I’m all about the movies, so I find myself drawn to the Oscars every year, even as they invariably annoy the crap outta me. Since I’ve had kids, I don’t get the opportunity to see everything that comes out, which is a bummer, but I still get invested in what’s out when, and what gets buzz.

And let me be clear, when I say I like movies, I really mean it. I don’t limit myself by actors or topic. Nor do I arbitrarily toss out genre movies. People who say they love movies and then qualify that love with a list of entire categories of movies they feel are beneath them don’t like movies, at least not in the way I mean. I like big movies, little movies, special effects movies and indy movies, chick flicks and gorefests. Every genre and category have their good ones and bad ones… and even some of the bad ones can entertain in their own special ways.

So, I’ve been thinking about movies (obviously) and I got to thinking about movie villains. A good villain is a joy to behold, and I started working on my top-ten movie villain list. Granted, its a list I came up with at this particular moment, but there are a few names on there that would probably remain over the long haul.

But what a hard job, narrowing that list down to ten. So many fantastic villains that deserve special mention that, for whatever reason, did not quite make the cut at the moment I was typing them out. I feel I almost owe an apology to cinema baddies like Norman Bates, Nurse Ratched, The Wicked Witch of the West, Alex DeLarge, Harry Lime. And Michael Corleone, what do you do with him? He was hero, then anti-hero, then villain, then tragic anti-hero?

So anyway, below is my top ten for the moment. I encourage folks to add their own… and my maybe-surprise pick for my favorite movie villain ever is definitely not one of those impulse choices. He’s always the first villain I think of when I consider my favorites…

1. Detective Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) – Training Day (2001). Best. Bad Guy. Ever. Denzel Washington won an Oscar for this role, and boy did he deserve it. Harris was played as alternately magnetic and creepy, scary and reassuring, and utterly diabolical. At several points, you find yourself sympathizing with his seductive rationales for crossing the line. In that way, the film becomes a test of how far into evil the viewer can be led before faced with the realization that Harris is simply a violent, sociopathic nightmare. Good stuff.

2. Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) – Blade Runner (1982). One of those perfect combinations of script, director and actor that can never be planned for. It’s like lightning striking. The emotional roller-coaster of watching this character is like no other; frighteningly inhuman to painfully, tragically human. Strong and unstoppable to completely fragile. The sudden, whiplash-inducing turn from being terrified of this Frankenstein-esque monster to crying for him as a tragic character should never be attempted in film, as it’s too much to ask an audience to come along with – but in Blade Runner, it was a roaring success, and the result was amazing.

3. The Joker (Heath Ledger) – The Dark Knight (2008). What more is there to say than has already been said about this performance? Creepy, disturbing, even repelling. Ledger’s Joker was not your seductively-styled evil. Credit also goes to the writers for a creatively conceived manifestation of the classic Batman villain, but it was the late Ledger that made you buy that – despite the mystery and unanswered questions around who he was and where he came from – this Joker was not merely a force of nature or a plot device, but a terrifying, if unique, human monster. No small feat, considering how over the top the character is.

4. Regan MacNeil/Satan (Linda Blair) – The Exorcist (1973). Uhhh. Speaking of non-seductive evil. Shudder. Can still give this catholic boy nightmares if I think about it too much.

5. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) – The Silence Of The Lambs (1991). Another one that needs no explanation, and another that depended on a fantastic performance. How many nightmares did “Silence of the Lambs” cause anyway? It’d be creepy enough if he was just a crazed killer, but he eats people. Ew.

6. HAL 9000 (Douglas Rain – voice) – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Come on, there have been plenty of evil-computers-gone-bad stories… but really, there has been only one evil-computer-gone-bad as far as I’m concerned. Kubrick made you feel totally isolated and utterly at the mercy of this inscrutable, unknowable, omninpresent, all-powerful, and completely inhuman thing.

7. Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey) – The Usual Suspects (1995). Even though the movie is 16 years old, its still a no-no to talk about the end of this movie and the whole Kaiser Soze thing, so I won’t. But what a unique and amazing villain. More cinematically impressive and cool than scary, but that counts.

8. Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) – Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982). The ultimate scenery-chewing, obsessed, old-school comic-book style bad guy in movies, bar none (and super-strong to boot). Also, the universe’s coolest latino-sikh.

9. Darth Vader (David Prowse / James Earl Jones – voice). This is one of those names like Norman Bates or the Wicked Witch that I could easily have left off, but he made the list. Vader is sort of a cinematic bad guy archetype, and while I love those sorts of characters, they lose some of their charge for me over time. But, hey, its Darth Vader. Just seemed like no list would be complete without him.

