June 28, 2013 at 2:10 P.M. A call was received at 1:46 P.M. from 616-613-2092 originating from V06281345440100. I have no idea who made this call or why. I am sure that it is merely a coincidence. ("You've got mail!")
Charles Stile, "Budget Approved, Tax Cuts Are Not: Christie Bravado Cooled as Reality of $33 Billion Plan Sets In," The Record, June 25, 2013, p. A-1. (Fantasy budget meets reality.)
Michael Doyle, "Justices Order Review of Race Case: Action Protects 2003 Affirmative Action Ruling," The Record, June 25, 2013, p. A-1. (No it doesn't.)
"Legacy of Birdsall," (Editorial) The Record, June 25, 2013, p. A-8. (No need to reimburse contributions from corrupt firms to politicians on the take.)
Joe Maliconico, "Paterson Weighs $50,000 Contract for Legal Firm: Law Director Case Involves Conflicts," The Record, June 25, 2013, p. L-1. (A $50,000 contract for Mr. Corzine's lawyers when he was governor. De Cotiis, Fitzpatrick and Cole are to represent Paterson for legal issues surrounding termination of Paul Forsman: "Corrupt Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics.")
Lin Tat, "N.J. Reviews Possible Ethics Lapses by Staff in North Bergen: Comptroller Cites Excessive Legal Spending," The Record, June 26, 2013, p. L-3. ("Two state agencies are reviewing possible criminal wrongdoing or ethics breaches by North Bergen employees who were singled out Tuesday in a state comptroller's report about municipalities with excessive or improper legal spending." "North Bergen, New Jersey is the Home of La Cosa Nostra.")
John Petrick, "Officer Guilty in Sex Sting: Faces 5-Year Sentence for Advances on Girl, 12," The Record, June 27, 2013, at p. L-1. (STEVEN E. VIGORITO, JR., may be linked to Diana Lisa Riccioli of Clifton, New Jersey.)
Kibret Marcos, "Man Denied New Trial in Sex Assault of Girl," The Record, June 27, 2013, p. L-3. (Ivan McKinney, 40, of Hackensack, N.J. denied a new trial after conviction for sexual assault of a 13 year-old girl.)
John Petrick, "Teacher Sentenced to Jail in Sex Case: Contact With a Boy Called 'Tragic Mistake,'" The Record, June 21, 2013, p. L-1.
"A former Clifton High School teacher charged with sexually assaulting a male student was sentenced to one year in jail and five years of probation Thursday after previously pleading guilty to lesser counts of criminal sexual contact."
The young woman in question has, allegedly, been linked to Diana Lisa Riccioli. Ms. Riccioli denies any and all organized crime affiliations as well as any involvement in the sexual services industry.
I wonder how Ms. Riccioli came to know MARILYN STRAUS? Was Ms. Riccioli present at so-called interrogational hypnosis sessions involving Ms. Straus and/or myself at 512 42nd Street, Union City, New Jersey during the late eighties and/or nineties? If so, who else was present at such sessions, Ms. Riccioli? What other such sessions involving the same persons, if any, took place anywhere or at any location to your knowledge, Ms. Riccioli?
"Clifton resident KRISTIN LEONE, 28, revealed in court that she, too, had an inappropriate relationship with someone in a supervisory position when she was younger. Only now that she is in therapy, she said, does she realize the gravity of such a liason."
Perhaps Diana Lisa Riccioli had similar reasons for a "liason" with Deborah T. Poritz? ("Sexual Favors For New Jersey Judges" and "Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
This relationship with a supervisor led Ms. Leone to another even more inappropriate "liason" with a 16 year-old boy.
"[Leoni] pleaded guilty before state Superior Court Judge DONNA GALLUCIO in April to two counts of criminal sexual contact. She admitted that the student, who then was 16, took her hand and placed it on his genitals during a tutorial session at school on April 26, 2012, and that she kept her hand there for her own sexual gratification."
Please see "Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture" and "New Jersey is the Home of Child Molesters."
Part of the problem in New Jersey is a "culture of corruption" (Chris Christie) that allows people who are "insiders" of the power-structure to receive special treatment. ("Judges in Bayonne, New Jersey Protect Child Molesters" and "New Jersey Welcomes Child Molesters.")
Media attention in the Leone matter has prevented cover-ups, the usual tampering with witnesses and obstructions of justice (so far) from public officials. ("Sexual Favors for New Jersey Judges" then "New Jersey's Child Sex Crisis.")
Something must be done about New Jersey's unofficial culture that winks at bosses' sexual activities with minors. ("Menendez Consorts With Underage Prostitutes" and, again, "New Jersey is the Home of Child Molesters.")
It is time for New Jersey to be safe for children. ("Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?")
No judges should trade favors for lesbian or any other kind of sex. ("Trenton's Nasty Lesbian Love-Fest!" and "Jennifer Velez is a Dyke Magnet!")
Is Ms. Barbara Buono also a "friend" of Diana Lisa Riccioli?
Friday, June 28, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
N.J.'s Jon S. Corzine Faces Lawsuit.
Adam Liptak, "Justices Void Oversight of States Issue at Heart of Voting Rights Act," The New York Times, June 26, 2013, p. A1. (Forget the Voting Rights Act.)
Adam Liptak, "Justices Step-Up Scrutiny of Race in College Entry," The New York Times, June 25, 2013, p. A1. (Forget Affirmative Action.)
David Carr & Ravi Somaiya, "Assange, Back in News, Never Left U.S. Radar," The New York Times, June 25, 2013, p. A1. (9 FBI agents travelled to Iceland under false pretenses to illegally investigate and seize information against Julian Assange. They were thrown out of the country.)
Ben Protess, "U.S. Civil Charges Against Corzine Are Seen as Near: Test for Ex-Governor," The New York Times, June 25, 2013, p. A1. (Wear a safety belt, Jon.)
Mr. Corzine, whose efforts in the MF Global crisis resulted in the loss of billions of dollars by his clients, but also the mysterious preservation of his own funds -- allegedly, through "borrowing" by Mr. Corzine of about $1.2 BILLION of client money -- may now be facing what the media calls "civil charges."
There is no such thing, legally, as "civil charges." There are civil suits and criminal charges may be brought against a person, often as a result of the same sequence of events. The word "civil" precludes the concept of "charges."
Mr. Corzine, for example, may now face a lawsuit only after receiving a discharge in bankruptcy that makes criminal charges highly unlikely and without being affected in his personal assets.
Much of Mr. Corzine's personal wealth (estimates are close to $500+ million in cash and non-liquid assets) may have been -- or will be -- "transferred" to third parties since the MF Global collapse. This will make such assets difficult to seize by federal officials should they prevail in the suit which they have not yet brought.
If such a lawsuit is brought and if Mr. Corzine fails to win that suit, together with all appeals after a jury verdict, then he may be barred from trading on Wall Street.
At 66 years-old, Mr. Corzine seems not overly troubled about the worst outcome, if it happens, 10 to 15 years from now when he will be in his nineties, assuming that he is still alive.
No criminal, civil, or ethics actions will be brought against Mr. Corzine's lawyers, presumably including Mr. Scott Bazzani, his son-in-law and my old jousting partner at North Bergen's Municipal Court. ("North Bergen is the Home of La Cosa Nostra" and "Mafia Influence in New Jersey Courts and Politics.")
"Federal regulators are poised to sue Jon S. Corzine over the collapse of MF Global and the brokerage firm's misuse of customer money during its final days, a blowup that rattled Wall Street and cast a spotlight on Mr. Corzine, the former New Jersey governor [and Senator] who ran the firm until its bankruptcy."
Was Mr. Corzine aware of my matters when he served as governor and/or the actions as well as inactions of his Attorney General, ANNE MILGRAM, in connection with crimes committed against me? We will know soon enough. Here comes the good part:
"Without directly linking Mr. Corzine to the DISAPPEARANCE of more than $1 BILLION in customer money, the tracking commission will probably blame the chief executive for failure to prevent the breach at a lower run of the firm, the law enforcement officials said. If found liable, he could face millions of dollars in fines and, possibly, a ban from trading commodities, jeapordizing [sic.] his 'future' on Wall Street."
What future? Mr. Corzine is nearly 70 years-old? Far from being contrite about "absconding" with billions of "little brown people's" money while causing them to lose billions more (the final tally put MF Global's losses at about $3 billion), Mr. Corzine was defiant:
"A spokesperson [OAE?] for Mr. Corzine denounced the trading commission for planning to file what he called 'an unprecedented and meritless civil enforcement action.' ..."
What the hell is a few billion dollars stolen among friends? Most Wall Street firms have essentially escaped the financial crisis unscathed. No criminal actions for massive scams have been brought against the primary culprits.
Perhaps if more of the men running Wall Street firms were African-Americans there would be a greater effort to put them in prison. ("Justice For Mumia Abu-Jamal" and "So Black and So Blue in Prison" then "Foucault, Rose, Davis, and the Meanings of Prison.")
Mr. Corzine should be indicted along with many others on Wall Street. Lawyers making these scams possible should be disbarred rather than serving terms on New Jersey's disgraced and corrupt legal ethics committee. ("Legal Ethics Today" and "Is America's Legal Ethics a Lie?")
Most lawyers I knew expressed contempt for political partisanship, bias against minority attorneys, organized crime influence, and price tags associated with the legal ethics process in America's "Soprano State." ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Politically-Connected Lawyers On the Tit" then "Corrupt Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" and "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State.")
It is impossible not to laugh at the absurdities of a hypocritical and failed state legal system that is so visibly unequal and unjust in its outcomes. Do you speak to me of ethics, Mr. Rabner? ("Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?" and "Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Herbert Klitzner, Esq.'s Greed and New Jersey's Hypocrisy.")
Adam Liptak, "Justices Step-Up Scrutiny of Race in College Entry," The New York Times, June 25, 2013, p. A1. (Forget Affirmative Action.)
David Carr & Ravi Somaiya, "Assange, Back in News, Never Left U.S. Radar," The New York Times, June 25, 2013, p. A1. (9 FBI agents travelled to Iceland under false pretenses to illegally investigate and seize information against Julian Assange. They were thrown out of the country.)
Ben Protess, "U.S. Civil Charges Against Corzine Are Seen as Near: Test for Ex-Governor," The New York Times, June 25, 2013, p. A1. (Wear a safety belt, Jon.)
Mr. Corzine, whose efforts in the MF Global crisis resulted in the loss of billions of dollars by his clients, but also the mysterious preservation of his own funds -- allegedly, through "borrowing" by Mr. Corzine of about $1.2 BILLION of client money -- may now be facing what the media calls "civil charges."
There is no such thing, legally, as "civil charges." There are civil suits and criminal charges may be brought against a person, often as a result of the same sequence of events. The word "civil" precludes the concept of "charges."
Mr. Corzine, for example, may now face a lawsuit only after receiving a discharge in bankruptcy that makes criminal charges highly unlikely and without being affected in his personal assets.
Much of Mr. Corzine's personal wealth (estimates are close to $500+ million in cash and non-liquid assets) may have been -- or will be -- "transferred" to third parties since the MF Global collapse. This will make such assets difficult to seize by federal officials should they prevail in the suit which they have not yet brought.
If such a lawsuit is brought and if Mr. Corzine fails to win that suit, together with all appeals after a jury verdict, then he may be barred from trading on Wall Street.
At 66 years-old, Mr. Corzine seems not overly troubled about the worst outcome, if it happens, 10 to 15 years from now when he will be in his nineties, assuming that he is still alive.
No criminal, civil, or ethics actions will be brought against Mr. Corzine's lawyers, presumably including Mr. Scott Bazzani, his son-in-law and my old jousting partner at North Bergen's Municipal Court. ("North Bergen is the Home of La Cosa Nostra" and "Mafia Influence in New Jersey Courts and Politics.")
"Federal regulators are poised to sue Jon S. Corzine over the collapse of MF Global and the brokerage firm's misuse of customer money during its final days, a blowup that rattled Wall Street and cast a spotlight on Mr. Corzine, the former New Jersey governor [and Senator] who ran the firm until its bankruptcy."
Was Mr. Corzine aware of my matters when he served as governor and/or the actions as well as inactions of his Attorney General, ANNE MILGRAM, in connection with crimes committed against me? We will know soon enough. Here comes the good part:
"Without directly linking Mr. Corzine to the DISAPPEARANCE of more than $1 BILLION in customer money, the tracking commission will probably blame the chief executive for failure to prevent the breach at a lower run of the firm, the law enforcement officials said. If found liable, he could face millions of dollars in fines and, possibly, a ban from trading commodities, jeapordizing [sic.] his 'future' on Wall Street."
What future? Mr. Corzine is nearly 70 years-old? Far from being contrite about "absconding" with billions of "little brown people's" money while causing them to lose billions more (the final tally put MF Global's losses at about $3 billion), Mr. Corzine was defiant:
"A spokesperson [OAE?] for Mr. Corzine denounced the trading commission for planning to file what he called 'an unprecedented and meritless civil enforcement action.' ..."
What the hell is a few billion dollars stolen among friends? Most Wall Street firms have essentially escaped the financial crisis unscathed. No criminal actions for massive scams have been brought against the primary culprits.
Perhaps if more of the men running Wall Street firms were African-Americans there would be a greater effort to put them in prison. ("Justice For Mumia Abu-Jamal" and "So Black and So Blue in Prison" then "Foucault, Rose, Davis, and the Meanings of Prison.")
Mr. Corzine should be indicted along with many others on Wall Street. Lawyers making these scams possible should be disbarred rather than serving terms on New Jersey's disgraced and corrupt legal ethics committee. ("Legal Ethics Today" and "Is America's Legal Ethics a Lie?")
Most lawyers I knew expressed contempt for political partisanship, bias against minority attorneys, organized crime influence, and price tags associated with the legal ethics process in America's "Soprano State." ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Politically-Connected Lawyers On the Tit" then "Corrupt Law Firms, Senator Bob, and New Jersey Ethics" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics" and "Law and Ethics in the Soprano State.")
It is impossible not to laugh at the absurdities of a hypocritical and failed state legal system that is so visibly unequal and unjust in its outcomes. Do you speak to me of ethics, Mr. Rabner? ("Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?" and "Stuart Rabner and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey" and "Herbert Klitzner, Esq.'s Greed and New Jersey's Hypocrisy.")
Monday, June 24, 2013
"Oblivion": A Movie Review.
"Oblivion" (Universal Studios, 2013): Directed by Joseph Kosinski; written by Karl Gajdusek and Michael DeBruyn, based on the graphic novel by Mr. Kosinski; Director of Photography Claudio Miranda; edited by Richard France-Bruce; music M83; production design by Doreen Gilford; costumes by Marlene Stewart; produced by Mr. Kosinski; Peter Charmin and Dylan Clark; Barry Levine and Duncan Henderson; STARRING: Tom Cruise (Jack Harper); Morgan Freeman (Beech); Olga Kurylenko (Julia Rusakova); Andrea Riseborough (Victoria Olsen); Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Sykes); Melissa Leo (Sally).
... the story primarily unfolds in 2077, [sic.] long after a cataclysmic war between earthlings and extraterrestrials. Nuked to all but radioactive ash, the Earth has been rendered nearly uninhabitable, and its remaining people have fled to galactic shelter. The only ones [sic.] left on the planet appear to be Jack Harper (Mr. Cruise) and his companion Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), who live in a cantelevered aerie above the clouds that brings to mind a "Jetsons" sky pad. [sic.] His job is to repair drones that patrol the facilities that extract resources for the surviving populace and that are under attack [allegedly] from the aliens, or scavs, as in scavengers. [Victoria] monitors him back at their place, waving her hands over a tabletop computer, while in full makeup and [in tight dresses, flawless hair styles, and high heels.]"
