Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Friday, October 21, 2005
My new book...and the salt of the earth
the entire film of salt of the earth can be downloaded for free here http://www.archive.org/details/salt_of_the_earth
anyone who does not use this website should. its fantastic. i did a little piece about it here..
http://www.spinwatch.org/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=10Posted by michael on from scotland 10/21 at 06:43 AMThanks, Michael...I’ve added that link to the original post.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 07:13 AMI’ve got to remember to do that tonight (download what sounds like an amazing movie)...sometime I am going to have to go back through your posts, Mickey, and find all of the things I forgot or didn’t have time to check out.
I heard on the radio this morning that several hundred people were arrested this day in 1967(?) in the first protest against the Viet Nam war. The war only lasted another what, 5 or 6 years?
Didn’t we have a protest a couple of weeks ago in Washington? I can’t remember.
I am starting to agree with those who say protesting has lost what little effectiveness it ever had.
Good morning, Mickey, Michael and everyone.
Posted by JOS on from wdthu.blogspot.com 10/21 at 08:03 AMHere’s a mainstream take on that big 1967 protest, JOS:
http://tinyurl.com/72v4lPosted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 08:08 AMWell, shite...at least they caused quite a stir. All we do nowadays is coordinate safe arrests with the police.
Posted by JOS on from wdthu.blogspot.com 10/21 at 08:15 AMGet this, JOS: At a 1971 anti-war demonstration in DC, 14,000 protestors were arrested.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on “Salt of the Earth.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 08:18 AM14,000...now that’s a protest.
Posted by JOS on from wdthu.blogspot.com 10/21 at 08:36 AMGood morning MZ’ers....JOS, I sort of agree with you about the “safe arrests” but that is not always, or ever, predictable. The St. Pat’s 4 had a mistrial and THEN the government upped the Charges to Conspiracy !!! No one can ever predict how vicious the Judicial System can get. The corruption within the Judicial system would boggle the mind of any sane person. Not only is corruption a problem, but much of the system is run like a frat house. Any Defendant or Plaintiff should know that he is in many ways alone. His attorney, the opposing attorney, and the Judge are ALL officers of the court. The citizen is alone.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/21 at 09:02 AMI forgot to say that Joshua Frank has written about the corruption of the system in Vermont.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/21 at 09:20 AMok so i just watched salt of the earth and its inspiring stuff and moving too. it really is an amazing statement, esepcially when you consider when it was made
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/21 at 09:59 AMI agree, Michael. Who in the world was making pro-labor, feminist, anti-racist films in 1953? Come to think of it, how many are doing it now?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 10:16 AMGood morning, Rosemarie.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 10:17 AMRosemarie...you’re right of course, and by the way, I was not including your arrest as one of the “safe ones”...I was referring to those at the Washiington protest when activist coordinated their arrests with the police.
Posted by JOS on from wdthu.blogspot.com 10/21 at 10:34 AMJOS, I knew that you were not referring to my arrest. As Joe says, we are family here...no need to explain. I understood your point and am in some agreement with it. We all have to get out of our safety zones, get out of our boxes, and be a lot more creative in what we do. I actually have a friend who occasionally mentions immolation. I do not advocate that. BTW, he is one of the most intelligent people that I know.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 10/21 at 10:52 AMArchive.org...what a place. Wow. Resource-zilla.
Salt of the Earth puts me in mind of the world we live in. The struggle is the same, the noise level is even lower, and the sheep aren’t looking up, to paraphrase the great Brunner novel’s title. Did Murrow vanquish McCarthy for naught?
Speaking of McCarthy, Charlie and Joe’s bastard son Tom DeLay was arraigned today...his lawyers actually used, if this can even be credited, the line “It’s not a crime to be a conservative” in his defense. The DeLay DeFicients have been running attack ads against Travis County DA Ronnie Earle using that same line, urging their troglodytic browless followers to call the DA’s office and complain about the awful, awful lies the DA’s tellin’ on Saint Tommy DeLay.
Shouldn’t the fact that the jackass is grinnin’ like Death at a factory farm in his $()*!*^$ MUG SHOT wake at least a few of these no-thumb-havin’ Untermenschen up to how vile DeLay truly is?!
I’m gonna go have more coffee.
Posted by Mudge on from Workin' for the Weekend 10/21 at 11:09 AMWARNING!
