Friday, December 23, 2005

Light at the end of the tunnel for Hollywood?

After its worst year since 1991, Hollywood is ready to strike back next year. Major productions are on the way, which are expected to re-vamp the box office. The liberal agenda will be pushed to new limits, since it seems to be the best way to connect with the American public.

Just kidding :-) Actually, if it continues the same way, while wondering why their revenues are lower and lower, but blaming them on ticket prices (people always complained about movie tickets prices), state of the theaters (actually, they look much better and cleaner now than 20 years ago) or DVD sales (in case you don't know, there were plenty of VHS tapes before the DVDs), I bet Hollywood will have to file for Chapter XI bankruptcy protection pretty soon. Blogger David Burge of Iowa has a very funny suggestion list for 2006 releases. You should better read it, but here are some highlights:

  • Incident at Amity: Steven Spielberg directs this cerebral remake of Jaws slated for summer release. Insiders say the 31-year update will feature “additional points of view” and “be less judgmental to sharks.” Starring Willam H. Macy as the anti-shark fundamentalist, and Tom Hanks as the Great White.
  • Baby Doc: Jamie Foxx stars in this biopic about Haitian civil rights activist wrongly accused of despotism by LA police.
  • The Vespa Diaries: Romantic revolutionary scooterist Pol Pot (Lysol Phoenix) and US intellectual Noam Chomsky (Matt Affleck) find gay rainforest love in this Cambodian remake of ‘Roman Holiday’ that had Sundance audiences cheering.
  • Angel Soft This: In a shocking and sometimes humorous indictment of the toilet paper industry, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock documents the ravages he suffers after 30 straight days of non-stop buttwiping.
  • Fearful Deadly Fear: Blacklisted 1950’s screenwriter Damon Runyan (Tim Robbins) writes a secret screenplay about the the McCarthy-era blacklists, in this 1950’s blacklist drama set against the background of the McCarthy era blacklists.
  • Cold Humpcrack Creekwater: Two retarded Gay cowgirl sisters (Rene Zellweger, Jenna Jameson) defy a fundamentalist sherriff (Hovercraft Phoenix) and discover love in this 1930’s period piece set in the Appalachian outback of Nebraskansaw.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Rebuilding the New Orleans levees

So Bush wants to spend 3.1 billions on rebuilding the New Orleans levees. I'd like to quote a fellow tax-payer: " My tax money should not pay to rebuild a 2 million dollar house, a sports stadium or a floating casino. Also, my tax money shouldn't go to rebuild a city that is under sea level. You wouldn't build your house on quicksand would you? You want to live below sea-level, do your country some good and join the Navy."

And by the way, the levees had been recently rebuilt with our money, but they weren't built correctly, and that's because the environmentalists didn't let the Army Corps of Engineer do the right thing. They wanted to make sure the New Orleans area remains wet and wild. Now they got what they wanted (and even more), but shouldn't the Government sue those groups (which include the Sierra Club, American Rivers, the Mississippi River Basin Alliance, and the Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi Wildlife Federations) for the wasted money, so the tax-payer contribution is a bit reduced?

Thursday, December 15, 2005

So what are the stem-cells good for?

It's about 4 years since George Bush became the first ever President to authorize federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, and we're still waiting for proof that they are worth researching. What seemed to be one of the stem-cells activists' best chance just got busted, as a stem-cell pioneer admitted to faking data and withdrew his paper.

For everyone whining about stem-cell research being illegal, please note that only federal funding (that is tax-payer contributions) is somehow restricted, but there is absolutely no restriction on state funding and, more important, private funding. And adult stem-cell research funding is not prohibited by any kind of law. Looking back at history, few medical and science advances (something below 1%) was made with Government money, the rest being the result of private research. Note that the medical industry spends about 2 billion dollars every year on sexual enhancement products like Viagra, and almost 1 billion on treatments for baldness. Why? Because they see results in that area, and interest from their customers. I wonder, if embryonic stem-cells are such a gift from God which will cure all diseases, why aren't medical companies investing more than a few millions every year on this type of research?

And by the way, all the current practical applications of stem cells are using adult stem cells, from adult individuals, without the need to kill anyone. All the buzz made about the embryonic stem cells is just another piece of liberal nuts propaganda.

Here are some references: