Newsflash: Senators Still Arrogant and Secretive

I was derisive of Carol Shea-Porter, my Congressperson, and her failure to respond to a CNN query about her "earmark" spending requests. Since then, she's come up with a lame defense of her secretiveness, which you can read; it's good for a chuckle.

I would be less than fair if I failed to point out that CNN asked the same of all senators last week. And it turned out that NH senators Gregg and Sununu also failed to respond to the query.

That's disappointing. But not unusual. 68 other senators did the same. 18 more responded with a refusal. Only six responded with a list, and six said they had no earmarks.

Any chance that someday our representatives could be open and transparent about their sausage-making?

Elevator to the Gallows

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)
[2.0
stars] [IMDb Link]

A better title for this might have been Criminels français stupides, or something like that. Because the whole movie hinges on a "clever" murder, made to look like suicide, but—frankly—the murderer's plan is seriously flawed, involving, as it does, a climb up the side of an office building in broad daylight, in front of a bunch of windows behind which, almost certainly, sit a lot of employees. How are we supposed to believe that could work?

Of course, then the murderer makes a serious mistake. (Eyes roll.) All the major characters enable the self-destruct devices on their lives in one way or another, and things work to their inevitable and unsurprising conclusion. Fortunately, it's short. Since it's French, everybody's full of attitude and ennui on their way down.

The original score is by Miles Davis, and it's really the best thing in the movie.


Last Modified 2024-02-02 4:27 AM EDT