Mistake // Current TV

Adobe scores major 'own goal' on Photoshop CS2 giveaway

Adobe isn't giving away free copies of Adobe Photoshop CS2 and other Creative... more

blastarorion
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4 months ago
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Innocent Man John Edward Smith Freed From Jail After 19 years

John Edward Smith is now a free man, after spending nearly half of his life in prison... more

Hassan
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8 months ago
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1 comment

Braux Pas: The Sliding Door Story

Everyone does something stupid in college.

TonyDiGerolamo
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1 year ago
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Funky Reporters Ten Funny On-Air Reporter Mistakes (VIDEO) - The Daily Blender

Ten Funky and Funny On-Air Reporter Mistakes Caught On Tape And to think that, in... more

dryeraser
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2 years ago
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WTF Woman Accidentally Super Glues Her Eye Shut (VIDEO) - The Daily Blender

An Arizona woman makes a painful and common mistake. Note to self: When putting shit... more

dryeraser
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2 years ago
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2 comments

Psycho Girlfriend Breaks Up With Her Boyfriend Via Email By Mistake | SnitchCentral

Have you, at some point in your life and while in the heat of an outraged moment, ever... more

defskilz14
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2 years ago
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Abby Guerra, critical Identity mistake

Last week on Monday Hattie Kauffman the national correspondent for the “Early... more

andycr43
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2 years ago
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Hospital congratulations letter 'arrived day baby died'

A couple received a hospital "birth congratulations" letter on the day their... more

CarolineS
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2 years ago
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Up To 60 Human Heads Discovered At Airport

If you're a research company with permission to transport body parts, it's... more

Mcellie
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2 years ago
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3 comments

Surgeon cut off testicle 'by mistake' at Bury hospital

A patient lost a testicle during an operation because the surgeon cut it off by... more

CarolineS
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3 years ago
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Why Are We In Iraq? Please Remind Me. « SpeakEasy

just read Tom Engelhardt’s typically eloquent and thought-provoking reflections on the U.S. project of “bringing democracy” to Iraq. Like Tom, I’ve never been to Iraq. In fact, the closest I’ve come was the other night when I watched the Academy-award winning film, The Hurt Locker. (Am I the last person in the U.S. to see it?) I had to keep reminding myself that it didn’t take me to the real Iraq. It took me to someone’s imaginary Iraq (which was actually Jordan and Canada, it turns out).

But like Tom, I believe that those of us who remain at a distance can sometimes (often?) see what people on the spot are too close-up to see. So perhaps the makers of The Hurt Locker did us a favor by giving us a pseudo-insider’s view that actually kept us some distance from the real thing. It gives us a space to reflect, a chance to think through some important issues that need distance, and time, to understand.

What struck me most about The Hurt Locker was the way the main characters pursued their clearly defined task (defusing those bombs before they do any harm) in a setting of totally undefined (indeed completely irrational, chaotic) purpose and meaning. We could tell why that EOD team was sent out on each individual mission. But we had no idea why the U.S. military was in Iraq or what it was trying to accomplish at all. Apparently the EOD team didn’t either. Nor did they seem to care.

True, the film did make it clear why its hero was there: to get an endless round of adrenalin fixes. (In fact the film made it too clear, which is its fatal flaw as art.) Or was he actually an anti-hero? And were his teammates anti-heroes too? Yet another ambiguity to pile on the many ambiguities of this inexplicable war.

I understand why many peace activists criticized the film for refusing to take a clear antiwar stand. That was my first reaction: Should we praise Leni Riefenstahl for her seemingly non-judgmental films about the Third Reich? But on further reflection, I’m tempted to give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt and say that they did a fine job of making sure that, in their fictional Iraq, absolutely everything was ambiguous, uncertain, unclear.

That should be the main point of any discussion of Iraq. It is the first major war the U.S. has fought where no one can say whom we are fighting, much less why we are fighting. Engelhardt points out clearly that the stated goal — to “bring democracy” to Iraq — is as unbelievable and senseless as it is hypocritical and arrogant. I’ve always been a great fan of the idea that every war is overdetermined. There are always numerous reasons for each war, no one of which is “the true” reason.

