Sunday, May 31, 2009

What The Serious People Are Saying

Mark Krikorian over at NRO weighs in on the Sotomayor appointment by pissing and moaning about the way the Judge pronounces her name.
Deferring to people's own pronunciation of their names should obviously be
our first inclination, but there ought to be limits. Putting the emphasis on the
final syllable of Sotomayor is unnatural in English (which is why the president
stopped doing it after the first time at his press conference), unlike my
correspondent's simple preference for a monophthong over a diphthong, and
insisting on an unnatural pronunciation is something we shouldn't be giving in to.

Let's assume for the moment that young Mark doesn't pronounce his last name Crick-oh-ryan, shall we? Let's assume that he doesn't Americanize and pronounce Justice Skalya's name or Justice Al-eye-to's name using the same standard. How does the lad order fajitas or hors d'ourvres or even, for that matter stop to by a souvenir?

It seems that the serious people have run out of even their specious arguments and are now just casting about for the anti-furriner support.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

I'm Offended

Rep. Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse), who rarely speaks during the
committee's hours-long meetings, said both sides repeatedly made the same
points, slowing down the budget process. But she reserved most of her anger for
Vos.


"Were you in community theater?" she asked. "Because this is
theater of the absurd right now.... Can we be statesmen and grow up?"


Speaking for actors everywhere, Robin Vos couldn't be good at community theater, either.

Yeah. They Got Nothin'

The Young Cons Rap.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

We're Not Laughing At Them. We're Laughing Near Them.

Those lovable scamps at Americans For Prosperity Pennsylvania have taken exception with some of Arlen Specter's positions and have launched a robocall campaign to go with their letter writing push.

How much weight do you think he'll give to letters addressed using AFP's spelling? They've only had 30 years to get it right, after all.








OTOH, the Wisconsin chapter's website is still advertising for the April teabaggery and hasn't been updated since the end of March. That's just their way of staying relevant, I guess.

It's Hard To Be A Wingnut #6

It's hard to believe that VP Al Gore somehow has no legitimacy to share his views about global climate change but that Liz Cheney is a reliable spokesperson whose views should carry extra weight in discussions.

Just Because He Eliminates Dark Matter Doesn't Make Him, "Icky"



You Know?

There were some of us who weren't in a rush to accept Roland Burris' credentials.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Memorial Day

Never forget.

SSgt., L.R.B.
7499th Composite Squadron
Wiesbaden, Germany

Friday, May 22, 2009

It's Hard To Be A Wingnut #5

The rare double wingnut.

You have to believe that Arlen Specter is a man of no principle because he changed parties and that all union members are thugs but that Ronald Reagan, former Democrat and Union President was a better Republican than Lincoln.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Note To Kris Allen

Think about the choices you'll have to make today and tomorrow and then ask yourself when the last time was that you saw anyone scalping tickets to a Phantasia show.

Volunteers Invited to Join Local 6th Graders in Community Clean-up




Evansville Community Partnership(ECP) is proud to announce that the annual spring downtown clean-up is expanding this year to include the Memorial Day parade route. We are happy to again be partnering with the Evansville Community School District, The City of Evansville, and Shannon & DeMarb, LLC. Downtown public parking lots, service alleys around Main Street, and the Main Street Business District will also be cleaned to help spruce up our community in time for Memorial Day.

Community volunteers are invited to join 140 local 6th Graders and teachers, organized through the Roots & Shoots program, to help clean-up our community next Friday, May 22nd from 11:20 AM to 1:30 PM. The students will divide into six cleaning teams , At least one adult supervisor will be with each group and selected by our local teacher organizers, Butch Beedle and Joanie Dobbs.

If you want to join a cleaning crew, adult volunteers can bring work gloves and wait outside the Eager Free Public Library on the First Street side as the students walk from the Middle School to their assigned areas. If you can’t join a crew but have an extra broom or dustpan to loan to us, please put your name on it and bring it to the ECP/ Chamber office at 8 W. Main Street during business hours before Friday. Downtown businesses could loan brooms and dustpans by leaving them outside their doors for pick-up if they would like to help out. Loaned materials should be labeled so they can be returned.

The current plan is to clean-up the following areas: 1. A Team will be dropped off at the cemetery and walk back up to East Main Street and follow the Memorial Day Parade Route to the VFW so that the route will be spic-and-span for the parade, 2. service alley and parking lot behind the West Main business block from Rock N Rollz Sandwich Co to the Grange Store, 3. the parking lot and adjoining alleys behind M&I Bank and Hagen Insurance, 4. the service street behind UB&T down to Shannon & DeMarb and up Montgomery Street, 5. the parking lot and service entrance behind The Night Owl and Eager Economy Building, 6. the Main Street Business District from the VFW to the Eager Free Public Library.


Please contact ECP at 882-0598 or email ecpi@litewire.net to participate or for more information. A rain date will be announced in the fall when school resumes.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Can't Tell The Players Without A Scorecard

Elliott apparently has mixed feelings that the original K.I.S.S. is coming to Summerfest but he's missing out on the intense rivalry between two tribute bands.
Joey Fatale, the 4-foot, 4-inch New Yorker who heads the all-dwarf KISS
tribute band MiniKiss, is denying published reports that he tried to sneak past
security last month at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas to confront a
rival band leader, 4-foot "Little" Tim Loomis of Tiny Kiss, for allegedly
ripping off his idea for such a group.
This story from the LA Times contains what may be the most wonderful sentence of the decade, redolent of the brilliance of Paddy Mac hisself.
Loomis, a former drummer for MiniKiss, was performing with Tiny Kiss, which
includes three little people and a 350-pound woman, on St. Patrick's Day at
Beacher's Madhouse

It's impossible to make this stuff up.

Local Artists' Exhibit At EFL


Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Summer Opportunities For Youth

From the Gifted and Talented Newsletter

Summer is the time to dive into subjects that feed your passion and find others who share that same passion. In addition to the opportunities listed on the attached “Summer Opportunities” document, here are some more ideas that just came in!:

Wisconsin's Young Authors & Artists Conference August 13 & 14

Sponsored by the Milwaukee Art Museum. Students entering grades 5 through 12. The student participation fee of $100 includes student's two-day Museum admission, Friday's morning snack and pizza luncheon, conference materials and supplies, speakers and teachers, and one copy of this year's Wisconsin Writes book. Families are responsible for procuring their own lodging during the conference. For more information contact either wiwrites@kmsd.edu or the Milwaukee Art Museum's school and teacher programs manager by calling 414-224-3827 or e-mailing jane.nicholson@mam.org.
------------

CyberGirlz is a FREE camp designed for incoming 6th, 7th, and 8th grade girls who are interested in learning more about technology. Campers will be instructed by a combination of UW-Whitewater staff, students and IT professionals. Campers will participate in a number of fun activities which will introduce various Information Technology topics.

What will Campers Do?
Build your own computer;
Create a digital scrapbook and slideshow;
Digital video recording ;
Design and build your own website
When, Where and Other? 7/20 – 7/24 7:30 am - 8:00 am at UW-Whitewater ;
Specific building and room locations to be determined.
Snacks will be provided
It's FREE... so register today! More information at: techcamps@uww.edu or call: 262 472-1322
-------

UW-Rock County Offers College for Kids July 20-24

Students going into grades 2 through 8 in the fall can register now for LEAPS and College for Kids classes at the University of Wisconsin-Rock County. Courses will be held Monday-Friday, July 20-24, on the campus at 2909 Kellogg Ave. These courses allow highly motivated students to develop new interests, interact with students with similar abilities, enhance their interests through stimulating activities, and use creative thinking and expression.

LEAPS courses for students going into grades 2 through 4 include Aspiring Architects, The Fun & Fest of Puppetry, Shoebox Science, Breaking Things, Create Your Own Board Game, How Stuff Works and Spanish Around the World.

Participants can choose up to two of these courses, which will meet from 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. with a snack break included in between the courses. Tuition is $89.

College for Kids courses designed for grades 5 through 8 will be offered: Poly by Golly! Polyhedrons and Polytopes; Dare to Draw & Super Sculptors; Fun with Photoshop; Vamos de Viaje; Gear Up for Bicycles; NXT Mindstorms Mission: The Next Generation; and You Got Game! Computer Game Programming.

Participants can take two of these courses that will meet between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Two snack breaks will be provided, but students should bring a lunch from home each day. The tuition is $159.Courses with insufficient enrollment may be cancelled. Limited scholarships are available thanks to the generosity of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin and the Janesville Education Foundation. For more information or to register for College for Kids, call the Office of Continuing Education at (608) 758-6565 ext. 360 or visit http://www.rock.uwc.edu/courses/continuing/courses.asp.
Enjoy the summer feeding your passion!