WARNING!you can easily lose 2 or 3 weeks at a time inside archive.org
bizarre synchronicity stuff again. was just doing a piece about the day i met scott ritter http://thumpingthetub.blogspot.com and there he is on democracy now - just as i am finishing it.
Posted by michael on from scotland 10/21 at 11:31 AMJust making sure, RMJ.
Self-immolation? Now that’s way out of the safe zone.
Posted by JOS on from wdthu.blogspot.com 10/21 at 01:37 PMHello: Mickey, Rosemarie, JOS, Michael - and a grand and thoroughly delighted greeting to The Mudge. Good to see ya, grumpy fellow! And, good to see that you’re appropriately peeved and pissed, today! I hope you’re well, and that you’ve been able to eliminate some of the wolves at your door…
Mickey, I agree with you about 50AR. It’s a wonderful piece of work. It’s perfect for communicating with ordinary people - OUR people - who don’t yet know that they are our people. Most of the essays pack considerable emotional wallop, and do so in only a few minutes; they’re a perfect vehicle for “spreading the word,” quickly and powerfully.
JOS - a goofy note: I saw Richard Pryor do a routine about how he and George Carlin compete with each other. At one point, he said: “George & I have both had heart attacks, but he’s way ahead of me. I’ll never catch up. But, I’m WAY ahead of him at “burning myself up.”
Posted by joe on from inside a comic book 10/21 at 02:14 PMJust a “few” words about India:
I’ve been reading that India, at the urging of Psycho Sam, our beloved uncle, has decided to develop a deep-water navy. So, India develops and maintains a nuclear arsenal, and now they’re going to do the same with a small fleet of astonishingly expensive ships and bases…India has more than a billion people. There are places in India which are so hot and dry and barren that there are no obvious signs of life, anywhere - but there are people in such areas. There are people, lots of people, everywhere. And, most of them are poor on a scale which would make folks in the South Bronx feel relatively well-to-do. Their birth rate is high, and folks who know about such things predict that the population will one day exceed that of China.
And they have nukes and are building a Navy.In many areas of India, one can find huge swaths of neighborhoods built entirely out of cardboard boxes and used pieces of tin and old roofing paper and whatever useful bit of cast-off that can be found. The structures might be three or four or sometimes even five feet tall, with about as much interior space as might be found beneath an average kitchen table. ( Though, a structure built with a good old kitchen table would be “magnificent,” in such a setting. )
Most of these dwellings are somehow raised a foot or more above the ground - on blocks or rubble or piles of stones - and beneath, and running throughout the entire “community,” is a vast slowly swirling river of human waste. There was usually a fairly comprehensive “infrastructure” of 2X6’s, functioning as roadways between houses and sections of neighborhoods. It occurred to me that people must have gone out and worked very, very hard to acquire these boards, in order to bring them back to the neighborhood and build up their streets and sidewalks…
These people are LUCKY! Tens of millions have no dwelling of any sort, at all…It’s likely that half or more than half of India’s one-billion people have never once used a “bathroom.” Therefore, the streets and lands of India are the bathroom for more than 500 million people. My greatest fear, while there, was that I would fall down… Whether in downtown Bombay ( Mumbai ) or in a palm forest deep in southern India, or up in the foothills of the Himalayas, near the Nepalese border, one ALWAYS had to watch one’s step.
In most cities, the sewer systems were actually just culverts alongside the road, with concrete blocks arranged over them, unevenly, so that one was always aware of the “infrastructure problems.” Open air café’s were often situated upon these blocks, and the black rivers were obvious as they flowed on beneath. Pigs and goats and “sacred cows” wandered into and out of the sewage, so the lower parts of their bodies were often black… People manifested birth defects and diseases which were completely new and bizarre ( and quite frightening), to me, and I’d already had medical training and experience, as a corpsman in the Navy, during the Viet Nam War.
While traveling, it was ALWAYS obvious when “fresh” water was nearby, as almost all streams and rivers and ponds and lakes were nothing more than huge repositories of sewage. The stench would sometimes be so overwhelming and impossible to evade that I thought I might lose my mind. And ---- the poor used this water: They had to use this water…
I could go on and on about the poverty and generalized wretchedness of these wonderful, amazing people - but I won’t. I’ll just return to the beginning: The US has urged the government of India to create a deep-water navy, which will cost many, many billions of rupees, in addition to their already obscenely expensive nuclear program.
Our tax dollars at work, folks. God Bless America.Posted by joe on from backlanes of Mumbai 10/21 at 02:37 PMThanks for the link Michael! And have you ever seen the (British) film: ‘One of the Hollywood Ten’ with Jeff Goldblum as Biberman and Greta Scacchi as his wife?
And hi to everybody else on this thread and to Mickey of course! Although I have none of the thoughts outlined at the beginning of the post I look forward to reading 50 AR!Have a SUPER weekend each and everyone of you,
Helga from AustraliaPosted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 10/21 at 02:44 PMHi again,
here is the imdb link to ‘Salt of the Earth’:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0047443/
and to ‘One of the Hollywood Ten’:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0234393/Stuart Klawans wrote a review of the latter film for the ‘Nation’ - will look for that now.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 10/21 at 02:53 PMSome more links from me - hope you find them worth your while: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051107/cooper
Interesting interview with Gore Vidal in the latest ‘Nation’, and here is Stuart Klawans on ‘One of the Hollywood Ten’ in 2002:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020204/klawans.A review that hits the nail on the head because I had seen the film a few weeks earlier and entirely concur with Klawans!
Bye,
Helga
http://travelvictoria.com.au/daylesford/Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 10/21 at 03:06 PMHello all. Excellent discussions, as always.Thanks for all the links, Helga.
For some reason, I just remembered something I’d like to share.
A few years ago, I did an event at ABC No Rio with Seth Tobocman (http://sethtobocman.mahost.org). It was just 4-5 weeks post-9/11 and the U.S. was already bombing Afghanistan.
Seth is doing his thing...talking through an amplified megaphone with the lights down, slides being projected behind him, music blaring. He tells of seeing a handmade sign in Texas that read:
Unleash the dogs of war
God bless America
Have a nice dayThrough his megaphone, Seth declares: “The dogs of war have indeed been unleased. God may or may not bless America. But you will definitely NOT have a good day.”
He then repeats, much louder: “No one will have a nice day”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 03:12 PMMudge...I didn’t see you there. Hello!
I am still smiling about Mickey’s salutation to you on your first comment back from your hiatus:
Mudge is in the motherfuckin’ house.
Joe, I will be reading your novella on India when I get time later tonight.
One of my favorite Pryor skits is the one he does about how he “self-immolated” himself while doing free-base. Only he could take an experience like that and make it funny as all hell.
Hello Michael.
Hello Helga!Posted by JOS on from wdthu.blogspot.com 10/21 at 03:14 PMUntil Joe finishes writing his book, here’s a book with some excellent chapters about India: http://www.transcend.ws/description.htm.
Hey JOS, how much does it suck that ex-Yanks Clemens and Contreras are starting game one of the Series...with Pettite next in line?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 03:17 PMI was just discussing that with a fellow Yank-me fan (in honor of Mudge’s return) here in Puerto Rico. Contreras pitches frickin’ batting practice while starting for the yankees, and then pitches a complete game, series ending win for the White Sox. Clemens gets a 1.something ERA this year and Petite, well we all know that Petite is one of the best big game pitchers around. Aren’t we glad we got Pavano, Brown and Wright?
By the way, Aaron Small goes 10 and 0 and then doesn’t start a game against the Angels? Go with who got you there.
However, I am liking Wang and Chacon for next year.
I am rooting for the White Sox as my dad was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and half my mom’s family is sending me excited LET’S GO WHITE SOX emails. Seeing as she was one of ten children, that’s a lot of emails.
Posted by JOS on from wdthu.blogspot.com 10/21 at 03:32 PMIt’s hard for me to root against Pettite and I really love the way Biggio plays but I might be pulling for the Sox, too. I like Ozzie Guillen’s style.
As long as the Red Sox and Angels are out of it, I won’t be bummed no matter who wins.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 03:45 PMHello, JOS! And thanks for sharing your story of the event with Seth Tobocman, Mickey!
And another hello to all the other ‘MZ’ers’.And one last thing: I wonder whether Tom Friedman has evern visited the same India you did joe ..
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 10/21 at 04:11 PMHi Mickey & JOS & Helga -
JOS, South Chi is one of the toughest neighborhoods I’ve ever been in. I once took a cab to an address in South Chi, and couldn’t find the folks I was looking for. A huge, 50-something black dude came up to me, waking very quickly. He said: “Brother - you need get out of this neighborhood, right now. The only white people who come here are cab-drivers and cops. Most of the white cab drivers don’t come back twice. The cops got shotguns.” He walked me about two blocks to a pay phone, handed me a little taxi-cab business card, with the phone number, and said: “You call, I’ll wait with you.”
As I got into the cab, the guy was just smiling: “I can’t believe I looked up and saw a white guy on this sidewalk! Man, you’re one stupid dude!” he said.I like the Sox, too. I loved Chi, I hate Texas, (excepting Mickey’s family, and a guy named Danny Selwin) - and the Sox just beat the evil kingdom.
- Stupid Dude
PS - Great link page, Mickey. Rich has done some great work.
BTW - there’s a quote about “delusion” by Einstein on that page. What he describes is essentially what “enlightenment,” as sought by spiritual-types, really is… (Though, for most people, spiritual search is usually just a way to make “me” even cooler.)
While such an experience seems, “from the outside,” kind of mystical, goofy, impractical, and selfish - it’s actually the experience of - normal.Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/21 at 04:16 PMHelga, I think you just gave a name to Joe’s novella: “This is Not Tom Friedman’s India.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 04:17 PMHelga - TF’s visit was probably like this:
Plane lands. Limo picks him up. Goes to 5-star hotel. Parties with elites in super-schnazzy 5-star clubs and restaurants. Gets back in Limo.
Goes to airport. Boards with 1st class ticket.
Goes home.Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/21 at 04:21 PMNice title.
Joe, I’ve spent a lot of time in places no white man should ever go, so I know what you mean.
By the way, my favorite Einstein quote recently goes something like this:
There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity...and I’m not sure about the first one.
Posted by JOS on from wdthu.blogspot.com 10/21 at 04:24 PMEinstein also said: “Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.”
Oddly, my captcha word if “arms.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 04:27 PMYeah, Einstein was an astounding guy. I read that, when he was 11 or 12, he began to wonder what it would be like to look at a beam of light, at its end, or tip, while it was moving - to get a sense of what light was really like.
Had I not read that, such an idea would not have occurred to me at any time in my life…
He was an anarchist, as well - and an amazing social thinker…
Unfortunately, Einstein also helped persuade Roosevelt to set up the Manhattan Project - one of THE profoundest blunders in all of human history.
I guess if you hit tremendous home runs, and lots of them, you have to eventually hit a very damaging foul ball, as well…Captcha word: foreign
Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/21 at 05:12 PMEinstein’s “foul ball” made me think of something Camus said, Joe: “It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 07:28 PM>>>I am rooting for the White Sox as my dad was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and half my mom’s family is sending me excited LET’S GO WHITE SOX emails. Seeing as she was one of ten children, that’s a lot of emails.<<<
Oh dear, oh dear...y’all AL fans. Poor deluded saps. Prima donna (gender choice deliberate) pitchers who just won’t hit a baseball except with their tiny little trotters in a fit of pique...how dull is that?
Clemens and Pettitte, y’all can have back.
GO STROS!!
Greetings, solicitations (evil leer at RMJ), and farewell as I go off to get serious about a new novel idea...more in Storytelling Saturday.
This is a very missable group, just so ya know....
Posted by Mudge on from Workin' for the Weekend 10/21 at 08:03 PMGotta admit, Mudge, it’s cool to see NY boy Craig Biggio finally get some exposure. Yank-Mes could use a few like him. He went to high school with Michele, btw.
Later, y’all.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/21 at 08:48 PMHey, y’all -
Y`all?
Powerful quote from Camus, Mickey: Words to live by. It’s amazing that A.E. would make such an error. Perhaps he still had some trust in the US government… or was still frightened by events in Germany, and the possiblility of a German victory. Donno. Still, the guy awes me…Hi again, Mudgkins!
What’d Rosemarie do?
Forgive us all our tresspasses, Dear Mudge, for we know not what we do…
I’ll look forward to your story, Sir.
See youz tammarra.Captcha word:
soxinsixPosted by joe on from Oregon 10/21 at 09:46 PM
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