In continuing my recent theme on death and the afterlife, I rented this movie…I mean how could I resist with that title?…and as the title says, it is truly a love story – set in a dreary purgatory of an afterlife filled with people who’ve killed themselves. The premise was interesting but the execution was less than stellar.
There is an excellent article in the Dallas Observer titled “Battle Against Teaching Evolution in Texas Begins”. It lays out the issues in the upcoming battle for the classrooms of Texas and discusses the history and motivations of the major players. The article starts with the recent battle for control of the State Board of Education (SBOE) at the March 4th primary elections, which I’m sure most people didn’t realize was happening, then discusses the Institution for Creation Research and their reasons for relocating to Texas and continues with the background on the appointment of Dan McLeroy to head the SBOE by Governor Rick Perry.
It goes on to detail the past issues with the SBOE and their ability to reject textbooks, even if those books are recommended by the teachers and specialists in those fields. Those past abuses lead to additional restrictions on the SBOE for textbook selection but those new restrictions have not stifled their resolve. The article details a recent denial of a math textbook on what appears to be very shaky ground. It’s a very sad story and it’s getting worse.
It’s a long article, but every Texan should read it. But don’t take my word for it, read the quote from Chris Comer, the recently fired director of Science education for Texas public schools.
“What really disturbs me most of all is how the average citizen doesn’t really care. The entire education system is about to be subverted, because this isn’t just about science. This is about a group of people who are trying to dictate what should be taught in every subject, not according to research or facts, but according to their own whims and personal beliefs.”
Note the first part of that quote…”the average citizen doesn’t really care”. This is correct, the average citizen does not pay attention, but those who do are the ones taking over this organization for their own ends. Ultimately people will be forced to pay attention as this gets more heated throughout the year, but by then it may be too late.
Another passage from the article that is most telling to me.
“Ironically, despite their positions as guardians of the state public school system, several of these board members have eschewed public education for their own children, opting instead for home school and private schools.”
So now these same people want to impose their religious dogma on the rest of us. This is my main issue with these people. I don’t care what they believe, they are free to believe whatever they want. Where I draw the line is when they try to impose those beliefs on the rest of us. And why just “teach the controversy” on Evolution? Why be so narrowly focused on this paradigm? What about other scientific ideas? or how about applying it to history. I’m sure there are plenty of holocaust deniers who would love to teach the controversy.
Spend the time to read the article, educate yourself on what these people are doing and understand what the implications would be if they succeed and ask yourself if this is the Texas you want to live in. The actions they take this year will affect Texas education for decades to come.
My Netflix Friend who is most like me in ratings, 88% similar to me to be exact, had this movie on his list and he gave it 4 stars. I wasn’t planning to watch this film, but when I saw his rating and his note that it was “one for his collection”, I figured I would give it a try. Now I don’t normally like musicals, but this one is different.
Ok, I bet you’re looking at that movie poster and thinking you know why I rented this movie. Well, yes, that was part of it, but this film came to my attention after 3 of my Netflix Friends had rented it and each of them had given it 4 stars, so I thought it must be pretty good. Usually that’s not enough to get me to rent a movie, so in the end, the poster really did seal the deal.
With the recent collapse and buyout of Bear Stearns, one of the largest and oldest investment banking firms, fears continue to rise as to the actual state of the U.S. financial systems. If you haven’t followed this story, then go over to NPR.org and either listen or read their summary of the events and what the Federal Reserve did to keep them from going under.
An interesting point they make is that before the Federal Reserve could extend the $30 Billion loan to Bear Stearns last Friday to keep them afloat, the Federal Reserve had to change their own regulations to allow themselves to cover investment banking firms like Bear Stearns. Traditionally, the Federal Reserve was only allowed to lend money to traditional banks. With this new expansion of their purview, their protection is now extended to cover roughly 20 new entities. This change basically modifies the purpose of the Federal Reserve from their initial 1913 mandate.
So is this a good thing or a bad thing? Should the Federal Reserve have supported this failing institution or should they have let it die? Who are the winners and losers? And with gold rising and inflation beginning to grow, is the economy showing signs of a coming financial collapse?
Watch the video, answer the questions and keep track of your score to calculate your GDI (God Delusion Index).
I was worried at first that I was doing poorly since my score was so low, but luckily, low is a good thing. And in case you were wondering, sarcasm breeds sarcasm.
Just when you start to believe that the Bible is the in-errant word of God…along comes the Catholic church to tell you about the new seven deadly sins that God forgot. The new sins are:
These replace the old seven deadly sins; sloth, greed, lust, gluttony, pride, envy and wrath. Does this mean we’ll get a new movie?
But seriously, that’s quite a list…I’m not sure where to start…
When I do watch commercial television, I usually watch it via my Tivo so I can skip the commercials. But the other morning before I went to work I was checking the weather report and wasn’t close to the remote when the commercials came on so I couldn’t hit the mute button. The first ad was for Chase credit cards. Here’s the setup…
A man is working in his home office, his wife is watching the TV in the next room…the picture on the TV looks like sh#*, so she walks into the mans office and says, “you’re right, we need a new TV”. The mans eyes light up. Cut to the scene of him walking into the TV store with music by Queen playing in the background saying “I want it all and I want it now”. He checks out the TV’s and then texts his credit card company to see how much credit he has to help him decide how much to spend.
Does anyone else see something wrong with this?
I just got back from seeing No Country For Old Men and I felt I had to write about it. First off, you might be surprised that I actually went to a movie theater to watch a film, but tonight was kind of a “date” night. The daughter is off at a friends house for a birthday party that includes a sleep-over. So the wife and I were left alone most of the day. We had a few things to take care of and ended up in San Marcos late in the afternoon. We decided we wanted to go see a movie, so we got online to Fandango and scoped out the shows. Being about an hour out of Austin and it getting close to dinner time, we decided to shoot for the Alamo draft house to see the movie where we could have dinner during the show.
So off we go hitting the busy traffic on I-35 but making it to Northwest Austin with time to spare for the 7pm show. We walk up to the ticket counter to buy the tickets and the kid behind the counter says he has to warn us, their copy of the Coen brothers movie is all scratched up and informs us that they won’t give refunds and lots of people have been unhappy about it. Not a good sign. Ok, we say, how about There Will Be Blood that plays 30 minutes later. No dice there either…all sold out. Crap. Nothing left but Semi-Pro and Be Kind Rewind…umm…no thanks.
We head back to the car and hightail it over to the Arbor cinema knowing they are showing the same film. We won’t get dinner, but we might make the movie. We get there with about 10 minutes to spare before the film starts, get the tickets, wait in line for popcorn then head into the theater.
Now my movie experiences are typically surreal. I find myself reacting to things in the movie that others in the audience don’t. And I don’t react to things other do. And this movie was no different. It’s kind of strange. This goes back to my childhood. I remember sitting and watching the Return of the Jedi and laughing when the Ewoks were fighting and getting killed. Come on, it was just such a ridiculous part of the movie.
Anyway, so what did I think of No Country For Old Men? Well, it’s a fine film, but not the Coen brothers best.