Red Dawn 1984

 It's powerful.  Released while the Cold War was still on, it has Russians and Cubans invading the United States.  It was powerful enough to cause our Protestant minister preach an entire Sunday sermon against it. He felt it was too violent and too much of a war mongering flick.  Youngest son liked it.  Back in 1984 I watched it, not bad.  I rewatched it this afternoon and it brought tears to my eyes.   Powerful that flick is.  The last scene where scummy Russian colonel with a machine pistol takes  on Jedd with a ivory handled Colt six gun is cool.  Especially the last part where Jedd is carrying wounded brother Matty to safety and the Cuban officer gets the drop on them but waves them on.  I could understand every line of dialog and the camera man turned on the lights for every scene, no black on black like they do on Game of Thrones.  They don't make movies like that any more.  

Making corporations pay their fair share.

 Translation:  Tax companies more.  Biden was calling for this just tonight. We can do it, but it is gonna cost us.  The companies will have to raise their prices to pay the extra tax.  That hits all their customers.  So calling for tax hikes on companies just means that some of us, maybe all of us, have to pay the extra tax.  

Tonight I heard Biden claim that 55 companies were skating on their taxes, paying zip.  He didn't bother the name even one of these 55 companies, which makes me think those 55 companies are indeed paying taxes, despite what Biden says.  Be that as it may, if we had a company name we could check their tax returns.  If the company is really paying zip, it must be using a tax loophole.  So we close that tax loophole.  Simple enough to do, and the only good tax loophole is a dead tax loophole.  It should not take all that long to go over 55 company tax returns.  It will take longer to get the Congresscritters to vote to close the loopholes, but it could be done.  Apply enough heat and even Congresscritters will feel it.

Cooking Fish

 I bought a nice piece of North Atlantic Salmon, maybe 1 1/4 inch thick, a touch over half a pound.  I marinated it in lemon juice, perhaps 5 minutes a side.  Then a bit of olive oil on each side.  Heat the oven to 350, put the fish in a baking dish, and give it 8 minutes in the oven.  Then turn on the broiler and give it another 2 minutes a side.  Tasty.  

Problems at the Light Bulb Factory

 Out of a box of four new bulbs, three of them have failed after just a few days, say 7 to 14 days.  The third bulb died just this evening.  I am waiting for daylight so I can see what I am doing before I change it.  The four pack is marked "GE soft white" "100 w  2X Longer Life" "Uses 28% Less Energy" "uses only 72 w  1.8 year life" ""GE's Best soft white incandescent line"  and finally "Made in Hungary".

   Gotta find another light bulb supplier. 

Robocallers

 PITA.  They call me four or five times a day.  I stop what I am doing and answer the phone.  Sometimes no one is there.  Sometimes they pretend to be calling from Microsoft and try to talk me into loading a virus onto my computer.  Sometimes they claim outrageous charges are laid against my Amazon Plus card.  And lots of others scams. 

   We ought to clamp down on this PITA.

   We could start by requiring the phone companies to make caller ID spoof proof.  The telephone exchange has numbers, yours and the robocaller's.  It needs them to connect the call.  They can have the system present the correct caller’s number to caller ID, making it easier to refuse calls from strangers.

   We could press on by finding a clever lawyer to define the crime of robocalling in a way that does not collide with free speech.  And then writing a law declaring robocalling a crime and defining penalties for robocalling.  Personally I would be in favor of some cruel and unusual punishments, boiling in oil for instance.  Or burning at the stake. 

   If someone would make a clever electronic box that connected to your phone and when activated would constantly dial the robocaller's number and deliver a hard core diatribe when the number answered, I would buy one. 

 

 

How to make a decent movie. Some thing Hollywood has forgotten.

A movie needs a protagonist (protagonist, $2 word meaning hero or heroine).  Female or male protagonists work just fine.  The protagonist must be likeable; we viewers cannot get excited about a scumbag protagonist.  The protagonist needs to accomplish something and the movie needs to show him working on it, what ever it is.  We viewers need to know just what it is that the protagonist is trying to do.  Best literary example I can think of is Tolkien.  Right in chapter 2 Gandalf tells Frodo (and us) about the ring, its deadly power, the dark lord searching for it, and the need to destroy it.  From then on for the rest of the three book trilogy we know what is going on.  The protagonist has to do things; we cannot care much about a protagonist who merely serves as a punching bag thru out the movie. 

   Then the movie needs a background, Narnia, Middlearth, the Wild West, gangland Chicago, the Washington DC swamp, Sherwood Forest, the Western Front, Imperial Rome, and the Crusades, somewhere. The background needs to be convincing, with few noticeable anachronisms.  I an a history major and long time history buff and I am OK with some bending of the history to make a better movie.

