» Fringe Blog – Writing on Film, Culture, and Things on the Fringe http://www.fringeblog.com The fringe is where the real resides, where substance and style are made one. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:46:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Roving Update http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/07/roving-update/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/07/roving-update/#comments Fri, 15 Jul 2005 19:56:48 +0000 jelewis8 http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/07/roving-update/ When you spend two of your worst days attempting to convince wildly anti-Rove detractors that maybe, perhaps, with a bit of moderation perchance, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about the guilt of the aforementioned vampiric deputy chief of staff, whose nightly visits to the press have revealed two puncture marks in the neck of the White House, shaped like Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, you tend to get a little nutty. I do, at any rate. It’s astonishing how easily I get caught up in these ill-advised debates. One minute I’m advocating a “wait and see” policy, at least until Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald emerges from the bathroom to present the evidence that Rove really is the two-headed minion of a demon understudy named Billy Twanga, the next I’m arguing whether the Niger yellowcake story has any merit (it does–I’ve read the Niger report cover to cocyx). Before long, I’ve spent the better part of an hour researching the definition of “covert agent” and the specifics of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act–not that it does any good, since I’m arguing against someone who wins his debates by calling people names. Ten year olds aren’t this cute.
Eventually, you just have to end it, even knowing you’ll be accused of “running away”. I realized something though. What does it matter? They’re on the other side of the globe. As we know from Patriot Games, only extremist Irish sociopaths hunt down and kill those who piss them off. I think this one guy is from Australia, or New Zealand.
I’m on Day 4 of the infection, which will probably have people in droves suggesting I visit the doctor. I’m here to quell that little piece of advice. No. I have to admit to feeling a little like a walking science lab these past few days. My body has produced an inordinate amount of substances that would easily find a home on a slide or in a petri dish, and probably could be used to seed a distant planet for the growth of new life forms. I don’t know. It makes me realize just how gross things inside really are. Could I handle watching an operation, or an autopsy? I doubt it.
According to the calendar, I’m a mere 24 days away from turning a quarter of a decade old. I will be celebrating in Las Vegas, of course. Of course. There are few places in the country where debauchery and financial stupidity combine with wholesome family fun, but Vegas is remarkably cool about the whole arrangement. The minute you hit the Strip, there’s a sense that everyone’s not quite sure how they should act. And with the glitter, the lights, and the Bellagio fountain spectacular, it’s a clever arrangement, designed to disguise the fact that pornographic pamphlets float, wind-blown, down the street in reams. Sex sells, but it’s never quite as much fun when its being hawked by 15-year-old Hispanic boys. Regardless, Vegas is a town worth visiting at least twice in your life. Once, to get that visceral thrill, twice to realize how hollow it all is. Fun, but hollow.
And then it’s Push On to Los Angeles.
Can anyone tell me why Angeles spells its Los with an ‘o’, whilst Vegas spells its with an ‘a’? Is it a feminine-masculine thing? Just wondering. It’s something that’s bugged me for a long time, and I don’t feel like googling it.
I’ll be posting a review of Layer Cake later this afternoon. Not that it really matters at this late date. But you know me. Anything to substitute for a meaningful post.

]]> http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/07/roving-update/feed/ 6 Out-Plamed http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/01/out-plamed/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/01/out-plamed/#comments Thu, 13 Jan 2005 01:07:45 +0000 http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/01/out-plamed/ Piper has some valuable commentary on the long-forgotten former CIA agent Valerie Plame case, in which allegations of exposing her as a “covert” agent were lobbed against journalist Robert Novak, who wrote a story about her involvement with her husband Joseph Wilson’s trip to Niger to investigate tales of uranium yellowcake supposedly purchased by Saddam Hussein to manufacture WMD. The writers who pen the damning WaPo piece explain:

As two people who drafted and negotiated the scope of the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act, we can tell you: The [Robert] Novak column and the surrounding facts do not support evidence of criminal conduct.

Memories being short in this country, this is unlikely to make an impression in the crowd that believes Bush personally called for Plame’s outing with the intention of ruining Joe Wilson’s career and reputation.
Piper thinks this is more relevant to the quality of editorialism than anything else. With sloppy disregard for anything remotely close to objective reporting, the instant allegations were made that Novak was a messenger of revenge, the call for investigations into the matter assumed too much and failed to dig deeply enough to find the truth. Piper:

Even in the absence of sources who can speak freely, the response from editorial pages and journalism advocacy groups to the Plame affair has been uncharacteristically sloppy. They didn’t know her CIA status, simply assuming that she must have been covert for Novak to exact this retribution on her. They never considered that Plame’s agency role might have been the decisive factor in the CIA sending Wilson, “an expert neither on nuclear weapons nor on Niger,” on the fact-finding mission (and what effort he put in there!). The editorialists and pundits who were screaming for an investigation apparently never thought that other journalists who were tangentially involved might get hauled before a grand jury and sent to jail if they refused. It’s no wonder that so few newspaper readers bother with the staff editorials if this is the average quality of research.

That about sums it up. Newspaper editorial sections have long ago abandoned reasoned debate, investigation, and discourse in favour of shouting matches and shadowy rumour mills. Someone should hire Greg–I have a feeling he’ll be a bit more partial to the actual details and less interested in the sugary crumbs that everyone else seems to fall for every time. Investigative journalist/editorialist waiting in the wings over there in Bethseda, and he’ll work for cheap!

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