Let’s just put aside the issue of Batman being trained by ninjas in the films, or the question of whether in the comics Batman operates with sort-of-superpowers when interacting in stories alongside Superman and other such characters. By “become Batman,” I mean the basic concept of Batman that we can all agree on — a master of martial arts, of forensic and detective skills, of gymnastics, of science and chemistry, of history and geography, of the workings of organized crime, of criminal psychology and physiology, and a man with a suit offering protection against bullets and knives and electrocution but which allows him to move as fast as an Olympian runner and acrobat.

Becoming Batman isn’t merely taking Karate classes and reading “Chemistry For Dummies.” Anyone could exercise, study martial arts, and put on a mask. That’s not Batman — that’s not even Robin. Batman is on another level entirely, and I apologize for having to break your hearts, but none of us will reach that level to become Batman.

The genius of Batman is that it pretends to be realistic; it lets us convince ourselves that with enough money and training, we could become Batman, too. It’s a fantasy, but it’s a fantasy that is more compelling and convincing and thus more fun.

To senior citizens at town hall meetings angry or worried about their plan to convert Medicare to a private insurance scheme, Republicans have a simple answer: It’s not about you. You’ll be fine. This is for “the next generation.”

[....]

For Democrats, the defeat of the Ryan plan, like the failed Social Security privatization before it, will be regarded as a great victory, and an opportunity to get a fresh start with worried older voters. But they should not ignore the generational divide revealed by Ryan’s cutoff. If progressive politics has nothing to offer the late Boomers and the generations that follow except the same old programs, and nothing that responds to their distinctive experience of the economy, then eventually they’ll fall for one of these gimmicks from the right.

By Lizzie Davies in Paris, The Observer @ Guardian.co.uk, May 22, 2011

When the former head of the IMF was taken into custody, many in the French elite saw him as a victim – until an outraged feminist movement began to speak out against what it saw as years of pernicious and ingrained sexism in French life.

By Ray Rivera and Sharifullah Sahak, New York Times, May 21/22, 2011

KABUL, Afghanistan — A powerful midday blast on the grounds of the heavily guarded national military hospital here killed at least 6 people and injured more than 20 others, government officials said. Gen. Zahir Azimi, a Defense Ministry spokesman, described the six people who were killed as medical students, but a doctor at the hospital said they were Afghan soldiers training to be medics.

General Azimi said the attack was the work of one suicide attacker who set off the blast inside a tent at the multistory hospital as the trainees were sitting down to lunch. Investigators were trying to determine how the attacker infiltrated the grounds, bypassing military checkpoints at every entrance....

Also see:

Oil Truck Explosion Kills at Least 15 in Pakistan
By Salman Masood, New York Times, May 21/22, 2011

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — At least 15 people were killed when a damaged oil tanker carrying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan exploded Saturday in the northwestern tribal region, government officials said. The tanker was damaged when a bomb went off near a boys’ college in Landi Kotal in the tribal region of Khyber Agency. Abdul Nabi, a local government official, said that the people died when they gathered around the truck to siphon fuel and it exploded....

Of the 251,287 WikiLeaks documents McClatchy obtained, 23,927 of them — nearly one in 10 — reference oil. Gazprom alone is mentioned in 1,789.

In the cables, U.S. diplomats can be found plotting ways to prevent state entities such as Gazprom from taking control of key petroleum facilities, pressing oil companies to adjust their policies to match U.S. foreign policy goals, helping U.S.-based oil companies arrange deals on favorable terms and pressing foreign governments to assist companies that are willing to do the U.S.'s bidding.

By Owen Bowcott and Josh Halliday, Guardian.co.uk, May 20, 2011

Attempts to identify a famous footballer hiding behind a privacy injunction have spiralled into an online battle over freedom of speech, as internet users responded to high court action by repeatedly naming him on Twitter.

The high court granted a search order against the US-based microblogging site on Friday as the lord chief justice, Lord Judge, warned that "modern technology was totally out of control" and called for those who "peddle lies" on the internet to be fined. The attempt to compel Twitter to identify those responsible for the breaches comes after a number of its users earlier this month purported to reveal the name of the player who allegedly had an affair with the model Imogen Thomas....

Al Jazeera, May 20, 2011

Iran's constitutional watchdog has deemed illegal Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's decision to take over the role of oil minister, after Iran's president removed the previous minister along with two others earlier in the week.

Iran's president was said to have assumed the role earlier this week as part of a government shakeup that reduced the number of ministries from 21 to 17. The move put him in direct control of the government unit responsible for the extraction and export of the world's fifth largest oil and gas reserves.....

In other Ahmadinejad "when you're in trouble, talk conspiracy" news:

Iran Blames West for Drought
Uskowi on Iran, May 19, 2011

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today accused the West of causing drought in Iran and other countries in the region.

"Western countries have designed plans to cause drought in certain areas of the world, including Iran," Ahmadinejad said. "According to reports on climate, whose accuracy has been verified, European countries are using special equipment to force clouds to dump their water on their continent,” he added. “They (are) preventing rain clouds from reaching regional countries, including Iran," Ahmadinejad charged....

Foreignpolicy.com, May 19, 2011

The strange world of Afghan weddings and the dark side of early marriage.

Slide show with text.

By Jim Sciutto and Lee Ferran, ABC News, May 20, 2011

At the same time the Pakistani public was decrying the CIA's use of drone strikes in their country, Pakistan's top army general was asking a top U.S. official in behind-the-scenes meetings for more drones to help during military operations, according to a leaked U.S. State Department cable published online today.

"Referring to the situation in Waziristan, [Pakistani General Ashfaq] Kayani asked if [U.S. Admiral William] Fallon could assist in providing continuous Predator coverage of the conflict area. Fallon regretted that he did not have the assets to support this request," says the February 2008 cable posted by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks....

I was so excited when we escaped the Rapture two weeks ago.

And then THEY reset the date.

Damn, and I went ahead and paid my cable bill!

Despite the recent drop in oil prices, the outlook for the remainder of the year is not good. If the IEA numbers are correct the world is probably burning more oil each day than is coming out of the ground, with the difference being made up from the 2.6 billion barrel stockpiles held by the OECD countries. Every day brings new stories of coal, electric power and oil product shortages in some corner of the world. The climate too is not cooperating with significant crop failures imminent in many parts of the world and the water levels at numerous hydro dams, particularly in Asia, falling rapidly.

Behind much of oil's recent price drop is the concern among oil traders that economic growth was not going as well in the U.S. and China as had been hoped. In the case of the US this is probably not a bad concern as much of the so-called recovery that is supposed to be taking place is based on hype and selective interpretation of suspect economic statistics. In reality, there has been very little improvement in the US economy this year other than the lingering effects of 2009's $800 billion stimulus package.

This summer should prove interesting for the U.S. economy as Congress is starting to debate the debt ceiling and what are likely to be major cuts in federal spending in the next fiscal year or two. Whether cutting federal spending will help the economy grow or simply add to the scope and depth of the recession remains to be seen.