Gee, Sir Peter Jackson, Did You Hate “The Hobbit” Source Material So Much That You Had To Change It Almost Entirely?

And Gandalf should have passed on this movie till they got the script right.

I hate to say that and to do this since I was so looking forward to the movie version of “The Hobbit.” It was a major letdown. I will try to do as few spoilers as possible but let's just say, DON'T READ THE BOOK BEFORE SEEING THE MOVIE! Please don't get me wrong, the casting, the cinematography and all that was great. The music was alright but it was basically recycled Lord of the Rings (LOTR) music. They could have tried a little more originality there. The biggest problem was in interpreting the book to the screen. It was the SCRIPT.

The basic story is the same, a Hobbit names Bilbo Baggins is requited to be a burglar (even though he has never stolen anything in his life) and help the wizard, Gandalf the Grey, and 13 dwarves regain their mountain home and treasure from the dragon, Smaug. Yes, they did take some source information from the Silmarillion since they wanted to expand it to three movies ($$$) and that is fine. But they also changed things that made little sense except maybe to dumb it down.

There are changes in character motivation, many extra action scenes, they even brought back an evil Orc character who is supposed to die because having enemies such as a dragon and goblins was not enough. They even had to make Bilbo much more of a hero than he is in that part of the book. It is like they did not even trust the original story. I would like to say overall it is “LOOSELY” based on The Hobbit and when they stayed loyal to the book, the movie was great. I had two examples which happen to be my favorite scenes in the book:

First is the Troll scene. A fine bit of comedy in the book, too subtle of comedy to the writers, as to what they turned it into. It was almost completely changed to add more needless action. And let me say, if 13 dwarves cannot take down at least one Troll, they will not regain the Lonely Mountain. At least they ended it the way it was supposed to but I was looking forward to a little ventriloquism by Gandalf.

The riddle scene with Gollum and Bilbo is my other favorite scene in the book. The beginning was not even close to the book (it was not even slightly dark and Bilbo is supposed to not even see the ring, just feel it and pick it up, you can see how they change it in the movie). But the actual riddle scene is done quite well, since they actually followed the book. Shocking how following the source material can improve on a movie.

I am just a mild fan girl, but made the mistake of actually reading the book again and then reading up to the part with Gollum a second time. Other fans could be quite upset. I have a friend who totally wanted one scene in “The Fellowship of the Ring” completely redone because he did not like how it was done. I read the scene and saw the movie and did not really see the problem.

I know there are some über fans out there that are already moaning about a “female elf” that has a more prominent role in the later movies. They also did that with LOTR for a love story. I can understand that, it is almost a requirement that there be a love story. Yes, in LOTR they added the scene where Frodo is “saved” by Arwen (so she could be introduced) when he should have been on the horse on his own and the elves and Gandalf all save him by creating a raging river. Frankly, the scene in the book is much better than the movie. So, I guess they had to have Lady Galadriel show up for the Hobbit (even though she is not in the book) I think that was to add some of her intense elf estrogen to even out the sausage factory. I hope my friend did not see “The Hobbit” or could take it for what it is: crappy fan fiction where the fan thinks they can improve upon the author.

Christopher Tolkien agrees. He said the book was “eviscerated” when made into this movie. And he was the son for whom J.R.R. Tolkien wrote these books. It is a shame really since they had such a wonderful source with a fine story. Tolkien created an entire world for these stories, it was a rich full world already, no “improvement” needed. The condensation of LOTR could be understood. They had a huge amount of material (1000 pages plus appendices) to condense into three movies. Now they have a 300 page book that they are expanding to three and could not even follow it well.

I don't think my hubby and and I are going to even bother with seeing the next two movies, except on DVD from Redbox. Why give them more money, it will just encourage them, and Peter Jackson's ego is already the size of Middle Earth. Although my irritation about this will probably have gone down by a year from now, and my curiosity will be up for how it is changed. DAMN YOU CURIOSITY!

Lastly, I do have a conspiracy theory from my hubby that makes sense in Hollywood today. He thinks they did so many changes so that there could be a reboot. MORE MONEY! As long as Peter Jackson is not involved. He has gone full on George Lucas.

But “The Hobbit” was a thumbs down. :( From sharocity.com

So sorry but that had to be said. I am not the greatest writer, but if you gave me millions of dollars to write the script, I think I would have had more respect for the story Tolkien created.

Happy Holidays everyone. Have a great new year as well and there are more blogs are coming in 2013!

We Have Finally Entered The Modern Age...

My hubby and I got smart phones for Christmas. But being hypocritical parents who cannot wait till Christmas day we started our new service last week. Our reasoning is that we will start saving money the sooner we port our numbers to our new provider.

Our new provider? We went with the AARP crowd and signed onto Consumer Cellular. Who are they? Well they do a no contract, fairly inexpensive cellular service. My hubby found out about this not because he is a member of AARP but from Consumer Reports. We were not using many of our minutes with Verizon, and that was just voice service and frankly, it sucked. Dropped calls was the norm. Now part of this is the fun of living in Tucson, which is the 6th worst city for cellular coverage. But if you try to use your wifi at home (or at Starbucks, etc.) with a Google number the reception is much better and the call is free in the USA!

We went with a fairly bare bones in minutes and data to see if we would last the month and if not they upgrade your account easily with out any extra charges. The amazing thing is that even if we did upgrade a level or even two, we will still be paying less per month than with just voice on Verizon.

We went with an Android (just like Picard ;) basic smart phone with a gingerbread operating system. It is kind of slow but if we wanted fast we would put up the dough that we don't have.

