Penthesilia

I'm reading a new book about Julius Caesar that was released a month or two ago and so far it's only had a few things in it that were new to me, mostly because the ancient Roman world is something I have studied in great detail over the years.

However, the author's choice to highlight a particular statement from Julius Caesar's Gallic War, an account of his conquest of Gaul (modern day France) for personal glory, stuck out at me, even though I had read it before many years ago.

Describing why some of the Gallic tribes revolted against Roman occupation, Caesar had this to say. "Human nature everywhere yearns for freedom and hates submitting to domination by another." That quote was followed by the author's analysis, which is correct. "This kind of refreshing honesty is typical in Roman writers from the earliest days of the Republic to the fall of the empire. The Romans never pretended that they they were bringing freedom or a better way of life to the peoples they conquered. They frankly admitted that they were only interested in increasing their own power, wealth, and security through conquest. They had no particular desire to spread classical culture throughout the world unless is served their own plans to better control a province. Caesar freely admits that the Veneti were simply fighting for liberty, just as he would have done in their place. Nevertheless, he was determined to crush them."

As terrible as that statement is, at least it is completely honest.

What if past administrations launching offensive assaults on nations had just told everyone something like this instead of "we're spreading democracy, we're stopping communism, we're liberating them from oppression etc."

Just imagine the White House spokesperson coming up the microphone and saying "We are attacking Iraq because we want an airstrip in the center of the Middle East from which to launch attacks and spy on surrounding nations. Also, we want their oil and if we win this thing it will further the concept that we are invincible and everyone should submit to our will. Thank you and have a good day."

That doesn't make the war any better, but I'd at least appreciate the honesty. I'm sure a large part of the population would have still supported the invasion anyway, because a majority of people here seem to go along with anything their leaders tell them, as long as it is right wing in some way, for a fair amount of time before they get upset. The bonus is we wouldn't have had to sit through all the propaganda and roll our eyes/fight with people about it.

Some of my LJ friends have been making posts about losing faith in humanity lately and well, it's been disappointing me even further lately and is showing me that most of the morons in this country would never be able to handle socialism, no never mind that, any kind of society that involves caring about other individuals in even the most basic of ways.

Anyway, the first story that upset me happened about a week ago. An old man was crossing the street in Hartford, CT and was hit by a car and paralyzed. What's the big deal you say? That happens all the time right? The difference in this case is the man got hit and no one, not pedestrians or cars passing by, stopped to help him. They walked by, looked at him, drove by and just continued about their business until a cop that happened to be passing by saw him and stopped. The story and video is here, I warn you, the video is a bit disturbing so just read the story as it offers a better idea of what happened.

What the hell people? You can't even call an ambulance? I mean maybe you are afraid to go out in traffic and check on him, although that would be the appropriate response, but at least get him some help.

Second, and this is not intended to be about supporting a presidential candidate or not, I am just upset over the levels of racism/insanity still being displayed in this country here in 2008, "the world of tomorrow."

The coverage of Obama has horrified me, 1 in 4 voters cite race as a fucking issue? And these are working class folks, the ones we think are on our side! Wow, I feel like I like we all live 1927 Alabama. Then the infamous "fist bump" occurs, something that I used to do with my friends in school, and I'm white, something even my 58 year old father, who attended a mostly black school in the 1960s, knew about. I saw this happened live on TV and I didn't even react or care. Oh, but the entire country is terrified, Fox News called it a "terrorist fist jab," meanwhile other news networks spent 15 minute segments explaining that this was something that "black folks do to congratulate each other." Then they went around asking white people what they thought about it. It also ended up as the lead photo on my state's newspaper the next day with an entire story dedicated to it! Later I heard news that Obama put up a Web site to counter claims that his wife used the word "Whitey" in the past. The fact that he is now pandering in a typical Democratic fashion aside, the idiocy and racism here is just astounding

So let's get this straight, there is a member of the US Senate who was in the KKK in his youth (and others in the recent past who were Jim Crow supporters). White people run around saying "Nigger" and lynching black people from 1865 to present day, but a black person uses whitey in their youth out of rage due to racism and they are not only a racist but also a terrorist? Then they have to deny it, slap on an American flag pin and lead the pledge of allegiance to prove what? That they are not only American, but also an honorary caucasian who doesn't dare mention that racism has ever been an issue in the history of the US?

I guess living where I do, i underestimate just how many ignorant crackers we have. I mean, I know there are plenty of racists, but it seems like many of these folks I see on the news have never even seen a dark skinned person in real life, and that is amazing.

