to use a humorously loaded label

a rarity here, though--in my defense--without any of the obfuscation which normally accompanies dogmatism

not a quotation, just my characterization of her statement

American Hot Wax

For people interested in being confronted with an intelligent right-wing perspective on race--which implicitly provides most of the scholarly and ideological muscle needed to put forward a non-racist, public-spirited argument in opposition to desegregation efforts--I offer Amy Wax' short, fascinating Race, Wrongs, and Remedies.

Wax' two appearances on Bloggingheads also [both] merit your hour:

opposite Brown University economist Glenn Loury

opposite The American Prospect's Adam Serwer

DVD

12 Angry Men - Lumet - 1957
8½ - Fellini -
Across the Universe - 1+2
Afterlife - Koreeda - 1998
Agent Cody Banks
All Quiet on the Western Front -
Amarcord - Fellini
As You Like It - BBC - 1978
au hasard Balthazar - Bresson - 1966
Bad Day at Black Rock -
BAD live - E=MC²
Bangkok Girl -
Black Narcissus -
Blow Up - Antonioni - 1966
Bottle Rocket - 1+2 - Anderson
Branded to Kill - 1967
Bread and Tulips -
Brick -
Brief Encounter - Lean - 1945
Brother Ali -
Brother Minister The Assassination of Malcolm X
Bye Bye Birdie
Cars
Chuck Close
Citizen Kane - 1+2 - Welles - 1941
Closely Watched Trains - Jirí Menzez - 1966
Cries and Whispers -
Cries and Whispers - Bergman -
Danton - 1+2 - Wajda - 1983
Dead Boys - Live at CBGB - 1977
Diary of a Chambermaid - Buñuel - 1964
Diary of a Country Priest - Bresson - 1951
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above [Audio CD]
Doggystyle - Snoop - audio cd
Doubt - Shanley - 2008
Dr. Mabuse - 1+2 - Lang - 1933
Dr. Zhivago - 1+2+3 -
Dragonball Evolution
Duck Soup -
Elvis Costello - [live concert]
F for Fake - 1+2 - Welles - 1972
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off - Hughes - 1986
Fiddler on the Roof - Jewison - 1971
Film Noir Classic Collection - Vol 5
Foreign Correspondent - Hitchcock - 1940
From Here to Eternity - Zinneman - 1953
Going My Way + Holiday Inn
Good Morning - Ohayo - Ozu - 1959
Grand Illusion - Renoir - 1937
Hamlet - Olivier
Happiness -
Hard Day’s Night - The Beatles
Hard Days Night - 1+2
Harlan County USA - Kopple - 1976
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Heart of Gold - 1+2 - Demme - Neil Young
Heavy Petting - 1+2+3 -
Henry V - BBC - 1979
Henry V - Branagh - 1989
Henry V - Olivier - 1944
High Fidelity
Hobson’s Choice -
Hold Steady - [rockumentary] -
Hoop Dreams - James - 1994
Hotel for Dogs
House of Games -
How Green Was My Valley - Llewellyn - 1941
How the West was Won - Ford - 1962
I Love Your Work -
I Was Born, But... - Ozu - 1932
Igor
Iraq in Fragments -
Jacques Brel - AUDIO
James Brown - audio - In a Jungle Groove
Jeanne Dielman - 1+2 - Akerman - 1976
Jetsons - 1:4
Jetsons - 1:4 - [dupe?]
Jules et Jim - 1+2 -
Julie & Julia -
Juliet of the Spirits -
Kagemusha - 1+2 -
King Lear - Welles - 1953 - CBS TV
Kobayashi - 1+2+3+4 -
L’amour l’après-midi - Rohmer - 1972
L’avventura - 1+2 - Antonioni -
L’eclisse - 1+2 - Antonioni -
La boulangère de Monceau - Rohmer - 1963
La Guerre est Fine - 1966
La prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV - Rossellini - 1966
Le genou de Claire - Rohmer - 1970
Le million -
Les triplettes de Belleville - Chomet - 2003
Lightnin’ Hopkins -
Love’s Labour’s Lost - BBC -
M - 1+2 - Lang - 1931
Macbeth - RSC - 1979
Macbeth - Shakespeare for Kids
Mad Men - 2:3
Mama Roma - 1+2 - Pasolini - 1962
Mary Poppins - 1+2 -
Max Rules - Adventures of a Super Spy
MDWA - 1+2 - P
Measure for Measure -
Merv Griffin - 1G Hollywood Legends - interviews
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Midnight Cowboy - 1+2 -