So we have finally entered the modern age. Now, how to get rid of this AARP app...

Grover Norquist Is The REAL Bond Villain

Meghan McCain did a brave thing a few weeks ago. She called Karl Rove a “Bond Villain.” And it is true, especially for her family. It was his plan to smear Senator McCain by a whispering campaign with leaflets that McCain fathered an illegitimate black child, which was completely untrue. This tactic along with others showed “the battle between Bush and McCain for South Carolina has entered American political lore as one of the nastiest, dirtiest, and most brutal ever.” It is good for the country that his time is over. For at least four years. In the world of James Bond there is always another villain and there are those in reality and just like the real villain Rove, is is Grover Norquist. Or if you like, the Wizard of OZ, with nothing but a silver tongue and a flashy show that sounds great to Republicans.

This is the guy who makes politicians sign “suicide pacts” to NEVER EVER vote to raise taxes. Oh sure, that makes total sense when we have a huge debt and deficit and let's just cut the government spending and that will fix everything...NOT! Not even close.

Lets take a look at the person who has had the GOP by the short and curlies. He went to Harvard – and got an MBA! Wow, according to Harvard, he is a master of business. Does he have a degree in Economics or Political Science? Nope. Has he ran for office? Nope. He is the head lobbyist and founder for Americans for Tax Reform. That is it. Yet he has the whole GOP doing anything and everything to not raise taxes on the top 2% of earners in this country. And guess who is paying Grover's salary? They happen to be billionaires.

If ANYONE can afford a tax hike it is the top 2%. They are the ultimate example of the American dream. Shouldn't that dream, like our freedom have to come at a cost? The cost of World War II got us fully out of the Great Depression and boosted our economy to some of the best days for our country. Maybe that is why people get nostalgic for the 1950's. It is not for the oppression of women and minorities, but for the feeling of optimism we had because our economy was kicking butt. What was the tax rate for the top earners? It was 91%, today it is 34.5%. Back then it was their PATRIOTIC DUTY to pay taxes. President Eisenhower made them proud to pay for their American dream. Now they seem to think the dream is free. Especially people like Mitt Romney who only get income from dividends and only pay about 15% in taxes. Back in the 1950s it was between 34 and 55% depending upon how rich you were.

I am not advocating returning to those huge tax rates. Just to return to the Clinton Era tax rates. Which would be 39% for the top earners, and an increase to say at least 20% on dividends. It just makes sense.

You can listen to Mr. Norquist pontificate all day long about how raising taxes ruined Gorge H.W. Bush's chance at reelection, even though I think his move helped us to have a wonderful 1990's. You can hear him blab on and on about spending cuts, even when he will not say that those spending cuts will put people out of work and increase our unemployment rate. That will not help our economy.

This man is a hot air balloon of reasons for rich people to feel better about not paying taxes. Mr. Norquist and Karl Rove are the Bond villains to most Americans. Heck, Mr. Norquist even sounds like a Bond villain when he says:

Sour Grapes Taste Good To Some People: Denial, Secession, Attempted Murder, Weird Advertising and Even Suicide. It Is Time To Calm Down People!

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Photo care of the Facebook group: You can't have a Tea Party without some Fruitcakes and Nuts

The election has been over for a few weeks now and some people cannot handle the truth.

First there was denial, many people the next day could not believe that our country re-elected President Obama. They thought they had made their case, and were ignoring any polling or especially any polling aggregate who was telling them something they did not want to hear. Karl Rove seemed to deny the Ohio vote on election night. Although the way it was publicized, you would think he was throwing a temper tantrum only a 2 year old could love, he just seemed to be in denial. And that was just the start.

Next, there are people in all 50 states who want to secdee, um I mean secede from the union. Well I am beginning to think that 48% of electorate who actually voted for the Romney/Ryan ticket want to secede. It is interesting that it is one percentage point off from Gov. Romney's supposedly private discussion to the Richey Riches of that poor 47% who won't vote for him. It turned out that he was actually four percentage points off for those who would vote for him. I also find it hilarious now that many Republicans (like AZ Gov. Jan Brewer) are now considering abolishing the electoral college. The thing is: that would not have helped Mitt Romney, he still would have lost by about 3,474,000 votes. I am all for a proper election. I know our founding fathers did not think we were “mature” enough for the popular vote, but perhaps we have grown up as a country. If we do not split up into Red America and Blue America, perhaps we will be just fine.

There also in our sour grape juice is the story of a woman in Mesa who tried to run over her husband because he did not vote. She was so upset that Obama won and think his election will hurt her family. But she is pregnant, I wonder if she will use the “hormone defense.” Not that hormones, just like excess sugar, should be a defense. You are always responsible for your own actions. I would say that jail time and a divorce are in her future and I say “Lady, stop listening to Rush Limbaugh! It is bad for your families health.” Also in Arizona is the owner of a gun shop who put out a full page ad telling anyone who voted for Obama that they were not welcome in his store. No problem there, since there are plenty of other gun shops in Arizona and at least 10 others in the Pinetop area.

Then there was the guy in Florida (not Arizona for once) who committed suicide supposedly because of the results of the election. Now he was not at all mentally stable, and perhaps just thought this was a good reason for something he already wanted to do. Any which way, it is kind of scary to me.

So, what does this leave us with?