Well, Now. That's Not Good

One more nail in the coffin of our Summer dreams.
Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks is to undergo surgery on a
wrist injury and will not play again this season, the team said on
Monday.


Weeks sustained the injury during a first-inning strikeout on
Sunday in St. Louis and will have surgery this week to repair a torn sheath that
surrounds a tendon in his left wrist, the Brewers said on their website

Get Your Road Construction Updates

From Sen Erpenbach's e-newsletter. Travel Easy Brochure Available –

The 2009 Travel Easy brochure details about 50 major highway work zones
travelers will encounter during this construction season. The brochure also
details rest stops and provides information on how to use the 511 travel
information system.


Travel Easy Information can be viewed online: http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/traveleasy/

I Give Up. You Guys Are Right

It's time to find out what Nancy Pelosi knew and when she knew it. It's time for a full-blown investigation of the torture timeline and its rationale.

Let the subpoenas begin with Yoo and Rummy and let them find their way through to Pelosi and Jay Rockefeller. It's time to shine our brightest national light on this disgrace and see who skitters from it.

Monday, May 18, 2009

A Few Questions About Furloughs

Capper has already done the math showing that putting certain health-care workers on furlough will cost more dollars than it saves and will also raise exposure questions regarding diminished evels of service.

I just wonder about the legality and propriety of furloughing University employees who draw substantial portions of their wage from grants.

Will granting institutions reduce the level of funding correspondingly?

Will the University be required to repay a comparable portion of the grants?

If the University starts welching on grant terms on a wide-spread basis what effect will that have on pending and future grants?

Don't misapprehend. Furloughs are far better than lay-offs but are they the magic bullet that some think they are?

Quick Civics Lesson

This is pointed mostly one direction. For the rest of you, I offer my apologies for being remedial.

The School District is not the same as the city. The School Board does not answer to the Council. Yes. Your school taxes show up on the same bill as the city's.

The Fire District is not the same as the city. The city is represented but does not control the Fire District. Yes. Your fire district taxes show up on the same bill as the city's.

The Post Office is a federal facility. The city doesn't get to decide where the Post Office goes. In light of route changes proposed in Milton and put in place in other cities perhaps we should be thankful we have a Post Office here.

Your tax bill also has County taxes and Tech School District taxes on it. The City Council doesn't get to vote on these either.

State aids will be falling again. There may be no choice but to use funds tabbed for one department to address more pressing needs of another department. Think it through. If they don't take money from here to pay for that then they'll have to raise the money on the tax bill somewhere else. And that's what you were complaining about to start with, isn't it?

Friday, May 15, 2009

Remember. You Heard It Here First

When Norm Coleman's house of cards comes down around his ears remember that we were on the story nearly a year ago.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

It’s Audition Time For Evansville Community Theater

The Evansville Community Theater will hold open auditions for their production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s, “The King and I,” on Saturday, May 16 and Monday May 18 at the JC McKenna Middle School. A cast of approximately 50 actors, dancers and singers is needed. The production will be staged on July 17-19 and 23-25 at the Evansville PAC at the High School.

Auditions for interested and independent children under the age of 14 will begin at 10 AM on Saturday, May 16. All children should prepare the song, “Getting To Know You,” from the score. Those wishing to audition for speaking parts will be asked to read from the script. Audition scripts are available at ectstagelights.org and Eager Free Library. Adult auditions will begin at 1 on Saturday. Adults should prepare a song from a Broadway musical. An accompanist will be provided. Bring your sheet music in the proper key.

Directing the ECT production will be Christa Stowers, the music and arts teacher at St Patrick’s School in Janesville. Christa studied theater at UW Stevens Point and has acted and directed with the Watertown Players, Phoenix Theatre Company, Penguin Productions, and Fort Atkinson Community Theatre.

Stowers says that, “The King and I,” offers a unique casting opportunity. “The play has a very large cast including a chorus, a ballet, and many roles for children. There are spots for dancers who don’t have to sing and for singers who don’t dance. Many non-singing roles for men will be available as well. It’s just a great chance for everyone to be involved. No one should stay home thinking they won’t fit in. This play suits many different types.”

“The King and I,” dramatizes the story of an English widow, Anna Leonowens, who is summoned by the King of Siam to serve as a tutor to his many wives and children at The Royal Palace in Bangkok. With both keeping a firm grip on their own traditions and values Anna and the King grow to understand and respect one another. This unique story of friendship includes many Broadway standards including “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” “Something Wonderful,” “Getting To Know You,” and “Shall We Dance?” Evansville Community Theater is a local non-profit group. Their most recent production was “Escanaba In Da Moonlight” at JC McKenna last October. This will be the group’s first musical in five years.

More information is available at the ECT website, ectstagelights.org . ECT is still looking for production team members as well. If you’d like to participate send an email to information@ectstagelights.org or come to one of the audition sessions.

It's Hard To Be A Wingnut #4

You have to believe that Miss California facing public approbation for what she said is, somehow, a curtailment of free speech but that Wanda Sykes crossed some unwritten line and should be cast out.

Corollary: You have to believe that it's possible to offend a media hound like Rush Limbaugh.

Monday, May 11, 2009

The Taco Bell Grassroots

You all know the truth about Taco Bell. They have fourteen different shapes of food but only three flavors. You've got chalupas and gorditas and tacos and burritos and nachos and so on but in the end it's ground beef with or without beans.

Sunday's paper brings news that Wisconsin Republicans are trying to duplicate Democrat's successes by creating new organizations among the grassroots. The Wisconsin Prosperity (sic) Network is envisioned to bring together 14 organizations under its banner. Ones first thought is that with such a plethora of organizations each can be led by one of the remaining Republicans.

There are some other fun things in the article. First is this cutline, the very worst if you are trying to convey integrity.
Former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen also is playing a key role in the
Wisconsin Prosperity Network, according to an organizer. Jensen is facing trial
for using taxpayer money for campaign purposes. He was convicted on misconduct
charges in 2006, but a state appeals panel overturned the decision on grounds
the jury received improper instructions.
Not Not Guilty, you understand, just off on one of those technicalities that Republicans are always deriding.

Who else did the right bring along to show their respect for the electoral process?
Mark Block, president of the state chapter of Americans for
Prosperity, which advocates for lower taxes and less government, said in an
interview he is the main organizer of the network [snip] In 2001,
Block paid a $15,000 fine and agreed not to be involved in campaigns until 2004
after admitting to illegally coordinating Jon Wilcox’s Supreme Court campaign
with an outside group.

That's right. When the Republicans say they worry about voter fraud it's because they worry they haven't committed enough. But this group is bringing in the experts.

The group is also struggling with building their coalition.
The 14 new groups would join existing Wisconsin organizations Americans
for Prosperity, the First Freedoms Foundation, the Wisconsin Policy Research
Institute and the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, according to the
document.


But George Lightbourn, president of the policy research institute,
and Todd Berry, president of the taxpayers alliance, said their groups are
independent and not part of the effort.


Block said those groups have been removed from more recent versions
of the organization planning documents.


When such reliably conservative voices as WPRI don't want to be a part of your coalition it's not because they see you as too far out. The WPRI doesn't believe that the new group is far enough over the edge.

At least now we know why The McIver Institute was such a big deal. It was the first of the shell "think tanks" for the new alliance.
The MacIver Institute, a free-market, limited-government think tank named
after former Republican operative John MacIver, is the first of the new entities
to be formed. Network officials plan to survey state residents this summer to
identify more GOP supporters.

The story makes it sound as if Jensen and Friends will be launching a Lewis and Clark style exhibition to the wilds looking for closeted righties. I'll be surprised if they're effective much west of the Country Springs Inn.

Forteen new organizations. One worn out old message. Meet the new boss. He used to be the old boss. Good luck with that.

Just For The Record

Complaining about someone being mean to Rush Limbaugh is like whining that someone called the ocean, "Wet."

Rush Limbaugh may not have invented the snotty comment but he has honed it to a fine edge. He puts on his big boy underpants every day and doesn't need your defense against Wanda Sykes.

2009 Open Book and Board of Review

The 2009 Assessment Roll will be available for inspection beginning the afternoon of May 27, 2009 at City Hall, 31 S. Madison Street, Evansville, Wisconsin, during regular business hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Assessor, Dean Peters, will have Open Book and be available to answer questions on Wednesday, May 27, 2009, from 12:00 noon - 2:00 p.m. Please schedule an appointment with him by calling Associated Appraisal Consultants, Inc., at 1-800-721-4157.

The 2009 Board of Review will be held on Tuesday, June 2, 2009, from 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, Third Floor of City Hall, 31 S. Madison Street, Evansville, Wisconsin. The Board of Review may not hear an objection to the valuation of property unless, at least 48 hours before the Board’s scheduled hearing, the objector provides to the Board’s Clerk written or oral notice of intent to file an objection.

See the Board of Review requirements here.


Judy Walton
City Clerk

What The Silly People Are Saying

How soon they forget.
Eventually, POWs in Wisconsin were housed on two base camps and in 38
branch camps, with the state having by 1945 about 20,000 of the more than
420,000 POWs in the U.S.

[snip]
Once military base camp labor needs were met, POWs were placed in other
areas to be employed by private business owners. In Wisconsin, POWs worked
primarily in seasonal agricultural employment, although some worked in the
lumber industry or manufacturing. Because of the Geneva Convention stipulation
that POWs be paid for their work, those working in the U.S. received 80 cents
per day in “camp scrip” plus a 10-cent gratuity for personal needs. (POWs were
paid in “camp scrip” so they could make purchases only at the military bases or
camps – the money was worthless elsewhere if a POW escaped. Prisoners were
allowed, however, to start savings accounts redeemable upon repatriation.) So as
not to undercut union and other wages, the federal government collected the
difference between the pay the POWs were allowed to keep and wages paid regular
employees. POWs working in Wisconsin therefore realized an estimated $3.3
million for the U.S.

Friday, May 08, 2009

Drawing The Line

The newest member of the Judiciary Committe who will be advising on President Obama's next SCotUS appointment has clear standards.
...Sessions had labeled the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
"un-American" and "Communist-inspired."

But he thought he knew who was standing up for the American Way until they disappointed him as well.
--a black former assistant U.S. Attorney in Alabama named Thomas
Figures--testified that, during a 1981 murder investigation involving the Ku
Klux Klan, Sessions was heard by several colleagues commenting that he "used to
think they [the Klan] were OK" until he found out some of them were "pot
smokers."

It's good to have standards.

Keep Your Foot On The Gas

Dick Cheney isn't content to steer the Republican Party into the ditch. He's trying to get the wheels to fall off as well.
"You know, when you add all those things up, the idea that we ought to
moderate basically means we ought to fundamentally change our philosophy,"
Cheney also said. "I for one am not prepared to do that, and I think most of us
aren’t.

I'm hoping that the Republican Party can come back strong. One party government isn't a pretty thing, no matter who's in charge. I'm just hoping that they can find some statesmen and women to run the damn thing so it's relevant again.

I mean, how goofy do you have to be to drive Joe the Fake Plumber out?

Nagging Doubts

When I hear Fred Risser say that there won't be police stings operations to catch smokers and that police won't be making it a special enforcement effort I still remember them lege telling us that seat belts would never be the object of primary enforcement.

Another thing. If you want to kill my goose and I don't want my goose killed then it's not a compromise to kill my goose next year.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Call For Artists


Evansville Community Partnership, Inc. (ECP) is accepting registrations until June 15th from artists who wish to participate in a downtown art project called “Windmills on Parade”. The Evansville Main Street business district will be lined with original art from July 1st, 2009 to October 4th, 2009. The art will be created around a windmill structure provided by Dave’s ACE Hardware.


ECP and the volunteer committee members hope that this outdoor exhibit will help create a walk-able downtown, generating interest in visiting and shopping in our Main Street area. Discovering Youth Arts will also have an exhibit downtown featuring windmill themed art created by community youth.


More details can be found at www.windmillsonparade.com and http://www.evansville-wi.net/ or by calling Jean Wyse at 608-882-6970. Please pass this on to any artist that you think would be interested.


Thanks,
Robin Grignon
Community Coordinator

Another Step On The Road To Perdition

Favorite book? Check







Follow the link to see the mad linguistic skills of one of her counterparts.

Hold Your Next TEA Party In A Government-Free Paradise

If you think any government is too much government, if you just want them out of your life, if you think open-carry is a great idea there's a place just made for you.




Government-free since 1991!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Dear Brett F.

Do what you need to. Just don't expect a whole lot of emotional investment from this end.

How Can Milwauke Call Itself Civilized?

...when I can't get News 3 Morning News over here?

I want Rob and Charlotte!

Monday, May 04, 2009

One Of Those Days

You know it's been bad when the good news ends with, "The plane landed upside down on a stack of portable toilets."

I've Decided To Join The Handsome And Skinny Kid's Table For Lunch

I mean, if they're going to call Specter a Democrat now we might as well all be silly.

In other political news.

John Edwards being investigated for misuse of funds? Perhaps he'd consider a party switch, too. Let the chips fall. It'd be hard to blame anyone but Edwards for his actions.

Jack Kemp will be missed. He knew how to disagree without being disagreeable and he understood the value in a strong coalition of differing opinions.

Losing The Thread

In a search for relevance one House Republican has decided to show that he's not just for, "No." He's decided to come down strongly on the side of, "Hell no!"
Texas Rep. Joe Barton likened college football's Bowl Championship Series to
"communism" Friday, even as he made the case that the system is what it is
because of money.

Think about that for a moment. In the grip of rampant capitalist fervor the BCS gets accused of Communism. It's almost as if the words "Communism" or "Socialism" no longer had meaning, as if Republicans and their supporters were just throwing them around as buzzwords.

But, surely this is just a one-off, a sad attempt at attention grabbing by a back bencher.
[ ]Barton — the panel's ranking Republican — recalled the hearing he
held on the same matter several years ago. "That time, I had hoped through a
spirit of volunteerism, the BCS would decide to go to a playoff system," he
said. "That hasn't happened yet.

So, Barton is going to bring the full force of the Federal government to bear upon College Football.
“The legislation we are introducing today will prohibit the marketing,
promotion, and advertising of a post-season game as a ‘national championship’
football game, unless it is the result of a playoff system. Violations of the
prohibition will be treated as violations of the Federal Trade Commission Act as
an unfair or deceptive act or practice, and provides the FTC with civil penalty
authority.

Yes, I know. President Obama has also weighed in on the BCS system. So far as I know, though, he's not been wasting the time of The Energy and Commerce Committee of the HoR holding hearings and threatening the conferences about it.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Steele Invites Moderates To Table And Tells Them To Shut Up.

A quick shot from the WisGOP convention in LaCrosse from the JS.
"All you moderates out there, y'all come. I mean, that's the message,"
Steele said at a news conference. "The message of this party is this is a big
table for everyone to have a seat. I have a place setting with your name on the
front.


"Understand that when you come into someones house, you're
not looking to change it
. You come in because that's the place you want
to be."


He'd be more than willing to tally the moderate's votes. As to listening to them? Not so much. What was it Eric Cantor just said way back on Friday?
We hope that will form the foundation of a concerted, policy-based forum
to
listen to, partner with, and empower the
American people with ideas and solutions [ ]

A Wrong Blog


This is just wrong in so many ways but I like it. h/t Tracy Benton.


My First Dictionary

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Grading "Wolverine"

CGI- C+
For a movie that lists no fewer than nine supplemental graphics houses X-Men, Origins is a fuzzy mess. For the final shot in the forest landing strip on Three Mile Island (????) it looked like old-school painted plate work. Not impressive.

Writing- C-
Nobody is going to this for the plot anyway but it just never held together for me. Characters that are well written don't change motives on the turn of a dime. Too often I found myself thinking, "He wouldn't do that," or, "Why on Earth is she going along with this?" And I'm pretty sure that elite quasi-black-ops military snipers don't just blast anything that's handy. The explosions were nifty but they hung on some pretty thin plot points.

Character Development- You're kidding, right?
If only they hadn't wasted Gambit. Ahh. Who am I kidding? There were 56 stuntmen listed without counting co-ordinators for three second units. The explosions were cool and did you see him shred that helicopter? I wonder why it didn't catch fire and explode.

Loudness- A+
Not as loud as Transformers but close.

I hope they make their money back quickly. The characters are strong enough to deserve another chance but only Fanboys are seeing this one twice.

Glad You Cleared That Up, Wade

Said [Dallas Cowboys] coach Wade Phillips: "We picked them as football
players. We picked football players that could help us on special teams. Not
special-teams players that might could be football players."


And first-year special-teams coach Joe DeCamillis: "Those guys are
all capable of playing in the NFL other than special teams. Until they get a
chance to play, they’re going to be real productive on special teams."

Ridiculous

Sublime

Friday, May 01, 2009

Absolutely

From Brett Davis' e-newsletter.
I support a comprehensive ban on fund raising for all State Legislators and
the Governor during the budget process and will continue to vote for it. This
legislation will have the full weight of law and will encompass the Assembly,
the Senate and the Governor. Real reform on this issue is not accomplished by a
simple Assembly rule. The public should demand a comprehensive ban and nothing
less.
It's past time to get this done.