People Who Wear Masks

People who wear masks while advocating a political point of view have always baffled me. I know that they believe in the causes they claim to support- but I have to question the wisdom of the masks. Here is a photo taken a few years ago showing the Basque Separatists declaring a truce. I never thought of a truce as something to be ashamed of. What is so shameful about advocating for Peace?

Regarding masks in general, it would seem to me that if the cause were a just one, I would want my face to be associated with my point of view. I would take pride in my position. On the other hand, I do recognize that in some countries the mask may be necessary, especially if your views are not in sync with the repressive government with which you may be in contrast. 

But the mask does seem to take away from the perceived legitimacy of the argument. I cannot imagine George Washington or Thomas Jefferson wearing masks to obscure their identities. Because I have been raised in a free society it is hard for me to imagine the necessity of taking such measures. As a child I quickly understood that only the bad guys wore masks, with the possible exception of Zorro.

Once mask wearing begins, it doesn't stop. It snowballs into a mindset of deliberate obscurity, in which no one takes a personal stand for what they believe in. Even the Police and Military, when they don masks, detract from the honor of what they do to protect us. But given the danger of what they are up against, namely other people in masks, well, I understand that this may be necessary, although it does make me somewhat uneasy. Where does the responsibility lie when justice is obscured behind a mask?

Halloween is an appropriate use of masks, as is Mardi Gras. Here is a group of revelers in the Big Easy last year during Fat Tuesday. The masks are rather gruesome, but they are about fun, and not clandestine in nature. In my opinion, Political Views and Law Enforcement should be conducted in an atmosphere of transparency. It is only through a spirit of openness and honor that we will ever be able to face one another, and ourselves. And wouldn't that be something...?

Rep. Michael Grimm - Thug at Large

Saturday is usually reserved for cartoons, but sometimes real life characters can be more entertaining. So, today I am cancelling the cartoon in favor of the buffoon. 

Now, if you are dead you probably haven’t heard that Representative Michael Grimm of New York threatened to break news reporter Mike Scotto “in half” on Tuesday night after the President’s State of the Union Address. Mr. Scotto committed the crime of asking a legitimate question concerning the Congressman’s troubled finances. Here is that exchange;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/28/michael-grimm-threat_n_4684695.html

You have to wonder as you watch this and Rep. Grimm returns to deliver his threat, does he actually thinks that we cannot see and hear him? The Capitol Rotunda is well known for its superb acoustics. But the Congressman doesn't really care about that at all. You see he belongs to a very privileged set of Americans, to whom the ordinary laws do not apply. After all, they are the lawmakers.

Personally I am sick and tired of Congressman yelling and threatening reporters who are doing their jobs by monitoring the activities of our elected officials. They seem to think that they are beyond the laws that they write. I have a suggestion for Mike Scotto; have the Congressman charged with battery. It’s a misdemeanor and by itself will probably not affect the Congressman’s career.

But, it would be like placing a shot across his bow; I’m an old Navy guy; and might just serve as a warning to the rest of our elite, elected officials that there has been a “sea change” in America. We, the People, will not tolerate being bullied by our employees any longer. We will, instead, hold them “responsible” for their behavior.

Here are the Congressman’s contact addresses and phone numbers at the 3 offices you pay for. Make your feelings known to this miscreant bully who would use the halls of Democracy to cow both Freedom of the Press and open, accountable government. If you don’t speak up now there will come a time when you are no longer able to.

Note: I began this post on Wednesday and contacted all of the offices listed below in an attempt to get some sort of statement out of either the Congressman or his staff. I gave my name and contact info to the Brooklyn office, which was the only one that was answering phone. The others all had answering machines stating that their mailboxes were full. I am still awaiting a response to my inquiry.

Washington, DC

512 Cannon HOB

Washington, DC 20515

Phone: (202) 225-3371

Fax: (202) 226-1272

Brooklyn

7308 13th Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11228

Phone: 718-630-5277

Fax: 718-630-5388

Staten Island

265 New Dorp Lane, 2nd Floor

Staten Island, NY 10306

Phone: (718) 351-1062

Fax: (718) 980-0768

Tell them Robert at Rooftop sent you!

Digging for Hoffa - Again

We’re digging up Hoffa; or more accurately; what we believe to be the remains of one time Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa, again. And each time we never find him. It’s become a parlor game, not unlike the speculation which will forever surround JFK's assassination, or even some sort of macabre version of “Where’s Waldo.” But just who was Jimmy Hoffa and why do we even care where he is?

Depending upon your point of view, Jimmy Hoffa was a thug, a racketeer, or a champion of the working man. It’s hard to decide which category the man truly fits into. But it’s plainly evident that he was killed, or “whacked” as they say in the movies and TV shows.

Either that, or he has engineered his own disappearance, way out distancing that of Osama Bin Laden, who was only  able to hide for a mere decade while the whole world supposedly looked for him. In that case, Bin Laden was an amateur compared to Mr. Hoffa, who would undoubtedly be deceased at this point, or close to it anyway.

So, why are we looking for him everywhere? In stadiums, in backyards, beneath highways; and even in basements; the FBI has been tracking a dead man for almost 40 years now. My own opinion is that it’s time we stopped. If he was, as some say, involved in the assassination of JFK, anybody he would have worked with has undoubtedly passed away as well, and so the discovery of Mr. Hoffa’s body would yield no value at this point.

At any rate the conversation would be quite boring, as Mr. Hoffa; having been dead for several decades; would have very little to say on the matter.

 

"Harry Brown" with Michael Caine

Being a Michael Caine fan carries with it many risks. The main one is that he makes any movie offered to him. He once remarked that, "I am an actor, and that's what I do. I don't write the stuff." But I am always willing to take a chance on one of his films, hoping that it will be another gem, such as "The Man Who Would Be King", or the beautifully scripted "Cider House Rules", or "Secondhand Lions." While "Harry Brown" may not rise to those levels of perfection, it is worth the time to watch. This is the British version of "Gran Torino", the American film starring Clint Eastwood as an angry old man, fed up and ready to strike back.

While the theme of this movie is clearly akin to "Gran Torino", which was made one year before, this film offers you the opportunity to see that the breakdown in social order is not confined to the United States alone. This film takes place in Great Britain.

Harry, played by Michael Caine, is a "pensioner", that is he is on what we call Social Security and lives in the housing project known as the "Estate." It is a typical high rise, high crime type of development which we, here in America, refer to as the "projects." His life consists mainly of going to the local pub with his friend, another aging "pensioner."

His friend has taken to carrying a bayonet, a souvenir from Harry and his days as a Royal Marine. He carries it for protection against the drug dealers and thugs who inhabit the underground pedestrian walkway that leads into the "estate." Harry walks the extra half a mile to avoid the tunnel, but his friend is insistent upon his right to use it.

The old man has been to the Police several times seeking protection, to no avail. When he is finally beaten to death Harry decides that he must act on his own to avenge the murder. This is where the film takes a much different turn than "Gran Torino."

Harry goes on a killing spree, and although he kills only the ones involved in his friends death, he never looks beyond his own anger and rage. In "Gran Torino", Clint Eastwood's character actually learns something about himself, as well as the problems of those around him. Using this knowledge he is able to help change some of the problems that plague the neighborhood in which he lives.

Not so in "Harry Brown." When about to kill one of the men who murdered his friend , he is shown a film of the actual murder, taken on one of the thugs cellphones. What he sees shocks him; his friend, insisting upon using the tunnel, actually can be seen brandishing the weapon and striking the first blow. He is then savagely beaten to death, and though his death is unwarranted, you are made to understand that it was his actions which inadvertently caused it.

This is a bitter pill for Harry Brown to swallow. And for the viewer as well. Very realistic filming and credible acting make this a film worth watching, even if just as a comparison to "Gran Torino." It is interesting to see how the two films take the same theme and come to completely different conclusions concerning the same problems.