Lastly, I would like to quote a famous saying that has gotten some legs lately. It was from the UK war propaganda department and it encouraged the citizens to “Keep Calm and Carry On.” Keep in mind that this was during the London blitz by the Nazis where bombs were destroying London. Are things for us now in the USA really that bad? We had an election that did not work out the way 48% of us wanted, well that 48% has two years to do better in the next election. So please, calm down, it is not the apocalypse, it was just an election. I posted last week my disgust that Prop. 204 did not get passed here in AZ, but I have gotten over it. So, keep calm and carry on. Have a nice Thanksgiving. Be thankful we live in a country where you can vote. Perhaps also rethink your stance on a few topics. Just sayin'!

From the wikipedia page on Keep Calm and Carry On.

Prop. 204 Fought the Car and the Car (Dealerships) Won

Hilariously sad and true cartoon drawn by David Fitzsimmons of the Arizona Daily Star.

Well, actually Prop. 204 was not trying to fight anyone but was to help education and create jobs. It was to permanently keep a one cent sales tax (that we already had) and the funds were to educate our kids in Arizona and create jobs by building better roads. But many did not like the fact that the tax would be permanent. Those have to be some of the most terrifying words in red state America: a permanent tax! Prop. 204 was soundly defeated. I was all for Prop. 204 and was very sad when it was rejected by the voters mostly because my kids and their friends are going to suffer, educationally speaking.

The car dealerships certainly did not like 204, and they fought it by giving lots of money to the anti-204 groups. In the last few days before the November 6th election, Arizona televisions were awash with negative ads put on the air by groups that were funded by auto dealerships, but they were not the only ones. Many businesses that were not going to benefit from Prop. 204 put their money into bringing it down. It is very interesting that one of the super-pacs that funded money into anti-204 ads has been sited by California as doing “money laundering.” This super-pac is called Americans for Responsible Leadership. I think a better name would be “Republicans for Tax Cuts and Partisan Bickering” since they also brought down Prop. 121, which was to create an open primary in Arizona. But maybe that is probably being too truthful.

It was amazing to me that many super-pacs failed in their bid to manipulate the majority of Americans into voting their way nationally. It gives me hope that the whole Citizens United decision will not buy major elections for the rich. I guess it only works in small, local elections. The super-pac money certainly worked to kill 204 and screw the children of Arizona out of enough money to properly educate them.

Now Governor Jan Brewer says she will look into doing something about funding education. This means we need to trust her and the state legislature to fund education properly. Something tells me they will fall short. There might be enough there, but I bet they would rather spend that money for their crony friends in the private prison business. Since we won't be educating the kids, those kids might just turn to crime. Then the jails will be justified, won't they?

When It Comes To Talking about Your Vote: DON'T ASK AND DON'T TELL!

Meme care of Pointsincase.com

This is it! The last day, election day. I, for one, am SO HAPPY it is almost over. Unless we have a debacle like 2000. That is what some of the polls are saying. It is 50/50! It's too close to call! Well that may be the case for certain polls, but when you look at polling aggregates the story is rather clear, unless the polls are inaccurate. We shall see, but when it comes to who I believe, it will aways be the statistic geeks over the pundits.

Now that this magical day is upon us, you may get asked: Who did you vote for? And PLEASE, DO VOTE! Well, after voting, I say don't ask and don't tell! I know that military policy was oppressive to gay servicemen and women, but when it comes to a political election: do you want a lecture? Do you want to hear on how you are so wrong and they are so right? Even if their candidate lost? You have made your decision and voted and do not need that aggravation. Heck, yesterday I got a lecture because I said we should just be grateful for democracy. That person would not even see my point and wrote a lecture I did not need about how we don't really live in a democracy...blah blah blah. I know democracy can suck and is controlled by the rich, but it is a whole lot better than living in North Korea. I say these are the type of people to avoid after election day.

If I was the boss, I would ban all political chatter on November 7th for at least a two month cool down period. Maybe by January, we will mostly be talking about holiday gifts and a little about the election. Unless you know someones political leanings and you feel safe to express your feelings without getting “the lecture.” If your boss was the type that said if so-and-so wins, we may have layoffs, you definitely should not talk politics and you may want to look for another job anyway. I'm just saying since that does not sound like the best place to work. The layoffs may have been coming any which way.

Polling is a different story. If you want to participate in a poll, please do so! Pollsters should not be lecturing you on your vote and this is a way to have an idea of who is going to win. I am just talking about avoiding that annoying person at work, etc.

By the way, TODAY is the last day you can get “The Chronicles of IDIOT” for FREE at Smashwords.com. Don't let it pass you by!

Lastly, it seems that Arizona may be a swing state soon, so I am feeling nauseous again... It would be great to actually have a real say in who would be president. But not at the price of the tsunami of political ads that would be saturating our lives.

A Real American "Horror" Short Story – Meet Mr. United States

Meet Mr. United States, he is a big wig in his neighborhood of Earthly Delights. He is President of the the neighborhood HOA, called the EDUN. Many other homeowners respect Mr. States because he seems to be honest and hardworking. Unfortunately, his confident demeanor hides someone who has secrets.

His secret is that he is in debt, and that debt keeps getting worse. He owes many people on his block, mainly his neighbor on another street, Mr. People's Republic-of-China also know as 先生 China. 先生 China seems pretty cool about the loan, but United has to keep asking for more money. And sure, the loans are at a fairly low interest rate, but they keep stacking up!

Mr. United States works for millions of people, and his bosses ride him hard. They are a confused, constantly infighting boss who can't keep their story straight and always want more for them. He keeps asking for loans for a multitude of things his bosses want, but they don't want to pay for it. He keeps asking for a pay raise so he can pay these loans, but the bosses don't want it coming out of their pockets. But there is something else about his bosses...

