Well, Obama was here yesterday...

...and I'm still not going to vote for him. I personally resent any political figure that tells me how he/she is going to "fix" the economy. The economy cannot be "fixed". In a free-market system, it regulates itself. It will go through up and down periods. It always has. These cannot be avoided. And, while we're on the subject, let's talk about oil. It's the lifeblood of the modern world economy. We certainly can't function without it. However, a lot of today's political figures want to punish the "evil" oil companies for putting the screws to average people by arbitrarily and artificially inflating the price of oil, and thus, the price of gasoline. I hear people talking about taking windfall profits (whatever the hell those are) away from oil companies and repealing their tax breaks because they're screwing the American people. There are some points that people need to understand about oil and political reality before they base their decisions on this particular segment of the economy.

1. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 41% of oil company stock is owned by retirement funds of various individuals. So, if you screw the oil companies out of their profits, in reality, you're screwing retirees and other working people who have invested in them to make their retirement more comfortable. There aren't four or five people out there, pushing the button to raise the price and getting rich because of it. Oil companies, like most companies, are a little more complex than that. Also, if your increase their taxes, or decrease their profits, they're just going to pass that on to the consumer, driving the price of gas up even further.

2. We have a gasoline supply problem in this country and in the world that is largely due to a lack of sufficient refining capacity. As you should have learned in ECO 201 (even if it was taught by an Asian guy with a Spanish name), if supply does not keep up with demand, the price will inevitably rise, or there will be a severe shortage. We haven't come up against a severe shortage, but the price has risen, in obedience to the law of supply and demand. What we should do, is to increase our refining capacity. However, that's going to be difficult for two reasons. One, no one wants one of these in their back yard. Two, the environmental lobby in this country has secured the passage of laws that that impose such restrictive polices on new refineries that there would be little or no profit in building them. The environmental lobby is also made up of those geniuses who are keeping us from drilling for more oil in 9,000 acres of the 19,000,000-acre Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (seen only by the 3 or 4 caribou that inhabit it), or off the the east and west coasts of America, or in North Dakota, or in several other places that just might be able to ease the oil supply shortage in this country.

3. Inflation happens. Regularly. It just hadn't happened in a big way to gasoline in a very long time. But all prices are subject to inflation. It's just a matter of time. For example, in 1964 (I use that year because it's the year Ford introduced the Mustang, the coolest car ever), the price of a new Ford Mustang was, in round numbers, about $2,500.00. Today, the price of a new Ford Mustang averages about $26,000.00. That means that a the price of that particular consumer item has multiplied by 10.4 times in 44 years. The price of a a gallon of regular gasoline in 1964 was about 30-35 cents. If you multiply 35 cents by 10.4, you get $3.64, which is pretty close to where the price of gas is today.

4. The oil companies aren't making that much off of a gallon gas. Matter of fact, it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-7 cents per gallon. So, the record profits everyone moans about should logically be seen as a product of greatly increased demand. A 7-cent profit on a $3.50 gallon of gas is a 2% profit margin. I don't begrudge any business a 2% profit. However, those fine servants of yours in government are taking (at least in North Carolina) a total of 48.55 cents in taxes on each gallon. That means the government is getting a profit of 13.9% on a gallon of gas. So, the question becomes, who's really screwing you?

As Forrest Gump once said, "That's all I have to say, about that."

On to today's Chick Movie:

#3--Kate and Leopold (2001)
This movie ranks high because any movie with time travel in it is assumed to be better than most other movies. The story goes this way:

In 1876, Leopold Alexis Elijah Walker Gareth Thomas Mountbatten, Duke of Albany and inventor of the elevator, is a stifled man and dreamer, like his contemporaries Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. Strict Uncle Millard has no patience for Leopold's delusions of grandeur and disrespect for the monarchy, chastising him and telling him he must marry a rich American, as the Mountbatten family finances are depleted. His uncle has told him that on his "thirtieth birthday he had become a blemish to the family name". In the meantime, the puzzled Duke finds Stuart Besser, an amateur physicist (and descendant of Leopold, according to deleted scenes) perusing through his schematic diagrams and taking photographs of them. He had seen him only earlier while listening to Roebling's speech about the Brooklyn Bridge. Leopold follows Stuart and tries to save him from what he thinks is a suicide, falling after him into the portal that brought the man there in the first place. Leopold awakens in 21st century New York. (Consequently, all elevators malfunction.) He is at first confused and, thinking that he has been kidnapped, he immediately takes a strident and defensive stance against Stuart. Stuart describes to him that he has created formulae to forecast portals in the temporal universe and that Leopold must stay inside his apartment until the portal opens again a week later; he is "held in the time-after". As Stuart takes his dog out, he is injured by falling into the elevator shaft, and is eventually institutionalized for speaking about his scientific discovery. Leopold is intrigued by the cynical and ambitious Kate McKay, Stuart's ex-girlfriend, who comes to the apartment for her Palm Pilot pointer. He observes that she is a "career woman" and states that he once dated a librarian from Sussex. Kate rudely dismisses him and sends him out into the city, demanding that he take Stuart's dog for a walk. Leopold is overwhelmed to see that Roebling's bridge is still standing. Back at the apartment, he befriends Charlie, Kate's brother and an actor between gigs, who believes him to be an actor as well, steadfast to his character. The pressured Kate, who has been diligently working toward a promotion, enlists Leopold into a commercial for her job. He then ruins her dinner date with her boss. However, Leopold's eloquent apology brings them together. The two become romantically involved, as they dine and tour New York. Leopold cannot see how she would have him endorse a flawed item without qualms, and declares that "when someone is involved in something entirely without merit, one withdraws". Similar to his uncle, Kate says that sometimes one has to do things they don't want to. He chides her about integrity. She retorts, "I don't have time for pious speeches from two hundred year old men who have not worked a day in their life". When Kate receives the desired promotion, she must choose between the current time and job or the 19th century with Leopold, as Stuart, who has escaped from the mental hospital with some help, and Charlie arrive in time to the banquet to show Kate pictures of her in 1876. Stuart says that he had thought he disrupted the spacetime continuum, but actually "the whole thing is a beautiful 4-D pretzel of kismetic inevitability".

Meg Ryan's always pretty hot and Hugh Jackman's funny as the disoriented 1870's guy. Pretty good all the way around.

Semi-Memorable Quote (for a guy):

Leopold: Are you suggesting madam that there exists a law compelling a gentleman to lay hold of canine bowel movements?

Police Officer: I'm suggesting that you pick the poop up.

Today's Musical Selection: Tesla--Signs

I have got to do better...

...because I don't want this journal to fall by the wayside. Anyway, Hillary and Obama are fighting it out and the only one winning is McCain. Can't beat that. Anyway, here is today's Chick Movie:

#4--Failure to Launch (2006)
McConaughey really has to go back to playing men in the movies. The plot goes like this: Tripp is a thirty-five years old bachelor man that still lives with his parents, Al and Sue. Al and Sue hire the manipulative interventionist Paula to play Tripp's girlfriend and seduce him, convincing Tripp to move out of their home. Paula and Tripp fall in love for each other, but Tripp's best friends Ace and Demo accidentally find the truth about Paula and Demo discloses to Tripp, spoiling the plan and their relationship. When Tripp and Paula miss each other, their friends plot a scheme trying to arrange an encounter to fix the situation. Highlights include Tripp being attacked by a chipmunk, a dolphin, and a vegetarian lizard, the pretty-hot Zooey Deschanel plotting against the mockingbird that interrupts her sleep, and the concept of the naked room. +5 humor points for Terry Bradshaw's performance as Tripp's dad.

Semi-Memorable Quote (for a guy):
Kit: Shut up, you whore!
Paula: [sipping champagne] Oh I'm sorry, was I sipping too loudly for you?
Kit: No, you were not sipping too loudly for me. It's that goddamn bird outside my goddamn window!
Paula: Oh.
Kit: What the hell kind of devil bird chirps at night?

Today's musical selection:
Big and Rich--8th of November

Survived another year...

...Happy Birthday to me. That's number 32 on the march to death. Still haven't killed anyone (yet).

On to today's chick movie:

#5--The Sweetest Thing (2002)
This movie actually had some very funny moments. Mostly when Thomas Jane and Jason Bateman (playing brothers) are at the driving range with their grandfather. Also, Selma Blair, trying to explain to the dry cleaner what's on her dress (hint: the same thing that was on Lewinsky's dress) while her priest and her third-grade teacher wait in line behind her is quite hilarious. The plot goes like this: To ease their roommate (Selma Blair) through a relationship-induced depression, Cameron Diaz and Christina Applegate take her out on the town. During their attempts to find her "Mr. Right Now", Diaz meets Peter Donahue, played aptly by Thomas Jane. Missing her opportunity with him that night, Cameron Diaz is talked into pursuing him to his brother's wedding. She goes on a road trip to try to catch him and hilarity ensues. Christina Applegate is very funny in this movie and the hotness factor is just increased by the fact that she is combined with Cameron Diaz and you also get a cameo from the uber-hot Parker Posey to boot.

Semi-Memorable Quote (for a guy):

Peter: I'd be careful with those fat-free chips - they cause anal leakage.
Roger: You cause anal leakage
Peter: It says so on the bag.
Roger: [reads the bag and spits chips out of his mouth] What kind of marketing braniac puts anal leakage on his product? How can they even sell that crap?

Today's Musical Selection: The Beach Boys--Help Me, Rhonda

Tomorrow will 40 years...

...since the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Since you'll probably be deluged by the "I Have a Dream" speech all day, I'll make my tribute to Dr. King an excerpt from a speech that was nearly 105 years old when he was tragically murdered by an idiot. Even though it wasn't written for him, I think it applies well to Dr. King:

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Now, for today's Chick Movie:

#6--Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Only chick movie to have a gore score similar to one of Travis's horror movies, but I'll get to that in a minute. The movie starts in the present with a woman named Evelyn Couch. Evelyn is having trouble in her marriage, and no one seems to take her seriously. While in a nursing home visiting relatives, she meets Ninny Threadgoode, an outgoing old woman, who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode, a young woman in 1920's Alabama. Through Idgie's inspiring life, Evelyn learns to be more assertive and builds a lasting friendship of her own with Ninny. This movie is notable for starring the hottest woman in show business (at least in my opinion), Mary-Louise Parker. You all should watch Weeds if you don't already. Now, on to the gore score comment. This movie is amazingly horrific in the things that happen. You've got one character who is killed by being run over by a train, a child who loses an arm in a similar accident later on, and one character who is pushed down a flight of stairs while pregnant by an abusive husband. But, the crowning gore achievement here is when the abusive husband is killed by the pregnant woman's best friend and it is implied that she and another character served the man's remains mixed with barbecued pork at the cafe in which they work. Impressive.

Semi-Memorable quote (for a guy):
(referring to the Reverend's false testimony in court)
Idgie Threadgoode: I can't believe he swore on the Bible!
Ruth: Well, if that judge had looked any closer, he'd have seen that it was a copy of Moby Dick.

Today's Musical Selection:
P.O.D.--Boom