Reviews

I can't believe it took me so long to watch this beautifully shot, beautifully acted, and beautifully written biting comedy. Alec Guinness's Ealing Films are an international cinematic treasure.

This one is about a scientist, Guinness, who invents a supposedly indestructible dirt repelling fabric. He makes one suit out of it and convinces one textile manufacturer to produce a line of clothes using his new invention. Trouble arises however when everyone but Guinness figures out that if you made indestructible dirt repelling clothes then you'd run labor out of work and management would go bankrupt because after everyone had one suit of clothes they'd never need another.

It's almost quaint to see how they portrayed union labor so sympathetically in this film. It's a good snapshot of where the labor movement was in post war Britain but it's almost too hard to believe that workers ever had that much power over big business. It's also hard to believe that there was so much textile work in England.

This film is very good and it's a beautiful black and white film to boot. The whites really pop out, especially Guinness's white suit. A scene that really stands out for me is the one where the mill owner's daughter negotiates her price to seduce Guinness out of taking his invention public, she and the other mill owners quickly figure out that they may be asking her to talk to Guinness but what they're really asking is for her to whore her self out so they can keep their positions of power and dominance. It's a powerful scene. Another great scene is the one where the mill owners and the union's works committee have finally caught Guinness after chasing him through the streets. He stands before them like a lamb being taken to the slaughter and when they discover his fabric isn't what he claimed, their laughter is like knives in to his psyche. It's brilliant I tell you.

This film should be required viewing for anyone who claims to like films as an art form.

These two films are the prequel to the hit series Doc Martin. They tell the story of how the good doctor came to Cornwall and how he became accepted. These films are very different from the Doc Martin series that came after them. In these the character of Doc Martin is likeable and very easy going, there none of the uptight arrogance that comes later. In fact, these films are very sweet and they read very much like a Cornish Northern Exposure. And that's not a bad thing but the producers rightly figured out that if they kept Doc Martin a nice easy going guy then there would not be much room for character development and if they'd kept him sweet and likeable, these two films probably would have been it for the series. Wisely, they chose to make him gruff, distant, and barely likable so that they have plenty of space to explore him and his interactions with the quirky citizens of his small adopted coastal Cornwall village.

I liked these movies but I like what came after them a whole lot more.

How long will we need unions?

We'll only need unions as long as there are corporations and conservatives who run and profit from them.

They've seen the union and the damage done

Ordinary citizens of the USA speak out about how unions have damaged their lives:

"When I joined the pipe fitters union I totally thought 'pipe fitting' had something to do with kinky sex. And when I got busted for soliciting boy prostitutes, they wouldn't come to my defense and now I have to ionize my penis several times a day and I have to live in a trailer park full of old people. Fuck unions!"

"Ever since my daddy was forced to join the union he works more than he used to and the allowance I used to get now goes to pay his union dues. If there was no union he'd be home more and I'd have more money to buy crystal meth with. Union, my ass."

"My union makes me keep my rack covered at all times, which is a shame because I got a nice rack. Gravity hasn't hit me too bad as of yet, if you catch my drift."

"I wanted to go digital but my union wouldn't let me."

"When those Commie unions took over my factories and made me give my workers things like lunch breaks and safety equipment, my profits have tumbled. I used to make 5.4 million dollars in profit, now I have to scrape by on 5.3 million. The other billionaires laugh at me."

"I like to shoot things and I like eggs. That's all I got to say."

"Woof."

"I wait here day after day for Jesus Christ to swoop down and form a sexual union with me. I dream of making the beast with two backs with my savior. Wait, shit, did I just say that out loud?"

Ironic

The teabaggers who say they want their country back want to return the USA to the 1950's because that's when white people ruled supreme and most all white folks had decent jobs, nice homes, cars, and were sending their kids to college in record numbers.
But what the teabaggers forget is that during the 1950's union membership was at it's peak in our country and that most white folks were able to get out of poverty and obtain those nice houses, new cars, and money for their kids college because they were union members. The radical right teabaggers love to complain about unions but it was unions who helped them get where they are today. And they refuse to make the connection to the fact that since unions have been on the wane, so have their wages and benefits.

It's irony in action.