Minute Men -
Mishima - 1+2 - A Life in 4 Chapters - Schrader - 1985
Mouchette - Bresson - 1967
Mrs. Miniver - Wyler - 1942
My Architect - Kahn - 2003
My Dinner With Andre - 1+2 -
My Fair Lady - 1+2 -
Myra Breckinridge
Naked Kiss -
Nights of Cabiria - Fellini - 1957
North By Northwest - 1+2 - Hitchcock -
Notorious - Hitchcock
Othello - Olivier - 1965
Paris Je T’Aime -
Passing Fancy - Ozu - 1933
Patti Smith - Dreams of Life - Sebring - 2008
Persepolis -
Pete Seeger - audio - games/activ’s for kids
Peter Pan -
Pickpocket - Bresson - 1959
Pigs and Battleships - Imamura - 1961
Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man’s Chest
Pitfall - Teshigahara - 1962
Placido Domingo - My Greatest Roles
Pokemon - Advanced Battle Vol 9
Pokemon - Absol-ute Disaster
Pokemon - Adv Battle - The Scuffle of Legends
Pokemon - Eight Ain’t Enough
Ponyo
Portrait of Jennie - William Dieterle - 1948
Race to Witch Mountain
Raisin Arizona - Coen Brothers - 1987
Rear Window - 1+2 - Hitchcock - 1954
Rebecca - 1+2 - Hitchcock
Red Desert -
Rembrandt - Korda - 1936
Richard III - 1+2
Richard III - BBC version
Rushmore - Anderson - 1998
Samurai - Miyamoto - 1954
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors - 1+2 - Parajanov - 1964
Simpsons - 1:2
Spartacus - 1+2 - Kubrick - 1960
Spellbound - Hitchcock - 1945
Summertime - Lean - 1955
Sunset Boulevard - 1+2 - Wilder - 1950 [1st disk remains blank--and ready to be recorded upon]
Supplements to 3 films by - Teshigahara - Criterion
Suspicion - Hitchcock - 1941
That Hamilton Woman - Korda - 1941
That Hamilton Woman - Korda - 1941
The 400 Blows -
The Agronomist - Demme - 2003
The Apartment - Wilder - 1960
The Bad Sleep Well -
The Birds - Hitchcock - 1963
The Boondock Saints -
The Clash - Westway to the World - Letts - 2001
The Color of Pomegranates - Paradjanov - 1968
The Face of Another - Teshigahara - 1966
The Friends of Eddie Coyle - Yates - 1973
The Furies - Mann -
The Gospel According to St. Matthew - Pasolini - 1964
The Graduate - [2 copies?]
The Graduate - 1+2 -
The Great McGinty - Sturges - 1940
The Handmaid’s Tale -
The Hidden Fortress -
The Hit - Frears - 1985
The Human Condition - 1+2 - Kobayashi - 1959
The Juliet Letters - Brodsky Quartet - 1992
The Lady Eve - Sturges - 1941
The Lady Vanishes - 1+2 - Hitchcock -
The Last Picture Show - Bogdanovich - 1971
The Life Aquatic- 1+2 - Anderson -
The Lost Weekend - Wilder - 1945
The Magic Flute - Bergman - 1975
The Office - 2:1
The Office - 2:3
The Office [UK] - 1:1
The Passenger - Antonioni - 1975
The Private Life of Henry VIII - Korda - 1933
The Red Shoes - Powell & Pressburger - 1948
The Royal Tenenbaums - 1+2 - Anderson
The Science of Sleep -
The Sound of Music - Wise - 1965
The Thief of Bagdad - 1+2 - 1940
The Third Man - Reed - 1949
The Winter’s Tale -
The Winter’s Tale - BBC -
This Gun for Hire - Tuttle - 1942
To Catch A Thief - 1+2 - Hitchcock - 1955
Tokyo Drifter - 1966
Tosca - de Bosio - 1976
Touch of Evil - 1+2 - Welles - 1958
Touch of Evil - 1+2 - Welles -
Un chien andalou - Bunuel - 1929
Underdog Vol 1
Variety Lights - Fellini - 1950
Vertigo - Hitchcock - 1+2 -
War Games
Welcome to the Dollhouse
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane - Aldrich - 1962
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - 1+2 -
Where the Wild Things Are
White Heat - Raoul Walsh - 1949
Who are the Debolts? - Korty - 1977
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Nichols - 1966
Written on the Wind -
Year One
Yi Yi
Yojimbo -
You Can’t Take It With You -
Yu-Gi-Oh! -
Žižek! - Taylor - 2005

Dear Gavin,

Our e-mail system crashed for several days from Thursday through Sunday, and I just got your first e-mail last night.