Even for those who think they know what this war is about, no one has ever know, or knows now, exactly who “the enemy” was/is. That’s the key point The Hurt Locker brings home most powerfully. And if you can’t say who the enemy is, how can you possibly define the goal or purpose of the war? That’s the crucial question, which neither the president who started the war nor his successor who is continuing it can answer. With that question unanswered, after watching The Hurt Locker and thinking back on everything else I’ve learned about this war, it’s hard to resist the conclusion that the main purpose of the war may be simply to fight the war.

Of course hardly anyone asks questions about Iraq any more. It’s all so George W. era. As Engelhardt rightly says, Iraq is now largely the “forgotten” war. Turning the war into the Best Picture of the Year — putting the focus on its entertaining form, not its disturbing content — is one more step in that process of forgetting. How ironic: A film that gives us the distance to see the truth clearly can end up helping to mask the truth.

I only hope that Kathryn Bigelow will follow up her triumph, some day, with a sequel about the last U.S. soldier to die in Iraq. I can even suggest a title: “How Do You Ask A Woman to Be the Last Woman to Die for a Mistake?”just read Tom Engelhardt’s typically eloquent and thought-provoking reflections... more

Monkey_Films
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3 years ago
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4 comments

GWB speechwriter Frum describes huge mistake Republicans made on healthcare reform.

George W Bush speechwriter David Frum describes the huge mistake the Right Wing,... more

neocongo
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3 years ago
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24 comments

Tyra Banks loses gray matter dealing with trans-issues

In a rerun that aired several weeks ago, Tyra interviewed two transsexual women. The... more

transreporter
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3 years ago
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Judge rules that California jail inmates were released by mistake

More than 1,000 California county jail inmates were freed over the past few weeks due to an apparent misreading of a new state law intended to reduce state prison overcrowding.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Loren McMaster halted the releases Wednesday. Calling them “a formula for disaster,” Judge McMaster ruled that an amended statute, which increases “good time” credits for inmates and allows many to reduce their sentences, was never intended to apply to county jails.

One inmate released early from a Sacramento jail was arrested on attempted rape charges less than a day after being freed, according to the Sacramento Bee. A victims' rights advocate told the paper: "Our greatest fear has occurred almost immediately after the early release of these inmates."

When the law took effect Jan. 25, many California sheriff’s departments applied it retroactively to their inmates. Three hundred were freed early in Orange County, and about 200 were released ahead of time in Sacramento. Others, according to the Los Angeles Times, were let go early in Riverside, Ventura, and San Bernardino.

California Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, who helped draft the new legislation, says he was “shocked” to hear that the law was being used by sheriffs to reduce their inmate populations. He filed suit, along with the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, to stop the releases.

Assembly member Torrico says the change was made to address demands by a federal judicial panel that has ordered California to reduce its prison population, which is about double its intended capacity. The change in credits for good behavior is estimated to lower the state prison inmate population by about 6,500 annually.

Currently, the state houses about 155,000 inmates in 33 prisons (another 12,000 or so are held in out-of-state facilities). The judicial panel ruled that California should reduce its prison population by roughly 40,000 to provide a constitutional level of care for prisoners.

READ MORE AT LINKMore than 1,000 California county jail inmates were freed over the past few weeks due... more

HowdyDo
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3 years ago
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Afghanistan More Violent for Recently Ordered Troops

KABUL (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer warned on Monday the first U.S. troops... more

rickm8
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3 years ago
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Meet Blue Logan - Fashion's Favorite Illustrator

I love that someone on current has mixed up Blue with his Uncle Andrew - even though... more

Jes_Benstock
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3 years ago
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1 comment

Texas may have banned all marriages

Texans: Are you really married? Maybe not. Texas adopted an amendment (Prop 2)... more

Future_America
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3 years ago
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2 comments

Newt Gingrich Accidentally Names Porn Exec 'Entrepreneur Of The Year'

Newt Gingrich's 527 group sent a letter to porn exec Allison Vivas Wednesday... more

Curtis_Medina
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3 years ago
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Glenn Beck Can't Spell

Glenn Beck's "questions" about Obama spell "OLIGARH" instead... more

Future_America
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3 years ago
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12 comments

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