Do it

For 8 years the foxes guarded the hen houses in Washington DC. The Bush/Cheney administration put their buds in big business in charge at the top of the Departments of the Interior, Labor, Justice, the EPA, and the FDA and as a result the rights of workers were gutted in favor of making sure big business made more profits and paid less taxes, our environment was raped and plundered, the Justice department became a place where the laws were only enforced if they benefited rich white people, and inspection and regulation of our nation's food and drug supply was ignored. Because of all that people died, are still dying (peanut butter sandwich anyone?), and our country and planet are in deep peril.


But fixing that stuff is not a priority with some in the Senate because they've got bigger fish to fry. They've got to stop the stimulus package because it might actually help people who don't give them any money for their re-election. They made damn sure the banks and Wall Street investment houses got bailed out and they did it willingly because they get a shit load of money from those people, but people who work in education, construction, retail, who write computer code, who get up before dawn and punch a time clock when they get to work don't give them a cent so our "esteemed" Senators, including the two douchebags who "represent" us folks in Tennessee, don't want to see them get any help. It's strictly pay for play with the cabal of Republicans in the Senate. If you give them money to get re-elected, they'll vote to give you bail out money, if you don't, then you're fucked. Witness them cutting spending on programs that will create jobs just as they scream about more tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. I'm still waiting on the last round of tax cuts on corporations to help me out.


But holding up the stimulus isn't the only thing the Republicans are doing, they're also holding up the nomination of Hilda Solis. She's been nominated to head the Department of Labor and since she's not a whore for big business, she is in fact a friend of organized labor, the Republicans are nervous and they want to derail her nomination. They can't seem to wrap their greedy bloated heads around the idea of a woman who is a friend of the working man heading up the Department of Labor. I'm sure they're frightened that she might actually do things that benefit the working people of this country while she's in charge. They're shaking their boots knowing that someone who wants to halt the slide that the American workers have been on since Reagan was President will be in charge for a change.


As I've said before, the Republicans in the House and Senate, and some Democrats as well, I'm looking at you Diane Feinstein and Jay Rockefeller and Chuck Schumer, drove us to this cliff that we find ourselves on. We sure as hell don't need to let them drive us off it so let's hope cooler heads prevail and that the stimulus package gets passed along and that they get off their asses and make Hilda Solis the head of the Department of Labor.

An open invitation

Hey all you union autoworkers in the Midwest, consider this an open invitation for all of you to move down to TN, KY, AL, and SC if you lose your jobs if the bridge loans fail because of the union busting Republicans in the Senate. Trust me, it will be a win/win for all of us if you do.

You see union folks, cost of living down here is way less than up north and housing is much cheaper. You can buy a mansion for what you're paying for a small house up north. And in today's economy, you will do even better than usual.

Winter down here is pretty much over by the first week or so of March so we got that going for us. And it doesn't start until around Thanksgiving, some years not until Christmas. Imagine that, a short winter and inexpensive housing.

Another thing we got going for us is our douchebag union busting US Senators. The way I figure it you can move to our states and your votes can sway the close races and we can send those asswipes packing. My idiot Senator Corker barely beat that turd in the Democratic party's punch bowl Harold Ford Jr in 2004 so your votes here in TN could easily put him out of a job, after all it's only fair if he causes you to lose your job, he should lose his.

And you could also help us get rid of the Republican majorities we have in our state houses. We could then elect union friendly Democrats and progressives and we could repeal the anti union right to work laws.

Seriously people, what have you got to lose? Did all of you see the great victory the union workers in that factory in Chicago just got? They stuck together and they got a better deal than what they were offered in the first place. Unlike your craven union leaders, the leaders of that union really know how to lead. You guys and gals could come down here and revitalize the once mighty United Mine Workers, the UAW, and union of the snake, which according to Duran Duran has been on the rise for years. Okay, I kid about that last bit, but the rest no shit, you cats could do it, I swear you could.

So leave behind the cold and snowy Midwest, leave behind the memories of the high paying jobs you used to have, and come down here and help us unionize the south and turn out those fat cat Senators who cost you your jobs and your good wages. It'll be the best thing you ever did, I swear. And you know what else? If you move down here and we become friends, we'll have some beers together and I'll cook for you. So get off those doughy Midwestern asses of yours and come on down and let's get the party started.