I do monitor comments and don’t publish all of them. It’s my own personal blog, and I figure I’m not running a newspaper. It’s a spot for my homilies, or just sharing things like whats on my mind, as is any blog.

I would just take a little issue with your blog post though. This congregation is anything but spineless. The congregation doesn’t hire and fire clergy; clergy like me are sent to the parish and can be pulled at the discretion of the Archbishop. We can apply to be sent to a parish, and then the Archbishop may send us to that parish, and we can ask for a transfer but must leave after 12 years in a church and go to another church. In Fr. Mike’s case, he voluntarily resigned, and was not fired. He also still is a priest. I haven’t heard from him in quite a while, but let him know he’s got my prayers and support and whenever he feels like contacting me I’m sure he will. Hopefully he’s working through some issues and I know the Archdiocese is giving him support as well, and he’ll remerge in another role to serve our universal Church and Archdiocese.

You also need to take into consideration our job as a priest is different than other jobs; we are more public people. Fr. Mike committed a misdemeanor crime, and I think cops need to patrol areas and set up stings to keep parks safe. Actions have consequences; remember the senator at the airport who got caught in a similar situation quickly lost his position and was shoved out by the party. It should be illegal for anyone to engage in inappropriate behavior in a public place; there are kids and others around who enjoy the park, and I’m glad they set up stings to check this out. I used to jog in that area a lot. I’m pretty sure he simply went before a judge and got a fine, but I’m not sure. He could not very well come back and work in a church environment when that is in the press, so his leaving I think was prudent. No one here pressured him at all; in fact he’s gotten numerous cards and letters which have been sent on to him, and people aren’t spineless at all, but just sad and trying to move forward and also sad for him but hopeful that he gets the help he needs to move forward as a priest and as a man. He helped me quite a bit, and was supportive of my work and I do wish him the best and keep him in my prayers. I think the Archbishop and Archdiocese handled it very well; they were out here that weekend, the staff was there for the people, and the Archdiocese also had someone here to talk to the older school kids and I did that as well. Like I said, I think they are moving on and healing, and the Archdiocese is helping Fr. Mike.

Again, I don’t publish all comments because it’s my own private blog, and you can do the same thing on your blog if you so desire. So I wouldn’t approve yours because then someone would easily find your blog and probably be hurt by seeing their parish described as “spineless,” so I think you can understand. You’re entitled to your opinion as is everyone else, but my blog is for my opinions, not an open forum.

Have a great weekend and thanks for the e-mail,

Fr. Paul

[Unedited Quotation]

This week we will be practicing identifying needs and trying to take statements where the speaker is not taking responsibility for their own feelings and translating statement into possible observation, feeling and need.

For example: the statement: "She is irresponsible: we all agreed to let someone know if we weren't going to show up."

Translation could be: "When I hear that none of us got a call from her, I feel discouraged because I want to be able to count on us carrying through with agreements we make together". (universal need identified: reliability, trust, integrity)

Isn't it nice to be reminded that we have choices in how we receive a negative message from someone or from within ourselves? One leads to compassionate conversation with self and others and others lead to contentious uncivil discourse.

Lots to absorb but we can hang in there together and slowly but surely it will sink in so don't get discouraged!

November 30 meeting date, explained

We're meeting a week later than usual--just this month--to accommodate members' holiday schedules.

"KASA" defined

A beloved teacher at the School for International Training--Dr. Alvino Fantini--would often tell us that there are four categories of things that a teacher can teach you:

Knowledge
Awareness
Skills
Attitudes

Since hearing Alvino say this often, back in 1992, it always surprises me how often people say 'skills' or 'knowledge' when they clearly mean KASA.

Email from Elizabeth Linares to GS - 10/7/10

Mr. Sullivan,

I have received your e-mail. If you would like to discuss the Eagle Heights mission statement, I am happy to have a phone conversation with you; probably easier for me to answer your questions that way.

Feel free to contact me at 952-975-7211.

Elizabeth Linares

My Complaint to Brother Derek

Good day Derek,

Sheila Kihne operates the most harshly-censored comments section of any local blog that I have observed.

If I knew that a local lefty-blogger categorically banned you from his comments section for transparently ideological reasons, I would very much look down on that person. (Indeed, I would contact the person to complain.)

I would never seek to promote such a writer's work--as I don't work on behalf of unethical people--as a fundamental matter of principle.

I am sad to see that you take such an accommodating perspective, as regards cowardice.