Manohla Dargis, "After the Apocalypse, Things Go Downhill," The New York Times, April 19, 2013, p. C10.
Introduction: "We won the war."
A. Politics/Drones/Resources: "Mission Accomplished"?
Tom Cruise is often dismissed as merely the perfect "hero" for so-called "mindless" action movies and nothing more. We forget that Mr. Cruise was the lead actor in such influential films as "A Few Good Men" and "Born On the Fourth of July."
Growing up in the suspicious, post-Watergate and -Vietnam eras, Mr. Cruise's work displays his healthy skepticism about power, also all-American individualism, together with hatred of "mindless" militarism and our recent wars of exploitation. Not bad for a young man from Glen Ridge, New Jersey who was far from "privileged" in his early life.
I suggest that this late twentieth-century ethos of suspicion is revealed even in Mr. Cruise's film choices and interpretations. "Beware of power in anyone's hands," Mr. Cruise's acting career suggests. I concur.
"Oblivion" brings together Mr. Cruise's interests and various versions of his screen persona that, mysteriously, remains youthful and charming as well as essentially American. Mr. Cruise -- like Jack Harper -- is always optimistic about America.
"Oblivion" is both a sci-fi action adventure and political allegory as well as a psychological and religious/mythical exploration of human destiny in light of the industrial poisoning of the Earth. (Jack Harper explains to Sally: "I want the human species to survive!")
I will comment, briefly, on each major interpretive path through the movie, while underlining powerful criticisms of the status quo contained in this script which, deliberately, is ambiguous or invitational for the viewer. The word "survive" is scattered through the script because the writers seem worried about whether "we" will survive. I understand and share their concern.
The drama is not propaganda of any kind. The movie is the opposite of unpatriotic. I will look for future work from these film-makers. The New York Times reviewer missed many of the issues, references and meanings in an angry or dismissive -- even insulting -- assessment of what quickly became the number one film in the world. ("Manohla Dargis Strikes Again!" and "'The Reader': A Movie Review.")
Republicans and Democrats will discover items that are to their liking in this story. For example, the film hints at the decline of American and Western civilization, an important and valid Conservative theme, by means of the symbolic devastation of the representative American city, New York, a city that embodies the loss of values or declining commitment to the principles defining U.S. identity in the film. Hence, the view from a ruined Empire State building ("An Affair to Remember"); or the fragments of the Statue of Liberty ("Planet of the Apes"); most significant of all is the broken George Washington bridge disconnecting the city under attack from the nation, as on 9/11. (Manhattan was sealed off from all entry or departures on that fateful Tuesday, after the collapse of the Twin Towers.)
The theme of disconnection and reconnection is also prominent in the movie which is about loss and redemption of identity for an individual and nation.
Drones are not seen as "making us safer," or as "bulwarks of America's defense systems," but as the ultimate example of "technological dehumanization." The question for the viewer is whether we have become "drones." Mechanical or impersonal interaction is America's preferred mode of "dealing with" others in the world in the post-9/11 era. "We are good," Mr. Bush explained, "they are evil."
Victoria's beauty is strangely cold, neutral, automatic for reasons that will not be revealed immediately. The viewer is shocked to find such a beautiful woman "alienating" -- or difficult to connect with -- in the way that a machine evokes no affective response, normally. This is brilliant acting by Ms. Riseborough. ("The Galatea Scenario and the Mind/Body Problem.")
As "Sally's" creature, Victoria reflects a technological inhumanity that places instrumental reason over affective loyalties. Science over humanism? ("'The Stepford Wives': A Movie Review.")
Opposition to anonymous killing in a desert-like landscape reminiscent of Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq, the suction of sea water (oil?), causing further irreversible damage to the planet, as only one part of the extirpation of life on Earth in favor of machines and death, the mysterious "others" dwelling in the "Wastelands" (T.S. Eliot) of a blasted territory -- all of this reflects nightly newscasts describing a rising death toll from U.S. efforts to plunder the earth's resources by stealing them from billions of "little brown people" who are the rightful owners of these resources.
The film raises the timely question whether such thefts and our drone killings are compatible with America's identity and/or the vision of a Constitutional Republic offered by the Framers at the birth of the nation in priceless documents defining the brave and noble mission of America as "the last and best hope for man." (Thomas Jefferson.)
An analogy is drawn between the virtuous early Romans of the Republic -- Cicero's dialogues come to mind -- and the decadent later denizens of a collapsing empire by way of Thomas Babington MaCaulay's "The Lays of Ancient Rome" which is quoted in the script to illustrate the principle of sacrifice for which America's Roman soldier, Jack Harper, will offer his life.
It is not simply Jack Harper who must recover memories of himself by way of an earlier love, but his nation and humanity which must regain a sense of collective memory, civilization, or history that has been lost in the Wastelands of the desert where we are. ("What is memory?")
B. Psychology: Memory, Dreams, Selves and Time-Spirals.
The landscape in the film is developed from key images by surrealist painters as well as cinema directors (Dali, Magritte, Cocteau), and it is also an inner-territory or psychic geography representing the mind of protagonist, Jack Harper.
The women occupying this mythic landscape are filtered through the perceiving consciousness of the protagonist. The women embody the Jungian archetypes of "Spiritual Sister" (Victoria) and "Love-Object" (Julia).
Ms. Riseborough displays a highly British efficiency and professionalism yet still manages to provide a calculated erotic energy to balance self-containment. Victoria's costumes convey the impression of a uniform-like purposefulness and discipline without sacrificing feminine allure. Victoria is the designer-wife as imagined by a computer. ("'Revolutionary Road': A Movie Review.")
Olga Kurylenko's "Julia" offers the actress -- best recalled in a fruitless search for James Bond -- the opportunity to serve as love-object and embodiment of revolutionary authenticity. Perhaps this explains the character's Russian origins. Julia is a fighter and free. Unlike Victoria who is all about comformity to a mechanical order, Julia is a rebel with a cause.
These female characters are dual aspects of a single feminine divinity in world mythology. She sometimes appears as two women; at other times, she is singular. ("Duality in Christian Feminine Identity" and "'Total Recall': A Movie Review.")
The movie journey is more Jungian than Freudian: From Civilization and Its Discontents to Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Julia is the only character granted access and entry to Jack's "inner-Eden," for example, an "oasis" (or return) to nature's greenery at the center of the desert.
The desert is the place of withdrawal in the self to which the mythic hero journeys in abandoning the world. The desert is where Christ was tempted by Lucifer. It is where the Buddha wandered before meditating under the protection of the king cobra and encountering "Mara" -- the king of illusions. ("What is memory?" and "'The English Patient': A Movie Review.")
Within this green oasis, aesthetic and spiritual values survive in recollection. Fragments of our dying civilization are taken there: books rescued from a ruined Library of Congress, unread, forgotten, collecting dust find new life. This is what it is like for books today in the "Age of Twitter." (Can you "twitter" about War and Peace for me? "It's about Russia!")
Paintings, like the highly significant "Christina's World" by N.C. Wyeth, are rescued from oblivion. Music, in the form of old phonograph records played on an ancient device, fill the night with magical sounds that reflect the hero's mood. Memories usually have their own soundtrack.
This is Jack's version of the "enchanted grove," the clearing in the forest where the good knight finds the princess, chest of gold, and/or dragon. Not surprisingly, these classic Romantic themes are introduced in defense of values of self-giving love of country and others that is associated with the books held before the camera by Jack: Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and MaCaulay's heroic couplets of warriors' courage.
Dickens describes two cities, one in turmoil (Paris) and the other at peace (London). The film depicts persons living in a celestial technological paradise as others scavenge for scraps below. This is to underline the perception of America's role in the Middle East and elsewhere at the moment.
We live in the heavens; others grovel for scraps closer to the ground. We seem not to be troubled by this cruel state of affairs which, unsurprisingly, is far from conducive to peace and cooperation among nations. ("'Elysium': A Movie Review.")
"Christina's World" depicts the place where a young and broken woman with her back to the viewer can be beautiful. The subject of the portrait was a handicapped young woman, Christina, whom the painter wished to depict as lovely and aspiring (along with the viewer of the work) to a condition of greater peace.
This classic American neo-realist painting is also a portrait of our national "dream" and the true as well as indestructible beauty of this Arcadia that is America. Like the U.S., the painting is oriented towards the future. It is aspirational. It is Romantic, like the film "Oblivion."
C. Religion/Myth/Art: "Christina's World."
The vision of heaven in this movie has nothing to do with military victory or killing an enemy. It is about simplicity and abandonment of greed. How can humanity return to its Edenic setting?
The wisdom of the movie is concerned with recovery of values and commitments. The brilliant use of a ruined version of the Library of Congress representing the remnants of "Modernity" (the culture of books) in our "post-modernist" era (the age of "drones"), demands that our hero rescue books and their contents as way of redeeming his humanity (and ours), by defying our doomed status as an endangered species on a dying planet -- especially as a single remaining representative of a gender deemed "superfluous." Christopher Norris, "Green Thoughts in a Moral Shade: Anti-Realism, Ethics and Response-Dependence," in Truth Matters: Realism, Anti-Realism and Response-Dependence (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), PP. 98-130 and Andrew W. Butler, "Postmodernism and Science Fiction," in Edward James and Sarah Mendelsohn, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 2003), p. 137.
I have grown accustomed to the category of "superfluous male." Reproductive technologies, some feminists contend, make men "excess baggage" for the species. Andrea Dworkin and Susan Brownmiller, for example, have expressed such views.
Love as freedom is also a time-honored romantic theme celebrated in this movie and in Mr. Wyeth's painting, where Eden is shared in the end with the future, in the form of children bearing a striking resemblance to Mr. Cruise and Ms. Kurylenko. The point was made earlier by none other than William Blake:
I have sought for a joy without pain,
For a solid without fluctuation
Why will you die O Eternals?
Why live in unquenchable burnings? ("'In Time': A Movie Review.")
Jack Harper, like W.B. Yeats, declares by way of response:
I am looking for the face I had
before the world was made.
John Wain, ed., The Oxford Anthology of English Poetry: From Blake to Heaney (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 1-15. Compare E.P. Thompson, Witness Against the Beast: William Blake and the Moral Law (New York: The New Press, 1993), pp. 215-230 with Northrop Frye, "William Blake: The Key to the Gate," in Harold Bloom, ed., Romanticism and Consciousness: Essays in Criticism (New York & London: W.W. Norton, 1970), pp. 233-255 then Harold Bloom, "An Elegy For the Canon," in The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages (New York: Riverhead Books,1994), pp.15-39.
"Sally" is both the stand-in for God and American power expressed in mechanical warfare and the military use of technology. This is warfare without heroism from those in command making statistical judgments allowing them to throw away men's and women's lives.
War is now about the "exploitation of personnel" (killing people anonymously), as soldiers' lives and health are trivialized. Persons are mere "collateral damage" given little weight in pursuit of poorly-understood strategic objectives by leaders who seem as inhuman as "Sally."
I will examine each of these aspects of the film in greater detail (politics, psychology, myth) and offer my assessment of the movie in conclusion.
I. Politics: "We're not supposed to remember, remember?"
A. Woman's Duality: "We're a great team!"
I have suggested that a contrast is offered in the movie between the lives of Victoria and Jack in the smooth, cool, technological bubble that is absurdly comfortable against the lives of miserable others below.
Dwelling in the sky is much better than struggling desperately with the hot, hungry, and dangerous "scavengers," creatures who are barely surviving. One suggested analogy is between the First and Third World, affluence and poverty, violence as opposed to safety.
America is the dwelling in the sky; a place where beautiful people live in scientifically-planned splendor, with gadgets that will even suffer for us as we delight in sexual play with gorgeous Brits in skin-tight outfits speaking in Oxbridge accents. This certainly is every man's story in America.
Against this myth of American ease, along with acknowledgement of genuine privilege, the film suggests where America's true wealth is found: America's wealth is a set of spiritual values that are endangered, perhaps by our very material wealth and technological luxury.
Machines do our chores, kill for us, substitute for our consciences and minds ("Just Google it!"), and our "machine-generated" realities ("Oblivion"?) make us blissfully unaware of the human cost of such stylized lives. To live in such a state of unawareness is to be a child. The dwelling in the sky is a kind of womb, or Garden of Eden, to be contrasted with another and very different notion of paradise that will come later in our story.
Jack will emerge into full human status only with the awakening of his consciousness of good and evil, the reality of what drones do and the cost of his privileges become unbearable to him, as is the plight of his fellow human beings.
Awakening to the truth of inequality and injustice is to see that we are all implicated in such evils that are bringing about colossal pain for the vast majority of persons in order to please the greedy few. Departure from the womb is only possible after the arrival of Julia to serve as agent of liberation and praxis.
It will turn out that there are many "Jacks" created and used -- "Sally" is both divinity/evolutionary principle and political authority -- then discarded or destroyed. Jack is a "generic" product on which, perhaps, a patent has been granted.
Thousands of young men like Jack have been broken in body and spirit, killed, discarded in furtherance of America's quest for oil and gold. An image of clone-versions of "expendable" selves in tribute to the Matrix will be offered at the conclusion of our story.
Victoria, like most Brits/Americans "does not want to know." She prefers "oblivion," the childhood condition of amusement, non-thought. After all, childhood is easy and comfortable. "Superman" is the number one movie in the box office as I write this review.
Forgetfulness is provided by entertainment -- America's 24-hour, cartoon-like pop-culture receives a subtle tribute -- and is celebrated. This may be self-referential. "Oblivion" is also an attempt to get your entertainment dollars. The challenge for these film makers is to say interesting things in a commercially viable manner. I am sure that with "Oblivion" the effort is successful. ("'Inception': A Movie Review.")
Why not allow power (our "superiors") to remember and think for us, Victoria suggests? Reality is only what we are told to believe happened. ("What is memory?" and "Nihilists in Disneyworld.")
Victoria says: "We're not supposed to remember, remember?" This struggle is all about "weapons of mass destruction" and not oil or other resources. "We won the war." "Mission accomplished!" "Stay the course." A number of such meaningless slogans lifted directly from news coverage of the various Iraq wars and Afghanistan's "military operations" pop-up in the script.
Is Syria next, Mr. Obama? Public events in America have become the action movie we are seeing. In contrast, the global population "sees" our propaganda as absurdly transparent. ("Mr. Putin's Advice to America.")
Victoria and "pie-in-the-sky" is Jack's reward for good behavior as a slave. Julia is passion and liberation. She offers self-becoming with the acquisition of a human conscience. Neither love is rejected in a quantum universe where Jack encounters himself at an earlier point in the narrative through time-spirals.
Mirroring relations and wormholes make it clear that the director of this film is interested in contemporary physics. Time moves forward, then backward, only to move forward again. The various versions of Jack are entangled "possible selves" trapped in a revolving-door universe:
"All the successful equations of physics are symmetrical in time. They can be used equally well in one direction in time as in the other. The future and the past seem physically to be on a completely equal footing. Newton's laws, Hamilton's equations, Maxwell's equations, Einstein's general relativity, Dirac's equations, the Schrodinger's equation -- all remain effectively unaltered if we reverse the direction of time."
