Rte 1

... Near Wrens, Georgia

Eclipse

The Curing

President Obama has been the Curing.
When we belatedly discovered that OBL had the means to carry out the attacks of September 11th, Congress, Bush Cheney and Gonzalez rushed to create extraordinary powers on the part of the Federal Government. Surveillance, torture and imprisonment, and even new undeclared wars i.e. Libya, Yemen, have been carried out by two presidents and their officers on a non stop basis ever since.
Obama has refused to change course, refused to bring indictments against his predecessor's blatant criminal acts and has himself proceeded with dangerous new powers of surveillance and widespread legal harassment of journalists and whistleblowers like Assange and Private Manning.
President Bush and his administration were apparently in many ways acting out of desperation and crossed many lines that never should have been breached. But Obama lacks even that excuse. Indeed it's easy to imagine that al Qaeda might never again launch a significant attack on US Territory or civilian populations. But the fact is inescapable, we now live in a nation at permanent war and the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments lie permanently sullied and the people of this once free land have to stop this frightening concentration of power. We have to pressure Congress and keep shining lights of justice into the dark corners of our Federal Government.
And most of all we have to understand something. This could have been stopped. Ford let Nixon go and Obama has been culpable of everything Bush did and more. These new powers of the NSA and the CIA and the extra-judicial powers of surveillance and covert war weren't written in stone by the Bush Administration, only wet cement. Obama and all of us have allowed that cement to cure and dry and set up hardened.
Obama has been the Curing and we all have to get to work with chisels if we want our freedom back.

Hunger Games film

I think that here we see an example of how the medium changes the story. The narrative is essentially unchanged, the SF story of Katniss and Peeta forced by chance and a moral dilemma into a bloodsport arena, but the themes are subtly different. The movie is slightly more driven by spectacle not in a bad way but the audience for the Games are more a part of the story, the citizens of the Capitol with their fanciful decadence and Cinna's contrasting normalcy-Kudos to Lenny Kravitz by the way!- are more important in the film. And Jennifer Lawrence embodies Katniss to perfection. The movie is thoughtful in the same way that Rise of the Planet of the Apes was, a fine example of SF placing us in the milieu of revolution.
I very much enjoyed it.

Katniss -- The Hunger Games

My thoughts on the first book are the author has created a very strong character who has been placed in a terrifying 22nd century milieu. The pacing is relentless and I don't recall the last time I read a first person POV story that was so cinema friendly. I will go see the movie soon and look into the rest of the books after I've read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Shaima al Awadhi

A mother is dead at 38. She leaves five school aged children behind, orphans. Her teenage daughter found her beaten almost to death in her own home. The killer left behind a note: terrorist go home.
When she fled Saddam's Iraq 20 years ago she must have thought that she and her family would be safe in America. She surely never dreamed that the ghosts of Hitler and the KKK would be waiting to take her life.
She was murdered for the crime of being foreign, alien, darker skinned, worshipping Allah, wearing a head scarf.
When you listen to the news on the radio or cable this week you learn that we have yet to exhaust the subject of the Trayvon Martin case but you learn nothing about this entire family being destroyed in California. Why not? Where is the million hijab march? Where are the coast to coast rallies for justice? Whither the endless television coverage of every detail?
Maybe because there is no great controversy? No weird gun laws or police misconduct? Do we really need controversy and manufactured conflict in order to demand justice for a dead woman? Is that what passes for journalism now? That's the way it looks from here and it's a damned shame.
Rest in peace, Shaima.

James Cameron

The creator of Avatar spent three hours exploring the floor of the Marianas today... I think we're not appreciating what a true genius he is.
Wow