These people are struggling to even live with each other in the lose association of a world we currently have, never mind if they were asked to take it up a notch. Having dealt with endless amounts of idiots/racists and more as a kid working with my father, when I learned about anarchism I immediately cast it aside as I thought none of these bozos could ever be counted on to do anything for anyone without someone forcing them.

Socialism always seemed more practical, more appealing, maybe, just maybe they could be taught to work together, maybe if the world were kinder and without poverty, racism would die, cooperation would flourish. But oh no, I think the problems I'm seeing go beyond that. When you walk by a man dying in the street and you don't care, there is something seriously wrong in your head. And when people still react to "blacks" as if we are members of opposing ancient tribes, like how Gauls reacted to Germans or Romans they had never seen before in 200 BC, then I wonder where hope is?

As I mentioned in another discussion, I think I want my region of the country to secede and create the world we want, there are many with like minds already here, even suggesting this now. Then those who want to participate can come here and those who don't can leave. Of course, that idea may be as insane as any other kind of leftist change many of us want.

Where have you gone Eugene Debs? A nation turns it's lonely eyes to you.

After years of listening to people's complaints about all the "socialism in America" (haha, yeah) I've come to realize that people hate seeing other people get anything better than they have and instead of wanting to achieve those benefits for themselves, they'd rather take them away from those who receive those benefits and "knock them down" to their level.

For example, current college employees in my state can get free college for themselves or their children, however, several legislators and  citizens want to see that benefit eliminated. Another, and perhaps the most famous, is the vicious assaults on teacher's unions. The biggest complaint I hear about them here is "it's not fair that they get guaranteed pay raises and low co-pays, the rest of society doesn't have that! Not to mention that long vacation!" Shouldn't the rest of the society have that and better? Shouldn't we all have free college and not only low co-pays, but national health care? Shouldn't we also get a chance to take a break and enjoy life for a month like workers in many Western European countries receive?

That's not how people instinctually think in the US. They think "my job sucks, I want their job to suck to." This is the problem in a society with no egalitarianism of any kind and little to no benefits for most people. They've all been driven into such a state of defeatism and pro-corporate/pro-business propaganda, that they think life and work is supposed to suck, that taxes of any kind are some form of robbery (in the US they sort of are, always funding wars, govt. overthrows etc.) and everyone should have to go it alone. No one ever thinks, "wow, those teachers do have things a little better, maybe I'll unionize my work place and try to get those same benefits for myself and my friends." Nope, they want everyone to have nothing, and in doing so, are acting as perfect little agents of big business.

In fact, big business rarely has to fight now-a-days, they've done such a good job converting poor working class folks to their side, that they do all of their work for them. Why send in union busters when employees will bust the union for you?

Sometimes little things I see each day make me lose faith in humanity, whether that's justified or not is up for debate, but I'll tell you what did it today.

So, my state has a lot of problems right now, but one thing that bothers me the most is the government's outright hatred of our only Native American tribe and it's less than 300 members still living. Example, they tried to open a smoke shop five years ago on their own land to generate some money and the governor sent the state police in to close it down because they didn't like the fact that they were selling cigarettes tax free, on their own land! They were beaten and dogs were sicced on them. Worse, many people in the state didn't seem to have a problem with it, and if they did, they kept silent about it. A few weeks ago, several of the Indians who were beaten were sentenced to jail for resisting arrest/assaulting police, f'ing incredible. The whole thing was taped and played on the news for weeks as well, it's clear that the police were the aggressor of the entire thing, they didn't even show a warrant and made some flippant comment when the tribal police asked if they had one, it's on tape!!! A few of the members have appealed, but the judge unbelievably (or predictably) said the police story had more credibility.

To get to my actual story, I went to go pick up a pizza with my girlfriend earlier today and I pulled in behind a member of the tribe. Their car had a sticker on it that read "Sure You Can Trust Your Government... Just Ask An Indian," I commented that I thought that was pretty great. We got there early so we waited in the car for a few minutes before going in to get the food and we saw this older, 50ish lady come out. As she walked by their car, she stopped, took a step back, read the sticker, then shook her head in visible disgust. She then proceeded to get back in her Volvo and drive away.

We both watched her do this and I immediately said, "what the hell is wrong with people, has she ever studied history or watched the god damned news?" Yeah, shake your head lady, because the Indians should be lucky to be U.S. citizens right? Yeah, look at all the Indians running around leading amazing lives, oh wait, when was the last time you saw more than two Indians anywhere at the same time. Oh yeah, that's right, they were all murdered by the government!!!! The rest get to rot away on their poverty stricken reservations. Just take your Volvo back to your McMansion and worry about what $500 pair of drapes will match the Persian carpet.

