This is why I don't watch prime time TV.
I happened to be in the same room as tonight's episode of CBS' "The Mentalist", which, from what I can tell, is a permutation of the police/investigation genre with a snarky asshat as the main character. Said asshat uses a combination of Sherlockian observation and pop psychology and apparently always gets his criminal.
This episode (whose title was "Red Rum") had one of those plots that network writers grab out of their trash bin five minutes before the deadline...you know, the ones that take a minority, religion, or obscure subject and represent it as exactly what they think their midwestern, white, Christian family audience believes it is. This time they did it with Wicca.
The rough plot is this: Football player found dead with a small amount of evidence that suggests an occult connection. Police interview the parents, who immediately bring up "that witch", and point the investigators to a "witch" who apparently lives in the neighborhood and has accused said football player of killing her cat. The title character and his unprofessional, uninformed partners go to this house and find a pentacle on the door-step as well as a goat decoration by the door. It is explained to the audience that this is a mark of devil-worship. As no one answers the door bell, the investigators go question the football coach and search the locker room. They find, in the deceased's locker, a shirt with blood on it. They go to try the "witch's" house again, and break in with the assurance that a search warrant is "on the way". The owner is in residence, and welcomes them in. When asked about not answering the door, she says that she would have been at a disadvantage that way. She proceeds to explain that she did lay a curse on the football player in revenge for him killing her cat. She knew of the football player's death before the police did because she had her apprentices (of whom she is "High Priestess")looking for herbs in those woods that day, and she didn't tell the police because she believes that he'll just return to the earth, and there is no helping him now. She also says that he was an evil man. She liberally uses the word "cowen". Eventually it falls out that the football player's younger brother is an apprentice of the "witch's", and the police break into the "witch's" house in time to interrupt a cleansing ritual involving blood and lots of Latin chanting for effect. They bring in the "witch" and the brother, who was the object of the cleansing ritual. The witch curses one of the investigators (who is made fun of for the rest of the show for being superstitious), but then tells them about the brother and how he came to her willingly, curious, and is happy with her brand of witchcraft. For his part, the brother says he feels safe with the witch. This leads the main character to leap to the conclusion that the father is abusive and killed his son, and he's right.
No further mention of the cat.
This "witch" did lots of things that practitioners of Wicca (of whom she claims to be one) don't, including cursing on a whim, not reporting discovery of a corpse (that's really just stupid), invoking her Goddess as protection from police interrogators, claiming that she is the only witch in Los Angeles, conducting her rite in Latin using her blood-covered (supposed) athame like a wand...et cetera. There is one sequence, as they break in on the cleansing ceremony, which is shot in such a way as to suggest that the brother is going to be ritually sacrificed. Gardinerian? A little maybe, but I think it's more laziness on the part of the writers. Laziness and irresponsibility in promoting a damaging stereotype.
The "witch" character is, of course, damaged goods (because no one sane comes to Wicca), having never known her father and seen her mother murdered. She's a college drop-out and has been jailed fro petty theft before. Of course. The actress (Azura Skye)plays her creepy as all get-out, of course.
My favorite quote: "Why would you feel safe at a witch's house? If your father is abusing you."
*sigh*
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Support the environment, get rid of Bushes.
Jebediah Bochepus Wonkerston Bush, err...I mean John Ellis "Jeb" Bush, former Florida governor, disenfranchisement conspirator, "shadow government" proponent, arrogant authoritarian policy-maker, neoconservative hawk, lobbyist and general jackass is "seriously considering" a run for the soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat of Mel Martinez.
You can probably see what I have to say coming.
NO MORE JEB. NO MORE BUSH POLITICAL DYNASTY.
More when I stop frothing.
Edit: Update: J.E.Bush isn't running for the Senate, but his father and other political figures keep mentioning that he would be a good president. They are, of course, wrong.
You can probably see what I have to say coming.
NO MORE JEB. NO MORE BUSH POLITICAL DYNASTY.
More when I stop frothing.
Edit: Update: J.E.Bush isn't running for the Senate, but his father and other political figures keep mentioning that he would be a good president. They are, of course, wrong.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Murdered for a Bargain
Jdimytai Damour was attempting, along with co-workers, to hold together the sliding glass doors that were beginning to bulge and break under the press of eager shoppers as Wal-Mart's opening time neared. This action cost him his life.
The overstrained doors shattered, and a throng of eager shoppers streamed in, knocking Damour and his co-workers to the ground and viciously trampling them. Other workers who tried to help were beaten back by the streaming crowd.
When I read the reports of the New York Times and Associated Press regarding these events, I was horrified. How could people be so callous? Is a half-price vacuum cleaner really worth a person's life? What's more, shoppers stepped over Damour's body to continue getting into the store. More shoppers casually walked by, through the broken doors, as rescue crews tried to revive the slain man. Further, when it became evident that he was dead and management tried to close the store, the crowd resisted!
“When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’ ” a witness told The Associated Press. “They kept shopping.”
The police had to help employees clear the store.
Ridiculous is too mild a word to describe the situation. It is positively criminal. The people who broke down that door and through that man are murderers. The ones who stepped over him are guilty of negligent homicide. Did they forget their conscience at home when they went to wait in line for what they knew would be days? How does the desire to buy gifts override the instinctive concern one has for those who are injured? Perhaps these people have no such instinct.
Wal-Mart addressed the issue mildly through a spokesman, affirming the "priority" of the "safety" of their "associates": “The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this tragic time.”
The New York Times thought to seek the opinion of the United Food and Commercial Workers, whose attempts to unionize Wal-Mart employees have been continually rebuffed by the discount chain.
“Where were the safety barriers?” said Bruce Both, the union president. “Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner? This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart.”
One has to see Mr. Both's point, even though he obviously has an agenda. Wal-Mart and store management could have done numerous things to prevent this occurrence. I doubt that Damour and his co-workers went to barricade the door of their own free will; it must have seemed dangerous at the time. Store managers must have ordered them to. This was shortsighted and irresponsible, yes, but who could have foreseen the inhuman mobbish mentality of those who broke down the door?
What truly chills me to the quick about this tragedy is that I have a dear, wonderful friend who has had the misfortune to be assigned by her temp agency to Wal-Mart for the holidays. She is nowhere near Nassau County and didn't work on Black Friday, thanks to the graces of fortune.
Negligence and a tepid concern for safety are what we have come to expect from Wal-Mart, so their role in this is unsurprising. It fits their modus operandi of low-grade insidious evil. However, it is disturbing when one realizes that each of the members of the crowd that broke down the doors of a discount store and trampled a man to death in search of bargains is a human being; a thinking, reasoning individual. They made decisions that resulted in this end. This Wal-Mart is situated in one of the richest counties and villages in the United States, and it also attracts shoppers from neighboring Queens, New York. These were not people forcing their way in out of true necessity. What was different in their experience that made it okay to break down the doors of a store in search of Black Friday bargains? Has advertising worked that heavily on the American consciousness?
The overstrained doors shattered, and a throng of eager shoppers streamed in, knocking Damour and his co-workers to the ground and viciously trampling them. Other workers who tried to help were beaten back by the streaming crowd.
When I read the reports of the New York Times and Associated Press regarding these events, I was horrified. How could people be so callous? Is a half-price vacuum cleaner really worth a person's life? What's more, shoppers stepped over Damour's body to continue getting into the store. More shoppers casually walked by, through the broken doors, as rescue crews tried to revive the slain man. Further, when it became evident that he was dead and management tried to close the store, the crowd resisted!
“When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’ ” a witness told The Associated Press. “They kept shopping.”
The police had to help employees clear the store.
Ridiculous is too mild a word to describe the situation. It is positively criminal. The people who broke down that door and through that man are murderers. The ones who stepped over him are guilty of negligent homicide. Did they forget their conscience at home when they went to wait in line for what they knew would be days? How does the desire to buy gifts override the instinctive concern one has for those who are injured? Perhaps these people have no such instinct.