10. Lt. Col. Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda) Fort Apache (1948). Okay, this is my impulse choice for today (as I noticed I only had 9 on my list as I’d accidentally listed Heath Ledger’s Joker twice). He probably shouldn’t be on a “best” list, but I just hated this guy. Great movie (if you ignore the peculiarly tacked-on, cheeseball epilogue scene), but this guy – as perfectly portrayed by Fonda – just embodied all our worst, paternalistic American impulses, while those under his command (who were learning to work with and build trust with the native tribes before Thursday came along) seemed to be rising above them.

Tomorrow, in every state capital and then some, protests in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin are being held. Teachers, nurses, firefighters, students, police officers and others  have occupied the Capitol building and streets of Madison, Wisconsin for a week and a half, and tomorrow is about firmly taking this effort national. The Vermont event is scheduled for noon at the Statehouse.

Organizers are casting this demonstration as a turning point, but I don’t believe in turning points. Advocacy, activism, change – that’s a process, rather than a static point, so hopefully tomorrow can mark a commitment to engage on these issues in a constructive way for the long haul.

But we’re going to have to look some realities in the eye to do that. Vermont is not immune from the forces in play in Wisconsin, and its not as simple as being “pro” or “anti” labor. Note that the Wisconsin state police union yanked down a website statement in support of the workers whose rights are threatened. This is a Governor they endorsed, and apparently to some in power in the police union, that coziness is more important than the fundamental right of their fellow citizens to collectively bargain. In this way, the Wisconsin labor community itself is not healthy, and can even be part of the problem, as a house divided against itself cannot stand.

We need to remember what the word “solidarity” means – all of us, from the day laborer up through the union leaders themselves. It means holding together as a movement, rather than a bunch of loosely affiliated individuals or individual organizations, and standing up for everyone’s right to collectively bargain, period.

Let’s hope tomorrow signals a re-commitment to that principle.

As I mentioned below, the point man in the Ethan Allen Institute’s UVM-sponsored, right-wing ambush of Arnie Gundersen during tonight’s VT Yankee “debate” is Howard Shaffer. Shaffer is a prominent member of Lynchburg’s Christian Nuclear Fellowship, which includes in its “about” page this purpose:

Believing that Christ is Lord of every aspect of our lives, our purpose is to encourage each other to live out our Christian faith day-by-day and to apply Christian principles, Christian ethics, and a Christian worldview in all aspects of our personal and professional lives.

And yet, as Caoimhin Laochdha detailed in the comments below:

“Mr. Shaffer, ignorant of regulatory policy, attempted to stifle Mr. Gundersen as well as run his legal bills by complaining to a State regulatory body. That agency, the Board of Professional Engineering, possess quasi-judicial disciplinary authority. This included the power to levy State fines (in the thousands of dollars) and the Board of Professional Engineering also has statutory authority to seek injuctive relief in civil court and/or refer people for criminal prosection. Mr. Shaffer’s intent was a not-so-thinly-veiled attempt to use a State Agency to smear Mr. Gundersen’s reputation through mere allegations of wrong-doing.

Mr. Shaffer did not realize, however, that this particular State agency has NO statutory (i.e. enabling Act) jurisdiction over Mr. Gundersen. It has zero statutory authority over non-licensees who do not run afoul of the agency’s Title 26 enabling Act. The Board neither gave Mr. Shaffer a hearing or bothered to investigate Mr. Gundersen. The Agency did not even ask Mr. Gundersen to answer Mr. Shaffer’s allegations nor did it even bother to call Mr. Gundersen to ask for “his side to the story.” Instead it had a staff person send Mr. Shaffer a “pound sand” letter, and the Agency pointed out to Mr. Shaffer that, even without an investigation, Mr. Shaffer’s mean-spirited allegations raise no legal issue for State consideration. “

WWJD, indeed? Click here to view the official response to Shaffer’s Christ-like attempt to harass/intimidate Gundersen out of the same public arena he now gets his taxpayer-funder opportunity to ambush him in.

(Re-bumped to the top for updates – promoted by odum)

Update #2 (from odum): I’m delighted to report an “I was wrong,” in that it sounds as though the debate was – as they say – fair and balanced. Couldn’t be happier that it ended up being a fair fight after all, regardless of how it was set up and promoted.

There was a sense in the end that the wind had unexpectedly left the sails of the VY Tiger team.  Nicely done, Mr. Gundersen!

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It says something that conservatives so often feel they can’t win an argument unless they can fix the game. Get a load of this:

On Thursday, Feb. 24, hear two experts on nuclear energy debate the issue in the next installment of UVM’s Janus Forum: “Vermont Yankee: Shut It Down or Keep It Running?”

[…] Speaking in support of Vermont Yankee is Howard Shaffer, who has been a member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) for 34 years.

[…] His opponent in the debate is Arnold Gundersen, chief engineer of Fairewinds Associates, the firm responsible for analyzing the shortfall in Vermont Yankee’s decommissioning fund, which resulted in a review of such funds at nuclear sites around the country.

