caroljane

Congrats to the US for their win in the world championships, led by Phil Kessel's ex-sister Amanda.

What a relatively unsung hero Chamberlain was. I will try to find the movie. Robert E. Lee was also a hero, a man of such honour that if things had gone the other way, I think he could have been a president to rival Lincoln in stature.

Theseus of the House of Atreus.. learned early to "live by what was in him", as wonderfully imagined by Renault in two novels. Any one else read them? "The Bull from the Sea" and "The king Must Die". They are so good.

Don't be too impressed. I have a head full of shit, bits and odds and ends. If I shake my head it sounds like a can half filled with nuts and bolts. Ba'al Chatzaf Mine too! Let's form a conglmerate.. I have always wanted to open a "tops" store where you could find a perfect cap for every receptacle.

And when we got to music class the excitement lessened considerably. as the school could not afford any AV equipment let alone instruments, except triangles. A challenge to the teacher to say the least. He was reduced to telling us about music, lives of composers, and giving handouts on the so-called plots of operas. Talk about dancing about architecture. So mostly we sang, of course. Every year we put on a musical in the auditorium, usually a G&S operetta, brilliantly accompanied by the long-suffering Mr Smythe on the one and only musical instrument in the building.

I don't know about today, but in elementary school we had to pass through the rifle range to get to music class. The cadets entertained themselves by shooting at us. We learned a lot about terrain and quick problem solving, and stopped envying our cousins across the bridge who got to dive under desks to practice surviving the A-Bomb.

Is Ninth your real name? I mean Romans numbered their boys, Quintilius, Sextus, Septimus, Octavian,... At least your parents did not name you Doctor Doctor, so that on completing a Ph.D. you would be Doctor Doctor Doctor. That would be absurd, a real heller of a problem. Kolker, you impress me! I am impressed too. Carol Scared of heights

http://voices.yahoo.com/visit-historic-home-civil-war-hero-joshua-chamberlain-3080580.html I thought he became President of Bowdoin College. Apparently, Wiki and The Killer Angels agree: Amazing man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Chamberlain He watered the tree of liberty indeed. Thank you for introducing me to a hero, Adam.

Carol, if you know how to use Google, you can find the US Government Citizenship and Immigration Services. http://www.uscis.gov/ They have the 100-question study guide in English, Spanish, and Chinese, the three official languages of the US Government. (Chinese is required only for the US Treasury and the US Department of Energy.) No, but seriously, folks.... Looking at the questions, like much else in our society, they are dumbed-down from my grandparents' time. My grandparents had to learn English well enough to take classes in English to pass a citizenship test. The textbook they used served me well through high school, in fact, and I always knew how the government worked, the Bill of Rights, and the broad provisions of the Constitution. (I still cannot name the Enumerated Powers, but I always knew that Article I defined the role of Congress.) Just for instance... So, it was a very thorough book at what was then (1920-1930) an eighth grade education level. What is required now is sad. Question 13 asks to name one branch of government. My grandparents had to know all three and what they were and did. Question 15 asks who makes Federal law with the answer being "Congress." That is incomplete, of course; and my grandparents had to know how a bill becomes law. Moreover, these 100 questions with answers can be memorized out of context whereas my grandparents studied from a book that did not provide the answers to the test. The book had quizzes and tests and those did reflect the requirements of the citizenship test, but they did know going in to the test whether they would be asked about the First or Fourth Amendments, etc., etc. As for the other part of your question, the easy answer is 'No." America was always an open-ended process made by the people. It would be wrong for the federal government to say, "This is how to be an American." Not voting is your right. Not showing the flag on national holidays is your right. To my grandparents, not going to church was their participation in the First Amendment. What does the Canadian government force people to do to prove their Canadianosity? Interesting. I have taught Citizenship classes ("teaching to the test") and the guidelines and processes sound very similar. I am not aware of anything the government forces people to do to prove their Canadianosity. I was thinking of the things the surrounding culture encourages them to do. My impression is that in the USA, so much larger and with such a different immigration pattern, the acculturation is more local than national. Newbies become Texans and Californians and New Yorkers, and so on. They create their own America. Here it is more that they try to conform to the Canada they find wherever they are, and they are encouraged to believe it is the same everywhere else. We have had hand-wringing national identity crises in the past, but no anguished debates such as you have over what is "Real America"/

Are there clearly defined guidelines for new immigrants and their children, for becoming real Americans and integratiing into American society? I know there are here, for becoming Canadian. both official and unspoken. Thoughts?

Margaret Thatcher had compassion for people who were like her (including a certain Chilean) and nothing but contempt for those who were not, I would and could never celebrate anyone's death. I admired her greatly while deploring her ideology which redefined problems into invisibility, and provided solutions far worse than the original mess she inherited. Like her great friend Reagan she created a bubble which had to burst, taking a whole generation of thrown-away citizens with it. Her personal qualities will always be inspiring to everyone who knows of her.

