Plus the coming tax on health care benefits, selling books in beauty shops and Sonia Sotomayor, what she REALLY needs if she's going to get nominated. It will surprise you.
And speaking of getting away with crime, how about those Black Panthers being let loose for voter intimidation that would have any white person thrown in jail toot de sweet?
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A quick catch-up on Jillian of "Bachelorette" fame. As of this writing she's got 16 guys still vying for her, we all should be so lucky.
The show is building the drama in that there's one fellow all the contenders love to hate and throw in a weirdo or two.
Does Jillian appear to be honing in on any one of her handsome choices yet?
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Here's a movie that is a 2009 "must-see".
Pixar's "UP" has everything, charm, adventure, laughs, insight, truth and an appeal to all ages. Scratch that. "UP" does seem to be missing curse words and sex scenes and still it entertains.
Check out who this movie's protagonist is based on in terms of resemblance. Hint-he's a famous journalist and "UP's" elderly adventurer looks exactly like him.
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A guest post that brings new meaning to “engineering” as we know it.
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Kaitlyn paid a visit to Mom-Mom in late May 09 and she too loved the movie "UP".
She's learning pinball and enjoyed an evening on Delaware Rehoboth Beach's famed boardwalk.
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Pic of the Day
Sonia Sotomayor-First Things First
Liberals love to use the court system to win those things they can’t win fair and square through the legislative system. Currently we have homosexual marriages being rammed down recalcitrant voters’ throats via court rulings that require elected representatives to grow gonads and actually take an action.
And so President Obama wants to appoint Sonia Sotomayor a judge on the Supreme court and here’s a woman that’s makes no bones about using the court to make policy.
For weeks now the American public has seen sight bytes of this woman saying that policy is made on the federal courts (of course she denies it pathetically) and her most infamous quote is that bit about a wise Latina women giving better rulings than a white male could ever hope to do.
Politicians love to appoint so-called “minorities” to important positions. Such appointments tend to benefit politicos as it is assumed that other members of the same minority will line up to vote for that politician that made such a wise appointment.
Americans, God love them, don’t necessarily benefit from appointments of minorities to important positions although most Americans, going out on a limb here, have no problem with minorities serving as supreme court judges, congress critters, or even a Czar in the Obama administration.
Americans are also a very fair people. While politicians think minorities should get all sorts of preferences in everything, most of us Americans out here in la-la land all busy carrying this country on our backs, believe that all of us should simply be allowed to take off from the same starting block, that discrimination not deter the talented and hard-working but beyond that, we’re all the same.
Many of us have white male children that we don’t think should be held back to advance a minority of lesser talent or skills. See, our next election does not depend on giving unfair advantages to minorities. Teaching our children the value of fairness, equality and good sportsmanship, plus having them actually LIVE these values, tend to be the focus of our lives.
Sonia Sotomayor is just a bit too obvious with her brand of reverse prejudice. Sure, the likes of Chuckie Schumer love Sotomayor but those of us who labor out here in la-la land don’t look upon such obvious unfairness as expressed by a potential supreme court judge as a good thing.
We are not politicians out here in la-la land is what I’m saying here.
Also there’s Sotomayor’s infamous Ricci case, that joke of a trial where the results of a Connecticut fire department’s promotion test were thrown out because no minorities passed.
Many white guys, plus one Hispanic, studied hard for that test, a test that was designed specifically to be fair to all races and creeds. They struggled, passed the test and too bad, so the New Haven authorities decided. The test does not count cause we need some black people to promote and no blacks passed the test.
This action was taken to court and Sonia and a few of her liberal court buddies ruled that it was just fine for the Connecticut folks to do this.
Well we’ve all got good ole Sonia’s number, don’t we now? For only blacks and Hispanics should be allowed to succeed now. And if you’re married to a white person, have a white person for a child…well too damn bad. Their lifetime will be thrown to the dogs because the likes of Sonia Sotomayor will see to it.
But I’ve got one more major issue with Sotomayor.
Who the hell dresses this woman?
First, the hair. It looks like she took an eggbeater and ran it through her hair. That bit with a long lock hanging down in her face to jiggle in place with each blink of an eye does nothing for her either.
Further, does she own anything else but BLACK clothes? I know she’s a judge but judges can wear some color in their every day clothes.
