Barney Frank Does Right

I should give credit when credit is due. This to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank.

The Massachusetts Democrat and Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois introduced the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act (H.R.1327).

The bill authorizes state and local governments to divest the assets of their pension funds from companies investing more than $20 million in Iran's energy sector.

Conservatism Created

In the 23-Mar-09 issue of National Review, homage is paid to last year's
passing of William F. Buckley Jr..

Nearly fifty years ago, Mr. Buckley wrote what could be called a mission statement for the National Review, the strength of his intelligence set a standard for the fledgling conservative movement that Republicans seem to only fall short of.

Quotes from the statement...

It (referring to his new magazine) stands athwart History, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or have the much patience with those who urge it.

That would mean to stand up, erect, against the Liberal decay.

And....

The National Review is out of place, in the sense that the United Nations and the League of Women Voters and the New York Times and Henry Steele Commager are in place. It is out of place because, in its maturity, literary America rejected conservatism in favor of radical
liberal experimentation.

We reflect on those times as conservative, but we forget that FDR's New Deal was in full swing tinkering with the methods of redistribution and as WFB says "liberal experimentation".

And....

Radical conservatives in this country have an interesting time of it, for when they are not being suppressed or manipulated by the Liberals, they are being ignored or humiliated by a great many of those of the well-fed Right, whose ignorance and amorality have never been exaggerated for the same reason that one cannot exaggerate infinity.

In that your should hear no particular love for the Republicans. It was not until 25 years later when Reagan made Conservative psyche cool. Republicans as a political party are standing next to the Democrats, trying to look the same, they betray their calling with every un-conservative action.

And lastly...

For we offer, besides ourselves, a position that has not grown old
under the weight of a gigantic, parasitic bureaucracy, a position
untempered by the doctoral dissertations of a generation of PhD's in
social architecture, unattenuated by a thousand vulgar promises to a
thousand different pressure groups, uncorroded by a cynical contempt for human freedom.

Love it: a thousand vulgar promises to a thousand different pressure
groups

Buckley was a good man, who consolidated a durable set of Conservative
ideals

Don't Try This On The Kids or The Dog

Judy Chop!

I Give Her aTennnnnn

That was as the unforgettable Billy Bob described his teacher in the movie Varsity Blues.
Such is the way of Florida men and their pets.
In the news recently at the Miami Herald, is a story titled
Florida lawmakers consider ban on bestiality
Reporter Marc Caputo says that Florida lawmakers are pushing legislation that would make having sex with animals a felony.

TALLAHASSEE -- The act of bestiality is a step closer to becoming illegal in Florida now that a Senate agriculture committee voted to slap a third-degree felony charge on anyone who has sex with animals.
Florida is one of only 16 states that still permit bestiality -- a fact that animal-rights activist and Sen. Nan Rich learned to her horror three years ago when a Panhandle man was suspected of accidentally asphyxiating a family goat that he held by the collar during a sex act.

Pay attention to that, asphyxiated, the sick bastard choked the thing to death.

''There's a tremendous correlation between sexually deviant behavior and crimes against children and crimes against animals,'' said Rich, a Sunrise Democrat. ``This is long overdue. These are heinous crimes. And people belong in jail.''

Yes they belong on jail, but I think the only correlation between the different types of offenders is that they are both offenders. Children and animals are not the same, mess with a kid and you should die, mess with an animal and you should receive similar treatment in jail.

But the Mossy Head man suspected of assaulting Meg the goat was never charged, because law enforcement officials could not link him to the scene. The suspect was arrested months later in a separate goat abduction, said Walton County Assistant State Attorney Walter Parker.
Rich's legislation would target only those who derived or helped others derive ''sexual gratification'' from an animal, specifying that conventional dog-judging contests and
animal-husbandry practices are permissible.

See, he didn't jump up the politician's imagined sick bastard food chain. The man likes goats.

