9059 Dumas?

It's Dumas.

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. "
-James Baldwin

“The difference between treason and patriotism is only a matter of dates.”
- Alexandre Dumas

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
- George Orwell

Snowden, like Manning before him, spoke truth to power. In a difficult situation, he saw something that was wrong and took the incredibly brave decision to do something about it, even at the cost of his life as he knew it.

If you found out something you knew to be immoral (and on a massive scale), would you have the bravery to follow his example? When it meant probably never seeing your friends and family again?

I suspect history will ultimately come to see him as more a patriot than a traitor.

This vid is a lot of fun It might get a few more views with a little blurb selling it in English... Minstrels! Musketeers! Dumas! Anachronisms! Folk rock! Everything was better.

"uh, sama lamaa duma lamaa"???

Man, I knew I was out of touch with the kids these days...

What a total dick....That kid was pissed but he was probably a better sport than his pack of Rhode Island-lookin' tribe o'trailer rats....

I'd go all Alexandre Dumas on his ass and wait till he had a reason to hate his own birthday....

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/blue-bucket-protests-draw-dumas-attention/405275.html

Hey, No worries, I actually expected "someone" to make a comment, how could you not! I've never read anything else by him, and I'm not really making any plans to either, but I enjoyed this one!

In reply to this comment by EDD:
Hey, I'm not hating I haven't read it, I've merely heard Hubbard's stuff is sub-par from friends who are avid sci-fi readers. Personally I'm very much into sci-fi and fantasy movies, but very much NOT into those kinds of books. I'm just weird like that.

In reply to this comment by Sagemind:
Ya, I knew someone would say something about that! Hey, I like sci-fi and fantasy stuff. Battlefield Earth is a a great Sci-fi read. It's not not like I listed Dianetics or something. It is what it is - A "fun" read where the good guys, the humans win - Have you read it?? Perhaps you should!


In reply to this comment by EDD:


P.S. Oh and I think I speak for us all when I say - Sagemind - WHAT. THE. F*CK??

>> ^Sagemind:
I have to give two lists!

FICTION:
Clive Barker - Imagica
David Farland - Runelords
Dan Millman - Way of the the Peaceful Warrior
Frank Hurbert - Dune
John Fowles - The Magus
Alexander Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo
L Ron Hubbard - Battlefield Earth
Jack L Chalker - Lilith: A snake in the grass
Jacqueline Carey - Kushiel’s Dart
Jack Kerouac - On the Road

Ya, I knew someone would say something about that! Hey, I like sci-fi and fantasy stuff. Battlefield Earth is a a great Sci-fi read. It's not not like I listed Dianetics or something. It is what it is - A "fun" read where the good guys, the humans win - Have you read it?? Perhaps you should!


In reply to this comment by EDD:


P.S. Oh and I think I speak for us all when I say - Sagemind - WHAT. THE. F*CK??

>> ^Sagemind:
I have to give two lists!

FICTION:
Clive Barker - Imagica
David Farland - Runelords
Dan Millman - Way of the the Peaceful Warrior
Frank Hurbert - Dune
John Fowles - The Magus
Alexander Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo
L Ron Hubbard - Battlefield Earth
Jack L Chalker - Lilith: A snake in the grass
Jacqueline Carey - Kushiel’s Dart
Jack Kerouac - On the Road

-Le Petit Prince by de Saint-Exupéry, because it permanently shaped the way I look at (and interact in) any and all attachments.
-Vinnie the Pooh, because in it's simplicity it provided unique and oh-so-valuable insights on social norms and the psychology of friendship.
-The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, because it gave me the final nudge to become a true bookworm. I like to boast - at age 5 or 6, I read it cover-to-cover in about 9 hours (refused lunch and dinner until I'd finished ).
-The Catcher in the Rye - I guess the most straightforward and requires no explanation.
-A Hero of our Time by Lermontov, because it presented me with a fatalist byronic hero and gave me a clear idea of someone I was very much like and I DID NOT want to become.

and last but definitely not least:
-The Lord of the Rings to which I practically exclusively owe my English skills - I started Book 1 in 1999, I think, with the thickest available dictionary in hand, which honestly, at first had to utilize for practically every sentence but finished Book 6 (not a month later) having clearly surpassed my English teacher in vocabulary and speech fluency.

It has happened before and it will happen again (I mean this kind of Sift Talk), so I guess it was just a matter of time before I participated.

I only stated the couple of books that actually altered my life somewhat (I'm saying this because I always somehow got the impression other people made their lists based on how artsy/fancy their titles sounded, which I really hope isn't true in most cases among Sifters).
Anyway, I guess it's also worth saying that I read every one of these before the age of 15, which helps explain why and how they have influenced my life to some extent.

It's funny though - by the time I was 16 I'd also read and re-read Hesse, Huxley, Orwell, Dostoyevsky, Nabokov, García Márquez, Rand, Joyce, Vonnegut, Fitzgerald, Kerouac, Burgess, Hemingway, Rushdie and other "classics", but most some of these managed was to entertain me mildly (Vonnegut, Hesse, Huxley, Joyce - yes, I really did enjoy reading Ulysses), while I actually hated having to finish some of them (Orwell, Rand, Burgess).

