When a Boy Cries Wolf and the Wolf is Knocking

In February of 2011, a CIA informant by the codename "Curveball" (Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi) admit that he lied about his information to the German government declaring that there was mobile WMD production in Iraq. A curveball, indeed-- though that revelation might have had more impact about eight years prior. Although to be fair to the Germans (someone has to, now and then), their intelligence did warn that this was a man who was trying to game the system to improve his status for a green card.

Yes, second hand information from German intelligence, given to the United States and flagged for spuriousness, was used by Colin Powell in his address to the United Nations in the march towards the Iraq War. And why not? Donald Rumsfeld gave his opinion that the 9/11 attacks could be used as grounds for invasion of Iraq, before the information had been sifted and examined by cooler heads.

Why not blame him 9/11? This was a despot who flirted with the assassination of George Herbert Walker Bush. Assigning more deeds of villainy to the man does not violate his character. His son, Uday, was a notable psychopath who beat a man to death in front of then-President Mubarak at a dinner party. These are the types of people we were dealing with, and their misanthropy should not, could not be underestimated.

And there it is. The problem was that the shoe fit too well. Saddam Hussein has used chemical weapons on the Kurdish population before, had an active (although fruitless) nuclear program, and even explored biological weaponry in 1985. As time went on, United States intervention became inevitable, and yet inexplicably we left Saddam Hussein in power following the conflict; perhaps it was because the brain trust at the time saw the dangers of a power vacuum in the region. Hussein was left subject to UN weapons inspectors, the geopolitical equivalent of having Bill Lumbergh sticking his head in the country and making sure it was working on Sunday. Annoying for Saddam, but hardly an impediment to mischievous scheming.

The U.S. knew what Saddam was doing, all the way up to 1991 when the United States attacked. The H.W. Bush Administration even held out hope that there would be a coup to replace his leadership before intervention became necessary, as (more or less) happened in Libya to the Gaddafi regime many years later.

All of this historical backdrop may seem superfluous when discussing Syria and John Kerry's speech today, which delivered a case for intervention. He acknowledged the country's weariness with intervening in far corners of the globe, unsure what interests are there and what role our political, economic, and moral position requires of us.

But he also made an interesting point: the UN's mission statement declares that it is designed to only "inspect" for chemical weapons, and report whether they have been used. Impotent to do anything else, it falls on the United States' shoulders to carry out action. He also gave a laundry list of consenting countries, while conveniently failing to mention David Cameron or other critics. Cameron, I might add, is channeling a wee bit of Neville Chamberlain and a pinch Catholic schoolteacher, recommending our response to Syria be a "tsk tsk" and a few "For Shames!"

The preponderance of evidence is overwhelming, and the country finds itself much more in the position of 1991 than 2003. After all, do we not regret the stationary inertia of 1994, when Rwanda was experiencing genocide on a Holocaust scale? The United Nations was the stick in the mud, the fly in the ointment, the gum on the shoes then too. To this day, there are people who deny that the Jewish Holocaust ever happened; need we wait for them to be convinced before action is taken in Germany?

But speaking of flies in ointments-- is the United States in a position, after making such a debacle in Iraq for, as it turns out, faulty reasons? Removing Saddam Hussein was a positive result that came from poor evidence. Inversely, poor results can come from actions based upon good evidence. Should the country rattle its sabers so soon after sheathing them elsewhere?

This is the pickle that we have brined for ourselves. If we want to claim that our foreign policy is based in humanitarianism, in keeping a modest harmony between nations, then we have to act. That is the standard that we set. If we deem it wise to only act in our self interest-- which it well may be-- then the country needs to be prepared for shock and horror-- with Twitter being one of the first mediums to break international news, we may grow accustomed to #DYING_IN_SYRIA next to #WHAT_IS_MILEY_WEARING. IS that a world in which we wish to live?

It's a complicated question, with no clear answer. One has to wonder what it was like, prior to Pearl Harbor, for the United States to sit idly and watch the Germans bomb London from afar. This author can say that, while horrified by the Assad regime, he is not about to join the military and fight the bastard as a result. In a nation of freedoms, as discussed previously, we are free to ignore abominable acts a globe away. Many of us are exercising that freedom. Perhaps, even most are. I hope not-- and not just for the self interest of gaining some readership.

But American soldiers, who have commit themselves to our defense, may very well begin engaging in a new conflict. Today's speech was testimony of the Obama Administration's resolve to not be made to look foolish: by declaring that the use of chemical weapons would change his calculations, he seems to have trapped himself. Yet a further glance will show, like a true law professor, he has left himself room to wiggle.

Current reports are that President Obama is undecided. And truth be told, the Constitutional right to declare war still belongs to Congress. And given that Congress cannot pass a budget, what hope is there that they could agree on what qualifies as prudent use of the military?

It's clear that Assad is a wolf. But who has the credibility to point out what big teeth he has?

Pick a Topic: Miley Cyrus, Ben Affleck, or Syria.... Navigating Media in the Age of Information

The sun shines brightly on these late August days, but most of us still find ourselves behind the screen of a computer for a good chunk of the time. Perhaps, if you're fancy and Apple-oriented, you have an iPad. And that computer is your gateway to the rest of the world. Who among us opens the daily paper to receive the day's news when we have every paper of the day a button click away? And if you are, in fact, reading a physical paper (made of paper)-- are you doing so out of practicality, or out of a sense of nostalgia? Or out of an Amish-based reluctance to join the modern age? Or because you've calculated that opening your front door in a bath robe to collect the paper consumes fewer calories than finding your laptop charger?

It doesn't really matter. The facts are in, and they are indisputable: people en masse are getting their news from the Internet. And let's take a look a that news.

Three stories broke out in the past week. Three big, important stories. Stories that capture our emotions, stab deeply into our hearts and make us question how a benevolent God could allow this world to keep on spinning.

Story 1: Ben Affleck will be Playing Bruce Wayne in the next Batman/Superman film, Shocks the Nation

Whoa! Stop the presses, start the tweets. As a geek, I'm extremely interested in the Dark Knight's next move. What storylines will his exploits be based upon-- will we truly get an adaptation of the over-hyped but still legendary The Dark Knight Returns? Will there be elements of the Bruce Timm animated Universe, which also handled the rivalry? Will Ben Affleck redeem his comic book chops after the lukewarmly received Daredevil? Good heavens, how terrifying.

