To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (219745) | 9/14/2007 11:59:39 PM | From: skinowski | | | Brains without learning equals cunning and thieving?
LOL! Maybe... maybe not. Just remember that you are quoting and arguing here with Murray, not me... :)
Perhaps you should consider reading the article, Nadine. To me the genetic aspects of this issue are interesting - and I think that Murray's hypotheses are impressive. For one thing, he offers a better explanation for the evidence of "elevated intelligence" among Jews even prior to Crusades, to Chmelnicki - and most other Euro persecutions. |
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To: LindyBill who wrote (219688) | 9/15/2007 12:49:38 AM | From: MJ | | | It's amazing how people can watch a Presidential speech and get totally different impressions.
This was my e-mail to a friend whose son has been in Iraq and is now home safely.
"Dear S------,
Did you watch President Bush's speech? I thought it was the best speech he has ever given. It was direct and to the point. He was in control of what he wanted to say and said it well.
Remember how our Senator John Warner suggested or recommended withdrawing 5,000 troops by Christmas. When Warner's recommendation was made, the press took Warner's remark as dissent, or maybe let's say they wanted to take it as dissent on Warner's part.
Well, it didn't take much common sense to understand that Warner was preparing the administration for announcing a withdrawal of some number. Bush taking the cue, did just that---5,700 in his speech.
Later----------xxxxxx"
Reg. the article by Kaplan--------
So Fred Kaplan turns Bush's doing what the Honorable Senator Warner suggested into a negative.
Katie Couric----her visit to Iraq seemed to have changed her demeanor--------ah, not so, now back to the old Katie with her introductory remarks.
mj
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From: LindyBill | 9/15/2007 1:06:00 AM | | | | Too bad. I love Tommy Lee Jones.
LIBERTAS Review: In The Valley Of Elah.
It was in the Valley of Elah that David defeated Goliath with a few smooth stones and a slingshot. It is with In The Valley Of Elah that writer/director Paul Haggis wants to defeat the American intervention in Iraq with a poorly written film undone by its zeal to defame every single soldier it portrays.
After receiving a phone call informing him that the son he thought was fighting in Iraq has gone AWOL, Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), a middle-aged, Tennesee, former career officer, sets out for Fort Bragg to find him. After the young man's burnt and dismembered corpse is found, Hank watches in grief-stricken dismay as the local police eagerly toss the troublesome case to the Army and the Army tries to paint Hank's son as a drug user who got mixed up with the wrong gang. A former MP who knows his way around a crime scene, Hank decides to stick around and do some investigating on his own, eventually enlisting the aid of Emily (Charlize Theron), a local detective, who smelled a rat from the outset.
The first thirty-minutes are as compelling a piece of cinema as you'll ever see. The story is beautifully set up anchored impeccably by Jones, who gives the performance of his life. As the plot expertly moves forward, we're introduced to Hank through a number of quick scenes that chronicle the mundane rituals he's found comfort in for decades. Still Army through and through, each morning he remakes his hotel bed with proper military corners and each evening shines his shoes. The scene where Hank's told of his son's death is devastating, and how Jones plays this terrible moment should be enough to win him an Oscar. Unfortunately, from here on, Jones is on his own, because the script fails him completely.
The main plot has Hank and Emily piecing together the mystery as they forge a friendship and mutual respect, but unfortunately neither story is terribly compelling. On its worst day Law & Order is a much more involving and smarter police procedure drama than the dull dit-dit of Elah that eventually falls under its own convoluted weight and is forced to haul in an unconvincing deus ex machina to unravel itself. Worse, is the relationship between Hank and Emily which is awkwardly threaded into the plot and under-written. We should feel the grudging affection growing between these two, but never do. And it's not for lack of trying, but for lack of execution.
The biggest story misfire is a major subplot involving video from Hank's son's phone that Hank can only receive in pieces via email as his tech guy retrieves them. The weight Haggis gives this video is so heavy he opens the movie with it. Throughout there are probably six scenes devoted to watching Hank try and make heads or tails of these shaky pixelated shots from the battlefield. Now, a good screenwriter knows that subplots need to connect to the main plot and the average moviegoer instinctively understands that incomprehensible video must contain clues to the mystery. Well, Haggis doesn't care about any of this. He has an agenda more important than competent storytelling — and that agenda is to portray our troops as monsters. The video has absolutely nothing to do with the mystery, it's there simply to show the American soldier as barbaric and sadistic animals.
No soldier escapes Haggis's venom. At best they're a group of drunken frat boys pawing strippers. At best they're getting group blow jobs from prostitutes after a night on the town. At best they're drug abusers and dealers. At best they stick funny-face stickers on the head of a dead Iraqi. At worst they go crazy and drown their wives. At worst they can't handle post-war life and kill one another. At worst one of them tortures an Iraqi citizien by sticking his hand in their open wound as the rest of his brigade howls with laughter. And not even our protagonist, war veteran Hank, is excepted from the director's bile.
