Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The State Of The Union: Foreclosures, Bush, Wal-Mart and Hard Math



Foreclosures are up 75% in 2007.

President Bush's approval ratings are in the low 30's.

Wal-Mart is dropping its prices 10-30%.

"Yet Mr. Bush devoted relatively little of his 53 minute speech to the economy, the issue that is the top concern of voters during this election year. He spent far more time talking about the issue that has been his own primary concern, Iraq."

Mr. Bush made the case that his troop buildup had “achieved results few of us could have imagined just one year ago” (NYT)

When the man is right, he's right. Few of us could have imagined losing our homes, or resigning ourselves to the reality that there will be permanent bases and troops in Iraq for the next 20 years or so, or that people in Kenya would be getting hacked to death and not a peep about it is heard out of the White House since they don't even have enough money to order pizza, let alone send some military manpower to help out, or....

Nothing seems to add up anymore.

On the bright side, President Bush did say he will give $300 million dollars for scholarship money to low-income children in struggling schools.

A whole $300 million. Wow. The current running tab of the war is at $489,852, 420, 319. Yes, that's in billions. Bush's dedication to education in America is the equivalent of you going out and buying a kick-ass $20,000 stereo system while being responsible enough to set aside a whole nickel for your child to eat.

Let's hope the mathematics of the next election make a little more sense.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Kate Hawn Goldie Hudson Matthew Russell Kurt McConaughey (or Fool's Gold Overboard)




Aren't these essentially the same movie?

And here's another interesting thing:

Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson: not my favorite actresses, but I like them. They're cute, spunky, and fun. Nothing to dislike about either of them.

Kurt Russell
and Matthew McConaughey: two actors I used to like. Now - not so much.

Obama

Barack Obama's speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia on the day before MLK Day is not only rousing and inspiring, but I believe it may one day be looked back upon as the speech that shook the fence of the undecided and made him President.

It's 30 minutes long and worth every minute.

I also recommend reading Andrew Sullivan's article on "Why Obama Matters" from The Atlantic.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

There Will Be Blood (P.S. I Love You)



The human mind and soul are always searching something new. Something to improve life on earth. An idea that fuels us toward progress; "Life, he thought, was motion. Life was forward motion." - Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.

Finally, another genius of our species has spent long days, maybe weeks or years, devoted to conceptualizing and realizing a tool that was decidedly lacking from our lives.

The Blood Pen.

I can barely count how many times I wished for an easier way to sign my name in my own blood than the tried and true method of scotch taping peanuts to my forearm and playing dead in the park until the squirrels nibble their way into a vein or two.

I haven't been this excited since they came out with the upside-down ketchup bottle.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Clay Python, Monty Aiken


Ripped from the headlines:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Clay Aiken, who joins the cast of "Monty Python's Spamalot" this week, says its humor was initially lost on him.

"The first time I saw it I thought it was the stupidest thing I'd ever seen in my entire life," the "American Idol" runner-up told Newsweek. "My tour drummer is the 'Spamalot' drummer, and (he) said you've got to see it again."

Aiken plays one of the leads, Sir Robin...

Clay went on to say:

"I thought Monty Python was a person until three months ago."

Dude, are you kidding me?

There is absolutely no way he understands how utterly embarrassing that is.

Something to cleanse your aural palette here.

Sunday, January 13, 2008