Sounds interesting, yes? It is a slightly odd combination. As anyone who follows the issue knows, Gundersen is an obvious choice for the anti-VY side. Shaffer (of the “Christian Nuclear Fellowship” – no kidding), on the other hand, is a peculiar one under the circumstances, as Shaffer wrote to the Vermont Board of Professional Engineering and tried to have them demand that Gundersen could not call himself an engineer, because he was not a “Registered Professional Engineer.”

But that’s the tip of the iceberg. Dig this:

The is the sixth installment of the Janus Forum, a debate series founded by James Gatti, a finance professor in UVM’s School of Business Administration; Arthur Woolf, an economics professor in the College of Arts and Sciences; and Richard Vanden Bergh, also of the School of Business Administration.

Yeah, that would be Art Woolf, the patron saint of Vermont’s laissez-faire right wing and the poster boy for the hard-right Vermont Tiger blog. And Gatti? He’s only the Chair of the Ethan Allen Institute, John McLaughrey‘s baby Heritage Foundation for Vermonters.

Think that’s incidental, then why did Shaffer appear on WCAX promoting this event with Meredith Angwin, the pro-VY blogger who is running the Ethan Allen Institute’s VY-promotional Energy Education Project?

But wait, there’s more…

The forum will be moderated by Emerson Lynn, editor and publisher of the St. Albans Messenger.

Yes, that would be Emerson Lynn, Vermont’s leading media right-wing ideologue. Also a favorite of Vermont Tiger. Now, who are we missing… let’s see… oh, yeah! The Gundersens received a last-minute call from UVM Associate Communications Director Jeff Wakefield inviting Arnie to promote the event on a local radio show! Mark Johnson? Nah. VPR? Wrong again… it was… wait for it…

Rob Roper’s new show – yep, the former GOP Chair, True North Radio Host, and Vermont Tea Party favorite. Did you know he had a new radio show? Well, by jinkies he does! WDEV’s “Common Sense” radio show, sponsored by… The Ethan Allen Institute! What a coincidence!

See, the Ethan Allen Institute is not in favor of government sponsorship of…well… anything, really. Except that they seem to have no problem setting up a phony event to promote their agenda and ambush one of their favorite targets through the University of Vermont’s publicly funded platform.

Arnie will handle himself fine. Not only is he right on the issues, he’s smarter than the combined entirety of the sewing circle aligned against him. But this is still pretty gross, all in all. If the conservative pantheon wants to hold a “debate” on their terms, moderated by their person, promoted to their people through their media, and invite one of their favorite targets, just do it openly – through the EAI proper, with full disclosure – rather than engage in this weird, sneaky stuff.

This is a (co-)founders privilege diary, as it has nothing to do with Vermont, politics, news, or anything like that. After years of ups and downs in the effort, my best friend from back in Kentucky just had her first baby this week. Welcome to Adrian Rose Griffith-Mealy, who arrived Thursday, Feb 11, 2011 at 2:52AM – A beautiful, healthy 6lb 14oz baby girl.

And while I have pictures to prove that last statement, it seems a little inappropriate to post them. Instead, here’s a YouTube vid of the happy parents from just a few weeks ago. Laurie Griffith and husband Peter Mealy are a performing duo in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and as you’ll notice below, Laurie was up there on stage until pretty close to the last minute.

So, this is Pete singing his ode to the pregnancy… very entertaining.

Congratulations, L & P. That’s a lucky little girl to have such awesome parents.

If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been blogging much lately, as I’ve been working (professionally, as a consultant) pretty steadily on the legislative push to allow up to 10,000 center and home-based early education and care providers the opportunity to come together as a union and negotiate with the state on policy issues relevant to their profession and the kids in their care. It’s a big issue not just for them, but for our economy – that’s a lot of small-businesspeople spread across the state that make it possible for parents to work in the near term. In the even more important long term, these professionals set the stage for kids’ success in the schools (including by IDing and addressing developmental or behavior issues early). It’s an awesome issue on a lot of levels.

On that front, there are some great things to report. First, Howard Dean endorsed the effort with some strong language, saying the legislation “makes for common sense public policy and is the right thing to do.”

Also, hearings are now set in the House on the bill for next week. The ball is moving forward. Here are some links to some of the coverage:

• Provider Anna Gephardt and Organizer Cyndi Miller on the Mark Johnson Show from the Statehouse last week (the last half hour of the program, right after Gov. Shumlin)
• Center Director Tori Grahame and Miller on Steve West’s WKVT show in Brattleboro. (no podcast link yet, but it’ll be rebroadcast Saturday on Steve’s highlights of the week)
• Shay Totten’s coverage of Sen. Tim Ashe being put to work at a Colchester Center and his comments in support of the bill (You can also see a brief video of comments from Ashe).

Great stuff, serious momentum. Over a third of the House and Senate are co-sponsoring, and the Governor supports the effort. It’s awesome to see politics work the way it’s supposed to.