In another poorly constructed red herring of a subplot designed only to allow Haggis to return to his condescending Crash soapbox, Hank automatically believes a Mexican soldier – who does a little drug dealing on the side – killed his son. Hank goes so far as to beat him up and call him "wetback." Character-wise, this comes out of nowhere, but even worse, it goes nowhere. Even those in the Haggis camp who believe the American soldier is less than human will be put off by this awkward storytelling.
The propaganda at work here is both heavyhanded and cruel. The idea is for Hank to be us. For us to see in him all the qualities we hold dear: love of country, respect for the military, a belief in the war, and that feeling we get at the sight of an American flag flapping in the wind. Once we see Hank as our guy, Haggis systematically destroys those beliefs, and not just in the war or the military, but in that which we honor most; the men and women in uniform. Most cruel is when Hank discovers that his own son was as sadistic as the others. The agenda is pure. Haggis couldn't even give us him.
Haggis may not think much of the American soldier as a human being, but as ministers of his propaganda they'll do. A number of them are given interminable amounts of off-story time to monologue about how bad and pointless the war is. The worst of this happens during the very worst part of the film: the last fifteen minutes. The story is over. The mystery is solved. And yet, another fifteen minutes are ground up speechifying away. Do you remember that ridiculous career-ending environmental speech Steven Seagal gave at the end of On Deadly Ground? It's like that.
Elah is a near-perfect example of agenda over quality filmmaking. To portray even a single soldier back from the war as grounded, honorable, and worthy of admiration (like 99.9% are) undercuts the anti-war message. But to portray every soldier as unstable and cruel is weak one-dimensional storytelling. It's the same when it comes to the Iraqi victims. There are two and neither is humanized or even given a face. They're blurs useful only as props to defame our soldiers. Had the Iraqis been real people the story would've been stronger because the horror of the crime would've been more real. But Haggis knows that putting a human face on the Iraqi people works against his anti-war sentiments. If we start seeing Iraqis as human we might find it harder to agree with Haggis and abandon them to the death squads and al-Queda.
And if all this isn't enough there's one more weak subplot about the sexist taunts Charlize Theron's Emily has to deal with on the job. It's like watching the worst scenes in North Country all over again; over the top male behavior followed by an all too predictable comeuppance.
Other than Jones, the performances aren't very convincing. Susan Sarandon's wasted spending most of her time on the phone with Jones, and the scene where she comes to view the mutilated remains of her son strains so hard for minimalism it becomes overwrought. Theron plays tough-victim again, but never registers either as a real character or with even a whiff of screen presence. She's working so hard to be real that she vanishes. Real stars can do both. Theron's worst moment comes when Haggis doesn't think we've yet gotten the point and has Emily awkwardly yell at someone about how her father came back from his war a psychological mess.
The cinematography is too clinical and the score is overwrought and very intrusive at times. After Hank is home and finally in a place to let himself go emotionally what should've been a seminal moment for one of our greatest actors is thwarted by a schmalty song that cues and distracts at exactly the wrong time. This is the work of a director unsure of all he's done to make that moment work and over-compensating.
Other than Jones' magnificent performance there's nothing to recommend here. The politics are monstrous and the story weak and unsatisfying. And yes, I am most certainly calling into question the patriotism of Paul Haggis.
libertyfilmfestival.com |
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To: LindyBill who wrote (219750) | 9/15/2007 1:41:23 AM | From: RinConRon | | | A shame that Jones even appeared in this. But he was Al Gore's roomie.
He has an agenda more important than competent storytelling — and that agenda is to portray our troops as monsters. The video has absolutely nothing to do with the mystery, it's there simply to show the American soldier as barbaric and sadistic animals. |
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To: LindyBill who wrote (219750) | 9/15/2007 2:09:44 AM | From: ManyMoose | | | I loved Tommy Lee Jones in "Lonesome Dove." He is one hell of an actor, but his stint as Al Gore's roomy must have ruined his mind. Several of his movies recently have been cheap shots at government people trying to do their best.
"The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" comes to mind. imdb.com It was a good story, but made the Border Patrol look like a bunch of master baters on a weekend frolic, and the illegals look like a bunch of angels.
I think we deserve better from such a fine actor. If he wants to be critical, a little subtlety would be in order. Say for example, "The Crucible," an allegorical tale pointed at the McCarthy's hunt for communists under every rock. I read the play many years ago, and it has haunted me ever since. The movie of the same name, the screenplay of which was written by the original playwright, Arthur Miller was outstanding. imdb.com |
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To: Ish who wrote (219728) | 9/15/2007 3:17:28 AM | From: John Carragher | | | my first introduction to farming was back in late 70's. i was managing a subsidary for tire,batteries, accessories usa. I had huge past due items on some very large distributors in the mid west. Being from bean town i was ignorant of operations in other parts of the country, later through several relocations i got quite an education.