Roger Penrose, "Cosmology and the Arrow of Time," in The Emperor's New Mind (Oxford: Oxford University Press,1999), pp. 391-392 and Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow, "The (Elusive) Theory of Everything," in Scientific American, August 12, 2013, pp. 91-93. (" ... according to quantum physics, the past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities." The authors defend a "Model-dependent realism" which is a version of Kantian-constructivism close to Roy Bashkar's Dialectical Critical-Realism, as I predicted in my essays on Hawking: "Stephen Hawking's Free Will is Determined" and "Stephen Hawking is Right On Time.")
B. Eros/Caritas/Filia: "The dreams are real!"
Like the abandoned books that recall a life of virtue and heroic values drawn from a more Romantic age, Julia's erotic power as awakening makes transformation for Jack possible by evoking recollections of another world and way of being.
Jack's memories of Julia surface in the water or in sleep, both environments are symbolic of the subconscious realm. Victoria's power of forgetfulness is a daylight energy associated with duty and efficiency: Victoria is the goddess of the day; Julia is the goddess of the night.
Each of these characters embodies the three aspects of love: eros, caritas, filia. Each woman cares for and seems to share in Jack's mission(s) even as they are on opposite sides of the struggle for the planet. Each is an effective and equal partner in a life-project for (or against) power: "We make a great team!"
Constant and contrasting references to "Eden" and paradise underline the Utopian political allegory, not only the psychological or religious meaning of the idea of paradise (a dwelling in the sky), but the distinction between the inferno (the dangerous and hot world below) and the world of power above (Sally's kingdom). Allusions to Dante and Milton (also Goethe's "Faust") would make the point obvious to all, except "Manohla Dargis" of America's leading newspaper.
Heaven or paradise is as variable as the men and women who dream of it. America has established itself as paradise on earth, in a literal sense. However, the "paradise" in America's initial self-vision had nothing to do with "things" or weapons, but was a MORAL vision of free and equal men and women in a just social order at peace with the world.
Republicans may appreciate the film-makers suggestion that something priceless has been lost with the achievement of superpower status that allows for America's pernicious fantasy of global domination.
We will always say: "We won the war." The "mission" will always be successfully "accomplished" -- except that it will also always be incomplete and unfinished, as it should be, because America's "mission" was never a strictly military one. ("Manifesto For the Unfinished American Revolution.")
C. A Mop-Up Operation: "I don't want to know!"
Like Victoria, many of us do not want to know about the sufferings of the little brown persons who must hunger, thirst, or die for our SUVs and comfortable life-styles. The nine year-old child in a factory making our expensive clothes; the women taken from schools at age thirteen, deprived of all rights by governments we put and keep in place -- often in exchange for their assistance with obtaining oil -- are not persons we wish to dwell upon.
Few Americans are aware of the drone policy that results in killing many innocent persons, usually women and children in countries with which we are not officially at war, nor do they know of targeted assassinations of Americans and others, tortures at Guantanamo and elsewhere, illegal phone and computer monitoring, or other mechanisms of control and preservation of our priceless "security" at the cost of our civil liberties.
I was shocked at the indifference in the U.S. media to recent claims by Mr. Snowden of massive American government criminality and violations of the civil rights of persons throughout the world. Mr. Snowden expected an outraged reaction to the NSA's crimes, but was immediately demonized in the American media as a traitor (rather than a whistle-blower) which is how the rest of the world sees him. We have drifted very far from the Constitution when people fail to appreciate what government spying is doing to our democracy. (The size of the type in this essay is altered, periodically, by illegal hackers from New Jersey's government.)
We live in a technological "womb" not all that different from the dwelling of the characters in the movie. We are led to believe that "our" concerns are the only issues that matter to the planet's five billion inhabitants while the hunger, desperation, misery of the so-called scavengers' lives are a depressing collateral issue we do not need to worry about or be distressed by -- let's go shopping.
We have become children "protected" from a most grim reality of our own making by a machine-like network of intelligence agencies, security police, military networks and a tidal wave of obfuscations, lies, propaganda that, sometimes, includes the entertainment industry aimed at preventing us from seeing how far we have drifted from the vision of the Framers of America's Constitution. Like Jack Harper, we must "come home" to our identity as a nation.
II. Psychology: "The memories are you."
A. Memory: "Do you remember her?"
Jack's dreams contain visions of a dark haired woman associated with his life before the catastrophe that has engulfed planetary civilization. Equating the external landscape with internal or psychic territory takes place throughout the movie. Accordingly, audience members are also invited to view the cinematic desert as a depiction of the collective subconscious in which all of our lives are being lived today.
Despite the metaphor of the ruined city borrowed from Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents, Jung's notion of the "collective subconscious" may be more helpful to appreciating the imagery of the movie and the political issues being dramatized.
If "modern man is in search of a soul," as Jung expressed it, his discovery of that soul may be concerned with a return to fundamental Western values associated with archaic notions of heroism. Projecting the shadow-self on to "little brown others" is not a solution, but creates the opportunity for great evil.
This possibility of return-to-self-through-self-giving seems distant in a culture that is increasingly alienated from its own founding value system and adrift in a sea of banalities as well as shallow substitutes for thought. ("Nihilists in Disneyworld" and "Whatever.")
The ruined city and desert are about fragmentation of memory, loss of identity, ethics, social living leading to the "space" of self-recovery or nothingness. The agent of liberation is the anima figure, projected beyond the subject, into light and shadow versions of the female "other self," in classic Jungian terms:
"The unconscious feminine side in man, the anima, leads him on a search to discover what is unknown and strange to him, to fill the interstices of his personality which exist because there is no part of his conscious adaptation that involves him fully as a whole man. He seeks his opposite in projected form, in a woman who will embody for him what he cannot be for himself."
Judith Singer, "Anima and Animus," in Boundaries of the Soul: The Practice of Jung's Psychology (New York: Anchor, 1973), pp. 234-235.
Aspects of the "anima" may embody or symbolize a man's different psychic needs by becoming projected on to dual aspects of the feminine archetype. This duality is seen in dichotomous images of the female goddess -- i.e., Athena/Minerva versus Aphrodite/Venus.
The women in Jack's life, similarly, embody the dual archetype of the anima figure, as I have noted, which feeds into the use of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.
B. Dreams: "The dreams are real!"
The messages of the subconscious are veiled in imagistic forms. As a result, persons often dismiss the insights or lessons of the subconscious mind. In the same way, religions teach ethical lessons by means of stories that are often triviliazed by literal persons.
The movie is making a serious point about contemporary society by way of an action adventure sci-fi story. The concern seems to be that the myth and its message will be disregarded by reviewers trivializing the action adventure. (See the Times review quoted above.)
Jack is aware that what he remembers is "real" and that it, somehow, threatens the safety of the life he knows. Yet he must seek the truth of his life and situation alone. In pursuing the shadow version of the anima, Julia, he is seeking his own meaning in the way that his subconscious has instructed him to seek that truth.
Dickens' story involves a man with a double, a twin version of himself, who loves the same woman that he does. The protagonist discovers his purpose as he experiences that love. The solution found by Sidney Carton will be Jack's solution also -- self-giving love: " ... there is no time there, and no trouble there," Sydney Carton said. (Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, p. 373.)
C. Landscapes of Reality: A Tale of Two Cities.
Sydney Carton's sacrifice for his physical double (clone?) and for the woman he loves, Miss Manet, as a sympathizer with the French Revolution that had "created the world anew upon the ruins of Medieval civilization," allowed Dickens to meditate on the essence of love drawn from the Platonic tradition and his reading of Shakespeare:
"I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy, in that England which I will see no more. I see Her [sic.] with a child upon her bosom, who bears my name. I see her father, aged and bent, but otherwise restored, and faithful to all men in his healing office, and at peace. I see the good old man, so long their friend, in ten years' time enriching them with all he has, and passing tranquilly to his reward."
" ... It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known."
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (New York: Barnes & Noble, 2001), p. 234.
Jack will be required to make a similar sacrifice in another "revolution" that is also intended to make the world new. Jack explains that humanity must survive.
Morgan Freeman's character lifts the veil from Jack's eyes by serving as the "Philemon" archetype -- the older man (Merlin) who brings the hero (Arthur) his mission -- explaining that all Jack has been led to believe is a lie. The war has not been won. The mission is not accomplished. His life is not a mop-up operation. The "scavs" (little dark people) are not his enemies, but fellow slaves struggling for freedom from oppression.
"Julia" already possesses this wisdom and absorbs "Victoria" ("the machines got it wrong!"), these two are the same woman, as freedom fighter and life-partner.
Knowledge is liberation and restoration of the fruits of Jack's civilization -- poetry, beauty in the visual arts, music, nature, the future in the form of their children, and "death" to the machines.
III. Myth: "Welcome home, Jack!"
A. The Fruit of Forbidden Knowledge: Nietzsche's "Death of God."
Jack's adventures -- especially the exit from a false paradise/Eden in order to return to a genuine or inner-paradise/Eden -- deliberately echoes the works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche is obviously the philosopher for the director of this movie.
"Will to Power," in the form of control by Sally, is also the model offered by the Old Testament God. The death of God is Jack's entry into human status -- as represented by Morgan Freeman's character, Beech -- by way of full adult responsibility, revolutionary commitment (with Julia as bonus), and heroism. In dying, Jack "becomes the person he is."
"The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. 'Wither is God?' he cried. 'I shall tell you. We have killed him. -- You and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? ... Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of infinite space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? ... God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. ... What was earliest and most powerful of all that the world has yet found has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off of us?"
Walter Kaufman, ed., "The Gay Science," in The Portable Nietzsche (New York & London: Penguin, 1976), p. 95 and a virtually identical passage is found in Zarathustra's parable of the "Madman."
Sally is far from a benevolent deity. The awakening from a condition of dependency and slavery by Jack comes with the discovery of his true mission, also eros/love directed against conformity (or obedience) and towards self-mastery or self-becoming through the chosen other, Julia.
The patterns established in the movie with Jack encountering himself at several "circles" in the narrative hint at what Nietzsche calls "the myth of the eternal return":
"The doctrine of the eternal recurrence of all things has actually been referred to previously -- as the Dionysian faith. The man -- Nietzsche chose Goethe as his representative -- who has organized the chaos of his passions and integrated every feature of his character, redeeming even the ugly by giving it a meaning in a beautiful totality -- this Ubermensch would also realize how inextricably his own being was involved in the totality of the cosmos: and in affirming his own being, he would also affirm all that is, or has been, or will be ... Elsewhere, Nietzsche notes: 'Thereupon Zarathustra rested, out of the joy of the Ubermensch, the secret that all recurs!'"
Walter Kaufman, "Overman and the Eternal Recurrence," in Niezsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1974), p. 320.
Jack becomes "one of the eternal ones." (Again: "'In Time': A Movie Review" and "'Unknown': A Movie Review.")
B. Obedience/Disobedience/Freedom: Is "Sally" America?
The smiling face of the mechanical intelligence (or power) at the center of this narrative is the image of a drone subjugating the powerless masses.
Perhaps "Sally" is Mr. Klapper of the NSA in disguise? There is beauty, charm, a dazzling "fassad" that is America for the world's peoples combined with a computer-like or inhuman technological cruelty associated with Superpower commands which must be obeyed.
"There will be dire consequences if anyone assists Mr. Snowden!" This comment from the State Department will make it more likely that nations will assist Mr. Snowden.
Commentators on this movie tried to associate Sally with Hillary Clinton, but a better fit may be someone like Sara Palin or Senator Dianne Feinstein: A thin veneer covers Sally's appetite for power as well as utter disdain for the moral claims of the other. Sally is a twisted and evil version of Martha Stewart or Paula Deen by way of Kubrick's "HAL" in 2001, A Space Odyssey.
Jack's recognition of rival moral claims requires his self-sacrifice for the billions like himself, humanity, and for freedom. Jack believes that it is freedom that is the real essence of America: If Jack is eros in relation to Julia; Sally is thanatos or death principle for humanity.
C. "What will you die for?": Roman Virtue and the Pax Americana.
The movie suggests that there has been a loss of American valor and humane values in our quest for sea water (oil) and impersonal, mechanical domination or oppression of the desert-dwelling "little brown people" who, annoyingly, refuse to obey the machine's orders. ("John Rawls and Justice" and "Little Brown Men Are Only Objects For Us.")
The ruins of American civilization brilliantly chosen to make the necessary point -- kudos to the art design team! -- really depict a condition of moral ruin, decadence, or a "falling away from ourselves" and the once common willingness to lay down our lives, if necessary, "upon our golden shields."
This sacrifice was to be made not in obedience to mechanical authority, but freely, as men and women who are citizens of an autonomous Republic that is symbolized, perfectly, in the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Library of Congress -- all structures that "aspire" towards the heavens, seeking to reach the skies, to name all the rivers and oceans, claim all the lands, protect all of the lives within these shores.
Please see the inscription in the rotunda at the Library of Congress.
Conclusion: "A beautiful death?"
A. Return to Eden.
Jack achieves his beautiful death even as Mr. Cruise demonstrates, once again, why he is a global movie star and will continue to be one for as long as he wishes. The final scenes might easily have slipped into parody or absurdity, but were just on the right side of adventure with a heroic message thanks to his earnestness in the role.
This movie offers America a message that is desperately needed today. The meaning of the film is the opposite of the "Superman" message which (I believe) we do not need. It is Jack's humanity that makes his suffering and heroism possible.
Mr. Cruise has managed to show these qualities -- suffering and humanity -- by representing and embodying what is heroic about our country. If this seems easy to you, then you try it. For this purpose of symbolizing frail and heroic humanity being too big or "super" is the opposite of helpful. (Once again: "'Total Recall': A Movie Review.")
Ms. Riseborough has a sparkling future in movies because in addition to her beauty, she has genuine thespian talent; Ms. Kurylenko is far more interesting than the appellation "Bond Girl" would lead you to believe and stunning without makeup. Supporting players were excellent, especially Ms. Leo and Mr. Freeman, creating a thinking-man's and -woman's blockbuster.
Closure of the hermeneutic circle is the completion of the hero's journey with the achievement of humanity's new beginning. The future of a "rescued" humanity (personal and plural) is symbolized by the beautiful children, who are tiny versions of the leads in the film. Did Mr. Cruise and Ms. Kurylenko have babies just for this movie?
I was surprised that reviewers missed the patriotic subtexts of the action adventure in addition to the political criticisms of the drone policy. This is a fun sci-fi movie which, again, Republicans as well as Democrats should enjoy and discuss. The makers of this movie want everybody's money, equally.
It stands in the Comitium,
Plain for all folk to see;
Horatius in his harness,
Halting upon one knee:
And underneath is written,
in letters all of gold,
How valiantly he kept the bridge
In the brave days of old.
Thomas Babington MaCaulay, Lord MaCaulay, "Horatius," A Lay Made About the Year of the City, CCLX, "The Lays of Ancient Rome," in The Oxford Anthology of English Poetry, p. 317.
... the story primarily unfolds in 2077, [sic.] long after a cataclysmic war between earthlings and extraterrestrials. Nuked to all but radioactive ash, the Earth has been rendered nearly uninhabitable, and its remaining people have fled to galactic shelter. The only ones [sic.] left on the planet appear to be Jack Harper (Mr. Cruise) and his companion Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), who live in a cantelevered aerie above the clouds that brings to mind a "Jetsons" sky pad. [sic.] His job is to repair drones that patrol the facilities that extract resources for the surviving populace and that are under attack [allegedly] from the aliens, or scavs, as in scavengers. [Victoria] monitors him back at their place, waving her hands over a tabletop computer, while in full makeup and [in tight dresses, flawless hair styles, and high heels.]"
Manohla Dargis, "After the Apocalypse, Things Go Downhill," The New York Times, April 19, 2013, p. C10.
Introduction: "We won the war."
A. Politics/Drones/Resources: "Mission Accomplished"?
Tom Cruise is often dismissed as merely the perfect "hero" for so-called "mindless" action movies and nothing more. We forget that Mr. Cruise was the lead actor in such influential films as "A Few Good Men" and "Born On the Fourth of July."
Growing up in the suspicious, post-Watergate and -Vietnam eras, Mr. Cruise's work displays his healthy skepticism about power, also all-American individualism, together with hatred of "mindless" militarism and our recent wars of exploitation. Not bad for a young man from Glen Ridge, New Jersey who was far from "privileged" in his early life.
I suggest that this late twentieth-century ethos of suspicion is revealed even in Mr. Cruise's film choices and interpretations. "Beware of power in anyone's hands," Mr. Cruise's acting career suggests. I concur.
"Oblivion" brings together Mr. Cruise's interests and various versions of his screen persona that, mysteriously, remains youthful and charming as well as essentially American. Mr. Cruise -- like Jack Harper -- is always optimistic about America.
"Oblivion" is both a sci-fi action adventure and political allegory as well as a psychological and religious/mythical exploration of human destiny in light of the industrial poisoning of the Earth. (Jack Harper explains to Sally: "I want the human species to survive!")
I will comment, briefly, on each major interpretive path through the movie, while underlining powerful criticisms of the status quo contained in this script which, deliberately, is ambiguous or invitational for the viewer. The word "survive" is scattered through the script because the writers seem worried about whether "we" will survive. I understand and share their concern.
The drama is not propaganda of any kind. The movie is the opposite of unpatriotic. I will look for future work from these film-makers. The New York Times reviewer missed many of the issues, references and meanings in an angry or dismissive -- even insulting -- assessment of what quickly became the number one film in the world. ("Manohla Dargis Strikes Again!" and "'The Reader': A Movie Review.")
Republicans and Democrats will discover items that are to their liking in this story. For example, the film hints at the decline of American and Western civilization, an important and valid Conservative theme, by means of the symbolic devastation of the representative American city, New York, a city that embodies the loss of values or declining commitment to the principles defining U.S. identity in the film. Hence, the view from a ruined Empire State building ("An Affair to Remember"); or the fragments of the Statue of Liberty ("Planet of the Apes"); most significant of all is the broken George Washington bridge disconnecting the city under attack from the nation, as on 9/11. (Manhattan was sealed off from all entry or departures on that fateful Tuesday, after the collapse of the Twin Towers.)
The theme of disconnection and reconnection is also prominent in the movie which is about loss and redemption of identity for an individual and nation.
Drones are not seen as "making us safer," or as "bulwarks of America's defense systems," but as the ultimate example of "technological dehumanization." The question for the viewer is whether we have become "drones." Mechanical or impersonal interaction is America's preferred mode of "dealing with" others in the world in the post-9/11 era. "We are good," Mr. Bush explained, "they are evil."
Victoria's beauty is strangely cold, neutral, automatic for reasons that will not be revealed immediately. The viewer is shocked to find such a beautiful woman "alienating" -- or difficult to connect with -- in the way that a machine evokes no affective response, normally. This is brilliant acting by Ms. Riseborough. ("The Galatea Scenario and the Mind/Body Problem.")
As "Sally's" creature, Victoria reflects a technological inhumanity that places instrumental reason over affective loyalties. Science over humanism? ("'The Stepford Wives': A Movie Review.")
Opposition to anonymous killing in a desert-like landscape reminiscent of Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq, the suction of sea water (oil?), causing further irreversible damage to the planet, as only one part of the extirpation of life on Earth in favor of machines and death, the mysterious "others" dwelling in the "Wastelands" (T.S. Eliot) of a blasted territory -- all of this reflects nightly newscasts describing a rising death toll from U.S. efforts to plunder the earth's resources by stealing them from billions of "little brown people" who are the rightful owners of these resources.
The film raises the timely question whether such thefts and our drone killings are compatible with America's identity and/or the vision of a Constitutional Republic offered by the Framers at the birth of the nation in priceless documents defining the brave and noble mission of America as "the last and best hope for man." (Thomas Jefferson.)
An analogy is drawn between the virtuous early Romans of the Republic -- Cicero's dialogues come to mind -- and the decadent later denizens of a collapsing empire by way of Thomas Babington MaCaulay's "The Lays of Ancient Rome" which is quoted in the script to illustrate the principle of sacrifice for which America's Roman soldier, Jack Harper, will offer his life.
It is not simply Jack Harper who must recover memories of himself by way of an earlier love, but his nation and humanity which must regain a sense of collective memory, civilization, or history that has been lost in the Wastelands of the desert where we are. ("What is memory?")
B. Psychology: Memory, Dreams, Selves and Time-Spirals.
The landscape in the film is developed from key images by surrealist painters as well as cinema directors (Dali, Magritte, Cocteau), and it is also an inner-territory or psychic geography representing the mind of protagonist, Jack Harper.
The women occupying this mythic landscape are filtered through the perceiving consciousness of the protagonist. The women embody the Jungian archetypes of "Spiritual Sister" (Victoria) and "Love-Object" (Julia).
Ms. Riseborough displays a highly British efficiency and professionalism yet still manages to provide a calculated erotic energy to balance self-containment. Victoria's costumes convey the impression of a uniform-like purposefulness and discipline without sacrificing feminine allure. Victoria is the designer-wife as imagined by a computer. ("'Revolutionary Road': A Movie Review.")
Olga Kurylenko's "Julia" offers the actress -- best recalled in a fruitless search for James Bond -- the opportunity to serve as love-object and embodiment of revolutionary authenticity. Perhaps this explains the character's Russian origins. Julia is a fighter and free. Unlike Victoria who is all about comformity to a mechanical order, Julia is a rebel with a cause.
These female characters are dual aspects of a single feminine divinity in world mythology. She sometimes appears as two women; at other times, she is singular. ("Duality in Christian Feminine Identity" and "'Total Recall': A Movie Review.")
The movie journey is more Jungian than Freudian: From Civilization and Its Discontents to Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Julia is the only character granted access and entry to Jack's "inner-Eden," for example, an "oasis" (or return) to nature's greenery at the center of the desert.
The desert is the place of withdrawal in the self to which the mythic hero journeys in abandoning the world. The desert is where Christ was tempted by Lucifer. It is where the Buddha wandered before meditating under the protection of the king cobra and encountering "Mara" -- the king of illusions. ("What is memory?" and "'The English Patient': A Movie Review.")
Within this green oasis, aesthetic and spiritual values survive in recollection. Fragments of our dying civilization are taken there: books rescued from a ruined Library of Congress, unread, forgotten, collecting dust find new life. This is what it is like for books today in the "Age of Twitter." (Can you "twitter" about War and Peace for me? "It's about Russia!")
Paintings, like the highly significant "Christina's World" by N.C. Wyeth, are rescued from oblivion. Music, in the form of old phonograph records played on an ancient device, fill the night with magical sounds that reflect the hero's mood. Memories usually have their own soundtrack.
This is Jack's version of the "enchanted grove," the clearing in the forest where the good knight finds the princess, chest of gold, and/or dragon. Not surprisingly, these classic Romantic themes are introduced in defense of values of self-giving love of country and others that is associated with the books held before the camera by Jack: Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities and MaCaulay's heroic couplets of warriors' courage.
Dickens describes two cities, one in turmoil (Paris) and the other at peace (London). The film depicts persons living in a celestial technological paradise as others scavenge for scraps below. This is to underline the perception of America's role in the Middle East and elsewhere at the moment.
We live in the heavens; others grovel for scraps closer to the ground. We seem not to be troubled by this cruel state of affairs which, unsurprisingly, is far from conducive to peace and cooperation among nations. ("'Elysium': A Movie Review.")
"Christina's World" depicts the place where a young and broken woman with her back to the viewer can be beautiful. The subject of the portrait was a handicapped young woman, Christina, whom the painter wished to depict as lovely and aspiring (along with the viewer of the work) to a condition of greater peace.
This classic American neo-realist painting is also a portrait of our national "dream" and the true as well as indestructible beauty of this Arcadia that is America. Like the U.S., the painting is oriented towards the future. It is aspirational. It is Romantic, like the film "Oblivion."
C. Religion/Myth/Art: "Christina's World."
The vision of heaven in this movie has nothing to do with military victory or killing an enemy. It is about simplicity and abandonment of greed. How can humanity return to its Edenic setting?
The wisdom of the movie is concerned with recovery of values and commitments. The brilliant use of a ruined version of the Library of Congress representing the remnants of "Modernity" (the culture of books) in our "post-modernist" era (the age of "drones"), demands that our hero rescue books and their contents as way of redeeming his humanity (and ours), by defying our doomed status as an endangered species on a dying planet -- especially as a single remaining representative of a gender deemed "superfluous." Christopher Norris, "Green Thoughts in a Moral Shade: Anti-Realism, Ethics and Response-Dependence," in Truth Matters: Realism, Anti-Realism and Response-Dependence (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), PP. 98-130 and Andrew W. Butler, "Postmodernism and Science Fiction," in Edward James and Sarah Mendelsohn, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 2003), p. 137.
I have grown accustomed to the category of "superfluous male." Reproductive technologies, some feminists contend, make men "excess baggage" for the species. Andrea Dworkin and Susan Brownmiller, for example, have expressed such views.
Love as freedom is also a time-honored romantic theme celebrated in this movie and in Mr. Wyeth's painting, where Eden is shared in the end with the future, in the form of children bearing a striking resemblance to Mr. Cruise and Ms. Kurylenko. The point was made earlier by none other than William Blake:
I have sought for a joy without pain,
For a solid without fluctuation
Why will you die O Eternals?
Why live in unquenchable burnings? ("'In Time': A Movie Review.")
Jack Harper, like W.B. Yeats, declares by way of response:
I am looking for the face I had
before the world was made.
John Wain, ed., The Oxford Anthology of English Poetry: From Blake to Heaney (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 1-15. Compare E.P. Thompson, Witness Against the Beast: William Blake and the Moral Law (New York: The New Press, 1993), pp. 215-230 with Northrop Frye, "William Blake: The Key to the Gate," in Harold Bloom, ed., Romanticism and Consciousness: Essays in Criticism (New York & London: W.W. Norton, 1970), pp. 233-255 then Harold Bloom, "An Elegy For the Canon," in The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages (New York: Riverhead Books,1994), pp.15-39.
"Sally" is both the stand-in for God and American power expressed in mechanical warfare and the military use of technology. This is warfare without heroism from those in command making statistical judgments allowing them to throw away men's and women's lives.
War is now about the "exploitation of personnel" (killing people anonymously), as soldiers' lives and health are trivialized. Persons are mere "collateral damage" given little weight in pursuit of poorly-understood strategic objectives by leaders who seem as inhuman as "Sally."
I will examine each of these aspects of the film in greater detail (politics, psychology, myth) and offer my assessment of the movie in conclusion.
I. Politics: "We're not supposed to remember, remember?"
A. Woman's Duality: "We're a great team!"
I have suggested that a contrast is offered in the movie between the lives of Victoria and Jack in the smooth, cool, technological bubble that is absurdly comfortable against the lives of miserable others below.
Dwelling in the sky is much better than struggling desperately with the hot, hungry, and dangerous "scavengers," creatures who are barely surviving. One suggested analogy is between the First and Third World, affluence and poverty, violence as opposed to safety.
America is the dwelling in the sky; a place where beautiful people live in scientifically-planned splendor, with gadgets that will even suffer for us as we delight in sexual play with gorgeous Brits in skin-tight outfits speaking in Oxbridge accents. This certainly is every man's story in America.
Against this myth of American ease, along with acknowledgement of genuine privilege, the film suggests where America's true wealth is found: America's wealth is a set of spiritual values that are endangered, perhaps by our very material wealth and technological luxury.
Machines do our chores, kill for us, substitute for our consciences and minds ("Just Google it!"), and our "machine-generated" realities ("Oblivion"?) make us blissfully unaware of the human cost of such stylized lives. To live in such a state of unawareness is to be a child. The dwelling in the sky is a kind of womb, or Garden of Eden, to be contrasted with another and very different notion of paradise that will come later in our story.
Jack will emerge into full human status only with the awakening of his consciousness of good and evil, the reality of what drones do and the cost of his privileges become unbearable to him, as is the plight of his fellow human beings.
Awakening to the truth of inequality and injustice is to see that we are all implicated in such evils that are bringing about colossal pain for the vast majority of persons in order to please the greedy few. Departure from the womb is only possible after the arrival of Julia to serve as agent of liberation and praxis.
It will turn out that there are many "Jacks" created and used -- "Sally" is both divinity/evolutionary principle and political authority -- then discarded or destroyed. Jack is a "generic" product on which, perhaps, a patent has been granted.
Thousands of young men like Jack have been broken in body and spirit, killed, discarded in furtherance of America's quest for oil and gold. An image of clone-versions of "expendable" selves in tribute to the Matrix will be offered at the conclusion of our story.
Victoria, like most Brits/Americans "does not want to know." She prefers "oblivion," the childhood condition of amusement, non-thought. After all, childhood is easy and comfortable. "Superman" is the number one movie in the box office as I write this review.
Forgetfulness is provided by entertainment -- America's 24-hour, cartoon-like pop-culture receives a subtle tribute -- and is celebrated. This may be self-referential. "Oblivion" is also an attempt to get your entertainment dollars. The challenge for these film makers is to say interesting things in a commercially viable manner. I am sure that with "Oblivion" the effort is successful. ("'Inception': A Movie Review.")
Why not allow power (our "superiors") to remember and think for us, Victoria suggests? Reality is only what we are told to believe happened. ("What is memory?" and "Nihilists in Disneyworld.")
Victoria says: "We're not supposed to remember, remember?" This struggle is all about "weapons of mass destruction" and not oil or other resources. "We won the war." "Mission accomplished!" "Stay the course." A number of such meaningless slogans lifted directly from news coverage of the various Iraq wars and Afghanistan's "military operations" pop-up in the script.
Is Syria next, Mr. Obama? Public events in America have become the action movie we are seeing. In contrast, the global population "sees" our propaganda as absurdly transparent. ("Mr. Putin's Advice to America.")
Victoria and "pie-in-the-sky" is Jack's reward for good behavior as a slave. Julia is passion and liberation. She offers self-becoming with the acquisition of a human conscience. Neither love is rejected in a quantum universe where Jack encounters himself at an earlier point in the narrative through time-spirals.
Mirroring relations and wormholes make it clear that the director of this film is interested in contemporary physics. Time moves forward, then backward, only to move forward again. The various versions of Jack are entangled "possible selves" trapped in a revolving-door universe:
"All the successful equations of physics are symmetrical in time. They can be used equally well in one direction in time as in the other. The future and the past seem physically to be on a completely equal footing. Newton's laws, Hamilton's equations, Maxwell's equations, Einstein's general relativity, Dirac's equations, the Schrodinger's equation -- all remain effectively unaltered if we reverse the direction of time."
Roger Penrose, "Cosmology and the Arrow of Time," in The Emperor's New Mind (Oxford: Oxford University Press,1999), pp. 391-392 and Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow, "The (Elusive) Theory of Everything," in Scientific American, August 12, 2013, pp. 91-93. (" ... according to quantum physics, the past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities." The authors defend a "Model-dependent realism" which is a version of Kantian-constructivism close to Roy Bashkar's Dialectical Critical-Realism, as I predicted in my essays on Hawking: "Stephen Hawking's Free Will is Determined" and "Stephen Hawking is Right On Time.")
