Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Um, wow.

The Truth at Last!

I don't have much to add to this TPM piece by Greg Sargent. It's good to see the Post joining MSNBC and doing the right thing. St. McCain gets way too many free passes from the media, as seen in the new Media Matters ad below:

Doing the Right Thing

Via Matt Yglesias, I came across this article bearing good news for refugees of the Iraqi occupation. The efforts of Teddy Kennedy, human rights groups, and American soldiers have brought about a change in U.S. policy regarding Iraqi refugees. While the law passed in January, the American embassy in Baghdad recently announced that it has increased by ten times the amount of visas it is granting Iraqi citizens.

The program will allow 5,000 Iraqis to go to the United States for each of the next five years. Each person can take immediate family members, who include spouses and children. More distant relatives, including siblings, parents and grandchildren, can apply under another program. So the actual numbers emigrating will probably be considerably higher. The average Iraqi household is estimated to have about six people, according to officials from the International Organization for Migration.

This is extremely good news, as the burden has fallen disproportionately not only on Syria, Jordan, and other bordering countries whose cooperation we desperately need, but also on Scandanavian countries like Sweden that have taken in thousands of Iraqi refugees. Last year, the US only let in 500 Iraqis, mostly translators and other personnel that aided American efforts. It was morally contemptable that the US was so restrictive in refugee policy towards Iraqis; considering that they are fleeing a war that we brought upon them. However, this policy is a huge step in the right direction, and the US government should be commended for this change in course.

Photo used courtesy of Flickr user James Gordon November 22, 2007

The Media Delivers for St. McCain

Isn't it ironic (thanks for letting me borrow the line, Alanis) that on the very same day that the McCain campaign launches a new video decrying the media's coverage of Barack Obama; that CBS reveals once again just how in the tank the the press corps is for St. John McCain, King of Maverick. The sad part is, as Paul Krugman revealed during a panel discussion I attended at Netroots, most reporters (they don't deserve to be called journalists) and media organizations are notoriously thin-skinned. Therefore, McCain's calling them out on supposedly unfair coverage of the campaign may cut to the core. However, so far the media seems to be largely ridiculing this charge by McCain. This leads me to believe that I might be inhabiting some kind of alternate reality. Needless to say, however, the media's dedication to St. John, hero of humanity, is still alive and well; as seen in CBS' presentation of Katie Couric's interview with the King.

Despite any implicit or explicit media bias, McCain's comments are revealing on their own. They further demonstrate the King of Maverick's fundamental lack of understanding of even the most basic facts concerning the Iraqi occupation. As Spencer Ackerman points out in the post I linked to above, the Anbar Awakening (the cooperation of Sunni tribal leaders and their followers with the US military in the Anbar province west of Baghdad) came about before the surge. Therefore, for McCain to say that the surge allowed the Anbar Awakening to occur is just patently false. If you put this together with St. John's belief that Iraq and Pakistan border each other and his constant confusion of Sunni and Shia muslims, it becomes clear that the King of Maverick has absolutely no knowledge of Iraq. The only reason that McCain is perceived as a "serious" expert on national security and foreign policy is because he adores the use of military force. Unfortunately, the dominant media narrative celebrates and rewards those that believe military force is the first and only option availabe to US presidents.

Photo via Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo.

Amen

This is why Feist rocks my world. Via Matt Yglesias.

Cheney=Batman?

Spencer Ackerman has a very interesting article comparing and contrasting the policies of the Bush Administration (particularly those advocated by Vice President Dick Cheney) with the worldview and resultant tactics of the Batman. You should not read Ackerman's article if you have not yet seen the movie as it contains a number of spoilers!

Review: The Dark Knight

The popular narrative set for The Dark Knight has been that the hype surrounding Christopher Nolan's follow up to the masterful Batman Begins is a result of the untimely death of Heath Ledger. There is no doubt, that this is at leat in part true. However, to embrace this narrative as the only explanation of the hype surrounding the film, is to sell Batman Begins short. At the time, many critics and fans alike considered Batman Begins to be the best comic book adaptation ever made. Christopher Nolan, had taken a franchise that was left in tatters after Joel Schummacher had left his mark on it, and successfully rebooted it for the 21st century. He did so in a way that appeased fans, but also recruited legions of new ones. Batman Begins challenged its viewers, it showed that even as Batman, Bruce Wayne was still human, and he had very real limits. He risked not only his own well being, but also those that loved him most. It is so prevalent in movies of our time, to glorify revenge and vigilantism. Batman Begins demonstrated the futility of a reactionary mindset. Individuals, even those that do bad things, are very often products of their environment. The societal decay rampant in Gotham had plunged the city into poverty and chaos. Batman Begins showed that a few corrupt and self-interested individuals could profit from that chaos.

The Dark Knight has lived up to and exceeded expectations. Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker easily suprasses Jack Nicholson's take in Batman, and that is no small feat. Ledger exhibits the utter insanity and mindless agression that embody the Joker with ease and style. As the rising force in Gotham's criminal underworld, the Joker kills with glee and at other times, total indifference. Gotham is the Joker's playground, and its people are his toys. Batman knows that he alone cannot bring down the Joker, and the criminal infrastucture that, at times, unwillingly supports him. He enlists the help of Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and newly elected districty attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Eckhart is dazzling as Dent, he effectively juggles Dent's natural charm and instinctive brutality. While the marketing of The Dark Knight focused almost exclusively on the Joker, with the occasional mention of the Batman, this film is really about Harvey Dent's tragic fall and eventual rebirth as Two Face. As always, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is in the middle of this all as Harvey Dent's current flame, and Bruce Wayne's moral compass. Gyllenhaal, is a huge improvement over Katie Holmes, as she brings an element of depth to the character of Rachel Dawes, that Holmes could not possibly imitate. Unfortunately, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are not given as much material to work with in this film, as they were in the first.

Christopher and Jonathan Nolan's script contains top notch dialouge. Most of the best lines go to Ledger, but Bale, Gyllenhaal, and Eckhart get their fair share as well. Perhaps the only criticism I can level at The Dark Knight is its length and some curious deviations from the comics (Harvey Dent's disfigurement?). However, the Nolan brothers constructed a plot that keeps the audience interested and at the edge of their seats for the nearly 3 hour running time.

The Dark Knight, ranks as one of the best movies I have ever seen, in any genre. It comes as no surprise to me that it had the biggest opening weekend in movie history, taking in $155 million over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I saw a midnight showing of the film on the 18th in Austin, Texas and the theater had sold out all 8 midnight showings. Christian Bale has advocated profusely for a third film to complete the trilogy, and the ending of The Dark Knight definately leaves room for more. I've got my fingers crossed and I've been praying to every known diety that Bale's efforts pay off!

Rating: ****

* Uwe Boll/Michael Bay bad ** Keeanu Reevesih *** Great **** Excellent