News for today's 2018

Today's Teamster News 08.17.13

4:19 AM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/80-waste-workers-california-join-local-683" rel="nofollow">Waste Workers in California Vote to Become Teamsters</a>  IBT   ...Drivers and mechanics at Waste Management in Carlsbad, California have voted overwhelmingly to join Local 683 in San Diego. There are approximately 80 workers in the bargaining unit...<br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/teamsters-end-representational-campaign-american-airlines" rel="nofollow">Teamsters End Representational Campaign at American Airlines</a>  IBT   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters yesterday announced an end to the  year-long campaign to represent aircraft mechanics and related personnel at  American Airlines...<br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-16/amr-us-airways-merger-limbo-puts-ceos-to-workers-on-hold.html" rel="nofollow">AMR-US Airways Merger Limbo Puts CEOs to Workers on Hold</a>  Bloomberg News   ...About 1,000 white-collar employees with jobs on the block at US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) and American Airlines (AAMRQ) got a temporary reprieve when the U.S. government sued to block the carriers’ planned $14 billion merger...<br /><a href="http://www.teamster.org/content/allied-selects-black-diamondspectrum-winning-bidder-teamsters-others-object" rel="nofollow">Allied Selects Black Diamond/Spectrum As Winning Bidder; Teamsters, Others Object</a>  IBT   ...On Thursday, August 15, Allied Systems completed two days of an auction for its assets at a law office in Wilmington, Delaware. The company (Allied) declared the winning bid to an acquisition company formed by Black Diamond/Spectrum, over a bid by Jack Cooper Transport, whose employees are represented by the Teamsters...<br /><a href="http://www.lakeconews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32599:breaking-striking-lake-transit-workers-vote-to-return-to-the-job&catid=1:latest&Itemid=197" rel="nofollow">Striking Teamsters at Lake Transit vote to return to the job</a>   Lake County News   ...A day after they failed to get intercession from the Lake Transit Authority Board in a labor dispute, striking transit workers voted to immediately return to work. The striking members of Teamsters Local 665 voted to return to work unconditionally in order to restore full service yesterday...<br /><a href="http://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=5468" rel="nofollow">BLET to Conduct Advanced Local Chairman Workshop, October 20-26</a>  BLET   ...The BLET Education & Training Department, in conjunction with the BLET Arbitration Department, is proud to host an Advanced Local Chairman Workshop scheduled for October 20 through October 26, 2013...<br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/16/mcdonalds-walmart-low-income-shoppers_n_3765489.html?utm_hp_ref=business" rel="nofollow">McDonald's, Walmart Feel The Pinch As Low-Income Shoppers Struggle In The Slow Recovery</a>  Reuters   ...From Wal-Mart Stores and Gap to Macy's and McDonald's, chains that cater to middle- and lower-income Americans, say they are feeling the pinch of an uneven economic recovery...<br /><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-drug-trafficking-mexico-20130815,0,1910996.story" rel="nofollow">Mexico-L.A. drug ring hid meth, heroin in pipes on big rigs, feds say</a>   Los Angeles Times   ...Federal prosecutors unveiled indictments Thursday against 57 members of an alleged drug trafficking ring that authorities said smuggled cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine from Mexico to Los Angeles, using hidden compartments and PVC piping that were further concealed in tractor trailer axles. Firearms have also been transported...<br /><a href="http://americanmanufacturing.org/blog/awkward-moment-when-american-made-beer-company-gives-away-made-china-hat-baseball-game-nations-" rel="nofollow">That awkward moment when an American-made beer company gives away a Made in China hat at a baseball game in the nation's capital</a>  manufacture this   ...One has to wonder why a company that takes care to brand itself as Made-in-the-USA would sponsor Made-in-China souvenirs...<br /><a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-union-sues-sunrail-20130815,0,4755500.story" rel="nofollow">Unions sue to block SunRail contractor</a>  Orlando Sentinel   ...Two unions filed a lawsuit Thursday objecting to the state's attempt to side-step an agreement from 2009 to use federally certified union workers in construction of the signal system that will guide trains on the $1.6 billion SunRail commuter line...<br /><a href="http://www.telegram.com/article/20130815/news/308159857/1116" rel="nofollow">Mass. legislature tackles minimum wage issue</a>  Telegram & Gazette   ...As many as half a million of the lowest paid workers in Massachusetts could be getting a raise next year if a proposal to increase the minimum wage as high as $10.50 an hour is approved by the Legislature — or by a 2014 statewide voter referendum being urged by unions, community organizations and individuals, and supported by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren...<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/north-carolina-law-takes-war-on-voting-rights-to-a-new-low/2013/08/15/5b25a88c-0452-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html" rel="nofollow">North Carolina law takes war on voting rights to a new low</a>   Washington Post   ...In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, that gutted of the Voting Rights Act, it’s difficult to say which of the many recently passed voter-suppression bills constitutes the greatest threat to that most sacred of American freedoms: the right to vote... <br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/16/pennsylvania-voter-id_n_3769410.html" rel="nofollow">Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Barred From Enforcement In November Election By Judge</a>   Huffington Post   ...A state judge issued an order Friday that is expected to block enforcement of Pennsylvania's strict voter-identification law in the Nov. 5 general election...<br /><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/15/5654471/nocal-mayor-demands-bank-drop.html" rel="nofollow">NorCal mayor demands bank drop foreclosure lawsuit </a> Associated Press   ... Richmond plans to "seize" underwater loans from banks, reimburse them at market value, and then resell the cheaper loans to the original homeowner at current mortgage rates...<br /><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/16/5656168/california-attorney-general-announces.html" rel="nofollow">California attorney general announces $750M refund from Canadian utility Powerex</a>  Sacramento Bee   ... the Canadian utility was buying California electricity, shipping it to Canada and then exporting it back to the state at huge markups...<br /><a href="http://www.islandpacket.com/2013/08/15/2631372/judge-special-prosecutor-will.html" rel="nofollow">Judge: Special prosecutor will review Perry veto</a>   Associated Press   ...A Texas judge said Thursday he plans to have a special prosecutor review allegations that Gov. Rick Perry abused the powers of his office and broke the law over a veto that cut funding for state public corruption investigators...<br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/north-carolina-law-takes-war-on-voting-rights-to-a-new-low/2013/08/15/5b25a88c-0452-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html"><span style="color: blue;"></span></a>