Wal-Mart addressed the issue mildly through a spokesman, affirming the "priority" of the "safety" of their "associates": “The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this tragic time.”
The New York Times thought to seek the opinion of the United Food and Commercial Workers, whose attempts to unionize Wal-Mart employees have been continually rebuffed by the discount chain.
“Where were the safety barriers?” said Bruce Both, the union president. “Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner? This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart.”
One has to see Mr. Both's point, even though he obviously has an agenda. Wal-Mart and store management could have done numerous things to prevent this occurrence. I doubt that Damour and his co-workers went to barricade the door of their own free will; it must have seemed dangerous at the time. Store managers must have ordered them to. This was shortsighted and irresponsible, yes, but who could have foreseen the inhuman mobbish mentality of those who broke down the door?
What truly chills me to the quick about this tragedy is that I have a dear, wonderful friend who has had the misfortune to be assigned by her temp agency to Wal-Mart for the holidays. She is nowhere near Nassau County and didn't work on Black Friday, thanks to the graces of fortune.
Negligence and a tepid concern for safety are what we have come to expect from Wal-Mart, so their role in this is unsurprising. It fits their modus operandi of low-grade insidious evil. However, it is disturbing when one realizes that each of the members of the crowd that broke down the doors of a discount store and trampled a man to death in search of bargains is a human being; a thinking, reasoning individual. They made decisions that resulted in this end. This Wal-Mart is situated in one of the richest counties and villages in the United States, and it also attracts shoppers from neighboring Queens, New York. These were not people forcing their way in out of true necessity. What was different in their experience that made it okay to break down the doors of a store in search of Black Friday bargains? Has advertising worked that heavily on the American consciousness?
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Swing State Blues...or WTFlorida?!
They're better than the red state blues, but a lot more confusing. Oh, I know this state is purple, and that political allegiances shift like the waves as the population grows and moves around, but a lot of the results around here point to an electorate that is maybe a wee bit schizophrenic.
The state managed to elect Barack Obama with 50.9% of the vote, which is close, but not unusually so for Florida. On the other hand, 62% of the electorate voted for Amendment 2, which seeks to define marriage as between one man and one woman, and outlaws anything else that "is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof". It's a sweepingly overreaching constitutional amendment, especially considering that homosexual marriage is prohibited by state statute anyway (blame Jeb Bush). Also, in rejecting Amendment 1 (by 52.1%), Florida elected to retain language in the constitution that allows the legislature to prohibit aliens ineligible for citizenship (like, oh, the king of Bhutan) from owning land.
This means that, statewide, there are about 200,000 people who voted for a black, liberal, pro-choice, pro-equality president, but also voted to ban anything that smelled like legal marriage between homosexuals and to retain the possibility of taking land away from law-abiding resident aliens. Conservative black voters? Maybe. Crackers Against Palin? Maybe. Who knows?
Locally, the results are equally as odd. I live in Hillsborough County, which is comprised of the sizable city of Tampa, its suburbs, a few smaller towns, and a large amount of rural land in the southeastern portion (it also comprises the central section of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, whereas the northern and southern ends of the bridge are in Pinellas and Manatee counties, respectively. Not that there are any voters living on the bridge). The county elected Barack Obama with 53% of the vote, reflecting the trend of population centers going blue. Amendment 1, however, failed by the same margin. Amendment 2 passed by 59% here, which I personally find sickening. However, this county elected the openly gay Kevin Beckner to the county commission with 55% of the vote. This means that 14% of this county's electorate think it is a good idea to have a gay man on the county commission, but he can't be allowed to marry his partner. Quoi?
These observations are, of course, oversimplifications in that I barely paid attention to that commission race and am not sure what arguments were thrown back and forth. I personally voted based on my dislike for Beckner's opponent Brian Blair, the former professional wrestler who has been avidly pro-uncontrolled-growth and arrogantly anti-environment.