That's when I gave up on mankind again, for something like the thousandth time.

I just noticed this writer's block feature, but seriously LJ, describe my perfect sandwich? Wow.

Everyone should go pick up the Flobots new CD "Fight with Tools." There hasn't been a rap group worth this much since Public Enemy.

Lyrics to the Song We Are Winning, off the CD mentioned above.

Rival gangsters sit down to plan an after-school program
A religious fanatic posts footage of an interfaith service project
A group of teenage boys watches a video of a father playing catch with his son
An adult film star paints thumbnail portraits of elderly couples, fully clothed and smiling
A record executive records a demo of his apology
A policeman makes reverse 911 calls instructing residents to take to the streets
A patriot reports for duty
She's wearing an orange jumpsuit and holding a picket sign
She's ashamed of her birthplace
But retreat is not an option


Women and children
Frontline
Logon
Tune in
Stand and be counted
Wounded
Stationed
In the belly of the vulture
Watch your back
Theres no civilians
Women children
Frontline
Listen
Consider this a distant early warning
The fires imminent
Pollution gathering dust particles
Funneling through smokestacks
Airwaves
Bandwidth
Disinformation tube fed
Check the label
Delete the virus
Alert the masses

Butterfly wing crosswinds send black hawks toward hurricane survivors
Roses sprout from empty lots and sidewalk cracks
Pacifist guerrillas move undetected through concrete jungles
New forms are beginning to take shape
Once-occupied minds are activating
People are waking up
The insurgency is alive and well

Rise of the flobots
Portrait of the new american insurgent
Rattle and shake the foundation of the world order
Assembly line consent
Resist
Refuse
Inform
Create
Direct loved ones to the trenches
Suit up
Forge rubble into fortresses
Plaster
Cloth
Aluminum
Broken porcelain
Rusted platinum
Burn bloodstains from decompressed diamonds
Hammer the battlecry into braille-studded armor

We are building up a new world
Do not sit idly by
Do not remain neutral
Do not rely on this broadcast alone
We are only as strong as our signal
There is a war going on for your mind
If you are thinking you are winning
Resistance is victory
Defeat is impossible
Your weapons are already in hand
Reach within you and find the means by which to gain your freedom
Fight with tools
Your fate and that of everyone you know depends on it

When I trained in Ninjutsu, our instructor used to tell us the best way to win wasn't always by confronting the enemy head on, but in a variety of ways, sometimes concealing all of your true intentions. The history of Ninjutsu indicated much of the same, blending in, hiding in plain view, joining the group you are attempting to defeat in order to gather information on them to defeat them more easily.

Perhaps that is the answer. I've studied open and active resistance to U.S. capitalism in a variety of forms for ten years and even written a thesis about it. Those attempts end in failure, jail, assassination, being discredited by the media and government. No one has ever won that fight. Other fights have been won, Jim Crow was removed, but that wasn't an assault on capitalism, no, everyone who has waged that battle has lost.

Perhaps I've had the answers I've needed for years and am just realizing them now.

Sometimes life is to sad for serious posts. That's why I love it when The Onion's sarcasm does it for me.

Hey everyone, don't go crazy with that new $5.85 minimum wage!

Sometimes I think installing Stumble in my browser was one of the best things I've ever done on the internet. In the last 10 minutes it brought me to two amazingly fun websites/games so I figured I'd share.

The first one lets you mummify a body as they would have in ancient Egypt and can be found here

The next one is less academic (ok not at all) and it's called bible fight. Think of it like a mortal combat for religious figures. Play it here

Personally I like playing as Noah in the second one, the animal stampede special ability is very powerful! lol.

Because I haven't had much time to update this blog in recent months, I often considered posting a survey just so something new would appear here. I decided against it most of the time, being that it doesn't go much with my content and I often felt it was a cop out to a real post. However, last night I decided to do one just once, but in order to make it interesting I let my girlfriend select random questions for me and send them. So here it is, a survey. Why? Because it's better then weeks of nothing and it might be amusing.....

1. What 12 things would you put in a box to represent your life?
Guitar, Eugene Debs biography, The Iron Heel by Jack London, (also to represent my love of books), computer, WWII model airplane, Nirvana CD (other CDs in general for love of music), ninjutsu gi, pencil/pen, paper (both for writing and drawing), chinese food, soil from a garden or farm in Matunuck, a piece of an ancient Roman building.

2.One word on how to live successfully.
One word? Good god.....uhhhhh......socialist. Does that make sense in regards to the question? I doubt it.

3.How do you feel about winning? Losing?
At what, there are a lot of things I don't care about winning or losing, but if it's like a board game or a baseball/football game from back when I used to play, well I like to win those.