If you’d like to contact your legislators on the issue, here’s a link to the leg directory. The bills are H.97 and S.29. If you can spare a moment to write a letter to the editor, here’s a tool for that as well.

(A reader asked me today why I hadn’t posted anything about AOL’s consumption of Huffington Post, given that it’s a new media story and that I’m also a HuffPo blogger. The reason is that I immediately tossed up the following piece into my HuffPo queue, curious to see if they’d publish it. Well… its been languishing for more than 24 hours, so the answer is probably “no”… so here ya go:)

I know what this is really about.

I was an aol subscriber a long time ago. I don’t even remember how long ago – at least 12 years or so. But I do remember what it was like when I tried to cancel my account. Aol wouldn’t let me.

At the time, I thought I’d just wandered into crazyland. Since then, of course, there were the media reports and lawsuits over the incentives and elaborate schemes within the company to keep subscribers from cancelling and even billing them fraudulently, so I was hardly the only one engaged in that particular dance.

In my case, I’d tell the fellow on the phone I wanted to cancel, he’d make offer after offer to keep me, but I was done. No hard feelings, it was just time for something else. But he was having none of it. I’d ask to talk to his supervisor, and get left on hold for vast stretches before the desperate-sounding fellow would return and tell me his supervisor wasn’t available. One time, he tried to pretend he was the supervisor, as I recall.

At any rate, it took a lot of calls, threats, and minutes of life wasted, but we were finally off the hook. Our relationship was over.

Or was it? To what lengths are they really willing to go to get their hooks back into me?

I know what this is really all about. This is all part of that master plan, spreading into its third decade, to keep me from cancelling.

Well it won’t work, I tell you.

Arianna, I want to talk to you supevisor.

I was in the Statehouse last week and bumped into long-time single-payer health care advocate Dr. Deb Richter. I was very curious to get her “review” of the report by Dr William Hsiao which laid out health care reform options – particularly her sense of the value and viability of his third option, a “public-private” implementation of what he terms a “single payer” system (that would involve more than a single payer). I asked her to send her review along so that I could share it with the GMD readership.

Let me add before there are complaints, that I’m not trying to suggest to suggest that Richter or any other activist or advocate has a monopoly on gospel-truth (I, for one example, was opposed to the Richter-driven attempt to implement full coverage of ER hospital care as stand-alone reform, and was particularly troubled by the messaging campaign). Nevertheless, no one should argue that Richter isn’t the most committed, passionate, clear-headed and competent of single-payer advocates one will find anywhere.

Dr. Richter:

“Although I have some concerns about  the 3rd option, I understand why he (Dr. Hsiao) did the things he did. It is not a true single payer, that’s true. But it is a single spigot and the reimbursement rates will be uniform, making it administratively far less complicated for docs and hospitals. The Governor is likely to wrap them all into one in his plan anyway and hope for the best with the waivers.”

“I love the independent board (ED. NOTE: The ‘public-private single-payer plan’ would create a board made up of stakeholders to manage rates and other concerns, and pass those recommendations to the legislature for approval, rather than simply leave it all to the highly politicized budget process in the legislature). It has been used in the US in years past. The most famous for it’s effectiveness at cost containment in Rochester NY in the 80’s. They had an entity called a health systems agency that managed to keep costs 30% below the national average and 45% below the state average.”

“In sum, I am on board with the third option because it establishes a true health care system which makes health care a public good. One that includes everyone, is publicly financed, publicly accountable, and has an overall costs containment mechanism. This allows us to fix problems that arise.”

Richter also calls Hsiao a “genius” and indicates she has shared her concerns with him. Her underlying message was, whatever the particular analysis of any shortcomings to the Hsiao preferred model, the fact is that it would be the creation of a deliberate, functional system of health care, as opposed to the dysfunctional mess that has filled our lack-of-a-system vacuum. Any kind of reform is going to be more possible in the context of a true system, and this one – if not perfect – has a lot going for it.

To read the report, click here. For a good back and forth about the report, check out the VT Edition interview with Dr. Hsiao.

Rep. Mark Larson (D-Burlington), lead sponsor of H.97, explains why his bill that would allow Early Childhood Educators to organize and be represented at the table when decisions are made that affect the children in their care (and their own profession) is an idea whose time has come.

(Full disclosure: I’m doing some communications consulting with VEEU/AFT on this effort)

The keynote speaker at the Vermont Democratic Party’s March 19th fundraising event (the “David W. Curtis Leadership Awards”) will be Minnesota Senator and SNL alum Al Franken. It was announced at the State Committee Meeting that Senator Leahy had secured the participation of the Democratic Party superstar* at the VDP’s annual event (no word yet on who the award winners will be).

Crap. Now I have to shell out the money and go.

[corrected per comments]