General takes on various subjects

I'm a bit nervous about Lobbyist bashing and regulations restricting Lobbyists. Of course I understand that improprieties can easily exist when Lobbyist are involved in political decisions because....well...that's what Lobbyists do.

THEY TRY TO INFLUENCE DECISIONS MADE BY PEOPLE IN POWER and most likely they will try anything because most decisions result in massive amounts of money for someone.

The business of lobbying should probably be the fourth branch of our government.

Lobbying was probably one of the original aspects of designing the Constitution.

OBVIOUSLY things have gotten out of hand but I ask you one simple question....WHAT BRANCH OF OUR GOVERNMENT HASN'T GOTTEN OUT OF HAND?

I'm a bit concerned that in our present economic environment that if further aspects of doing business are eliminated and regulated to the point where they can no longer operate than it's just less business being done.

I can't imagine Washington D.C. restrictions on the firms that make money trying to influence decisions...but it appears that is exactly what will be happening.

I UNDERSTAND CAMPAIGN PROMISES AND I UNDERSTAND CORRUPTION UNCHECKED BUT ACCEPTING NO GIFTS FROM LOBBYISTS SEEMS TO BE AN EXTREME MEASURE IF GIFTS INCLUDE
BREAKFAST
LUNCH
or
DINNER

DO FREE DRINKS CONSTITUTE A GIFT?

IF FOOD AND BEVERAGES ARE REGARDED AS A GIFT THEN LOBBYISTS ARE TOTALLY SCREWED.

IS THAT THE POINT?

Both McCain and Obama promised Lobby reformation if elected, but I find it hard to imagine that form of business being eliminated without huge ramifications to an already very shaky business environment.

We elect people to handle the political business of the country. We don't elect Lobbyists...but maybe we should.

Is it possible to ONLY have decisions made on local, regional, national and global issues BY THE PEOPLE WE'VE ELECTED?

CAN WASHINGTON HANDLE THE CUT-BACK?
CAN POLITICIANS LIVE WITHOUT GIFTS?

THE GIFT BAGS HANDED OUT AT EVERY SPECIAL OCCASION PROBABLY CONTAIN MULTIPLE PRODUCT PLACEMENT ITEMS....PROMOTING SOMEBODIES LINE OF GOODS.

I'm a little concerned but then again the Lobbyists have definitely brought this upon themselves.

EVERYBODY KNOWS POLITICIANS HAVE A SHADY SIDE SO WE CAN'T BE SURPRISED WHEN THEY ACCEPT GIFTS.

THE QUESTION IS....ARE THEY NOW GOING TO GET EXTRA SNEAKY?

I have a feeling they will do whatever they can to continue receiving the golden goose from the golden goosers.

It's just going to be harder to monitor....and one last question.

WHO IS GOING TO BE DOING THE MONITORING?

I GUESS THEY WILL HAVE A COMMITTEE TO OVERSEE THE SITUATION....and since that committee will be comprised of politicians....END OF STORY.

******

Finally went to see Slumdog Millionaire because of all the buzz around town.

SERIOUSLY....BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR?

HAS EVERYBODY SLIPPED TO A MEDIOCRE LEVEL OF BEING PLEASURED DURING A CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE?

GRAN TORINO was so much better and so much more relevant to current racial issues AND IT DIDN'T EVEN GET NOMINATED!

THAT'S JUST NUTS!

AUSTRALIA WAS THE BEST MOVIE I SAW ALL YEAR and it got nominated for Best Costume Design only. The emotional involvement registered while watching Australia was ten times more powerful than when watching Slumdog.

THE EXPERIENCE OF WATCHING A MOVIE IS AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE AND THE MORE EMOTIONS ONE CAN FEEL DURING A FILM THE BETTER THE FILM IS....

UNLESS OF COURSE IT'S A COMEDY AND THEN LAUGHTER JUST TRUMPS EVERYTHING ELSE.

IF THE ONE EMOTION IS LAUGHTER THAN SO BE IT....you go you watch you laugh you leave you go have pizza you go home you go to bed watching Letterman and you laugh a little bit more.

THAT'S A VERY GOOD EVENING

IF ON THE OTHER HAND YOU GO TO A FILM THAT IS NOT A COMEDY AND YOU EXPERIENCE VAST RANGES OF EMOTIONS...THEN WHEN YOU LEAVE THE THEATER YOU GENERALLY TALK ABOUT THE RANGE OF EMOTIONS BY REMEMBERING PARTS OF THE FILM THAT ELICITED THOSE EMOTIONS.