All the best,

Gavin Sullivan

Eden Prairie, MN

Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion Mission Statement

Remember, I'm asking the principal why Spanish was selected, as Eden Prairie's only foreign-language immersion option.

I've put the question to her three times now. She still appears to think her school's Mission Statement in some way answers my question. It says nothing in answer to my question.

Promote intellectual curiosity, academic excellence, and intercultural understanding and competence through a language immersion education.

Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion School:

* Values respect, encouragement and meaningful learning
* Promotes trust and communication within a partnership of students, staff, parents, and community
* Provides opportunities for learners to enhance their strengths and build the foundations for life-long learning
* Is committed to culturally relevant pedagogy and anti-racist education

**

Mr. Sullivan,
I have received your e-mail. If you would like to discuss the Eagle Heights mission statement, I am happy to have a phone conversation with you; probably easier for me to answer your questions that way.
Feel free to contact me at 952-975-7211.
Elizabeth Linares

John Howitz 10/5/10 email response

Gavin-

The terms are used to describe our curriculum as it focuses on the “classics” of Western Literature. We also focus on sequential education, “traditional”. If you read books by E.D. Hirsch they help explain the Core Knowledge Sequence that we use in grades k-8. In high school our foundation course is Humanities which integrates literature and history starting with Ancient Greece and continuing through the Modern Area. We read primary sources in history and the full texts for literature.

Our grading system follows the traditional 90,80, 70….A, B, C format.
Our grades are weighted towards tests and not group work.
We do lots of homework.
We require Latin.

I hope this helps.

John

Mr Sullivan,

Because of the complexity of the chain of events that led to this fatal accident the Accident Investigation Board asked for an extension to its investigation. Additionally, the AIB was then directed by the convening authority to re-examine all of the evidence collected and its findings. The AIB wanted to ensure a thorough investigation and the convening authority wanted to ensure all evidence and testimony were considered, and reconsidered, to the maximum extent possible.

Public release of the report is pending next of kin notifications. All next of kin and survivors of the accident will be briefed individually as to the circumstances of the accident. After the final family briefing is complete the report will be made public. I have no timeline available for this -- much of it depends on the availability of geographically separated key personnel and family members.

An executive summary of the AIB report will be posted at:
http://usaf.aib.law.af.mil/indexFY09.html

Please feel free to monitor this site or contact me again over the next several weeks.

-- Don Arias

Donald C. Arias, CIV, DAF
Public Affairs Plans
Air Force Special Operations Command
229 Cody Ave, Ste 103
Hurlburt Field, FL 32544
DSN: 579- 2864
CMCL: 850-884-2864
http://www.afsoc.af.mil/

"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Somalia-related links

Ioan Lewis
- Understanding Somalia and Somaliland [Half.com]
- Foreign Affairs

Said S. Samatar
- Rutgers
- Wikipedia
- Interview - Bartamaha.com - [Youtube]

Somalia
- Wikipedia
- Map

trepanning

Richard Francis Burton
-First Footsteps in East Africa [1894]

Memorial Day event

I couldn't find the link to the article on the EP News website--but the Eden Prairie Memorial Day Ceremony will take place at 11 AM on 5/31/10 at Purgatory Creek Park.

my comment appeared on Will's 2,000th blogpost

Kleiman citation

When Brute Force Fails:

How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment

by Mark A. R. Kleiman

Mark Kleiman blogs at The Reality-Based Community

in 1979 if memory serves

citation?

no pejorative intended

PBUH

Peace Be Upon Her

okay, that

was a bit anachronistic, but you get the point

and

i confirmed the accuracy of my face-reading with the aide-de-camp, on the spot

I just emailed the team's principle investigator

asking Dr. Karen Terry:

'Data analyst' Margaret Smith has suggested [in Archbishop John Niensted's interpretation] that the report attributes causation for the high abuse incidence to the sexual revolution of the second half of the 20th Century in the USA. But I don't see this within the report itself. Did the researchers form some consensus justifying Margaret Smith's interpretation, or would they distance themselves from it?

explain

Thomas Hobbes' theorizing applied to the sovereign--as Runciman acknowledges. So this restatement of Hobbes' thought grafts his idea onto our historical situation...I hope fairly.

citation?

as Hitchens has noted

Our Somali Neighbors

Earlier this month, I asked a librarian how many Somali-speaking people reside in Eden Prairie. Here's their unedited response:

Dear Library Customer-

I did receive a call back from the Human Rights and Diversity Commission. They said they would have better information following this years Census process and would have something new by the end of this year or early next year. What they could provide right now regarding the Somali population in Eden Prairie was:

265 children registered in the Eden Prairie School District list Somali as the language spoken at home

They estimate that there are 500 Somali families in Eden Prairie.

