quis custodiet ipsos custodes, et cui bono?

[rone]

"Corruption charges!  Corruption?  Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations.  That's Milton Friedman.  He got a goddamn Nobel Prize.  We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it.  Corruption is our protection.  Corruption keeps us safe and warm.  Corruption is why you and i are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the streets.  Corruption is why we win."

Syriana was a good, all too plausible movie.  The above rant was chilling and disturbing.  It makes me wonder when we'll evolve or develop a society that moves past nationalism, which is just tribalism in a suit.

Kim and i also rented The Illusionist, which was quite enjoyable.  Even when you know what's coming, it's very well delivered, and the acting was excellent all around.

Comments

ah yes, come on in for the win...

[drieuxster.livejournal.com]

would this be a bad time to point out that 'greed is good' from wall street was never a rational assertion as it is one of the classic self destructive assertions of the form A is not A and as such should not be cited as a premise in any argument.

The funkadelic you cite is the amusement that started from a whole string of delusional self destructive assertions, not the least of which was abandoning reasoning in favor of stoner assertsion such as "corruption is government intrustion into market efficiencies" - the subordinant clause "in the form of regulations" is merely the sop to make it sound as IF there was some unique form of this market intrusion. But that sub clause would need to be specifically delineated as 'the unwritten and unlegislated regulations outside of the preview and control of the actual government' for it to be a part of the assertion 'corruption', so that the apples and apples model would truly hold. Rather than the effort to contamination regulatory oversite with the smear of mere corruption.

Ah yes... but the real money shot in all of the Syriania Gag that you are playing with there is the fun that we are now sending our kids off to Iraq so that the corrupt folks can use their dead bodies as an excuse to explain to folks why they are prancing around inside, rather than following their rhetorical devices into the street and ripping the fresh flesh of the dead for themselves....

Ah yes, the fun of when it is 'governments obligations' - hence that it is the requirement to send out tax payer sponsored troops to back the Host Government, but to protect the Americans of value, not to be confused with mere americans, such as the military welfare queens, we hire the best mercs that money can buy... Thus helping americans actually understand that IF they are true believers then Jesus will send them Blackwater Army Troops, otherwise they can stand in the queue and wait for the welfare state hand outs from the military....

So yeah, there is way too much fun nested in the rhetorical posturing of Syriania, made all the less pleasant since there are so many of the 'punditocracy' that have been playing the very fans of corruption games in hope that it will work as a compensation...

[kawgirl.livejournal.com]

I meant to go see Syriana. *adding it to her Netflix queue*

I liked The Illusionist, but made the mistake of seeing it right after I saw The Prestige, which IMHO was a better movie about magicians. David Bowie was fantastic as Tesla and I love Michael Caine. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale were pretty good, too. (: If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I have the book, and it's next on my list. Kim really liked the Prestige movie, too.

Agreed

[sambushell.livejournal.com]

Juls and I liked The Illusionist and really liked The Prestige, which has a lot more going on.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

"It makes me wonder when we'll evolve or develop a society that moves past nationalism, which is just tribalism in a suit."

And flags; can't forget the flags. And John Philip Sousa-inspired anthems. I wonder if anyone has done a paper on the effect of Sousa on the rapid rise of nationalism in the late nineteenth century.