Today I was at work, doing really boring stuff. So, I tuned in Glenn Beck's radio show. I don't listen to Glenn Beck that often, because he can be depressing at times (though I've loved his books). But today it was a toss-up between Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio and Glenn Beck, and I picked Beck.
During the 2nd hour, Mr. Beck made an excellent point. I wish I could just include the transcript of his monologue, because I'm going to have a hard time doing it justice. But it's not available on Glenn Beck's website, and I suck at google searching.
Anyway, the jist of what he said is, this is a Center to Center-Right country. This country is not a far left country, or the country of Michael Moore as Beck so eloquently put it. This is not a far right country, or as Beck described it, the hold you down and baptize you right. This country, for the most part, is respectful of others, and respectful of the Constitution. Most people love this country and don't want to see it completely remade...maybe tweaked in some areas, but not remade. However, the message in this country has been hijacked by the extremes in both parties, leading to fear mongering on both sides, and very little real dialogue.
All good stuff so far. Then, Glenn hit the nail on the head, by saying that the fate of our country is currently in the hands of the blue dog democrats. If the blue dog democrats stand strong now, and say no to the current Obama/Pelosi/Reid liberal express (my words, not Beck's), they can retake their party and force President Obama to govern from the Center/Center-Left, which is about as good as we can hope for now. This is the same thing that happened to Clinton in the 1990's when the Republicans took power. If the Blue Dogs go along with the Obama/Pelosi/Reid machine, then our country will cease to the United States that has stood for so long, and become something only the Michael Moore types can be proud of.
Like I said, I wish I could have found the text and pasted it directly in here. That 15 minutes of radio was the best 15 minutes I've heard in a long time. Maybe if people realized how stupid both sides sound now that the extremes are in control, things could change and we could solve real problems. Sadly, only a handful of people, such as Glenn Beck, seem to realize what is going on.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Labels...check it out
At the suggestion of the smartest person living in my house, I've added labels to all my blogs. Further, I added a gadget to the right side of my blog to let you click on a subject and see all blogs related to that subject. This really smart person thought it would be nice if anyone ever wanted to quickly see what I thought of a certain movie, now that person could just click the movies label, and see all movies I've rated since I started this blog.
Here are the labels:
Movies - Movie ratings and random movie thoughts/information.
TV - TV series ratings and random TV thoughts/information.
Sports and Leisure - Sports, Activities, Family Outings, Vacations, etc.
Books and Music - Review of books and music.
Politics - political musings from a right-wing nutjob.
Humor - anything that's just there because it's funny.
Random Thoughts - other stuff that doesn't fit into a category.
Here are the labels:
Movies - Movie ratings and random movie thoughts/information.
TV - TV series ratings and random TV thoughts/information.
Sports and Leisure - Sports, Activities, Family Outings, Vacations, etc.
Books and Music - Review of books and music.
Politics - political musings from a right-wing nutjob.
Humor - anything that's just there because it's funny.
Random Thoughts - other stuff that doesn't fit into a category.
Monday, September 7, 2009
TV Series Review: Psych, Season 3
"Psych" is the best show on TV...period. I know there are those out there who will disagree with me on this, but, they would be wrong. : )
Season 3 finds our heroes, Shawn and Gus, still running their Psychic Detective Agency. As you'll remember, Shawn isn't really psychic, he's just super observant, so he's able to fake being psychic. What makes this show so great though is the cast and the quirky things that happen every episode.
Every character is a bit unusual, but also very likable. I don't think there is a bad character on the show...I even like Corbin Bernsen and Shawn's dad Henry. I find myself rooting for each of these characters, even Detective Lasseter, who was sort of the foil for the first 2 seasons.
The unique stories that they weave around the largely formulaic mysteries each week are ridiculous and funny at the same time. One of my favorite episodes this season was "Murder?... Anyone?... Anyone?... Bueller?," which was an homage to 1980's teen films. The entire episode takes place at Shawn and Gus' 13 year high school reunion, and throughout the entire show, Shawn is trying to figure out which 1980's film they are in. Another great episode was "Tuesday the 17th", which is a lot like a "Friday the 13th" movie. The season finale, "An Evening with Mr. Yang," takes a slightly more serious turn, but still kept me laughing at the same time.
This is a great show...best on TV. Five stars, 2 thumbs way up, and several other good things.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Movie Review: Race to Witch Mountain
"Race to Witch Mountain" is not a remake of the 1975 Disney film "Escape to Witch Mountain". Instead, it's an entirely different story, with Witch Mountain as a common theme. My younger brother was a big fan of "Escape to Witch Mountain" when we were kids, so I got to watch that movie several times. I was excited to see "Race to Witch Mountain" to see where this movie would go in 2009.
"Race to Witch Mountain" is an action-packed, family adventure film. Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a. The Rock) stars as Jack Bruno, a former criminal turned cab driver, trying to make an honest living. Jack's life takes a surprising turn when 2 teenage siblings get into his cab and ask him to drive them into the middle of the Nevada desert. The siblings turn out to be aliens, who are being pursued by US Government agents and an alien assassin. Jack helps the kids escape these agents in a desperate attempt to get valuable data back to their home world, all in an effort to stop an alien invasion of earth.
I really liked this movie. It's a 4 star movie. I've liked Dwayne Johnson in every movie he's been in that I've seen. He'll never be an Oscar winning actor, but he makes a good action hero, and he's definitely a better actor than wrestler. The 2 teenagers in the movie, do a good job with their oddball rolls. Rounding out the cast was an entertaining appearance by Garry Marshall.
This movie is rated PG, and I think it's ok for kids about 8 years and older. I think the action is too intense for younger kids, plus there's a fair amount of suspense, which is hard for younger kids to take.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Emperor
A few nights ago, I heard someone refer to Barack Obama as Emperor Obama. This has become a common thing I've heard as Obama continues to make moves that will lead to a bigger federal government controlling more of our lives.
This got me thinking about the most famous emperor of all...Emperor Palpatine, who ruled a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. As I thought about it, I thought a lot of "Phantom Menace", "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith", and surprisingly, I found several parallels between Emperor Palpatine's rise to power and President Obama's rise to power.
-Palpatine was preceded by Chancellor Valorum, who was a good man, but largely ineffective due to constant attacks from his opposition. Obama was preceded by George W. Bush, who is a good man, but was largely ineffective due to constant attacks from his opposition.
-Palpatine rose to the Chancellor's spot, not because of who he was, but because of sympathy generated by the plight of Naboo during "Phantom Menace". Obama rose to the Presidency, not because of who he is, but because his teleprompter was better than John McCain's teleprompter.
-Palpatine used a series of galactic crises to gather more power for himself and his executive office. Obama has used the economic crisis to take over 2 auto companies, control the banking industry and appoint approximately 3 dozen czars, gathering more power for himself and the executive branch.
-Palpatine paid lip service to democracy, while orchestrating it's downfall. Obama pays lip service to democracy, while pushing a socialist agenda.
-Palpatine had Darth Maul and then Count Dooku as his apprentice, willing to do his bidding without question. Obama has Joe Biden...which is sort of the same, right?
Look, I'm not saying Obama is going to start wearing black robes and shooting lightning from his fingers. I'm not saying he is going to orchestrate a reorganization of our democracy into an empire. But, if Sean Hannity eventually becomes liberal, becomes Obama's right hand man, and is then confined to a black suit that makes him talk like James Earl Jones, you can't say I didn't warn you about all this.
This got me thinking about the most famous emperor of all...Emperor Palpatine, who ruled a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. As I thought about it, I thought a lot of "Phantom Menace", "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith", and surprisingly, I found several parallels between Emperor Palpatine's rise to power and President Obama's rise to power.
-Palpatine was preceded by Chancellor Valorum, who was a good man, but largely ineffective due to constant attacks from his opposition. Obama was preceded by George W. Bush, who is a good man, but was largely ineffective due to constant attacks from his opposition.
-Palpatine rose to the Chancellor's spot, not because of who he was, but because of sympathy generated by the plight of Naboo during "Phantom Menace". Obama rose to the Presidency, not because of who he is, but because his teleprompter was better than John McCain's teleprompter.
-Palpatine used a series of galactic crises to gather more power for himself and his executive office. Obama has used the economic crisis to take over 2 auto companies, control the banking industry and appoint approximately 3 dozen czars, gathering more power for himself and the executive branch.
-Palpatine paid lip service to democracy, while orchestrating it's downfall. Obama pays lip service to democracy, while pushing a socialist agenda.
-Palpatine had Darth Maul and then Count Dooku as his apprentice, willing to do his bidding without question. Obama has Joe Biden...which is sort of the same, right?
Look, I'm not saying Obama is going to start wearing black robes and shooting lightning from his fingers. I'm not saying he is going to orchestrate a reorganization of our democracy into an empire. But, if Sean Hannity eventually becomes liberal, becomes Obama's right hand man, and is then confined to a black suit that makes him talk like James Earl Jones, you can't say I didn't warn you about all this.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Indoctrination 101
We are homeschoolers. And today, more than most other days, I was glad of that. Why you may ask? Well, I learned today that President Obama is planning an address to all public school children on September 8th.
One of the conspiracy theories that abounds amongst conservatives, and frankly the liberals don't do much to dispel, is that the public schools are one of the biggest tools the liberals use to get their ideology across. It's hard to dispute, when you consider teachers overwhelmingly support democratic policies, but that's not the subject of this blog. However, when I heard about Obama's upcoming speech, I thought "well, I'm sure glad we homeschool".
Then I read that the Department of Education has put together special teaching suggestions for teachers to use to help their students prior to and after Obama's speech. Perhaps the most offensive of these suggestions is for K-6th graders to "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."
This really irritates me. First...I don't want my kids figuring out what they can do to help this President with his policies. I'm not saying that I wouldn't do a service for my country if asked by my President. But, I would not violate my core beliefs for anyone, nor would I want my kids to ever do that. I want my kids to understand why what this President is attempting to do in this country is wrong, and how they can be part of the democratic process to elect leaders who share their beliefs and will listen to their concerns.
What will happen to kids who are informed enough to write letters objecting to what the Obama is doing? I'm sure some good teachers who can put ideology aside will be ok with this, but others will most certainly not be ok with this. This is a horrible position to put a little kid in, especially if he or she has been raised by parents who didn't vote for Obama and don't support what he is doing.
Second...why does the President have to use the public schools to talk to our kids? Could it be that he wants a captive audience away from the influence of parents? If he really wants to get a message of encouragement to the kids of this country, then get some advertising time during Saturday morning cartoons. Don't go to them when they are stuck in the schools, and their parents aren't there to offer a counter perspective.
Third...this proves that the Department of Education is nearly worthless. Don't they have anything better to do than come up with teaching suggestions in support of an Obama indoctrination speech?
If I were a parent with a kid in the public school system, I would have to think long and hard about whether or not my kids would be going to school on September 8th. The dilemma is...children are sponges, and they soak up whatever they hear, so no matter how well educated they are, something will strike a chord with them...Obama is too good of a speaker to think otherwise. So, as a parent, I would have to be prepared to hear about this, and spend a lot of time explaining why the president was wrong (because he's almost always wrong), and what is correct. Luckily, as a homeschooling family, we don't have that problem.
One of the conspiracy theories that abounds amongst conservatives, and frankly the liberals don't do much to dispel, is that the public schools are one of the biggest tools the liberals use to get their ideology across. It's hard to dispute, when you consider teachers overwhelmingly support democratic policies, but that's not the subject of this blog. However, when I heard about Obama's upcoming speech, I thought "well, I'm sure glad we homeschool".
Then I read that the Department of Education has put together special teaching suggestions for teachers to use to help their students prior to and after Obama's speech. Perhaps the most offensive of these suggestions is for K-6th graders to "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."
This really irritates me. First...I don't want my kids figuring out what they can do to help this President with his policies. I'm not saying that I wouldn't do a service for my country if asked by my President. But, I would not violate my core beliefs for anyone, nor would I want my kids to ever do that. I want my kids to understand why what this President is attempting to do in this country is wrong, and how they can be part of the democratic process to elect leaders who share their beliefs and will listen to their concerns.
What will happen to kids who are informed enough to write letters objecting to what the Obama is doing? I'm sure some good teachers who can put ideology aside will be ok with this, but others will most certainly not be ok with this. This is a horrible position to put a little kid in, especially if he or she has been raised by parents who didn't vote for Obama and don't support what he is doing.
Second...why does the President have to use the public schools to talk to our kids? Could it be that he wants a captive audience away from the influence of parents? If he really wants to get a message of encouragement to the kids of this country, then get some advertising time during Saturday morning cartoons. Don't go to them when they are stuck in the schools, and their parents aren't there to offer a counter perspective.
Third...this proves that the Department of Education is nearly worthless. Don't they have anything better to do than come up with teaching suggestions in support of an Obama indoctrination speech?
If I were a parent with a kid in the public school system, I would have to think long and hard about whether or not my kids would be going to school on September 8th. The dilemma is...children are sponges, and they soak up whatever they hear, so no matter how well educated they are, something will strike a chord with them...Obama is too good of a speaker to think otherwise. So, as a parent, I would have to be prepared to hear about this, and spend a lot of time explaining why the president was wrong (because he's almost always wrong), and what is correct. Luckily, as a homeschooling family, we don't have that problem.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
TV Series Review: Bones, Season 2
A lot of reviews lately...either I'm watching too much TV or nothing interesting is happening. Probably a little of both.
The second season of "Bones" concluded the summer TV series my wife and I were watching. Now school starts and life gets busy again. This season of "Bones" was a little bit of a disappointment for me. For me, the show strayed too far from the cases and became way too focused on the personal lives of the characters. I thought season 1 had a good balance, but season 2 tipped too far in the "character drama" area.
There were a few good episodes, but also several weak episodes. I rate this one as a 3 star season, which is the lowest rating I've ever given a series that I've gotten from Netflix. I think my wife liked it, so eventually we'll probably watch the follow-on seasons.
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