    The movie should build to a climax, where the protagonist goes up against his opposing forces and/or the villain and either wins or looses.  Speaking as a viewer, I like protagonists that win, defeating their enemy. I can tolerate a protagonist who looses if I see him/her put forth truly heroic effort in the final battle. 

   Then the movie needs good actors who speak up clearly, and a good sound man, one who makes the entire dialog audible.  I am getting old, but I have no trouble hearing the TV newsies, and the entire dialog in my old favorites.  Somewhere around Charlie Wilson’s War the sound man lost it and much of the amusing dialog was inaudible.  That sound man has been messing up movies ever since.  One thing a sound man needs to know.   He must mute the score and the sound track when the actors are speaking.

   And a movie needs a good camera man.  One who puts the camera on a tripod and doesn’t wave it around in the air.  And one who turns the lights on before filming.  Black on black scenes are simply annoying to the audience.   

I posted too soon. TV still talking George Floyd trial.

 We have the Feds declaring an investigation of the Minneapolis police department.  That's a new one on me.  I thought city police were the city's responsibility, but never mind.  We have BLM people threatening more riots. We have Alan Dershowitz calling for the George Floyd trial to be appealed/overturned/Supremecourted/something.  And we have a another terrible incident, teen aged black girl with a knife shot dead by police.  

George Floyd trial is over, Thank Goodness

We have a verdict (guilty) and everything.   We have a lot of odd remarks by national pols.  Nancy Pelosi said the the Floyd family ought to proud of George.  I don't understand that.  George got himself in trouble with the cops and wound up dead.  Nancy is trying to say that the publicity brought on by George's death is a good thing and worth George's life.  That's a horrible thing to say.  Publicity that advances your narrative is never worth a person's life.  And then we had Biden come on TV and say a few words, actually quite a few words.  I didn't bother to listen.  And then we had Maxine Waters calling for more rioting unless the verdict comes out guilty.  It did come out guilty, and I like to think that happened because of testimony in court, not fear of Maxine.   

Anyone know who is running the United States??

 Joe Biden probably is not.  I think he signs the papers put in front of him and reads the speeches someone writes off the teleprompter.  Who is writing the papers for signature and the speeches for delivery?  Jill Biden?  Kamala Harris?  Some congresscritter?  nameless White House staffers?  Who ever it is, they are really left wing. 

Vote for HB 544. Critical Race Theory is evil

Critical Race Theory says "race" is the same as skin color, white, brown, black, yellow, polka dot, whatever.  I don't believe that, I believe that all men are created equal, no matter what the color of their skin.   Critical Race Theory blames all the inequities of modern life upon racism.  And it blames whitey for all the badness in the world.  I don't believe that either.  We fought the civil war, we did the emancipation proclamation, we did the civil rights movement of the 1960s.  We probably have more things to do, but we have made a good start. We should not be teaching Critical Race Theory in the NH public schools and HB 544 will prevent that.  Vote for it. This is not censorship, it is selecting the curriculum to be taught in our schools. 

Night Line Legal

Great name that.  As good as Midnight Auto.  They are still around, running ads on Fox News.  This ad was urging people to step up and sue over Round Up weed killer.  

Let's not give Biden four new Supreme Court appointments

The Democrats are pushing "court reform" by which they mean adding four more justices to the Supreme court, and incidentally allowing Biden to appoint those four new justices.  Biden will of course appoint lefty judges who believe in a "living constitution", the notion that times change, and the court ought to change the Constitution to keep up.  I abhor this view point.  If change in the law of the land is needed, it is the duty of the popularly elected legislature, not the courts, to change it.  The three justices that Trump appointed hold the proper viewpoint that they should enforce existing law, not make new law from the bench. 

China is talking about invading Taiwan

 That will be quite a trick.  The Taiwan strait is 120 miles wide.  It is blue water, deep enough to float aircraft carriers.  The Chinese will have to put the their troops into ships and landing craft.  It will take maybe ten hours to steam across the strait.  We have a navy and we have pledged to support Taiwan.  Which means the US Navy must steam into the Taiwan Strait and sink all the troop ships.  The Chinese Navy will defend their troop ships and landing craft.  I hear the Chinese navy has more ships than the US Navy.  They have aircraft carriers, not as many or a good as ours, but they are working on that. The Chinese have plenty of aircraft and missiles with which to potshot US Navy vessels operating in the strait.  Taiwan has a respectable air force as well.  

The crossing will be made at night, so the landing force hits the beaches in Taiwan at daybreak.  An after dark engagement at sea wants good IFF on every ship and aircraft to prevent fratricide.  We have that, the Chinese ought to, the technology has been around since WWII.  

