The proposed economic stimulus package before the senate is a joke, hands down. As it stands, it is composed of over $31 billion in "big government" program spending (see link for examples of questionable funding), $300 billion in tax cuts for corporations and individuals that we won't see until we file our taxes in 2010, and another several hundred billion dollars for educational program funding.
The purpose behind an economic stimulus package is simple -- stimulate the economy to get us out of this slump NOW. The talking heads claim that spending money in big government and giving money to corporations will cause a trickle-down effect... I say put it in the hands of consumers and cause a trickle up effect instead.
An economy at its core is built upon one thing -- the flow of money through its citizens. No matter how much money you give to big business to "keep the doors open", if the consumers don't have purchasing power then the corporations will slowly bleed to death just as before. Not to mention that providing large sums of capital to private companies only gives them more opportunity to abuse the funds as they did with the last "bailout".
There's a simple solution.
1. Make immediate tax credits effective for the 2008 fiscal year (similar to Bush's stimulus checks that were sent out in early 2008 to all tax payers), to get money in the hands of the consumer.
2. Present an immediate moratorium or heavy reduction on capital gains taxes to stimulate investor activity in housing.
3. Create a clearinghouse for risky and past due loans, giving the lenders a one-time, limited duration opportunity to clear their books of underperforming assets. This portion is money that will essentially be written off as a loss, but a large portion can be recovered through the liquidation of inventory after foreclosure to investors (who are active in the market due to the capital gains moratorium).
I may just be a dumb real estate appraiser from South Georgia, but even I know that you fix structural problems starting at the foundation -- not by tacking new shingles on the roof!
Let me start off by saying I'm not a wrestling fan. This may not make sense by the end of this post, but let me explain -- I'm all for the value of entertainment for the sake of entertainment but my beef with wrestling is that WWE, WCW, etc. actually believes that I'm stupid enough to believe that it's not fake. If they would just acknowledge the fact that we're not quite dumb enough to buy it, I might give it a shot, but to watch it and have Vince McMahon imply to me that "no, we're serious -- Undertaker really DID hide a chair under the stage before the match!" is simply insulting to my own intelligence.
I rented "The Condemned" last night. There comes a time in every blue-blooded American man's life (well, several times) when he's just got to blow off some testosterone with his buddies. Into Movie Gallery I went, and as the wife was eyeing "Good Luck Chuck", I saw Stone Cold Steve Austin on the cover of this flick and said "THIS IS THE ONE."
A note about Stone Cold Steve Austin -- while I previously explained that I'm no wrestling fan, I do have friends that are fans (well, *A* friend who is a fan) so I'm no stranger to the characters. Not to mention that at one time, when I was just a little itty-bitty-Blue, I actually WAS dumb enough to believe it was real. The Hulkster and Macho Man Randy Savage were heroes to any male who grew up in the 80's. Steve Austin is certainly post-80's -- he started on the circuit when I was in high school, watching the occasional Monday Night Raw with my aforementioned good friend. I couldn't care less for any of the guys in WWF during that period, but Stone Cold was a 100% American Badass (notice the punctuation -- that's a formal title). But I digress.
Against this backdrop, on this cold, rainy January afternoon, staring at this movie, in a movie store, while my wife peruses for another chick flick, you can see why I would be compelled to throw it on the counter. So we brought it home, I invited a good friend and my brother over and we had a good ole' fashioned testosterone grunt-fest. Let me set you straight -- this movie rocked.
But to the point of my post; the reviews for this movie online are HORRIBLE. Allow me to quote:
There are only so many ways to kill a person before it starts becoming utterly predictable, making things feel boring even as they become more harsh.
The Condemned is the latest action film from director Scott Wiper. It is also a noun describing those poor viewers who end up stuck in a theater showing this film.
The film presents its pulp cruelty without irony, and that lack of anesthetic distancing makes its sadism genuinely reprehensible.
I italicize the last review snippet because it drives home my point -- movie reviewers are by and large idiots. First of all, how many thesauruses do you think that guy killed to make that statement? Secondly, to analyze an ass-kicking action movie on anywhere near that level is a bit like Car and Driver giving a Hummer a bad review because it got romped by the Gallardo on the 0-60 and it doesn't handle the slalom well. Are you in "the closet", man????
It's a grudge fest, it's not meant to convey any nugget of moral truth or social commentary -- it's created for the sole purpose of blowing shit up. Is there a plot, sure there is -- it's essentially The Running Man: 21st Century Edition but a plot is only there as a formality, only there because it's a mandatory component of a Hollywood flick. To think even for a second that the writers actually want you to believe that there's a deep meaning in this movie is preposterous. Absolutely naive. These kinds of movies can't be reviewed like Titanic or Driving Miss Daisy, they have to be judged within their own genre. I propose a scale based loosely on a complex formula involving GDPM (Gruesome Deaths per Minute) and the Cruise Ship factor (the exact ratio of the quantity of ammunition utilized during the film to the size of a Carnival Fun Ship, in pounds). Twenty years ago the formula would have also involved the level of gratuitous nudity exhibited, but this is the 21st century and we're above that -- seriously (cough).
