DAVINCI the film gives the Ultimate Question (praise Goddess!) a radical answer
“What if ‘the greatest story ever told’ is a lie?”
Given the immense reactionary power of today’s Church, and the violent intolerance of its fundamentalist minions, what more radical question could be asked?
No film has ever been in position to give a more penetrating answer than THE DAVINCI CODE. And…praise the Goddess!…it largely delivers.
It will be easy to fault this flick, and many will, for all sorts of reasons, including its often ponderous tone and mournful pace.
But whatever their pitfalls, this movie is a strong companion to a book that embodies a healing challenge to the virulent virus of reactionary “Christian” fundamentalism.
With a staggering 45 million copies in print, Dan Brown’s DAVINCI is a force of nature. It’s a solid murder thriller, full of twists and gadgetry, hidden riddles and secret codas.
But that alone cannot begin to explain the story’s huge appeal. As they say in New Age circles, “there must be a reason.”
Given the immense reactionary power of today’s Church, and the violent intolerance of its fundamentalist minions, what more radical question could be asked?
No film has ever been in position to give a more penetrating answer than THE DAVINCI CODE. And…praise the Goddess!…it largely delivers.
It will be easy to fault this flick, and many will, for all sorts of reasons, including its often ponderous tone and mournful pace.
But whatever their pitfalls, this movie is a strong companion to a book that embodies a healing challenge to the virulent virus of reactionary “Christian” fundamentalism.
With a staggering 45 million copies in print, Dan Brown’s DAVINCI is a force of nature. It’s a solid murder thriller, full of twists and gadgetry, hidden riddles and secret codas.
But that alone cannot begin to explain the story’s huge appeal. As they say in New Age circles, “there must be a reason.”
Shoshi & Daddy in the Park on Mother's Day
Just the two of us
she on the swing
me pushing
somehow
content
just to do that
timelessly
time and again
for how long?
Forever.
The park is dark
gorgeously quiet
chill and damp
a late green afternoon
in the early spring
on a Sunday
Mothers Day
only us
and the bambis.
I push
the swing goes forward
it comes back
I push again
we are silent
except occasionally
I ask
"Do you know
how much I love you?"
"Yes Daddy."
Her four front teeth
two on top
two below
are now out.
She'll be seven
in two weeks.
That toothless gap
makes her talk
with a new lisp
excruciatingly cute
that devlish grin
fully vented
she pushes her tongue through.
I have to hug her.
When we're together
at moments like these
nothing lacks
there is no need
no further desire
no hole in space
or in time
that is not filled
with our love.
Thank you
for this
whoever You are.
But most of all
her Mother.
It is her day
and
she on the swing
me pushing
somehow
content
just to do that
timelessly
time and again
for how long?
Forever.
The park is dark
gorgeously quiet
chill and damp
a late green afternoon
in the early spring
on a Sunday
Mothers Day
only us
and the bambis.
I push
the swing goes forward
it comes back
I push again
we are silent
except occasionally
I ask
"Do you know
how much I love you?"
"Yes Daddy."
Her four front teeth
two on top
two below
are now out.
She'll be seven
in two weeks.
That toothless gap
makes her talk
with a new lisp
excruciatingly cute
that devlish grin
fully vented
she pushes her tongue through.
I have to hug her.
When we're together
at moments like these
nothing lacks
there is no need
no further desire
no hole in space
or in time
that is not filled
with our love.
Thank you
for this
whoever You are.
But most of all
her Mother.
It is her day
and
An ugly possibility
AUSTIN, Texas -- I hate to raise such an ugly possibility, but have you considered lunacy as an explanation? Craziness would make a certain amount of sense. I mean, you announce you are going to militarize the Mexican border, but you assure the president of Mexico you are not militarizing the border. You announce you are sending the National Guard, but then you assure everyone it's not very many soldiers and just for a little while.
Militarizing the border is a totally terrible idea. Do we have a State Department? Are they sentient? How much do you want to infuriate Mexico when it's sitting on quite a bit of oil? Bush knows what the most likely outcome of this move will be. He was governor during the political firestorm that ensued when a Marine taking part in anti-drug patrols on the border shot and killed Esequiel Hernandez, an innocent goat-herder from Redford, Texas. That's the definition of crazy -- repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
Militarizing the border is a totally terrible idea. Do we have a State Department? Are they sentient? How much do you want to infuriate Mexico when it's sitting on quite a bit of oil? Bush knows what the most likely outcome of this move will be. He was governor during the political firestorm that ensued when a Marine taking part in anti-drug patrols on the border shot and killed Esequiel Hernandez, an innocent goat-herder from Redford, Texas. That's the definition of crazy -- repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
Freaked-out fundamentalists fear DAVINCI for its fierce feminism
Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene? Did they have a daughter?
