Despicable Me (2010) is in a class with Up and The Incredibles, although not quite as good as either of those movies. Merri and I both enjoyed it.
Cronos (2 stars)
For years, I have wanted to see Cronos, by Guillermo del Toro. Although it has interesting pieces and performances, I was disappointed enough not to recommend it to anyone but hardcore horror or del Toro fans. Still, it has many aspects I associate with del Toro from more entertaining movies, including Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth (see those first).
Greenberg (0 stars)
We watched the movie, Greenberg, on disc. Although Ben Stiller does a decent job portraying a very unpleasant person (a toned-down version of Mr Furious, from Mystery Men), there isn’t anything to care about in this movie (not even Greta Gerwig). Even if you find some part of this funny, this is NOT a comedy. Can’t recommend it.
“I blame the individual for the first 10 bullets. I blame the law for the next 21 bullets that he fired.”–Lawrence O’Donnell [Amen.]
ThinkProgress » Rep. Trent Franks Refuses To Admit That Fewer Bullets Harm Fewer People
Last night on MSNBC during an interview with Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), host Lawrence O’Donnell noted that the alleged shooter, Jared Loughner, was subdued only after he stopped to reload his 31-bullet clip and argued that perhaps other innocents would have been spared if Republicans had extended a law banning larger magazine clips in 2004.
“I blame the individual for the first 10 bullets. I blame the law for the next 21 bullets that he fired.”
ThinkProgress » Rep. Trent Franks Refuses To Admit That Fewer Bullets Harm Fewer People
What Guns Are Good For
The view that guns keep us free from government tyranny is insane. The Confederacy was well-armed but defeated by the hated Federal government. Well-armed citizens did everything they could to stop the freedom train time and again. This is a loony delusion, a mass-insanity. That said, revel in your rights. Buy all the fucking guns and ammo you want. Piss away your money on weapons. You won’t feel safe enough or freer, and you never will. Such is madness.
E.J. Dionne Jr. – Violent talk blocks sane gun laws
I came to realize, partly from e-mail exchanges with ardent foes of gun control over the years, that the real passion for a let-anything-go approach to guns has little to do with culture or hunting. It is rooted in a very peculiar view of how America has maintained its freedom. Rep. Ron Paul, as is his wont, expressed it as plainly as anyone.
"The Second Amendment is not about hunting deer or keeping a pistol in your nightstand," the Texas Republican declared in 2006. "It is not about protecting oneself against common criminals. It is about preventing tyranny. The Founders knew that unarmed citizens would never be able to overthrow a tyrannical government as they did. . . . The muskets they used against the British army were the assault rifles of that time."
And at a Washington rally last year on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) linked this view to the current occupant of the White House.
"Fellow patriots, we have a lot of domestic enemies of the Constitution, and they’re right down the Mall, in the Congress of the United States – and right down Independence Avenue in the White House that belongs to us," he declared. "It’s not about my ability to hunt, which I love to do. It’s not about the ability for me to protect my family and my property against criminals, which we have the right to do. But it’s all about us protecting ourselves from a tyrannical government of the United States."
Roadrunners
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Culled from 880 photos. I see roadrunners almost every day. (Yeah, I know a few of these aren’t roadrunners — there’s a good reason for that.) Date: Jan 16, 2011 |
Only Other Conservatives Can Deal with Lush Limbaugh
ThinkProgress » Fox News’ Chris Wallace: You Don’t Have to Call Everyone ‘Socialists’ or ‘Fascists’
A debate over tone, though a small-scale one, does seem to be emerging on the right. Wallace, in pleading for a more agreeable tone, may have been responding to Rush Limbaugh — who attacked Wallace and Charles Krauthammer this week for praising Obama’s speech in Tuscon. “They were slobbering over it for the predictable reasons,” Limbaugh said. “It was smart, it was articulate, it was oratorical. It was, it was all the things the educated, ruling class wants their members to be and sound like.”
Fox News actually played the clip for Krauthammer yesterday, and Krauthammer joined Wallace in gently pushing back against Limbaugh’s vitriol: “As one of the three slobberers…I find it interesting that only the ruling class wants a president who is smart articulate and oratorical in delivering a funeral oration,” he said.
ThinkProgress » Fox News’ Chris Wallace: You Don’t Have to Call Everyone ‘Socialists’ or ‘Fascists’