B. Eros/Caritas/Filia: "The dreams are real!"
Like the abandoned books that recall a life of virtue and heroic values drawn from a more Romantic age, Julia's erotic power as awakening makes transformation for Jack possible by evoking recollections of another world and way of being.
Jack's memories of Julia surface in the water or in sleep, both environments are symbolic of the subconscious realm. Victoria's power of forgetfulness is a daylight energy associated with duty and efficiency: Victoria is the goddess of the day; Julia is the goddess of the night.
Each of these characters embodies the three aspects of love: eros, caritas, filia. Each woman cares for and seems to share in Jack's mission(s) even as they are on opposite sides of the struggle for the planet. Each is an effective and equal partner in a life-project for (or against) power: "We make a great team!"
Constant and contrasting references to "Eden" and paradise underline the Utopian political allegory, not only the psychological or religious meaning of the idea of paradise (a dwelling in the sky), but the distinction between the inferno (the dangerous and hot world below) and the world of power above (Sally's kingdom). Allusions to Dante and Milton (also Goethe's "Faust") would make the point obvious to all, except "Manohla Dargis" of America's leading newspaper.
Heaven or paradise is as variable as the men and women who dream of it. America has established itself as paradise on earth, in a literal sense. However, the "paradise" in America's initial self-vision had nothing to do with "things" or weapons, but was a MORAL vision of free and equal men and women in a just social order at peace with the world.
Republicans may appreciate the film-makers suggestion that something priceless has been lost with the achievement of superpower status that allows for America's pernicious fantasy of global domination.
We will always say: "We won the war." The "mission" will always be successfully "accomplished" -- except that it will also always be incomplete and unfinished, as it should be, because America's "mission" was never a strictly military one. ("Manifesto For the Unfinished American Revolution.")
C. A Mop-Up Operation: "I don't want to know!"
Like Victoria, many of us do not want to know about the sufferings of the little brown persons who must hunger, thirst, or die for our SUVs and comfortable life-styles. The nine year-old child in a factory making our expensive clothes; the women taken from schools at age thirteen, deprived of all rights by governments we put and keep in place -- often in exchange for their assistance with obtaining oil -- are not persons we wish to dwell upon.
Few Americans are aware of the drone policy that results in killing many innocent persons, usually women and children in countries with which we are not officially at war, nor do they know of targeted assassinations of Americans and others, tortures at Guantanamo and elsewhere, illegal phone and computer monitoring, or other mechanisms of control and preservation of our priceless "security" at the cost of our civil liberties.
I was shocked at the indifference in the U.S. media to recent claims by Mr. Snowden of massive American government criminality and violations of the civil rights of persons throughout the world. Mr. Snowden expected an outraged reaction to the NSA's crimes, but was immediately demonized in the American media as a traitor (rather than a whistle-blower) which is how the rest of the world sees him. We have drifted very far from the Constitution when people fail to appreciate what government spying is doing to our democracy. (The size of the type in this essay is altered, periodically, by illegal hackers from New Jersey's government.)
We live in a technological "womb" not all that different from the dwelling of the characters in the movie. We are led to believe that "our" concerns are the only issues that matter to the planet's five billion inhabitants while the hunger, desperation, misery of the so-called scavengers' lives are a depressing collateral issue we do not need to worry about or be distressed by -- let's go shopping.
We have become children "protected" from a most grim reality of our own making by a machine-like network of intelligence agencies, security police, military networks and a tidal wave of obfuscations, lies, propaganda that, sometimes, includes the entertainment industry aimed at preventing us from seeing how far we have drifted from the vision of the Framers of America's Constitution. Like Jack Harper, we must "come home" to our identity as a nation.
II. Psychology: "The memories are you."
A. Memory: "Do you remember her?"
Jack's dreams contain visions of a dark haired woman associated with his life before the catastrophe that has engulfed planetary civilization. Equating the external landscape with internal or psychic territory takes place throughout the movie. Accordingly, audience members are also invited to view the cinematic desert as a depiction of the collective subconscious in which all of our lives are being lived today.
Despite the metaphor of the ruined city borrowed from Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents, Jung's notion of the "collective subconscious" may be more helpful to appreciating the imagery of the movie and the political issues being dramatized.
If "modern man is in search of a soul," as Jung expressed it, his discovery of that soul may be concerned with a return to fundamental Western values associated with archaic notions of heroism. Projecting the shadow-self on to "little brown others" is not a solution, but creates the opportunity for great evil.
This possibility of return-to-self-through-self-giving seems distant in a culture that is increasingly alienated from its own founding value system and adrift in a sea of banalities as well as shallow substitutes for thought. ("Nihilists in Disneyworld" and "Whatever.")
The ruined city and desert are about fragmentation of memory, loss of identity, ethics, social living leading to the "space" of self-recovery or nothingness. The agent of liberation is the anima figure, projected beyond the subject, into light and shadow versions of the female "other self," in classic Jungian terms:
"The unconscious feminine side in man, the anima, leads him on a search to discover what is unknown and strange to him, to fill the interstices of his personality which exist because there is no part of his conscious adaptation that involves him fully as a whole man. He seeks his opposite in projected form, in a woman who will embody for him what he cannot be for himself."
Judith Singer, "Anima and Animus," in Boundaries of the Soul: The Practice of Jung's Psychology (New York: Anchor, 1973), pp. 234-235.
Aspects of the "anima" may embody or symbolize a man's different psychic needs by becoming projected on to dual aspects of the feminine archetype. This duality is seen in dichotomous images of the female goddess -- i.e., Athena/Minerva versus Aphrodite/Venus.
The women in Jack's life, similarly, embody the dual archetype of the anima figure, as I have noted, which feeds into the use of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.
B. Dreams: "The dreams are real!"
The messages of the subconscious are veiled in imagistic forms. As a result, persons often dismiss the insights or lessons of the subconscious mind. In the same way, religions teach ethical lessons by means of stories that are often triviliazed by literal persons.
The movie is making a serious point about contemporary society by way of an action adventure sci-fi story. The concern seems to be that the myth and its message will be disregarded by reviewers trivializing the action adventure. (See the Times review quoted above.)
Jack is aware that what he remembers is "real" and that it, somehow, threatens the safety of the life he knows. Yet he must seek the truth of his life and situation alone. In pursuing the shadow version of the anima, Julia, he is seeking his own meaning in the way that his subconscious has instructed him to seek that truth.
Dickens' story involves a man with a double, a twin version of himself, who loves the same woman that he does. The protagonist discovers his purpose as he experiences that love. The solution found by Sidney Carton will be Jack's solution also -- self-giving love: " ... there is no time there, and no trouble there," Sydney Carton said. (Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, p. 373.)
C. Landscapes of Reality: A Tale of Two Cities.
Sydney Carton's sacrifice for his physical double (clone?) and for the woman he loves, Miss Manet, as a sympathizer with the French Revolution that had "created the world anew upon the ruins of Medieval civilization," allowed Dickens to meditate on the essence of love drawn from the Platonic tradition and his reading of Shakespeare:
"I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy, in that England which I will see no more. I see Her [sic.] with a child upon her bosom, who bears my name. I see her father, aged and bent, but otherwise restored, and faithful to all men in his healing office, and at peace. I see the good old man, so long their friend, in ten years' time enriching them with all he has, and passing tranquilly to his reward."
" ... It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known."
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (New York: Barnes & Noble, 2001), p. 234.
Jack will be required to make a similar sacrifice in another "revolution" that is also intended to make the world new. Jack explains that humanity must survive.
Morgan Freeman's character lifts the veil from Jack's eyes by serving as the "Philemon" archetype -- the older man (Merlin) who brings the hero (Arthur) his mission -- explaining that all Jack has been led to believe is a lie. The war has not been won. The mission is not accomplished. His life is not a mop-up operation. The "scavs" (little dark people) are not his enemies, but fellow slaves struggling for freedom from oppression.
"Julia" already possesses this wisdom and absorbs "Victoria" ("the machines got it wrong!"), these two are the same woman, as freedom fighter and life-partner.
Knowledge is liberation and restoration of the fruits of Jack's civilization -- poetry, beauty in the visual arts, music, nature, the future in the form of their children, and "death" to the machines.
III. Myth: "Welcome home, Jack!"
A. The Fruit of Forbidden Knowledge: Nietzsche's "Death of God."
Jack's adventures -- especially the exit from a false paradise/Eden in order to return to a genuine or inner-paradise/Eden -- deliberately echoes the works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche is obviously the philosopher for the director of this movie.
"Will to Power," in the form of control by Sally, is also the model offered by the Old Testament God. The death of God is Jack's entry into human status -- as represented by Morgan Freeman's character, Beech -- by way of full adult responsibility, revolutionary commitment (with Julia as bonus), and heroism. In dying, Jack "becomes the person he is."
"The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. 'Wither is God?' he cried. 'I shall tell you. We have killed him. -- You and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? ... Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of infinite space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? ... God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. ... What was earliest and most powerful of all that the world has yet found has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off of us?"
Walter Kaufman, ed., "The Gay Science," in The Portable Nietzsche (New York & London: Penguin, 1976), p. 95 and a virtually identical passage is found in Zarathustra's parable of the "Madman."
Sally is far from a benevolent deity. The awakening from a condition of dependency and slavery by Jack comes with the discovery of his true mission, also eros/love directed against conformity (or obedience) and towards self-mastery or self-becoming through the chosen other, Julia.
The patterns established in the movie with Jack encountering himself at several "circles" in the narrative hint at what Nietzsche calls "the myth of the eternal return":
"The doctrine of the eternal recurrence of all things has actually been referred to previously -- as the Dionysian faith. The man -- Nietzsche chose Goethe as his representative -- who has organized the chaos of his passions and integrated every feature of his character, redeeming even the ugly by giving it a meaning in a beautiful totality -- this Ubermensch would also realize how inextricably his own being was involved in the totality of the cosmos: and in affirming his own being, he would also affirm all that is, or has been, or will be ... Elsewhere, Nietzsche notes: 'Thereupon Zarathustra rested, out of the joy of the Ubermensch, the secret that all recurs!'"
Walter Kaufman, "Overman and the Eternal Recurrence," in Niezsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1974), p. 320.
Jack becomes "one of the eternal ones." (Again: "'In Time': A Movie Review" and "'Unknown': A Movie Review.")
B. Obedience/Disobedience/Freedom: Is "Sally" America?
The smiling face of the mechanical intelligence (or power) at the center of this narrative is the image of a drone subjugating the powerless masses.
Perhaps "Sally" is Mr. Klapper of the NSA in disguise? There is beauty, charm, a dazzling "fassad" that is America for the world's peoples combined with a computer-like or inhuman technological cruelty associated with Superpower commands which must be obeyed.
"There will be dire consequences if anyone assists Mr. Snowden!" This comment from the State Department will make it more likely that nations will assist Mr. Snowden.
Commentators on this movie tried to associate Sally with Hillary Clinton, but a better fit may be someone like Sara Palin or Senator Dianne Feinstein: A thin veneer covers Sally's appetite for power as well as utter disdain for the moral claims of the other. Sally is a twisted and evil version of Martha Stewart or Paula Deen by way of Kubrick's "HAL" in 2001, A Space Odyssey.
Jack's recognition of rival moral claims requires his self-sacrifice for the billions like himself, humanity, and for freedom. Jack believes that it is freedom that is the real essence of America: If Jack is eros in relation to Julia; Sally is thanatos or death principle for humanity.
C. "What will you die for?": Roman Virtue and the Pax Americana.
The movie suggests that there has been a loss of American valor and humane values in our quest for sea water (oil) and impersonal, mechanical domination or oppression of the desert-dwelling "little brown people" who, annoyingly, refuse to obey the machine's orders. ("John Rawls and Justice" and "Little Brown Men Are Only Objects For Us.")
The ruins of American civilization brilliantly chosen to make the necessary point -- kudos to the art design team! -- really depict a condition of moral ruin, decadence, or a "falling away from ourselves" and the once common willingness to lay down our lives, if necessary, "upon our golden shields."
This sacrifice was to be made not in obedience to mechanical authority, but freely, as men and women who are citizens of an autonomous Republic that is symbolized, perfectly, in the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Library of Congress -- all structures that "aspire" towards the heavens, seeking to reach the skies, to name all the rivers and oceans, claim all the lands, protect all of the lives within these shores.
Please see the inscription in the rotunda at the Library of Congress.
Conclusion: "A beautiful death?"
A. Return to Eden.
Jack achieves his beautiful death even as Mr. Cruise demonstrates, once again, why he is a global movie star and will continue to be one for as long as he wishes. The final scenes might easily have slipped into parody or absurdity, but were just on the right side of adventure with a heroic message thanks to his earnestness in the role.
This movie offers America a message that is desperately needed today. The meaning of the film is the opposite of the "Superman" message which (I believe) we do not need. It is Jack's humanity that makes his suffering and heroism possible.
Mr. Cruise has managed to show these qualities -- suffering and humanity -- by representing and embodying what is heroic about our country. If this seems easy to you, then you try it. For this purpose of symbolizing frail and heroic humanity being too big or "super" is the opposite of helpful. (Once again: "'Total Recall': A Movie Review.")
Ms. Riseborough has a sparkling future in movies because in addition to her beauty, she has genuine thespian talent; Ms. Kurylenko is far more interesting than the appellation "Bond Girl" would lead you to believe and stunning without makeup. Supporting players were excellent, especially Ms. Leo and Mr. Freeman, creating a thinking-man's and -woman's blockbuster.
Closure of the hermeneutic circle is the completion of the hero's journey with the achievement of humanity's new beginning. The future of a "rescued" humanity (personal and plural) is symbolized by the beautiful children, who are tiny versions of the leads in the film. Did Mr. Cruise and Ms. Kurylenko have babies just for this movie?
I was surprised that reviewers missed the patriotic subtexts of the action adventure in addition to the political criticisms of the drone policy. This is a fun sci-fi movie which, again, Republicans as well as Democrats should enjoy and discuss. The makers of this movie want everybody's money, equally.
It stands in the Comitium,
Plain for all folk to see;
Horatius in his harness,
Halting upon one knee:
And underneath is written,
in letters all of gold,
How valiantly he kept the bridge
In the brave days of old.
Thomas Babington MaCaulay, Lord MaCaulay, "Horatius," A Lay Made About the Year of the City, CCLX, "The Lays of Ancient Rome," in The Oxford Anthology of English Poetry, p. 317.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
You've got mail!
June 22, 2013 at 11:34 A.M. I am in receipt of a letter that purports to come from William de Blasio's Office of the Public Advocate in New York, signed by "Mr. Nicholas Gatto." I suspect that Mr. Gatto is also "Kimberly Zalazar" of the New York Consumer Protection Agency. The letter was addressed by hand, bearing Postage Meter #041L11236097. I do not know and cannot say why the Public Advocate would use a Law Department or N.J. Office of Attorney Ethics Postage Meter number. The postmark is June 19, 2013, zone 10001.
New Jersey's hackers have taken to altering the typeface in these posts in an effort to deface the texts in violation of copyright laws and the Constitution. The effect has been to emphasize, helpfully, a number of points that I am making. Thank you, New Jersey's OAE. Keep up the good work. You are proving my point.
Via Certified Mail, Return Receipt
Mr. Nicholas Gatto
c/o William de Blasio, Public Advocate
Office of the Public Advocate
1 Centre Street
New York, N.Y. 10007
tel. 212-669-7200
Dear Mr. "Gatto":
I am in receipt of your letter dated June 18, 2013. You state that you have received my request for assistance, but "due to incorrect contact information, we [the Public Advocate] have not been able to pursue it."
This is puzzling since your office was able to contact me, successfully, at my home address by means of this very letter signed by "Nicholas Gatto." Also, a number of other government agencies, state and federal, are successfully pursuing this matter against CCA-EOS.
My address and telephone number are already in your possession and appear below. Furthermore, you have used this information to contact me and will now receive my response.
In the event that political interference of any kind is generating these difficulties, I will post on-line my letter responding to your request for information.
My matter cannot be closed since your office is bound by statute to investigate matters "in good faith." A resolution on the merits is called for in this investigation.
Please note that it is a criminal offense to impersonate a public official and a federal offense to use the U.S. mail to perpetuate the fraud.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Very truly yours,
Juan Galis-Menendez
cc: Cyrus R. Vance, District Attorney (w/encl. certif.).
Federal Bureau of Investigation (w/encl. certif.).
New Jersey's hackers have taken to altering the typeface in these posts in an effort to deface the texts in violation of copyright laws and the Constitution. The effect has been to emphasize, helpfully, a number of points that I am making. Thank you, New Jersey's OAE. Keep up the good work. You are proving my point.
Via Certified Mail, Return Receipt
Mr. Nicholas Gatto
c/o William de Blasio, Public Advocate
Office of the Public Advocate
1 Centre Street
New York, N.Y. 10007
tel. 212-669-7200
Dear Mr. "Gatto":
I am in receipt of your letter dated June 18, 2013. You state that you have received my request for assistance, but "due to incorrect contact information, we [the Public Advocate] have not been able to pursue it."
This is puzzling since your office was able to contact me, successfully, at my home address by means of this very letter signed by "Nicholas Gatto." Also, a number of other government agencies, state and federal, are successfully pursuing this matter against CCA-EOS.
My address and telephone number are already in your possession and appear below. Furthermore, you have used this information to contact me and will now receive my response.
In the event that political interference of any kind is generating these difficulties, I will post on-line my letter responding to your request for information.
My matter cannot be closed since your office is bound by statute to investigate matters "in good faith." A resolution on the merits is called for in this investigation.
Please note that it is a criminal offense to impersonate a public official and a federal offense to use the U.S. mail to perpetuate the fraud.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Very truly yours,
Juan Galis-Menendez
cc: Cyrus R. Vance, District Attorney (w/encl. certif.).
Federal Bureau of Investigation (w/encl. certif.).
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Brave New World Revisited.
June 19, 2013 at 5:36 P.M. The printer at NYPL, Morningside Heights branch, was disabled. The usual harassments accompany my writing efforts today. Regrettably, many library patrons lost money and were unable to print their items. New Jersey, please note that I am not the only person using the library.
Charlie Savage & Scott Shane, "N.S.A. Leaker Denies Giving Secrets to China," The New York Times, June 18, 2013, p. A5. (Mr. Snowden may have been stage-managed by Chinese intelligence agents without his realizing it.)
Michael Powell, "After Sexual Abuse, An Abuser is Silenced, Even Indicted," The New York Times, June 18, 2013, p. A17. (Sam Knellner, 50, spoke out about Hasidic rabbi's abuse of his 16 year-old son, then tried to extort money from the abusers.)
Katherine Q. Seelye, "At Trial, Hit Man Says 'It Broke My Heart' to Learn Bulger Was an FBI Informer," The New York Times, June 18, 2013, p. A11. (Joe Martorano, mass-murderer, does not approve of "informer" on criminals revealed by another informer on police activities for the mafia.)
Rebecca Baker, "Leonia Teen Charged in Sex Assault on Child, 3; Suspect in Firehouse Case Has Disabilities," The Record, June 17, 2013, p. A-1. (D.E. Levine engaged in molestation of 3 year-old boy: "So Black and So Blue in Prison" and "N.J. Rabbi Arrested For Child Molesting.")
Gina Kolata, "Poking Holes in Genetic Privacy; Research is Steadily Eroding Scientists' Faith That DNA Can be Held Anonymously," The New York Times, Science Times, June 18, 2013, p. D3. (Don't worry about your privacy.)
Lindy Washburn, "Doctor's Long Fight Brings Win From Justices: Ruling OKs Class Suits on Insurers," The Record, June 17, 2013, p. L-1. (" ... insurance company that wouldn't approve a $20.00 test for a toddler [doctor] feared might have a life-threatening disease" was sued, successfully, by an entire class of affected customers.)
Ariel Kaminski & Alain Delaquierre, "N.Y.U. Gives Its Stars Loans For Summer Homes," The New York Times, June 18, 2013, p. A1. (I see why and how NYU people can be bribed to admit or reject candidates for graduate schools.)
Revelations during recent days of U.S. surveillance and data mining on-line are only the latest indication of the extent to which privacy rights have become a casualty of our post-9/11 National Security State and of the "progress" of technology.
Our communications are monitored, our medical histories and all other records of our lives become the illegal property of the state. The word "illegal" may simply not mean much any more.
Our preferences, tastes, values are tested and (sometimes) manufactured by marketers and advertisers. Some of us are subjected to drugging, hypnosis, and other forms of interrogational torture -- a fate that may well await Mr. Snowden! -- in the interest of something called "security."
Others are sheltered from criminal liability. ("Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?" and "Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
I am far less worried about the potential threat from so-called "terror" than about government overreaching.
It is the fear of power concentrated in the hands of state officials -- often stupid and ignorant as well as corrupt officials (as in N.J.) -- that motivated the Framers of the U.S. Constitution to enshrine protections of individual dignity in a Bill of Rights. These rights have become a quaint reminder of a more innocent time in America and are today more honored in the breach than in the observance.
We are negligible statistics in the eyes of government officials in the post-9/11 age. Our rights, concerns, feelings, or our very lives may be sacrificed to a generalized fear of ostensible "terror" threats.
Little thought is given to what motivates the hostility to the U.S. in the world or to the consequences of abandoning so many American Constitutional liberties.
Sinclair Lewis, in a novel entitled It Can't Happen Here, imagined the arrival of totalitarianism in America "with a friendly smile." Our drift into fascism is based on the absurd desire for total safety from "foreign" threats and complete control over our environment. Neither of these desires -- or fantasies -- will ever be fully realized.
We are also unwilling to take a good look at the role that America plays in the world: How are we seen by other people? What do we do to ensure control of so many of the world's resources? Can our "lifestyles" be sustained in a world of limited resources and increasing populations?
To avoid confronting these uncomfortable questions, we resort to the "war" metaphor and perpetual development of new weapons.
New Jersey is unable or unwilling to face systemic responsibility for crimes committed against me and others, probably, having devised a variety of strategies of displacement, changing the subject, lies, obfuscations, distractions in order not to acknowledge basic human rights violations, cover-ups, and continuing cybercrimes as well as censorship. This is unethical and criminal.
Cognitive dissonance allows Stuart Rabner to comment on the "ethics" of colleagues and others while ignoring his own responsibilities for these crimes, or the failure to prosecute the guilty, or to punish unethical professionals involved in my matters, not even to tell the truth to victims. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
How do we live with such contradictions that are seen by the world?
" ... liberty, as we all know, cannot flourish in a country that is permanently on a war-footing, or even near-war footing. Permanent crises justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government. And permanent crises is what we have to expect in a world in which over-population is producing a state of things under which dictatorship ... becomes almost inevitable."
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited (New York: Harper & Row, 1958), p. 14.
Charlie Savage & Scott Shane, "N.S.A. Leaker Denies Giving Secrets to China," The New York Times, June 18, 2013, p. A5. (Mr. Snowden may have been stage-managed by Chinese intelligence agents without his realizing it.)
Michael Powell, "After Sexual Abuse, An Abuser is Silenced, Even Indicted," The New York Times, June 18, 2013, p. A17. (Sam Knellner, 50, spoke out about Hasidic rabbi's abuse of his 16 year-old son, then tried to extort money from the abusers.)
Katherine Q. Seelye, "At Trial, Hit Man Says 'It Broke My Heart' to Learn Bulger Was an FBI Informer," The New York Times, June 18, 2013, p. A11. (Joe Martorano, mass-murderer, does not approve of "informer" on criminals revealed by another informer on police activities for the mafia.)
Rebecca Baker, "Leonia Teen Charged in Sex Assault on Child, 3; Suspect in Firehouse Case Has Disabilities," The Record, June 17, 2013, p. A-1. (D.E. Levine engaged in molestation of 3 year-old boy: "So Black and So Blue in Prison" and "N.J. Rabbi Arrested For Child Molesting.")
Gina Kolata, "Poking Holes in Genetic Privacy; Research is Steadily Eroding Scientists' Faith That DNA Can be Held Anonymously," The New York Times, Science Times, June 18, 2013, p. D3. (Don't worry about your privacy.)
Lindy Washburn, "Doctor's Long Fight Brings Win From Justices: Ruling OKs Class Suits on Insurers," The Record, June 17, 2013, p. L-1. (" ... insurance company that wouldn't approve a $20.00 test for a toddler [doctor] feared might have a life-threatening disease" was sued, successfully, by an entire class of affected customers.)
Ariel Kaminski & Alain Delaquierre, "N.Y.U. Gives Its Stars Loans For Summer Homes," The New York Times, June 18, 2013, p. A1. (I see why and how NYU people can be bribed to admit or reject candidates for graduate schools.)
Revelations during recent days of U.S. surveillance and data mining on-line are only the latest indication of the extent to which privacy rights have become a casualty of our post-9/11 National Security State and of the "progress" of technology.
Our communications are monitored, our medical histories and all other records of our lives become the illegal property of the state. The word "illegal" may simply not mean much any more.
Our preferences, tastes, values are tested and (sometimes) manufactured by marketers and advertisers. Some of us are subjected to drugging, hypnosis, and other forms of interrogational torture -- a fate that may well await Mr. Snowden! -- in the interest of something called "security."
Others are sheltered from criminal liability. ("Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?" and "Deborah T. Poritz and Conduct Unbecoming to the Judiciary in New Jersey.")
I am far less worried about the potential threat from so-called "terror" than about government overreaching.
It is the fear of power concentrated in the hands of state officials -- often stupid and ignorant as well as corrupt officials (as in N.J.) -- that motivated the Framers of the U.S. Constitution to enshrine protections of individual dignity in a Bill of Rights. These rights have become a quaint reminder of a more innocent time in America and are today more honored in the breach than in the observance.
We are negligible statistics in the eyes of government officials in the post-9/11 age. Our rights, concerns, feelings, or our very lives may be sacrificed to a generalized fear of ostensible "terror" threats.
Little thought is given to what motivates the hostility to the U.S. in the world or to the consequences of abandoning so many American Constitutional liberties.
Sinclair Lewis, in a novel entitled It Can't Happen Here, imagined the arrival of totalitarianism in America "with a friendly smile." Our drift into fascism is based on the absurd desire for total safety from "foreign" threats and complete control over our environment. Neither of these desires -- or fantasies -- will ever be fully realized.
We are also unwilling to take a good look at the role that America plays in the world: How are we seen by other people? What do we do to ensure control of so many of the world's resources? Can our "lifestyles" be sustained in a world of limited resources and increasing populations?
To avoid confronting these uncomfortable questions, we resort to the "war" metaphor and perpetual development of new weapons.
New Jersey is unable or unwilling to face systemic responsibility for crimes committed against me and others, probably, having devised a variety of strategies of displacement, changing the subject, lies, obfuscations, distractions in order not to acknowledge basic human rights violations, cover-ups, and continuing cybercrimes as well as censorship. This is unethical and criminal.
Cognitive dissonance allows Stuart Rabner to comment on the "ethics" of colleagues and others while ignoring his own responsibilities for these crimes, or the failure to prosecute the guilty, or to punish unethical professionals involved in my matters, not even to tell the truth to victims. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
How do we live with such contradictions that are seen by the world?
" ... liberty, as we all know, cannot flourish in a country that is permanently on a war-footing, or even near-war footing. Permanent crises justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government. And permanent crises is what we have to expect in a world in which over-population is producing a state of things under which dictatorship ... becomes almost inevitable."
Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited (New York: Harper & Row, 1958), p. 14.
Friday, June 14, 2013
U.S. Accused of Hacking China's Computers.
June 16, 2013 at 1:15 P.M. Attempts are still being made to deny me access to these blogs. I will try to go to public computers and use my lap top at public wi-fi connections. If two days pass without a new alteration of these blogs, it means that I am prevented from accessing my dashboard and unable to write.
June 14, 2013 at 1:05 P.M. My Internet connection was blocked this morning. I will be moving to public computers later today.
Noam Cohn, "Player in Leaks Case, Out From Behind Camera," The New York Times, June 15, 2013, p. A1. (Loira Poitras, possible intelligence operative on "watch list," may be either accomplice or informer, or just a good old-fashioned "journalist." I wonder how many persons are holding intelligence files stolen by Mr. Snowden? Are such persons, if any, located in different countries? How many parties are negotiating with Mr. Snowden at this time?)
Joseph Goldstein, "Police Agencies Are Assembling Records of DNA: Concerns Over Privacy," The New York Times, June 13, 2013, p. A1. (Does your DNA belong to the state?)
Frances Robles, "In Confessions Detective Took, Shared Phrases," The New York Times, June 13, 2013, p. A1. (Like Terry Tuchin, hypnotist and interrogational-torturer, LUIS SCARCELLA, "obtained" so-called "confessions" under mysterious circumstances.)
David E. Sanger, et als., "N.S.A. Chief Says Phone Records Logs Halted Terror Threats," The New York Times, June 13, 2013, p. A18. (Name them.)
Keith Bradser, "N.S.A. Leaker to Fight Extradition in Hong Kong," The New York Times, June 13, 2013, p. A18. (Edward J. Snowden told a Hong Kong newspaper that the U.S. has "hacked into computers in China" even as the U.S. has complained of China's data mining on-line.)
Morsi Secret, "District Attorney Subject to Testing in a Misconduct Suit," The New York Times, June 13, 2013, p. A24. (Jabbar Collins, after serving 16 years for a crime he did not commit, alleges criminal misconduct by Mr. Hynes and the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
Edward J. Snowden said the "United States' surveillance programs had gained access to hundreds of computers in Hong Kong and China since 2009. 'We hack network backbones -- like huge Internet routers, basically -- that give us access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers without having to hack every single one,' the newspapers quoted him as saying."
In addition to the mining of our private computer files and data, we can now count on local police to gather DNA, often illegally, in order to "identify" potential suspects -- which could be anyone or everyone -- while determining what medical information about specific persons merit public concern.
Mr. Snowden's decisions (they are plural) to visit Hong Kong may be more intelligent than it appears to many observers. For one thing, despite the extradition treaty with the U.S., Mr. Snowden may delay matters by applying for asylum. The asylum process could take years to be decided, permitting Mr. Snowden to negotiate for safety from American authorities in exchange for the transfer of intelligence files held by accomplices.
Any number of countries, including China or Cuba, may be interested in these files and information -- perhaps other information we know nothing about -- so as to trade asylum for the information. Moreover, China (by not interfering in Hong Kong proceedings, publicly), could achieve its objectives, privately, through behind-the-scenes negotiations with the U.S., Hong Kong, and Mr. Snowden.
It is even possible that China's intelligence services had something to do with Mr. Snowden's choice of a Hong Kong destination.
"A big question is what will become of the intelligence files Mr. Snowden brought here, and whether China's intelligence agencies would benefit if they get the chance to copy the data."