To wrap it up, this movie was great. Steve Austin has what it takes to be the next ass-kicking, explosive-detonating, neck-breaking American action hero, and seriously -- we need that. Stallone is on the way out. The new Rambo looks incredible but we all must face the fact that ole' Italian Stallion doesn't have too many more rounds under his belt. I mean, what the hell, the last Rocky movie ends with him LOSING A FIGHT? The writers should be sentenced for treason, but I've covered that ground before.
Then there's always Bruce... sure he's got his share of Unbreakables and then there was The Kid. We can overlook those thanks to a little franchise we like to call Die Hard. But once again, I'm afraid Mr. McLane is coming close to shooting down his last helicopter.
"But what about Schwartzneggar, Jackie Chan, Van Damme?", you ask.
We need an American hero. Don't get me wrong, Arnold and Jean Claude were also heroes, but we as a country need somebody to call our very own, and you can't do that through a thick Austrian accent. Somebody that fathers across the country can watch with their sons and holler when he takes out four bad guys with nothing but a tree branch, a phone book and a car battery. That's quality time -- that's what helps bring up boys that are men as opposed to pansies. By the same token, it provides the kind of opportunity for quality time that is a major component of the cure to this epidemic of absentee parents raising lowlifes, criminals and thugs. We're getting way too soft in these States, we desperately need an infusion of good ole' patriotic, do-the-right thing, survive-against-all-odds whoopass. I'm here to tell you that Steve Austin is it. He is the next chosen one. And he's "gonna kill you, sweetheart."
Video of the 2007 Memorial Day Ceremony at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Quite a tear jerker, especially when the mother kisses the purple ribbon. Blatantly ripped from the Open Hinesville Project.
Easy credit has been the economy's lifeblood in recent years. It gave people who previously couldn't afford homes a crack at the American dream. It fueled multibillion-dollar takeovers of some of corporate America's biggest names. It buoyed the stock market and propped up the prices of many other assets.
Am I the only one who thinks that the irritating long list of directions they give you before a voicemail system beeps is nothing more than a sham to increase the number of minutes used on your cell phone?
How can you end the LAST Rocky movie with Rocky losing to a guy who fought with a broken hand? It's ridiculous, it's a travesty, and most of all it's UNAMERICAN! They should be tried for treason... Pfft.
At Fort Stewart, Georgia, what was intended to be a popular annual fireworks display ended with two in the hospital after the entire stock of fireworks went off all at once prematurely on the ground. Video included.
Amidst the popularity of the retro-muscles (the Mustangs, the Chargers and their ilk), is there substance to the thought that the El Camino may be returning to the U.S. streets in the near future? GM is bringing over the Holden VE Commodores and one of the Holden higher-ups has lent credibility to the possibility of a pickup version coming over. Dead sexy concept rendering at the link.
Nothing irritates me more than trying to find some intelligent feedback or discussion about something via Google or Yahoo and getting nothing but pages upon pages of commercial spam results. The answer is here. Omgili is a search engine for discussion forums that indexes thousands of discussion boards across the web. Now you can find other people talking about what you need to know about without having to wade your way through the commercial wasteland.
Well, looks like the unidentified object of death and destruction that we found on Saint Catherine's Island this weekend has been positively identified. After four days of baffling the locals, Georgia DNR, and area historians, and after speculation of everything from land mines to Civil War cannon balls, our metal dome of doom has been confirmed by Danny Brown at Fort McAllister as the bottom half of a Weber charcoal grill.
It is with a sad heart and a heavy head that I tell you what it is. Ready? The bottom of a Webley Charcoal Grill!!!!! Wish it only has 3 holes and was solid.
The United Nations and the Pentagon have been notified, and the National Security threat level has been reduced to yellow. On the plus side, my wife got her picture in the paper with it.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season should be “very active,” with 17 named storms, a top storms forecaster said Tuesday.
Those named storms are expected to include five intense or major hurricanes, according to forecaster William Gray’s team at Colorado State University. Gray said there is a 74 percent probability of a major hurricane hitting the U.S. coast.
These are the same folks that overestimated the 2006 Atlantic season by 88%. They predicted (drum roll...) 17 named storms, we had 9. My clairvoyant prediction? There will be probably some nasty weather at some point somewhere in the Atlantic. It'll probably hit land somewhere. Might wanna keep an eye on it.
If you live in the coastal Georgia region and you're in the market for a new dog, cat, rooster, crested woodpecker, polar bear, etc., PLEASE drive a little bit further and come take a look at the animals at the Liberty County Humane Shelter in Hinesville.
Deployments of the 3rd ID have left the shelter completely swamped with animals and they are running over capacity. Animals are being turned over to animal control for euthanization within days of being taken in simply because the shelter doesn't have the resources to keep them.
Driving just a little bit further could save a puppy's life. Visit their website or contact me for directions.
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