He has some pretty nice neighbors on Americana Street. Monsieur Canada is an outdoorsman and hippy type and his half-brother. Señor Mexico has lots of kids and is always having fun fiestas with fantastic food. It is sad that Señor Mexico's son, seems to be growing and selling drugs, United is worried that his son will buy the drugs. He tells his kids “Just Say No” but that does not mean they listen.

Mr. States' Dad is Sir United Kingdom. He is a bit stuffy and lives on another block called Europa Lane. There was some trouble earlier in their relationship. Dad wanted United to live with him and to be called Colony. United HATED that name and rebelled as many young do. They now have a rather cordial relationship, but it can be tense at times despite their common language.

Europa lane is a bit of the nicer street in the neighborhood. But lately old Kiros Greece has had the same type of debt problems and has not been keeping up appearances and Herr Germany has said he would help him keep up his yard. Crotchety old Kiros Greece does not like the changes mainly because it might mean he would have to move to the nursing home, called Mount Olympus. Signore Italy, Señor Spain and a few others in the neighborhood have also been not keeping up appearances on Europa Lane, it is expensive!

Oriental Road has 先生 China as well as gọi bằng ông Viet Nam. Whom Mr. States had a rather nasty car crash with a while ago. It did not go well for either parties. Mr. Australia owns a large McMansion on the end of the road, after he was kicked out of Europa lane, it was a terrible scandal!

So Mr. States has to make a decision. His bosses demand he keep up appearances, but he has to cut back, but on what? Some want a wall around the house, especially on the side with Señor Mexico, but that does not seem very neighborly.

The scariest thing about Mr. States life are his bosses. Because they are also his children. How can you say no to children, especially when they act like children?

But pretty soon he will have to tell them no to the BMW and no, we cannot get the iPad mini. They may have to look at universities more within their budget, yes it would be great to go to university on Europa Lane but we are not made of money. Especially because it is your money that runs this house!

There was a scare when many of his children had to stay home from school, it reminded him of the major illness his kids had called the great infection. It was terrible. Lately, his kids have been quite sick but it was not an infection, just a sniffle. Every time this happens things financially get worse and therefore United needs to use his loan money even more. Medicine is expensive for his family, many in his neighborhood don't have to pay as much cause they have a special deal with the medical providers, but United's bosses/kids don't want to pay for it, so they still have to pay more.

Someday this whole mess is going to come to a head. It will probably happen when someone else gets elected President of the HOA. United is worried that China will run and not just to make sure he has an opponent, but for keeps. Then he can up the interest rates, so Mr. United States had better get his stuff together and get his bosses/kids in line with the new situation.

It will take something drastic, more than just taking away the wifi.

Poor Mr. United States...

Well duh. But the real situation is much worse...

The 99 Cent Club – Part 2 - Meet Crazy Erin...

My prices are insane! ...to make a living so I am going to have to lower them. Yes, I said I wasn't, at least until my next book came out but I am not King or Pratchett, a.k.a., I am not a writing machine.

So, guess what you lucky shoppers: for the next week the e-book of“The Chronicles of IDIOT” is going to be FREE at Smashwords.com. Zip, zero, nada, nothing, $0, but this is only till November 7th and only at Smashwords. The insanity of the election including all those nasty ads that I try to avoid have made me CRAZY.... I am practically giving this book away, wait, I am giving this book away!

If you are too slow, then on November 7th (unless I am crazy enough to forget) the e-book will go to it's new price of $0.99. Yep, I am officially joining the 99 cent club. For real this time... I guess it is a never say never situation.

Amazon.com and many other places will not let me go crazy, so I am going to the craziest price for them: $0.99, thanks to their KDP exclusive nonsense. I have already distributed the book to other sources, that genie cannot be put back in the bottle, and Amazon won't let you give your book away unless it is through KDP!

If you want the paper book, sorry but those prices are staying the same. I am too insane to change the prices all over town and maybe am just a bit lazy. It does not matter anyways, those are going the way of the dinosaur anyway!

So to recap: “The Chronicles of IDIOT” my satirical novella will be FREE as an e-book for the next week at Smashwords.com! Then it will be sold for the insanely low price of $0.99. Hopefully BN, Apple, Diesel and the like will get on the stick but for now they are still at $2.99. By next week they should be $0.99 along with Google books. Now it is time to get back on my meds!

If You Are Registered - JUST VOTE!

Thanks memethevote and Tumbler for the pic!

My hubby and I turned in our ballots last week! In Arizona, we have this wonderful mail-in voting system. You can still wait in line and vote on election day, but I certainly prefer making my mind up at home and mailing that sucker in!

This is my hubbies first presidential election since he has been a baby US citizen. He was so excited to vote that he got started within a few days of getting the ballot. Me, being mildly competitive, got started a few days after he did and finished my ballot that same day. Here are some web resources we used to help make our decisions.

Get the facts:  factcheck.org

If you don’t like reading then look at the truth-o-meter at: Politifact.com

If you accidentally threw out the ballot measures pamphlet there is this resource:  Ballotpedia

http://www.ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

And since they NEVER send you anything for Judges (but you are still supposed to judge them) here is: Judgepedia

http://judgepedia.org/index.php/Main_Page

or for AZ Judges (with bios, opinion surveys from attorneys, etc.)

http://www.azjudges.info/

You can also google your county registrar to get information for your local elections. Also, your local paper should have bios on most candidates of local elections, such as school boards, etc.