PS I am also a big determinist, in fact I have been called a fatalist by some people including myself, but if money just falls on top of you what can you do? Hoping you know, Carol

Don, your avatar does not show me any particular sense of humour but you do look handsome. Are you rich? Carol Just asking

"Slap Shot". Best sports movie and one of the best comedies I have ever seen. I can't find that Ebert ever reviewed it on a quick search so will take this one as a draw. "Play me or trade me!!" Self-stimulation in the penalty box. Hanrahan. I can't count how many people I know who have the McKenzie brothers as screen savers. This movie had it all.

"Goin' Down the Road" as previewed. Still possibly the greatest Canadian movie ever made. Just tells a story RE gave it 4 stars and I thought his review perceptive and wise, standing test of 40 years of time. Now I will try to look for a great movie he disagreed with me on, a tough search I fear.

Carry On Teacher. Kenneth Williams! OKI, I know it was not great, in fact it was completely awful in every way. But it made me laugh so hard I thought I would die of joy. It was the first time I had been allowed to go out with my friends to the movies at night, the world was mine, and under-12s got in for 50 cents, and my allowance was $5. I will add a 21st "great" to make up for this. I will add the 7 voyages of Sinbad here too, and Cliff Richard ":Summer Holiday." Who knew he was gay?

The Man who Would be King. Kipling and Connery. Ebert gave it four stars. I agree, though I cannot be objective about it. This was my husband's favourite movie until Braveheart* came out, and it has such elegaic poignancy for me. :"The Son of God goes Forth to War..a Kingly Crown to Gain" (aka "The Minstrel Boy ti War is Gone.. his father's sword he has girded on ...) was they hymn sung at his funeral. *no, love this movie (my sons watch it four times a year at least) but Mel Gibson, as he well acknowledged, just looks nothing like William Wallace did and history freak that I am I cannot get over it., though Angus McFadyen portrayed the torn, destined Robert the Bruce wonderfully. And I don't know what Bruce looked like except leprous in his last years. Still waiting for somebody to make a movie about Alfred the Great. He really was.

Rather than do a master list of movies I will just do them one by one as I think of them Barry Lyndon (1975) was totally mesmerising to me, though nobody else seemed to like it. It was a unique experience never duplicated since. Ebert gave it 3 1/2 stars on release and said Kubrick displayed "the arrogance of genius" in this movie. I agree with him, I never felt so strongly in a movie theatre that I was in the hands of a master, helpless and enthralled.

Jerry. I thank you for the great compiment, and I will take up your movie challenge as a project. I don't know if Ebert ever reviewed Goons or Goin' Down the Road, though. I never read his review of Atlas-- I am sure it was knee-jerk, but may have been no worse than some reviews I have read by disappointed or outraged Rand fans. Meanwhile I saw a photo of his widow and stepdaughters at his funeral and it moved me so much. Such dignity in utter sorrow. What they must have suffered with him as he was dying.

Yes. Even the benchmark fraud Victor P could not hide his true (vacuous, nasty, juvenile) self behind his plagiarisms. It is one of the most fascinating aspects of the Internet, on which I came believing I would just exchange lofty impersonal ideas with other cyber entities.

".. As far as I can tell, he has not gotten personal with anyone here. His battle lies entirely in the realm of ideas, seasoned with some superficial (perhaps immature) nose-tweaking. It's not like he has engaged in any sort of psychologizing about people's "neuroses" as an explanation for their behavior. He seems to consider the participants here as cyber-entities and judges them solely on the philosphical statements they make. If one truly has the courage of their convictions, then it is only natural to regard those who differ as being inferior, or befuddled, or stupid, or ignorant in some way..." Oh, come on. This attempt at disingenuity cannot even make it to three sentences without getting personal with the cyber-entities.

I had to look up "piker" to know whether or not I was being insulted. LOL. I just looked it up myself - I had always just assumed it meant a lazy or cowardly person - but the definition isn't so far off even so. I am certainly stingy about gambling, $4 a month on lottery tickets is my limit. Having children in the first place is the big gamble. In Adam's case as he described, they risked everything, and reaped everything.

Daunce: my deepest apologies. I was not aware that the Maple Leafs were actually doing decent this year, and may make the playoffs for the first time in roughly 10 years, notwithstanding that they draw upon the best Canadian hockey talent and have a super fat payroll year in and year out. That is absolutely true. You did not even mention that this team was destroyed in the 70s by the worst team owner who ever lived. The Blackhawks fans endured Old Man Wirtz by boycotting games, but Leafs Nation still showed up. The best Cdn talent we draw on is shrinking however, as the traditional Anglo and Franco families are, especially in Quebec where the Revenge of the Cradle used to produce a priest, a nun, a forward and a D-man plus several grandkids from every household. Now if we cannot lure the 2nd and 3rd generation of Mideast, Asian and South American immigrant families onto the ice, Our Game will shrink. It won't die - when Hell freezes over we will still play hockey on it -- but it will wither and the quality of play will drop.

PS to PDS: I can't relocate where you said it, but you mentioned parentheticaly somewhere that WSS, JTS and I are Canadians. True for me and Bill but there is actually no evidence on Jerry. He does live in Edmonton, but he has never mentioned the Oilers even once.

And he can be so funny. Why did he abandon his satire Randroid Belt blog? It was totally unfair, dishonest, libellous and probably actionable, and hilarious.