Irises

This time of year is great, don't swap spit with swine, keep the weeds down, and enjoy.

Lick This

This is supposed to be a reference to the swine flu "pandemic".
The picture's caption reminds me of the movie "Hunt for Red October".

A Tree Grows in Georgia

This tree was a gift from the Lewis family.

Offered as a tribute to my brother Bruce.

More than a year old now, it is healthy and growing.

500 Years Ago Today

In 1509, England's King Henry VII died.
He was succeeded by his 17-year-old son, Henry VIII.

Burger King Kids Meal Ad

Next to television reporters giving their opinions instead of the news. Loud inappropriate commercials have been known to fire me up.

The wife and I saw this for the first time this weekend. It's an advertisement for a kid's meal! That creepy king character and all those women shaking their bottoms with boxes in their shorts. Pissed me off it did. Won't be going to BK anytime soon.

The report linked above interviewed a number young people who are entertained by the music and dancing, you do not see any parental types being asked if this is appropriate.

I am sorry that this will be interpreted as racial, but this ad is evidence that black culture has a disproportionate influence on pop culture, and that culture rooted in urban centers, is......

classless

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

This is a movie that was released in December 2007.
Written and directed by Jake Kasdan, son of esteemed director Lawrence.
The plot is essentially a parody of the Johnny Cash film, Walk the Line , except without any of the talent. Like Johnny Cash, singer Dewey Cox overcomes adversity, leaves home after chopping his brother in half with a machete, and goes on to become a musical legend, with issues. That's all I really wan to say about that.
The cast.....

• John C. Reilly plays the lead as Dewey Cox, including as a 14 year old singing phenom.
• Tim Meadows play Sam, Dewey's career drummer. Over the course of the movie Sam introduces the singer to all sorts of drugs. Meadows is good in a SNL type role.

I give this movie a rating of 8 of 50. A new low, don't bother to rent.

• Character Development, 2 of 10, it's a parody, it wasn't meant to develop.
• Screenplay, 2 of 10, Kasdan did fall far from the tree.
• Acting, 2 of 10, Meadows is funny, without the sight gags, this movie would be painful.
• Photography, 0 of 10, nuff said.
• Plot, 2 of 10, shitty.

Texas Bill to Resist Federal Intrusion

These are citizens that intend to take care of themselves.

Resisting the temptation the Federal government offers as an inducement to dovetail into shifting national strategy.

The tenth ammendment to the United States Constitution reads....

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

This affirms the Constitutional principle of Federalism by making clear that powers not granted to the national government or prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or the people.

Federal strategy winks at this with circumvention. Commonly, funds are offered to states with the provision that on acceptance Federal policy will be adopted. With the latest bailout project, states like like South Carolina and Texas are saying "whoa" maybe we should solve our own problems. To me this is evidence that the Federal policy creators are morally bankrupt, they are willing to build debt by borrowing money used to trap states in infinite commitments.

Make the Fair Tax federal law, then we'll find a way to clamp down on the borrowing.

Isn't it painful to recognize that logical steps are unlikely to ever happen?

A Friend Like Henry

A Christmas present that I finally got around to reading, from the wife, and looking at my last book report it seems she and I are in a pattern.
A Friend Like Henry is a story about a Scottish family that has a son Dale who at a very young age is discovered to have a severe case of autism. The family fails in its' struggles with communication until they obtain a Golden Retriever, named "Henry". The family learns to communicate with Dale using the dog as a sort of proxy. The success of this method is heartwarming, so much so that they decide to have another child. The good luck was only imagined though because the second child also develops autism. The tools learned though do help to start the daughter on the right path. Now Dale is integrated socially, virtually independent and his younger sister is mainstreamed in public school.

Through Dale's childhood, the dog ages and his demise is lamented.

This was an enjoyable, short read of 261 pages, published by Sourcebooks, Inc, written by the mother Naula Gardner.

I have attached a link to a YouTube film, showing the dog and family.

Brave or Stupid?

Check out this man serving is the test dummy for a bulletproof vest.
Did the shooter have to aim for the heart?

715

Thirty-five years ago today Henry Aaron hit the 715 th home run of his career.
This was near the end of his time with the Atlanta Braves, soon to be traded to the Brewers of his beloved first MLB city, Milwaukee.
Little did we know that on this day 35 years ago, Hank had started a new career as a miserable prick.