I know you are, but what am I?

Recently, the most prolific images on the network news has been the town hall meetings all across this country. The idea behind the town hall meetings is that elected officials would go back to their constituents to hear their wishes and concerns. The idea that we can have differing opinions and present them to our elected officials in person without fear of legal reprisal is something that makes this country truly wonderful.

In most years, town hall meetings go unnoticed, but this year is very different. This year these meetings have become increasingly more volatile. The issue that has dominated many of these meetings has been the issue of health care. There have been several people at these meetings who have called the President and his supporters “fascist.” There have been a whole host of images with the president in an SS uniform with a Hitler mustache and so forth. These people also suggest that if government fixes healthcare, it will lead us down the path to socialism and worse. There is something in these meetings that reminds me of fascism, and it isn’t Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate or a single payer healthcare system.

Before continuing with my observation, it may be helpful to put fascism in its historical context.

In the years after the First World War, Europe (particularly Germany) was in a very bad state. The war had left Germany, along with most of Europe, devastated. After Germany lost the war, France ordered Germany to pay exorbitant reparations. The Allied Forces said that Germany started the war and that they should have to pay the cost of not only the damage in Germany, but the damage in France and all the other Allied Countries as well. Germany began making these payments because if they did not pay, they would have been in violation of the peace treaty that ended WWI. When Germany claimed they could not pay anymore, the French took over the most lucrative industrial sectors within Germany.

So Germany, already bad off, had to pay reparations, then the sectors that could make the most money were taken out of German control. These actions left Germany effectively bankrupt. In the coming years the Great Depression would lead to massive unemployment and more poverty. The German government tried to fix this problem by printing more money, but this led to runaway inflation. Even if you had a job, the cost of everything was quickly rising so what little money you had was worthless. At the same time, the German government was becoming more inadequate. The government was ill equipped and unable to meet the needs of its people in changing world.

Into this disaster steps a young WWI veteran. He is charismatic and he takes the fear and frustration that the German people are feeling and is able to twist it to his political advantage. He takes the legitimate anger that people are feeling toward their government and channel that energy into action. He is able to target that anger toward what he finds politically undesirable in the country. He realized that people who are economically desperate will allow things to happen if there is a chance they can gain some measure of security. That someone, of course, is Adolf Hitler. And by the time Germany is defeated in 1945, Nazi Germany will have committed some of the most horrible acts of the 20th century.

Back to the 21st century.

As I said above, there are some things in the news cycle that remind me of the SS and I don’t mean Social Security. America is changing in many ways. It is changing demographically. There are more non-white people in this country and the percentage of minorities is growing. There are also more non Christian religions being practice now than there were when this country was founded. The country is changing in the sense that places that were at one time centers of industry are now being replaced. There are some people who are threatened by these changes. This changes for some create an feeling of uncertainty. We as a country are also facing many challenges economically. In my opinion, there is a group of people that are using the legitimate fear that people are feeling to gain political advantage.

I actually like John McCain. I would never say that a decorated war hero and a man of his accomplishments is a Nazi. What I am saying is that he allowed the fears of desperate people to be used for a political advantage. He ran a campaign in which his vice presidential candidate played on religious, racial, and economic insecurities of people to win votes. She took noble ideals like education and community service and turned them into something bad. She capitalized on the fear that some people have toward Muslims and tried to use that in the political arena. Thankfully this strategy didn’t work.

I am not suggesting that everyone who apposes Obama is a fascist. It would be silly to say that everyone who disagrees with his ideas about government is a Nazi. There are legitimate policy concerns with lots of what this administration is purposing. What I am saying is that some of his opponents are using economic uncertainty and prejudice to advance a political agenda. They are using a campaign of fear and generalization as the centerpiece of a political argument. They are making statements that fan the flames of political anger but are just shy of inflammatory (very skillfully done). I don’t think that these politicians are all racist, but I do believe that it may be a sound political maneuver to encourage the racism that some people are already feeling and try to win votes with it.

These are the things in the news that remind me of fascism. I am concerned as an American when I see the legitimate fear that many people have, being exploited. There are reasons to be afraid. We need to have a serious debate about where this country is going. I believe that we are at a turning point in our history. We will emerge from this experience as a completely different country. Whether this change is good or bad is something yet to be determined. What will determine the effectiveness of this change is the ability of this country, its leaders and its citizens to make sound decisions. I would feel better if these decisions were rational and not driven by fear. The people of Nazi Germany allowed hatred for their own government, fear of economic uncertainty and a distrust of peoples in ethnic and religious minorities to guide their decision making. Something is dangerous in this news cycle and it is not a government run public health care option or Medicare.

