reyonthehill

What is nice about celebrating a new year, is that it is inherently positive; there can not be a negative outlook. If you had a bad year, a new year can change everything. If you had an especially good year, there is no reason to think that the good times will not continue. The same goes with Bush, the wildly-popular president of these United States of America. He may have not had a good year, in fact, he hasn't had much success in the last few years, and arguably, he has never done a better than pathetic job as chief executive of this nation's highest office. But because new years bring changes, I'm going to assume the best -- and expect the worse -- and predict the following in, hold it, hold it right there, George W. Bush's last calendar year in office. You may now take a moment to catch your breath.

In January, Bush will begin bringing troops home from Iraq, calling for reconciliation with European allies, and begin talking in his Connecticut voice, and not the forced Texas drawl.

In February, on the eve of President's Day, Bush will personally write an executive order removing "In God We Trust" from the nation's currency, replacing it with the original U.S. motto, "e pluribus unum."

In March, Bush will ask the vice-president to resign disgracefully, by walking out the White House, down the Mall, and up to the Capitol Building stark naked. Bush will ask Al Gore to fill the vice-president's position for the rest of his term. Gore will accept.

In April, the U.S. president will end all corporate farm subsidies.

In May, Dubya will reduce the tax rate on all incomes below $200,000 and make college tuition tax deductible (for incomes less than $200,000).

In June, on the eve of Flag Day, the president will make a trip to West Palm Beach, Florida, and personally apologize to the voters who erroneously voted for Pat Buchanan in 2000, inadvertently putting Bush into office. Bush will also thank them.

In July, with the consent of Congress, the president of the United States will end the federal war on drugs.

In August, the president will take the unusual step of endorsing a third-party candidate for president, making the statement, "It is time for fundamental change at the heart of the government."

In September, with a lot of scrutiny in doing so, Bush will sign the 28th amendment, reversing the undemocratic 22nd amendment which limits the president to two full terms in office (or a maximum of 10 years). The amendment will not be retroactive.

In October, President Bush and Vice-President Gore, together, drive a hybrid vehicle from Baltimore to St. Louis, in an effort to advertise the new law requiring automobile manufacturers to meet 100 miles per gallon fuel efficiency on all vehicles by 2030.

In November, the president and his family will spend Thanksgiving in Iraq.

In December, the president will not decorate the White House for the holiday season, but spend that money instead paying down the national debt.

This final calendar year of President Bush will showcase all that is good from the boy from New Haven; he's just been too embarrassed to show it.

It is a new year.

I would have killed to receive this fake Christmas card from Mott Romney, if only for the opportunity to send a reply thank-you to the Romney campaign... "We have now clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity by whom He begat our spirits as well as the spirit of Jesus His first born, and another being upon the earth by whom he begat the tabernacle of Jesus, as his only begotten in this world."

This actually segues into one of my New Year resolutions for 2008. I will make an honest effort to use the word 'begat' more often in both blogging and personal conversations.

Ichabod, Ichabod Crane. Ichabod, Ichabod Crane. Ichabod, Ichabod Crane. Come on, you know the words. Ichabod, Ichabod Crane. Ichabod, Ichabod Crane. Nothing like a childhood cartoon classic turned horror film to change your outlook on life. A decent movie, and this is Johnny Depp before -- 1999 -- people widely considered him the greatest actor of all-time, which he may be.

(Returned 07/31/07.)

Rent with Netflix.

Earlier this week, I blogged about recommending Vimeo to friends and family as the premier site for sharing personal videos. Today, I posted in the site's forums a feature request, Opting Out Of Channels...

A few of my videos were added to a channel moderated by someone else. There is apparently no method to remove them from that channel, nor opt out so my videos cannot be added to other people's channels.

I uploaded the videos to Vimeo "because everyone shouldn’t see everything."

As a work-around, I have made my videos password-protected, but that makes sharing the videos with friends and family via links that much more difficult.

This is what is perplexing about Vimeo. They claim to be the anti-YouTube, by allowing people to control who sees their videos, at least offering more control, but then they give any willy-dilly user the opportunity to hijack a person's video, and parade it as they well please. There is a disconnect here.

Alright, Lodwick-free Vimeo, you are on the clock.

I'm drunk as hell... on Christmas cheer.

- I dig Apple and all, but my guess is that their offering of movie downloads, a natural market extension for the iTunes service, will not "kill" Netflix. (Wal-Mart has dropped its rival service.) Why are tech writers so hung up on finding "killers" in the marketplace?

- I like Ron Paul's term for the neocon war in Iraq, "military adventurism," because that is really what it is. Like when we was kids, "meet me at the fort." You mean the sofa?

- And Obama 29, Clinton 26, Edwards 25... too close to call in Iowa.

This is a happy story, although Will Smith overacts a few portions, but he tends to do that in every film. Will Smith has surprisingly become one of the better actors. He is a go-to guy for a blockbuster. Does DJ Jazzy Jeff live in his garage?

(Returned 07/24/07.)

Rent with Netflix.

Ladies and gentleman, a republican front-runner for president... "There is no woman on the horizon that ought to be president next year, let's all agree on that." So eloquent, so concise. Mr. Fred Thompson, people, man of the year. You are a man among men.

Note: I am always weary that my sarcasm doesn't come through in certain blog-posts, like this one, for example.

The one poor decision director Mel Gibson made was the quick cut to the ship of Europeans arriving along the coast. That had to happen on this day? Really? It couldn't have been the following day, or a month from now? This did not add anything to this film, and I feel it took some of what the movie offered -- a glimpse into the life of natives before the European invasion -- away.

(Returned 07/17/07.)

Rent with Netflix.

This is an easy pick for one of the best films of the year. Edward Norton, as always, is thoroughly enjoying, and the plot twists keep you more than interested.

(Returned 07/10/07.)

Rent with Netflix.

When my wife and I were making our way through the system to get married in the Catholic church, in other words, prove that we were followers of Jesus Christ, lord and savior, one of the most troubling discussions we* had with the priest was on the idea of planning, not family planning -- god forbid -- but financial planning.

The priest repetitively made clear that worrying about the future was unchristian. I had no idea what he was trying to say. He certainly was laying groundwork for donations, that was clear, but he insisted that worrying about our financial well-being is ungodly, since god will ultimately make the right decision for us. I, for one, do not look forward to marching through a desert for a month or two as a poor peasant, but that is just me.

I wondered, is this actually true, does the bible warn against financial planning? I think I found the passage, Matthew 6:31-34, which includes a shout-out to the pagans...

[Jesus told his apostles,] "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I've made an observation, however elitist, that the more destitute a person is, the more faith that person has in their church, and maybe this is the reason. Jesus invests in cash.

It is not unchristian or ungodly to worry about and be proactive with your financial well-being, especially when it comes to investing in your children's future, and I hope priests and ministers begin to spread this message.

* Let me make clear that I am quarter pagan, but my wife is ninety-eight percent Catholic, but even she had issues with this one.