That last provision tripped up Miami Democratic Sen. Larcenia Bullard. ''People are taking these animals as their husbands? What's husbandry?'' she asked. Some enators stifled their laughter as Sen. Charlie Dean, an Inverness Republican, explained that husbandry is raising and caring for animals. Bullard didn't get it.
''So that maybe was the reason the lady was so upset about that monkey?'' Bullard asked, referring to a Connecticut case where a woman's suburban chimpanzee went mad and was shot.
After the unanimous committee vote, Rich predicted the bill would pass this year. She said bestiality used to be illegal in Florida, but the statute was ruled unconstitutional for being too broad.

Got to get those laws straight, don't want to have a bunch of farmers having to due jail time and then register as sexual offenders.

Just feed the sicko to the pigs like in the Hannibal Lecter sequel.

The picture was perfect, found here, with music and everything.

Congressional Cooperation

The Onion has a humorous article titled...

Congress Forced To Watch Training Video About Bipartisan Cooperation

Another scene revolves around a heated appropriations dispute, and encourages lawmakers to always "S.H.I.N.E." by using the five steps of legislative cooperation: "Show respect, Hold back anger, Identify common ground, Nation first! and Emerge with compromise."

It's all bullshit of course, the fake story and Congress that is.

I just had to add a picture of wrestlers in action, I think that is about the most appropriate visible metaphor for congress has become. Fat, fake and all on the same side. Saw Dusty Rhodes in the original Longhorn restaurant in Atlanta, hammered in the bar area. He looks that way in person too. At least he did, that was more than 25 years ago.

Go to the site and enjoy, Mr. Ott is very creative.

I Knew You Were Waiting for This

The lead quotation says....

Spandau Ballet are returning to the stage.

Shouldn't that say Spandau Ballet IS returning to the stage?

They have a website and they still look gay.

What's next, a Flock of Seagulls revival of hairstyle?

Looking back there isn't too much to reminisce about, Bruce Springsteen, The Clash and REM were at the top of their game, the music out of the northwest grunge scene was yet to mature.

The article does report that the two surviving members of the The Clash have enough sense to refuse a reincarnation.

Thank god!

49 part 2

So this is the card my son gives for my birthday.

I guess he's all grown up.

I'm, so proud!

Congressman Wallows in Own Feces

Another great cartoon from Ramirez, found at the Jewish World Review. Normally I would have created a picture with this fat bastard's head in the ring, but the cartoon is much more accurate.
Also, today, Paul Greenberg gives us a good article railing on the Massachusetts Congressman.
Noting Frank's diatribes in the "hallowed" halls ....

Congressman Frank was at the top of his low form this week when he appeared aghast at the very thought that "these bonuses are going to people who screwed this thing up enormously. ... Maybe it's time to fire some people. We can't keep them from getting bonuses, but we can keep them from having their jobs. ... In high school, they wouldn't have gotten retention, they would have gotten detention."

Greenberg adding his appraisal....

Hell hath no fury like a pol who, having screwed up largely public corporations like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, goes after a once private company like AIG. Time and again, when watchdogs like John McCain and his fellow reformers were barking at Fannie and Freddie's reckless loans, Congressman Frank's reaction was a sustained ho-hum.

Pointing out what most knowledgeable people (not Democrats)....

Almost a decade ago — in 2000 — when a bill was introduced to tighten the supervision of the terrible twins, Mr. Frank called the danger of their collapsing "overblown" (actually, it was being understated at the time), and declared that "there was no federal liability there whatsoever." And he stayed depressingly consistent year after year. "I do not regard Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as problems" (Barney Frank, 2002). "I do not think we are facing any kind of crisis" (Barney Frank, 2003). When unmistakable cracks began to appear in their financial condition, Mr. Frank remained sanguine, if not deaf-and-dumb. "I think Wall Street will get over it" (Barney Frank, 2004). And so disastrously on.

Yes, yes......

Mr. Frank and his equally blithe accomplices in Congress encouraged Fannie and Freddie to make bad loans in because they were supposed to be creating "affordable housing," and now that so many of those loans have turned out to be unaffordable, just as he was warned, the congressman responds by railing against... AIG.

Equally blithe, love it....

You bet the executives responsible for this mess should be fired. They screwed up enormously, to use Mr. Frank's phrase. But what happens to a Member of Congress who screws up enormously? Why, he's regularly re-elected by the suckers. Instead of retention he, too, should get detention.

Do you thick that using the word "suckers" is a Freudian slip?