The role of government in our lives is a debate that we need to have. Both sides have valuable ideas as well as legitimate concerns. I believe that this debate cannot happen as long as our leaders are using fear and misinformation to shape the debate. This debate will not be helpful if people allow themselves and their fears to be played on by politicians. This debate will not be productive if politicians on both sides are counting on fear and prejudice to win the debate. Let’s stop the liar liar pants on fire 4-year-old B.S and have a serious discussion about where we are going as a country.

I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I INFINITY!!!!!

fool me once...

It is no secret that our country is facing serious economic challenges. One of the biggest challenges has to do with the bank bailouts. I have never been a fan of the bank bailouts. I think they should have been handled differently. (You can see my article titled “Bail THIS” written Friday December 12, 2008 to see what I think).

The thing I have been most upset with is that the people who got us into this mess are the ones being trusted to get us out. Some have argued that they are the ones who know the most and are the most qualified to fix this system. Some would say that these men are extremely motivated to fix things. I still think we should not allow people who blew TRILLIONS of dollars to be put into a position to do it again. This is just really flawed logic to me. Many people in these positions have made the argument that this crisis was unforeseeable; no one could have seen this coming and they are thus not responsible. I completely reject this argument because there were plenty of people who saw this coming. And, the people who saw this coming should be the ones we look to when forming a plan for getting out of this mess.

Here is a list of people who saw this mess coming.

Byron Dorgan

One of the things that intensified the great depression was the failing of thousands of banks. Banking as an institution failed, and people lost all confidence in the banking system. When FDR took office, he tried to put a system in place that would prevent this from happening in the future. One of his solutions was to separate commercial banks from investment banks. A commercial bank is a bank that most of us are familiar with in our everyday lives. These are the banks that have checking and savings accounts and loan money for things like houses and cars. An investment bank is a bank that raises capital for the purpose of investing. It does this by issuing and selling securities and other more exotic things like credit default swaps and junk I don’t understand. This system is to ensure that the banks responsible for keeping people’s money are separate from the banks that make money by taking the risks that come with investment. The legislation responsible for this was the Glass-Steagall Act. It was passed in 1933. It stayed in place until 1999.

In 1999 all the people who wanted less government got their way and the Glass-Steagall act was repealed. Although this was a Republican controlled congress, and this bill was conceived by three Republicans (Graham, Leach and Bliley), this bill was signed into law by Bill Clinton. The repeal of this act means that the government would stay out of the way of big business and let banks organize themselves the way that they want. Banks would now be free to make things more convenient and more marketable without government interference. The final version of this bill was passed 90-8 in the senate. Most would argue that this was a bipartisan effort. One of the senators that opposed this vote was Byron Dorgan. He realized the conflict of interests in commercial and investment banking could be catastrophic. He said “this bill will in my judgment raise the likelihood of future tax payer bailouts.” He also said “I think we will look back on 10 years time and say we should not have done this, but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past and that which was true in the 1930’s was true in 2010”. Here are clips from his senate speech in 1999 TEN YEARS BEFORE IT HIT THE FAN!

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&source=hp&q=byron%20dorgan&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#


Eliot Spitzer

Eliot Spitzer was the governor of New York from January 2007 till March 2008. He left the governorship in disgrace after having really kinky overpriced sex with a bunch of call girls in a scandalous prostitution ring. What was he doing before he got caught with high priced hookers? PROSECUTING AIG!!!!!!! That is right, when Eliot Spitzer was the state attorney general of New York in the late 90s, he made his reputation by prosecuting white color crime. In 2004, Eliot Spitzer brought a fraud case against AIG. He charged that AIG was developing financial machinery that was being used for deception. He stated that "these were transactions created for the purpose of deceiving the market”. He saw AIG as being the center of a system that needed tighter regulation. He also recognized the conflict of interest at AIG. The current system incentivizes short term risk taking. He actually won this case and AIG paid a settlement. Some could argue that Spitzer tried to ruin AIG to make a political name for himself. I say he realized that it was too big to fail and tried to bust it up, but Tim Geitner and the New York fed wouldn’t let him.

Mable Yoo (pseudonym)

Investments get rated by certain firms. Moody’s, Standards and Poor, and Fitch are the most notable ones. These companies rate things based on how safe an investment is. A rating of AAA is an investment that the rating system deems very safe. The idea is that if you invest in a AAA asset you may not make a ton of money, but you probably will not loose. AAA assets are considered the safest of investments. Two problems occurred that made this rating system less reliable.

In the housing market the mortgages people get are rated by taking into account the reliability of the person being loaned the money, the market, the house, the amount of the mortgage and a whole bunch of other factors. All these factors are plugged into some crazy equation and you get a rating. The problem was that when people with bad credit histories were given loans there was no past history to judge how good or bad these loans were. There was no historical evidence to indicate the likelihood these loans would be paid back. There were unknown variables in the equations being used to compute these ratings. Also, these mortgages were bundled together as one asset. The logic seems sound. Maybe a few people will default, but if they are bundled with people who pay on time then the overall asset makes money. The problem was even though the data was inconclusive, these bundled mortgages were STILL GIVEN TRIPLE A RATINGS!!!! Mable Yoo was an analyst at an unspecified investment firm. She looked at these assets and asked the question, “How can these be AAA assets when so many factors were unknown?” She was told by her boss to go home, get some sleep, not to worry, and cash her paycheck.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Nassim Taleb is a financial analyst from Lebanon. He did his grad work at the University of Penn. In his book “The Black Swan” he argues that there are certain events that are catastrophic and unpredictable. We make rules based on what we perceive, but we do not take into account the things we don’t know. We look for things to prove our point, not for things that disprove our point. It is a very interesting theoretical read. The point is that he predicted the housing crisis before it happened. He not only made some vague prediction, but put his money where his mouth was and made a fortune in derivatives and credit default swaps.


THESE ARE THE PEOPLE TO WHOM WE SHOULD LISTEN TO GET OUT OF THIS MESS. I am not gonna say I saw it coming since I didn’t have a blog so there is nothing on the record. But if you read The Elephant and The Dragon by Robyn Meredith (which I did) you would have been alerted to the difference in the savings rates between America and China. If you would have looked at the housing markets (which I did because I had quite a few friends flippin’ houses) you would have concluded that when the cost of living rises faster then the average wage that one of those numbers has to move drastically. If you looked at the Bureau of Labor and Statistics website (which I did) you would see that while unemployment remained steady, underemployment was out of control. I had to listen to Hannity and Glen Beck and all these PINHEADS tell me that I was a paranoid liberal and that everything was wonderful in the George Bush economy. I had to listen for 20 years that if the rich get richer it will trickle down to the rest of us. Some of these goobers didn’t even admit we were in a recession till after the presidential election. I admit I am not as smart as I think I am. I do think that there are very smart, insightful people who saw this coming. THESE are the people we should be asking “what do we do next?” I disagree with the idea that the people who broke the system are the only ones who can fix it. To quote George Bush “fool me once shame on you …YA CANT GET FOOLED AGAIN!!!”

meter maid madness

Last week as I was walking out of work I saw a sight that most people cringe at. I saw a parking meter attendant writing a ticket. Most people who work, live, or visit an inner-city area know the feeling of returning to their car to find they have gotten a ticket. Fortunately, I was not the person being ticketed. Nevertheless, there was one thing that I was deeply annoyed with. The thing that annoyed me the most was that the parking attendant was driving an SUV paid for by the city of Camden. It is no secret that I hate SUVs. In my opinion they use to much gas and they are not safe, but, whatever. This SUV used by the state highlights a greater issue.

The first issue with this practice is cost. The SUV is not the most cost effective vehicle a city can buy. I also think that a parking meter attendant does not need a high performance vehicle to write tickets. I gave the city the benefit of the doubt by assuming that this fleet of cars was being shared by other departments when they are not being used for the task of writing parking tickets. This could be a potential way for a city to save money. I DON’T THINK THIS IS THE CASE. I talked to several city employees and they said these vehicles were used specifically by the parking authority by the meter attendants. If that is the case then this is huge waste of money.

The second issue I have with this practice is the issue of gas usage. The SUV is one of the most inefficient vehicles on the road. Everyone is saying that they want to be environmentally friendly, then a fleet of the most ecologically unfriendly cars is brought by the state. There has been lots of talk about less dependence on foreign oil, yet this city has decided to buy a fleet of these things to do mundane tasks that could be performed by a car that uses less gas. I wonder how much money the city of Camden paid to gas up these SUVs when gas went up to four dollars a gallon. How much money will the city of Camden continue to pay in the future?

Lots of people would argue that I am making a big deal out of this. They would argue that the cost and the gas use is a drop in the bucket when you consider the over all size of these problems. I would reply by saying that the city of Camden has a population of 79,000 people according to the US census. There are 286 US cities with a population between 50,000 and 80,000 people. How significant are the numbers if all of these cities have a fleet of SUV’s for their meter maids. These numbers aren’t even taking into account the big cities. I am an optimist so I will assume that not all cities are as badly mismanaged as the city of Camden, but if this trend continues in other cities the results could be at the very least counter productive.

