Peanut Ride Again

This movie thing is just too much fun. I really love the odd inflections of the compu-voices. I know it wouldn't work for everything, but it's parody gold! Here's some more Mush and Peanut insanity. I particularly like the abstinence-only ed cartoon. Enjoy!