4.Where did your Grandparents live? What was their home like? Did it have a certain smell or look?
Had two sets of those at one time, now only one grandfather is alive. One set of my grandparents lived in Needham, Massachusetts with my great grandmother who lived to be 97 and only died recently. The house was hand built by my great grandfather, a Swedish immigrant and brick mason. It looked like a house from another era being that it was built in the 40's. Unlike anywhere I've ever lived, it always felt like home, I can't describe how, it just did. Now that neighborhood is full of millionaire assholes from Boston and the house has probably been demolished and turned into a McMansion like everything else in the neighborhood. My other grandparents lived in Rhode Island in the same town I do, one street over from my current house, then moved to a retirement community, also in my town. That place was in a barren wasteland completely void of trees and I hated it.

5.Are you considering a new writing project?
Describe it in a paragraph (or two).
Several, book about a WWII tail gunner I interviewed , book about my economic, political and social theories which are a mix of socialism, anarchism and my own theories. Book with my girlfriend about current state of affairs in the world and about bizarre overheard dinner conversations lol. Book with one of my other friends about how messed up our seemingly rural community was when we were growing up.

6.What do you see as the most pressing local problem?
Does this problem seem to be solvable? Why or why not?
Affordable housing. I am an advocate for universal housing indeed, but nobody who lives here and didn't buy a house 8 years ago when they were still cheap, can afford to live here anymore. Average housing costs skyrocketed $200 - 300,000  in a six year time frame. It was driven up by millionaire tourists from New York, Conn., Mass, and New Jersey who decided they wanted to own every bit of our former farmlands by the ocean. It is solvable, I have detailed solution that would work but politicians do not care when I send it to them, call them about it, and the affordable housing collaborative recently ignored my proposal completely probably because its half composed of former tourists/ current rich people who don't want to "rock the boat" to much.

7.What do you like (or hate) the most about September?
Despite being the month I was born in, I'm ambivalent to it now. I used to love it because it was my birthday and hate it because it was when school started.

8. What part of your life needs "a breath of fresh air"?
Everything is fine except for the low paying job.

9.Did you and your father share any interests together – what and why?
Baseball & fishing when I was little, love of classic rock (not classic to him lol) and an interest in new technologies. He also doesn't like the government and never trusted it a day in his life, especially after he was in Vietnam. So he was partly responsible for my interest in alternate political movements.

10.Instead of talking to people when you first met them, the only introduction you could give would be to show them a photograph. What would your photograph be of?
This is impossible, there is a me that everyone gets to see and a me that only myself and few others will ever really know. No photo would suffice as an end all be all.

11. how about if your soul were a piece of art?
I and the Village by Marc Chagall. I painted it once for an art project in high school. I don't care what art critics interpret it as, to me it's a surrealist yet loving look at his home village. I understand as I love my place of birth as deeply. It also seems to overlap dreams and reality with no concept of time or space, all interesting things that I often think about.

12. Were you scared by the blair witch project?
Before I saw this movie, I saw the mockumentary which at the time I thought was an actual documentary. At that point, thinking it was real footage, I thought it was going to be terrifying. One week before the film came out, I learned it was just a movie, so when I saw it I was bored and couldn't wait for it to end.

13. If your teacher gave you a map to do that you didn't want to do would you fold it into a paper hat?
I love maps, I'd take it and run.

14. Do you believe there is something strange going on with the freemasons?
I don't know, my dad was member for a few years and my great-grandfather was a member for life. Seeing that we were still dirt poor and received no special government deals or large sums of money, no I don't think anything is going on.

15. Are you a fan of any comic books?
I used to buy Batman and X-Men religiously. Haven't bought one of those in like 14 years though. I did buy a graphic novel called The Watchmen last year on a recommendation. It was amazing, so I guess that one.

16. Do you collect something?
Once again, I used to collect everything when I was little, bird feathers, sea glass, baseball cards, coins. Now I guess I buy the odd WWII airplane toy because I love those things. And do books count? I can't stop buying those.

17 Do you usually smell good?
I hope so

18. Where does love come from?
Magic

19. Where did your parents tell you babies come from when you were little?
At the time I was aware they grew in the belly somehow, and they didn't deny that. For as how they got there, my mom said god magically placed them there. When I got to be like 9, she told me how it really happened, because well, she was a nurse and was fine with describing it while I felt weird about it lol.