Today's Teamster News 08.17.13

Waste Workers in California Vote to Become Teamsters IBT ...Drivers and mechanics at Waste Management in Carlsbad, California have voted...

HOW MUCH FREEDOM DO WE REALLY NEED? ENOUGH FOR THIS?

10:22 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">I was in a class<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            and the teacher said<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            I hear we hear we have<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            a Jew pig in this class.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            I shook. He said<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            I’m going to show<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            this Jew pig<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            how much pain <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            a Jew can survive.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            He took a stick <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            out of the desk<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            and hit and hit.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            I don’t remember the pain,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            but only the kids<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            who’d once been my friends<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            laughing and laughing.</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">                                    Lyn Lifshin, “For Me The Holocaust <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">                                    Started In ‘33 In A Small Village” from <i>Blue Tattoo<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title="">[i]</a></span></b></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""></a></span></i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><br /></b></span></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><i><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b>. . . .</b></span></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">      </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A. FREE WILL<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">            <i>Why, then do bad things happen to good people? One reason is that our being human leaves us free to hurt each other, and God’ can’t stop us without taking away the freedom that makes us human.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">    </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Harold Kushner, <i>When Bad Things Happen To Good People <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[i]</span></b></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">            The “free will defense” is easily the most widely held belief explaining why an omnipotent good God would choose to allow people to misbehave. The argument goes that freedom is essential to make life meaningful and valuable. We are given freedom so our relationship with God can be personal and authentic. God wants real lovers, not Stepford Wives. The price of freedom is the genuine possibility that freedom will be abused. Free persons will sometimes choose to do wrong. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">            Philosopher Alvin Plantinga has made a cogent argument that evil is the price of freedom and that a free world is better than a world that is good only because it has no choice.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[ii]</span></span></span></a>  Freedom makes the whole event of human life meaningful as opposed to a puppet show. Spiritually, the value of freedom is even greater. One of the most compelling views of our world is as an arena for “soul making.” In such an arena, freedom to choose between good and evil is essential to the environment for spiritual growth.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[iii]</span></span></span></a>As a matter of philosophical logic, the “free will defense” is widely regarded as having carried the day against the atheist argument from the problem of human evil.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[iv]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">            While this “free will defense” does not help with natural evil, it is so persuasive in explaining human evil that we need to be careful not to swallow it whole before we have chewed on it a bit. Oddly enough this popular notion, in its current form, is fairly new. Augustine said that creation was given a primal freedom for the sake of making the whole project meaningful. However, that freedom was lost with the Fall of Adam. Since then, the creation has been decidedly unfree because it is enslaved to the power of sin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">            While “free will” resonates with the cultural assumptions of modern Westerners who vote for political candidates and routinely choose from among five different brands of laundry detergent, most Christians over history have not shared these assumptions.  Trumpeting even the existence of individual free will was called “the Arminean heresy” well into the 18<span style="mso-text-raise: 3.5pt; position: relative; top: -3.5pt;">th</span> Century. Christians traditionally might have believed with Augustine in “free Fall,” that creation and humanity were free in the beginning, but that did not mean humanity was still free to choose between good and evil. Rather humanity was enslaved to evil, and awaiting liberation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">            St. Paul did not regard sin as a wrong moral choice. He regarded it as a power to which people are in bondage. He said of himself that he did not do the good he wanted to do, but compulsively did the evil he did not want to do.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[v]</span></span></span></a>  Just so, in our time, contemporary theologians have disputed the free will defense because we so often do not experience sin as a wrong choice made with the options held before us evenly like “two roads diverg[ing] in a yellow wood.” Rather, sin works as a compulsion, a force that does not feel like our own true will making the decision.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[vi]</span></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">            Much modern psychology insists that human beings are subject to a panoply of controlling, or at least powerful, influences that drive our decisions, often unconsciously – ranging from internal influences including genetic dispositions to external forces such as social pressure and economic necessity. Paul might call these factors that dispose us toward sin “powers and principalities.” Remember, Brian Nichols (Atlanta man who killed several people in the course of a jail break) did not experience himself as exercising free will in his decision to kill. A few years ago, a pre-teen boy in an urban ghetto was invited by older boys to try crack. He refused, so they burned him alive.  What kind of free will does such a child have? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">            The free will defense fits well in the world view of modern democratic capitalism where the myth of freedom undergirds the way we organize our government and economy. However, the notion of free will is challenged from antiquity by Holy Scripture and from modernity by depth psychology, systems psychology, and behaviorism. In short, it is not as strong an argument as it seems at first glance. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">            As a response to the existential problem of evil, the one with the blood and tears, it does not work all that well. First, when people hurt us badly, we don’t value their freedom so highly. Second, we often do not experience our own misdeeds as freely chosen. Finally, neither the perpetrators nor the victims of human evil always grow spiritually from the experience. In fact, the growth rate isn’t very good.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: .05pt .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">            Granted some freedom is a good thing. But how much freedom do we really need? Freedom obviously is not absolute. We live lives of limitation. We cannot do whatever we choose. Since free will is not absolute, we may ask why it extends to allow the worst forms of evil. If the possibility that someone may steal my car is the price I pay for free and meaningful choice in human life, I’ll gladly pay it many times over. If the possibility of someone killing my child is the price, that’s another matter. Does free and meaningful human life really require the possibility of what the Spanish did to the indigenous people of Latin America or what the Nazis did to Jews? Just how much freedom do we need to make life meaningful and interesting? Freedom may be a sufficiently valuable to justify some level of evil, but it is not sufficient to justify the “horrendous evils” we encounter all too often.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_edn7" name="_ednref7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[vii]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">            Finally, if free will is so absolute as to keep God always on the sidelines of life, then such a God is irrelevant to the things that really matter to us. This does not make for much of a God. As a line of graffiti in the restroom of the Hungarian Pastry Shop in New York City so aptly puts it, “<i>God isn’t dead. He just doesn’t want to get involved.”<o:p></o:p></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>God Of Our Silent Tears is available for purchase at </i></span><span style="line-height: 200%;">http://cathedral-bookstore.myshopify.com/products/god-of-our-silent-tears</span><br /><span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">            </span> <br /><div><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /> <br /><div id="edn1"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><br /></div><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[i]</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="mso-text-raise: 2.0pt; position: relative; top: -2.0pt;">Harold Kushner, <i>When Bad Things Happen To Good People</i> (New York: Schockten Books, 1981) p. 81.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><br /></div></div><div id="edn2"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Alvin Pantinga, <i>God, Freedom, and Evil</i> (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdman’s Publishing Co., 1974) pp. 29-34. Plantinga’s “free will defense” is less ambitious in his view than Augustine’s “free will theodicy.” Plantinga merely purports to defend belief against the problem of evil by arguing that God might reasonably be all powerful and all good and yet permit evil in order to preserve the greater good if allowing freedom. Plantinga’s argument differs from Augustine’s “free Fall defense.” For Plantinga, we have to <i>remain</i> free individuals in order for the good of freedom to outweigh the evil we endure for its sake.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><br /></div></div><div id="edn3"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[iii]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"> John Hick, <i>Evil And The God Of Love</i> (New York: Harper and Row, 1978).<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="edn4"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><br /></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[iv]</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Michael Peterson, <i>God And Evil, </i>p. 41.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="edn5"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><br /></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[v]</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Romans 7: 21 – 8: 6.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="edn6"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><br /></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[vi]</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Shirley Guthrie, <i>Chistian Theology, </i>at 178.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="edn7"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><br /></div><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[vii]</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Marilyn McCord Adams, <i>Horrendous Evils And The Goodness Of God</i>(Ithaka: Cornell University Press, 1999).<o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt;"><br /></div><div><br clear="all" /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /> <br /><div id="edn1"><div class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1941566034196038608#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"> Lyn Lifshin, “For Me The Holocaust Started in ’33,” in <i>The Blue Tattoo</i><o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div>

HOW MUCH FREEDOM DO WE REALLY NEED? ENOUGH FOR THIS?

I was in a class and the teacher said I hear we hear we have a Jew pig in this class. ...

Matt Said Jay Said 7-5-7

9:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal">Matt rhymes, Jay free verses, You just don’t get it. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Matt: I’m here you big stud! <br />Jay: You got me anytime you want me big boy! <br />Matt: Who you calling “boy” bud? <br />Jay: YOU! <br />Matt: I’m a grown-ass man.<br />Jay: You don’t act like. <br />Matt: That’s not the point! <br />Jay: Oh, okay. <br />Matt: Like you’re “Mr. Mature!” <br />Jay: That’s a great nickname for me. <br />Matt: Or maybe “Mr. NOT Mature” <br />Jay: Pffffffffffffftttttt! <br />Matt: See! <br />Jay: Oh hey! <br />Matt: What? <br />Jay: Bryan Fischer says Obama was photoshopped into the Situation Room Photo<br />Matt: Oh I know! What a moron. <br />Jay: RIGHT? You can’t trust people who spell Bryan with a “Y.”<br />Matt: Nooooo Nor people who add a superfluous “C” to Fisher. <br />Jay: Exactly. Can’t believe the cable channels haven’t called us on this one. <br />Matt: I know! We were there so we know Obama was in the room… <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikBLXEFumGqNYHKyb3KtFDvyiNpbYTcuqHluQTGZGddU7WHpvE40DlyJ5SQl2pcHDq-k_GPL2PVYSQqrwI3UJLlo9nq15KYZ1Dd1uhcMSU-1sZwFTsLrPCTS0ah-Kq3gY0VjslHPPuwlIF/s1600/Obama+Situation+Room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikBLXEFumGqNYHKyb3KtFDvyiNpbYTcuqHluQTGZGddU7WHpvE40DlyJ5SQl2pcHDq-k_GPL2PVYSQqrwI3UJLlo9nq15KYZ1Dd1uhcMSU-1sZwFTsLrPCTS0ah-Kq3gY0VjslHPPuwlIF/s1600/Obama+Situation+Room.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Jay: Just another example of us not getting our due. <br />Matt: All I get is “payment due!” <br />Jay: Hey-OOOOOOOOOOOOOO! <br />Matt: My pain fuels my humor. <br />Jay: That it does. <br />Matt: Happy people are never funny. <br />Jay: No, they’re too busy bragging about how happy they are. <br />Matt: So damn boring. <br />Jay: IKR? All that cheeriness gets old fast. <br />Matt: And, they can’t be great comedians, writers or poets if they’re happy. <br />Jay: Exactly! Nothing to push the creativity out of them. <br />Matt: Just happy little boring blobs is all they are. <br />Jay: Well, they can be potaters. <br />Matt: What are potaters? <br />Jay: Bad poets who think they’re good.<br />Matt: Do you know any potaters? <br />Jay: Jewel<br />Matt: Ohhhhh yeahhhhhhhh! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1NwCWenkz_bhCTJXvxsEJRQpfe5R24veX62DV5hrCkXDdYGTWUhh3nKD238G8LdI91RsyZadNOQ9cwqJdIzCI_Ta3VfJm7Prm_6ZD9Jyh-LEh5BrVAUhjmcA84szqUbIKaVog2_MTIjm/s1600/Jewel+Bikini+Nude+Cleavage+Hot+Sexy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn1NwCWenkz_bhCTJXvxsEJRQpfe5R24veX62DV5hrCkXDdYGTWUhh3nKD238G8LdI91RsyZadNOQ9cwqJdIzCI_Ta3VfJm7Prm_6ZD9Jyh-LEh5BrVAUhjmcA84szqUbIKaVog2_MTIjm/s640/Jewel+Bikini+Nude+Cleavage+Hot+Sexy.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">Matt: Speaking of bad poetry … <br />Jay: And we were<br />Matt: Sunday is <a href="http://www.dates.abouttravelingtheworld.com/special-holidays/national-bad-poetry-day/">National Bad Poetry Day</a>! <br />Jay: Well then! <br />Matt: Right??!! <br />Jay: All of our correspondents can record some poetry<br />Matt: It’ll be a beautiful thing. <br />Jay: And maybe some Tumbr poetry<br />Matt: And Facebook poetry<br />Jay: This is gonna be awesome! <br />Matt: And you know what else?<br />Jay: There’s MORE?!<br />Matt: Luis the Ice Man took the Oath and is an American! <br />Jay: He’s got to come on the show then.<br />Matt: He will! <br />Jay: Awesome!!! <br />Matt: Oh this is gonna be HUGE! <br />Jay: What a monster show! <br />Matt: I can’t wait! <br />Jay: Me either! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Be sure to catch “<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid/2013/08/18/bad-poetry-in-motion">Bad Poetry in Motion</a>” on IWS Radio Sunday at 12 Noon ET!!! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>