I am glad we mailed our ballots in, since we have gotten semi-official information that our polling place has changed. I am not sure if it is legitimate or is some sort-of shady ruse. Sorry, don't need to wait in line in the possibly wrong place, my vote is already in!

Another thing – I avoid and ignore all TV and mail propaganda. Video streaming and Netflix allow us to live a fairly commercial free lifestyle that I have grown accustomed to. With the mail crap, I just recycle them with a tiny bit of a glance.

Try to make an informed decision on the facts, not the propaganda! Have your voice heard (especially if you are in a swing state) and good luck!

By the way, BIG ANNOUNCEMENT NEXT WEEK! It will be a two-for-one blogs, but not till next Tuesday!

The T Word - Part 3 - Who’s Jobs Are They?

You got a job? Congratulations. You are like most of our country. Working to live.  About 7% of us work for the government in a direct way. Even more work in the private sector for government contractors. This has been in the news lately, due to the cuts that are going to be implemented in January 2013. Yet another part of our fiscal cliff is that not only will taxes be raised but the government will cut money to contractors. These cuts will be about 1.2 trillion over a seven year period, starting in January.

Now usually the right wing is all for that, except that $500 billion dollars in cuts will cost jobs in the defense industry. That includes quite a few jobs here in Tucson at Raytheon Missile Systems. They are crying in their leather seats about how unfair it is.

I do find it ironic that they are all for cuts unless it is for defense. I agree that the defense of our country is important, but the cold war is over. We are only fighting small regional conflicts and we need to be a powerful but more flexible and nimble fighting force. We also have allies, many allies who have our backs when we have a serious issue that needs to be resolved. Remember the first Iraq war? So, last year it was Libya. Last year and this year it is Syria. These are small countries, we do not need to maintain a large fighting force for this. We have left Iraq, and are leaving Afghanistan soon. We never should have even invaded Iraq and we should have put those forces to better use in Afghanistan because that place is a huge military quagmire. Yes, there is still terrorism but having a large and expensive fighting force for them since Osama Bin Laden is dead, it is like swatting a fly with a ballistic missile.

My point is we are finishing our large scale battles. Some are rattling their sabers about Iran, but I hope to God that gets resolved by it's own people, because when we get involved, it gets complicated and expensive.

Back to what I wanted to talk about: government job cuts. It seems like there is a disconnect between anti-large government groups and their concern for the economy. They say: “Cut spending now! But the unemployment rate is too high! And lower our taxes!” Sorry folks, but you cannot have your cake and eat it too.

When you cut spending someone is losing their job, and maybe they will get a private sector job right away, but maybe not. That adds to the unemployment rate, which worsens our economy. So even if we are scaling back our defense or any other department, we should do it more slowly, to help our economy recover.

As Senator McCain says "Now, I agree strongly that we could have reductions in spending in both defense and non-defense, but it must be done with a scalpel, not a meat ax."

Now, I don't know if those 1.2 trillion cuts will be made or if congress will kick that can down the road. To “kick that can” would help our current economy, but it would also hurt our future. Soon, I am going to give what I hope could be a solution. Not that anyone would listen, cause what I would propose would hurt everyone. Yes, a compromise is in mind and something that would have to take decades and would span legislative and presidential eras. We have the need, we just need the political will.

I would like to end with a political cartoon which I find especially funny because I am somewhat of a political satirist and am not paid anything for it. My husband pays our bills and because he works for the University of Arizona doing biochemistry research, we depend on the federal government for that rather small paycheck. So you may see why cuts to the government can directly effect our lives.

It is a sad day when this stuff can't be made up: a story about a country that wants huge tax cuts but has a huge debt and deficit. I swear nobody would believe me!

The T Word - Part 2 - We Are On A Fiscal Cliff...

Last year our do-nothing congress and anemic president could not agree on increasing our debt ceiling.  So they passed it on to a bipartisan committee that gave us two options.  

To state what our government did with these options, I quote Fareed Zakaria of CNN:

“It's a punt. I mean, it's one more occasion where Congress has basically punted, kicked the can down the road, use what metaphor you want. It cuts $21 billion out of the 2012 budget, which is the only budget over which this Congress actually has any authority ... The Democrats are saying no cuts to entitlements. The Republicans are saying no taxes. That's great except we all know the only solution to our long-term debt problem is cuts in entitlements and new taxes.”

They punted and now we are on a fiscal cliff.  We have to do something but are faced with a congress that would rather blame the other party than actually compromise.  That compromise would have to be like Mr. Zakaria states “cut entitlements and new taxes.”  No, my tea party friends, he does not mean to cut taxes but to repeal the Bush era tax cuts.  We need to a balanced approach that will have to be longer than any term in office to work.  

Below is a chart from the Congressional Budget office which shows what will happen if we do or do not repeal the Bush era tax cuts:


President Bush started these tax cuts because we had paid down to the point where we did not have a budgetary deficit.  According to him, we had earned them.  Then we got into two wars.  It is no wonder we are in this fix. But to solve the deficit and therefore the debt we need to do things slowly. Do it quickly and we will be on the road to recessionville again.

What do they say to people on the edge of a building or of a cliff?  Back away....slowly.  Doing things slowly involves compromise, are you listening, congress?

America has to be for the people, not for the parties.  Our parties have gotten us in trouble.  That is one of the reasons I am an Independent, therefore I am an American first and foremost.  Taking oaths to NEVER increase taxes is doing a huge disservice to our country.  Democracy depends upon compromise.  If there is no compromise, there is no progress.

