Absolute Power

WASHINGTON -- If Hollywood is a window into the American soul, what does it say that in one of the most popular TV shows, "The X-Files," the bad guy is the U.S. government?Or consider that in this summer's "Conspiracy Theory," not only has Mel Gibson been brainwashed by the CIA but he also figures out NASA is about to assassinate the president. With the Space Shuttle, no less.Even in "Men in Black," secret government agents Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith "neutralize" hapless Americans who stumble upon space aliens.

How far we've come from the days when the president appeared in movies as the great white father, usually a presence so powerful and religious in meaning that, like Christ's, not even his face could be shown. In "Yankee Doodle Dandy," James Cagney's George M. Cohan stood as at Lourdes before the unseen radiance of FDR.Thus, while "Murder at 1600" is a little bit this side of OK as a movie, it is completely fascinating as a cultural artifact. That benevolent, theocratic force known as the commander-in-chief has been deconstructed by our impolite age to a whining, pitiful loser, frozen in the headlight-glare of onrushing catastrophe, indecisive, fretting and sniffling.

Police powers should be scrutinized closelyJudge John Carroll Byrnes and the prosecutors and jurors who are sending Stephen Pagotto to prison have done the right thing.Because of the extraordinary powers the police are given, their actions must be subject to even more scrutiny than those of other citizens. Police officers must realize that they face review, criticism and even criminal prosecution for the way they exercise their power.To affirm that the police are in the right, no matter what they have done, is to give them absolute power -- a very dangerous notion.

Clint Eastwood could make their day.Or, he could leave them on the cutting room floor. But even the chance of appearing in two movies to be shot in Baltimore this summer was enough to attract about 2,500 people to Bohager's restaurant and club last night to enlist as extras."

Here's your chance to be a star. If you're at least 21 and interested in appearing as an extra in two movies to be filmed in Baltimore this summer, come to an open call from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Bohager's, 515 S. Eden St. in Fells Point.Bring a snapshot.Filming for "Absolute Power," starring Clint Eastwood, and "Washington Square," starring Albert Finney and Jennifer Jason Leigh, is to begin in June and July.If you look like a lawyer, a lobbyist, a senator, a secret-service agent or white-collar government worker, you have a shot at "Absolute Power."

OPPONENTS OF A Senate bill that would give the county executive, instead of the governor, authority to appoint school board members in Anne Arundel County are paranoically afraid the measure would upset the balance of power between the executive and school system.The problem with their argument is that, at present, there is no balance of power. The current rules and laws make school boards free agents. Unlike any other department, the board can defy the executive and County Council's directions on how money should be spent.