Over a Candle

My good friend, Externalized Evil, sent me an article today that I really want to share with more people. It is an excellent article from The American Prospect on Iron Man, the movie and the comic book, and the relationship the character has with the American identity.

While the author, Spencer Ackerman, lauds the movie, he notes that an important element is missing. (He also acknowledges that it would have been tough to include this important element in the first film of the series.) A brief excerpt from the beginning of the article lays out his main point…

Iron Man Versus the Imperialists:

But what’s missing in the movie is what has sustained the character for most of its history. Iron Man is a scathing critique of American imperialism.

If you have a few minutes, I’d really recommend the article. As someone who is only passingly familiar with the history of Iron Man (I did read the book on and off for a little while… twenty years ago… but otherwise only knew the character as he appeared in other titles I read), much of what the article contains was relatively new to me. But as someone who views even fictional accounts of war through the lenses of both Just War Theory and Pacifism, I had a sense that these themes needed more fleshing out in the film. (But of course, tried to quash that sense because it was “just a comic book movie.”)

Go read the article. And thanks to Evil for pointing it out.

I’m trying to decide which is bigger news that the Iraq war will be over in four years or that, for the moment, California has finally given full rights to same-sex couples.

I think a lot depends on the outcome of the November election.

If John McCain doesn’t win the presidency, then his bizarre predictions will remain simply odd footnotes to this historic elections. But in case you missed them, here is a summary of McCain’s out-of-touch comments.

McCain believes Iraq war can be won by 2013:

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, although he rejected suggestions that his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamoring for full-scale troop withdrawals.

The Republican presidential contender, in a mystical speech that also envisioned Osama bin Laden dead or captured, and Americans with the choice of paying a simple flat tax or following their standard 1040 form, said only a small number of troops would remain in Iraq by the end of a prospective first term because al-Qaida will have been defeated and Iraq’s government will be functioning on its own.

McCain wants to control spending, continue an exorbitantly expensive (and illegal) war, and somehow manufacture more military resources in order to deal with Afghanistan and bring down al-Queda. If he does win the election in November, I expect everyone to remind him of this little speech every day for the next four years.

* * * * * * * * * *

On the other hand, in California, there is a movement to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would overturn the state supreme court’s ruling affirming the rights of same-sex couples to marry. If the ruling is overturned by the amendment, then this ruling today would simply be another step in a long, hard road towards equal rights in this country.

The Terminator did say something hopeful, though.

California’s top court overturns gay marriage ban:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has twice vetoed legislation that would’ve granted marriage rights to same-sex couples, said in a news release that he respected the court’s decision and ‘will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling.’

If only he hadn’t vetoed earlier legislation. But he did. Still, that he won’t support the amendment is a hopeful sign. If the amendment fails, this will have been a good day.

Has Bush completely given up sounding like a human being?

Bush disappointed with intel before Iraq war:

In an interview with the political newspaper Politico and Yahoo News, Bush also said he gave up golf in 2003 out of respect for U.S. soldiers killed in the war, which has now lasted more than five years.

‘I didn’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,’ he said. ‘I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.’

Seriously? His big sacrifice for wartime is giving up golf? GOLF? Is he completely serious? This is his idea of something equivalent to losing a child to war? A war that he started? A war of choice, no less? He equates the loss of a loved one in a senseless war with giving up golf.

I wish I could muster some shock at his gall. But I just can’t. Not anymore.

I saw a story in my local paper about possible Vice-Presidential candidates for each of the apparent Presidential candidates. It was reprinted from the Washington Post (apparently). The person at the top of the list for John McCain is particularly close to me…

So, Candidates, Who’s It Going to Be?:

1 Tim Pawlenty: The Minnesota governor remains the single possibility in the Republican vice presidential field who best fits what McCain wants and needs in a VP. Pawlenty has been elected twice in a Democratic-leaning state that is almost certain to be a battleground in the fall. He is liked and respected by both conservatives and moderates, and he gets rave reviews for his political instincts. He has also known McCain for nearly three decades and, at 47, could allay some concerns about McCain’s age.

I, for one, would be happy to have Pawlenty gone. He has been a blight on this state for too long. But to have him so close to the Presidency… I just don’t know that getting him out of the Minnesota’s governor’s office is worth the damage he could do on the national scale.

During his first campaign for governor, he pledged not to raise taxes. Now this is a dumb pledge anyway. To take a position for four years that ties your hands in dealing with budget issues is idiotic in itself. But then, later on, he introduced some additional “fees” during budgeting. So he made a dumb pledge, then broke it, but tried to pretend he didn’t break it by playing word games.

I will grant you that he has good approval ratings in the state. But that doesn’t mean he is right for the country. I, for one, would rather he stay governor for another two years than become the number two man in the country.

Our feelings about our mothers are not rational. They are formed when we are young, when we are creatures of emotion rather than reason. Thinking about our mothers, interacting with them, takes us back to that earliest time, to that emotional creature. There is nothing rational about our connections to our mothers. There is a place for rational thought. And there is a place for emotional reaction. Our mothers reside in the latter place, never the former. Whether we love them, hate them, or a little of both, we cannot be rational about them.

Two signs of the impending start of summer:

(1) My local coffee shop has cold press coffee once more. It’s a lengthy process, cold brewing coffee. And it’s thick. But it’s good. And they have it back. I am in heaven. My first cup today took me back the Winnipeg Folk Festival, where I brought a jug of cold press to blend with cold water for our morning jolt. The nice thing about the cup today though: no mosquitoes! (The critters get pretty bad in the woods outside of Winnipeg.)

(2) I just graded my last paper. I still have to calculate and turn in final grades. But the grading is done. Now I have about two and a half weeks to get my summer course ready to go. But I’m so glad to have the grading from this semester over. A glass of Black Bush is probably in order.

While we suffer through the seemingless endless Democratic primary, speculation seems to invariably turn to the possibility of an Obama/Clinton ticket. (There was some talk awhile back about a Clinton/Obama ticket, but more people seem to believe he’s going to occupy the top spot.)

This combination has been called the “dream ticket” by some. But I keep trying to figure out who’s dream it is? John McCain’s?

The problem many focus on is wondering whether Obama really wants to deal with the dominating personalities of both Clintons. I recognize the potential difficulties posed in such a situation, but I am more worried simply by the election problems. After all, rather than complementing each other’s strengths, I think this ticket has the potential to simply double the negatives that the campaign would have to defend against. After all, the Republicans would have two candidates to beat up on. I worry that, rather than being a stronger ticket than either one alone, the ticket would be more vulnerable to attack. Given the high-profile nature of both candidates, their negatives could very easily undermine each other’s strengths.

Whoever’s going to win this thing needs to do so relatively soon. But I’m not holding my breath for a “dream ticket.” I just want to get on with it all.

Inspired by a conversation with my first mom…

You know your doctor is too young when he doesn’t know who Doogie Howser is.

I have occasion to walk through another department at work on nearly a daily basis. They often have food sitting out. I always look as I walk by, but I never actually eat any of it.

Today, as I was walking past the counter, I noticed a container of donuts. They looked like they came from the bakery at a local grocery store. There was a big sticker on the clear plastic container: “MADE FROM SCRATCH”

I started thinking about that. (It was either go off on this tangent, or get right back to grading.) At some point, everything is made from scratch. Even cake-mixes had to be made out stuff at some point.

I mean, I know what the phrase means when I’m talking about home cooking. It means I didn’t use any pre-prepared items. I just used raw ingredients. But it seems odd to see that sort of label on a store-bought item.

But it got me thinking… I wonder what the origin of that phrase is. So I did some research. Here’s what I found.

Take Our Word For It Issue 58:

This use of scratch derives from a line or mark drawn or scratched into the ground to indicate a boundary or starting-point in sports, especially cricket and boxing. That meaning of scratch goes back to the late 18th century. From there it came to apply specifically to the starting point, in a handicap, of a competitor who received no odds: “Mr. Tom Sabin, of the Coventry Bicycle Club, has won, during last week, three races from scratch.” (Bicycle Journal, August 18, 1878). It was later applied figuratively with the meaning “from nothing”, and it was used thus by James Joyce in Ulysses (1922): “A poor foreign immigrant who started scratch as a stowaway and is now trying to turn an honest penny.” Thereafter it was taking up in cooking once boxed mixes and prepared foods became widely available. Today it is a badge of honor to be able to say one made a culinary delight from scratch.

I think I know what this means. It means grading has melted my brain. But now we know…

Ronni really wanted to see Iron Man. She really likes Robert Downey Jr. Don’t get me wrong, I was going to see this film. But it was just a little odd that she was the main impetus to going. So tonight, away we went.

I just wanted it to be better than the Fantastic Four films. I guess I wasn’t asking for much. The trouble is that I’ve never been a big reader of Iron Man, so I wasn’t going in as a huge fan. I just wanted a fun super-hero film.

And a fun super-hero film we got.

Downey as Tony Stark was almost too perfect as far as casting. I worry about him playing drunks too often. Still, one of my worries about the film was that he would be in the suit so much that we wouldn’t really get to see him acting.

But that’s the thing about this film. It’s a superhero movie, but the did a nice job telling a story. It’s not a complicated story. And it’s not an innovative story. But it is a fairly straightforward and entertaining story. It’s not simply a movie with a lot of special effects and fight scenes. Iron Man (and thus the suit) is a lot of fun to watch. But this movie was about Tony Stark first, and Iron Man second.

It was a lot of fun watching the interaction between Downey and Gwyneth Paltrow (playing Stark’s assistant, Pepper Potts). And there were several nods to the comic history. Jim Rhodes (played by Terrence Howard), at one point, looks briefly at a suit of armor, and we think, for a moment, he might don it. (Rhodes wore the suit for a while in the comic.) And the cover story the government provides Stark with sets up Iron Man as Stark’s bodyguard.

I don’t want to give anything away. This is basically an origin film. But that’s okay. It’s fun watching Tony work out the details of how to fly, for example.

Suffice it to say that it was a fun movie. And a lot more entertaining than some comic films in recent memory. It has properly whet my appetite for The Dark Knight Returns later this summer. And let me urge you to sit through the entire credits. I repeat: DO NOT LEAVE THE THEATRE EARLY! It is really, really important that you stick around until the very end.