Lastly, I will quote ousted Republican Representative from Oklahoma Mickey Edwards from his book “The Parties Versus the People”:

“In a sane world, in which the men and women we elect to Congress apply their own research and intelligence to the important decisions that confront them, we would expect some number of Republicans to vote with Democrats and some Democrats to line up with Republicans. But on the big issues, the ones that matter most, solid blocs face other solid blocs, unmovable, unflinching in their loyalty to the party "team." And that is because of the framework within which our politics unfolds. As we will see, party leaders control important committee assignments, provide or withhold money for reelection campaigns, and advance or block team members' legislative priorities; in our political system, one often pays a significant price for exercising independent judgment.”

The T Word

Taxes. Benjamin Franklin is famous for saying "in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes."  So, I ask you, would you prefer more money and less infrastructure? Would you like fewer policemen and just get a big fence around your yard? How about fewer working bridges and everyone just own SUVs. Would you like fewer public schools and just have to hire idiots, or worse foreigners?

These questions are not to piss you off (although it may do that for some of my family). It is to show you a small fraction of what our taxes pay for. In every other first world country taxes pays for universal health care. But I am not here to promote that, just give it as an example of what taxes can do.

There are people who take advantage of the system.  I am more upset about a company that dodges taxes than the welfare cheat. Because we are talking about a lot more money. Lately, there seems to be a lot of sympathy for these 'job creators' but I don't have much sympathy for them when they get lots of tax deals from our government but still don't do much hiring. But I digress again, what I am really here to talk about is education funding.

In Arizona, we have Proposition 204 on the ballot in November, which would make permanent a one cent per dollar sales tax for education and jobs. I am all for it because our state legislature has slashed education spending to the bone. Would you like an example?  Every year my sons class sends out a list of needed items such as paper towels, soap, glue and pens, ect.  We never had to provide those things when I was a kid.  Also, my son’s school does these fund raisers that use peer pressure to help get the school more money.  Peer pressure?  Yes, they have posters in front of the library with all the classes and each kids name with how much they have “sold.”  In other words, how much they have gotten their parents and grandparents to give.  This would be unheard of in a church or for a political fundraiser where amounts and names are hush hush.  When our school superintendent says we are using the funds more wisely, what he means is they are paying the low salaries and for some supplies.

So kids (like mine) need these dollars to keep their schools better funded.  What really gets my ire is that the opposition to this proposition is saying it will fund “special interests.”  So education has become a special interest?  Well it is of special interest to me to make sure my children are not idiots and education has everything to do with that. Education is an investment in the future economy of the state.  You want a crappy economic future?  Don’t fund education.

Lastly, I would like to ask; do you want this country to be more like the USA or more like a third world country?  It seems that many uber-rich wouldn’t mind turning the USA into a third world country as long as they don’t have to pay.  Well, if you are not fighting for your country, then at least you could help keep the country running.  Freedom isn’t free and if you are not going to pay with your blood, then you should at least pay your fair share of the green.

On 'On Writing'

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My father-in-law sent me ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King early this summer. I told him I would read it right away. Unfortunately, I lied. To be perfectly honest, I was intimidated by Stephen King and still am. He is a legend in the writing community. Heck, I still remember a Saturday Night Live skit where they were interviewing him (Jon Lovitz playing him) and during the interview he was typing away at a typewriter! It is still funny to watch, and still intimidating.

I finally got to reading it this month. What can I say except I am still intimidated. My favorite part of this book has to be the first part called CV. That stands for curriculum vitae or as we lay people like to say, resume. This was the autobiographical part of the book and gives us a view into his childhood and early adulthood. One of the few things Stephen King and I have in common is that we both have a hard time remembering childhood. His did sound a lot rougher than mine, growing up with a single mother. This seemed to toughen him up and give him perspective. Some thing different between us is he knew he wanted to be a writer from an early age. I was in my mid-thirties before I decided to take a crack at it.  Some of his stories and advice about submitting to magazines as a stepping stone to getting published seems quaint and outdated.  The past five years has brought a strange new publishing world, and we are in the wild west still finding out what works for publishing.  One nice thing is he does not say anything about marketing, and he never will have to say anything about that, his name sells the books.

The second section is called the Toolbox. It talks about the tools writers need to write well. These are useful tools, such as grammar, usage, less is usually more, tell your version of the truth, and read. This last piece of advice is the easiest for me to follow. I love reading, it is the easiest part of this job! Less is more means being conservative with your writing, add too much and you will bore the reader.  Being truthful in my writing is also easy for me because I am a painfully truthful person.  My writing friend, Chris Godsoe, recently wrote a blog about lying to your readers.  Yes, in writing fiction you lie, but you need to do it truthfully or the readers will not buy the story.  

The third section is called On Writing. This was the hardest section to get through. It would be great if I could do all the things he suggests. Some of these are having a writing room where I could shut the door when I am working on a first draft or write two thousand (or ten pages) a day, even on holidays and birthdays. It is just not possible right now. If that makes me a lightweight, so be it.

I do have to say that the second half of this book feels uneven. That can easily be forgiven after reading the last section called On Living. During the writing of this book Mr. King was run over by a van driven by a complete idiot, a person who should not have the privilege of driving. He probably is still terrorizing the roads of Maine today. It is a miracle that Mr. King was not killed, and that he can walk now after this horrible accident.  He often displays candor but never as much as when he says “...it occurs to me that I have nearly been killed by a character right out of one of my own novels.  It’s almost funny.”

I cannot help but call him Stephen “the” King.  Like J.K. Rowling, he had done what many of us would like to do.  He is living the dream.  After that accident, he could have retired and not written another word and he would still be a legend.  But he healed and has since then written a ton according to his bibliography.  That probably does not include the things that he is still knocking around in his head.  