Matt Said Jay Said 7-5-7

Matt rhymes, Jay free verses, You just don’t get it. Matt: I’m here you big stud! Jay: You got me anytime you want me big boy! Matt: Who you...

Book Talk and Review: A Country of Cities

6:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<a href="http://www.artbook.com/9781935202172.html"><b><i>A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America</i></b></a> by Vishaan Chakrabarti<br />Metropolis Books, 2013<br />Hardcover, 252 pages<br /><br /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlQINwRSkCBL-QAHqPJy5hPXedNlaYFOq8q77vN3IwDKezJgE4exJf-DaS_18pskaWKxVQQAZRrGTyY8e8hRCjqiCLfFKtAw9pm9Urn1ICIihWULPlzGf7ORyFI26-P_9XZUIMRzecgu-L/s1600/artbook_2273_30465543.jpg" /><br /><br />On Monday, Vishaan Chakrabarti gave <a href="http://cfa.aiany.org/index.php?section=calendar&evtid=5790">a book talk at the Center for Architecture</a> on <i>A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America</i>, published by Metropolis Books. The SHoP Architects partner and Columbia University professor presented the major arguments from the self-described manifesto, accompanied by illustrations from the book. Those in the full-house crowd left with a fairly good understanding of what Chakrabarti envisions for America: dense urban environments served by local and regional rail infrastructure. The basic treatise of the book is "it's all about density," based on the assertion that environmental sustainability and economic opportunities are greater in cities.<br /><br /><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdKjDZvWTLlOO8wzalvouEAwA9Krf7iYjHf8dHj86eDWs0cqCadPlX9_YYsvSBhbOfG6Kblfxd9Z0p8JWaVFp7vqiVDYOad1xDoPJitnjJFWu936FkQJ_bhhlFGSnJg2d86nYA9hPR49Bt/s640/vishaan-cfa.jpg" width="450" /><br />[Photo courtesy of Center for Architecture]<br /><br />For a city dweller, like me, who won't need much convincing that cities are better (healthier, more diverse, more interesting) places than suburbs, the book's value lies in how it convinces others of urban benefits and what it proposes for shifting the focus of American development, infrastructure, and subsidies from the sprawling suburbs and exurbs to compact cities. Attempts at convincing can be found in how Chakrabarti writes the book: "economics, environmentalism, joy; all under one umbrella that laypeople can understand" (to paraphrase what he said in the book talk). The accessibility of the text can be found in now only how he writes, but in what he references to help people understand his position.<br /><br />Most memorable is a discussion of an episode of <i>Bob the Builder</i>, which pits Bob and his 1-house-per-4-acre plan against an architect's city of towers for Sunflower Valley. Bob's winning scheme says a lot about what Chakrabarti calls the "American Scheme," in which the "American Dream" of opportunity has been replaced by that of home ownership and inefficient land use. Another way that the book is geared toward laypeople is through the  illustrations. These are quantitative visualizations in most cases, yet many of the diagrams are more polemical (the  sprawl-vs-city illustration below is a good example)—all of them do a  good job of paralleling the text and explaining often complex concepts.<br /><br /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYMrp7A9NL004rTeomW5qqXOs1cJP0tGmWiJvmEJm94ILFGlM1xftjxmQA-SeDGoXg-FLr8zaojogblYYGvbQIiuQRs3ybH8FrS8AGpSs8h8Nvm7FoBaudr9aaAluZEnfOsHrdW6ppEBbf/s1600/chakrabarti-hyperdensity-10-zoom.jpg" /><br />[Photo via <a href="http://places.designobserver.com/feature/a-country-of-cities-building-hyperdensity/37899/">Design Observer</a>]<br /><br />So what does Chakrabarti propose for enabling the shift from what he calls a country of "highways, houses, and hedges" to one of "trains, towers, and trees"? Following from his desire to make things understandable to a wide audience, he gives one of his proposals an acronym, ASIA (American Smart Infrastructure Act). (The irony of referring to the continent that is fast becoming the world's largest polluter is not lost on Chakrabarti, especially considering they are the most innovative corner of the globe when it comes to infrastructure.) His basic proposal reorients the subsidies that now are funneled into the suburbs so they serve cities.<br /><br />In order to achieve the magic density of 30 dwelling units per acre (what he considers the baseline for sustaining a subway), cities require decent public transportation, which in turn require subsidies; they also need affordable housing, not mortgage interest deductions for single-family houses. These are big ideas and bigger plans that require substantial political and economic muscle to implement. It's understandable that <a href="http://archrecord.construction.com/features/critique/books/2013/1308-A-Country-of-Cities.asp">one reviewer interprets the book</a> by the architect/academic/one-time developer/former director of city planning as "the groundwork for another career switch, into New York City politics."<br /><br />Speaking of NYC, underlying the whole book is the notion that the city, Chakrabarti's home, is the model for an American "country of cities." This arises from the numerous examples used throughout the book (many by SHoP Architects, like Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the East River Esplanade near the South Street Seaport) and the way many of the ideas seem rooted in the city's built environment and infrastructure. As someone who also lives in NYC—in Queens, rather than Manhattan—I can appreciate the positive qualities of the city, but I also find the massive inequalities and catering to the rich to be characteristics of the current NYC not worth replicating.<br /><br />That said, the core of Chakrabarti's book—that "hyper-dense" cities are environmentally sustainable, rich in economic opportunity, and full of joy—and the way he explains how to "make a good city" are general lessons that need to be told. Through his accessible text and illustrations the arguments for density go down easy and convincingly—good medicine for a sustainable and equitable future. <br /><br /><b>US: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1935202170/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il?ie=UTF8&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=1935202170&link_code=as3&tag=aweeklydoseof-20" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.com" border="0" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan.gif" /></a> CA: <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1935202170/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il?ie=UTF8&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=1935202170&link_code=as3&tag=aweeklydoseof-20" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.ca" border="0" height="28" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan-ca.gif" width="90" /></a> UK: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1935202170/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il?ie=UTF8&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=1935202170&link_code=as3&tag=aweeklydoseof-20" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.co.uk" border="0" height="28" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan-uk.gif" width="90" /></a></b>