I hope this information is helpful.

Thanks for using the Ask a Librarian service

***********

define: Cushitic

More:

One of some 300 DFL alternates and delegates (put together) in CD3, among 2,400 or so Minnesota Democrats that play (or may play) a role in selecting the party's gubernatorial candidate. (There remain many candidates.)

which

is to say, I didn't reveal my various Rupert Murdoch similarities

other dems/moderates/progressives

1st email...snippet

If abortion were made illegal, what punishment would you like to see imposed, upon a woman caught voluntarily seeking out an illegal abortion?

Should such a case be treated precisely the same as any other method of first-degree murder?

Two Hypotheticals

Hypothetical A: Steve hates Pauline. One day Steve drugs Pauline, ties her up, puts her in the back of his pick-up truck and drives across town--to Mike's place. Mike tells Steve that the liquid in his syringe will cause speedy death in any human being. Steve then pays Mike $500 to inject Pauline--who dies immediately.

Hypothetical B: Sandra is unexpectedly pregnant and doesn't want to be. She asks some friends--and is provided with contact info for Bob, an illegal abortionist. Sandra then goes to Bob's place, where she pays Bob $500 for an abortion. Bob then performs the abortion on Sandra per her request.

Eden Prairie Blogs

Gavin Sullivan
http://www.gavinsullivan.com/

Two Putt Tommy
http://www.twoputttommy.com/

Tild~
http://tildology.com

A closer look at flyover land
http://knitthink.typepad.com/flyoverland/

Sheila Kihne
The Activist Next Door
http://www.theactivistnextdoor.com/

Crystal Kelley
Friendly Neighborhood Republican
http://friendlyneighborhoodrepublican.blogspot.com/

Taste Life, with Chere Bork
http://cherebork.com/blog/

Brian Lee
Champions in Christ
http://championsinchrist.wordpress.com/

City of Eden Prairie blogs
http://edenprairieweblogs.org/

*********************************

Other Links of interest:

SD42 DFL - local blog listing

Minnesota Organization of Bloggers (MOB)

Mar 11-14: Sixth Twin Cities Arab Film Festival

Eden Prairie Book Club

Send updates to gavin6@gmail.com -- thanks!

Crystal Kelley email

Gavin,

Against better advice, I am responding to your e-mail. I'm in a shitty mood today, so why not?

Why would I help you in any way when you continue to say unflattering, untrue things about me on your blog? Sheila isn't interested in having a dialogue with you. Get over it. When I read the archives linked in your latest post, I can see that she originally had the same idea I had: be courteous, maybe we can find some common ground, etc. But I don't want to go down the road she went down, which is where you became a creepy stalker. I don't know why you feel compelled to attack other bloggers, and I don't know why you then don't understand that after you attack people they don't want to talk to you.

You and I have more common ground than you would ever know, but you will never know because I will never be able to have a cordial relationship with you. Why? I don't like people who lie about me. You never called me anal and I never "amusingly" mistook it for a perversion. That is just not true, or at the very least a gross misrepresentation of the facts, which anyone
who read your corresponding link would know. You portray me as a stupid child, and you are free to think of me that way. Others, including Mensa, disagree.

Again with the free speech. Would you expect to pepper the StarTribune with 500 obnoxious letters slamming them and their practices and expect them to be published? I hope not. Would their not publishing you be a violation of free speech? No. You have the right to say whatever you want, but others are not compelled to publish whatever you say. Do you understand the
distinction? Free speech means that with a few exceptions (slander, libel) you won't be punished by law for saying whatever you want in this country. But that doesn't mean that what you say is free from consequence, something that, for example, the Dixie Chicks never seemed to understand. The consequence, in your case, is that people are insulted by the insulting
things you say about them on your blogs, and they don't respond in a friendly way.

So no, I won't help bring my "pro-free speech" viewpoint to Sheila. Because it's her blog and she can handle it however she wants, just as I can handle mine how I want as well.

Regards,

Crystal, aka the weak-voiced admiring sister

you are loved, Michael Kinsley

PiL Allusion

I will pray to the Holy Ghost--as I suck my Host--that your cognitive functioning one day allows you leave a blog comment sufficiently unstupid that you might not be humiliated to associate your name with it.

Recall, please: US Catholics' thinking abortion closely resembles that of non-Catholics:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/117154/catholics-similar-mainstream-abortion-stem-cells.aspx

seriously and believes in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord