It's Not a Tax

Updated:

I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.

I like to think of myself as someone that allows an artist a certain space to present his work, without allowing my personal biases to intrude on the work that is presented. I enjoy a wide variety of films, television, and music. I don't try to exclude a work if I know that an artist is sincere in his efforts and talented enough to share something of substance with the world.

But I do have a high standard when it comes to investing my time and resources to a particular work of art. And there has been no piece of art that I have invested more heavily in over my entire life than Star Wars. From toys to videos to DVDs to message board chatter, and yes, even my relationship with Kim ;D.

I've tolerated the countless changes made to the original trilogy over the years; mainly, in the belief that the artist who had conceived of these films had the best intentions when making these changes. I didn't think that Han shooting in self-defense instead of non-chalant annoyance fundamentally altered the overall arc of the films.

And, while increasingly ambivalent about the prequels, I did not take the hardline stance that some older fans had in dismissing them altogether.

However, in the video above, which has leaked before the official Blu-Ray release, comes a change so poorly conceived and executed that it boggles the mind how it made through the entire upgrade process without someone (anyone!) voicing some objection. From what I understand, these Blu-Ray discs took 3 years to create, and went through three separate revision cycles, to catch the tiniest artifact or color correction. At some point during those 3 long years someone (I'm presuming George Lucas) thought it would be an awesome idea to add dialogue to Vader's reflection and ultimate decision to save his son from certain death. And no one, at any point in this process, could stop this stupid, stupid change from happening.

I had been leaning towards buying the Blu-Ray releases in a couple week, mainly for the behind the scenes material, but after witnessing this debacle, and several other changes, I will not continue to financially support Lucasfilm and its founder until I have some confidence that there is someone in charge who understands why these films mean so much to so many people around the world.

Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to go cry into my Star Wars matching pillowcases tonight.

Kim on Film

In response to Goonies coming out on Blu-Ray this fall:

"I have no interest in that. . . isn't that the one with gremlins or something?"

Global Warming: Threat Level Midnight

While Obama and other world leaders were busy in Copenhagen over the past 48 hours trying to hammer out some climate change accord (which seems to have mostly failed), this was happening in Washington, D.C.:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2009/12/update_double_digit_snowfall_f.html

Many parts of the metro region -- particularly in the south -- have received 10 or more inches of snow through 11 a.m. Around Charlottesville, totals have reached 15-20". Another 5-9" is likely, with locally heavier amounts, especially east of town. The worst part of the storm will continue through the mid-to-late afternoon hours, with snow decreasing in coverage and intensity from southwest to northeast. Overnight, snow will be lighter and more intermittent and should end most places before dawn.

I know this doesn't exactly prove whether or not human activity has been causing the Earth to heat up, but don't you think God has a wicked sense of humor when the most important global warming conference ever is inundated with below freezing temperatures and snow, and, back here in the United States, our nation's capital is slammed by the largest December snowfall in recorded history?

Jobs FAIL

More good news out of Washington today!

The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October, and nonfarm
payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported today. The largest job losses over the month were in con-
struction, manufacturing, and retail trade. (BLS)

That's awesome! Just what we were promised by the President when he signed the Stimulus bill. Let's take a look at what the Obama administration promised us October would look like with the stimulus (DARK BLUE LINE):



Whoops! What happened here? Did the $780 Billion Stimulus have no effect on the economy? Let's see what Obama has to say about that:

Nearly 650,000 jobs have been saved or created under President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, the government said Friday, and the White House declared the nation on track to meet the president's goal of 3.5 million by the end of next year.

New job numbers from businesses, contractors, state and local governments, nonprofit groups and universities were released, showing 640,329 positions credited to the stimulus, according to the independent federal board monitoring the program's progress. (Yahoo!)

That sounds good. But how did the Obama administration figure out how many jobs were "created or saved"?:

- A review of the latest stimulus reports - which the White House promised would undergo extensive reviews to ensure accuracy - found that more than two-thirds of 14,506 jobs credited to the recovery act by Head Start programs involved pay increases. (Boston Globe)

- An early progress report on President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program, a mistake that White House officials promise will be corrected in future reports.

The government's first accounting of jobs tied to the $787 billion stimulus program claimed more than 30,000 positions paid for with recovery money. But that figure is overstated by least 5,000 jobs, according to an Associated Press review of a sample of stimulus contracts.

The AP review found some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two and sometimes more than four times; and other jobs were credited to stimulus spending when none was produced. (AP)

- More than $4.7 million in federal stimulus aid so far has been funneled to schools in North Chicago, and state and federal officials say that money has saved the jobs of 473 teachers.

Problem is, the district employs only 290 teachers.

"That other number, I don't know where that came from," said Lauri Hakanen, superintendent of North Chicago Community Unit Schools District 187. (Chicago Tribune)

- The federal government sent Bob Bray $26,174 in stimulus aid to fix a fence and replace the roofs on public apartments in Blooming Grove, Texas, a town of fewer than 900 people outside Dallas. He hired five roofers and an inspector to do the job.

But the number of jobs he reported to the government looked very different — 450 jobs.

"Oh, no," said Bray, who runs the local public housing authority part-time with his wife, Linda, when asked about the discrepancy. He said that he told the government that he had created six jobs but that a federal official told him that wasn't right. So he reported the number of hours the roofers worked instead. The Department of Housing and Urban Development caught the mistake, but he couldn't fix it before the jobs figures were published. "The money was great, but the reports are really confusing," he said. "I've been fighting with it for over a month and a half." (USA Today)

Gosh, It looks like there's been a lot of "rounding up" going on in the Obama administration. Sometimes you have to do that so that numbers aren't too confusing. Math is hard. :/

Maybe this graph will clear things up:

BREAKING NEWS !!1!!@!!

9.7

The chart below shows the actual unemployment rate in red, and the blue lines represent the White House projections for the unemployment rate with and without the $787 billion stimulus package that was passed earlier this year.

Whoops!

The Biggest Losers

One of my guilty TV pleasures has been watching Animal Planet's 2nd season of Whale Wars, a reality show about a rag-tag group of hippie-anarchists who attempt to disrupt Japanese whaling ships in the South Pacific.

Now, let me be clear, I am totally against illegal whaling, and support the full extent of the law to prosecute any merchants that engage in such behavior. But the activists that pursue the Japanese whaling fleet in this series have no authority to do so and are so incompetent and self-righteous about their mission that I actually root for the whalers in every episode.

Everything the crew does ends up in complete failure, including their last ditch effort to actually ram one of the whaling ships. You can clearly see in the video linked in the page below, that the activist captain pursues an aggressive sailing strategy that initiates contact with the whaling vessel, a reckless action that endangered the lives of those on the whaling boat and his own crew.

Whale Wars: Close Quarters and Collisions

It was totally awesome to view the last 15 minutes of the episode, where the repercussions from his actions are fully realized. The look on the crew's faces when they see the Australian police waiting for them at the port, and the inter-titles that explain what actions have been taken against them by the Australian government is priceless. They are dumbfounded by the fact the ramming another boat is considered illegal, and continue to maintain their self-righteous posture until the very end.

Whale Wars: Trouble with the Law

I look forward to Season 3, where the crew will inevitably sink themselves in a brash display of martyrdom.

Smart Power

While much of the media fawns over Obama's miraculous diplomatic healing powers, I think the two items below provide a clearer picture of who is the clear winner during this meeting.


Russian hospitality.

Putin praises Bush hospitality during Obama visit
Tue Jul 7, 2009 4:22am EDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin praised the hospitality and openness of U.S. former President George W. Bush in a telegramme sent hours before meeting his successor Barack Obama.

"During the last years we have been working on strengthening Russia-U.S. cooperation. Although there were differences between our countries, I always valued your openness and sincerity," Putin said, congratulating Bush on his 63rd birthday on July 6.

"With special warmth I recall your hospitality in the Crawford ranch and your family estate in Kennebunkport," Putin wrote, referring to their 2007 meeting at the Bush family vacation home when the two leaders went fishing and ate lobster.

Bush had said he "was able to get a sense of his soul" when he first met Putin and since then their warm rapport has helped limit the damage from a series of rows that returned ties between their administrations to chilly Cold War lows.

On Tuesday, Putin, who stepped down as president last year but remains the most influential Russian politician, invited Obama for a "Russian-style" breakfast during their first meeting at Putin's forest residence outside Moscow.

Russian agencies, quoting the government's press service, said Putin treated Obama to black caviar with sour cream, smoked beluga with pancakes and tea made in the traditional Russian samovar, a big coal-fired kettle.

(Writing by Gleb Bryanski)

I know this doesn't necessarily need to be said, but I'll say it anyway. Sending President Bush a birthday telegram is a nice gesture. Releasing a copy of said telegram to the media hours before you meet with our current President is cold and calculating.

Money for Nothing

Barack Obama was elected on a mandate of change in the November presidential election, and boy has he delivered! After his stern remarks last night in his manufactured press conference, the Democrats (and 3 Republican traitors) did their job this afternoon in passing the stimulus bill.

U.S. Senate Approves $838 Billion Stimulus Package

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate approved an $838 billion economic stimulus package, clearing the way for negotiations with the House over a compromise plan that President Barack Obama wants lawmakers to send him within days.

The Senate today voted 61 to 37 to approve its measure. The bill provides $293 billion in tax cuts and more than $500 billion in new spending that the legislation’s supporters call critical to preventing the economy from sinking deeper into recession.

After the Senate added $838 billion (with interest!) to the national debt, President Obama's tax-evading treasury secretary Timothy Geithner did his part to destroy the confidence of the American financial system.

Geithner unveils new bank rescue plan

Creating a private-public partnership to take toxic assets off banks' balance sheets. Policymakers believe clearing bank balance sheets of badly deteriorated loans and securities is a prerequisite for restoring the normal flow of credit into the economy. Geithner said the plan will aim initially to use public financing to create as much as $500 billion in private sector buying capacity, with the prospect of an expansion to $1 trillion down the road.

The U.S. stock market processed both actions today with incredible swiftness:

[caption id="attachment_623" align="aligncenter" width="468" caption="-381.99 (4.62%)"][/caption]

This exchange from Arrested Development pretty much sums up today:

Board Member #3: Why should we believe in you?

G.O.B.: For the same reason you should believe a hundred dollar bill is no more than a hundred pennies!

G.O.B.: They approved me unanimously.

Michael: Why wouldn’t they? You’ve only lost them 99 dollars so far.