Trouble In Paradise, Zero Dark Thirty Edition

Frank Bruni of the Times warns us that the upcoming movie about the killing of Bin Laden won't be the Obama-booster Hollywood seemed destined to make:

I’M betting that Dick Cheney will love the new movie “Zero Dark Thirty.”

Who could have predicted that? Hollywood, after all, is supposed to be a West Coast annex of the Democratic National Committee, and the makers of this gripping thriller, about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, were expected to repay the Obama administration for its indulgence of them with a tribute to the current president’s wisdom and grit.

But the movie of the year is also the political conundrum of the year, a far, far cry from the rousing piece of pro-Obama propaganda that some conservatives feared it would be. “Zero Dark Thirty,” which opens in theaters on Dec. 19 and presents itself as a quasi-journalistic account of what really happened, gives primary credit for the killing of Bin Laden to neither the Bush nor the Obama administrations but to one obsessive C.I.A. analyst whose work spans both presidencies. And it presents the kind of torture that Cheney advocated — but that President Obama ended — as something of an information-extracting necessity, repellent but fruitful.

Even as David Edelstein, the film critic for New York magazine, named “Zero Dark Thirty” the best movie of 2012 in a recent article, he digressed to say that it “borders on the politically and morally reprehensible,” because it “makes a case for the efficacy of torture.”

Ooops.

ERRATA: This old post has more background, including the obvious caveats: sources from both Teams Cheney and Obama will promote their own agenda, and the CIA had a bit of an institutional interest in dissuading an Eric Holder prosecution of their interogators.

Comments

[peter]

I see that the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded posthumously.

[henry]

rse, you resurrected the perfect word for our times. Unfortunately 47% of our population think it is spelled with a "u".

[Jim Eagle]

Peter,

[snork] LOL.

I understand that the Arab Spring will be the replacement.

[Janet]

‘The Last of the Just’ in Belgium

The video is something. Heartbreaking to watch. Evil is out in the open...& we don't know what to do to stop it.

Our State Dept. gives millions to renovate mosques overseas. And we are allowing the left to dismantle any outward signs of our Christian heritage.

The news is just awful.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Chris Christie vetoes, again, Obamacare exchange legislation.

[Appalled]

On Friday, Congress mostly slept. But it still found time, now that the election is over, to insult all of Northern Ohio.

Read all about the endorsement of Bad Art found in Friday's Congressional Record here:

http://deathlessdialog.blogspot.com/2012/12/bad-art-from-baltimore.html

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

OMG! After reading that, I'm Appalled...well, Appalled Ratzkiwatzki anyway.

[Jim Eagle]

Janet,

Your 9:01 is so sad that Mrs. JiB read it with tears in her eyes since she knows how complacent the Belgium's especially the Walloons have become in the face of Islamic sharia. Like I told her I don't what is a worse outcome - ours where we become a Socialist-Marxist police state or Europe's where they become part of the Caliphate?

[Jane: Mock the Media]

Capn',

I have no idea what that means, but congratulations nevertheless.

[Annoying Old Guy]

Agent J;

If you want a fun math related trick / activity, cutting Möbius strips in half is always fun. The results from cutting it in to thirds is interesting as well. Calculator paper work well for doing this. I also mess with the kids by putting it between two fingers, marking "opposite" sides with different colored X's, then sliding it through the fingers and acting surprised when the X on the "other" side shows up.

[Thomas Collins]

Jane, the starting quarterback of the Washington Redskins doesn't have as bad a knee injury as was earlier feared. CH is pleased about that (I suspect JiB is also pleased).

[Janet]

...& we don't know what to do to stop it.

I say that a lot. Sorta like pagar's "This is insane!". I'm reading "When A Nation Forgets God".
a bit of a quote - "I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because, what could anyone do to stop it?"

That Belgium man tried. I don't know.... We SO need some leaders. I will show up, but I don't know WHERE to show up.

[Jim Eagle]

I am pleased as punch but do not want, need or appreciate any QB controversy to come or not to come:) Cousins may be the greatest non-redundant draft pick for that position ever. What I like about him is he knows he is number 2 and that his job is to protect RG3's position as number 1 by doing what RG3 would have done if the roles were reversed.

Oh, and you want "gutsy" calls the QB draw for the 2pt. conversion meets that standard for me. Think the Ravens missed Ray Lewis on that play?

[Jane: Mock the Media]

Geez TC and I was worried about the Captain. Harrumph!

[Captain Hate]

Think the Ravens missed Ray Lewis on that play?

Actually probably not because I've been lurking on a Ratbird's bbs and a lot of them want Ray to retire along with Ed Reed.

Sorry to alarm you Jane but RG3 is the once in a lifetime player that the Skins finally landed. Plus he has to get back to full health so whatever amount of rest accomplishes that is warranted. Shanahan father and son have done an outstanding job of designing an offense around RG3's unique skillset. You just can't plug an athletic QB into it and have it work; you need somebody with RG3's abilities including the ability to outrun DEs and OLBs otherwise it falls short.

[Jane: Mock the Media]

RG3 is the once in a lifetime player

LOL - I thought it was medical test.

I'm tellin' ya. I'm brilliant!

[pagar]

Janet's last Link 09:01

"Interestingly, however, according to the Code of Federal Regulations, “USAID funds may not be used for the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of structures to the extent that those structures are used for inherently religious activities.”

Apparently Code of Federal regulations does not apply for the Muslims.

This is insane!

[marlene]

Janet,a convoy of trucks left Maine yesterday with 100,000 wreaths which will be displayed on headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. This project has grown in the 21 years since it started with 5,00 wreaths.I'm sure you've seen the wreaths at Arlington and know how beautiful they are.Hope this brightens your day!

[Janet]

That's wonderful, marlene. The wreaths really are stunning.

[marlene]

*5,000* wreaths.Math is hard. : )

[Clarice]

Good Morning, JOM. In anticipation of oncoming dementia, I'm slapping chalkboard paint on everything so I can mark stuff and know what I'm looking at.

[pagar]

"The most depressing article you’ll ever read in your entire life."

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/12/10/hail-hillary-the-queen-of-2016-and-woe-to-her-republican-opponent/

According to the link, they actually expect some people to still be willing to vote for the Democrat candidate in 2016.

Amazing!

[Melinda Romanoff]

Clarice-

Unlike eggwash, that stuff is not easy to get out of rugs.

Use a drop cloth.

[Rob Crawford]

According to the link, they actually expect some people to still be willing to vote for the Democrat candidate in 2016.

They're optimistic. I'll be surprised if there's a US in 2016.

[Danube of Thought]

Barone excerpt:

"This is painful for a liberal to admit,” writes liberal New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, “but conservatives have a point when they suggest that America’s safety net can sometimes entangle people in soul-crushing dependency.”

Kristof is writing from Breathitt County, Ky., deep in the Appalachian mountains, about mothers whose Supplemental Security Income benefits will decrease if their children learn to read. Kristof notes that 55% of children qualifying for SSI benefits do so because of “fuzzier intellectual disabilities short of mental retardation,” far more than four decades ago when SSI was just a new program.

Evidently SSI administrators decided to be more generous to parents of such children. But, as Kristof notes, giving parents an incentive to keep children from learning to read works against the children’s long-term interest.

[(Another) Bub]

Kristof notes that 55% of children qualifying for SSI benefits do so because of “fuzzier intellectual disabilities short of mental retardation,”

But do they watch Fox News? That should be the standard they use.

[NK]

Kristof the blind liberal squirrel meets the dependency acorn.

[Clarice]

Thanks, Mel. I'm not using it anywhere near a rug. I did get some on my fingernails which will allow me --for a change --to tell my left hand from the right one. %^)

[jimmyk]

Kristof the blind liberal squirrel meets the dependency acorn.

Didn't liberal Daniel Moynihan already figure this out decades ago? I understand that they disregard anything Republicans or conservatives say, but a liberal Democrat said this, and it's like they have to keep figuring it out again and again. Duh.

[Rob Crawford]

Didn't liberal Daniel Moynihan already figure this out decades ago?

Sure, but acting on it means acting against their own interests. If they tried to wean people off of assistance, then there'd be fewer jobs for the social workers -- and who would join SEIU and AFSCME and pay for Democrat political campaigns?

[NK]

DP Moynihan was a libDem that no longer exists. he was a patriot, and believed in markets, and using market incentives to ease poverty. He and other LibDems like him lost out to the progressive Fascists such as Hillary, John effin' Kerry et al.

[Rick Ballard]

NK,

Kristof didn't find anything - his solution was more money for "early intervention". He's gonna catch hell if the BOzo Revenger Caucus figures out he was using Breathitt County as a beard for Detroit. He may be safe though, there really isn't a fix for stupid.

[Annoying Old Guy]

I expect the 2016 Democratic Party candidate to win by a larger percentage than in 2012. I can't see what would change that if the last four years haven't. I know plenty of people who voted for Obama because the Democratic Party was willing to cut spending and raise taxes to close the deficit, while the GOP had no plan at all to deal with the issue. Clinton will just promise "net spending cuts if I am elected" and that will be that.

[Danube of Thought]

Newt says that if Hillary runs in 2016 the GOP simply cannot compete. I agree. But at the age I'll be I'm not going to let myself worry on behalf of the country. The country will get what it wants, although surely not what it expects.

[Jim Ryan]

I liked Kristoff's admission better when it was Daniel Patrick Moynihan's 50 years ago and it wasn't an admission but a warning.

[Jim Ryan]

I should read the rest of the thread before commenting.

[Jim Ryan]

They ignored Moynihan. Refresher course.

[pagar]

" I know plenty of people who voted for Obama because the Democratic Party was willing to cut spending"

Amazing, we have just watched the democrats add trillions to the National debt and someone voted for them because they were willing to cut spending?

Words fail!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

If Newt can predict who will win four years in the future why did he run in 2012?

[Annoying Old Guy]

pagar;

I just don't know how to penetrate that. They say "it's all because of Bush's tax cuts and wars", so you should them deficit charts and ask "can you show me where that happened?" and it makes no difference. So why should I expect the next four years to change that? Doom.

[Danube of Thought on IPad]

"why did he run in 2012?"

Book sales. He earns a perpetual living through politics.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--Book sales. He earns a perpetual living through politics.

Posted by: Danube of Thought on IPad | December 10, 2012 at 03:15 PM--

He could have sold a lot more books by putting on his Carnac turban and prognosticating Mitt would swamp the Reps and then Barry would ice Mittens by 2.8%.

[Clarice]

See the new post--by 2016 we'll all be fatter, older and richer--in other words natural Republicans--then.

[pagar]

Annoying Old Guy, I think most of it is the fact that Maxine Greene and William Ayers have created a group of lying leftists that can not understand any facts. I just hope the fact that America has no more money and what is being spent now belongs to generations beyond us starts to penetrate our lawmakers conscience and they stop giving in to the leftist madness.

[Danube of Thought on IPad]

"He could have sold a lot more books by putting on his Carnac turban and prognosticating Mitt would swamp the Reps and then Barry would ice Mittens by 2.8%."

He's just not that smart.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Sure he is. Just ask him.

[شات عراقنا]

thank you

[دردشة عراقنا]

thank you