Questions about Christ's love life will dominate debate over the release of the DAVINCI CODE this weekend.
The answers do matter. But what really counts is the story's pagan/feminist core, and its role in the Culture War.
The spin has begun. As freaked-out fundamentalists focus on Jesus's sexuality, and on petty documentary talking points, they'll try to obscure DAVINCI'S lethal assault on the Church's reactionary male theocracy.
What's at stake is not the fine points of documentation and detail. Rather it's the contention that male-dominated Christian/Catholic fundamentalism is a repressive dictatorship that has thrown human life and sexuality dangerously out of balance.
Fiction it may be. But with 45 million copies in print, Dan Brown's DAVINCI is a force of nature. How Ron Howard's upcoming feature film deals with its core content will have significant impact.
Questions about Christ's love life will dominate debate over the release of the DAVINCI CODE this weekend.
The answers do matter. But what really counts is the story's pagan/feminist core, and its role in the Culture War.
The spin has begun. As freaked-out fundamentalists focus on Jesus's sexuality, and on petty documentary talking points, they'll try to obscure DAVINCI'S lethal assault on the Church's reactionary male theocracy.
What's at stake is not the fine points of documentation and detail. Rather it's the contention that male-dominated Christian/Catholic fundamentalism is a repressive dictatorship that has thrown human life and sexuality dangerously out of balance.
Fiction it may be. But with 45 million copies in print, Dan Brown's DAVINCI is a force of nature. How Ron Howard's upcoming feature film deals with its core content will have significant impact.
Bush beats out Nixon: Least liked President ever
This day has been long coming. The graphs have shown it would soon be upon us: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/9872 Now, here we are. With this new Harris poll, available through the Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114735765551950179-fy1LPeyuG4da_… , President Bush claims the titlelong held by Richard Nixon: Least Liked President Ever (or at least since there have been polls). And this data comes to us from before the USA Today reported on Bush's NSA secretly monitoring our phone records http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/10210
Bush's approval rating is now at 29%, and disapproval at an astonishing 71%. Well, it's astonishing that it took so long to get there. But it's also record-setting. The best Nixon could do was 66%. Nobody else comes close. Bush is breaking new ground.
Bush's approval rating is now at 29%, and disapproval at an astonishing 71%. Well, it's astonishing that it took so long to get there. But it's also record-setting. The best Nixon could do was 66%. Nobody else comes close. Bush is breaking new ground.
Let's raise gas taxes and lower income taxes
Now that the $100 tax rebate proposed by the Senate Republican leadership
as a response to rising gasoline prices has been discarded, it is time to
get serious. Any effective response to climbing gas prices must recognize
a geological reality, namely that the earth’s oil reserves are shrinking.
The amount of oil pumped has exceeded new discoveries since 1980. And the gap is widening. In 2004, for example, the world pumped nearly 31 billion barrels of oil while discovering fewer than 8 billion barrels of new oil.
Instead of encouraging gasoline use with tax rebates or gas tax holidays, we need a way to reduce gasoline use, one that is practical and politically acceptable. We need a higher gas tax, but the only way to get a gas tax rise large enough to wean us from imported oil is to offset the rise with a reduction in the tax on income.
The amount of oil pumped has exceeded new discoveries since 1980. And the gap is widening. In 2004, for example, the world pumped nearly 31 billion barrels of oil while discovering fewer than 8 billion barrels of new oil.
Instead of encouraging gasoline use with tax rebates or gas tax holidays, we need a way to reduce gasoline use, one that is practical and politically acceptable. We need a higher gas tax, but the only way to get a gas tax rise large enough to wean us from imported oil is to offset the rise with a reduction in the tax on income.
Cindy Sheehan's new book: Dear President Bush
Cindy Sheehan's interviews, essays, and speeches get better with each passing month, as her pain continues, her passion and insight grow, and the war that killed her son goes on – as the president who killed her son goes on being president. Cindy's latest book, "Dear President Bush," is the best of the three books by or about Cindy Sheehan that I've read.
"Not One More Mother's Child" was Cindy's first collection of essays. It's a longer book, including her writings from November 2004 to September 2005, along with some beautiful photographs and forwards by John Conyers, Thom Hartmann, and Jodie Evans. "The Vigil: 26 Days in Crawford, Texas" is a collection of newspaper reports on Camp Casey from the Lone Star Iconoclast, with a forward by Sheehan. These are both excellent books. One contains much of Cindy's brilliant and moving voice. The other comes close to setting the scene of what it was like to be in that place in Crawford last summer surrounded by so much emotion and so much hope.