THERE WERE PARTS OF AUSTRALIA THAT I THOUGHT ABOUT FOR DAYS and two months later I can still visualize the incredible cinematography of the film.

THE STORY LINE IS ONE FOR THE AGES and is a very unheralded part of World War II.

Also one last thing regarding the Academy and it's goofy members. Clint Eastwood gave one of his finest acting performances in Gran Torino and actually announced that he wouldn't be doing anymore work in front of the camera.

TO NOT NOMINATE HIM WAS A DIRECT SLAP AT HIS POLITICAL POINTS OF VIEW

I HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT TO BE TRUE and I think the Academy should be ashamed of itself for allowing narrow points of view to affect their decisions.

I WONDER IF HOLLYWOOD LOBBYISTS HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS SNUBBING CLINT FIASCO?

************

SMALL ARTICLE ON PAGE A10 IN TODAY'S LA TIMES

ARKANSAS
School shooter guilty of theft

A man who as a teenager fired on his middle-school classmates
has been sentenced to an extra six years in prison for using a
stolen debit card., this time to buy a $7.99 Burger King breakfast.

FIRST OFF....WHILE READING THIS PARAGRAPH MY MIND
IS THINKING FIRED ON MEANS NO ONE WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED

WRONG WRONG WRONG
The next paragraph

MITCHELL JOHNSON, 24, pleaded guilty and was sentenced for theft and financial identity fraud. It was his third sentencing since being released from prison three years ago for his role in the school shooting.

STILL READING AND STILL THINKING THAT NO ONE WAS SERIOUSLY
INJURED IN THE SCHOOL SHOOTING

SO VERY VERY WRONG
The next paragraph

Johnson was 13 when he and an 11-year old schoolmate killed four students and a teacher at Jonesboro Westside Middle School in March of 1998.
Ten other people were injured.

OK.....HE WAS SENT TO SOME TYPE OF CHILD REFORM SCHOOL AND RELEASED THREE YEARS AGO WHICH MEANS HE PROBABLY SPENT LESS THAN SIX YEARS IN CONFINEMENT FOR KILLING FIVE PEOPLE.
HE WAS RELEASED AT THE AGE OF 21.

Back to article

Johnson was sentenced in November to 12 years in prison for the January 2008 theft of the debit card. The additional six years was added because he bought the Burger King breakfast in another county. That sentencing term applies at the end of his current four-year sentence for gun and drug possession stemming from an arrest in 2007.

HAS EVERYBODY IN ARKANSAS LOST THEIR FREAKING MINDS?
I'm not kidding we need to send Bill Clinton back home and have him straighten out some issues...but he most likely won't get within 20 miles of the state line.

MITCHELL JOHNSON will spend a lot more time in jail for buying a $7.99 cent breakfast then he did for KILLING FIVE PEOPLE.

NOT TO MENTION THE STAFF...WHEREVER HE WAS INCARCERATED THE FIRST TIME...HAVING NO CLUE TO ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING

NO ONE COULD TELL THAT A 21 YEAR OLD WHO HAD KILLED FIVE PEOPLE EIGHT YEARS PREVIOUSLY PROBABLY WAS A WALKING TIME BOMB???????

THANK GOD FOR BURGER KING....BECAUSE WITHOUT THAT BREAKFAST HE WAS MOST LIKELY ON HIS WAY TO A MUCH UGLIER INCIDENT.

HE WAS PROBABLY JUST HYPOGLYCEMIC AND NEEDED SOME NOURISHMENT.

The entire state of Arkansas's prison review board should be suspended immediately before anyone else gets hurt....not mention the doctor's who were observing him during his short stay ....the first time.

Had Mitchell Johnson learned to love good movies (Sound of Music) when he was young none of this would have ever happened.

I bet his parents watched The Omen on a loop along with Halloween and Chain Saw Massacre

I believe his parents should be arrested
....they did something beyond goofy while he was growing up.

Get them on the phone...if they have a phone....and tell them to get packed because they are going on a little trip to LEAVENWORTH.

Stories like this make Lobbyists and The Oscars seem like fairy tales.

Anyway....watch the WINTER X GAMES on ESPN and try to enjoy your weekend

Peace

Michael Timothy McAlevey