The issue to me is not that the city of Camden has a few meter maids that drive SUVs. The issue is the opportunities that are lost by state and local governments to affect change. The state government has a chance to effect policy in a big way. By making a statement that they will buy fuel efficient vehicles, the city would be creating a market for these vehicles in addition to the short term economic cost. If all the cities with populations less then 100,000 people would do this, the effect may be even more significant. What if we extended this policy to state buildings being more energy efficient? How much money would a city save in the long run because of better energy costs?

What ever has happened, the fact remains that these cars have already been brought and are being used. I do not think that it is good policy in the middle of a recession for a city to replace all of its vehicles. What I do think should happen is that every vehicle that has to be replaced should be replaced with something OTHER THAN AN SUV!!! Since the city will eventually have to replace these vehicles why not replace them with something that is better for our economy and our environment in the long run. Every new vehicle that should be brought in the future should be fuel efficient. To the cities with populations over 80.000 people (there are 314 of them) any improvements made to taxi fleets, public transportation, and what ever other stuff they need should be made with fuel standards in mind. Cities could just set there own standards in terms of the construction of buildings. The building may cost more to build but you would hire more people to build it and YOU WOULD SAVE MONEY IN THE LONG RUN BECAUSE YOU WOULD HAVE LESS ENERGY COST. We can’t "unspill" the milk but we can make sure that we don’t spill the milk again.

On a happy note. Last weekend I drove to Giants Stadium. When I was on the turnpike I saw….

A New York City HYBRID yellow cab. At least Michael Bloomberg agrees with me!

Michael Phelps For Governor!

This past weekend I was watching some of the 2009 swimming national championships from Indianapolis. Once again Michael Phelps set a world record. A few months ago Michael Phelps was busted for smoking weed at a party. He lost several endorsements and a big deal was made about the whole role model Olympic hero idea (that is a discussion for another day). I also saw a press conference this weekend in which the governor of California, Arnold Swarchenegger announced that the state of California is broke. Some estimates claim that California has the 10th largest economy in the world. Many states across this country are running huge budget deficits. As states look for ways to balance their books there is one solution that is very apparent to me. I think the legalization of marijuana would provide a much needed source of revenue for states as well as make many Americans like Michael Phelps happy.

Before you dismiss this idea as completely crazy, I think it would be prudent to discuss a few things. Before we jump to the conclusion that legalization of marijuana will be the downfall of society (like it isn’t already downfallen), I feel it necessary to mention some arguments that people who oppose the idea of legalization often use.

The first argument against marijuana is that “If we legalize marijuana, EVERYONE will get high”. If we have legal drugs everyone will do it because it is legal and we will have a NATION OF POTHEADS!!! The reality is there is no evidence that this will happen. I have never smoked weed. If it were legal tomorrow I would still never smoke weed. Most of the people that want to smoke weed are already smoking it. In addition consider that fact that cigarettes are legal. Is everyone in America smoking cigarettes? Alcohol has been legal since 1933. Do we have a nation where EVERYONE is an alcoholic? I feel it necessary to mention that prohibition was repealed in the middle of the great depression. Coincidence? There is no evidence to support the notion that marijuana use will increase significantly.

The next argument is that if we legalize marijuana then “we are going to have EIGHT YEAR OLD KIDS SMOKIN’ WEED” I am not suggesting that we just let everyone smoke up. Of course it has to be regulated. We have age limits on other drugs in this country and most of us find this perfectly acceptable. We can argue about what the age limit is and how strongly we should enforce the rules but do dismiss the entire idea is irrational. Usually 8 year olds can’t get cigarettes and alcohol. We are talking about adults who choose to engage in this practice.

Another argument against this policy is “Marijuana is a gateway drug that can lead to other things. Marijuana use will lead to use of more dangerous drugs. I actually agree with this argument on some level. While it is true that most users of hard drugs will admit to using gateway drugs earlier in there lives the converse of this argument is not true. There are millions of people who smoke weed who never do anything else. Just because you use weed doesn’t mean that you are going to become a crack head. I also feel the need to point out that alcohol and cigarettes are also gateway drugs and no one is suggesting outlawing them. Another thing that goes hand in hand with this argument is that marijuana is just too harmful to allow. I would ask people to consider how harmful cigarettes and alcohol are. Consider the liver damage, the DUI’s, and the effect alcohol has on the brain both short and long term. Then consider the carcinogenic effects of smoking on both the person and the people around them as well as the addictive effects of nicotine. I think marijuana is very harmful but how much more harmful is it than drugs that society has deemed legal.

The final argument is an argument on moral grounds. The idea that our government and out society has to take a moral stand against marijuana. The idea that the only "thing holding the moral fiber of our country together is the prohibition of marijuana, I think, is the most ridiculous argument of all. The formal laws we have against marijuana were enacted in 1970 (there were other laws enacted before that). Somehow America was able to struggle on with out marijuana being illegal. There was actually a marijuana tax that was levied on selling of marijuana in 1937 (what a great idea). The morality argument is even sillier to me when you consider the society that was in this country. This society during this same time period had colored peopled drinking out of different water fountains, put thousands of Japanese Americans in internment camps, dropped TWO nuclear bombs, and assassinated government officials of sovereign countries. The fact that marijuana was or was not illegal has little to do with our morality.

I think there are several benefits of a well regulated marijuana policy. The first is the revenue generated. Right now the government makes ZERO dollars on the sale of marijuana. There are millions of people smoking and the government is making no money. In addition the people making the money are not the nice sort of people. These people are given their power because marijuana is illegal. Does anyone think drug dealers are paying taxes? Having registered people and places that can legally sell marijuana will allow the government to tax the revenue and at the same time diminish the power of the small time drug dealer. I think legalized marijuana will put the small time drug dealer out of business. If you wanted to smoke up would you go in a back alley to by your drugs or would you go to CVS? My opinion is overtime the influence of these small drug dealers will decline.

I think having the government involved will also make smoking marijuana safer. The drug would be dispensed in predetermined quantities and would be verified for purity. As it is now you can buy marijuana with different levels of potency. The user has no way of knowing how refined the drug is that they are buying. It is possible (even likely) to get marijuana that is unknowingly laced with other chemicals. The user has no idea what they are smoking in addition to the desired drug. Having a well regulated industry will make the product safer.

It is also necessary to consider the secondary effects how much money is spent jailing people that are convicted of marijuana crimes? How much money do we blow on marijuana court cases? Most police forces are over worked and underpaid. What would happen if police could actually chase real criminals and not adults who chose to smoke a little pot once in a while?

I think this is a tough decision. I have reservations about something like this. The problem I am having is that this idea is too often dismissed without even a discussion. Almost every state in this country is out of money. There are people on all sides screaming that we are spending too much money. We have big problems that need to be fixed right now and we need money to fix them. Do we want education, health care, benefits for widows of firefighters, and a new energy policy or do we want the delusion that we are a moral society because we lock up potheads.


(If you can’t deal with weed being legal can we PLEAS E HAVE STATE RUN CASINOS AND LEGALIZED BETTING ON FOOTBALL. We already have a state lottery. Why should Donald Trump make billions of dollars and the state can’t build and run a casino. Just put a nickel slot in every DMV, post office, gas station, and supermarket. I mean really how much money we have to throw out the door.)

It's your party, YELL IF YOU WANT TO

It is no secret that I am not a fan of the previous administration. I have several friends who are Republicans and I have to say that I feel sorry for them. I don’t feel sorry because they are Republican, I feel sorry because their party has been hijacked by a group of FREAKIN NUTS. I'd be pretty pissed if my point of view got hijacked by Bill Ayres and Janine Garofolo.

Not a day has gone by in the last few weeks without seeing Rush Limbaugh saying something crazy. During the last few months, the people yelling the loudest from the conservative side of the isle are completely negative. It seems there is an endless parade of people lead by Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney who don’t offer any solutions but just like yelling. In fact they are yelling so loud that they are drowning out the sensible majority. I know lots of people that are Republican. I know very few who think like Rush or Hannity or Cheney or the other nuts of the week.

Does this party really want to make a stand in favor of government sanctioned torture? In this economic climate, does this party really want to champion the policy of not regulating Wall Street and screwing the little guy? Do they really want be known as the party who wants to freeze government spending and stop making Social Security payments to old people? Do they want to be the party who is anti-environment?

It seems that the main Republican agenda seems to be “What ever Obama wants, we hate it.” I think the opposing viewpoint is very important. One of the things that makes our political system great is our ability to resolve our conflict in a civilized manner and to glean the best ideas from all sides. The result can be a solution that is the best one. Diversity is the strength of America. The idea that we can argue and come to a solution without shooting each other is something that separates us from other parts of the world. Our civil discourse is something that should provoke a sense of pride for all Americans.

The problem of the recent past is the other side has nothing to offer. I generally like what Mr. Obama is doing. There are occasions where I disagree with him. It would be nice if there were a rational opinion that was well thought out that opposed his viewpoint. The problem is the Republican side of the isle is giving us NOTHING CONSTRUCTIVE. All they are giving me is a liar, liar pants on fire, he’s a commy, she’s a socialist, BLA BLA BLA. In the face of all this irrationality no wonder Obama has sky hi approval ratings.

For all these Republicans who hate Obama JUST COME UP WITH SOMETHING THAT MAKES SENSE. Come up with well thought out policies that will allows us to engage in meaningful debate that can move this country forward. I ask all the sensible Republicans to reject this bunch of nuts and give me a well thought out alternative. I believe that the conservative philosophy has a lot to offer this country. It is a shame that the people getting the most attention are the crazies. As long as people like Rush and company are running things, the Republicans will never win another election and this country, at least in the short term, will loose a much needed opposing viewpoint.

TAKE BACK YOUR PARTY MY REPUBLICAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS

THE SUMMER OF GEEK!!!!!!

I am very excited about the movies that are coming out this summer. Several of these movies have a somewhat geek element about them. When I was in high school there was a certain group of kids that liked “The Transformers” and “G.I. Joe”. For the most part these were not the cool kids. There was a certain group of people who read comic books and loved super heroes. These genres were not looked upon as acceptable in the world of my high school. Even in my young adult life people to not associate “Star Trek” with successful, responsible, adulthood. Despite all these societal reservations, I have and will probably always love these things. It does my little geek heart good when I see so many of the things that I grew up with in the mainstream. It’s nice to go to work and see people with Batman T shirts. It is nice to see my 10 year old piano students who don’t read anything, reading Harry Potter. I think that the reason people flock to these genres is that they provide a sense of hope. The hope is that individuals can make a difference and that we working together can affect change. That is a concept that should follow all of us from childhood, to adolescence, into adulthood. I find it sad that to many people part of growing up means to stop dreaming and to stop believing that the extraordinary is possible. We sacrifice what we want to see the world become for the idea that it is unrealistic to expect anything better. I think that dreaming is very important. I think when we give up on possibilities too early we may miss wonderful opportunities. In any event this summer movie season is filled with images from my childhood that sparked my imagination. This is a list of the movies that I am looking most forward to seeing.



Star Trek

I am so excited about this film. I think that the TV shows Lost and Alias are two of the best written shows that have ever been on TV. They are amazingly inventive, extremely well thought out, and keep the audience guessing. Imagine my surprise when I went to a Star Trek convention last year (yes I said it. I didn’t dress up) and I heard that J.J. Abrams was a star trek fan and was doing the next Star Trek movie. Star Trek has been around since 1966. I think underneath the sometimes bad acting and the cheesy sets of the 1960s is the ability to criticize society with out being preachy. The satire and criticism are what makes this show great. This show has continued to remake itself. There remains a message of hope with every successive generation. The hope is that as bad as the world looks, mankind will solve its problems and create a wonderful society. Even with all of our problems today, there is still the potential that mankind will unite and not only make peace with on earth, but forge relationships with beings that are not even from this planet. Some may say this is a bit unrealistic but nevertheless an appealing idea.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

The X-Men universe is probably my favorite super hero universe. The X-Men universe provides an interesting critique of American society. One of the prevalent themes is how we treat people that are different then us. Indeed the storyline in X-Men can be applied to the civil rights movement, Immigration, Gay Marriage and a whole host of other things in our society. This storyline forces us to ask questions about ourselves and the people around us. It highlights issues of tolerance and makes us see that sometimes we may be on the wrong side of an issue. X2 was one of the best super hero movies I have seen in a while so I am very excited to see this one.

Terminator Salvation

“The Terminator” was one of my favorite science fiction movies when I was a kid. I love the time travel aspect as well as the future apocalyptic horror. The sense of impending doom that the story generated along with all the plot twist and the chase aspect made for a great movie. The struggle of average good people against an invincible enemy left me riveted for hours. Add to that the car chases and the special effects and you have a timeless classic. To be honest I was not all that excited about this movie until I got into the “Sarah Connor Chronicles”. I am interested to see how this movie fills in the answers to all the questions that previous Terminator movies and TV shows have generated. It will also be interesting to actually see the war that has been eluded to in all the other movies.

Angels & Demons

One of the most exciting books I have ever read. I read it in 3 days. Let me just say READ THE BOOK BEFORE YOU WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This book is amazing on so many levels. The chase aspect and the suspense parts of this book are amazing. The interaction between science and religion was especially appealing to me. Science and religion are two very big parts of my life. The amount of information presented in this book about American history and the Catholic Church will amaze. You will feel smarter after you have read it. I do not expect the book to be as great as the movie. The DaVinci code was a good movie but still not as good as the book. I am always interested to see what things the movie makers choose not to include. I will read any book that Dan Brown writes and I will probably see any movie based on a Dan Brown book.

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra

I LOVED G.I JOE when the TV show came out. I collected the toys well into high school. This show was the centerpiece of many of my weekday afternoons. While it may seem silly the show is more relevant today then ever. What was the subplot of G.I. JOE? Do you remember it? “G.I. JOE is the code name for America’s highly trained special mission force. Its purpose, to defend freedom against COBRA, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world.” Sound familiar? That is now the world we live in. A world with AL-Qaeda, navy SEALS and Somali Pirates. When this show came out in the 80s that idea seemed really far fetched but here we are. In any case the show was very entertaining and I am very excited about the movie.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

This show is the other staple of my childhood TV life. A very well thought out cartoon. It has a storyline that spans eons complete with ancient robot civilizations and futuristic technologies. I was a little disappointed with the storytelling of the first transforms movie. The special effects were great and therefore this movie franchise is worthy of a second chance.

Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince

I have loved all of these movies. I have not read any of the books. They are on my list of stuff to read but I just haven’t gotten around to it. The effects are great. I love the story telling and I really love the look of these movies. The order of the phoenix on IMAX was amazing especially considering the last 20 minutes were in 3D. Every time I see these movies I want to be a student at Hogwarts. The idea that there is this wizard reality that parallels our own is a very appealing concept.


There is also a “Land of the Lost” movie and a film called “Moon” that was at the Philly Film Fest but I didn’t get to see it. Add to that there is a “Sherlock Holmes” movie coming out Christmas day. I was really into Sherlock Holmes as a kid. It is one of the things that made me start reading as a kid. This promises to be a great summer for movies. I am writing this article on the night that I am going to see Wolverine at midnight. I’d love to hear what summer movies you are looking forward to.


LET THE SUMMER OF GEEK BEGIN!!!!!!

STIMULATION

During the last few months the issue that has dominated the news cycle is the state of the economy. One of the stories that has been central to this issue has been the proposed stimulus package. There are many different opinions as to what should or should not be in a stimulus bill. There are also those who believe that we do not need a stimulus bill. I will start by making a case for why we may need a stimulus bill.

The economy has turned for the worst in the last year. For the last part of the 20th century our economy has been built on the strength of the consumer. We can debate the merits of this system later (I for one am against it), but this is the system we find ourselves with. The problem with this economy is the strength of the American consumer has been diminished. Deregulation on Wall Street and average people living beyond their means were contributing factors in a falling housing market. This led to banks not being able to lend money, which lead to people not being able to buy stuff, which lead to companies firing people, which lead to people having less money to buy things and so forth.

If this were a normal cycling of the economy I would say the government should stay out of it and let the market forces lead to a recovery. I do not believe that is the case. I believe that the machinery that governs this economy is inadequate for this new century. I believe that there have been systemic problems with this economy that are now all beginning to manifest themselves. I am not saying capitalism doesn’t work, I am saying the forces that drive our economy and the things that we use to measure the success of our economy are inadequate. Since this recession is more then just the regular boom and bust cycles of the economy, the government must intervene in the short term.

Having said that, I think there are some rules we should consider when deciding what goes in a stimulus package. The first thing I look for is a program where the highest percentage of the dollars go back into the economy. I want to know that all the dollars the government dolls out will go directly back into the economy in the short term. The second thing I look for is the creation of jobs. What is meant by this is that the money spent by the government will result in a job being created that would not have been there if it weren’t for the stimulus money. Any dollars that would save a job that was to be eliminated should be considered stimulus. I want to know that the money in a stimulus bill will save a job that is going to be cut. A consideration (but not a requirement) is that the money spent should help us in the long term. The money MUST help the economy in the short term, but I don’t want to spend money on things where we can only benefit in the short term. A consideration for stimulus (not a requirement) should be for something that will help the economy in the long term.

There is also a lot of confusion in the media as to what a stimulus bill is and is not. The stimulus bill is NOT the omnibus bill. That is the bill from last year’s budget with tons of earmarks. The stimulus bill is not the TARP package or the bank bailout. That is the money that was used to bail out the banks. This bill is not auto industry bailout. That is the money given to the American car companies. The purpose of this bill is for the government to SPEND MONEY to increase demand to keep the economy from TOTAL COLLAPSE. So yes, this bill will have spending because that is what stimulus is. It is not investment. It is not budget control. The idea is to spend money to help jumpstart the economy in the short term to give us time to fix things in the long term.

As for the discussion about what should and should not be in the stimulus package, I will now list four things that I think are economically stimulative that opponents of the stimulus package are against.

Food stamps

Most republicans in congress FREAKED OUT when Obama included increasing the money for the food stamp program. In reality this is the most economically stimulative program possible. Let me first state that I am against welfare and generally against entitlements. I do however have the opinion that the best way to have short term stimulus is to give to the people at the bottom of the ladder. They have fewer options and will spend the money. If you give the money to the rich in a troubled economy they are more likely to save it; this is good in the long term (and for the rich people themselves), but in the short term it does nothing to help the current situation. If you give money to the food stamp program 100% of the money will be spent. This spending will increase demand. If you give people with nothing more money they will spend it because they have no choice. This is not good monetary practice, but in a consumer economy it will be simulative. Even if people buy drugs with their food stamps (and there is no evidence that suggests that this is the norm), the drug dealers will eventually trade them to someone who will SPEND THEM AND STIMULATE THE ECONOMY. All of the money put into the food stamp program will find its way back into the economy.


National Endowment for the Arts

One of the things I have heard a lot is “HOW IS GIVING MONEY TO THE BALLET DANCERS AND OPERA SINGERS GOING TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY”. Any one who has worked in the arts in any capacity knows there is a lot more that goes into a production then just singing and dancing. There is a whole array of people behind every production. When money gets tight, most theaters are not going to fire their singers, dancers, and actors first. They are instead going to fire office workers, ticket sellers, secretaries and phone operators. Then they are going to fire the stage hands, the carpenters and craftsmen that build the sets, and the part time employees that run errands and do the "grunt work". Giving money to the arts will prevent these people from being fired in the short term. Since some of these people won’t loose their jobs, they will SPEND THEIR MONEY in other sectors of the economy.

The Census

The last census was done around the year 2000. The census may seem like a waste of money until you consider that to actually do a census you will need to hire a lot of part time workers to actually administer the census. You will need workers in all 50 states. You will need a wide variety of workers from average workers to go around and gather the data as well as skilled people that can organize and compute the data. A national census will create jobs in every state. There is an added long term benefit to a census. A big first step in cutting government spending is knowing exactly how many people are using what programs. An accurate census will give us the meaningful data we need to evaluate what programs are being used and which aren’t. The best way to stream line government spending is to KNOW what programs work and not to GUESS at what programs work.


Energy efficiency

A part of the stimulus package would give home owners money to make their homes more energy efficient. There is another part of the stimulus to make federal buildings more energy efficient. Many people site this as a waste of money and Washington allowing the tree hugging hippy left make economic policy. In reality there is nothing hippy about this. The manufacturing sector has suffered the most in this economy. There are a whole host of products made in America that can be used to make homes more energy efficient. If more people buy these things then more Americans will need to be hired to build them and INSTALL THEM. Most people aren’t going to put aluminum siding or new windows on their house. They are going to hire someone to do it. That is creating jobs in the short term in a blue collar sector that is very important to the future of this economy. The industrial sector of this country’s economy is shrinking rapidly. In addition, this part of the stimulus bill has two long term effects. The first is that the government and the individuals who take part in this incentive will have lower energy costs. These people will have more money in the long term then they would have had if not for this program. The government will also save on energy costs in the long run. The second is that it will create demand for manufacturing jobs in the future. If investors know there will be a market for green products there will be more investment in this sector, more demand for these jobs, and more Americans hired for these jobs.


Most of Obama’s critics have said that Obama is using these desperate economic times to push his HIPPY agenda. I don’t like some of the stimulus bill. Frankly there are too many tax cuts and not enough infrastructure spending. The idea that the government has to sit powerless and let the economy crumble is silly. I also do not think that if the government tries to stimulate the economy that it will lead to communism. There are numerous examples where government can help stem the ebb and flow of the markets. One of the principles of Keynesian economics is that the government in many cases is one of the largest producers and consumers of goods. The government’s policies can help shape the economy WITHOUT BEING COMMUNIST. We can give money to the people on the lower rung of the ladder WITHOUT BEING SOCIALIST. I don’t like that we now have to use good money to get us out of a situation that many of us saw coming. It sucks that this has been messed up for the last 80 years and my generation has to be the one to fix it. I don’t know if this stimulus will have a desired effect, but doing nothing would be catastrophic.

As always I'd love to hear what people think about the stimulus bill, especially what parts you are for and against.