Swompdonkey

Worked Up

Let's face it, the blog is moribund. At this point --with the arrival of the twins imminent-- it takes something truly outrageous to sufficiently get my dander up to the point where I feel compelled to post.

That something is the Polanski case, and more specifically, the myriad of "industry" types who have flocked to Roman's defence ever since he got his stupid ass pinched, in Switzerland, of all places.

By now, all the myths and misconceptions around this case should have been thoroughly debunked. It was rape, plain and simple. And Polanski pleaded guilty. And then he fled from justice, and has been a fugitive ever since. Any artistic achievement coming either before the crime, or in the intervening years has absolutely no bearing on the truth of the fact that Polanski never paid for the crime he committed.

If you were looking for evidence that Hollywood's moral compass is irretrievably broken, you can cease searching: Here it is.

Remember the names of these child-rape apologists, folks. Remember them the next time you queue up at the box office.

I hate Bill Maher. But he is 100% right:



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Also: Afghanistan is an ungodly mess. It was supposed to be the "good war", remember? In contrast to the "wrong war" that was Iraq, the Afghanistan conflict, with the imprimatur of the UN and the collaboration of NATO, was the one that even the most doveish of the Democrats could get behind. I'm now worrying about it in a way I never worried about Iraq.

Even in the darkest days, I figured Iraq was winnable --as a search through my blog archives will attest. With Afghanistan, though, I have never been certain, and following the debacle that were the recent elections and other developments. I'm less certain than ever. For one thing, the two freelance journalists who were most reliable on what was really going on on the ground in Mesopotamia throughout that conflict, the Michaels Yon and Totten, always gave a realistic picture of that conflict, so in my book they have credibility.

On Afghanistan, both have sounded, and continue to sound, pretty pessimistic. Yon, in particular, seems to have a real understanding of the situation, and his insights are pretty frightening. It really does seem that things need to turn around there, and quick. Frankly, I'm not sure if the Obama administration has the stomach to do what needs to be done.


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