Book Talk and Review: A Country of Cities

A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America by Vishaan Chakrabarti Metropolis Books, 2013 Hardcover, 252 pages On Monday, Vishaan...

Kick-Ass 2: Still bustin' skulls

6:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>Kick-Ass 2</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/kickass2/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>3.5 stars. Rating: R, for profanity, brief nudity, crude sexuality, plenty of violence and buckets o' blood</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a> • </b></span>Originally published in <i><a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">The Davis Enterprise</a></i>, 8.16.13</b></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>            <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sequels are <i>de rigueur</i> in the comic book world, even when the material doesn’t necessarily demand subsequent chapters. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7v0-v9_vq72Cn1Iw0ZFPJzE03mDC4L-Hxsj8cHHZKy4GJkXMuzb9Moq-Nj84ZqIxauw2IjwEGQjoSTAEn15xI3yX4FtLRYUw8Hlde0x8xqAUtkO43fhXVwG783Y-jiqALv8GKRSN6e4w/s1600/Kick+Ass+2+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7v0-v9_vq72Cn1Iw0ZFPJzE03mDC4L-Hxsj8cHHZKy4GJkXMuzb9Moq-Nj84ZqIxauw2IjwEGQjoSTAEn15xI3yX4FtLRYUw8Hlde0x8xqAUtkO43fhXVwG783Y-jiqALv8GKRSN6e4w/s400/Kick+Ass+2+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">It all builds to this: As Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) watches from the sidelines,<br />Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, center) confronts his wildly garbed arch-nemesis<br />(Christopher Mintz-Plasse) in anticipation of a true battle royale.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m pretty sure writer Mark Millar and artist John Romita Jr. never expected 2008’s <i>Kick-Ass</i> to be more than an eight-issue miniseries, although Millar did leave himself an out, with the aggrieved young snot Red Mist demanding revenge in the final panel, following his evil father’s quite fitting death.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the original series became a smash success, and director Matthew Vaughn’s <a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2010/04/kick-ass-quite-kick.html">2010 film adaptation</a> — which he co-scripted, with Jane Goldman — was one of that summer’s biggest surprises: a gleefully violent guilty pleasure that delivered the right blend of snarky humor and gory mayhem.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No surprise, then, that Millar and Romita re-teamed for the seven-issue <i>Kick-Ass 2</i>, which kicked off in December 2010 ... followed by the five-issue <i>Hit-Girl</i>, which began last August; and the ongoing-as-we-speak <i>Kick-Ass 3</i>, which debuted in July. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No surprise, as well, that director/scripter Jeff Wadlow has unleashed a big-screen sequel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I approached this second movie outing with more than a little concern. Millar has a reputation for pushing the envelope of good taste — hell, he shredded the damn thing several years ago — and his comic book <i>Kick-Ass 2</i> is unforgivably mean-spirited, even given the violent realm within which his characters operate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fortunately, Wadlow’s cooler head prevailed, and he recognized — quite correctly — that mainstream viewers wouldn’t tolerate casual rapes or the pointless execution of little children (a needless story element I suspect Millar would like to recant, in this post-Sandy Hook era). Indeed, Wadlow makes his point rather emphatically, when this film’s über-villain — Red Mist, albeit with a new <i>nom de bad</i>, and back for his predictable revenge — balks at the offer of killing a dog, insisting “I’m not <i>that</i> evil.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In yo’ face, Mr. Millar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wadlow actually bases his script on elements from both the <i>Kick-Ass 2</i> and <i>Hit-Girl</i> story arcs, opening as our two triumphant heroes — Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Mindy Macready (Chloë Grace Moretz) — attempt to resume normal lives. For Dave, that means hanging out with best friends Marty (Clark Duke) and Todd (Augustus Prew), or watching TV at home with his father (Garrett M. Brown).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br />  <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Dave is the lucky one; he <i>has</i>a normal life. Poor Mindy knows nothing beyond the battle training developed during years under her late father’s guidance: a reprehensible upbringing that her new guardian, police detective Marcus Williams (Morris Chestnut) demands that she set aside in order to “enjoy” the calmer routine of life as a high school freshman.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Obviously, Marcus has forgotten his own younger days. Mindy’s previous bouts with gun-toting thugs are nothing compared to the contemptuous belittling she endures at the hands of queen bee/varsity dance captain Brooke (Claudia Lee) and her apprentice bee-yatches.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps a quick recap is due, at this point. Dave and Mindy exist in a world very much like our own, albeit one that posits the irresistible notion that a few altruistic individuals, weaned on comic books, don homemade costumes and embark on ill-advised amateur crime-fighting careers. In one corner of this unspecified metropolis, Mindy and her father, as Hit-Girl and Big Daddy, took on drug baron Frank D’Amico; Dave, initially operating elsewhere, soon joined them as Kick-Ass.