A Couple of Political Thoughts

On Health Care Reform - I'm actually starting to feel sorry for Barack Obama. He made his 1,324,278th speech on health care reform today. Pretty much every time he speaks on this, public opinion goes down. The Republicans are against it, and are actually being reasonable...asking simply to start over with a clean sheet so we can get something everybody wants, rather than something nobody wants. But, what's more surprising is the Democrats are not unified on this. They see the writing on the wall, and they no they are in trouble come November. The Dems know that this is political suicide for them, but unfortunately their leader won't let it go.

This is actually why I feel a little sorry for Obama. Based on his behavior, this is obviously the first time in his life that he's been told no, and he doesn't know how to react. Instead of compromise or rethink this entirely, he's just digging his heels in and continuing to push a failed agenda. Sort of sad, isn't it?

On Jim Bunning - This week Senator Jim Bunning held up an extension of unemployment benefits because the Senate didn't have a way to pay for it...imagine that. This measly $10 billion dollar bill was supported by both parties, but Bunning decided that the Senate should actually start enforcing their rule of "Pay as you go" or "Paygo." Because of this, he was met with overwhelming ridicule from the media and the Democrats. They did their usual "the poor people without jobs will be hurt, yada, yada, yada." Finally, Bunning caved last night and agreed to the measure under the promise that the Democrats would find $10 billion to cut somewhere else.

This entire thing shows just how pathetically out of touch the Democrats are, and how illegitimate the left wing media is. Frankly, the media doesn't even try to be unbiased anymore. The amount of money we are talking about, $10 billion, is nothing to the Federal Government. They could have easily taken $10 billion from the bailout or TARP funds, but rather than even try to look for the money, they were just going to drive us farther into debt. What Bunning did is a start...hopefully next time the Democrats try this (I blame the dems because they are the party in power), more Republicans will stand with Senator Bunning. This debt is going to crush us...Washington politicians have run wild for too long, and it's about time a someone said "enough"! Nice work Senator Bunning!

Book Review: "Titan's Curse"

"Titan's Curse" is the 3rd book in the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series. Only 2 more books to go! "Titan's Curse" was a fast read, mostly because it was really hard to put down.

In this 3rd installment of the series, Percy is now 14 years old. Unlike past books, this one takes place in the winter. Percy (a son of Poseidon), along with his friends Annabeth (daughter of Athena), Thalia (daughter of Zeus) and Grover (a satyr) meet at a private school where Grover has found 2 half-blood children. Just as Percy and the gang are about to rescue them, evil arrives in the form of a really kick-butt monster. Just as the heroes are about to be overwhelmed, Artemis (goddess of the hunt) and her hunters arrive to save the day. In the melee Annabeth is lost. Soon after Artermis herself is lost. Now, Percy, Thalia, Grover and 2 of the hunters must set out on another impossible mission to find the goddess and Annabeth before the winter solstice.

"Titan's Curse" was great! The action was there, along with humor on par with "The Lightning Thief." Percy is proving to be a resourceful hero, and the Greek mythology woven throughout is very interesting. I'm actually interested in learning more about Greek mythology because of this series.

The only part of the series that I'm not liking is that, while Percy seems really adept at figuring out difficult prophecies and finding his way out of impossible trouble, it seems like he's always the last to figure out other critical plot items along the way. Sometimes it seems that everyone but Percy knows what is going on...including the reader! Anyway, just slightly annoying...not enough to keep me from reading on. I've already started the 4th book, "The Battle of the Labyrinth."

Movie Review: "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" and other Stuff about Movies

Look, I'm not going to waste much time on this. I watched the 2nd installment in the "Family Guy Star Wars" saga, "Something, Something, Something Dark Side." Frankly, it wasn't that funny...2 stars.

I think I'm really at the point in my life where I've outgrown movies like this. I think everyone reaches that point, and I'm there. A friend and I have often discussed how you have to see certain movies at certain stages of your life, or they are totally lost on you. I think that's how it is with me and the latest generation of spoof films. I will always love "Airplane", "Spaceballs" and the "Naked Gun" films...and nothing can top "Monty Python", because I saw these when I was in my teen years, and it happened to hit my more crude sense of humor then. But I don't think I'm ever going to be able to really like the "Scary Movie" type films. They just seem stupid to me. Apparently my sense of humor has evolved.

With some movies, I think it's more nostalgia for how you felt when you first watched it. Or it could be that you remember how good that movie was at it's time, and there's a sense of appreciation there. I know "Ghostbusters" will always be one of my favorite movies, because it was so cool when I was a kid. But watch it now, and it's not so impressive. I can't imagine my kids really getting into that movie when they see the 1980's world it's set in.

Further proof of this can be taken from my own childhood. My dad used to love to watch the old westerns and war movies, but I just thought they were really lame compared to the latest films of the day. But for my dad, he appreciated the times when those movies were made, and it probably brought him back to his childhood somewhat.

Anyway, I got nothin' to tie this all together nicely. That's the point of having random ramblings...sometimes they are just random. Enjoy your movie watching!