The intelligence revealed discredits U.S. claims against China's cybercrimes and data mining efforts since American security agencies are much worse offenders (on a world level) than the Chinese.
I wonder whether there are intelligence files Mr. Snowden did not bring to Hong Kong and, if so, who has custody of them. Mr. Greenwald?
Certainly, the timing of these revelations is suspiciously convenient for China during Xi Jinping's visit with Mr. Obama. This Snowden situation could be yet another brilliant operation by China's intelligence services.
Cuba and others -- notably North Korea and Iran -- will be following the story closely, especially regarding the specific techniques of hacking used by the NSA. They may also wish to learn of the form of interrogational hypnosis used by, say, Terry Tuchin and others claiming affiliation with the F.B.I./C.I.A. and Israel's Mossad. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")
China's military is saying: " ... the U.S. is supposed to be the most free country in the world, but they still monitor the Internet" -- also torture and censor dissidents, like me -- "and tap every phone."
Why should any country do less to protect its security?
June 14, 2013 at 1:05 P.M. My Internet connection was blocked this morning. I will be moving to public computers later today.
Noam Cohn, "Player in Leaks Case, Out From Behind Camera," The New York Times, June 15, 2013, p. A1. (Loira Poitras, possible intelligence operative on "watch list," may be either accomplice or informer, or just a good old-fashioned "journalist." I wonder how many persons are holding intelligence files stolen by Mr. Snowden? Are such persons, if any, located in different countries? How many parties are negotiating with Mr. Snowden at this time?)
Joseph Goldstein, "Police Agencies Are Assembling Records of DNA: Concerns Over Privacy," The New York Times, June 13, 2013, p. A1. (Does your DNA belong to the state?)
Frances Robles, "In Confessions Detective Took, Shared Phrases," The New York Times, June 13, 2013, p. A1. (Like Terry Tuchin, hypnotist and interrogational-torturer, LUIS SCARCELLA, "obtained" so-called "confessions" under mysterious circumstances.)
David E. Sanger, et als., "N.S.A. Chief Says Phone Records Logs Halted Terror Threats," The New York Times, June 13, 2013, p. A18. (Name them.)
Keith Bradser, "N.S.A. Leaker to Fight Extradition in Hong Kong," The New York Times, June 13, 2013, p. A18. (Edward J. Snowden told a Hong Kong newspaper that the U.S. has "hacked into computers in China" even as the U.S. has complained of China's data mining on-line.)
Morsi Secret, "District Attorney Subject to Testing in a Misconduct Suit," The New York Times, June 13, 2013, p. A24. (Jabbar Collins, after serving 16 years for a crime he did not commit, alleges criminal misconduct by Mr. Hynes and the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. "New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
Edward J. Snowden said the "United States' surveillance programs had gained access to hundreds of computers in Hong Kong and China since 2009. 'We hack network backbones -- like huge Internet routers, basically -- that give us access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers without having to hack every single one,' the newspapers quoted him as saying."
In addition to the mining of our private computer files and data, we can now count on local police to gather DNA, often illegally, in order to "identify" potential suspects -- which could be anyone or everyone -- while determining what medical information about specific persons merit public concern.
Mr. Snowden's decisions (they are plural) to visit Hong Kong may be more intelligent than it appears to many observers. For one thing, despite the extradition treaty with the U.S., Mr. Snowden may delay matters by applying for asylum. The asylum process could take years to be decided, permitting Mr. Snowden to negotiate for safety from American authorities in exchange for the transfer of intelligence files held by accomplices.
Any number of countries, including China or Cuba, may be interested in these files and information -- perhaps other information we know nothing about -- so as to trade asylum for the information. Moreover, China (by not interfering in Hong Kong proceedings, publicly), could achieve its objectives, privately, through behind-the-scenes negotiations with the U.S., Hong Kong, and Mr. Snowden.
It is even possible that China's intelligence services had something to do with Mr. Snowden's choice of a Hong Kong destination.
"A big question is what will become of the intelligence files Mr. Snowden brought here, and whether China's intelligence agencies would benefit if they get the chance to copy the data."
The intelligence revealed discredits U.S. claims against China's cybercrimes and data mining efforts since American security agencies are much worse offenders (on a world level) than the Chinese.
I wonder whether there are intelligence files Mr. Snowden did not bring to Hong Kong and, if so, who has custody of them. Mr. Greenwald?
Certainly, the timing of these revelations is suspiciously convenient for China during Xi Jinping's visit with Mr. Obama. This Snowden situation could be yet another brilliant operation by China's intelligence services.
Cuba and others -- notably North Korea and Iran -- will be following the story closely, especially regarding the specific techniques of hacking used by the NSA. They may also wish to learn of the form of interrogational hypnosis used by, say, Terry Tuchin and others claiming affiliation with the F.B.I./C.I.A. and Israel's Mossad. ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")
China's military is saying: " ... the U.S. is supposed to be the most free country in the world, but they still monitor the Internet" -- also torture and censor dissidents, like me -- "and tap every phone."
Why should any country do less to protect its security?
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
NSA Surveillance and Your Rights.
June 12, 2013 at 7:24 P.M. Spacing following a double quotation was altered and cannot be corrected at this time.
Scott Shane & Jonathan Weisman, "Debate on Secret Data Looks Unlikely, Partly Due to Secrecy," The New York Times, June 11, 2013, p. A1.
Jessica Silver-Greenberg, "Banks Faulted As Taking Part in Web Fraud," The New York Times, June 11, 2013, p. A1. (More Wall Street scams.)
Stephen Castle, "Accused of Scheming With U.S., Britain Says It Follows the Law [sic.] in Gathering Intelligence," The New York Times, June 11, 2013, p. A12. (Al Jazeera was right. Mr. Cameron has offered a correction: "Britain obeys or abides by the law.")
Michael S. Schmidt, et als., "U.S. Prepares Charges Against Leakers of Data," The New York Times, June 11, 2013, p. A12.
"A Real Debate On Surveillance: Congress should hold hearings on the laws that made rampant spying possible," (Editorial) The New York Times, June 11, 2013, p. A22.
The controversy surrounding the disclosures by Edward Snowden will not go away.
The U.S. government -- allegedly, under the questionable legitimacy afforded by the Patriot Act -- has been collecting massive amounts of data on virtually EVERY person with a cellphone, computer, bank account, or credit card in our world.
Lies about not focusing on the contents of conversations aside, we know that our "private" lives have become the property of the state. I do not regard my inner-life as subject to government regulation nor even invasion by unwelcome guests. I can not accept that any government has the right to control what or how I may think, speak, feel, or dream. These aspects of my life must remain private or autonomous from state control.
The madness of all of this "surveillance and control" is not only illustrative of Foucault's and Baudrillard's worst fears and warnings about government power, but symbolizes the sheer stupidity and self-neutralizing nature of indiscriminate and massive amounts of raw data that simply cannot be interpreted adequately for its meaning by any "program."
No mechanical filter will be adequate to decipher subtle shades of meaning, or the nuances of linguistic form necessary to "read" encoded or indirect significations. The hermeneutic challenge is particularly powerful in light of the massive amounts of information at issue. ("Metaphor is Mystery" and "Mind and Machine" then "Consciousness and Computers.")
Please notice that the legitimacy of this information-gathering, in secrecy, is based on a secret interpretation of a crucial section of the Patriot Act, within the Executive Branch, which has not been "shared" with the Senate, nor with the House of Representatives, nor (indeed) has this cryptic interpretation been tested before the United States Supreme Court. What is not secret today?
How can this "Obama reading" of the most controversial law in the nation be tested for constitutionality since it is "secret"? Is placing such interpretations beyond the scope of review the reason for making them "secret"?
Any number of presidential decisions have been determined to be unconstitutional in our history, notably Watergate: "If the president does it," Mr. Nixon said to David Frost, "that means it is legal."
Mr. Obama reminds me -- as one of his supporters who voted for him twice! -- of Mr. Nixon. It was then President Nixon who argued against Archibald Cox (Glen Greenwald?) that gross violations of Americans' civil rights are hunky-dory when the president (Mr. Obama rather than G.W. or Nixon this time) commits them.
Regardless of who is president, any violation of the Constitution is illegal and invalid action by the Executive, even if we happen to have voted for a particular occupant of the White House.
The injury done to the Constitution and to Americans' freedoms lies in the mere collection of the data outside the boundaries of our Constitution even if it is ostensibly "legal." This remains true even if the data is never "used" or "read" at all. Non-use of the data leads me to wonder why it was collected in the first place.
With the invasion of your conversations, expressions of your thoughts, reading and purchasing choices -- your freedoms are already diminished or destroyed. Saying "don't worry about it" will not help. Worry about it.
The purpose of reasoned decision-making and published decisions justifying invasive government actions is to allow for informed public examination, debate, criticisms, and (where logic and laws indicate) REVERSALS of flawed decisions based on faulty reasoning that must be made known to victims. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
Secrecy defeats all of those purposes conducive to due process of law and democracy. Secrecy remains popular because it often allows officials to escape responsibility for their blunders and the suffering they cause to innocent people. ("Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?" and "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!")
"While they're at it, some of the opinions of the foreign intelligence court that made these collection programs possible could be released. Ms. Feinstein was rebuffed when she asked the court for redacted summaries of its opinions; as chairwoman, she should use her power to demand that the administration find ways to make the court even slightly more transparent."
The Times is correct to point out:
"For years, members of Congress ignored evidence [emphasis added] that domestic intelligence-gathering had grown beyond their control, and, even now, few seem disturbed to learn that every detail about the public's calling and texting habits now reside in a N.S.A. database."
American legislators seem content to bring about their own irrelevance as well as a quasi-military take-over of the government's security responsibilities.
We are drifting towards an ever-more complete form of "fascism with a friendly smile," a Disney version of reality is offered to a child-like and docile population ("Superman," the movie experience, opens this week) even as the iron hand of "our" National Security State tightens about "our" throats. ("Nihilists in Disneyworld" then "Psychological Torture in the American Legal System.")
"I worry about comprehending the effective mechanisms of domination; and I do it so that those who are inserted in certain relations of POWER, who are implicated in them, might escape through their actions of resistance and rebellion, might transform them in order not to be subjugated any longer. And if I don't ever say what must be done, it isn't because I believe that there is nothing to be done; on the contrary, it is because I think that there are a thousand things to do, to invent, to forge, on the part of those who, recognizing the relations of power in which they are implicated, [emphasis added] have decided to resist or escape them. [Or to die trying to be free -- if necessary -- rather than remain a slave.] From this point of view all of my investigations rest on absolute optimism. [Revolutionary?] I do not conduct my analyses in order to say: this is how things are, look how trapped you are. I say certain things only to the extent to which I see them as capable of permitting the transformation of reality."
Michel Foucault, "Dicourse On Power," in Remarks On Marx: Conversations With Duccio Trombadore (Paris & New York: SEMIOTEXT(E), 1991), pp. 173-174.
Scott Shane & Jonathan Weisman, "Debate on Secret Data Looks Unlikely, Partly Due to Secrecy," The New York Times, June 11, 2013, p. A1.
Jessica Silver-Greenberg, "Banks Faulted As Taking Part in Web Fraud," The New York Times, June 11, 2013, p. A1. (More Wall Street scams.)
Stephen Castle, "Accused of Scheming With U.S., Britain Says It Follows the Law [sic.] in Gathering Intelligence," The New York Times, June 11, 2013, p. A12. (Al Jazeera was right. Mr. Cameron has offered a correction: "Britain obeys or abides by the law.")
Michael S. Schmidt, et als., "U.S. Prepares Charges Against Leakers of Data," The New York Times, June 11, 2013, p. A12.
"A Real Debate On Surveillance: Congress should hold hearings on the laws that made rampant spying possible," (Editorial) The New York Times, June 11, 2013, p. A22.
The controversy surrounding the disclosures by Edward Snowden will not go away.
The U.S. government -- allegedly, under the questionable legitimacy afforded by the Patriot Act -- has been collecting massive amounts of data on virtually EVERY person with a cellphone, computer, bank account, or credit card in our world.
Lies about not focusing on the contents of conversations aside, we know that our "private" lives have become the property of the state. I do not regard my inner-life as subject to government regulation nor even invasion by unwelcome guests. I can not accept that any government has the right to control what or how I may think, speak, feel, or dream. These aspects of my life must remain private or autonomous from state control.
The madness of all of this "surveillance and control" is not only illustrative of Foucault's and Baudrillard's worst fears and warnings about government power, but symbolizes the sheer stupidity and self-neutralizing nature of indiscriminate and massive amounts of raw data that simply cannot be interpreted adequately for its meaning by any "program."
No mechanical filter will be adequate to decipher subtle shades of meaning, or the nuances of linguistic form necessary to "read" encoded or indirect significations. The hermeneutic challenge is particularly powerful in light of the massive amounts of information at issue. ("Metaphor is Mystery" and "Mind and Machine" then "Consciousness and Computers.")
Please notice that the legitimacy of this information-gathering, in secrecy, is based on a secret interpretation of a crucial section of the Patriot Act, within the Executive Branch, which has not been "shared" with the Senate, nor with the House of Representatives, nor (indeed) has this cryptic interpretation been tested before the United States Supreme Court. What is not secret today?
How can this "Obama reading" of the most controversial law in the nation be tested for constitutionality since it is "secret"? Is placing such interpretations beyond the scope of review the reason for making them "secret"?
Any number of presidential decisions have been determined to be unconstitutional in our history, notably Watergate: "If the president does it," Mr. Nixon said to David Frost, "that means it is legal."
Mr. Obama reminds me -- as one of his supporters who voted for him twice! -- of Mr. Nixon. It was then President Nixon who argued against Archibald Cox (Glen Greenwald?) that gross violations of Americans' civil rights are hunky-dory when the president (Mr. Obama rather than G.W. or Nixon this time) commits them.
Regardless of who is president, any violation of the Constitution is illegal and invalid action by the Executive, even if we happen to have voted for a particular occupant of the White House.
The injury done to the Constitution and to Americans' freedoms lies in the mere collection of the data outside the boundaries of our Constitution even if it is ostensibly "legal." This remains true even if the data is never "used" or "read" at all. Non-use of the data leads me to wonder why it was collected in the first place.
With the invasion of your conversations, expressions of your thoughts, reading and purchasing choices -- your freedoms are already diminished or destroyed. Saying "don't worry about it" will not help. Worry about it.
The purpose of reasoned decision-making and published decisions justifying invasive government actions is to allow for informed public examination, debate, criticisms, and (where logic and laws indicate) REVERSALS of flawed decisions based on faulty reasoning that must be made known to victims. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
Secrecy defeats all of those purposes conducive to due process of law and democracy. Secrecy remains popular because it often allows officials to escape responsibility for their blunders and the suffering they cause to innocent people. ("Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?" and "No More Cover-Ups and Lies, Chief Justice Rabner!")
"While they're at it, some of the opinions of the foreign intelligence court that made these collection programs possible could be released. Ms. Feinstein was rebuffed when she asked the court for redacted summaries of its opinions; as chairwoman, she should use her power to demand that the administration find ways to make the court even slightly more transparent."
The Times is correct to point out:
"For years, members of Congress ignored evidence [emphasis added] that domestic intelligence-gathering had grown beyond their control, and, even now, few seem disturbed to learn that every detail about the public's calling and texting habits now reside in a N.S.A. database."
American legislators seem content to bring about their own irrelevance as well as a quasi-military take-over of the government's security responsibilities.
