Ocean's Twelve smallpox survivors

I'm on a bit of a sneak-preview tear! I saw Ocean's Twelve last night in a Warner Brothers' private screening for about 20 people, and thought it was great. Where it falls behind the original in plot twists, it makes up for in fun & laughs. Which reminds me, I saw the old Rat Pack original Ocean's Eleven over thanksgiving break with my brother, and found it brought a lot of what the 2001 version did into perspective; there are a lot of little inside references people miss without a clue. Anyway. Go see it. Better than Alexander.

Had a discussion yesterday with a friend about Thanksgiving; she told me that she annually apologizes at the table with her family for the white man's gifts of smallpox and other disease to the New World. My response was:

"Noble efforts on your part for the eternal peace and forgiveness of los indios nativos. But I've gotta say, if the slaughter of a few tens of millions of innocent nature-cohabitants and the enslavement of two continents' worth of culture to eurocentric monotheist Christian hegemony is the only price I have to pay in exchange for the invention of turkey with cranberry and a two day holiday over which to eat it, just show me where to sign."