Thinks It's Not What You Say

Head on over the the Phoenix website and download their newest single, "1901" from their upcoming release, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

And while you're enjoying the tune, enjoy reading this Pitchfork Media article about why you should love Phoenix. You really should, you know?

We Didn't Start The Fire

I've been out of commission for a bit, but upon my return I was able to watch and enjoy the film, This Is England. Set in 1983, he film tells the story of a young boy who has recently lost his father in the war and who is constantly picked on by his peers. After being accepted by a group of older skinheads, Shaun - the main character - establishes his identity as a purist for England (not the United Kingdom) and his ideals as a racial purist.

After some terrible events, Shaun is left with decisions about his identity. But in the midst of everything, he's found a family of people who truly love him.

It's a great film, well shot and with a great soundtrack. I definitely recommend this film.

Misery is a Butterfly

Unbelievable! Now, part of the "stimulus" package is to extend more financial aid to Fannie and Freddy and to absorb $200 billion in losses for each company. This is getting more insane by the day. How can anyone see this as a good idea? Let's just buy up a bunch of bad loans on homes that have more to owe on the house than it's total value. Awesome.

I get wanting to use some money to divvy out to states for roads and bridges. I get it, but this continued pride trail that Obama is blazing is utterly insane and simply wrong. There is nothing of any value to help hold our dollar up. We're holding onto trillions in debt and are surging Afghanistan in the same month we're dropping billions on worthless investments.

This part of the plan isn't stimulating one thing. Many have said that Obama will be judged by this plan and it's already shaping up to be a doozy.

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

Why does anyone think the steps we're taking as a nation are logical or right? Maureen Dowd's piece for the Times could not have said it better.

Please, please read this article. If anyone has ignored this issue, it's now time to pay attention.

Dowd's call to action for those organizations receiving bailout funds: "Just get back to work and start repaying us."

Dare a Smile

Just a quick note to say how sad it is to continue to see massive job cuts, but 20,000 all at once is horrible.

On The Picket Fence

As I sit here and watch the Presidential News Conference, which is on every channel except HGTV right now, I can't help but realize how much hasn't changed in the white house. I see a man whom I was rooting for. I wanted him to be a successful President, but right now I see someone talking in circles, riding the fence and dancing around questions. Case in point, he just tippy-toed around a CNN reporter's question about media transparency in Afghanistan by talking about September 11th and terrorist attacks.

He's pushing so hard and working to drum up support from so many to push this "vital" stimulus through congress. My take? If this was, indeed, the correct and best decision, then, Mr President, you would not have to work to gain support. If this was the right decision, the support would be behind you fully and immediately. It should absolutely raise a few red flags by the sheer amount of resistance to say, "hey, this *could* be wrong."

But what do I know?

I would like to tip my hat to Obama for his passing of legislature to help pay for uninsured children's coverage via the collection of tobacco taxes. Beautiful.

Now, back to the conference. It was funny to see a Fox News reporter bring a little heat on Obama, only to be followed up by a Washington Post reporter who simply asked how our President felt about Alex Rodriguez's admission of steroid use in Major League Baseball. How timely was that?

And I know I sound all Bah Humbug about Obama right now, but I'm still hopeful. Only hopeful with a large dose of doubt.

Etc...Etc...Etc...

Wow!

Into The Dark

Wowza! 90,000 sexual predators have been removed from Myspace. That's a good thing, yes. But, thinking of how long nearly 100k dirty, dirty people have been lurking around the web and had access to the hundreds of millions of public Myspace profiles makes me shriek. Seriously, this is unbelievable and disturbing. Good for Myspace, though, taking the proper steps to put an end to this.

This Is The Last Time I Abandon You

Well, Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination today as President Obama’s nominee to lead the Health and Human Services Department. Daschele is now the second person appointed by Obama to withdraw for shady circumstances.

Just another bit of proof of the flaws in Washington politics.

Gold Star Mothers

So Super Bowl XLIII came and went and the Steelers won in an impressive game. Ratings were down from last year and advertising was down as well, but the ads that were shown were pretty good. Save the horrible Sobe ads, it seemed as though advertisers were more focused on creating attention grabbing ads, all of which can be seen on Hulu.com

That's really all that's to be said about the game. It was fun, but to me it seems as though the importance and overall attractiveness of the Super Bowl simply doesn't exist any more.