When I was a teenager, I read a lot of his work:  The Shining, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, Cujo, Misery, and The Stand, just to name a few.  But his first published novel, Carrie, really resonated with me.  He really captured teenage anxiety and anger very well.  While I was not made fun of in high school, I was ignored, I still could relate to Carrie’s life.  Characters you can relate to (especially as a teenager) can get you into a lifetime of reading.  

Lastly, I should say that he gives the best and most unusual description of what good writing is...”Telepathy, of course.” If it is done well, writing communicates what the writer is thinking to the brain of the reader.  There is some translation, but that gives the reader the chance to flex their imagination and with good writing you give them a universe to visualize your story.

He's A Mac, She's a PC, and I Really Don't Care...

Technology is wonderful. It gives us so many convenient ways to communicate. With all these convenient methods comes opinion. This computer is better than that one. That one may be better but it is really expensive. It goes on and on. It becomes like politics where people seem to have a party in mind. Like politics, when it comes to computers, I am an independent.

Some people are in the cult of Apple while others are in the cult of Microsoft. Often they say PC. But really aren't all home computers personal computers? There is also the outlier, Unix. Many don't know know or understand it but it is becoming the latest in smartphone and tablet technology. I am writing this on our new tablet. I am trying to get used to the touch screen but I still love and miss my keyboard. This is a test for me and my mobile writing ability.

A few days ago, I accidentally dropped our "Mini-me", and which is our little name for our net book. That little computer was where I wrote most of my blogs and book and where I was working (slowly) on the next one. In dropping Mini-me, I a broke its screen and the therefore its mobility. We can still use it but we need to hook it up to a monitor. So here I am outside while my daughter rides her tricycle around trying to write this blogs on our new nexus tablet. It is a cute tablet and like mini me we have christened it “Tab.”

Tab has a jelly bean operating system which is based on Unix. Unix is family of open (free) software that anyone can edit and make their own. It does take an extensive knowledge of computer language skills that most people don't have, and like me. Our computer expert in our house is my hubby. He has our home computer and mini-me running Ubuntu Operating System, which is based on Unix and as a lay person, I can say it runs quite nicely. I would put my hubby in the Microsoft /Unix group which sort of makes him an independent like me. Except he does have a rather intense loathing of Apple.

To be a true computer independent, and you need to see that each system has its good points and it's bad points. To say that one is superior to another, and which the cult members often do, is silly because there is often a counter argument.

I think a persons preference can be skewed by a bad experience. My hubby's distaste for Apple came from trying to write a thesis on a Mac that gave him a whole lot of trouble. I am not crazy about Gateway to computers because of a bad experience I had in college. Just like a liberal getting mugged can make you a conservative, a bad computer experience can make you love one type over another. I still like to call Gateways the Gateway to Hell. Do they even sell those anymore?

Back in my previous working life, I worked in science. Let me tell you, when it comes to computers and scientists, very few of them are true independents. They are biased to their systems, thank you very much. In working for different scientists, I have had to work with Macs, Windows and even Unix. All had their good points and bad points and that has reinforced my computer independence. I will work with what you give me, unless it is a Gateway. Just kidding. :)

I Reject The Beauty Is Pain Myth

Women are supposed to be beautiful. Evolutionarily we are to attract mates and so we work on our appearance to make it pleasing to potential mates. Then we will have offspring who will continue our genetic line. But in doing so do we really need to hurt ourselves for that mate?

If you don't think it hurts to be a woman try wearing a corset or high heels. Either you cannot breathe or you have to adjust your balance so you will not fall over with every step you take. These items are supposed to “enhance your silhouette” or some such nonsense. As long as we buy into these lies, and buy these products this myth will persist.

I have a daughter, whom I adore. I do not want her to suffer to be beautiful. The thing is, she already is beautiful. Why try to improve on perfection? I will try to instill in her a sense of self esteem and help her realize that some of the most hurtful people out there say they want to try to help. Her friends who make fun of her, the friend who steals a boy she likes, we women and girls can be very cruel.

A good example of that lately is Gabby Douglas, the gymnastics Olympian. She was criticized for her hair during what should have been a high point of her life. She is a wonderful example to our daughters and others just want to cut her down. Do you know what is done to straighten hair? It can be astoundingly painful. Watch the Chris Rock documentary “Good Hair.”

As for me? I will continue to wear sandals and flats instead of heels (usually) and if I do wear heals, believe me, they are comfortable. I am usually in jeans (comfort) and a t-shirt. If I want to dress it up I add lip gloss and a “nice” shirt. I do wear makeup, just not everyday. It is better for my skin. My hair is wash and wear unless I decide I have the time to do it and that will take as little of time as possible. My hair stylist, Joe, makes sure it will work that way. There are times I do get more dolled up for a date with my hubby or going to the Opera with my Mom. Just not everyday and I try to keep things as comfy as possible.

And my hubby? He does not seem to mind. He wants to be comfortable as well. Not quite the metro-sexual, and I do not mind that, either.

I will sign off with the famous Billy Crystal SNL character “Fernando” saying very tongue-in-cheek “It is better to look good, than to feel good.” Well, that may be how some women see it but I would rather comfortably laugh than try to compete in something that you will never win.

Anti-Intellectualism 201: Historically Speaking, We Revise, Revise, Revise.

