UConn James

Toss-up b/w Goldfish crackers and cheese puff balls. It's been a while since I've had either --- I cut out snacking during the fall/winter to compensate for an increase in cold-weather 'comfort food' and less outdoor exercise.

So, after all the talk about cooling the political tensions, one week later a Tucson shooting victim is arrested for yelling at a Tea Party leader "You're dead!" and has been sent for a mental health evaluation. That new era for political civility didn't last very long, did it? It's hard not to sympathize with this guy... probably suffering from several conditions. From what we know of the shooter, tho, his anger is seriously misplaced.

Don't forget his illegal use of double- and triple-coupons at checkout!

*GASP* I thought that was lost in the Great Rosen Crash of '08!

I haven't seen it yet, but I just wonder what's in "The King's Speech" that wasn't in Masterpiece Theatre's treatment of the same subject with "Bertie and Elizabeth" (2002). Besides all the therapy swearing I've heard about....

I've always used one space. We're better-educated here in CT.

I was a little worried at the tri-split screen right at the very beginning... that it was going to be like a "24" kind of cinematography... but that was fleeting. The camcorder stuff was very touching and I wonder if they used Aron's actual words from that, or whether it was written up a bit. I said right away when he was trying to chip away at the stone that anything he was doing there (not much) would just make the stone jam even tighter. But I guess we'll try anything when there is an alternative to what he eventually has to do to get free. Favorite line was where he derides the "Made in China multi-tool" b/c it's so true about all the cheap crap imports that we're surprised about when it doesn't hold up (they use cheap alloys to water down metals (this is especially frustrating when screws strip so easily these days b/c of that)) or do anything like what it's supposed to do. One question: when he was rewinding the camera to the part with the diving with the two chicks and he paused on Kate Mara's ta-tas.... What was that? Was he trying to ummm... slap the monkey there? All told, the most important thing to take from this film is the last line. Always tell someone or leave a note where you're going.

The Star Wars prequels were excellent other than Jar-Jar Binks and Hayden Christensen's at-times wooden delivery of the dialogue. I left Part III feeling drained that something that was so anticipated for so long (albeit, for me, a little longer) was over. And, combined with seeing "Black Swan" shortly after, I hate seeing Natalie Portman [white-fonted for spoiler] die on-screen. I also watched the redone IV-VI and I don't quite understand all the hostility toward them. Word is that all 6 are coming out on Blu-Ray in fall 2011 with loads of previously unseen extras, including several full-treated scenes that were dropped at the last minute for time consideration, including one showing Luke making his green lightsaber. Next up are "300" and "We Are Marshall."

I've been watching several of these films while catching up on a lot that I've missed in the past ohhh... 10 years of not having time, having other media dedication (LOST), $, or interest level (e.g. I just watched the Star Wars prequels for the first time last week). So, I've been on a bit of a tear here since there's now not much quality of teevee. That scene in Toy Story 3 lost a lot of its poignancy by their up-tempo music choice. It took a few moments before I got that they were all resigned to burning and decided to go out holding their friends' hands. A slower Michael Giachhino-type score would have worked much better there. I don't know what month it came out (November?) but I just watched "127 Hours" and wow. There've been several pretty much one-actor movies in the past several years (starting with "Cast Away") and James Franco holds his own with any of them. "Into the Wild" was one that I saw near its release, and I have to say that Emile Hirsch blew me away in that. How he didn't at least get an Oscar nomination.... Anyway, in "127..." we know the outcome, but it's about the journey. And I think it helps that it has a much happier conclusion and the lesson of not cutting oneself off (so to speak!) from the rest of the world/those who care about us.

Just saw this thread this a.m. and said a little prayer. So happy there was a good resolution! As far as pulling, etc. we got a Gentle Leader collar for our stubborn GSP and it's worked wonders. Also using a training collar for the first time. We've had 5 GSPs and none of them have been as pig-headed as this little boy (he was reportedly the bully of the litter), but he's doing a lot better now wrt whining in the box, staying on the bed during dinner, and stay/come. It may be a matter of us getting him at 4 months instead of 9 weeks like the others... but he needed a good home. And we needed to move on after losing two of the best dogs ever a few years ago. As for the Aussies, my uncle had one named Specks back in the day and he and my dad always laugh when talking about it. My dad could not sneak up on the house b/c the dog gave notice when the car was still 1/2 mile away. My uncle says, "I could always tell if you or dad were coming over. If it was dad, he'd jump this high [gesturing at hip level]... if it was you, he'd jump this high [gesturing at chest level]." One of my former English instructors at the U said, "All good dogs are a little loopy. If they weren't, they'd just be moving furniture." Anyway, glad Bernie's back home....

Dude, there's a link and quote from the NYT article in the 10th post in this thread where someone who knew him from classes described the suspect as "quite liberal." WTF!?

I wrote the same thing upthread, that from the reading list you can tell there's obvious loose wiring. Some people are just continuing to parrot the false assumption that the shooter must've been a rightie or affiliated with Republican groups b/c the victims were left-of-center. It can't compute to them that what was on display was the politics of Crazy.

As someone who listed the Communist Manifesto as one of his favorite books as soon as three weeks ago, I'm going to guess that he wasn't a member of the Young Republicans, as much as some on the left would like that to be so. I dunno. I'm not going to deny that the Tea Party has attracted a lot of different people who think it's something it's not. As the old axiom goes, "25 percent of people will like you for the wrong reasons." Much as yesterday's attacks go into the "25 percent of people will dislike you for the wrong reasons." I don't think it's fair to say that a small smattering of lone-wolf crazies define the Tea Party and its political process goals any more than David Duke represents the Democratic party's goals in race issues. Trying to pinpoint this kid on anything is probably going to be like hammering a nail into Jello. The roots of Crazy run deep and spread far out.

