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Lt. Aldo Raine Would Sure As Hell Not Have Released al-Megrahi
Uh oh. The Scots-Irish and the Scots are falling out over terrorism. I don't even need to ask my relatives where they stand on this issue.
The Megrahi affair has highlighted the sometimes ambivalent relations between Americans and Scots. Millions of Americans claim Scottish descent and sociologists regard the Scots-Ulster heritage as a key ingredient of US culture, particularly in the rural south.
A Friends of Scotland caucus, with its own tartan, has 50 members in the US congress. Its leaders were in Scotland last week at the invitation of the Salmond government.
In Scotland itself, nationalists who include Mr Salmond have, however, criticised the folksy “whisky-and-shortbread” image of Scotland among their American cousins.
[Speaking of Inglourious Basterds, did any of you notice the theme music from The Battle of Algiers? It starts playing when they bust Hugo Stiglitz out of jail. One of the reason I love Tarantino is because of those little nods to classic movies, most of which I am sure I miss.]
Lt. Aldo Raine would not
Lt. Aldo Raine would not have treated him as well as they used to treat folks in Abu Ghrayb, either. Movie sends a great message about torture and prisoner abuse and the like, don't you think?
it sends a great message
it sends a great message about americans speaking eye-talian, scalpin' nat-see sumbitches, and brad pitt's continuing streak of awesome roles.
anyone notice The Wolf making a comeback? it was very subtle.
Yes, The Wolf *and* Samuel
Yes, The Wolf *and* Samuel L. Jackson (the Pride of Chattanooga, Tennessee). Tintin, I was shocked and horrified by the violence and treatment of prisoners ... until I just let it go and enjoyed a Tarantino movie that was meant, in every way, to be over the bleeping top. Even a tree-hugging COIN guy like myself enjoyed it. I mean, it's a revenge fantasy -- and is fantastic in all meanings of the word.Fair enough. It was a pretty
Fair enough. It was a pretty cool movie.
Little nods? You mean how he
Little nods? You mean how he rips almost everything he does from other films? Even the iconic bits?
Then put him in charge!
Then put him in charge!
Being a huge Tarantino fan I
Being a huge Tarantino fan I am shocked I haven't seen it yet. How does it stack up against his other films? Better or worse than Jackie Brown? Can't wait to look out for the Wolf now.
I wonder if "revenge fantasy" explains why there are so many damn World War 2 video games.
It is a mess. A glorious,
It is a mess. A glorious, glorious mess. There are some scenes in the movie -- such as the first scene, on the farm -- as good as any scene in any Tarantino movie. Tarantino retains his ability to cram two minutes of dialogue into ten minutes of film, but I did not really mind. And I'm going to go ahead and say that Mélanie Laurent is pretty much my favorite woman in any Tarantino film. Or any film, really. No woman has looked as good smoking a cigarette in a cafe since Renee in "Coffee and Cigarettes." But man, it is uncomfortably violent. I mean, really violent. And Brad Pitt's accent is as terrible as his character is awesome."Lt. Aldo Raine Would Sure
"Lt. Aldo Raine Would Sure As Hell Not Have Released al-Megrahi .."
And we sure as Hell did....then again, if Aldo Raine were facing this kind of bullshit cognitive dissonant humbug..we'd be speaking German and Japanese. Maybe Italian.
And maybe we'd be better off...
Attorney General Terrorist Mob Lawyer
Aldo Raine, I'll have you
Aldo Raine, I'll have you know, speaks excellent Eye-talian.The standard for women
The standard for women sitting in cafes looking good while smoking a cigarette. I think the Mélanie Laurent character just edges her, though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi-9fLp8oYcSo Mélanie Laurent beats
So Mélanie Laurent beats out Esmeralda Villalobos then? I think I've been totally desensitized to violence in movies/video games/ tv but I'll see how it goes. I mean if you've seen Dead Alive...
And more on cognitive
And more on cognitive dissonance..
Rendition Lives!
Just this time we promise, no torture (which renders it moot). Cuz we're morally superior.