No such luck. Instead, Barney Frank struts and frets his hour upon the stage, a regular before the insatiable television talk shows as chairman of the Powerful House Committee on Subsidizing Scams, always playing the street-smart sage channeling our outrage. And no one dares call it chutzpah. Well, not enough do.

Got to admit, more than Obama, I fn hate Barney Frank, and throw Christopher Dodd into the stinking morass of self-righteous dishonesty. The bastards out to be sharing a jail cell with with a lifer that was molested as a child.

49

Had a birthday this week.

A cake like this would have been fun.

PBR Street Gang, crrrckg.

Obama Supports States Rights

When it suits him that is.....
On Wednesday, AP reporter Devlin Barrett, gave an article titled Attorney general signals shift in marijuana policy.

Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a change on medical marijuana policy Wednesday, saying federal agents will target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state law.

A euphemism for as is applies to California, we are not going to enforce federal law.

That would be a departure from the Bush administration, which targeted medical marijuana dispensaries in California even if they complied with that state's law. "The policy is to go after those people who violate both federal and state law," Holder said in a question-and-answer session with reporters at the Justice Department.

In the case of illegal immigration across southern California's southern border, does this mean that the Mexican are breaking both state and federal law, the deportment's will start? Or should there be a third tier to Holder's policy, that the sanctuary policies of San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, should be recognized as law and applicable as the third leg of the excuse to let the same old shit pass?

Medical marijuana advocates in California welcomed the news, but said they still worried about the pending cases of those already in court on drug charges. California law permits the sale of marijuana for medical purposes, though it till is against federal law. Holder did not spell out exactly who no longer would face the prospect of raids by the Drug Enforcement Administration. But he was quick to add that law enforcement officers will target anyone who tries to "use medical marijuana laws as a shield" for other illegal activity.

The shield excuse is widely known to be abused. When legally challenged the state plays ignorant to the situation, California is complicit in it's refusal to enforce its already weak position.

"Given the limited resources that we have, our focus will be on people, organizations that are growing, cultivating substantial amounts of marijuana and doing so in a way that's inconsistent with federal and state law," the attorney general said.

And giving a pass to the one's that successfully pretend.

Advocates and government officials had been waiting since President Barack Obama was sworn into office for a clear signal on what the new president's drug policy would be toward medical marijuana. As a candidate, he repeatedly promised a change in policy in situations in which state laws allow the use of medical marijuana. Yet shortly after Obama took office, DEA agents raided four dispensaries in Los Angeles, prompting confusion about the government's plans. Thirteen states have laws permitting medicinal use of marijuana. California is unique among them for the presence of dispensaries, which are businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services. Legal under California law, such dispensaries are still illegal under federal law. Kris Hermes, a spokesman for national medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, said he welcomed Holder's perspective.

Watch video of customers at San Francisco dispensaries. They do not make an attempt to hide that the purchases are for personal enjoyment. For real medical, it should be legal everywhere.

"It signals a new direction and a more reasonable and sensible direction on medical marijuana 8policy," he said. Still, Hermes said his Oakland-based organization was concerned about the fate of more than two dozen California medical marijuana cases currently pending in federal court. "There remains a big question as to what the federal government's position is on those cases," Hermes said. He pointed specifically to the case of Charles Lynch, who was federally convicted for running a medical marijuana dispensary collective in San Luis Obispo County last year. Hermes said Lynch could face decades in prison when he is sentenced Monday even though his clinic had been compliant with state law.

Come on dude, if we think the law is, like wrong, going to jail for it is totally bogus. Where are the ding dongs?

Now if you take a little thing like the recent bailout, Obama and Democratic leadership have no interest in the individual state constitutions. They actually put a provision in giving the state legislatures authority to bypass constitutional powers of state governors. The intent is clear, get the states to accept un-ending obligations for a one time payment. Sort of like making a deal with the devil, you want that money, but you better be damned careful because your fixin to spend eternity in hell paying for it.

For the drug thing, I really don't care, but it seems to be another piece of the liberal mindset, what you want is the most important thing.

Garlic Shrimp and Grits

My son and I have made this many times, Dad is about to give it a whirl up in Yankee country. The recipe says this makes 4 servings, my son and I are usually left licking the bowl. The picture is from a different recipe, you might want to try that one as well.

Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 pound unpeeled, medium sized fresh shrimp, cooked, leave the tails on, if you want, for presentation
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup quick cooking grits, uncooked
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Garnishes: chopped fresh chives, peeled and cooked shrimp, fresh ground
  black pepper

The process:

• Peel the shrimp and devein, if you want.
• Bring 3 cups of water, cream, butter and salt to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
• Reduce heat to medium, whisk in grits.
• Cook, whisking constantly, 7-8 minutes or until the mixture is smooth.
• Stir in 1 pound of shrimp, cheese and garlic.
• Cook 1 to 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
• Garnish, if you go for that sort of thing.

All the credit to Southern Living.

Stay Out of My Office

The author of Velociworld writes better than most bloggers, I try to read whenever I have the time to pay attention.
In his 18-March entry he describes what must have been the result of fear that the boss imposed on a subordinate.
Please jump over and read about how this woman shit herself.

Michelle vs. Laura

This one is sure to rile the bride up. During the recent national election campaign the media attention on Mrs. McCain and Mrs. Obama was so biased we had to curtail watching the news.
Examples..

• Michelle Obama is a Ivy League educated lawyer of great accomplishment.
• Michelle Obama worked in the critcal field of health services.
• Michelle Obama is mother of two beautiful children.
• Michelle Obama is an independent woman who backs her husband's beliefs not because they are his but because they are right.
• Michelle Obama has the beauty and grace equal to that of Jackie Kennedy.

vs....

• Cindy McCain is the rich heir of liquor distributing business.
• Cindy McCain cafessed addiction to pain killers.
• Cindy McCain has so many homes that her husband John cannot keep track.
• Cindy McCain should be residing in the Federal Penn. (link)

It should be pointed out that a GLARING omission in the election that both of the matriarchs in the Republican ticket had sons that were serving our country in war zones. Obama's children are too young, Biden's children are grown and in politics. Giving the kids a pass, which parents do you think have instilled conscience and patriotism? For Ms. Obama, I would only dispute the last point. That said, the difference in coverage was so glaring that we had to tune out.
Now that the election is over and Obamas are rightfully entrenched in the White House, the press cannot stop themselves from shining light on the new 1st lady and offering positions of her superiority over the former first lady.
This brings to pass yesterday's article in the Wall Street Journal, written by William McGurn.
In this article McGurn criticizes media for permitting and projecting Michelle Obama's judgments about the accomplishment and positions of her predecessor.
In an interview with ABC the 1st lady said.....

I think I was like most Americans, pretty oblivious to the life of military families. Sort of taking it for granted.

No mam, I do not think that most Americans took the continuing sacrifice lightly, only most Democrats. Watch any YouTube video of either Mr. or Mrs. Bush with the troops and you see an obvious emotional connection. Watch the recent Camp Lajeune speech by Obama linked above to get a feel that he was going through the paces and there was no emotional reaction (except for promise of more pay) by the troops. Laura Bush was always gracious and empathetic around troops, but in an understated delivery often went unnoticed or ignored in the media.
Further McGurn describes how Michelle Obama is actively involved in policy development, suggesting that Laura Bush was not. Laura Bush as a career educator was actively involved in "No Child Left Behind". This is probably an unimportant point, because spousal involvement is generally overstated. The reporter's ignorance of Laura Bush's actions is obvious.
I could go on an on.
I will be happy if Michelle Obama can achieve the grace and respect of her predecessor.
A point already presumed by the biased media.

You Could Blow Out A Candle

Today's offering from Bob Gorrell of Jewish World Review. Love the cartoon,
I've been holding back, trying to give the new President respect for having won the election.
As the current economic situation progresses, two things are clear....

1. Congress is driving the budget bus, Obama might as well be in the back seat.
2. Blame everything on GW Bush, we got a pass to do anything we want.

There Will Be Blood

Released in 2007, this movie rated R for violence.
Written for the screen and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, he who has brought us, Boogie Nights and Magnolia.
Based upon the novel "Oil!", written by Upton Sinclair. Sinclair was a prolific writer with publishing's ranging from 1898 to 1961. His novels include Roman Holiday, The Money Changers and The Jungle.

The cast.....

• Daniel Day Lewis plays the lead of Daniel Plainview, an independent oil man who learned how to drill when he was looking for gold. Lewis has a sparkling career filled with great roles in My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown, The Last of the Mohicans, The Age of Innocence, In the Name of the Father, and Gangs of New York. This actor does not do anything lightly.
• Paul Dano as the preacher Eliot Sunday and his brother Paul Sunday. Plano is good in this movie as he was Little Miss Sunshine playing the morose color blind Dwayne, and a couple of Sopranos episodes as Patrick Whalen.
• Ciaran Hinds plays Fletcher Daniel's business associate. Hinds is a common character actor seen in various spy type dramas since the early 1980's.

Daniel Plainview learns about drilling for oil by the trial and errors of gold mining. Pail Sunday comes to the independent driller and convinces him to come to his family farm to look for oil.
Daniel and his son HW come under the pretense of quail hunting, find oil seeping on the top of the ground. With Daniel's commitment to Eliot to fund his Church of Third Revelation, the family drillers buy up all the land they can in New Boston California. Soon after the purchase, oil is stuck, during which HW looses his hearing. After the well comes in, Eliot comes to Daniel for the promised payment of $5000.00, Daniel lashes out at Eliot, blaming him and his church for HW not being saved from his loss of hearing.
Then Daniel's unknown brother Henry Planview shows up from Fond du Lac, with news that his father had died three months previous.
Daniel has a disconnected manner of giving his son alcohol to quiet him down, and help him sleep. During the new brother's visit, HW reads Henry's diary, soon after lights a fire in Daniel's bunk house, an angry unspoken expression. In reaction Daniel puts the boy on a train for San Francisco. Standard oil comes to town and wants to buy Daniel out with offers of a million dollars. The last tract of land needed to build a pipeline is holding. Daniel intends to buy this land and marks out his pipeline path before the purchase is even made.
Then Daniel comes to believe that that Henry is not his half-brother but a fraud. It turns out that this was a man that met Daniel's half-brother before he died of tuberculosis. For his deception Daniel kills the fake half brother.
When Daniel and Bandy meet up, Bandy sets his price, Daniel has to be baptized at the Church of Third Revelation. At Eliot's church, he is asked to step forward as a new member, a sinner seeking salvation.

I've abandoned my child.
I've abandoned my boy.

HW comes home from San Francisco while the pipeline is being built. HW is angry, understandably so. A special teacher is brought in to help with HW's deaf communication.
By 1927 HW, still deaf, marries the youngest Sunday girl, Mary. Soon after HW decides to move to Mexico and try drilling for oil on his own. At this point Daniel reveals that HW is really an orphan, his father killed in his first hand dug oil well. Daniel had used him as a boy, for his sweet face, an inducement to landowners to sell out to the family business.

A bastard from a basket.

As HW leaves, Daniel does remember him fondly.
Then Eliot returns, finding Daniel asleep in his own bowling alley lane. Addled by alcolhol. Eliot's news is that old man Bandy has died at the age of 99, his grandson has travelled to Hollywood. Eliot wants to parlay Bandy's 1000 acre tract into oil fields with Daniel. Daniel's price is for Eliot to state that he is a false prophet, the original $5000 with interest, and a $100,00 bonus for brokering the deal. Eliot says ....

I am a false prophet, god is a superstition.

To which Daniel replies....

It was Paul who was chosen.
He was the smart one.
Stop crying you sniveling ass.

Then Daniel tells Eliot that he has already gotten the oil out of the Bandy tract. Eliot breaks down and admits to being a sinner, he wants help because he has lost all of his money in the 1929 stock market crash.
Daniel screaming....

I am the third revelation.

In a drunken rage Daniel kills Eliot with a bowling pin.

The end.

This was the first time that I've viewed a No-ReturnDVD rental. The store price of $0.99 is impossible to beat.

I give this movie a rating of 37 of 50.