The far-right does not have a monopoly on those views, particularly anti-Israel / anti-semitism (see Sheehan, Cindy and a media that bends over backwards to report on the Palestinian plight --- including the specious 'They targeted PLO ambulances!' to-do that was disproved to anyone with eyes --- and ignores daily rocket launches into Haifa, Tel Aviv, etc.).

Posted it yesterday in the main thread. It went noticeably ignored, as it seems unconscionable to many that a liberal would try to kill a Democrat. Just as, back in '96 to everyone's chagrin, Yitzak Rabin's assassin was a fellow Jew. People were almost disappointed that it wasn't a Palestinian / Arab b/c that would've boiled the pot over; since it wasn't, it was quite forgotten w/in a few months. And I'm sure that once it's widely know the shooter is a leftie, the blame game ride will come to a quick stop. Just goes to prove that line about assumptions. I guess Sheriff Dupnik, like many others, has yet to learn that Hate and Crazy don't carry a political party affiliation. NYT: Arizona Suspect’s Recent Acts Offer Hints of Alienation

Despite evidence to the contrary, you keep making the inference that b/c it was a Democrat who was shot, that the shooter was Republican or subscribed to the political right. I'll write it again for you: The NYT is quoting source who describes the shooter as "very liberal." It's questionable whether he saw those political ads, and it's specious to suggest that a "very liberal" person shot someone because a conservative used this trashy graphics and phraseology. See, you're looking to pinpoint a root cause, and putting your thumbtack onto cheap political marketing. 'He saw this picture and there's a lot of political rancor, so that's why he killed.' That's crap. Cain didn't kill Abel b/c he saw an ad saying that farming was great and hunting/nomadism was on the outs. He killed b/c it's in some people's nature/nurture to hate and destroy.

A lot of people I know are hooking up to their HDTVs. What kind of connections does your PC have? HDMI? VGA (15?-pin) port? Most TVs have these connections. It can do double duty.

His outright falsity of blaming the political right for this shooting... needed to be said? Newsflash - the suspect has been described by people who knew him as "very liberal." I guess the sheriff saw one person shooting from the hip yesterday and then decided to join in.

The suspect has been described in the NYT story (linked upthread) by people who knew him as "very liberal." This is like saying that the Yitzak Rabin assassin --- who was a radical Jew against giving back settlements --- was inspired by the PLO. The rancor on both sides probably didn't help anything as it ran through this individual's loose wiring, but to pin his actions to a side of the spectrum that he opposed is specious. Sociopath homicidal madmen don't have a political party.

NYT: Arizona Suspect's Online Trail Offers Hints of Alienation Once again, Bishop, you've just proven yourself to be a complete sh---for-brains.

I think they're something of a blending of the extreme far-left who are anti-business/globalism and the extreme-far-right who are anti-government. If you think of the political spectrum as a circle, I kind of picture them hovering near both 0* and 180*.

There's also a program called LastPass that stores your passwords and can do automatic log-in. But I'm sure govt could do half as good a job at 18,000,000 times the cost.

True enough. Like I wrote, an interpretation of each particular work of his favorites book list is not my point... it's more about the complete mish-mash and competing ideologies. I would imagine the suspect's head is every bit as mish-mashed. There's loose wires everywhere. I would hazard to say that this wasn't particularly religious or left-right political in nature. There's some spouting on his site about a new (global?) currency, which has the hallmarks of anarchism. You know, we could go around and around everything, but at the end of the day, it was one person who inflicted injuries and death on innocents. Sometimes there isn't a set-in-stone 'Why.' At its heart, it was simply an act of hatred.

[partly copied from my post on the OTW forum] [The suspect's] reading list / favorite texts is just a complete mish-mash in a 'Fifteen of these things are not like the others, fifteen of these things do not belong' --- Mein Kampf, The Communist Manifesto, among others --- which might be an indication of what his head is. It just speaks to me of a very directionless person whose only real direction was acting on Hate. It's being said the suspect is virulently anti-bible/religion, his videos also feature stuff about a new (global?) currency, etc. Very weird. If I had to guess, I don't think we're talking about right or left here; he has all the hallmarks of an anarchist who hates any kind of organized society. It's beyond stupid to link this lone wolf to a political designation. It would seem he didn't exactly believe in the political/democratic process. Count on Bishop to hit below the belt every time. If this were a Republican politician shot by a minority, vouchsafe that these conclusions wouldn't be thrown out so fast by him and several other posters here. Why don't we wait until we know something? That said, I am very uncomfortable when politicians/parties/media use that kind of language during election seasons. It was completely inappropriate before this, and one would hope these dumb catch phrases get rooted out.

It is a work that emphasizes an Us/Them polemic. It may be rather broad in its stroke and may not call for violent overthrow (or maybe it does... never read it), but you can't deny that many have used it to justify horrific acts. Murder of Nicholas II and the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin's reign, Castro/Che. Not saying that Communism is inherently hateful, and anyway, that's not the point here. His reading list / favorite texts is just a complete mish-mash in a 'Fifteen of these things are not like the others, fifteen of these things do not belong'... which might be an indication of what his head is. It just speaks to me of a very directionless person whose only real direction was acting on Hate. The suspect was virulently anti-bible/religion, his videos also feature stuff about a new currency, etc. Very weird. If I had to guess, I don't think we're talking about right or left here; he has all the hallmarks of an anarchist who hates any kind of organized society.