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the genius of Millar’s creation is that this obviously satiric premise, which the first film milked for plenty of snarky humor, is offset by real-world consequences. People die, and quite horribly; Dave nearly got killed himself, before developing reasonable physical skills. And bad things happened to good people, before Dave and Mindy finally prevailed against D’Amico, whose son Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) had remade himself as Red Mist, in order to lure our heroes into a trap.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, so, the lines are drawn in this big-screen sequel. Dave, suffering adrenalin withdrawal, allies himself with a gaggle of copycat “heroes” who’ve banded together as a group dubbed Justice Forever, led by Col. Stars and Stripes (a gravel-voiced Jim Carrey). But try as he might, Dave cannot get Mindy to break a promise she made to Marcus, that she discard Hit-Girl’s purple wig and skin-tight uniform.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The seething Chris D’Amico, however, isn’t willing to call it quits. Assembling his own crew of “super villains,” he embarks on a highly visible campaign of death and destruction, hoping to lure Kick-Ass out of hiding. Actually, the not-terribly-bright Chris — who has re-christened his evil self under a name that cannot be mentioned in a family newspaper — has only one truly formidable ally, and she’s quite a scary monster. That would be Mother Russia, played to the ferocious hilt by Ukraine bodybuilder Olga Kurkulina.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This exaggerated nonsense is grounded, in great part, by Moretz’s persuasive performance as Mindy/Hit-Girl: still one of the most iconic young female characters ever brought to the big screen. On the one hand, Moretz’s Hit-Girl is a glibly profane, trash-talking force of nature, incredibly adept with her razor-edged swords and gymnastic grace; alternatively, she’s equally credible as the vulnerable Mindy, so easily cowed by her school’s Mean Girl pack.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At a particularly humiliating moment, our hearts simply break for poor Mindy; Moretz knows how to work the tremulous lips and shattered expression.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More crucially, she can make even the craziest dialogue sound reasonable. I’ve charted Moretz’s career ever since her breakout supporting performance in 2009’s <i><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2009/08/500-days-of-summer-charming-idyll.html">(500) Days of Summer</a></i>, and she just gets better. Her only problem here is that at (real world) 16 years of age, she’s rapidly outgrowing Mindy Macready’s essential “little girl” appearance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taylor-Johnson is fine, as well, as the far more “ordinary” Dave Lizewski (if the term even applies, in such circumstances). Dave’s biggest weakness remains a gullible tendency to be too trusting, too impulsive, and Taylor-Johnson continues to be a well-cast — and well-played — personification of this equally unlikely character.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carrey is hilariously gruff as the oddly formal Col. Stars and Stripes, who thinks nothing of beating goons to a pulp, but draws the line at taking the Lord’s name in vain. Of the various Justice Forever members, Donald Faison stands out as the hilariously named Dr. Gravity — whose “gravity weapon” is merely a dressed-up baseball bat — and Lindy Booth delivers plenty of perky charm as the scantily clad Night Bitch.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mintz-Plasse is sputteringly over the top as the ineffectual Chris D’Amico: a numbnuts clown with few actual skills, who compensates by attempting to buy his way to evil success, with his late father’s ill-gotten gains. In a similar vein, we briefly meet Chris’ incarcerated Uncle Ralph, chillingly played by Iain Glen, a familiar face from HBO’s <i>Game of Thrones</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chestnut is the epitome of parental concern as Marcus, and John Leguizamo strikes a similarly sympathetic note as Javier, the one calming influence in Chris’ increasingly unhinged life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wadlow comes to us from low-rent teen efforts such as 2005’s <i>Cry Wolf</i> and 2008’s <i>Never Back Down</i>, neither of which set the world on fire. But he definitely understands the tone needed for this project, and he deftly handles the necessary blend of arch comedy and limb-severing carnage. You’ll love this film’s all-stops-out money sequence, superbly orchestrated by stunt coordinator James O’Dee, which takes place within and atop a speeding delivery van.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, Wadlow isn’t quite as methodical when it comes to maintaining his plot threads. Mindy demonstrates superb chops while trying out for her school’s cheerleading squad, but then nothing comes of this, aside from making an enemy of Brooke. And Mindy’s eventual “revenge” against Brooke and her fellow mean girls is atrociously dumb: a disgusting slapstick sequence better suited to <i>Bridesmaids</i> and its many imitators.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Worse yet, Todd’s ill-advised behavior, while trying to “fit in” with Dave’s newly revealed second life, feels half-baked and wholly unbelievable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So no, while this sequel remains a lot of fun — and is certain to please genre addicts — it’s neither as fresh nor as dementedly Out There as its predecessor. That said, this one definitely leaves room for another sequel ... and I’m certainly ready to see where Moretz’s Mindy Macready might go, from here.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>