• Character Development, 7 of 10, Daniel starts as a poor miner, becomes an oil baron. The boy turns out to be an orphan he co opted.
• Screenplay, 5 of 10, could have been better but could not seem to escape the period, would have worked better if written more like East of Eden.
• Acting, 9 of 10, Lewis won the Lead Actor's Academy Award for for this part, in 2007, a great actor in a great role created by a great writer.
• Photography, 7 of10, the views of California country were evocative of a century past.
• Plot, 9 of 10, created from the novel written by Upton Sinclair, famous for books about the meatpacking business in The Jungle. Set in California at the onset of the twentieth century, the setting is a precursor for the personal struggles detailed later by John Steinbeck.

A good movie, not for the women.

I am going to find the book and read it now.

Airport Art

The picture above is a sculpture created by a man who used to live upstairs from us in Haddam. The sculpture was selected for and is displayed at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks.

Since he retired from being a specialty machinist, Les has pursued an interest farther than most. A man that always prided himself on working his mind, he used to kick my ass playing chess in the back yard under the cherry tree.

Visit his site and if it's your thing, buy something for your house.

Bruce would absolutely get a charge out of this.

Dan In Real Life

The US release of this movie was in October 2007.
Directed by Peter Hedges whose resume behind the camera is light. As one of the writers Hedges worked with Pierce Gardner. Hedges had previously worked on the script for What's Eating Gilbert Grape.
The cast.....

• Steve Carell as Dan Burns, the columnist and father of three. Carell is best known for his role as the office manager in the television show "The Office". Big screen roles include a part and the suicidal uncle in "Little Miss Sunshine".
• Juliette Binoche and the world travelled and beautiful Marie. Binoche is well known from her part in "Chocolat" where she played Vianne Rocher.
• Dane Cook as Mitch Burns, Dan's younger brother. A regular stand up comedian, perfect for the role as the shallow younger brother.
• Dianne Wiest as Nana, Dan's mother. Weist has worked in everything at one time or another. Her best part was as Holly in Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters".
• John Mahoney as Poppy, Dan's father. Mahoney is another well traveled actor, having time in serial television shows "Cheers" and "Frazier" as well as the big screen in "Moonstruck"and "Say Anything....".

The plot is.....
Dan Burns is a widower with school aged three girls. His profession is a newspaper columnist, writer of the serial article titled "Dan in Real Life", in which he gives family advice. As the single parent he has fallen into being overprotective and in constantly the source of his daughters scorn. As family trip to the Rhode Island homestead comes at a time when the youngest daughter is wanting attention, the middle daughter is in the throes of puppy love and the oldest daughter want to work on getting her driver's licence. Depressed from the onslaught of bitchy daughter and missing his wife, Nan sends Dan out for the newspaper. In fetching the paper, Dan meeting the beautiful Marie in the seaport bookstore. There is an immediate and mutual attraction, but Marie is called away by a phone call. Dan gets back to the house and is happily telling his brother about the woman he just met when the brother's girlfriend walks in, of course it's Marie.
After a number of stressful and comical scenes, Marie leaves the brother. Dan chases after Marie. The family finds them together and are aghast. Dan's daughters convince him to go after Marie and the movie ends with them getting married at the homestead.
A very nice movie, gets a score of 30 of 50, a good score. I think you should watch this movie.

• Character development 6 of 10. Dan breaks out of depression and his girls help.
• Screenplay 6 of 10. Comfortable feel.
• Acting 6 of 10. Better than I expected.
• Cinematography 6 of 10. Great scenery, the house was perfect, the rainy misty RI seashore captured.
• Concept 6 of 10.

The soundtrack was all original music for the movie, written by Sondre Lerche and performed by his band Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down. Top notch in the mold of the soundtrack for Harold & Maude and the Graduate.

The Best Conservative Movies

In the February 23rd issue of National Review, John Miller offers his list of best conservative movies.

1. The Lives of Others (2007)
2. The Incredibles (2004)
3. Metropolitan (1990)
4. Forrest Gump (1994)
5. 300 (2007)

Since the magazine, in my eyes, is like the word of god, and that and two of the movies are already in my own top 5 favorites, the number 1 movie is now on my "must see" list.
Number 3 on the list is easily my favorite dialog based movie. Whit Stillman outdoing the master Woody Allen at constructing intellectual discussions drug into comedic situations by human imperfection. One of the first dates my wife and I went on was to see Barcelona, Stillman's second feature. She thought I was nuts for dragging her to such an unheard-of film but the smart humorous content was there and she enjoyed. T his movie should also be on the list of best conservative minded movies, but I suspect that the author was trying to show some range.
Forrest Gump is, well, a surprise to the list for me, but the explanation brings it into a perspective with which I agree. Reviewer Charlotte Hays says....