We are drifting towards an ever-more complete form of "fascism with a friendly smile," a Disney version of reality is offered to a child-like and docile population ("Superman," the movie experience, opens this week) even as the iron hand of "our" National Security State tightens about "our" throats. ("Nihilists in Disneyworld" then "Psychological Torture in the American Legal System.")
"I worry about comprehending the effective mechanisms of domination; and I do it so that those who are inserted in certain relations of POWER, who are implicated in them, might escape through their actions of resistance and rebellion, might transform them in order not to be subjugated any longer. And if I don't ever say what must be done, it isn't because I believe that there is nothing to be done; on the contrary, it is because I think that there are a thousand things to do, to invent, to forge, on the part of those who, recognizing the relations of power in which they are implicated, [emphasis added] have decided to resist or escape them. [Or to die trying to be free -- if necessary -- rather than remain a slave.] From this point of view all of my investigations rest on absolute optimism. [Revolutionary?] I do not conduct my analyses in order to say: this is how things are, look how trapped you are. I say certain things only to the extent to which I see them as capable of permitting the transformation of reality."
Michel Foucault, "Dicourse On Power," in Remarks On Marx: Conversations With Duccio Trombadore (Paris & New York: SEMIOTEXT(E), 1991), pp. 173-174.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Glen Greenwald, First Amendment Rights, and Surveillance.
June 11, 2013 at 4:35 P.M. I was assigned to NYPL, Inwood branch, #03. Obstructions prevented me from signing-in. I wonder whether "Raymond Hernandez" of the New York Times can shed any light on this mystery? Is "Raymond Hernandez" also "Manohla Dargis"? What other names does this person use as bylines at any (or all) periodicals for which he/she writes? Does Mr. Hernandez do "favors" for Albio Sires? Bob Menendez? For some reason, a number of television channels are blocked or blacked-out, including Time/Warner's New York 1. I wonder why this is happening? Cybercrime? Am I the only Time/Warner customer affected by this? Is this about "Verizon"?
June 10, 2013 at 8:15 A.M. My discussion is based on the listed sources. Interviews with "Edward Snowden" (alleged source for Mr. Greenwald) appeared at "Democracy Now," June 10, 2013 at 8:18 A.M. then were discussed on Al Jazeera which claims the British government is involved in the spying.
Attempts to create links at these blogs are obstructed. I cannot access any e-mail account, no images can be posted here. I suspect that my calls may be monitored. I am not now nor have I ever been charged with a crime.
Mark Landler, "Obama Appoints Rice to Key Post On U.S. Security," The New York Times, June 6, 2013, p. A1.
Edward Wong & Didi Kirsten Tarlton, [Manohla Dargis?] "Wide China Push is Seen to Obtain Industry Secrets," The New York Times, June 6, 2013, p. A1. (China is engaging in illicit intelligence gathering on-line.)
Declan Walsh & Salman Masood, "Pakistan's New Premier Calls For Drone Strike Halt," The New York Times, June 6, 2013, p. A6. (No more drones.)
Salman Masood, "U.S. Drone Strike Kills at Least 7 in Pakistan as New Prime Minister Announces His Cabinet," The New York Times, June 8, 2013, p. A6. (U.S. humiliates Pakistan's new Prime Minister.)
Charlie Savage, et als., "U.S. Confirms Gathering of Web Data Overseas: Officials Defend Surveillance Programs," The New York Times, June 7, 2013, p. A1. (The U.S. is the world's leader in illicit on-line intelligence gathering, including from China.)
Mark Landler & Allison Kopicki, "Skepticism Over U.S. Involvement in Foreign Conflicts," The New York Times, June 7, 2013, p. A16. ("Wars against terror may take 20 to 40 years," the Defense Department said.)
Eric Schmidt, et als., "Mining of Data Is Called Crucial to Fight Terror: Obama Sees a Trade Off," (Editorial) The New York Times, June 8, 2013, p. A6.
"President Obama's Dragnet: Scooping up all our phone records is an abuse of power that demands a real explanation," The New York Times, June 7, 2013, p. A26.
Noam Cohen & Leslie Kaufman, "Blogger With Focus on Surveillance, Is at Center of Debate," The New York Times, June 7, 2013, p. A18.
A wise writer once explained that there are people in America whose rights are taken seriously and many more who don't matter, whose rights may be ignored or violated by powerful officials with impunity.
I am in the category of people who do not matter to the U.S. government -- like Pakistanis killed by drone weapons, a billion Chinese persons (including hundreds of thousands who may have visited these sites), and most of the planet's black and brown populations. ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "What is it like to be plagiarized?" then "'Brideshead Revisited': A Movie Review" and "How censorship works in America" and "Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?")
Recently, some of the people whose rights are not usually violated in America are experiencing what the rest of us have come to know all too well:
" ... Mr. Greenwald, a lawyer and longtime blogger, published an article in the British newspaper The Guardian [sic.] about the existence of a top-secret court order allowing the National Security Agency to monitor millions of telephone logs. The article, which included a link to the order, is expected to attract an investigation from the Justice Department which aggressively pursued leaks."
Mr. Obama's policies are having a chilling effect on First Amendment rights of journalists, writers, philosophers and intellectuals in America. As a lawyer, Mr. Greenwald is especially vulnerable and is, already, facing "pressures" which may include ethics charges from the New York Bar Association. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
To my knowledge, unlike me, Mr. Greenwald has not yet been subjected to interrogational hypnosis/torture, drugging, rapes or other assaults. I cannot say whether there have been illicit entries into his home. It is more likely that Mr. Greenwald will experience such things when the media spotlight "moves on." ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")
With EWAN MACASKILL, Mr. Greenwald exposed "an NSA program, Prism, that has gathered information from the nation's largest Internet companies [Google] going back nearly six years."
Your life on-line -- purchases, websites visited, books purchased or borrowed from libraries -- is being monitored by one "James Clapper" of the NSA and his minions.
Apart from how we may "feel" about the NSA, there is no secure information. Any number of other agencies or entities may gain access to what is collected by the NSA, including foreign intelligence agencies.
Too much information may be as worthless as too little information. Ironically, the code-name of the NSA operation for secret spying on Americans is "Boundless Information."
In order to be meaningful, information must be bounded by logical and evidentiary constraints to say nothing of Constitutional protections.
Officials never think in terms of "less is more." The recent Boston bombings may lead them to accept limits on the unfettered power to spy along with a bit of humility. For now, Mr. Greenwald's troubles should worry every writer and thinker in America:
"The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue" -- of concern for civil or human rights as it fights a "war on terror," according to The New York Times Editorialist -- "Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after Sept. 11, 2001 attacks[,] by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignments of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers."
The NSA is also able to gather Internet communications directly from the seven major servers. This may explain some of what I deal with every day and why I cannot -- it is important to repeat this -- send or receive e-mails nor can I post images on-line. This is a form of censorship and violation of privacy not only for me, but also for persons from all over the world who may wish to communicate with me. ("How censorship works in America.")
The defacements of my writings, prevention of editing efforts, violations of copyright, thefts, plagiarism may be traced to out-of-control censors and monitors.
"To casually permit this surveillance -- with the American public having no idea that the executive branch is now exercising this power -- fundamentally shifts power between the individual and the state, and it repudiates constitutional principles governing search, seizure and privacy."
Surveillance, monitoring continues (secretly) for reasons and based on criteria never examined in a court of law as millions of Americans are spied upon. This will not make us safer or more secure, it makes us less safe and a more frightened people.
"From Palestine through Iraq to Iran, Obama has acted as just another steward of the American empire, pursuing the same aims as his predecessors, with the same means but with a more emollient rhetoric. In Afghanistan, he has gone further, widening the front of imperial aggression with a major escalation of violence, both technological and territorial. ... Simultaneously, a massive intensification of aerial terror over Pakistan is under way. As The New York Times informed its readers, delicately describing the statistic as one that 'the White House has not advertised': 'since Mr. Obama came to office, the Central Intelligence Agency has mounted more Predator drone strikes than during Mr. Bush's eight years in office.' These [drone strikes] were justified in March 2009 by Harold Koh, a former Dean of Yale Law School [ethical?] and a former director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center For Human Rights, and now a senior lawyer attached to the State Department. The unmanned drone strikes supposedly targeting terrorists were lawful, he argued, because they were necessary to defend U.S. national security. Most of those killed have been civilians, including men, women, and children."
Tariq Ali, "President of Cant," in The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad (London: Verso, 2010), pp. 56-57 and Tariq Ali, "Capitalism and Socialism in the Twenty-First Century," International Socialist Review, May-June, 2013, at p. 15. http://www.isreview.org (Government monitoring may prevent creation of a link to this publication.)
June 10, 2013 at 8:15 A.M. My discussion is based on the listed sources. Interviews with "Edward Snowden" (alleged source for Mr. Greenwald) appeared at "Democracy Now," June 10, 2013 at 8:18 A.M. then were discussed on Al Jazeera which claims the British government is involved in the spying.
Attempts to create links at these blogs are obstructed. I cannot access any e-mail account, no images can be posted here. I suspect that my calls may be monitored. I am not now nor have I ever been charged with a crime.
Mark Landler, "Obama Appoints Rice to Key Post On U.S. Security," The New York Times, June 6, 2013, p. A1.
Edward Wong & Didi Kirsten Tarlton, [Manohla Dargis?] "Wide China Push is Seen to Obtain Industry Secrets," The New York Times, June 6, 2013, p. A1. (China is engaging in illicit intelligence gathering on-line.)
Declan Walsh & Salman Masood, "Pakistan's New Premier Calls For Drone Strike Halt," The New York Times, June 6, 2013, p. A6. (No more drones.)
Salman Masood, "U.S. Drone Strike Kills at Least 7 in Pakistan as New Prime Minister Announces His Cabinet," The New York Times, June 8, 2013, p. A6. (U.S. humiliates Pakistan's new Prime Minister.)
Charlie Savage, et als., "U.S. Confirms Gathering of Web Data Overseas: Officials Defend Surveillance Programs," The New York Times, June 7, 2013, p. A1. (The U.S. is the world's leader in illicit on-line intelligence gathering, including from China.)
Mark Landler & Allison Kopicki, "Skepticism Over U.S. Involvement in Foreign Conflicts," The New York Times, June 7, 2013, p. A16. ("Wars against terror may take 20 to 40 years," the Defense Department said.)
Eric Schmidt, et als., "Mining of Data Is Called Crucial to Fight Terror: Obama Sees a Trade Off," (Editorial) The New York Times, June 8, 2013, p. A6.
"President Obama's Dragnet: Scooping up all our phone records is an abuse of power that demands a real explanation," The New York Times, June 7, 2013, p. A26.
Noam Cohen & Leslie Kaufman, "Blogger With Focus on Surveillance, Is at Center of Debate," The New York Times, June 7, 2013, p. A18.
A wise writer once explained that there are people in America whose rights are taken seriously and many more who don't matter, whose rights may be ignored or violated by powerful officials with impunity.
I am in the category of people who do not matter to the U.S. government -- like Pakistanis killed by drone weapons, a billion Chinese persons (including hundreds of thousands who may have visited these sites), and most of the planet's black and brown populations. ("What is it like to be tortured?" and "What is it like to be plagiarized?" then "'Brideshead Revisited': A Movie Review" and "How censorship works in America" and "Have you no shame, Mr. Rabner?")
Recently, some of the people whose rights are not usually violated in America are experiencing what the rest of us have come to know all too well:
" ... Mr. Greenwald, a lawyer and longtime blogger, published an article in the British newspaper The Guardian [sic.] about the existence of a top-secret court order allowing the National Security Agency to monitor millions of telephone logs. The article, which included a link to the order, is expected to attract an investigation from the Justice Department which aggressively pursued leaks."
Mr. Obama's policies are having a chilling effect on First Amendment rights of journalists, writers, philosophers and intellectuals in America. As a lawyer, Mr. Greenwald is especially vulnerable and is, already, facing "pressures" which may include ethics charges from the New York Bar Association. ("New Jersey's 'Ethical' Legal System" and "New Jersey's Office of Attorney Ethics.")
To my knowledge, unlike me, Mr. Greenwald has not yet been subjected to interrogational hypnosis/torture, drugging, rapes or other assaults. I cannot say whether there have been illicit entries into his home. It is more likely that Mr. Greenwald will experience such things when the media spotlight "moves on." ("Terry Tuchin, Diana Lisa Riccioli, and New Jersey's Agency of Torture.")
With EWAN MACASKILL, Mr. Greenwald exposed "an NSA program, Prism, that has gathered information from the nation's largest Internet companies [Google] going back nearly six years."
Your life on-line -- purchases, websites visited, books purchased or borrowed from libraries -- is being monitored by one "James Clapper" of the NSA and his minions.
Apart from how we may "feel" about the NSA, there is no secure information. Any number of other agencies or entities may gain access to what is collected by the NSA, including foreign intelligence agencies.
Too much information may be as worthless as too little information. Ironically, the code-name of the NSA operation for secret spying on Americans is "Boundless Information."
In order to be meaningful, information must be bounded by logical and evidentiary constraints to say nothing of Constitutional protections.
Officials never think in terms of "less is more." The recent Boston bombings may lead them to accept limits on the unfettered power to spy along with a bit of humility. For now, Mr. Greenwald's troubles should worry every writer and thinker in America:
"The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue" -- of concern for civil or human rights as it fights a "war on terror," according to The New York Times Editorialist -- "Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive branch will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after Sept. 11, 2001 attacks[,] by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignments of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers."
The NSA is also able to gather Internet communications directly from the seven major servers. This may explain some of what I deal with every day and why I cannot -- it is important to repeat this -- send or receive e-mails nor can I post images on-line. This is a form of censorship and violation of privacy not only for me, but also for persons from all over the world who may wish to communicate with me. ("How censorship works in America.")
The defacements of my writings, prevention of editing efforts, violations of copyright, thefts, plagiarism may be traced to out-of-control censors and monitors.
"To casually permit this surveillance -- with the American public having no idea that the executive branch is now exercising this power -- fundamentally shifts power between the individual and the state, and it repudiates constitutional principles governing search, seizure and privacy."
Surveillance, monitoring continues (secretly) for reasons and based on criteria never examined in a court of law as millions of Americans are spied upon. This will not make us safer or more secure, it makes us less safe and a more frightened people.
"From Palestine through Iraq to Iran, Obama has acted as just another steward of the American empire, pursuing the same aims as his predecessors, with the same means but with a more emollient rhetoric. In Afghanistan, he has gone further, widening the front of imperial aggression with a major escalation of violence, both technological and territorial. ... Simultaneously, a massive intensification of aerial terror over Pakistan is under way. As The New York Times informed its readers, delicately describing the statistic as one that 'the White House has not advertised': 'since Mr. Obama came to office, the Central Intelligence Agency has mounted more Predator drone strikes than during Mr. Bush's eight years in office.' These [drone strikes] were justified in March 2009 by Harold Koh, a former Dean of Yale Law School [ethical?] and a former director of the Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center For Human Rights, and now a senior lawyer attached to the State Department. The unmanned drone strikes supposedly targeting terrorists were lawful, he argued, because they were necessary to defend U.S. national security. Most of those killed have been civilians, including men, women, and children."
Tariq Ali, "President of Cant," in The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad (London: Verso, 2010), pp. 56-57 and Tariq Ali, "Capitalism and Socialism in the Twenty-First Century," International Socialist Review, May-June, 2013, at p. 15. http://www.isreview.org (Government monitoring may prevent creation of a link to this publication.)
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