It is traditional to do a landing on a rising tide, so that landing craft that go aground will be floated off as the tide comes in. We can check the tide tables, the days with a rising tide in the early morning are the days they will invade.  

I would expect the Chinese navy to do some practice maneuvers, too big to conceal, before  D-Day. So far all I have heard of is some aircraft flying into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone.  They gotta do more than that before I will believe they are really coming, touching off a war with the United States. The last Pacific power to try that got nuked for their trouble.

We ought to make a point of building as many ships for our navy as the Chinese have in theirs.  And they ought to carry enough SAMs to fend off the inevitable Chinese air strikes.

I emailed this to many New Hampshire state senators yesterday.

 

HB 544 will forbid the teaching of "Critical Race Theory" in the public schools.  Critical Race Theory says that everything that is wrong is caused by racial discrimination and it is all whitey's fault.  Critical Race Theory denies that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among there are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.  HB 544 is not censorship, it is a decision upon the appropriate curriculum for our public schools.  We ought to pass HB544. 

Quigley Down Under 1990

 Good adventure flick.  Tom Selleck plays Mathew Quigley. American tough guy from the Wild West who goes to Australia to show the natives how things are done.  He is tougher, faster on the draw, a better shot, and cooler than any of the Australian locals.  Wonderful score.  Alan Rickman plays the villain ranch owner Marston.  He does a great job, looks mean and nasty all the way thru.  Laura San Giacomo plays Crazy Cora, who starts out just causing trouble for Quigley but by the end of the movie they are in love and engaged.  She does good too.  Wonderful scenes of a big three masted schooner with a good wind in her sails and a bone in her teeth headed into Adelaide.  Other good scenes on the way out to Marston's ranch of an eight ox team pulling a huge wagon past really dramatic scenery.  

   A good watch.  It's been a long time since Hollywood made a flick this cool. 

CDC calls racism a public health matter

 Racism is a problem, no doubt about it. It is an unpleasant way of looking at things, a belief that your race is better than other races, and you are entitled to special treatment, and those other races can be dumped on.  

CDC was on TV today calling racism a public health matter.  I don't go along with that.  Racism is not something that medical science can cure.  No vaccination, no clever drugs, no surgery can deal with it.  Racism is a moral problem, and/or a political problem.  It is a failure of our deepest beliefs such as "all men are created equal" .  

CDC ought to concentrate on curing disease.  Dealing with racism is a matter for our religious communities, and our politicians.  

Sorry to hear of Prince Phillip's death at 99

 He married into the British royal family.  He supported Britain all the way.  He supported the family he married into all the way.  As royal consort he attended innumerable functions, he visited all over the world, he worked hard.  We ought to admire the British royal family for the support and good feeling they have drawn out of us Americans.  For example, during the Falklands crisis, when the Americans did not want to offend every Spaniard in all of South America, the Brits were able to get air to air refueling support, satellite intel, and a general helpful attitude from the Yankees, partly, perhaps largely, because of the glamour and pizzaz shown by the Royals.  Stuff like that is worth the relatively minor expense of operating the royal family.  The royals cost less than an aircraft carrier or an infantry division and they can be very effective.  

   Phillip did his duty, all the way, and we will miss him. 

Biden on Gun Control

 Biden was on TV this morning pushing his gun control ideas.  He opened by talking about "ghost guns" by which we think he means home made guns that lack serial numbers.  The makers have not filled out the pounds and pounds of paperwork imposed upon gun manufacturers.  I don't think this is a serious issue.  I never heard of anyone having a home made gun and using it for crime.  This will be a PITA for the few hobbyists that actually make guns as a hobby, but I cannot imagine it doing anything to reduce "gun violence".  

   Then he went on to a measure to outlaw pistols with add on stocks.  He would reclassify these as "short barreled rifles", and regulate them as harshly as machine guns, in effect banning them.  

Finally he is publishing a model "red flag" law which states could adopt if they cared to.  "Red Flag" laws allow anyone, wives, ex-wives, live in girl friends, and just about anyone else to petition a judge to have the cops confiscate someone' guns because he might be a danger to himself or to others.  I am not in favor.  If  we really believe someone is a danger to himself or to others, we ought to involuntarily commit them to a mental hospital for treatment. 

George Floyd Trial

 A lotta talk about just what Floyd died of.  He had been doing fentanyl.  Had a history of heart problems.  The Chauvin defense is claiming that one or more of these killed Floyd.  And Chauvin's putting his boot to Floyd's neck, while Floyd was handcuffed, flat on the ground, underneath a police cruiser, had nothing to do with it.  I think that treatment would terrify me, or any other sentient being.  And terror makes the adrenaline come quicker, the heart beat faster.  Could have aggravated any one of those other conditions to the point of death.  