Hey, she’s a vibrant Latina woman, no? How about a pop of red in a nice top? A top that has an empire waist that flows away from her hips. A pair of nice dark pants or an A-line skirt and she’d look real nice.
How about a smooth hairstyle, a bob? Feathery bangs cut right above the eyebrows, add some dangling but not overwhelming earrings, a nice necklace and boom, an attractive Latina woman who looks professional and appealing.
With all the attention on her, Sotomayor really should, at the least, not look like she just stepped out of the convent.
Karl Rove on Sotomayor
Baddest Guy of All Time Award
Tina Watson loved her husband. In fact she had only been married to Gabriel David Watson for 11 days, indeed was on her honeymoon with him, when he murdered her.
This happened in 2003 but it took all these years until recently before the fine, fine Mr. Watson, whose mother must be so proud of her boy, got at least SOME punishment for so wantonly killing his happy bride.
Story HERE.
Covered on my Blog HERE, in 2007.
See David thought he was named beneficiary in a life insurance policy in which Tina had changed right before her wedding. Only Tina’s father told her not to do it, to wait until after the wedding.
He killed Tina as they were diving in the Great Barrier Reef off of the coast of Austrailia. It is believed that David held Tina in a bear hug, reached around and turned off her air tanks. Once she went unconscious, ie…DIED…he reached around and turned them back on. He then let her body go where it fell down to the ocean floor.
David, fine proud he-man that he is, raced to the surface where he summoned help…heh. Oh, did I mention that David is a trained rescue-driver? Another diver on the boat got a picture of Tina as she sunk dead to the ocean floor. Another diver dove down to bring Tina to the surface. Doctors tried to resuscitate Tina but could not.
David stayed on the tourist boat, not even trying to get to the rescue boat where people tried desperately to save his wife.
David Watson finally plea bargained manslaughter charges for Tina’s death. This was an Austrailian case but American prosecutors were sent down under to try and light a fire in getting David brought to justice.
Watson was given five years for manslaughter but with good behavior it is believed he will spend only a year in jail.
Meanwhile, lovely Tina Watson, a new bride who loved her husband so much that she learned to dive just so they could spend their honeymoon diving, is dead…FOREVER.
David Watson received the award for the WORST BAD GUY…EVER!
When Will MTV Be Stopped?
And so it was all planned, “Borat’s” descent from the ceiling to arrive with his butt in the face of the famed calm-tempered rapper, Eminem.
If these clowns aren’t exposing breasts during the Superbowl they’re pulling stunts like this.
Health Insurance
Some insight into the concept of taxing health insurance. Be on the lookout people. This coming week President Obama is expected to fight tooth and nail to give us all gubmint health care.
Here’s the thing....and if the pubbies had some gonads they’d win this battle hands down....
First, the concept of imputed income...ie funds or perks given by an employer to an employee, is not foreign and, indeed, it should be done.
Group life insurance, which Rush got all screwed up yesterday, is taxable as imputed income. “Loans” given to an employee then forgiven, are taxable as inputed income. Cars provided to employees are taxable as imputed income. If this sort of thing was not taxable, well hell, every employer would be “paying” employees in all sorts of creative ways to avoid putting dollars on that W-2.
Health benefits paid by an employer too could be considered imputed income and as such, it’s not out of the pale that they should be taxed. IF we were to go out and purchase health insurance we would do so with after-tax dollars.
BUT....this country has a long history of encouraging desired citizen behavior via the tax code. Home mortgages, for instance, are tax exempt. So are lines of credits on our homes, property taxes, etc, etc. We WANT our citizens to be homeowners as homeowners generally are mostly law-abiding. Homeowners are mostly peacable types with an investment in a dynamic, clean and peaceful community and most times homeowners work and contribute to the economy.
We also allow deducts for charitable contributions, the logic being that charities give services that would require tax dollars were it not for our contributions so the gubmint ENCOURAGES charitable contributions by making them tax-exempt.
It’s a good way to run the country and it’s been part and parcel of this country’s methodology since its creation.
Sooooo.....do we not want out citizens to have health insurance? If our citizens do NOT have health insurance, don’t the gubmint, ie the rest of us, have to pay for illnesses of the uninsured as the ER’s cannot turn them away? Don’t some states, Massachusetts comes to mind, even make it a LAW that their citizens must have health insurance?
So to make health insurance as contributed by an employer to a citizen an imputed cost benefit is to effectively take away the gubmint’s encouragement of good citizen behavior.
Finally, health insurance as provided by the employer is very high. Sure, it’s computed as part of the cost of employing an individual...ie without health insurance provided an employee would likely have more bucks in their take home pay. But husband and I have had to recently sign up for COBRA and now WE must pay what was once paid for by the employer. Folks, it’s almost a grand a month!
My husband only made a modest $35K a year. Imagine the impact of such modest family incomes if another $1K a month were added to their taxable wages!
Now, throwing it out there, the pubs could maybe risk dislodging a head hair and get out and made a damn good case AGAINST this concept. They could begin with the notion of encouraging good citizenship via the tax code. We all understand tax exempt home mortgages, for example.
They could get out of the tanning booths for a few hours and send in some editorials to the WSJ, maybe guest on some Fox news show. Take a page from Harry Reid and hold a press conference!
Sure the polished fingernails might get scraped and a head hair might move from its appointed place. But to begin taxing employer provided health care effectively hits the Middle class....we who carry this country on our backs....us folks who make waaaaay less then $250K a year and weren’t supposed to be hit by Obama’s new taxes.
the pubs could, heh, just throwing it out there, point this out.
In short, taxing employer provided health care would have a CRIPPLING effect on this economy. Forget the Dems and Obama. Why shouldn’t they do it if they can?
WHERE ARE THE REPUBLICANS???
NOT Voter Intimidation
Above, the picture. Imagine white people hanging around a polling place looking like them.
Yet, last week, the thugs pictured above were let loose.
They are members of the New Black Panthers for Self-Defense. They hung around voting places in Philadelphia dressed like that. They had already been charged by the Department of Justice.
Only the NEW Department of Justice, now headed by Eric Holder, appointed by Barack Obama, dropped all charges and let these guys go.
The media hardly mentioned it.
More discrimination against white people. Given enough time, all white people will be in jail.
No More Polka Music Category for the Grammies
Now I’m no great fan of polka music but as a wise poster on
Freerepublic posited
And what kind of competition is there for "best spoken word" (which encompasses everything from poets, historical recordings, comedy, drama, oh yeah and liberals' books on tape):
Grammy Awards of 2009
Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon and Blair Underwood for An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It by Al Gore
Grammy Awards of 2008
Barack Obama for The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Grammy Awards of 2007
Jimmy Carter for Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis; and
Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee for With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together (Tie)
Grammy Awards of 2006
Barack Obama for Dreams from My Father
Grammy Awards of 2005
Bill Clinton for My Life
Grammy Awards of 2004
Paul Ruben (producer) & Al Franken for Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
Grammy Awards of 2003
Charles B. Potter (producer) & Maya Angelou for A Song Flung Up to Heaven
Grammy Awards of 2002
Jeffrey S. Thomas, Steven Strassman (engineers) & Elisa Shokoff (producer) & Quincy Jones for Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones
Grammy Awards of 2001
Rick Harris, John Runnette (producers) & Sidney Poitier for The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography
Grammy Awards of 2000
LeVar Burton for The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Grammy Awards of 1999
Christopher Reeve for Still Me
Grammy Awards of 1998
Charles Kuralt for Charles Kuralt's Spring
Grammy Awards of 1997
Hillary Rodham Clinton for It Takes a Village
Grammy Awards of 1996
Maya Angelou for Phenomenal Woman
Grammy Awards of 1995
Henry Rollins for Get in the Van
Ending With a Smile
It seems a bit mean to end with a smile with a story of a fellow who actually shot off his manhood.
Story here
But hey, he probably won’t be reproducing and these things sometimes happen for a reason.
Pixar’s “UP”-The Standard From Now On
I like to think I am not one to over-indulge in hyperbole. But for the movie “UP” there are not enough words to describe how wonderful this film is.
In fact, let me get the only criticism I have about the film out of the way. The movie’s title is only remotely, very remotely, associated with the film. I’m not at all sure if the two-word title generates intrigue about the movie or tends to make an American public hopelessly addicted to cute, short sound bytes to dismiss the movie out of hand.
UP Home Page
This movie has it all: charm, sentiment, adventure, excellent animation, a riveting storyline, and yes, dogs. Lots of dogs.
The film begins with the story of a couple who grow up together, get married and vow to live a life of adventure while following the lead of their favorite childhood movie adventure hero, Charles Muntz.