Tom Hanks plays the title character, an amiable dunce who is far to smart to embrace the lethal values of the 1960s. The love of his life, wonderfully played by Robin Wright Penn, choose a different path; she becomes a drug-addled hippie, with disastrous results. Forrest's IQ may be room temperature, but he serves as an unexpected font of wisdom. Put 'em on a Whitman's Sampler, but Mama Gumps's famous words about life's being like a box of chocolates ring true.

Waffle House, Good People, Good Food

Last week in the local newspaper, I was reading a serial column named "The Vent" and found this entry.

"As a widow, I just wish I had someone to go to the Waffle House."

Isn't it interesting that in this column, always full of smart assed quips about George W. or Barack H., was the place this woman wanted to say she was lonely. I'm not lonely but think it would be a nice gesture to eat breakfast with the lady. While the whole world is whining about how the economy is in dire straights, how the government is to blame and how the government needs to save us. People have lost sight of what's real.
People will continue to live, albeit with less shit, this lady hopes for a friend.
Eat soup, drive old cars, save, and always, be compassionate.
Waffle House, good people, good food.

Celtics Take a Big Chance

Last week the Boston Celtics added Stephon Marbury to their roster. As a Georgia Tech alum and lifelong Celtic fan I have a natural interest in his success there. Perhaps that success will lessen the painful memory of how the Celtics and Jon Barry failed to agree on a contract after the his 1st round 1992 draft selection (21st overall). Then again remembering what a dick Marbury was to Jon's brother Drew Barry in a 1996, hopes are diminished.

Taking on Stephon Marbury was a huge risk for the Boston Celtics, the player has a me first attitude that has been his trademark since high school This is best illustrated in his defensive effort, better described as absent. The Celtics are a defense first basketball team, led by the heart of Kevin Garnet and Paul Pierce. To ask these team leaders to corral the self-centered point guard is unrealistic.

The Celtics gave Marbury number 8, the players that have worn that jersey before are...

• Al Brightman '47
• Phil Farbman '49
• Howie Shannon '50
• Scott Wedman '85, '86, and '87
• Kenny Battle '92, and '93
• James Blackwell '95
• Antoine Walker '97, '98, '99, '00, '01, '02, and '03
• Al Jefferson '05

Of the group only Scott Wedman deserves distinction. He was a tough shooting guard that would do whatever it took to get the win. Unlike Marbury, who will take whatever he can. Thankfully, no retired Celtic of importance will have his jersey besmirched by this selfish snot.

Hope you didn't screw the pooch Danny Ainge!

Dirty Harry Says Screw Political Correctness

Recently Clint Eastwood took a few swipes at the popular philosophy of
"political correctness".
Not that he had to do anything beyond his work to get my attention.
Clint Eastwood in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel suggested that modern society lives in a state of fear over the possibility of being labeled racist for telling jokes based on ethnicity or nationality.

"People have lost their sense of humor. In former times we constantly made jokes about different races. You can only tell them today with one hand over your mouth otherwise you will be insulted as a racist. "

"I find that ridiculous. In those earlier days every friendly clique had a 'Sam the Jew' or 'Jose the Mexican' -- but we didn't think anything of it or have a racist thought. It was normal that we made jokes based on our nationality or ethnicity. That was never a problem."

"I don't want to be politically correct. We're all spending too much time and energy trying to be politically correct about everything."

We see examples all the time of where organized political groups and advocates, created a real need, morph into a union-like gateway mentality as the bearers of responsibility for the feelings of all their brethren. From this we see the hyperbole of men like Al Sharpton, creating riots and causing death, over false claims.
As kids ethnic jokes were the most fun, and they hit all parties.
Please bring back the dumb Italian and Pedro jokes.
Thank you Clint.