One of my favorite places on the Internet, gathered the "Best 50+ Tweets About Ben Affleck as Batman". Check it out, it's a solid list and almost entirely funny. But one joke missed my funny bone and hit me somewhere closer to the gut.

I won't send a link to it, but I can paraphrase: "I'm glad those Syrian children were gassed so they don't have to see Ben Affleck as Batman."

Yeah. More on that later. Moving on...

Story 2: Miley Cyrus Performs at the VMA, Shocks the Nation

Miley Cyrus! You were Hanna Montana. We had high hopes that you would elevate above culture and remain a positive role model for young girls! Now that you're discovering your sexuality and being used by a music industry that feigns sex on stage, we're so heartbroken! Wasn't Billy Ray Cyrus, accustomed to fame, supposed to guide you through stardom and help you lead a healthy life? And seriously, what's with the Teddy Bears? What's with the onesie that you strip out of? Does it represent your blossoming into womanhood, all on stage for us to see? I will say this: we all, as a society, want to collectively have sex with Robin Thicke, so that part we get.

Let's be real. The VMA is the venue where this happened:

A monumental breakthrough for gay and lesbian acceptance? A challenge on our Puritanical sexual inhibitions?

No. Come on. It was a cheap gimmick of lipstick lesbianism, with all the profundity and cultural value of a Maxim magazine subscription insert.

Story 3: Syria Confirmed to Have Used Chemical Weapons on its citizens; Nation Remains Ambivalent

Let's ignore the fact that this should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention; preliminary evidence came in months ago and strongly suggested this conclusion. But now we have John Kerry, the Secretary of State, confirming it! President Obama himself said that the use of chemical weapons would be a "line in the sand" for intervention in what could otherwise be an internal affair for Syria. John McCain has been rattling this cage for a year, echoing similar arguments that were used before our entry to Iraq (and probably ignored for precisely that reason, legitimately or not). But the WMDs that we did not find in Iraq, we're saying they are definitely, DEFINITELY in Syria.

Is Bashar al-Assad, this geeky, whitish character with a meek mustache, really a Middle Eastern villain on the scale of Hussein? Yes, he really is.

And that's the news.

Guess which stories got our attention? Guess which ones are "popular stories" trending on the sidebar of the Huffington Post? I invite you to look for yourself.

This, of course, begs the question: is that bad?

A few astute members of the Facebook community have commented: yes, obsessing over Miley Cyrus is nice, but really. Learn about the children that have been viciously murdered in Syria. Likewise, the joke about the Syrian children not "having to see" Ben Affleck play Batman, after offending a sufficient number of people, was rationalized as playing with the same theme: our misplaced priorities. I argued that the joke being on a list about Batman tweets diluted it's "message" or ability to shed light on the issue, and just came across as a Daniel Tosh joke in abhorrently poor taste. My analogy was to TMZ complaining about invasions of privacy during their show: irony abounds.

But that doesn't answer the question. Is it a legitimate critique on those who blithely live ignorant to the horrors of the world, and frenzy over the trivial horrors of entertainment and sport? Are those same critics of the VMA audience impervious to similar criticisms during the month of January, when the Super Bowl grabs them?

Read about Syria. It will make you a more informed person. But will anything change by reading it? What power does a citizen have to make substantial changes to our foreign policy? How much can we trust the United Nations or somebody else to fight this fight, weary of going to war with another clumsy "coalition of the willing"?

And what does that impotence say about our society? Does news consumption make us a more enlightened electorate? Does an enlightened electorate have more to say about how the world should function than the naive, the innocent, the men and women just trying to make it through another day of work and come home to their families?

Will power structures remain, regardless of our attention? Will "the powers that be" continue to simply pursue their interests as they will?

How much should we value the lives of Syrian children? How much of our day should those poor dead children interrupt, across a world of ocean and sand? A lot? A little? Some? Will it make a difference, to mourn them? Should we walk around miserable for the many injustices that this world produces? Or just slightly discontent, knowing that horror is only an airline flight away at any moment?

It's easy to sit in judgement of ignorance. But perhaps ignorance, as they say, is bliss. Ignorance... and pictures of cats. Maybe the Age of Information isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Breaking Bad Recap: Confessions

In this week's episode of Breaking Bad, everybody needs a hug. Especially Jesse, but that's nothing new.

The episode begins at a new restaurant-- seems that the cast of Breaking Bad has decided that eating out is far better than cooking breakfast, as it's now the new normal setting for meetings and discussions. THIS macabre meeting begins at the outside of the meal, with our best buddy Todd. Todd gave a "courtesy call' to Walt that there has been a "sort of... like, change in management? If you want to call me back that's cool. It's not like we just killed ten people or so." Todd continues to crack me up; he's got a strange level of common courtesy and regular manners, while simultaneously being a completely psychotic little nut. I'm still convinced that he has dog-like obedience, but lacks the intelligence to really think for himself on an ethical or moral level.

But anyhow, he recaps the train heist to an amused and interested Uncle Jack and Moustache Mike (I don't know his real name, the show hasn't said it yet to my knowledge).as they finish their meal. I assume they tip well, because they are checking out the waitress (and her ass) before making a trip to the bathroom. There is an obscure Burt Reynolds plug comparing Todd to some movie where Burt jumps out of a helicopter. They follow up with asking Todd if he's ready to run his own lab-- something the viewer knows, no, he's not going to be able to do well. But he seems optimistic and confident, not wanting to displease Uncle Jack like a puppy doing tricks. Uncle Jack seems VERY interested in the money that Walter White was making.

In the post-meal bathroom, Moustache Mike grooms his... well, his moustache, obviously. And Uncle Jack notices some blood on his shoe-- hmmm, we should clean that. They complain about non-smoking and bicycle helmets-- they seem to be of the mind that this country has been nerfed and is now a whole lot less tough. But this is a guy who is charmingly smiling at the waitress while the other side of his neck shows a swastika, so who the fuck knows what he really wants (other than the obvious: money!)

