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"Good Night and Good Luck"
[Editor's Note: We are moving this to the top in case anyone was interested in a movie review for this evening.]
I like good solid, quiet films with great acting that give me the pleasure of watching a fine actor ply their craft. "Good Night and Good Luck", a film of that type, is about the famous broadcasts by CBS News' Edward R. Murrow covering the fear tactics of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the mid 1950's. It is also one of those films where the enjoyment is not only about the quality of acting, but the compelling nature of the subject.
It was a wistful reminiscence of a once prescient news media that acted to truthfully, openly and fairly inform its audience about the news of their world while the nation was gripped in fear. Murrow was portrayed as someone who knew his network was in a high-risk game producing segments exposing the then-powerful McCarthy's red-baiting tactics during the era of the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee).
If you wondered how our Berkeley audience reacted, the Friday night audience at the Albany Twin paused and drank in the last few words of each of the three monologues by David Straitharn, who played Murrow. His delivery was deliberate and dispassionate, and at the end of each one, the theater erupted in applause.
We clap at heroic moments in films, and I think we clapped this weekend because his statements were both heroic and ironic in this day and age where journalistic integrity is so woefully missing: the NY Times of Judy Miller, embedded reporters, Novak outing a CIA operative et cetera...we so desperately long for just an honest, unmuzzled press.
But this glowing review has a bitter aftertaste. That we cheered on the lead character of a film that made a hero of an honest newsman gave me hope that one day, journalism that can't be bought will be something we take for granted again. That we cheer journalistic honesty and integrity as a fantasy on film (albeit an historic account)--because it is so far forgotten by our present-day "real-life" mainstream media is for all intents and purposes, tragic.
If you've seen the movie--share your opinion (just don't give away the key plot points...)
Way off topic, sorry Fe.
Go White Sox!
This is a lot closer to the subject.
I was heartened to read Maureen Dowd's op-ed piece in the NYT today. I have included it in its entirety. It did restore some of the lst faith that I have had in the media. I wondered when somebody from the Times would take a courageous stand against Miller:
Woman of Mass Destruction
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: October 22, 2005
I've always liked Judy Miller. I have often wondered what Waugh or Thackeray would have made of the Fourth Estate's Becky Sharp.
The traits she has that drive many reporters at The Times crazy - her tropism toward powerful men, her frantic intensity and her peculiar mixture of hard work and hauteur - have never bothered me. I enjoy operatic types.
Once when I was covering the first Bush White House, I was in The Times's seat in the crowded White House press room, listening to an administration official's background briefing. Judy had moved on from her tempestuous tenure as a Washington editor to be a reporter based in New York, but she showed up at this national security affairs briefing.
At first she leaned against the wall near where I was sitting, but I noticed that she seemed agitated about something. Midway through the briefing, she came over and whispered to me, "I think I should be sitting in the Times seat."
It was such an outrageous move, I could only laugh. I got up and stood in the back of the room, while Judy claimed what she felt was her rightful power perch.
She never knew when to quit. That was her talent and her flaw. Sorely in need of a tight editorial leash, she was kept on no leash at all, and that has hurt this paper and its trust with readers. She more than earned her sobriquet "Miss Run Amok."
Judy's stories about W.M.D. fit too perfectly with the White House's case for war. She was close to Ahmad Chalabi, the con man who was conning the neocons to knock out Saddam so he could get his hands on Iraq, and I worried that she was playing a leading role in the dangerous echo chamber that Senator Bob Graham, now retired, dubbed "incestuous amplification." Using Iraqi defectors and exiles, Mr. Chalabi planted bogus stories with Judy and other credulous journalists.
Even last April, when I wrote a column critical of Mr. Chalabi, she fired off e-mail to me defending him.
When Bill Keller became executive editor in the summer of 2003, he barred Judy from covering Iraq and W.M.D. issues. But he acknowledged in The Times's Sunday story about Judy's role in the Plame leak case that she had kept "drifting" back. Why did nobody stop this drift?
Judy admitted in the story that she "got it totally wrong" about W.M.D. "If your sources are wrong," she said, "you are wrong." But investigative reporting is not stenography.
The Times's story and Judy's own first-person account had the unfortunate effect of raising more questions. As Bill said yesterday in an e-mail note to the staff, Judy seemed to have "misled" the Washington bureau chief, Phil Taubman, about the extent of her involvement in the Valerie Plame leak case.
She casually revealed that she had agreed to identify her source, Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's chief of staff, as a "former Hill staffer" because he had once worked on Capitol Hill. The implication was that this bit of deception was a common practice for reporters. It isn't.
She said that she had wanted to write about the Wilson-Plame matter, but that her editor would not allow it. But Managing Editor Jill Abramson, then the Washington bureau chief, denied this, saying that Judy had never broached the subject with her.
It also doesn't seem credible that Judy wouldn't remember a Marvel comics name like "Valerie Flame." Nor does it seem credible that she doesn't know how the name got into her notebook and that, as she wrote, she "did not believe the name came from Mr. Libby."
An Associated Press story yesterday reported that Judy had coughed up the details of an earlier meeting with Mr. Libby only after prosecutors confronted her with a visitor log showing that she had met with him on June 23, 2003. This cagey confusion is what makes people wonder whether her stint in the Alexandria jail was in part a career rehabilitation project.
Judy refused to answer a lot of questions put to her by Times reporters, or show the notes that she shared with the grand jury. I admire Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and Bill Keller for aggressively backing reporters in the cross hairs of a prosecutor. But before turning Judy's case into a First Amendment battle, they should have nailed her to a chair and extracted the entire story of her escapade.