P.S. Oh and I think I speak for us all when I say - Sagemind - WHAT. THE. F*CK??

>> ^Sagemind:
I have to give two lists!

FICTION:
Clive Barker - Imagica
David Farland - Runelords
Dan Millman - Way of the the Peaceful Warrior
Frank Hurbert - Dune
John Fowles - The Magus
Alexander Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo
L Ron Hubbard - Battlefield Earth
Jack L Chalker - Lilith: A snake in the grass
Jacqueline Carey - Kushiel’s Dart
Jack Kerouac - On the Road

I have to give two lists!

NON FICTION:
David Bodanis - E=MC2
Kerry Mulis - Dancing Naked in the Mind Field
Richard P Fynman - Pleasure of Finding Things Out
Richard P Fynman - The Meaning of it All
Paul Coelho - The Alchemist
Depak Chopra - The Way of the Wizard
Ralph Mayer - Artist’s Handbook
Dennis Willium Hauck - The Emerald Tablet
Janet Gleeson - The Arcanum
Will Durant - The Greatest Minds and Ideas of All Time

FICTION:
Clive Barker - Imagica
David Farland - Runelords
Dan Millman - Way of the the Peaceful Warrior
Frank Hurbert - Dune
John Fowles - The Magus
Alexander Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo
L Ron Hubbard - Battlefield Earth
Jack L Chalker - Lilith: A snake in the grass
Jacqueline Carey - Kushiel’s Dart
Jack Kerouac - On the Road

Russia for the last 8 years has benefited from America's war on terrorism, with high fluctuating oil prices and the stranglehold of gas supplies to Europe from central Asian states. Most of the economic growth was also from the maturation of many reforms passed under Yeltsin. Putin's strong stance against Chechnya and dismantling of oligarchy wins favour with the Russian public. Anything is possible for the people of Russia as long as they do not think of becoming involved politically against the Putin's KGB cadre.

However with the economy now entering recession people's lives will be affected, Putin froze the prices before elections earlier in the year, dissent would rise as the illusion of economic growth now fades and change is pushed for. The Kremlin will come down hard on anybody who will start to resist. This is the reality of State Managed Democracy in Russia.

More:
The Rise of Pro-Putin Youth
Putin Warns Countries Not To Interfere With Russian Affairs
Why Democracy: Russia's Village of Fools
ex-KGB spy speaking against Putin shortly before his death
Real News: Eric Margolis comments on Putin and Russia's Duma
Russians back Putin, Russian Elections deemed a 'farce'
Suppression of Opposition Groups in Russia
Putin's Message to the West
Death of a Nation: Russia in 2006 by Marcel Theroux
Kasparov on Maher--Being Very Clever
Panorama - The poisoning of Litvinenko
Russians mark Anna Politkovskaya's Murder

DEC 14 2008 MOSCOW— The Russian police detained dozens of antigovernment protesters attempting to hold an unsanctioned rally in Moscow on Sunday.

Police officers and armored riot control personnel prevented the planned protest in central Moscow from materializing, in the latest sign that public expression of dissent against the authorities would not be tolerated under President Dmitri A. Medvedev any more than it had been under his predecessor, Vladimir V. Putin.

As many as 100 people were detained, including Eduard Limonov, the head of the banned National Bolshevik Party, said a spokeswoman for Other Russia, a coalition of opposition groups led by Mr. Limonov and the former chess champion Garry Kasparov, among others. The police said that about 10 people were detained during a similar protest in St. Petersburg, Interfax reported.
The Moscow demonstration was meant as a protest of the Kremlin’s handling of the financial crisis and its plans to change the Constitution to extend presidential and parliamentary term limits. Government critics say such a move could be used to extend the authority of Mr. Putin, who is now prime minister, and possibly lead to his early return to the presidency.

Mr. Putin, while he has said Mr. Medvedev will remain president until his term ends in 2012, has not ruled out running for a third term after that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/world/europe/15russia.html?_r=1

Be my guest:)
There's also a longer clip where the end of the dialogue is not cut off:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNmBqi1tM1A

In reply to this comment by Zifnab:
That's great, you should sift that clip (or I will )

In reply to this comment by Eklek:
Dumas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyaBXY3WxiI

>> ^E_Nygma:
"you destroyed his nip."
also, is "dumass" intentionally misspelled for ironic effect, or...?

That's great, you should sift that clip (or I will )

In reply to this comment by Eklek:
Dumas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyaBXY3WxiI

>> ^E_Nygma:
"you destroyed his nip."
also, is "dumass" intentionally misspelled for ironic effect, or...?

Dumas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyaBXY3WxiI

>> ^E_Nygma:
"you destroyed his nip."
also, is "dumass" intentionally misspelled for ironic effect, or...?