The Next Open Thread

by DemFromCT

emptypockets was tired of the Groucho pun, so we needed some thing else up to take us until tomorrow and beyond.

Things are falling apart a bit in the WoT™.

Events along the ever-volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan border this month have exposed deep fault lines in the anti-terrorism alliance among the United States, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and officials on all sides say their joint efforts against militants in the region are now highly precarious.

The heightened tension comes as militant extremists and the United States have both become more aggressive in their tactics, with the Pakistani government caught in between.

And things on the Pakistan side ain't too swift either.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan. 19 - Two years after the Pakistani Army began operations in border tribal areas to root out members of Al Qaeda and other foreign militants, Pakistani officials who know the area say the military campaign is bogged down, the local political administration is powerless and the militants are stronger than ever.

Looks like the Bush Administration is doing its usual: taking a difficult situation and making it worse.  Subtlety and nuance is not their forte. Use this as an open thread.

Comments

[DemFromCT]

oh, for the rock-heads in the audience, no this isn't good news, and no we don't rejoice.

[emptypockets]

Thanks I needed that.

On the subject of goofy comedies and tensions in Pakistan (watch this segue) -- I saw Albert Brooks' new movie, "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World." In it, Brooks (playing himself) is tasked by a federal commission to go to India and Pakistan to help the U.S. understand Muslims by understanding what makes Muslims laugh (we've tried all the normal ways to understand them, the commissioner says, like bombing).

Brooks accidentally escalates military build-up along the border to a near-nuclear-showdown, and comes home with a Taj Mahal snow globe -- which gives you some idea how deep his character's understanding runs.

I have a lot to say about this movie but I am not sure how to bring it all together. That is sort of the problem the movie had, too.

So, first, I loved it. If it is playing near you, see it. See it soon. Because it will undoubtedly close soon.

This is not a movie for everyone. If you don't think it's funny to watch people NOT get jokes, it's not for you. If it bothers you to have people look real, with wrinkles and bad lighting, it's not for you. If it bothers you for the boom to get in the shot (frequently), also, for you, not so much.

It has some more fundamental problems too -- it can't seem to decide whether it's a mockumentary or an over-the-top satire. It never comes together.

But it has a lot going for it too, besides the fact that it just made me laugh a lot.

First, and most obviously, it's nice to see Muslims portrayed as people other than terrorists, smugglers, or clowns. It's nice to see American characters who know there's a difference between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs.

Second, it's short. That may be beside the point, but after the three-hour-long bladderbusters that have become standard fare, it's nice to go to a movie without having to plan your day around it. In many ways it's a movie that belongs in a simpler time, when humor didn't need to be campy or self-aware. It's not trying to be the best, cleverest, hyperbolest. It's just a nice little movie.

And finally, it's -- this may not be a shocker -- not really about the Muslim world. Just as Brooks' character tells an overzealous questioner, "comedians don't really like talking about other comedians. they just want to talk about themselves," this movie is really us talking about ourselves. What makes us laugh? Who are our great comics?

I remember the first few days after the September 11th attacks. The Daily Show was off the air, a lot of comediesjust couldn't be aired. Things weren't funny anymore.

I remember reading and hearing on TV some speculation that the age of irony was dead. That it wasn't funny anymore.

I've been thinking about that recently, frequently, the idea that irony was dead after that day. In a way, it has been. I can't tell jokes from truth anymore -- much like Brooks' Indian assistant has never heard of sarcasm. "You must tell me if I ever miss a sarcasm!" she insists. Clean Skies Act, No Child Left Behind, Heckuva Job -- was that sarcasm? Mission Accomplished, was that? Overthrowing a torturer and then setting up torture chambers of our own, what was that? Was that funny?

"Do you know why there's no Halloween in India? Because they took away all the Gandhi." Is that a joke? Neighboring nuclear nations so untrusting of each other that a bungling comedian could set off World War III. Is that?

[emptypockets]

And more open-thread fare: This story cheered me this morning. I've been following this sporadically as it's played out.

Deal Would Let Dying Officer Leave Pension to Companion

After more than a year of staunch opposition, and just days after a cancer-ravaged police lieutenant made a final videotaped appeal, Ocean County[ New Jersey]'s freeholders have tentatively agreed to let county employees pass on their pension benefits to domestic partners, officials said.
...
The lieutenant, Laurel Hester, 49, said that when she learned the freeholders' deal, first reported in The Ocean County Observer yesterday, she was ecstatic.

"I was overwhelmed," Lieutenant Hester said, her voice labored by the late-stage cancer that has spread from her lungs to her brain. "The first image that came to mind was David and Goliath."
...
Her domestic partner, Stacie Andree, 30, a soft-spoken mechanic who has preferred to avoid the spotlight, said that she was simply glad that the fight appeared to be over.

"Now I can just spend time with Laurel, just the two of us, without thinking about the five freeholders," she said. "I just want to do my work and go home and take care of my wife."

Common sense breaks out in New Jersey. May a pandemic come upon us shortly.

[KdmFromPhila]

Will there be another book under discussion at the book TNH book club?

[emptypockets]

I don't want to have a vote myself for book club because I know I don't have time to read whatever it will be, but let me draw your attention at least to this very short interview with the author of "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" about if there is a biological basis for the urge to believe in an Almighty. I was surprised when I read the interview; I don't think I've ever heard someone before where I absolutely agreed with absolutely everything that person said (granted, it's a very short interview).

[DemFromCT]

hmmm... that's an interesting interview. yes, another book club at the end of feb. we'll put the suggestion in the next open thread of a similar title.

[DemFromCT]

More Iraq trouble.

[scodabloose]

Where there's a will, there's an Inheritance Tax.

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[adescette]

I'm new here, just wanted to say hello and introduce myself.