Kick-Ass 2 (2013) • View trailer 3.5 stars. Rating: R, for profanity, brief nudity, crude sexuality, plenty of violence and buckets o&#...

Tough Week

5:55 PM Tukiyooo 0

Hello everyone, <br /><br />It's been a tough, tough week.  I hadn't felt well most of the week and had some tests done (Again, unrelated to Belviq).  I'm retaining a lot of water which is frustrating.  Hopefully we will have answers soon.  Meanwhile I am starting to feel much better.<br /><br />I've had to go off of what I call "roughage" for a few days - I had to go to a more soft, bland diet.  Unfortunately, there's not much health options in that area.  But, I managed very well.  <br /><br />Tomorrow I will be going to the beach with my best friend and just hanging out.  It's her birthday and I need a little R&R time so I am pretty excited.  Sunday I plan on just resting some more.  <br /><br />Hopefully by Monday I will be back full force on my diet again.  I will do a weigh in at some point next week and post it.  <br /><br />As with any and all diets, there are always road bumps.  This time, it was my health.  Something that I've had for about 5 years decided to act up.  Now that it's quieting down, I am hopefully good to get back on track!!!<br /><br />Thanks for being supportive.  I've missed hearing from everyone.   Only goes up from here right???  <br /><br />Have a great weekend!!

Tough Week

Hello everyone, It's been a tough, tough week. I hadn't felt well most of the week and had some tests done (Again, unrelated to Bel...