Women and Children First?

This is a picture I took yesterday, at least they didn't have the show on the anniversary of the Tucson mass shooting but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

I hope most people in our world had a nice holiday. I know the people Newtown Connecticut had a terrible month. This could have been written about sooner but it was too fresh for me, and while many put out knee jerk reaction blogs to this tragedy. Things for me needed to be digested, thought about, contemplated and I just could not do that right after it happened. Instead, I decided to bash “The Hobbit” movie, that was just much easier to do. You see my son is in the first grade. If we were living in Newtown it could have easily been him in those classrooms. That made it so much harder to work on this blog. Also, today is the two year anniversary of the mass shooting in Tucson, yet another example of why I needed to speak out yet again on this subject.

I saw “Les Miserables” with my mother the day after Christmas. I do have to say it is quite well done for the big screen (not like “The Hobbit”) but it is still better as a live musical. I guess I just feel that about most musical performances, when it is live the performer has to be working their hardest. There are no second takes. The reason I mention this is while I cried my eyes out for most of the movie (it is NOT a happy story) I was particularly saddened when I watched “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.” It is so easy to exchange tables for desks and think of the children of Newtown. I also think of the people of Syria, who are fighting a dictatorship for their freedom. As we all know, freedom is not free, but if your country is safe and prosperous, do you need an arsenal at home?

The NRA says yes and stoutly defends our 2nd amendment to the Constitution. The NRA solution to this all is to not try to ban anything or help people with mental disorders. Instead they would like to place an armed police person in every school. I hate to say it but there was an armed guard at Columbine and that did not seem to help anything. Also, how would they pay for this? If Arizona is not going to raise taxes to improve the education of it's students, I don't think they will raise taxes to add a police presence to those schools. If the NRA would start a fund and add heavily to it to pay for this, then I might take them seriously.

There are some things that seem logical (to me) to prevent this type of tragedy:

1. There is a stigma to problems in mental health. Believe me, I know. I was in denial about my Depression because I did not want to be considered mentally ill. People need to understand that there are many with mental health issues out there and most of them are just trying to be good people. If there is help out there and screening for these issue. Then people will get help without prejudice. Understanding is necessary. Also, if I hear any more about that boy's Autism I could scream. I personally believe that anyone with Asperger's Syndrome is less likely to be violent than anyone else. They are usually quiet, studious people. Adam Lanza was the exception, and there are always exceptions. If this kid was treated a bit better, with more understanding, perhaps this would not have happened. It still might have, but there are also other ways.

2. If his mother did not have all those weapons this might not have happened. I have heard that a family member said that she had the weapons to defend herself since it was just her and her son. But did she need so many weapons? It only makes sense to me to have a permanent assault weapon ban and multi-bullet magazine ban. During the10 year Assault Weapons Ban, mass shootings were way down except for 1999 and the Columbine shooting. See graphic below from Sam Wang and Mark Follman. For more information see the link to the Princeton article.

I don't think those weapons are necessary unless you live in a war zone. We do NOT live in a war zone and I am not going to help that along just because some people feel insecure without a AK47. A handgun should be adequate. And who needs an AK47 to hunt Bambi anyway? Where is the sport in that? That is one of the few things I can agree with Ted Nugent about, as far as I am concerned, the only real hunters out there are the bow hunters. I am not advocating removal of the second amendment, as some are, but am just trying to add some common sense to it. It does not have to be all or nothing with guns, we can have some reasonable restrictions.

3. Nobody seems to talk about gun shows. But they are a HUGE loophole in any gun registration process. Those places are basically have no limits on what people can buy and how much. It seems there are some sensible people who are canceling Gun Shows, especially near Newtown. Where do you think the paranoid people are going to go if they don't want you to run a check on them? One of my favorite shows is Futurama, and in the episode where they did a play on “The Wizard of OZ” and when the cowardly Lion (in the form of Dr. Zoidberg) asked for courage, the Wizard said “Who needs courage when you can have a gun?” I think that goes exponentially for assault weapons. As far as I am concerned, if you do not live in a war zone and are not in a war, you are the biggest coward if you feel it is necessary to have a huge armory at home. If you do not like the way the United States is moving politically, then move. If you think you can take on the US (who has nuclear weapons) with your armory, you are quite mistaken. And I don't even want to talk about the chances of a zombie apocalypse, if that is the reason for your armory, I feel sorry you wasted your money.

Finally, my son has become quite a Titanic fan. For Christmas he got two model kits and one already built small boat. I think being fascinated with large steam boats has helped him learn about the Titanic's tragedy. It helps him have to learn the unfortunate fact that terrible things happen in this world. But back then it was the women and children that were saved first. It seems that now this chivalry is gone for it was women and children of Sandy Hook Elementary that were the first ones who suffered at the hands of this deranged individual who very easily stole an arsenal. I will pray for healing for the people of Newtown and for some sanity in our country about guns.

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.