Monday, August 02, 2004

Conscription
A few weeks ago I was talking to a guy who's a writer tasked with the job of keeping tabs on what's going on with the military and writing stories about it. I mentioned that I was scared that there would be a draft and he scoffed in my face. His reasons sounded compelling enough, the military doesn't want it because it brings down the level of professionalism, skill, motivation etc. He went on to say that the guys on the ground especially don't want it because, who wants to be in a foxhole with a guy who's only reason for being there is to stay out of jail? This sounded reassuring enough, considering i've got another year before I can't be snatched up anymore. But then I thought of something. Not dwindling troop numbers, not escalating conflict, none of that. What about the fact that no one has asked EITHER presidential candidate what they think about the probability of conscription? Has anyone asked George Bush if he thinks conscription will be necessary in the next 4 years? If they have, I haven't heard about it. I don't hear Kerry talking about it at all either. The possibility isn't even mentioned on EITHER of their websites. Is no one asking because neither candidate wants the question asked? weird.

Gas
Gas across the street from my house has cost $1.99 for like 2 months now. That's pretty crazy since before that it was constantly rising, premium ending up comfortably above $2.50. The fact that gas is so "cheap" (right, remember when gas cost a dollar 3 years ago?) seems weird to me since oil is now close to $44 a barrel (a record high) and hasn't been significantly cheaper than that for quite some time. So why have gas prices been so stable and relatively low? weird. I don't get it.

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I watched 2 movies over the weekend:

Manufacturing Consent

I didn't actually finish this movie. It's interesting, it's just SUUUPER long. It basically explains all about Noam Chomsky, how his work in linguistics overlaps into his interests in foreign policy and stuff. It's way interesting. It basically talks about how the media works on pack mentality, chooses which stories will be hyped the most, how topics will be framed and what does and does not get said. It talks about how stuff like East Timor can just be completely overlooked even though what amounts to genocide has gone on there ... with the approval of the US. This is a way better documentary about the media than the other one I watched this weekend.

For what it's worth; I think everyone could be well served reading a little Noam Chomsky. Even if you don't agree with the guy, he's got some good points and some interesting perspectives that you don't hear about much.

Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism

This was also a really interesting movie, though while I was watching it all I could think was, "This totally feels like left wing propaganda." Which is basically what it is, though it's mostly factual, not just a bunch of peoples opinions. It goes to very great lenghts to illustrate the obvious right wing slant of Fox News. "Only 200 more days until we re-elect George Bush." It's the kind of movie that will really piss you off if you're already aware of the sillyness of Faux News, but if you're a brainwashed idiot, you'll write this off based solely on the production quality. It feels like it was made in a college video production class. shit, it probably was. It's not the most well presented piece of documentary film making ever done, but it's about as fair to fox news as fox news is to anyone who doesn't agree with the views they express. so whatever. People should probably see this, but with some kind of guide as to what parts to ignore. There's a website for the movie here. Overall, not a bad little trashy documentary, but not as effective as I wish it would be.

p.s. Sean Hannity needs to get his teeth punched down his throat. what a prick. The best part, though, was where some kid--a son of one of the victims of 9/11--totally hands Bill Oreilly his ass on his own show. it was great. "All I'm here to say is that the people who carried out the horrible atrocities that killed my father would not exist were they not originally sponsored, funded, trained and armed by the CIA to fight against the Soviets in the late 70's and early 80's while our current presidents father was the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Vice President of the United States." Cut to Bill Oreilly with marbles in his mouth who then proceeds to attack the dudes dead father and grieving mother while telling him to "shut up." Stellar individual, that Bill Oreilly.