20. What's the best cheeesey 80's song?
Rock you like a hurricane by the Scorpions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

21. Do you like to sit in the front, middle or back of the movie theater?
Back

22. Have you ever been inside an abandoned building?
Yes

23. Who can take a rainbow, wrap it in a sig, soak it in the sun and make a strawberry lemon pie?
Wow....just wow.

24. You have to choose. Would you be happier marrying someone rich for their money or living in the streets and subway tunnels with someone you love?
Streets and subway tunnels, then I'd help organize and lead the homeless revolt.

25. What commercial made you really want to buy something?
Last time that happened I was under 12 years of age. I don't even remember what it was, probably some toy.

26. Have you ever made a snow-something-else (not a man or woman) ?
I've never even made a snow man. I've made a snow fort and a snow ball though.

27. If someone wanted to understand you what book should they read that will help them?
They'd have to read many to get my political views and personal/emotional views on things. My political views involve lots of socialism but include many other elements. As for my internal thoughts, there is no book in existence.

28. Are you a space cadet?
No

29. Are you magically delicious?
Definitely

30. If you could wish for one object (nothing alive, no money) that was the size of your computer monitor or smaller and it would appear right now what would it be?
My other stick of RAM! Where the hell is it Corsair !?!?!

31. Your best friend and your boy/girlfriend are in the hospital at the same time. Who do you visit first?
Girlfriend. ( I better say that, she's reading haha, but seriously I would :)

32. What makes you cry?
A lone person taking on an entire corrupt system by themselves in an attempt to make the lives of the oppressed better, and then they die in the end trying to do that. Book or movie form.

33. What is your favorite song from the 90's?
There are to many, but I'll chose Territorial Pissings by Nirvana because its one of the most pure moments in music I have ever, and probably will ever, experience.

34. If you were in alphabet soup what letter would you be?
"T" I guess, who cares lol.

35. Are you amazing?
Narcissism anyone?

36. Is everyone the same?
In some ways yes, but in other ways absolutely not.

37. Have you found yourself?
I don't think it's possible to say for certain until you've lived a bit more than I have.

38. What's a good name for a spider: Truffles, Mr Fuzzy Ass, Venom, Foofer, Mr Funny Shoes, Other (what?)
I like a combo of Venom and Foofer, Venom Foofer lol.

39. How're you doing so far?
At the survey or life?

40. What ancient civilization would you most like to visit?
Rome, when it was still a Republic before the empire and emperors. So between 700 BCE and 60 BCE 'ish.

41. What would be the best name for a new crayola color?
Candy banana lemon truffle monkey paste

So it's been a while, but when I write like 12-14 articles per week and work 50 hours with no overtime pay, layout the paper, edit it and take the photos, well, I don't exactly feel like writing anymore.

Anyway, I'm sure you all saw that Helen Walton died, the wife of the asshole who created Walmart. And guess what? She donated here entire earnings ($16.4 billion worth) to the Walton Family Foundation. Don't believe the headline in that article, the only way its benefiting public education is in some kind of demented way. You know, the sort of "if you love something you have to kill it" way.

Basically the Walton Family Foundation is dedicated to the eradication of the public school system (amongst other things). Notice how the article says "The foundation, overseen by her children and advisers, is a big backer of public school reforms, including charter schools and private-school vouchers." Yeah, because helping public schools means building more private schools?

What the fuck Walton's? First you build a mega store that drives down wages for all of us not in the suit wearing world. Then you drive out every mom and pop or small retailer within a 20 mile radius of your stores. Then you contribute to the outsourcing of all American industry. Oh, and as a last gesture you donate all your money to eradicate public education, where most of your workers went to school.

Thank you Waltons, just like Reagan said, all those tax breaks and hand outs to the rich trickle back down to the people. And I'd say the Walton family has been trickling down on us for a long time now.

Well, since my last post I developed Lyme disease and mono at the same time! I'm recovering from that now, still have a few problems now and then, but I'm mostly better. With that I finally ordered some computer parts and built a new PC, however, it is plagued with an annoying error that doesn't let me install any programs! To top it off I had to work on three articles that need to be into my paper tomorrow because during the day I need to interview two more people and write those stories all before 3:00 p.m.! So I decided to write them up on my trusty laptop. While typing my last sentence it froze and I lost the entire story except for the first two paragraphs! So I've reconnected my old PC just to type these damn articles and its now 12:20 a.m. I only have to wake up at 7:30, that should be enough sleep!!!!

My paper was also sold to some company that's even worse located somewhere in Illinois. Tack on my severely reduced pay due to healthcare costs and I'll be ready to quit next week. At least my crazy editor is leaving for another job, that helps a little.