Another way of looking at the case.  If someone dies when your client has his boot on the victim's throat,  your client is guilty of killing the victim.  Lawyers can pull down billable hours quibbling over whether it was man slaughter, or some brand of murder up to murder 1, but the plain fact is, Chauvin killed Floyd.

The Untouchables 1987

 Chicago of Al Capone’s time.  Gung ho Treasury agent, Elliot Ness. played by Keviin Costner,  sent to Chicago to take out Capone,  and Malone, old Chicago beat cop, played by Sean Connery.  After a failed raid, Malone straightens Ness out and they begin to score against Capone.  Cool scene where a shipment (many truckloads) of Canadian booze is met by Capone’s people, driving nice limousines and bringing money, meet at the Canadian border.  Elliot and Malone’s people shoot down Capone’s people so hard core than a Canadian officer calls them out on it.  To which Ness replies, “We are from Chicago.”.  The 1930’s interiors, wood trim, wall paper, kitchen stoves, and other stuff looked just like it did in my childhood.  Some good lines like “Bring a knife to a gun fight” from Malone as he pulls a sawed off 12 gauge out of his Victrola to take down a Capone assassin.   Robert De Niro plays a nasty and murderous Al Capone.  A good watch.

 

Craig Valdez is running for US House of Representatives.

 

Voting, the right and the wrong.

Ideally everyone would vote on election day, at the polls in their town.  The poll workers get to see a real live person carrying a real photo ID.  They can check to see if the photo ID matches the smiling face in front of them.  You can't do that with a mail in ballot.  If this creates a backup at the polls, open more polling places.  

    We don't want to support early voting because last minute changes in a candidate's position can make voters bitterly regret the vote the cast some days before.  We want to limit voting to real live people, people who live in the town they are voting in. We do this by insisting that voters register in person, at town hall BEFORE election day and show some documentation to the election officials.  To be a real New Hampshire resident, you have to have a New Hampshire driver's license and New Hampshire plates on the car.  If you carry some outta-state license and have outta-state plates, you are a resident from outta-state and you need to vote there, not in New Hampshire.  

   We need an absentee ballot procedure for people who simply cannot make it to the polls on election day, such as members of the armed forces stationed overseas.  We have that, although I have never used it and don't know just how it works.  We should never mail out ballots to people who have not requested them.  Absentee ballots should only be issued to people who have a good reason to need them.  Fear of catching Corona virus at the polls is not a good reason.  Going to vote is no more likely to infect one than going to the grocery store, and everyone still goes to the grocery store.  Absentee ballots must arrive by US mail, with a cancelled stamp, and must be in before the end of election day.  After the polls close on election day no more absentee ballots will be accepted. 

Border Patrol rescued the two little girls

 The two little girls that coyotes dropped over the 14 foot high border fence onto a stony desert.  I like little girls and I hate seeing them hurt.  The Border Patrol picked the girls up from the desert and brought them to a shelter.  For News showed a heart warming picture of the two of them, uninjured and OK after their ordeal which could very easily have broken their limbs. 

Too bad Capitol police shot today's attacker dead

 I would have liked to question him.  I understand he didn't have a gun, just a knife.  You would think trained police officers could get the knife away from him and cuff him, alive.  Well maybe not, he killed one officer which shows he was very dangerous.  Some questions: Like what organizations do you really belong too?  Do you expect us to believe you did this all by your lonesome? Who put you up to it?  How crazy are you, really?  What drugs were you using today?  Anyhow that is water under the bridge now.  Too bad.  

MLB moves big game because they don't like new Georgia election law

 Big Game will be played elsewhere, just because of new Georgia election law, or at least that's what they are saying.  Gotta wonder about that.  I would have thought the mission of MLB was to make money for owners and players. Which means appealing to fans to go to the game and buy tickets.  I don't think baseball fans are all that interested in the new Georgia election law.  It doesn't seem to bear upon professional baseball.   I hear Biden is rooting for the change of venue.  Since when is the US president concerned about where a baseball game is played?  Surely there are a bunch of things the president ought to be doing before he starts refereeing major league baseball.   

   This seems to be part of the "the-feds-will-take-care-of-everything" fad that has popped up really strong since Democrats gained control of the federal government, lock, stock, and barrel. 

Masks, need for

 Now that I have had my vaccination, both shots, I probaby don't need to wear a mask.  If you believe the TV, the vaccination is 92% effective, which means I have real good odds of not catching the corona virus.  And also if you believe the TV, once vaccinated you cannot infect others by sneezing.  

   But, everyone up here is still wearing masks in public. All the stores have signs requiring mask wearing.  I think my wearing a mask makes everyone else, sales clerks, waiters, barbers, mechanics, everyone, feel better about things.  So I wear a mask.  Just to reassure people.