In the genre of romantic drama, "Brokeback Mountain" is now the eighth-biggest earning movie of the last quarter century. It may soon beat "Out of Africa." ‘The Bridges of Madison County" comes in at # 13. "Romeo and Juliet" is at # 23.
Update: several readers have emailed to say that Box Office Mojo doesn’t adjust for inflation. D’oh! When it is, Brokeback slips.
Reaganite Bruce Bartlett writes:
"I disagree with your characterization of Bush as being famously loyal ‚Äî a view so widely stated that you can be excused for repeating it. Bush is loyal ONLY to toadies, suck-ups and sycophants. Anyone who shows an ounce of independence ‚Äî or loyalty to the country above loyalty to him ‚Äî is punished or dispensed with. You mention Paul O’Neill, but a better example is Larry Lindsey. His estimate of the cost of the war was mildly embarrassing back in 2002 because it was higher than the absurdly low estimates being peddled by the White House at that time. So they threw him overboard, even though he may have done more to get Bush elected than anyone else, including Karl Rove. Now, as you know, Lindsey’s estimate looks absurdly low. As I say in my book, loyalty with Bush is strictly a one-way street: total loyalty is demanded, but none is ever really offered in return.
Given that this is the case, I have never understood why so many people — both inside and outside the administration — continue to give Bush so much loyalty. I can only conclude that it is borne more from fear than agreement with his policies. I think there is genuine fear of crossing the president, although I have never been able to uncover the precise mechanism through which it is communicated — even in my own case. Nevertheless, it is real — just as fear of the unknown is real. I think somehow he communicates to everyone he comes in contact with that they will suffer if they go against him. And his obsessiveness about leaks — combined with Patriot Act powers — has shut off back channels that have previously existed in every presidency.
There is a CRYING NEED for an investigative reporter to plumb the depths of how this works and why so many people submit to it — even when Bush has poll ratings so low as to barely show a pulse. Even behind closed doors, with guarantees of confidentiality, I cannot get FORMER administration people to say a bad word about the guy even when they have been badly treated by him in some way. The climate of fear is pervasive."
Part of this may be due to the fact that Bush is personally a nice guy. Many people like him too much to tell him what a shambles his presidency has become to his face. An alternative theory to explain the mystifying deference and persistent fear is that the Bush presidency is based on religious adherence, not political judgment. Karl Rove has accelerated the transformation of the GOP from a party of limited government and individual liberty to one of Christianist fundamentalism and big government largess. The party is now essentially a religious grouping with some business interests glommed on for the ride – and a retinue of sleazeballs and lobbyists gleefully in the rear. If your career is related to that party, then any criticism of the president, regardless of the grounds for that criticism, is deemed indistinguishable from congregants taking on a fundamentalist pastor. It’s forbidden. You will be cast out of the church. His authority is rooted in his faith; to question it is to question religious authority.
The key element that binds Christianism with Bush Republicanism is fealty to patriarchal leadership. That’s the institutional structure of the churches that are now the Republican base; and it’s only natural that the fundamentalist psyche, which is rooted in obedience and reverence for the inerrant pastor, should be transferred to the presidency. That’s why I think Bush’s ratings won’t go much below 25 percent; because 25 percent is about the proportion of the electorate that is fundamentalist and supports Bush for religious rather than political reasons. They are immune to empirical argument, because their thought-structure is not empirical; it is dogmatic. If the facts overwhelm them, they will simply argue that the "liberal media" is lying. Bruce poignantly thinks the GOP is still the secular, empirical, skeptical party it once was. It’s not: it’s a fundamentalist church with some huge bribes for business interests on the side, leveraged by massive debts. So all criticism is disloyalty; and disloyalty is heresy. The facts don’t matter. Obey the pastor. Or be damned.
Just how physically and mentally exhausted is Bush’s staff? Are they sleepwalking through a second term? My take here.
(Photo: Kevin Dietsch/UPI/Landov.)
Juan Cole attempts a limited defense/elaboration of Iraqi Ayatollah Sistani’s call for executing gays "in the worst, most severe way of killing." Cole’s post is, as so often, learned, informative and revealing. But he seems caught between his commitment to defend Islam against the West, and his reluctant recognition that, with respect to gay people, Islam is barbaric, when it isn’t grotesquely sexist. So Cole tries a third option: he blames all this on what he regards as the misguided attempt to get rid of Saddam. Ah: Saddam. The pomo-left’s last great hope for Arabia.
Here’s a document from Vietnam setting out clear guidelines for humane treatment of any and all military detainees by U.S. soldiers:
Under Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, that has now changed. Here’s the new mantra:
"The reality is, there were no rules there," a Pentagon official told the New York Times about "Camp NAMA," an acronym for "Nasty-Ass Military Area" . The troops doing the abuse and torturing were not reservists on the night shift. They were an elite group either doing what their civilian masters wanted; or beyond their civilian masters’ control. Fire Rumsfeld.
It’s heating up. Keep the pressure coming. Matt Stone and Trey Parker have had a great relationship with Comedy 
Central for many years, and this kind of censorship decision is made at the Viacom level. If the censorship continues, should South Park tell Viacom where to shove it? Blogger Typical Joe says, with new technology, they can. Here’s a Slate piece that offers some alternatives to big media; and another on alternative forms of distribution. Meanwhile, even in Britain, Tom Cruise might have increasing trouble threatening lawsuits. Since Viacom doesn’t have the chocolate salty balls to show it, watch the episode online here. Tom Cruise cannot stop that. Yet.
"During a recent visit to Baghdad, I saw an enormous failure. On the part of our media. The reality in the streets, day after day, bore little resemblance to the sensational claims of civil war and disaster in the headlines." – Ralph Peters, who has accused other members of the media of lying about the situation in Iraq.
"It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is." – Ayad Allawi, former Iraqi prime minister.
Allawi has an ax to grind. The truth may be somewhere in between. But Peters’ rosy view of Iraq is so out of kilter with every other report I read, including that of Iraqi bloggers, that I’d say Allawi is closer to the mark. Alas.
We’re going to have to change the nickname for the Republicans. The Grand Old Christianist Party keeps moving further and further toward a complete conflation of church and state and a massive increase in government power, spending and soon, taxation. Mike Huckabee is the latest to reflect the trend; as does the astonishing number of Republican candidates who back the South Dakota law criminalizing all abortions, regardless even of rape, incest or the health of the mother. I should make it clear that I’m not referring to many Christians of sincere faith who vote for both parties. I mean those Christianists who believe that their sectarian views should be imposed by law on those who disagree with them and hold a different faith, or even different version of Christianity. I mean those Christians who specifically disavow Jesus’ insistence that God and Caesar be clearly separated – while insisting that everyone else be governed by the literal word of God.
A plurality of voters finally figure out what George Bush really is. Pity it’s a year and a half too late.
Another one joins the chorus. Rummy’s still in denial about troop levels. The man would much rather lose a war than concede a point. Until he is fired, any confidence we can muster in the conduct of the occupation has to be compromised.
The Dish 