FISA'd

A developing situation in my small world has precluded my posting frequecy lately, but in light of recent happenings I would feel remiss if I don't jump into the pool for a dip. Besides, Arthur has snapped off an impressive number of lengthy, thought provoking and enraging (if you're not enraged after reading some of the most recent posts you need to check your pulse, priorities, and possibly status as a human being) entries after a lengthy period of recuperative silence.

Cenk Uygur:

Here we go again. I was going to write a nice, fun piece about Matt Damon on a lovely Sunday afternoon when the Democrats went and ruined everything, as usual.

Well, I'll go ahead and comment on the latest installation of the Bourne franchise. I saw it Saturday night. The theater was packed to the gills, and we had to grab the remaining two adjacent seats in the front row slightly off to the left. I'm going to have to go back and see it again from further back in the auditorium, but the experience was still a good one. The film is great fun visually from start to finish, with very few (brief) opportunities given the audience to catch their breath. Damon and the supporting cast do a great job with the script. It's pretty good, once one accepts the convention (continuing a trend which established in the first two films) that the only similarities between the films and the Ludlum novels. The detail featured in these films that strikes me as poignant is the highlighting of the typical use of technology and practice which are precisely at the heart of the surveillance and wiretapping programs that has been in place for years now under the NSA and which Congress signed into law on Saturday, ruining the weekend for anyone who is a fan of the Fourth Amendment, may it rest in peace.

These insidious ways of flagging and tracking people are employed during all three of the major sequences in Ultimatum, to varying degrees of success, since, of course, our intrepid amnesiatic hero can never be a step behind his pursuers... Data Mining and Satellite Tracking play a huge role in the action and forward movement of the plot of the film.

In actuality, the film Enemy of the State touched on these precise issues several years ago, albeit with less critical and popular acclaim and success. In the interest of full disclosure, the story left quite a bit to be desired. Smith and Hackman did as much as they could with their roles and the story, but it seemed kinda rough around the edges, possibly because it was 15 pounds of story crammed into a ten pound box.

However, in all four films, a network of surveillance exists to filter certain key pieces of information that, once detected, place in motion a machine of incalculable swiftness, inhuman mercilessness, and single minded purpose, even when it doesn't know what it will do with the goal once it has attained it, be it a piece of information or an individual. Scary stuff, that exists this very moment, to be sure.

So, while Matty and his crew might have gotten FISA'd, they were doing a little FISAing themselves for anyone who was paying attention and likes to talk about what they just saw beyond the terms of how cool the NYC chase was or how there's no way he could have survived that 10 story swan dive in to East River. Apologies to anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but take heart: All you know is the there's a chase sequence in downtown Manhattan, and Damon goes for a dip in the River. You'll have to pony up for the rest of the goodies...

"Remember, no matter where you go, there you are."

-Pigkiller, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome