Enough Already!

I was watching the news tonight, and an ad ran urging voters to call their congressman and let him or her know what they think of the proposed mosque at ground zero in New York City. I wish this issue would just go away. It's nothing more than a distraction from the real mess we are in. So, in the interest of making it go away, here's my quick take on the issue.

1) The Imam and his followers have every right to build the mosque there. It is private property, so as long as New York City zoning laws allow it, they can build there.

2) The people who are opposed to this have every right to question the wisdom of building a mosque at that location. I have found myself asking, "why that site?" With the public so opposed to this, it seems a little like this Imam and his group are flipping the proverbial bird at the public.

3) The Republicans who are clamoring for the Federal Government to step in and do something are hypocrites. You are either for limited government or you aren't. You can't pick and choose...limited government comes with trade-offs, and this would be one of them.

4) The Democrats who are screaming "religious freedom" are hypocrites. When is the last time any democratic politician came to the aid of a Christian or Jewish group? Most of the time they want to shut Christians up. Democrats don't care one lick about religious freedom, unless it helps them look more "worldly" and accomplishes some dreamed up goal of making radical Muslims like us.

That's it, that's the issue. Now, let New York City figure it out so the rest of us can get back to the important issues, like out of control government spending and grand abuses of power by our Federal government.

Movie Review: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Life is funny sometimes. I was really excited about "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" earlier this summer, but then it was getting such low ratings on Rotten Tomatoes that I decided to skip it. Then last week, fellow blogger and movie lover Nuke went to see it with his kids and he loved it. So, armed with this new piece of information, my excitement for this play on the Disney classic was renewed, and today, my oldest son and I saw it.

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is loosely based on Disney's Fantasia...in fact they even pay homage to the "cleaning scene" in this movie. Nicholas Cage stars as Balthazar Blake, one of 3 apprentices of Merlin. Blake is charged with finding Merlin's successor. In Dave Stutle (Jay Baruchel), Balthazar believes he has found that successor. It's up to Balthazar and Dave to stop the evil Horvath (Alfred Molina) from raising Morgana Le Fay and destroying the world as we know it.

This movie was just about perfect. It was really funny, had some good action and effects, and even worked in a pseudo love story. I've really gone back and forth on whether this is a 4 or 5 star movie, but I finally settled on 4.4ish. It wasn't quite 5 star worthy, but it was really good. It's the rare movie, lately, where I've found Nicholas Cage to be not annoying. I really like Alfred Molina as Horvath, and Jay Baruchel is the perfect nerd turned hero. I think the only reason I didn't go 5 stars with this is I wanted a little more, and then there was that cleaning scene which was just silly.

On the 9 year old front, my son said it's his new favorite movie. At PG, I think it's appropriate for most kids, probably 8 and older. There are a few scary parts that I think would prevent some younger kids from seeing it. Overall though, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is a really good movie and one that we will add to our family's DVD collection soon.

How Did I Live Without It?

A little over a month ago, our family got a DVR...in fact, a DirecTV HD DVR. This was a Father's Day gift from my mother-in-law. We had always avoided getting a DVR because I was afraid I'd watch too much TV, plus it was an extra $7 a month we didn't need to spend. Oh, how silly we were!

Now that I have a DVR, I don't know how we ever lived without it. Here are 3 examples of where the DVR has greatly improved our lives (or at least mine).

1 - The British Open - I had to play piano at the 7 am and 9 am masses on British Open Sunday. I set the tournament to record, got home around 10:30 and watched the 6 hours of coverage in just a little over 3 hours. It's amazing how fast golf goes when you fast forward through commercials and the time it takes the players to walk to their golf balls.

2 - "Eureka", season 4 - I'm actually able to watch this series live. I missed the first 4 episodes while getting caught up on season 3.5, but I recorded them. As soon as I finished 3.5, I was able to start right in on DVR'd versions of season 4...fantastic.

3 - Running late - My wife and I love the SyFy show "Warehouse 13." Last night, we were running late getting the kids to bed, but no problem. The DVR was recording away...we started about 20 minutes late, fast forwarded through the commercials and finished shortly after 9 pm.

I could go on and on. I've recorded cooking shows to support my new hobby. We've recorded programs for the kids, and even the smartest person in the house has gotten into the recording game. It's great and definitely worth $7 a month. It actually reduces our TV time. So, thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law for a great father's day gift.

I See Right Through Their Tricks

Today it took me 25 minutes to get home from work. I live 4.6 miles from work, so it shouldn't take me 25 minutes. Generally, I can do it in 10-15 minutes, even with traffic. Why did it take me 25 minutes? Road Construction!

There are 3 road construction projects on the main road between my house and work. My understanding is that all 3 projects are, at least partially, funded by the economic stimulus package. That's right, Obama's stimulus package...you see where this is going don't you?

So, I write this blog where I am critical of President Obama. Within 2 years of my starting this blog, 3 Obama-stimulus funded road construction projects show up between my house and work. Coincidence?...

I think not...this is obviously a deliberate attempt by the Obama administration to silence my stinging criticism. Well, it won't work...all that construction does is gives me more time to think up blog ideas. How do you like them apples?

Blogger's Note: If you don't get the sarcastic, cynical, slightly paranoid conspiratorial humor in this blog...than I feel sorry for you.

Movie Review: The Italian Job

Here it is...a movie that isn't either 4 or 5 stars. "The Italian Job" is only a 3 star movie, though it could have been 4 stars if not for Mark Wahlberg. The man can't act...not even a little.

"The Italian Job" stars Mark Wahlberg as a master thief. After a job goes bad, his crew recruits master safe cracker Charlize Theron to help them settle the score. What follows is a series of maneuvers and twists that attempts to rival "Ocean's Eleven" but ultimately fails.

As I said, Wahlberg is terrible. I don't know how the man keeps getting acting jobs. I guess he might be good in straight action roles where no emotional range is required, but this was not that type of roll. Edward Norton portrays the villain, and while I usually like Norton, the script didn't really give him a chance to shine. The rest of the cast is similar...the script really didn't help them stand out.

So, why did I still give this 3 stars? Well, there was enough going on that it held my interest for 2 hours, and I did like the small twist at the end, though I sort of saw it coming. I guess I also had fairly low expectations, knowing it was a Mark Wahlberg movie, so that sort of helped too. Low expectations are an almost certain guarantee of a good movie watching experience.

Quite a Dust Up

This week, I saw a news story. The EPA is pondering regulating dust. That might be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, but it's sadly true. The EPA has long been the extremist wing of the nut job extremist left, but this is reaching a new level of craziness, even for them.

For one, how the heck are they going to enforce this? Are they going to have dust police who drive around the country side and ticket farmers in their Combines? Are they going to procure Air Force drones to patrol the skies and scan for dust particles and then eliminate the dust threats as they find them? Or, will they force our farmers to go back to the days of horse drawn farm equipment? There's no telling with this bunch.

Really, all I'd like to see is a little common sense...sadly, I think the obituary for common sense was written long ago by our Federal Government.

Real Deal Golf

I realize that I may be the only one who cares about golf that ever visits this blog, but it's my blog, so I can write about it. I'm going to write about 2 golf courses that I played recently that, to me anyway, are awesome examples of what golf courses should be.

The first is located in Sioux Falls, SD. I know there is at least 1 reader of this blog who will be disappointed I didn't stop by when I was in Sioux Falls, but it was a golf weekend with a golfing buddy from High School, and the weekend was packed with golf...there was just no time. I'll catch you next time.

Anyway, the golf course is Prairie Green which is actually a Sioux Falls municipal course located on the south side of town. Prairie Green is ranked by Golf Digest as the #5 course in South Dakota. I've played quite a bit of golf in South Dakota, and I've never played a course in that state that is as good as Prairie Green. The entire golf course is right in front of you, and it's in great shape for a municipal track. I just loved this course. We played from the Championship tees, which were roughly 6,700 yards, with a course rating of 73.1 and a slope of 125. I played really well, for a change. I plan to play this course whenever I can get to Sioux Falls and it's not snowing.

Then, last weekend, the family was in the Twin Cities for a long weekend. On Saturday morning I made the trek to Willinger's Golf Club in Northfield, MN for a long awaited 18 holes. We lived in the Twin Cities for about 2 years, but I never got to play this golf course when we lived there. So, when the opportunity arose, I took it. Willinger's is the hardest golf course I've ever played. At 6,800 yards, it's not very long, but it's packed with danger. The slope of the golf course (which indicates how hard the course is for bogey golfers) was 150...the maximum is 155, and average difficulty is 113. Despite the difficulty, Willinger's is a beautiful track with the front 9 routed through and around several marshes and the back nine routed through the woods. Check out the slide show on the Willinger's website. I actually played ok, but the trouble got me on a few occasions.

These were really fun opportunities for me. Living in the Midwest, sometimes we think we don't have that many good golf courses, but the truth is, there are great golf courses everywhere...you just have to remember to look. Thanks for indulging a golf blog.