(Spoiler warning - don't read if you want to be surprised)

On Friday I went to go see Pan's Labyrinth and I must say that it is one of the most important films I have seen in years. The movie takes place in the years following the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and closely follows the life of Ofelia, a little girl whose mother has married a top ranking captain in fascist dictator Francisco Franco's victorious Nationalist Army after the death of her first husband. While the movie was sold as a pure fantasy, it is actually more strongly rooted in reality as it mostly deals with the horrific oppression and mass murder carried out against all Republican (socialists, anarchists and other leftists) dissidents by Franco's forces.

Why is this important do you ask? It's important because after Franco's death in 1975, the Spanish reached an agreement to never discuss or blame anyone for the atrocities carried out during his regime. This appears to be the first Spanish film with a wide international release to deal with the topic in all its brutality. It also portrays the Spanish Republican forces as brave defenders of true freedom and hope for the people, not in a 'beat you over the head fashion' but in a gentle way that shows the audience that they would not have chosen the path of Franco (mostly because the Republic was already elected into power and was overthrown violently and illegally by the Nationalists.)

When the film begins, Ofelia moves to an outpost in the mountains with her pregnant mother who has recently married a violent and narcissistic Captain Vidal of Franco's right wing forces. He is at the outpost to help root out a small band of leftist guerrilla's who are still resisting the new and oppressive totalitarian government. Vidal's brutality is shown early in the film when he bashes the jagged end of a wine bottle into a boy's head multiple times, then shoots his father. The two were suspected leftist rebels, so he killed them first, then minutes later found out they were just farmers hunting in the woods. Nice guy!

As the movie progresses, Ofelia, the young girl, encounters a fairy that leads her into a labyrinth near the outpost. In that labyrinth is a scary yet interesting looking faun that tells her she is a princess of the moon (or some such thing) and that she must complete three tasks to prove that she is an immortal before she can enter the magical kingdom of her parents.

While that story is played out in its totality, it is merely a sidebar in the overall guerrilla war.

As the two forces meet in several mountain fire fights, the Nationalists capture one of the rebels alive, a poor stuttering boy named Pedro. As expected, Vidal once again shows his brutality, mercilessly torturing the boy to near death in an attempt to get him to speak. Eventually the rebel forces receive reinforcements and begin wreaking havoc in the mountains ultimately defeating large portions of the hated Nationalist Army. By the end of the film they have overrun the entire outpost, placing a bullet squarely in the head of a lone Vidal. Something I expected the audience to acknowledge in some way, but sadly didn't (see additional commentary below).

Ofelia's fantasy story runs side by side with the battles and conflicts, almost as if she is fighting her own little war, but it isn't a fantasy story modeled after Disney's happy go lucky modern re-interpretations. Instead it is scary and gruesome, and doesn't end nicely. Of note is the faun character who is excellently deceptive, making it difficult to interpret his true intentions as he guides the girl on a series of perilous quests.

However, what really impressed me about this film is what I mentioned in the beginning. While it does have breathtaking scenery and an excellent story, I was most impressed with its message. That the Spanish are now talking about what Franco did, and aren't afraid to show the world just what his seemingly forgotten regime really was. More so, I felt a great sense of pride in watching the out manned and already defeated Spanish leftist rebels, still fighting it out to the end because they chose to fight and maybe die rather then submit to another murderous dictatorship. A dictatorship that probably would have hunted them down and killed them even if they had peacefully surrendered years earlier.

Viva la republica!

I give this film 5 out of 5 stars.
---------------------------------------------------------

Additional Commentary on stupidity:

On a side note, I was highly disappointed with the American general public (again) after listening to the comments made during and after this film. First, nobody in this country knows anything about the Spanish Civil War, I don't expect them to know a lot, but because of their ignorance the vast majority, at least in the theater I was at, missed all the points I mentioned above. During the course of the film my girlfriend and I heard laughing while people were being violently murdered. The scenes were not "cheesy" but heart wrenching so the laughter was totally unwarranted. As I waited around outside the theater I was hoping to hear someone say something about Spain, the brutality, the rebel forces, or at least something creative about the fantasy story, but do you know what I heard instead?

Dumb ass 20-year-old #1 "I can't believe that whole movie was in Spanish, jeesh, it was like reading a book"
Dumb ass friend "Yeah it was like hooked on phonics or something"
Dumb ass girl with them "I wish I payed attention in Spanish then I wouldn't have had to read all that"

Wow is reading that evil?

Comments from second group of four people:

"Why was that movie all in Spanish? I thought it was supposed to be an American movie?"
"Yeah, but I got used to reading after a little bit so I guess it wasn't to bad"

What the fuck!!! You just sat through an entire movie about the SPANISH CIVIL WAR and you still asked why it was in Spanish? Fuck you jackass, you don't deserve to live. Not to mention that after seeing everything that happened this is your first comment after leaving the theater? Arghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Another pair of people said:
"What was that movie about?"
Answer: "The loss of innocence"

OK, so I give that answer some credit because I can see that interpretation, in a way. But the question, my god, how could you have no idea what it was about, not even a theory?