I went to my credit supervisor wanting to know why he continued to give credit to these over extended distributors way past any allowable factors. he looks me in the eye, says, in the mid west these distributors do not pay until the crops come in!,,he was a mid west kid, even part indian, huge kid, must have played pro football in college, his neck was bigger than the chair he was sitting in. g
So i listen to him while i was getting the crap thrown at me from nyc boys. I let him continue let the reps sell into these distributors and during oct money , came flying in.
oh, we did have one distributor stiff us. He was making a collection call and never got any responses. finally told rep he would have to turn over to collection agency.. Rep said the distributor passed on, and his wife had cleaned out the place , then he says she even stiffed the under taker.. never paid for the guys funeral.
ps doubt mid west distributors get any kind of credit like we gave back in those days. i had a small office outside cherry hill, all controls within my authority, billing, credit, collection, sales , receiveables, statements, and financial reports. I had a guy in ft. lauderdale fl, based on his home equity made a millionaire in no time. he was tel phone repair man , opened up small distributorship, and it kept expanding. monthly he was bumping against max credit. I would have them go out and assess his house again . we had first lien on it, no mortgage. Interesting business but most go bust few make it. |
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From: LindyBill | 9/15/2007 5:58:32 AM | | | | Giuliani Blasts Hillary POWERLINE Rudy Giuliani is running a great online ad that attacks Hillary Clinton for impugning General Petraeus's honesty and for failing to repudiate MoveOn's characterization of Petraeus as a traitor. The ad is especially effective because it begins with Clinton's enthusiastic support for the Iraq war:
Note that the ad never mentions Giuliani. That's effective too, I think. Increasingly, Rudy is running like a general election candidate, attacking the Democrats and not his fellow Republicans. I think that's smart, too.
You can post reactions to the ad at the Giuliani Forum.
UPDATE: Matthew Continetti has interesting observations on Giuliani's good week.
powerlineblog.com |
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To: Brumar89 who wrote (219742) | 9/15/2007 6:13:17 AM | From: Big Black Swan | | | Fox: Global Warming Opens Up NorthWest Passage Sooner Than Expected
foxnews.com
Interesting.
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A fabled sea route above North America linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans has become a reality thanks to global warming.
Scientists have confirmed that in August, Arctic sea ice shrank to its lowest levels since satellite measurements began monitoring the region nearly 30 years ago. One consequence of this is that the Northwest Passage has opened up much earlier than expected.
"We're several decades ahead of schedule right now," said Mark Serreze, a senior scientist at the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center, which monitors the region.
• Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Natural Science Center.
The premature opening of the passage does not mean that climate models are unreliable, only that their predictions have been far too conservative, Serreze said.
"They're getting the right trajectory, but they're too slow," he said.
Shorter sailing
The legendary passage was first navigated with great difficulty and using a relatively small ship by explorer Roald Amundsen in 1903 to 1906. Predictions for the opening of the Northwest Passage have ranged from 2012 to 2080 at their most conservative.
Related Stories Eating Less Meat May Slow Global Warming, Study Finds Pacific Rim Leaders Adopt Global Warming Statement Report: Two-Thirds of World's Polar Bears Will Be Gone by 2050 Human Activity Redrawing Maps of World Global Warming May Cancel Next Ice Age
Fully navigable, the Northwest Passage will make the trip 4,000 miles shorter for ships traveling between Europe and Asia, allowing them to avoid the Panama Canal.
The Passage was partially open for a time in 1998, but sailing a ship through at time would have been tricky, Serreze said.
"I wouldn't have wanted to try it" in 1998, Serreze told LiveScience. "Through the years, it's become increasingly open, but still really had not remained open in any kind of viable way. Two thousand and seven is really the first year."
A ship attempting the passage now would have "clear sailing," Serreze said. "You'd go in through the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia, then a little north of Banks Island and then go through the passage."
Scientists predict that the Northwest Passage will be open much more frequently from now on, but that it will still not be a year-round option for ships.
"Ice will still be there in the winter, because even in the greenhouse-warmed world, there's winter in the Arctic," Serreze said.
The premature opening of the Northwest Passage could mean that the Artic Ocean in general could be ice-free much earlier than climate models have predicted.
"The notion of coming to an ice free Arctic Ocean even by 2030 is not totally unreasonable," Serreze said.
Models had previously predicted the ice would clear sometime around the middle of the century.
Reasons unclear
Recent observations by the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite have shown that from 2006 to 2007, ice in the Arctic decreased by about 386,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers).
"The strong reduction in just one year certainly raises flags that the ice (in summer) may disappear much sooner than expected and that we urgently need to understand better the processes involved," said Leif Toudal Pedersen of the Danish National Space Center.
It could be that natural climate processes are helping to accelerate the effects of global warming, Serreze said.
"We're scratching our heads right now," he said. "There's a lot of factors that can be involved here. |
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