Judy told The Times that she plans to write a book and intends to return to the newsroom, hoping to cover "the same thing I've always covered - threats to our country." If that were to happen, the institution most in danger would be the newspaper in your hands.
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/10/22/opinion/22dowd.html?th&emc=th
Great column by Dowd. Sometimes she can be a bit much, but she hit the nail on the head on this one.
Judith Miller should be fired by the NY Times.
Judith Miller should be dragged back in front of Fitzgerald's grand jury. As Dowd points out, she likely knows a lot more than she says.
I just sent the Maureen Dowd article to my Republican uncle. Here is his comment:
thanks--good article...Dowd must really dislike Judy Miller.....she must be a prima donna....it's frustrating the NYT is making it hard to read....
(he means you have to be a subscriber - I sent him the NY Times version)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102205A.shtml
It's now at Truthout
Matt
Thanks - I meant to write "I sent him the TruthOut version"
Really enjoy looking thru yoursite...
Wanna check out some poetry, street art and other cool stuff fom the streets of jerusalem...
www.poeticchemistry.blogspot.com
shalom and much love,
yehoshua
Seven
Thanks for the link. I love street art.
We had a feature on here about Banksy not too long ago, and about Freeway Blogger.
It's not just the Sox tonight. DCP and the Illinois Tenth's very own Marianne Wood was honored tonight by NSPI (North Suburban Peace Initiative) for her participation in the vigil at "Camp Casey" in Crawford, Texas. Marianne made a terrific speech and we are very proud of her! Read more about the evening on my blog (if I can type fast enough to get it all out) and Go Sox!!!
http://ellenofthetenth.blogspot.com/2005/10/nspi-dinner-honors-tenth-district.html
SNL doing a parody on Bush's "spontaneous" talk with the troops. Funny.
Sorry for the delay, the Sox got me all in a tizz. The blog article about Marianne's night with NSPI is now up!!!
I'll have a decaff grande and something uplifting
Starbucks, the Seattle-based coffee and pound-cake chain, will soon be adding more than just froth and cinnamon to their lattes and cappuccinos.
At no extra charge, it will shortly also be giving customers in America gentle tuition on God's purpose for us on Earth.
This is not a java-jolt from the blue. Recently, the company began printing pithy and hopefully inspirational quotes on its cups by writers, scientists, artists and cultural figures from Gandhi to Quincy Jones and Deepak Chopra. None of the 63 quotes mentions God.
But conservative groups called for a boycott of Starbucks because of one quote, by Armistead Maupin, the gay author of the Tales of the City books. It reads: "My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life's too damn short." Now Starbucks has promised to introduce a text next year from the Rev Rick Warren, a West Coast evangelist.
"You are not an accident," his message says. "Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny."
Right-wing groups, including Concerned Women for America, had accused Starbucks of "promoting homosexuality" by citing Maupin. In Texas, the Baptist Church-affiliated Baylor University has banned Starbucks cups.
WHY are we in Iraq?!
Poll shows Iraqis back attacks on UK, US forces
LONDON (Reuters) - Forty-five percent of Iraqis believe attacks on U.S. and British troops are justified, according to a secret poll said to have been commissioned by British defense leaders and cited by The Sunday Telegraph.
Less than 1 percent of those polled believed that the forces were responsible for any improvement in security, according to poll figures.
Eighty-two percent of those polled said they were "strongly opposed" to the presence of the troops.
The paper said the poll, conducted in August by an Iraqi university research team, was commissioned by the Ministry of Defense.
Britain has more than 8,000 troops stationed in the south of Iraq, and has had 97 soldiers killed, the most recent the victim of a roadside bomb on Tuesday night.
Right-wing groups, including Concerned Women for America, had accused Starbucks of "promoting homosexuality" by citing Maupin. In Texas, the Baptist Church-affiliated Baylor University has banned Starbucks cups.
Posted by: DiAnne at October 22, 2005 11:55 PM
Nothing makes me madder than intolerance by holier-than-thou idiots.
Heading out to Starbucks...
Karen
Surely there must be an alternative ..
LOL
I saw Starbucks at Gare St. Lazare, Paris.
There are two, facing each other across Robson St., Vancouver BC.
University Way, Seattle's U district, now has two.
I do go once in awhile but if there is an indie coffeehouse alternative, I go there.
Sometimes I say we should have bought stock in them when they were starting up, but that is not very socially responsible!
They're not a bad company but large companies do squeeze out small ones. American Apparel makes its own clothes in LA, sweatshop free, and is popular with young people who avoid malls. They now have 80 branches though. Here is an article about how they are revitalizing neighborhoods (yet in Paris, I noticed they located in a posh place, while there are places there that would have been more socially progressive to locate).
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=amapparel22m&date=20051022&query=american+apparel
Where is Ally? Who to boycott, who to boycott??1
So many decisions. I did just buy my 7th tank of Venezuelan gas at Citgo. Even going there, I have to patronize a 7-11, which I hadn't done for years (ever since one opened up on my friend's wonderful little street in Thailand).
DiANne,
It is so hard to be good...
Yes, we hav two indie coffeehouses in walking distance--both with free wireless. But at school, only Starbuck's...........
What I'd really like to read on a Starbuck's cup, is a quote from Seymour Hersh, or Scott Ritter, encouraging the people to speak out and take control of their country, and get rid of war mongers. Or one to mitigate our failures and
get out before the internal war that will result no matter when we pull out goes from a resulting 60,000 deaths to 600,000 deaths or more.
C-SPAN 2 Today is having a wonderful discussion by Mr. Hersh, and Mr. Ritter.