And lastly, I thought that this movie had done a lot in regards to portraying leftists in a positive, anti-totalitarian light. However, after listening to the comments afterwards I decided that most of the audience was so dumb they probably didn't even realize the rebels were socialists, anarchists, communists etc. Worse, they probably couldn't even describe a single one of those political groups.

So the message is lost and will die except for the few intelligent Americans still out there.

Sometimes I think there isn't any hope for this country.

I intended to write a post around the anniversary of the death of Che Guevara in October but it never happened. The post was going to talk a little bit about his life and then launch into my opinion about the end of his life and death. Based on some historical evidence, I believe that he had grown slightly disgruntled with Fidel's seemingly permanent dictatorship and was perhaps purposely abandoned in Bolivia, to die, because his usefulness alive in Cuba was no longer necessary. In death however, he was utilized as a martyr.

Being that I don't have the time to type that post even now, I leave you with an excellent folk type song about Che by Carlos Puebla entitled Hasta siempre Comandante

Lyrics, in Spanish, English and everyother language are located HERE, however, I will provide the English translation below.

Until Always [English]

We learned to love you
from the heights of history
with the sun of your bravery
you laid siege to death

Chorus:

The deep (or beloved) transparency of your presence
became clear here
Commandante Che Guevara

Your glorious and strong hand
fires at history
when all of Santa Clara
awakens to see you

Chorus

You come burning the winds
with spring suns
to plant the flag
with the light of your smile

Chorus

Your revolutionary love
leads you to a new undertaking
where they are awaiting the firmness
of your liberating arm

Chorus

We will carry on
as we did along with you
and with Fidel we say to you:
Until Always, Commandante!

Chorus

Well, if anyone is even still around, I'm not dead! At my newspaper there are only two reporters left, including myself, to gather info, write and then layout the entire paper each week. So I've been ridiculously busy for months since being hired. I keep wanting to write here and write other political articles but I haven't had time.

Anyway, I saw that Augusto Pinochet has finally died today at 91. Unfortunately, like most horrific monsters, he lived a long life and died before he could go on trial for the crimes he committed against political opponents and other dissidents. As many of you already know I'm sure, Pinochet was a right wing dictator who overthrew the leftist and democratically elected Salvadore Allende government in Chile, all with the backing of the United States. He executed 3,197 political opponents and tortured thousands more during his reign of terror from 1973 - 1990.

"The CIA had worked for months to destabilize the Allende government, including financing a truckers strike that paralyzed the delivery of goods across Chile, but Washington denied having anything to do with the coup itself.

Soon after Pinochet's seizure of power, soldiers carried out mass arrests of leftists. Tanks rumbled through the streets of the capital, and many detainees were herded into the National Stadium, which became a torture and detention center. Other leftists were rounded up by death squads, and the "Caravan of Death" to Chile's forbidding Atacama desert left victims buried in unmarked mass graves.

Pinochet disbanded Congress, banned political activity and crushed dissent. In addition to the dead, more than 1,000 victims remain unaccounted for. Thousands more were arrested, tortured and forced into exile.

Pinochet defended his authoritarian rule as a crusade to build a society free of communism. He even claimed partial credit for the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

"I see myself as a good angel," he told a Miami Spanish-language television station in 2004."

Even more hypocritical than the tyrant thinking he was a "good angel," is the following statement from the US.

"Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile represented one of most difficult periods in that nation's history," said Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman. "Our thoughts today are with the victims of his reign and their families."

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since my last post! I have no excuse for the first 20 some odd days of August, but in the last week I was hired as a reporter for a local paper. It pays out poverty level wages (well for where I live anyway), and based on the stories I've written, many are about boring local events, but hey, at least I'm writing and getting paid something. I really do hope I can periodically suggest a story and cover something like poverty in my area, jury is still out on whether I'll be allowed to do that, but I will try. Maybe the one good thing I can do there is open some peoples eyes to what's really going on around them.

Well, I'd write more, or post some news, but I actually need a break from writing right now. The good news is I'll have 3 days off a week, so maybe after I recover a day, I'll be inspired to post more stuff here again!

I have a few different things I wanted to mention today. First, German workers have succeeded in driving Walmart (or my personal great satan as I like to call it lol) completely out of Germany and the retailer will be selling their 85 stores to Metro, a German retailer that supposedly deals more fairly with unions Read More Here. I can't verify whether Metro really does treat their union workers fairly as you can never trust any kind of retail corporation like this, but at least the greater evil in Walmart has been expelled from yet another country. Sadly US workers have grown used to desperately low wages, and along with their personal anti union biases often fueled by Walmart itself, the odds of a massive Walmart worker unionization putting down the store here within the next few years doesn't look very good.

Secondly, Mexican citizens have once again taken to the streets to protest the victory of another right wing government. I only wish people in the US cared this much about elections and would periodically protest on Wall Street totally closing it down for the day. Here's my favorite excerpt from the article.

"They set up tents and huge tarpaulin covers in the middle of the wide, tree-lined avenue, cutting off all commuter traffic on Monday morning. The avenue is home to Mexico's stock market, many luxury hotels, government offices, headquarters of major corporations and the U.S. embassy.

The several thousand demonstrators did not close down buildings so workers were allowed into their offices, but the occupation caused long delays for many commuters. Some were furious.

"I had to cancel a breakfast where I was going to close a contract for one million pesos (about $92,000). Do you think I'm happy, or that I support these bastards?" said Enrique Salas, an insurance broker who was one of thousands forced to walk to work along Reforma."

I really love that last quote. I guess Mexico has the same disgusting, golf playing, grey suit wearing, mercedes driving ass hole businessmen that we have here. However, I have a feeling that the "capitalists" arn't as safe in Mexico as they are here due to their more dramatic levels of poverty, so people like him better watch what they say to the media in the future.

                                  

I stumbled across this on the net the other day, what you see above is a listing of how many hate groups are in each state. Thankfully my state is one of the few with none, but that doesn't mean that there isn't any racism. Regardless, at least there arn't any organized groups here currently. I was quite shocked to see that California was number 1 with 52 hate groups, followed afterwards by perhaps my least favorite state of all time (having lived there and suffered anti northern racism of all things?) Florida.

The full site is here and it lets you click on each state to see which hate groups are there and where they are located.

The Onion gets it right once again with their latest news report Everything made in Sweatshops. Honestly, has anyone gone out to buy something like sneakers, socks, or pants in your own town and been able to find something made in the US, or not made in a sweatshop in the south pacific? Last time I went to buy sneakers (which was almost 2 years ago now) I looked in three different stores trying to find some made in the US and thus hopefully by union workers, or at least well paid workers. I couldn't even find US made New Balance around here and I know they used to make almost all their sneakers here! So sadly I have some sneakers probably made in a sweatshop. Maybe I should just start walking around barefoot :/

The other day I was trying to come up with a large scale example of collectivism that exists within the US today in order to use it as a positive example in future articles or discussions. Something which I could point to and say "see, there is a place/organization where everyone works together and everyone has everything they need."

I immediately thought back to the most interesting statement I heard in the entire 2004 presidential political campaign. I was watching some show where they were going around interviewing democratic candidates and asking them what exactly they would change in this country. When the kid doing the interviews got to Wesley Clark, Clark stated something like "I was in the military for years and in the military everyone is taken care of. Everyone has a house, everyone has a job, everyone has a food and a paycheck. But in the US civilian population, people don't all have health care or houses and I'd like to change that." Now, as you know I don't believe any of the democratic candidates really would have changed much of anything had they actually been elected, but this statement by Clark was fascinating to me, here he had clearly pointed out a glaring contradiction between collectivism of some form and capitalism that exists within the US.

The military you see, is a collectivist institution of sorts. In basic training recruits are taught that they are all responsible for the conduct of the men in their unit. If one guy messes up, everyone is punished. If someone is falling behind you have to carry him along, because as I believe the instructors often state, a unit is only as strong as its weakest link. Once into actual service all the perks I mentioned above exist. Everyone has housing, food, health care and pay. So I find it odd that right wing parties the world over have always favored strong military's, which often have this collective responsibility, collective care element in them, but in civilian society they favor fierce capitalist competition, a world where people lose their homes or starve at night. Do they even notice this contradiction? Probably not, lest they'd all hang themselves for being "communist sympathizers" or something.

Perhaps in the future I will use this example. Why is it ok for people in the military to have everything they need, but when you mention that the same should exist within the civilian population of the US you are chastised, told that your "system" would bring about the collapse of society? It seems to work fine for the military, and last I checked the right wing is always touting the US military as the best in the world and the best that has ever existed. Wouldn't it be amazing to hear people say one day that the US had the best society that ever existed due to its impeccable care for all its citizens?

So collectivism does exist on a large scale in this society, its not as foreign as the media and politicians always try to portray it.