On smoking women....but would you say "No" ??
Smoking is, after all, a gateway drug to casual sex.
Goodness, what on earth is
Goodness, what on earth is going on around here today!?! Need a break from the serious stuff? Can't say I blame you.
So, someone I know who is a union organizer (yes, conservative-y Madhu has friends that are union organizers, keepin' it real in chitown) says that there is a south side neighborhood that has retained a scots irish culture stemming from the south-north immigration that happened in the early part of the last century (or was it earlier? Don't remember, exactly). Scots Irish 'builders' who helped, er, build some of the great 'modern' temples that make this town so beautiful, imo.
Oh, and I knew a girl who
Oh, and I knew a girl who died on that flight. Not well, but I remeber one conversation with her: she was going to study in Italy and was on her way home from her study abroad.
Yes it will be interesting
Yes it will be interesting to see what if any longer-term effects the al-Megrahi decision has on Scots-US sentiment.
Although, short of "whisky and shortbread whimsey" I'm not sure what it adds up to now. Maybe some golf. Nothing compared to the Irish connection.
I think there was an opera called "On Eagles Wings" about the flight of the Scots-Irish (we tend to call them Ulster-Scots now, for a variety of reasons) to the US. It was meant to go on tour there but absolutely tanked.
I always thought of Canada as being more scots-connected.
As to the decision itself, I know the stated reason was "compassion" but most people I speak to on this side of the pond put it down to a thought that they got the wrong man.
Inglorious Basterds actually
Inglorious Basterds actually reaffirms the ideology of the Nazi world view. Consider the fact that the Nazis depicted themselves as fighting against the forces of world Jewry. And here, in the form of American media long dominated by a Jewish elite, we have an unabashedly belligerent, Jewish fantasy, that reflects this very same world view.
Inglorious Basterds:
Bob Weinstein, Executive Producer
Erica Steinberg, Executive Producer
Harvey Weinstein , Executive Producer
... and quentin tarantino,
... and quentin tarantino, guy-in-charge-of-everything-creative. as Jeffrey Goldberg pointed out in his excellent and hilarious review of the movie (I caved and subscribed to the paper edition of The Atlantic), no Jew would ever make this movie. Though most Jewish males (I have to emphasize that lol. my theater in south jersey was 3/4 Jewish, and i must have seen 20 girls walk out. no guys) would definitely enjoy it.
you guys know that "the bear jew" was eli roth, director of Hostel?
Well lotsa people didn't
Well lotsa people didn't like the Nazi's.
@Ramzi.....who was the right man? Mummar? Yes.
This is what happens when you bring the courts onto the battlefield. Fucking farce. And now one idiot judge has shamed the Scots race. Who still actually have their balls.
Fuck the law. My Congressional campaign slogan of 2010.
2016 - Elf for President...the war ends a week later.
Yeah that's it... it is just
Yeah that's it... it is just a part of the vast Jewish conspiracy to keep the poor Nazis down...
Scots are notorious for
Scots are notorious for capitulating. Unlike their Celtic cousins in Eire who refused to be oppressed without a fight, the Scots took the easy way out and accepted and served their overlords exceptionally well. Abandoning their religion and tongue so as to favor their masters.
The Irish would have been smart to follow suit but courage, pride, and their faith would not allow an easy subjugation of such a people. Forced hunger, Drogheda, transportation to Van Diemen's land, penal laws, and torture were used but their quest for freedom was never extinguished.
The Scots were easily pacified in comparison.
Actually, in the movie Aldo
Actually, in the movie Aldo Raine let several Nazis go....but only after giving them a rather unpleasant going-away present. I suspect that would be the case with al-Megrahi. Think about what happened with Col. Landa. Because of politics, Raine had to release Landa. But I'm sure that Landa himself probably didn't think that he had won, no?
Elf I personally think the
Elf
I personally think the answer is connected to the PFLP cell bust in Hamburg. Also I think the head of the CIA in Beirut was on the flight along with his deputy ? which maybe ties it into another country.
Just saying mon ami... I could be wrong..
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