Right there we have the charm of a life well-lived, the poignancy of loss, the sentiment of a lifetime love.
Carl Fredericksen, the film’s protagonist, in a fit of disgust at the changes going on in his surround decides he’s going to embark on that adventure he and his beloved Ellie never undertook. Imagine a movie protagonist in his 70’s!
Thus begins the story that will have you thinking, rocking, laughing, and sighing with relief as Carl and his small friend Russell ride a house, yes a HOUSE, to South America where they meet not only a bird named Kevin and a dog named Dug, but also Fredericksen’s childhood hero Mr. Muntz himself.
Only Mr. Muntz is not such a hero anymore and the story races on as Carl, Russell, Dug and Kevin must save the floating house from dog packs and shotguns.
Interspliced artfully are vignettes of sentiment as Russell shares his story of childhood angst and Carl discovers the true meaning of an adventurous life. These are not maudlin moments but thoughtful, quick and bittersweetly true sentiments of life that are not forced upon the viewer but are scenes placed where they belong before moving on to the next cinematic adventure.
I saw this movie with my 5-year-old granddaughter. She was so mesmerized by the movie that just as soon as it was over she said she needed to pee quick. “I didn’t go pee during the movie because I did not wish to miss one second of it,” was how she explained it.
Indeed Kaitlyn did watch the entire movie, almost two hours long, without showing one sign of restlessness.
We saw the movie while wearing 3-D glasses and goodness, what an amazing feat of technology. Throughout the film it was as if objects were coming right at us. I’d describe it as a cinema experience where the viewer feels as if he or she is right in the middle of all the action. Granddaughter, as expected, loved it.
There was not one curse word, not one reference to sex, not one hint that the movie was not entirely suitable for families with all types of members.
And yet the movie entertained so wonderfully that upon its end most folks in the theater didn’t get up real quick to exit. The movie just left the viewer with a real good feeling, the sort of feeling that makes you just want to sit and let it linger inside of us.
If you do nothing else this year, see this movie. You’ll marvel at America’s talent so evident in the film and you’ll definitely be a better person for it.
Rotten Tomatoes review here. See what other critics say about “UP”.
Bachelorette Jillian Better Quick Spice Things Up
First I must ask what was the logic with beginning this reality series with 30 contenders instead of the more normal 25?
As I mentioned on my first Blog post on for this series, the show’s producers added an extra five guys to vie for Jillian’s heart as the response was so great.
Now I must yawn as it seems like entirely too many fellows to keep track of. Not that I, or most of the audience I suspect, kept close track of the initial 25 contenders before. But soon enough the field was down to a more mind-manageable 15 then down to ten.
As of this writing there are still 16 guys trying to win Jillian’s heart and only one stands out in my mind. Normally I’d have honed in on four or five that might be possibilities for the “prize” but with so many from the start I’ve found it difficult to play close attention.
But maybe it’s just me.
On the show that aired on 6/1/09, Jillian had a 1 on 1 date with Ed. With some research I learn that Ed is a 29-year-old Tech Consultant from Chicago. Nothing else about the guy stands out in my mind even though he and Jillian rode a helicoptor and did some sort of mountain-climbing thing on tall buildings during that 1 on 1 date.
On the group date the entire bunch filmed some sort of western parody film. The bit with the two guys being in love with each other was vaguely funny.
I do see the normal scripted dramas being built. Juan is a 35 year old contractor fellow who, oddly, works with his mother. He is a contender that the other guys don’t seem to like. For now all I can ascertain that they don’t like about the guy is that he is too old for Jillian.
A would-be country/western singer, Wes, also seems to draw the ire of the contenders. The accusation against Wes is that he is on the show only to promote his singing career.
Not that anybodys ever went on the Bachelor/ette show before for such a mercenary purpose, snort.
Jillian also went on a one on one date with Sasha and I know nothing about this guy. I DO know that Jillian did not give him a rose and Sasha went packing before he could return home to bid his many male roommates adieu. It seemed that Sasha’s “crime” was that he stated he had never been dumped.
Well hey, depends on how old the guy is. Some of us can go a long time before our first dump but for some reason this fact seemed to disconcert Jillian. It’s her choice and I wouldn’t want a guy name Sasha either.
Below is a short vignette of Wes as he sings a tune he wrote for Jillian. Judge for yourself if he’s got the pipes to go on to bigger and better things.
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