Is It Safe?

"Is it safe?" One of the great lines from the film Marathon Man as Laurence Olivier, a Nazi "dentist" (and hunted war criminal) relentlessly tortures innocent Dustin Hoffman. "Is it safe?" Olivier asks as he rips out Hoffman's teeth -- wanting to know if it's safe for him to show up at an espionage drop.

I want to know if it's safe to come out publicly now and talk about something other than what a genius, humanitarian, statesman, benefactor, visionary and sweet old uncle Ronald Reagan was? I hope so, because one more day of the fawning, supine, downright embarrasing, whoring coverage of his funeral and I would have been ready to jump into the grave right on top of him.

After an entire week of this state-financed campaign commercial for the Republican Party can we finally deep-six the whole subject and declare Reagan definitiely dead and gone? Slap his mug where it belongs, on a $3 bill, as crusty Jimmy Breslin suggests and promise, cross our little hearts, to never dig up the matter again?

I hope so...

But wait, oops. I have one last thought on the funeral. George H.W. "Poppy" Bush got all choked up during his eulogy saying the greatest lesson he learned from Reagan was "kindness." Ok. So when Bush 41 was sworn in January 1989, to whom was he comparing himself when he promised a "kinder, gentler" America? Mommy Nancy? Winner of this contest gets a six-pack of little squeezy ketchupy-thingies as a memento of that whole past Golden Era when every day burst with sunshine and every city on a hill, from Detroit to East Saint Louis shined bright.

Ok... as I said, back to The Real World where critical thinking is still permitted. I think it obvious that whatever bump Bush got from the funeral orgy will expire sometime around sunset on Sunday (after the network gas bag shows have re-aired). The big question for me is: Will the UN resolution, the June 30 hand-over to the Iraqis and the apparent backdown of Mullah Sadr allow Bush to politically turn the corner on the war? Or will the messy facts on the ground, coupled with the deepening torture scandal signify continued rough going for Dubya?

I've got friends on both sides of this question. I tend to believe it's the latter -- that the torture story has long legs and Bush is still in danger of getting stomped. Here's today's WashPo revelation that Army General Ricardo Sanchez personally approved "high pressure" tactitcs for use against Iraqi prisoners:

Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior U.S. military officer in Iraq, borrowed heavily from a list of high-pressure interrogation tactics used at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and approved letting senior officials at a Baghdad jail use military dogs, temperature extremes, reversed sleep patterns, sensory deprivation, and diets of bread and water on detainees whenever they wished, according to newly obtained documents... The documents obtained by The Washington Post spell out in greater detail than previously known the interrogation tactics Sanchez authorized, and make clear for the first time that, before last October, they could be imposed without first seeking the approval of anyone outside the prison. That gave officers at Abu Ghraib wide latitude in handling detainees.

Hmmm... "wide latitude." That's a humdinger example of newspaperese, isn't it? Sort of like the wide latitudes Olivier took with Hoffman.

Comments

[steve]

Max Sawicky posted this on his blog, it sums up the Reagan legacy beautifully:

http://www.kirktoons.com/june_2004/images/06_01_04_Remembering_Reagan.jpg

[topo gigio]

Now lookit here, Marchetto. It was really a no-brainer for me to skip the whole ball of wax -- left the boob-toob alone and played with the tubes of my stereo amp.

You said you were going fishing, but you've been here all this time flooding your system with bile over this, the mother of all necrophiliac fests that epitomizes the death-in-life culture of this nation. So what gives? Well, you're a journalist and your profession requires that you keep abreast of whatever shit goes down. After all, your wading waist-deep in it can and does lead to marketable pieces, and the pesos you get oughta take some of the stink out of it. :-)

But on to the Iraq mess. It ain't gonna work. No one will contribute troops. Steadfast and true Berlusconi ("il Banana") is facing the test of European elections and local polls in Italy, not to mention the brewing scandal over the imaginary American blitz that freed three Italian hostages, who apparently were ransomed for 9 million euros. So pressure to withdraw the Carabinieri contingent may have its intended effect, despite the inanity of the opposition parties.

Al-Sadr is a cool mofo, promising to go the peaceful route and leaving his militia free to keep fighting. My feeling is that the Shia deep down have a common agenda and an ultimate goal and the divisions between them, if not red herrings, are far from unbridgeable.
And then there's Al-Qaeda, keeping things nice and hot also on the Saudi Arabia front.

However, as regards Bush's re-election, it's a real possibility, since Kerry seems to be helping.

[ari]

a more fitting eulogy than was delivered at the simi valley affair, echoed in many late night toasts of late, captured best by a poet of some consequence. from mario benedetti (with apologies to those who do not speak spanish):

A Ronald Reagan

OBITUARIO CON HURRAS

Vamos a festejarlo
vengan todos
los inocentes
los damnificados
los que gritan de noche
los que sueñan de dia
los que sufren el cuerpo
los que alojan fantasmas
los que pisan descalzos
los que blasfeman y arden
los pobres congelados
los que quieren a alguien
los que nunca se olvidan
vamos a festejarlo
vengan todos
el crápula se ha muerto
se acabó el alma negra
el ládron
el cochino
se acabó para siempre
hurra
que vengan todos
vamos a festejarlo
a no decir
la muerte
siempre lo borra todo
todo lo purifica
cualquier día
la muerte
no borra nada
quedan
siempre las cicatrices
hurra
murió el cretino
vamos a festejarlo
a no llorar de vicio
que lloren sus iguales
y se traguen sus lágrimas
se acabó el monstruo prócer
se acabó para siempre
vamos a festejarlo
a no ponermos tibios
a no creer que éste
es un muerto cualquiera
vamos a festejarlo
a no volvermos flojos
a no olvidar que éste
es un muerto de mierda

[Bonnie Spolin]

Ari.....
How about an English translation for us Gringos?