"Not One More Mother's Child" was Cindy's first collection of essays. It's a longer book, including her writings from November 2004 to September 2005, along with some beautiful photographs and forwards by John Conyers, Thom Hartmann, and Jodie Evans. "The Vigil: 26 Days in Crawford, Texas" is a collection of newspaper reports on Camp Casey from the Lone Star Iconoclast, with a forward by Sheehan. These are both excellent books. One contains much of Cindy's brilliant and moving voice. The other comes close to setting the scene of what it was like to be in that place in Crawford last summer surrounded by so much emotion and so much hope.
Immigration: Myths and Reality
In the red-hot debate over immigration, myth too often takes the place of truth. It is easier to rouse fears than it is to find common ground. It is time to step back, take a deep breath, and reflect before we react.
The truth is often distorted in ways that feed our divisions. For example, many contrast this generation of immigration with the Europeans who came at the beginning of the last century. That generation, we are told, came legally; whereas this generation of immigrants is coming illegally. That generation learned the language, whereas this one is writing the National Anthem in Spanish. Peggy Noonan, Reagan’s former speechwriter, writes about her Irish family that came over on the boat. “They waited in line. They passed the tests. They had to get permission to come… They had to get through Ellis Island, get questioned and eyeballed by a bureaucrat with a badge.”
The truth is often distorted in ways that feed our divisions. For example, many contrast this generation of immigration with the Europeans who came at the beginning of the last century. That generation, we are told, came legally; whereas this generation of immigrants is coming illegally. That generation learned the language, whereas this one is writing the National Anthem in Spanish. Peggy Noonan, Reagan’s former speechwriter, writes about her Irish family that came over on the boat. “They waited in line. They passed the tests. They had to get permission to come… They had to get through Ellis Island, get questioned and eyeballed by a bureaucrat with a badge.”
Fighting back in the language war and winning elections
The reason Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White
House and the Supreme Court is because they have won the “language war.”
President Hoover called himself a “true liberal,” and President Eisenhower said that cutting federal spending on education would offend “every liberal — including me.”
“Liberal” has been made into a dirty word by Republican think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Republican linguist and pollster Frank Luntz.
How did they do it? The first step was to make the sound of the word 'liberal' seem like something undesirable. Notice the tone of voice used by most so-called conservative politicians and so-called conservative radio and television talk show hosts when they say the word: liberal. They make the word liberal sound contemptible. They always say it with a tone of voice of contempt, scorn and condescension.
They don't do this by accident. No doubt, most, if not all, have spend many hours in front of a microphone and video camera practicing and rehearsing their pronunciation of the word: liberal.
President Hoover called himself a “true liberal,” and President Eisenhower said that cutting federal spending on education would offend “every liberal — including me.”
“Liberal” has been made into a dirty word by Republican think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Republican linguist and pollster Frank Luntz.
How did they do it? The first step was to make the sound of the word 'liberal' seem like something undesirable. Notice the tone of voice used by most so-called conservative politicians and so-called conservative radio and television talk show hosts when they say the word: liberal. They make the word liberal sound contemptible. They always say it with a tone of voice of contempt, scorn and condescension.
They don't do this by accident. No doubt, most, if not all, have spend many hours in front of a microphone and video camera practicing and rehearsing their pronunciation of the word: liberal.
Blocking justice
The U.S. Government has once again invoked the "state secrets" privilege, arguing that a public trial of a lawsuit against a former head of the Central Intelligence Agency for abducting and imprisoning a German citizen would lead to disclosure of information harmful to U.S. national security.
Once rarely used, the "state secrets" privilege has over the past five years become a routine defense used by the U.S. Government to keep cases from being tried.
The current case involves a suit brought by Khalid El-Masri. El-Masri was on vacation in Macedonia when he was kidnapped and transported to a CIA-run "black site" in Afghanistan. After several months of confinement in squalid conditions, he was abandoned on a hill in Albania with no explanation. He was never charged with a crime.
El-Masri, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is seeking an apology and money damages from the CIA. The first - and perhaps the last -- hearing on the case took place last week before a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Once rarely used, the "state secrets" privilege has over the past five years become a routine defense used by the U.S. Government to keep cases from being tried.
The current case involves a suit brought by Khalid El-Masri. El-Masri was on vacation in Macedonia when he was kidnapped and transported to a CIA-run "black site" in Afghanistan. After several months of confinement in squalid conditions, he was abandoned on a hill in Albania with no explanation. He was never charged with a crime.
El-Masri, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is seeking an apology and money damages from the CIA. The first - and perhaps the last -- hearing on the case took place last week before a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.