Congratulations Elmhurst

Fort Wayne Elmhurst won their 1st Girls State Basketball Championship

Watchmen was good, but

Oh, yes, Watchmen was a very good movie. It was true to at least the surface level of the novel, even if the makers had to abandon some of the parallel levels that lent such texture to the novel. But let me tell you something, it is no movie for children. The Rave did its part last night, they had an usher at the door, carding everyone. Despite this, there were children in the audience, some even five and younger, allowed into the movie by their parents to see the graphic sex scenes, the full, male frontal nudity, the extremely violent attempted rape scene and to see the graphic-novel-esque violence of exploding bodies, meat cleaver killings and four-letter-word filled dialog.

One has to wonder what the hero of the movie, if there is a hero of the movie, Rorschach, would say (and do) to such parents.

So why, with all of that, would I consider Watchmen a good movie and a great book? Let's put it this way, I saw a trailer for a new Johnny Depp movie about John Dillinger, the Chicago gangster, and Melvin Purvis, one of the "untouchable" G-Men. Eliot Ness and Melvis Purvis were considered "untouchable" because they couldn't be corrupted, they couldn't be paid off by the criminals they were chasing (many other lawmen were paid to look the other way). Many people loved John Dillinger because they hated the banks and they saw Dillinger like Robin Hood, stealing from the rich bankers and making the corrupt establishment look bad. And then there were the untouchables, tasked with bringing in Dillinger, who were uncorruptable, uncompromising, and often just as violent. You can see the conflict: people loved Dillinger and weren't afraid of him because he was hurting those who were corrupt and not the normal, hard working, getting their job done people. Purvis, though, was a hard working, uncorrupt, getting the job done person. Watchmen is full of that kind of conflict, taken to the max.

Indiana "gets" $35 million for Police

Indiana is getting more than $35 million in stimulus money for law enforcement activities

This is the problem with journalists... they write like children. Did you ever have one of your young kids talk to you about money and believe all you had to do was go to the bank machine to "get" as much money as you want? Sure Indiana is going to "get" some money -- In fact, Indiana will be "getting" well over $11 billion from the stimulus -- over $1,700 per person in Indiana, but that is dwarfed by the folks in the District of Columbia who will be "getting" nearly $2,600 per person. I guess the folks in D.C. need to be stimulated more than the folks in the heartland. But what will be the cost of "getting" this money in the long run?

A better headline would be "Washington borrows $1 trillion from China, chucks $35 million at Indiana to expand Hoosier Police programs because Lord knows, we can't have any government programs shrink."

15 Hoosier children injured by Elephant at the Fairgrounds

Spooked Elephant at Indiana Circus Knocks down scaffolding, injuring children

Political Persecution

For those of you who don't read the news, our current Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, failed to pay all of his taxes.  Once nominated to be Treasury Secretary (and head of the IRS), he paid his $34,000 back tax bill.  Now this bothers a lot of people, but when one fellow started selling an ink stamp for stamping "Tax Cheat" over Mr. Geithner's name on new folding money, suddenly the IRS decided to audit him.  So the IRS, headed by someone who cheated on their taxes, doesn't audit their leader, but someone who hasn't cheated but just made fun of the Treasury Secretary.

So goes our nation... speak out at your own risk.

1 Trillion Dollars

What does 1 Trillion Dollars look like?

Peter Tork

What's our generation coming to?  First I hear that Robin Williams has to have heart surgery, and now Peter Tork (of the Monkees) has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.  I wish them both well... good luck, guys!

Obama's need for speed

I thought this article by Tom Beven was quite interesting

President Obama is in a hurry. A big hurry. Not only with the way he demanded Congress pass the stimulus bill, but also with his desire to enact the sweeping changes across major sectors of American life he outlined in his first address to Congress. Contrast Obama's opening salvo with another young president who took office amid turbulent times both at home and abroad. On January 30, 1961, this is how John F. Kennedy began his first speed to Congress:

I speak today in an hour of national peril and national opportunity. Before my term has ended, we shall have to test anew whether a nation organized and governed such as ours can endure. The outcome is by no means certain. The answers are by no means clear. All of us together--this Administration, this Congress, this nation-must forge those answers.

But today, were I to offer--after little more than a week in office--detailed legislation to remedy every national ill, the Congress would rightly wonder whether the desire for speed had replaced the duty of responsibility.

Kennedy offered this strikingly prudent tone despite the fact that his Democratic party held even larger majorities in the House (263 seats) and the Senate (64 seats) than Obama's party holds today (233 seats in the House and 58 in the Senate). Obama, on the other hand, went before Congress after one month on the job and unveiled a list of promises to transform American healthcare, energy, education, etc.

In his address, Kennedy went on to tell Congress that "the prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust."

Read the whole thing, though, including Kennedy's first speech to Congress.  Sometimes, often, speed is not our friend.

Cap and Trade vs. Michigan

Will President Obama's insistence on the reduction of man-made carbon dioxide in the atmosphere push Michigan over the brink into bankruptcy?  The Detroit News thinks so... and it won't be only Michigan...

President Barack Obama's proposed cap-and-trade system on greenhouse gas emissions is a giant economic dagger aimed at the nation's heartland -- particularly Michigan. It is a multibillion-dollar tax hike on everything that Michigan does, including making things, driving cars and burning coal.

The president is asking for a system of government limits on carbon emissions. The right to emit carbon would be auctioned off to generate revenue for more government spending programs.

That's the plan -- tax everyone who's doing anything to pay the way for those who do nothing.

Hacking your phone jacks

I haven't yet made that jump so many are making, to stop my land line phone service and only use cell phones. But for those of you who have, here is a very nice, step-by-step procedure for pumping your cell phone service into your home's phone jacks. Think about it, apartments and homes have phone jacks all over the place... wouldn't it be nice if they rang when your cell phone rang? Wouldn't it be nice if you could use your old land-line telephones to make cell phone calls? Hey, it's your wiring, you might as well use it.

And this is as good a time as any to promote the Instructables - make-it-yourself web site... if you're a do-it-yourselfer, you might want to bookmark it

The Hoosier Stimulus

If you thought the federal stimulus money that reached Indiana lawmakers would just be flushed away, well... you'd be right!

A little good news

BAE systems, which makes electronics for Boeing planes, is consolidating to Ft. Wayne.  This means another couple hundred good jobs for Fort Wayne.   Bad news for Texas, but a little good news for northern Indiana.  BAE will be hiring for production and engineering locally by the end of March.