But that's not all the fun in Hillsborough! After five years of ridiculous problems with nearly every election he supervised, Buddy Johnson (a Jeb Bush appointee), conceded his own race to his opponent Phyllis Busansky after losing votes, miscounting votes, and being out of communication for several days, leaving the Supervisor of Elections election in limbo. Tribune columnist Daniel Ruth today described Johnson as "dumber than a sack of toothpicks".
I guess the good thing is that all this swinging about keeps us Floridians on our toes.
The state managed to elect Barack Obama with 50.9% of the vote, which is close, but not unusually so for Florida. On the other hand, 62% of the electorate voted for Amendment 2, which seeks to define marriage as between one man and one woman, and outlaws anything else that "is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof". It's a sweepingly overreaching constitutional amendment, especially considering that homosexual marriage is prohibited by state statute anyway (blame Jeb Bush). Also, in rejecting Amendment 1 (by 52.1%), Florida elected to retain language in the constitution that allows the legislature to prohibit aliens ineligible for citizenship (like, oh, the king of Bhutan) from owning land.
This means that, statewide, there are about 200,000 people who voted for a black, liberal, pro-choice, pro-equality president, but also voted to ban anything that smelled like legal marriage between homosexuals and to retain the possibility of taking land away from law-abiding resident aliens. Conservative black voters? Maybe. Crackers Against Palin? Maybe. Who knows?
Locally, the results are equally as odd. I live in Hillsborough County, which is comprised of the sizable city of Tampa, its suburbs, a few smaller towns, and a large amount of rural land in the southeastern portion (it also comprises the central section of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, whereas the northern and southern ends of the bridge are in Pinellas and Manatee counties, respectively. Not that there are any voters living on the bridge). The county elected Barack Obama with 53% of the vote, reflecting the trend of population centers going blue. Amendment 1, however, failed by the same margin. Amendment 2 passed by 59% here, which I personally find sickening. However, this county elected the openly gay Kevin Beckner to the county commission with 55% of the vote. This means that 14% of this county's electorate think it is a good idea to have a gay man on the county commission, but he can't be allowed to marry his partner. Quoi?
These observations are, of course, oversimplifications in that I barely paid attention to that commission race and am not sure what arguments were thrown back and forth. I personally voted based on my dislike for Beckner's opponent Brian Blair, the former professional wrestler who has been avidly pro-uncontrolled-growth and arrogantly anti-environment.
But that's not all the fun in Hillsborough! After five years of ridiculous problems with nearly every election he supervised, Buddy Johnson (a Jeb Bush appointee), conceded his own race to his opponent Phyllis Busansky after losing votes, miscounting votes, and being out of communication for several days, leaving the Supervisor of Elections election in limbo. Tribune columnist Daniel Ruth today described Johnson as "dumber than a sack of toothpicks".
I guess the good thing is that all this swinging about keeps us Floridians on our toes.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Election Night IV
I was planning for this to be a long session, to wait for into the night for election returns, and prattle on about the candidates as I did so. But with John McCain's concession speech, that closes the deal. Hopefully. I didn't get to nitpicking and criticizing Barack Obama tonight, but it seems that I will have four years to do that!
Honestly, I am so happy that our country could overcome so much in the way of nastiness and racial hatred, bigotry, dislike of "foreignness", and mudslinging. I have never been more proud to be an American than I am right now.
Honestly, I am so happy that our country could overcome so much in the way of nastiness and racial hatred, bigotry, dislike of "foreignness", and mudslinging. I have never been more proud to be an American than I am right now.
Election Night III
The BBC, adding the west coast to Obama's score, is calling the election for Obama. Of course, they're British, so not too sure how right that is.
But yay anyway!
But yay anyway!
Election Night II
New Mexico has been called for Obama, the first Western state to go blue so far. But it's been called red by the New York Times. Ahh, exit polls. Texas has gone red according to the BBC, and that's no surprise.
Elizabeth Dole has lost her Senate seat after one term, and apparently John Sununu also lost. There seems to be a backlash against legacy Republicans.
Elizabeth Dole has lost her Senate seat after one term, and apparently John Sununu also lost. There seems to be a backlash against legacy Republicans.
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