Quotes of the day

Via the Patriot Post:

THE FOUNDATION

"[O]f those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants." --Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 1

EDITORIAL EXEGESIS

"Well, at least now we know who's running General Motors. The Obama White House, in an extraordinary expansion of the government's reach, Sunday demanded and got the head of Rick Wagoner, the automaker's embattled chief executive. In doing so, the president brushed aside GM's board of directors, selected by shareholders and entrusted with the power to hire and fire executives, and assumed that role for himself. ... Shareholders can read the handwriting on the wall -- this isn't their company anymore. That's the risk you take when you go hat in hand to Washington. It ought to be a red flag for other companies and industries that might be thinking a federal bailout is the answer for surviving the recession. President Barack Obama is using the $13.4 billion in federal loans as leverage to re-create GM in the image of a Washington with little apparent affinity for manufacturers. ... The president also needs a scalp to wave before both a Congress growing queasy about federal bailouts and the automaker's bondholders, who aren't happy about granting a huge discount on their GM debt. The trick now is to find someone to run the automaker. Good luck with the headhunting. How many top-notch corporate executives will jump at the chance to lead a company that is sinking like a rock? Who will be willing to share the corporate suite with federal bureaucrats? And by the way, the job pays a buck a year, and if you need to fly, it better be coach. Running a tobacco company has to have more appeal." --The Detroit News

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SHORT CUTS

"I was going to write an April Fool's Day column about how the President of the United States fired the CEO of General Motors and made it clear he wanted the majority of the board of directors to resign and how he was going to replace them with people from the Administration but I thought that was way, WAY too far fetched. Then I was going to write how the President had appointed a guy to run an outfit named 'Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers,' but I thought the 'and Workers' part was too obvious even for Barack Obama, so that wasn't going to work as an April Fool's prank. I mean, don't Workers count as part of the Community of Autos? Or did someone want to make certain that the UAW and the AFL-CIO understood they were going to be actually running the Auto Communities ere long? Next I thought I might write a joke item about how 'Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius recently corrected three years of tax returns and paid more than $7,000 in back taxes after finding "unintentional errors."' The funny part was going to be a when I reported that the Associated Press headlined her appearance before a Senate Subcommittee as part of her confirmation process: 'HHS nominee calls for health care fraud crackdown.' But who would believe that on the same day she admitted to missing by $7,000 on her taxes she would have the chutzpah to say she wanted to, 'send the signal that there's a new sheriff in town.' No one would believe that, so I couldn't use it as part of my April Fool's Day column. ... Finally, ending up where we started with the car companies, I watched the press conference by the Obama-appointed Chairman of GM, Fritz Henderson claiming that GM would cover up to nine months of car payments for people who bought a GM vehicle then lost their job. I thought that had to be an early April Fool's joke. Where would Fritz Henderson get the money to do that? I mean, that would be just about as funny as giving mortgages to people to buy houses who... Oh. Wait a minute. You mean my tax dollars -- already going to people who bought houses they couldn't afford -- are now going to go to people who buy cars they can't afford? Looks like the joke's on me." --political analyst Rich Galen

A mellow birthday

Yesterday was the big four-oh for me.  Or, as I like to think of it, the eleventh anniversary of my twenty-ninth birthday.  I decided to take the day off and relax.  Included in my plan was catching a matinee showing of Watchmen.

As it turns out, Ali took the day off as well as she needed to take her car in to the shop for some minor body work.  So we got up only a little later than usual for a weekday, took the car in, and then went out to breakfast.  We went to Patty's Eggnest in Mill Creek, which was considerably quieter than we've usually seen it since it was a weekday.  After eating most of our rather large dishes, we headed back home.

I spent the next several hours just chilling and playing through The Force Unleashed on the Xbox.  I then left to see the film which is over three hours in length if you include previews.  After I got home, Ali and I, along with our part-time housemate Steve, walked down to the nearby Italian restaurant, Calabria, for an excellent dinner.

All-in-all a pretty relaxing day.  My review of Watchmen will be in the next post.

Watchmen: a short review

I read the graphic novel late last year so it was still fresh in my mind as I saw the movie yesterday. Here are my thoughts. I'm putting them behind a cut due to some spoilers.

( Cut because I care )

So, to sum up, I thought it was a very good film; I think I liked it better than Iron Man. I recommend it highly and will definitely be picking up the DVD when it comes out. It's a film that will reward multiple viewings. Just be advised that it earns its R-rating so it's not for young children.

One major issue I had with Watchmen

I can't remember if it was in the graphic novel or not but...

( Cut for spoiler.... )