We move to Jesse, who gets a lot more screen time this episode. His opening shot is an incredible mix of up-close and fast-forwarded, muted POV shots-- showing what it's like to be Jesse during his police interrogation over his cash-throwing. By the way, when did that become illegal? Sure it's suspicious, but can they really hold him for throwing around random stacks of cash? Hmmmm....

Hank comes in and gets Jesse to come back to reality, but his words to Hank are "Eat me." And followed by a pretty willful "Why don't you try to beat it out of me." Jesse sees Hank trying to play him ("He really did a number on you, didn't he?") Or maybe he's concerned, but this episode made it seem like Hank really cares more about getting Walt's lying than the reasons he did it or the people that he hurt. To be fair, Hank was upset about the people Walt hurt at the time, and has had some time to cope and deal (not to mention that he's in law enforcement and has to deal with things quickly as a profession).

Saul comes in to save the day after Jesse lets Hank know that he's not willing to talk to him. Saul lets Jesse know that things have gone "nuclear"-- and is thus not capable of being "chill." But Saul being Saul, left to his own devices he'll be able to get Jesse out, which is what Walt wants and needs.

Next we get some more Walter Jr., who is headed out to Aunt Maries for dinner and a chore. Err... what? NO! Walt quickly puts on a bit of makeup to cover his bruise from Hank's punch, and then decides to tell Walter Jr. that his cancer is back, and he passed out as a result of his chemo. It's a brilliant lie, because Walt can use this to manipulate Jr. to stay home by his "own" accord, and explain his injury in one swoop.

Hank and Marie argue over the fact that Hank didn't tell the DEA about Walt yet. Hank got snippy. A very short scene, but it leads to the next one: Confession time, giving a moniker for the episode. "My name is Walter White, and this is my confession." Well, obviously he's not going to admit to cooking Meth, so what, some other "gambling" lie? What's it gonna be, eh?

Break to ANOTHER restaurant, with an eager server who's looking for a good tip (and probably won't be getting one-- should have had Walt as a guest on his birthday). Hank is eye-murdering Walt the entire time at Gardunia's-- home of some amazing Guacamole and Margarita's I can start you off with--- GIVE US SOME SPACE, WAITER! Err, yes, Walter Jr. has been through a tough year, so please don't try to arrest me for my meth empire. By the way, have you noticed how you have no evidence? Marie asks Walt to kill himself- Skyler takes it badly. Hank also starts lashing out at Skyler, with whom Hank has run out of patience and is willing to bring down as well. Walt and Skyler sadly give Hank the DVD confession. AND HERE... WE... GO!

"If you're watching this, I'm probably dead." Ok, of course. "Killed by my Brother-in-Law, HANK!"
DUN DUN DUN.... WAIT WHAT? GAH! Wow. Hank took Walt on the ride-along, to show how much a meth operation could make. Hank is the grand dragon behind the operation, not meekly Walter White the chemist, the dying man, the nerd. If you go back and watch the first episode, and how much Hank kind of bullies Walt with teasing over being an egghead, I'm sure it will make this moment all the more remarkable. Walt even blames Hank for the bomb that killed Gus Fring, a former partner whom HANK goes to war with-- and Walt even admits that he made the bomb. He tried to quit once again, and was given the FACE WOUND that Hank REALLY DID give him. It's absolute insanity. Walt wants the world to see this man for "what he really is." It's using everything Hank believes in, everything he represents, and turning it on top of itself. Walt is strangely specific about the amount of money he was "forced" to give Hank for his physical therapy-- and of course, it really was Walt's money. It's all perfect. And horrible. Hank... is trapped. Later on, Hank's partner Gomez pulls the guys who were tailing Jesse, because they had no good reason to be doing that, as far as Hank can say.

Next, Jesse is taken to the desert and "asked" to relocate, to start a brand new identity. Jesse asks Walt to stop bullshitting him on how "nice" it will be (it won't) and how lucky he is (he isn't). Jesse wants Walt to just be straight with him, the man he viewed as a father and a protector-- tell him what's up and be real, and tell him that he has not choice (and that he could die like Mike DIED, because Mike is DEAD). Walt hugs Jesse-- whether he is sincere or not, it works, and Jesse will leave.

But Jesse is still Jesse, and Jesse wants to smoke a joint in Saul's office before leaving. But that's no good, and Saul asks him to get rid of it-- Jesse pockets it, and scoots past Huell who will drive Jesse to the drop-off point.

There, Jesse waits. And then Jesse realizes that his weed is missing, but his cigarettes are there instead. Huell has fast fingers, and OF COURSE, he took the ricin. The whole Gus Fring thing was a lie.

Uh Oh.

Jesse misses the pick up that was going to give him a brand new life, rages his way to Saul's office, and beats the truth out of Saul.

Walt awkwardly goes to the car wash and retrieves a frozen gun, hidden in the cola machine. Sklyer knows something is up despite Walt's efforts, but whatever, it's Walt.

Jesse moves on to Walt's house, where he spreads around some gas. He might want to burn it down, but we know he won't: we've seen the house in the future, and while it's wrecked, it's not burned down. Walt will intervene, and... maybe kill Jesse, We'll see. We will see.

Final Thoughts:

1. What DOES Saul pay Huell for? Worst. Bodyguard. Ever.

2. Were there any scorch marks in the house in the flash-forward? A quick check says no, pretty sure not, the place is just trashed.

3. Will we ever see the actor who plays "the guy" that Saul uses to hide people? Maybe it's the guy who sold body armor to The Twins...?

4. I want that Saul Goodman spin-off. Really, it's what I want, when Breaking Bad ends.

5. Florida or Alaska? Wasn't the Jesse & Jane plan to go to Australia?

The Bradley Manning Dilemma

Oh, Bradley Manning. An individual that challenges ordinary political alignment, much in the way Edward Snowden has more recently (and, perhaps, more successfully, since he evaded the tendrils of the United States government). Many friends have stated strong opposition to my views on Manning, and I have likewise expressed my concern over his treatment. From first glance, it seems that Bradley Manning's supporters and detractors break down like this: those tied to institutions of government, who oppose his actions, and a more chaotic collective of supporters who are skeptical of the government's capacity to deal with secrets and responsible declassify relevant information to it's "informed" citizenry. With that *cough* unbiased description of the two positions, where do you think this author falls?

It's unfair to paint a one-sided picture, and it's also intellectually dishonest, cheap, and lazy. So I will briefly explore the other side of a fairly Boolean issue, to improve the dialectic quality of my position and demonstrate some intellectual rigor. Let's begin with the facts, and then break down the interpretation of events.

 Bradley Manning distributed vast amounts of information to Wikileaks in 2010 (Wikileaks had been set up in 2006) while he was still a private in the United States army. Famously, he pretended to be listening to Lady Gaga while downloading information, and sent immense amounts of data concerning controversial and broadly classified information. Information included what Wikileaks (under Julian Assange's leadership) labelled "Collateral Murder"-- wherein, during the Fog of War. soldiers shot and killed journalists who were carrying cameras, misidentified at the time as possible rocket launchers. The attitude during these slayings can objectively be described as nonchalant and even playful-- horrifying when it is revealed that the casualties were civilian.

Bradley Manning felt disaffected in the military, describing a culture that echoes impressions many of us have received: uber-machoism, insensitivity, and recurring incidents moral failure. This is certainly not to implicate the entire military, but there are certainly members of the armed forces who actions are beneath the oaths they take. The prevalence and mishandling of sexual assaults, for example, is egregious. Granted, it is this author's opinion that the extraordinarily long-term, ill-defined nature of military service in difficult arenas fosters stress-induced horribleness, but there are also bad apples in the academies who have yet even seen combat. Soliders can face inhuman conditions and dehumanizing jobs, and are probably not in a psychologically healthy profession; this can be made worse by agents such as Donald Rumsfeld, who felt that some men have to be expendable for the greater good of the nation.

But let's face it: some military information does need to be classified. Revealing military troop movements, certain necessary clandestine methods for intelligence gathering, weapon and armor capacities. Heck, let's not show restraint: nuclear launch codes. It certainly shouldn't be at the discretion of a military private to discern what information should be public and what should not. Right?

In any case, Bradley Manning revealed himself to a "former great hat" hacker named Adrian Lamo, and sad for him, his information ended up in the hands of the FBI. Fast track to his arrest, which was occurring with concurrent releases to the public of videos that might be considered analogous to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal (for which, it could be argued, Rumsfeld eventually resigned. After all, the Economist, famously restrained, academic, and determined for impartiality, did publish this cover:

Manning was put into extreme isolation, comparable to that which yo think fitting for Hannibal Lecter. He was then put on "suicide watch", which allowed further avenues of control. To me, it distressingly brings up memories of Atlas Shrugged, wherein John Galt is being tortured to provide his engineering genius for the benefit of the government. This is a vastly different situation, but it's the zeitgeist that seems familiar: the closest the United States gets to brainwashing someone into compliance.

As previously mentioned, some information needs to be classified; it is entirely foolish to argue otherwise. Moreover, it's foolish to leave the declassification of materials to someone too low on the pyramid to make such decisions. And I will even grant that Bradley Manning was guilty, and deserves his guilty verdict, which he received, today getting a sentence for 35 years, possibly hoping for parole in roughly a decade.

And he should be pardoned, by President Obama, before his term ends.

I think that it is a bit of political cowardice that the Presidential pardon is almost exclusively used almost entirely at the end of a President's term. The one notable exception that springs to mind is Ford's pardon of any criminal liability for former-President Nixon, following the Watergate scandal. This has historically been seen as a benign attempt to move forward from the scandals, which is incredibly kind: Ford was never elected, and after Agnew resigned was appointed into Vice Presidency and ultimately the White House. The idea that there was no possible favor-trading seems as suspicious as the eighteen minutes of deleted tape from the magnetic tapes Nixon installed into the White House and were eventually acquired by the courts.

 Nixon was a blatant Anti-Semite, responsible for a cover-up worse than the crime, and a man who believed himself above repercussions. Things like bombing Cambodia illegally are brushed over as necessary evils. And this man got pardoned. I think someone with a true desire to deliver information is following Obama's own words: "the best disinfectant is sunlight." In other words, transparency is the best cure for corruption brought on by the clouds of secrecy.

Bradley Manning was guilty. But the system is also guilty, the military-industrial complex warned about by President Eisenhower is in full force and has become the forewarned monster he feared, just as political parties have become the exact thing of which President George Washington was so wary. Secrecy has become the policy, and transparency the exception. It clearly should be the other way around: transparency, and considerable barriers that must be passed through to demonstrate a necessity for classification. Otherwise, the criticisms that the Obama Administration has conducted a "war on whistle-blowers" will be a claim most damning indeed.

Breaking Bad Recap: Buried

You can't bury your past. Or maybe you can, if you've got some big fucking barrels. Full of cash.

But let's rewind, and return to some other cash. This episode begins at the tail end of Jesse's "Santa Pinkman" routine, haphazardly throwing lumps of cash out his car window. Well, no surprised that car ride didn't have a happy existential ending: a man playing Hansel & Gretel with the fat stacks finds Jesse, spinning morosely on a merry-go-round.

Cut to the Breaking Bad intro. So it looks like this may very well be a Jesse-centered episode from first impressions.

Similar to opening the second scene on the outside of the bathroom in the previous episode (Blood Money), Buried opens outside the garage where Hank and Walt just had their staring showdown. Walt walks out in full Heisenberg style, and prepares to get in his car. From there, we might assume that things are relatively calm... Hank closes the garage door, wordlessly. Immediately, Walt rushes breathlessly to his car and jumps on his phone to call Skylar. Hank, assuming Walt left, also calls Skyler and reopens the garage. Walt is still there, and Hank is surprised to see Walt sitting in his car, on his phone. Walt sees Hank and peels off to confront Skyler. Bad luck for him, Skyler has already left for a restaurant to meet with Hank.

Sklyer meets Hank, clearly terrified. She is uncertain at this point what amount of complicity she is going to be liable for in Hank's eyes, and fearfully hears Hank out. Hank gives Skyler an extraordinarily awkward but sincere hug, and immediately dives into his sympathy. He tells her he now understands why she walked into the pool in a half-cocked attempt to drown herself, and why she wanted to keep the kids out of the house. She barely is able to question Hank as to whether Marie knows-- Hank, surprised by the question-- tells her there will be time enough for that soon. Then Hank makes his big mistake with Skyler (although another kind of approach might not have been any better) in trying to get Skyler on record.

Skyler realizes that this meeting, were it not her family, would absolutely be something for which she needs a lawyers. And, of course, it's true, even if it is her family. Hank tries to convince her that getting "out ahead of this thing" and not having a lawyer is in her best interest, and her being on the defensive will put her in a negative light with the DEA. Hank professes his love for Marie and repeats that Skyler is not in jeopardy; he is geared towards capturing Walter, not punishing her. Skyler counters that Hank suggesting that she does not need a lawyer at the moment is an accidental revelation that Hank is not acting in her interests, but in the interest of capturing Walt's actions in a tangible way that will speed prosecution. Hank eventually relents, and suggests that they go get the children. Skyler stays loyal to Walt, whether out of fear or love, who is to say? She asks if she is under arrest, and makes a small scene screaming that question as she escapes from a powerless Hank.

Next we meet up with the awesome comedy-relief B Team-- Huell and Kuby go to the storage facility where Walt keeps his money, where Huell does what any reasonable person would do facing millions and millions of untraceable cash: lie down on it, a la Scrooge McDuck. Kuby is feeling rushed (as he should, because for all they know Skyler and Hank are on their way to confiscate the cash). But he relents, and lies down next to Huell as he suggests "Mexico?" Kuby smartly reminds Huell that Walter White organized the death of ten people, in jail, and all murdered within ten minutes. Uh, yeah, maybe let's not steal this money. It reminds me of The Dark Knight when someone tries to blackmail Bruce Wayne: you don't try to blackmail Batman, and in the universe of Breaking Bad, Walter is the silent, well, not protector (destroyer), of Gotham.

Saul and Walter meet, where Saul suggests "Belize" to Hank, bringing up Mike again, alluding to the fact that he knows that Mike is no longer among the living. Huell and Kuby return with a van full of the money ("close enough" says Walt, and it's clear from the looks Kuby and Huell give that they did suffer from a small case of sticky fingers. The cash supply is so immense, who can blame them? But Walt is satisfied, removes a little extra cash, asks Saul to take his cut with his men, and to save the rest as his for "insurance-- in case he needs them again." The men put the cash in barrels, with the lids off so that Walt can inspect. He drives off with the van-- hell, with the cash he threw around, yes, he paid for that.

Next we see that Hank has told Marie, yet again showing how brilliantly brisk this season is treating its advancement. With only six more episodes to go, why waste time? I feared that Marie's learning the truth of Walter White would be a slightly dull affair, but the show skipped ahead to the next step, because that's how fearless Breaking Bad is. What's more, some crazy drama: Marie tries to leave the house with the GODDAMN BABY, Holly! Hank has to interject after seeing Marie at the window-- it's unclear whether she was trying to escape out the window or just get Hank's attention, which ultimately backfired for her. But Hank knows they can't go kidnapping the White children until they've brought this case forward. And... why haven't they done that yet? Because of the personal relationship Hank has with Walt, even though he's made it clear that he's got no sympathy for Walt even as he dies of his returned cancer. Hell no. Breaking Bad has a way better explanation than that, and it of course makes perfect sense.

Hank's career will be over. OVER, when the truth comes out about Walter White. Hell, they foreshadowed that plenty with the friendship between his predecessor and Gus Fring. Knowing that, Hank wants to go in with proof that Walter White is the mysterious Heisenberg: at least he can be the guy who caught him.

Walter, meanwhile, still under the impression that Skyler gave him up but knowing that her only real knowledge was about the money, buries the money in a giant, GIANT hole, records the GPS coordinates, and buys the coordinates as a lottery ticket, just as a piece of insurance for his memory. Brilliant, again-- unless someone figures it out.

It turns out digging that giant hole exhausted the man going through Chemo and fighting lung cancer-- he collapses in the bathroom for four hours. He doesn't immediately believe that Skyler has kept faith with him, asking her to keep silent on the money and to give it to the children so he "did not do this all for nothing". But she seems to convince him eventually when she suggests they "keep quiet" since they do not have much on him-- and that is the surest way to protect the money. She is going to remain complicit.

As this happens, Lydia, clearly rather stressed, is blindfolded and taken to the Operation site where Mike had set up the earliest meetings with the team Walt used for distribution. Lydia is severely unhappy with their product, and inspects the lab, suggesting that Todd take over, since he worked with Walter. (It's revealed that Todd started a fire on accident, but he also performed much better than their team as well). They reject this offer, not trusting Todd. Which, Lydia regrets, because then Todd and his prison-death-planning uncle and his henchmen kill the living shit out them. Lydia has Todd guide her out with her eyes closed, because "she does not want to see". There goes that theory of the Distribution guys being the ones that Walter goes to war with later. Extra points to the episode for the cook site that Walt set up being RIGHT UNDER THE FEET of where they first met.

Meanwhile, what turns out not to have been a very heavy Jesse episode tail ends with an important, and nail-biting development: he is currently in jail, talking to the exact same cops who interviewed him about the ricin incident (which turned out to be Lily of the Valley). Hank, outside, suggests to them that since Jesse HATES him, he might get riled up and susceptible to letting things slip. The cops agree, and leave Hank alone to go into the interrogation room with Jesse......

And then we fade to black.

GOOD GRIEF, THE SUSPENSE.

Parting Thoughts

1. Lydia was in perfect form: she closes her eyes and has Todd lead her out after she orchestrated the murder of a group of-- ten? Twenty men? She wants to keep herself clean but is also insanely ruthless.

2. Now we are seriously lacking cooks in the meth business. Jesse is out and in police custody, and on the verge of a breakdown. Todd is not the brightest tool in the shed, and would need a great deal more hand-holding. So maybe the prison guys (Todd's uncle) want to take over the meth business, and it's them that Walter goes to war with later?

3. Todd is hilariously mild-mannered and sweet to Lydia, while meanwhile ruthless. My theory is that Todd is too stupid and slightly crazy to have a moral compass of any kind. But his dog-like stupidity makes him like a conscienceless Jesse, which is a big difference in the characters as it turns out.

4. I forgot to mention, Team Uncle gathered up all the meth equipment. So yeah, they're going to be the new force to be reckoned with in the Meth Business. But lets face it-- they're not going to be able to cook like Walter White, and Lydia's Czech Republic market has high expectations of quality.

Balk Like an Egyptian

Today I'd like to discuss Egypt, a subject which I could certainly do with more understanding, but so could anyone who might eventually find their way to this blog. The past few days have seen tragic developments, as riots in Egypt have erupted with deaths totaling in the hundreds. The most recent developments involve the ousting of former (if it can be considered former at this point) President Mohammed Morsi, previously considered the first truly democratically elected President of Egypt. Morsi was associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization poorly understood and even less trusted in the West. The Muslim Brotherhood, as its name would indicate, has some theocratic and extremist ideological ties, although due to its significant size it has been hard for reliable sources to accurate gauge.

Previously, Hosni Mubarak had been "the" power in Egypt. Mubarak was long considered a relatively reliable ally to the United States and a non-participant in radical Islam, something which the United States has strong dislike of following the September 11th attacks. During the tumultuous "Arab Spring" that rocked 2011, Mubarak stepped down with, and has since been under scrutiny by Egypt itself for human rights abuses. Interestingly, the United States has not come down hard on one position or another towards the man, but several hawkish members of the Federal government (particuarly the old codger John McCain) have voiced intense distrust for the Muslim Brotherhood.  These voices will doubtlessly feel vindicated, as official Muslim Brotherhood platforms have urged participation in "a day of rage" or a "march of anger" over Morsi's ousting.

Between July 1st and July 3rd, just as the United States was beginning its Independence Day celebrations domestically, the Egyptian Armed Forces (a trusted, but volatile and undemocratic entity of political power in Egypt) called for Morsi to step down; Morsi refused this demand, and insisted that he would continue working towards national reconciliation. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Minister of Defense, General, and Commander in Chief of the Egyptian Army, declared the constitution suspended and Morsi under an interim arrest for not acting in Egypt's interest. While not exactly complying, Morsi also did not resist, and he was "transitioned" in relative peace. However, demonstrations, riots, and protests between pro-Morsi and anti-Morsi advocates have understandably broken out, and several of them have been violent. A serious curfew, previously not taken overly seriously, is in absolute effect, and the roads of Cairo are reportedly empty at night.

A former co-worker currently in Egypt posted an excellent post of his current thoughts. It's difficult, as an outsider and possibly (from how I read this) for an insider as well. The United States has been put into a pickle as well; we have continued sending aid to Egypt, despite technically "not being allowed to" due to restrictions on funding nations under government coups. However, the Morsi government allegedly was falling into similar habits as the Mubarak regime, again including violations of human rights. Then there is the Muslim Brotherhood, and its influence on geopolitics.

The Muslim Brotherhood, according to my brief online research, was founded in 1928 in Egypt itself. It's mission statement is, again to quote the Internet, to "instill the Qur'an and Sunnah as the sole reference point for ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community, and state." The last part is particularly frightening, seeing as so-called "Islamic states" are by definition theocratic. As Christopher Hitchens would probably say were he alive, the first step to totalitarianism is theocracy. I would have to agree.

Wha's more, beyond simple founding words and mission statements, are the actual calls to violence. These are not the "Sarah Palin/ Ted Nugent" calls to arms that are usually either dismissed or minimalized. People are literally dying on the streets while these pronouncments continue to be released; this is not moral seriousness, and it is not the cry of the casual believer. These are the types of morally compromised statements made by those men who believe they have "God on Their Side". Or maybe they don't, and are cynically using the vast institution of Islam to further their political goals. Or, as is so often the case in the United States, it is some mix of the two. The stakes, however, are much higher, and the historical and legal separation of Church and State are nowhere near as sacrosanct (pun intended, of course). 

Which Provides More Insight? Fiction or Non-Fiction

I'm quite sure that I'm not the only person who makes peculiar and inconsistent judgement towards what other people are reading. A complete absence of nonfiction could potentially lean a person towards absurdity and triviality. For example: the not-so-bad Star Trek spec script detailed in Sunday's Breaking Bad (previously written on) features characters who are stunningly literate in Star Trek canon and lore, but are haplessly ignorant on matter of reality (see: Skinny Pete not "having time" to learn simple spelling in an early episode).

That being said, remaining stuck in this reality inhibits the imagination, from which new futures and possibilities can come. It's an obnoxious "bumper sticker" type quote, but I am reminded of ubiquitous Einstein posters stating that "Imagination is More Important than Knowledge." I have no doubt that the quote is correctly attributed to Einstein, but I also know that most of us have a very shallow understanding of Einstein both as a physicist and as a historical person. I've not yet completed Walter Issacson's in-depth biography, but it's important not to fall into traps of cults of personality when looking for wise words and guidance. Point in fact, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse was recently on The Colbert Report shelling a book of quotations he's gathered. While not entirely meritless, the idea (which I probably would have liked not long ago) now seems like a terrible idea: big ideas don't really fit on bumper stickers. That type of thing makes me invision the sheep from Animal Farm, learning how to chant "Four Feet Good, Two Feet Bad" at the behest of the smarter pigs. But then, Youtube and Wikipedia might be considered lazy gateways to information, but I have found them to often be both accurate and educational.

I'm slightly sidetracking, but let me state this-- reading a non-fiction book and presuming it is entirely true is clearly not wise. Yet I've found many friends throughout the years read a book and then act is if they have imbued the truth and knowledge from their reading-- as if it had unlocked all of the mysteries instead of producing more. I'm not saying that we should stay rigidly ignorant, but the skeptical approach is always best. Considering the source is also infinitely important.This is one of the awful parts about religious texts-- the books are claiming that the literal Creator of the Universe is responsible for every comma. Yet it's also conceded that "it's been produced through the vessel of human beings, who are imperfect." Yet the book itself is perfect. There's no arguing with this kind of logic, there is only backing away slowly.

I don't really mean to start trolling the Internet on whether the Bible should be placed in Fiction or Non-Fiction, although it might sell better in the prior (Harry Potter had talking snakes, after all). Alas, I really don't mean to focus on that argument. My point is, non-fiction can often still be considered an op-ed. Every book on Obama, for instance, is far to contemporary to claim taking the view of a "historical approach". My point is, when you approach Fiction, you assume that it's not true. When you approach Non-Fiction, you generally assume that it's also true, but that is more likely to be mistaken.

I believe Fiction helps hone tools, especially certain literary devices, that makes reading Non-Fiction more productive. For example: the unreliable narrator. It's a fictional device, but it could certainly apply in real life, say when reading a historical journal, or reading first-person accounts in a biography. Fiction provides a template which then can apply in the real world. To put it crassly, it help you smell out the bullshit. But there still needs to be some beacons of veracity. Consider the Washington Post-- a paper that is bound to get certain things "wrong", but makes its business by being reliably responsible with the facts. And then having a bunch of Op/Ed columnists arguing over the grave differences between agreed-upon premises-- the news that was just reported.

So, looping back to the original admission that I judge people on what they are reading: does that mean that there is bad Fiction or Non-Fiction? Well, the answer I think is a self-evident yes. Maybe this blog post is bad writing-- if anyone is to read it, they can leave their ironic comments below. But it's clear that there is an objectively bad version of Non-Fiction: something that is incorrect is bad Non-Fiction. However, reading Bob Woodward can introduce vastly complex government mechanisms and enormous political egos to the layman reader, and forms an entertaining narrative that's all based in research and (dare I say it) fact. To contrast, a number of scientific and academic journals are unsufferably boring (as are some blog posts, come to think of it). So naturally it depends on the goal and audience of the writing--but one thing remains the same, by definition. Non-Fiction is just plain, unavoidably wrong if it gets its facts wrong. Fiction, on the other hand, can use facts, or not. It really is a much more difficult thing to measure quality-- how much does it challenge the reader? How entertaining is it? How many layers are there to it? Does it transcend the genre, rely on tropes, etc, etc.

So as it ends up, it's the wrong question to ask whether Non-Fiction is better than Fiction, or even which provides more insight. It's also not entirely correct to say that there are no reasonable standards either. It's just worth remembering that ultimately, judgement on fiction is wholly subjective. Maybe Harry Potter really is better than 50 Shades of Grey, maybe George R.R. Martin is superior to Tolkien. It's an eternally difficult question, but that doesn't make it not worth asking. The measure of quality is one of the great things we human beings enjoy, and one of the things we're good at understanding, even if not on agreeing.

All that said, Harry Potter beats Twilight, George R.R. Martin is superior to Tolkien, Star Wars beats Star Trek, and nobody gives a shit about Percy Jackson.

Let the flame wars begin.

Breaking Bad Recap: Blood Money

Breaking Bad is back! The best show on television is in its final eight episodes, which will likely flow forward with the themes of the previous half-season. It has also created a peculiar marketing problem for AMC, now finding themselves advertising "Season 5" while the rest of "Season 5" is sold on DVD. Season 5.1 and Season 5.2? This is the kind of bizarre arrangement the new Netflix model of whole-season release bypasses entirely. But lets face it, we've been waiting with bated breath for more Breaking Bad, and meth-heads can't be choosers.

Tonight was Season 5: Episode 8: Blood Money. And boy did it deliver, at least on the money. SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT!

We open, in true Bad style, with skateboarders. What? Why? We quickly get our answer as the camera pans out, showing that the skateboarders have found a nice rink in the empty pool, where we last left Walter White (with Hank escaping to the bathroom for some light reading). This quickly implies that these skateboarders exist in the future, aligned with the opening of Season 5 (Episode 1) wherein Walt is living under a false identity in New Hampshire, growing out hair and generously tipping Denny's waitresses. This is confirmed when Walt pulls up in front of his derelict house, future hair in form. Props to the costume department, because Walt simply looks incredibly rugged, and his coat screams that it smells like a wet dog.

Walt silently enters the house, which has "HIESENBERG" scrawled on the wall with yellow paint. The house has been emptied, ransacked, vandalized, and matches the utter disrepair of the outside. Even the tree in the front lawn is dead, and close inspection will show that the roots had been dug at-- possibly searching for buried cash deposits. The house is walled up by cheap wire gates and boarded windows, as if it belongs in Hamsterdam in The Wire. Walt enters, looking unsurprised at the wreckage that used to be his home, removes some change from his pocket, and uses a quarter to open the electricity socket which houses the ricin, which he left there after deciding not to poison Lydia at the end of last season.

He leaves, and encounters his next door neighbor, Carol, to whom he gives a fairly apathetic (although nonetheless ominous) hello. She drops her groceries in both horror and shock-- it's clear she knows who HEISENBERG is. The suspense here is palpable, because he was just at his trunk-- I half expected Walter to grab his M-16 and shoot his neighbor. Cue the Breaking Bad intro.

So, this continues the mystery of future Walt. We know that whatever happens with Jesse or Hank, Walt is going to survive and escape, and not on good terms. But it's very interesting that is gathering both poison, a very passive weapon, and a machine gun, which I think we can agree is an aggressively active weapon. I'm going to make my first big Breaking Bad speculation here, and guess something crazy: Walt could be using the ricin on himself, to commit himself to whatever suicidal course he's going to take. More on that later, but I think it's reasonable that, given his returning cancer (more on that later) he wants to go down shooting, and taking the ricin himself will give him a ticking clock.

Is he going to war with Jesse? Hank? Lydia? His other business partners? It's hard to say, but poison doesn't seem like a Plan A with bullets being the Plan B. Given that he doesn't care about being seen, at this point I think it's fair to say he's planning to die, but not without some sort of purpose or cause. After all, he's back in town "for business". Happy Birthday, Walt.

Then we return to the present, where Hank finishes his year-long bathroom break and finally we see how he's going to react, past the first few seconds. And he's on the verge of a panic attack-- several of the symptoms he experienced after the Tortuga incident are returning, and he can barely feign illness as he hustles Marie out the door. Before Hank leaves, we do get to enjoy a sunny "Hello, Carol!" from Walt, showing the horrible difference one year can make. As Hank begins driving home, he is so wrapped with emotion and distress that he finds himself drifting, and crashes the car into a fence. He exits the car hunched over, his chest clearly tight, and it's immediately unclear whether he is having a panic attack or a full-on heart attack. Of course Hank survives, because we can't leave the task of uncovering Walter White's lies to Marie Schrader.

Hank promptly finds his copy of Gale's old lab notes, and compares them to the message in the Walt Whitman book. And, of course, they match. So begins Hank's home office telecommuting bonanza, as he has more and more of the old files delivered to his garage by his DEA buddies, still taking official time off work.
Walt, however, is entirely clueless to Hank's realization at this point, and he does in fact seem fully devoted to car wash business. He flies the idea of buying another car wash to Skylar, who seems uncertain but not unwilling on the idea. No sooner does Walt leave, that Lydia makes a fully unexpected arrival at the car wash. She is upset in the drop in meth quality since Walt's departure, and is begging for Walt to return to the business, even if it's just for some Chemistry tutoring. She is clearly desperate, because 1) she says he might be putting her in the box, by which I assume she means a coffin. Silly Lydia, a barrel is more likely and that's no box. and 2) she is getting a rental car washed at a car wash-- seriously, who does that? This is the woman that was concerned on whether ordering coffee would "play well" at a restaurant. So she's definitely in a state of panic, and Skylar smells it. After Walt flatly turns her down, Skylar confronts Lydia and tells her to never come back. It's probably one of the most bad-ass Skylar moments we've had since she figured out Walt was a drug dealer. Well, have an A-1 day, Lydia.

Back to Hank: Marie catches Hank receiving the Gus case files, but it's pretty clear that Hank is spearheading this one by himself alone in the garage. There's some great jazz music with epic bass that sounds like Jaws music had a baby with the soundtrack to Ocean's 11, with some funky vocals on top. Hank realizes more and more how much has gone under his nose.

Then we get to Jesse! Jesse! Well, Bager and Skinny Pete first, not for the first time outing themselves as ENORMOUS nerds, but in fact, the nerdiest kind of nerds: TREKKIES! Badger gives a fan script summary that he wants to write, and, hey, it's actually not half bad. Plus there is some additional geek-service in the arguments they have about using the teleporter, and whether it constitutes a form of suicide (like in the Prestige). Much love.

Jesse isn't feeling the love, and takes the money that Walt gave him to Saul Godman's, where he is forced to wait in the waiting room like a regular customer. So, Jesse being Jesse, he starts smoking a weed cigarette to piss off Uhle and the receptionist enough to speed up his queue time. It turns out Saul was getting a massage-- and it's slightly implied a little something extra to end it. Saul is scared of Walt now since he had another lawyer whacked, and Jesse wants nothing to do with the money, which makes him panic slightly. As usual, Bob Odenkirk is the best.

Jesse wants to send his own money to Mike's daughter and the parent's of the dead child, whom Todd shot during the train heist. He brings up excellent points-- Mike's daughter can't get the money without attention, and giving the money to some parents still looking for their child will raise more questions than need answering. Nonetheless, Jesse is about to leave with the money to deliver it himself like Santa Pinkman, when Saul relents and agrees. He instead lets Walter know what's up immediately.

Walt comes to visit Jesse again with the money, and points out the deja vu of the scene. This time Jesse probably doesn't have his gun on him though, because he knows Walt isn't really interested in killing him. Still, Jesse confronts Walt about killing Mike, which Walt indignantly denies. It's awful to watch, knowing the truth, and knowing that Jesse almost certainly knows the truth as well-- killing ten of Mike's guys without fear of reprisal just doesn't add up. Walt convinces Jesse to keep the bloody money (giving the episode its name), at least for the moment.

But Jesse, after giving a fat stack to a homeless man, decides to throw money out the car like a newspaper boy delivering the best news a bad neighborhood could ask for. It's a funny parallel to a similar, previous scene with Walter, where Walt begins burning his cash on a grill. It also shows Jesse's inherent moral superiority to Walt-- Jesse gives away the money he doesn't feel right having, whereas Walt would simply destroy it. A few wads get thrown down the literal drain, but its still very "Jesse".

Walt, finally feeling worried about Hank's sudden "illness" and realizing that The Leaves of Grass is gone, impulsively decides to search his car. Underneath, lo and behold, is the GPS tracker Walt himself put on Gus's car previously. Walt comes to "check" on Hank, to Hank's unpleasant surprise, and the interaction begins and ends awkwardly but efficiently. But Walt, being Walt, can't let things go unsaid, and confronts Hank about the tracker. Hank, getting over the uncomfortable shock, closes the garage door, and punches Walt in the face. Hank shoves Walt against the garage door, growling about when Walt crashed the car and feigned a hospital call about Marie, and of course the ten witnesses. Walt reveals that his cancer is back, and asks for mercy since he's "out of the game". Hank asks for him to tell Skylar to bring the kids, and then they will talk: Walt says that will not happen. The episode ends with a bad-ass staredown, Hank "not knowing" who Walt is, and Walt advising to "tread lightly". As if.

And a dedication to Kevin Cordasco, to seal things. We'll see what happens next week.

Final Thoughts:

1. I do miss Mike. He was great at putting Walt in his place without the necessary plot complications Hank brings.

2. Hank's spit at Walter must have been terrible in between takes. Speaking of takes, it's beautiful how smooth Hank's performance is considering there was makeup applied to Walt's injury between different shots.

3. Will it ever become known that Walt was somewhat responsible for Jane's death, and indirectly the airline collision? Only time will tell.

4. Who does Walt really care about anymore, and what is he actually devoted to (other than himself)?

5. Are there easter eggs yet for the Saul Goodman spin-off? An Asian massage clinic fighting prostitution allegations, paying him in trade...?