Facebook is fun. You get to keep in touch with friends, family and possibly meet people who are kind of like you. You share interests, laughs and most definitely opinions. Those memes are cute.  They usually give us a good laugh. Then opinions are thrown in, then political opinions, and gentle (and not so gentle) insults are given and received. Then Facebook is not so fun. I got into a FB fight about health care recently. Boy, what a mistake that was. The guy kept using blogs as sources. I give everyone permission NOT to use my blog as a source. Blogs are opinions, like memes.

Those memes are like the new t-shirt or bumper-sticker. They boil down an opinion to a phrase, sentence or paragraph. The picture below is of bumper-sticker you can get from the good people at zazzle.com and I have seen this meme around Facebook.

I would like to say definitively, no, President George W. Bush, I do not miss you. I do not miss much about the economic mess that was your presidential career. People who do miss you are revising their memories and cutting and pasting your screw ups to President Obama. Hence the above meme. I am not saying President Obama has done a perfect job, but he had to steer this country away from an economic catastrophe. That is not an easy thing to do.

The word revise is an interesting one. Dictionary.com defines it as:

re·vise

   [ri-vahyz] Show IPA verb, re·vised, re·vis·ing, noun, verb (used with object)

1. to amend or alter: to revise one's opinion.

2. to alter something already written or printed, in order to make corrections, improve, or update: to revise a manuscript.
3. British . to review (previously studied materials) in preparation for an examination.

My husband (since he is British) often uses the last definition and that throws me off a bit. I think of our interpretation of history is more like the first and second definitions. Not usually in a good way.

It is said that history is written by the victors. Well in our democracy, I would say that history is revised by both political parties until you cannot remember what the truth happened to be. To improve the history till it fits your beliefs.

Remember President Reagan? He is now the banner boy and meme star for conservatives. I find it rather funny because Reagan would be considered a moderate in today's political landscape. He did do an AMNESTY for illegal aliens. That would be political suicide today in the Republican Party. But never mind, he is a conservative god.

Remember President Clinton? He is also a moderate in todays political landscape. He did sign the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act which then helped the country to build an economic banking bubble. The act separated commercial and investment banking. I think that did fuel budget to our first budget surplus in a long time. Then George W. Bush spent it all and threw us right back into the red, then, surprise surprise, the financial crisis happened. Should have Clinton not repealed Glass-Steagall? Well, all we can do is reenact the provisions that would separate commercial and investment banking again.

I think Clinton's intentions were good (he was always concerned about the economy), but we always think that mistakes of the past (the Great Depression) will not happen again because we are so much smarter now. That thinking put us in a Great Recession. My point is that Clinton was not so left-wing and I think his signing this (as well as Don't Ask Don't Tell) puts him in a territory that seems to be no-man's land now.

Life, history and politics are always more complicated than what can be put on a postcard, bumper-sticker or meme. To intelligently vote, you need to do research, lots of it, and then make up your mind for yourself.

Let us all try to interpret history as accurately as possible. Historical revisionism is like any other fraud. One that comes to mind is faking results in science. It may help one person get fake kudos and recognition but it holds back what the real result is because it is not reproducible. Revising history helps one person or party but it holds us all back.

Speaking of fraud, have you heard that there is a movement of Representatives running for the Senate that want to repeal the 17th Amendment? Leaving all that decision making to our state legislatures. I don't trust my state legislature (of Arizona) to much of anything so why would I want to give them my vote for senator. This is yet another example of historical revisionist thinking. The reason for the 17th Amendment was to take away the rampant corruption from the process.

I am an independent because of all the corruption I find in both parties. Why would I “trust” the state legislature to this important decision? Let those rich politicians do the thinking for me? NO WAY!

I actually started a Facebook political “discussion” about this very topic. This idea was defended by my Uncle David as resembling the Electoral College. I am also not crazy about that idea from our Founding Fathers. But it does seem that this process is not too corrupt. That we know of... Actually we got some very interesting ideas such as 6 year single terms for Presidents (no more lame ducks) or go the whole FDR route of no term limits. I like the first idea, as for the second one I agree with my friend Joni who said “Too royal.” My cousin John thought it would be a good idea for the loser of the election to get “2nd place” and become the Vice-President. I then joked that we would have a do nothing executive branch. It is a good idea, except for all the divisiveness. This actually happens in other countries where there is a President (1st place) and a Prime Minister (2nd place). Zimbabwe comes to mind. It does not work, due to the rampant corruption...

We all dread the political season, except for those who seem to revel in it. I for one cannot wait till November 7th, 2012. The day after the election.

Then a few days ago a friend posted this meme of a poster which is a representation of our discussion above:

I like it (along with 24 other people) and completely agree: Then after 15 shares and 4 positive comments, we get this from someone who I will not share their name but will guess that they are a GOP operative:

“There can be no debate if only a war will decide the victor. Politics and voting was designed to stop killing wars when word wars fail to get results. Like gay marriage. Without politics and voting, bullets would be used. We are polarized and it will never change. Why do you think Democrats want socialism under a dictator? If they were honest, they could never win. If they were open to dialog, they would never win. So it must be low life because republicans would never win. If the plan is domination why have a dialog? Dems want domination nothing else. So names, Lies, and underhandedness is the only way... who on the left can have an honest dialog? Exactly. No one. So ... capitulate or fire with fire.”

What can you say to that? I would say “This way to the loony bin.” But I don't think that person would appreciate humor. That person is ITCHING for a fight. So I said nothing.

So, I have to add this, because if a friend of mine put that out there I would at the very least have to do this:

But I am not going to, because everyone is entitled to their opinions. That does not mean I won't think they are a GOP operative that are desperately trying to shake that etch-a-sketch.