Japan May Shoot Down North Korean Missile

If North Korea's missile launch sends its missile anywhere near Japanese territory, they can expect that Japan will shoot it down.

According to the U.K.'s Guardian website:

Japan today threatened to shoot down a satellite that North Korea plans to launch early next month if it shows any signs of striking its territory.

Tokyo's warning that it would deploy its multibillion-dollar missile defense system raised tensions in the region after North Korea said that it had identified a potential "danger area" near Japanese territory along the rocket's flight path.

The regime told the International Maritime Organisation that the missile would be launched during daylight between 4 and 8 April, and that its boosters would fall into the Sea of Japan – about 75 miles (120km) from Japan's north-west coast – and the Pacific Ocean.

Officials in Tokyo said they reserved the right to destroy any threatening object in mid-flight, despite North Korean warnings that it would consider such a move an act of war.

"Under our law, we can intercept any object if it is falling towards Japan, including any attacks on Japan, for our security," Takeo Kawamura, the chief cabinet secretary, told reporters.

Things may get a bit hairy in Asia. Stay tuned!

Pink Friday: A Waste of Time

California teachers are going out tomorrow for "Pink Friday" to protest the possible lay-offs of teachers. They are asking marchers to wear pink. Why pink? They say it is to symbolize the possible "pink slips" that may be issued laying off educators.

According to the organizers' website:

California's public schools, colleges and universities are facing more than $11 billion in state budget cuts. These cuts are going to impact an entire generation of kids and alter public education for years to come.

March 13 is the deadline for school districts to issue preliminary pink slips to California's teachers. Last year, more than 10,000 teachers got pink slips and nearly 5,000 lost their jobs. And this year could be much worse.

Please join us on Friday, March 13 and Stand Up for Schools.

Some people, particularly men, who are sympathetic to the cause recoil over wearing pink.

While it is well and good to support education, the fact is: California is broke! Taxpayers are paying the highest taxes in the country and adding more taxes on business will just drive them out of the state. Where do these people think they'll find the $11 billion?

The only way out of this mess is to reform the California budgeting and taxation system. Running around protesting may make one "feel good," but it does not solve the problem of financing.

Nancy Pelosi Abusing Military Travel

The public interest watchdog group, Judicial Watch, found that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been abusing the priviledge of flying on military aircraft:

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Department of Defense (DOD) detailing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's multiple requests for military air travel. The documents, obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), include internal DOD email correspondence detailing attempts by DOD staff to accommodate Pelosi's numerous requests for military escorts and military aircraft as well as the speaker's last minute cancellations and changes.

Judicial Watch has listed several instances of abuse by Speaker Pelosi and posted documentation to back it up.

"Taken together, these documents show that Speaker Pelosi treats the Air Force like her personal airline," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Not only does Speaker Pelosi issue unreasonable requests for military travel, but her office seems unconcerned about wasting taxpayer money with last minute cancellations and other demands."

To see what Judicial Watch has dug up, go here.

Register Now For G-FEST XVI!

Above, the costume contest and parade is fun for all ages.

Registrations are now being accepted for G-FEST XVI. G-FEST XVI is proud to have actor Kenji Sahara as this year's special guest.

From G-FAN.com:

G-FEST is the largest regular gathering of Godzilla and Japanese monster fans in the world. Held each summer, G-FEST typically attracts about 1000 attendees. In 2005, more than 1300 attended.

G-FEST is a family-oriented convention which caters to a wide variety of interests within the kaiju genre. G-FEST features presentations and Q & A sessions by actors and crew from the Japanese Godzilla films, fan presentations on topics of interest, contests and gaming, new and classic kaiju movies, the western world’s largest kaiju-oriented dealers room, and lots of fun and camaraderie.

THE 2009 CONVENTION
G-FEST XVI will be held from July 3rd through July 5th, 2009, at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare (same site as last year). Registrations are now being accepted. Register by mail with the printable form, or online with your PayPal account. Explore Past G-FESTS to get an idea of the exciting things to expect at G-FEST in 2009.

More guests and movie information will be posted when finalized.

For more information and on-line registration, go to G-FAN.com.

China Implements Reaganomics To Spectacular Results

It looks like China embraced Reaganomics with positive results. Instead of raising taxes and spending like a drunk Democrat, China instead cut taxes on different automobile models which led to a jump in car sales.

From Bloomberg.com:

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- China vehicle sales surged 25 percent in February, the first gain in four months, after the government cut taxes on some models, helping the country extend its lead as the world’s largest auto market this year.

Sales of passenger cars, buses and trucks climbed to 827,600, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said today in Beijing. The tally in the first two months rose 2.7 percent to 1.56 million, compared with a 39 percent decline to 1.35 million in the U.S.

Unfortunately, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress will fail to get the message and will continue with their idiotic policies.

Rasmussen: 53% Think We're Headed To Depression

The Rasmussen poll reports that more Americans think the country is headed for a 1930s-type of depression:

Most Americans (53%) now think the United States is at least somewhat likely to enter a 1930’s-like depression within the next few years.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 39% think this outcome is unlikely.

Nineteen percent (19%) say a Depression is Very Likely while 7% say it is not at all likely.

The latest results are more pessimistic than those found in early January, when 44% said a 1930’s-like depression was likely in the next few years, and 46% disagreed.

To see the full results, go here.

Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Case On Cross On Federal Land

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case involving a cross placed as a war memorial in the Mojave Desert.

From the Associated Baptist Press:

WASHINGTON (ABP) -- The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could lead to the first major church-state decision under the panel’s current makeup.

The justices announced Feb. 23 they would hear Salazar v. Buono (No. 08-472). The case involves a cross -- a predecessor of which was first erected as a World War I memorial in 1934 -- standing on government-owned land in California’s Mojave National Preserve.

The current version was built of painted metal pipes by a local resident in 1998. The next year the National Park Service, which oversees the land, denied an application to build a Buddhist shrine near the cross.

The agency studied the history of the monument and, determining that it did not qualify as a historic landmark, announced plans to remove it. Congress intervened with a series of amendments to spending bills attempting to preserve the cross.

In 2001 Frank Buono, a former Park Service employee who once worked at the preserve, filed suit with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union. They claimed that the cross violated the Constitution’s ban on government establishment of religion.

Some has expressed concern that if the Supreme Court rules against the cross memorial that all crosses (or other religious symbols) will be banned from headstones in national cemeteries.

I seriously doubt that any decision against this memorial will have any effect on veterans' headstones, but crazier things can happen in today's political climate.

Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny DVD Review

Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny DVD Review

by Armand Vaquer

I received my copy of the Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny DVD yesterday. The movie is hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich.

Rendezvous With Destiny briefly traces Reagan's life from his early and Hollywood years and then focuses in on his political life starting as president of the Screen Actors Guild. It then reviews Reagan's years as Governor of California and his presidential campaign of 1976, which he narrowly lost to President Gerald Ford. Unfortunately, it completely missed Reagan's half-hearted run for president in 1968 at the GOP National Convention.

That quibble aside, it does cover the four years Reagan spent as a columnist and radio commentator between 1976 and 1980.

Unlike other Reagan documentaries, no memorable clips from 1980 such as "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green!" in New Hampshire and "There you go again!" during his debate with Jimmy Carter are shown. Reaganauts most likely have these in their video libraries already anyway.

Where the movie really shines are the behind-the-scenes looks at the Reagan presidency. It focuses on three main themes: reviving the economy, restoring America's spirit and winning the Cold War against the Soviets. The movie has the Gingrichs at Rancho del Cielo (Reagan's ranch, for which this blog site is named after) and Pointe du Hoc, France (where Reagan delivered his memorable D-Day 40th Anniversary speeches in 1984) and the Reagan Library.

The DVD also features interviews from world leaders Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel and eyewitnesses such as son Michael Reagan, ABC White House Corresondent Sam Donaldson, James Baker III, Mari Maseng Will and Edwin Meese III.

The Special Features include the behind-the-scenes of making the movie and composing the score.

The movie was produced by Citizens United Productions, Peace River Company, LLC and Gingrich Productions. Running time is 90 minutes. The movie is also in letteboxed widescreen format in stereo.

Unfortunately, the copy I received was defective as it skipped and froze in spots. I played it on my DVD player and laptop DVD player and the same problem occurred in both. I contacted Citizens United and they apologized and said they'll send another copy.



My grade: A-

To order, go to www.RendezvousWithDestiny.com

Bush Not To Blame For Mortgage Crisis

Above, Rep. Maxine Waters, one of the real culpits of the mortgage crisis.

There are some idiots (mainly Democrats) who try to lay the blame over the current financial crisis on the lap of George W. Bush. (It bears repeating on who the real culprits are as some don't seem to be getting the message.)

The blame on Bush won't wash as it was Republicans who sounded the warning alarms that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were headed into dangerous waters.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and others (including Christopher Dodd's favorite, Countrywide), engaged in subprime mortgage lending so that opportunites for home-ownership low-income people would be created. The mandates that were implemented trace their origins to Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 and Bill Clinton's ordering of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to enforce the CRA regulations. Banks were pushed to modify their lending qualifications and were underwriting loans to a whole range of unqualified buyers by 2006.

Republicans, including Sen. John McCain, raised concerns that government tinkering in the housing market could lead to problems.

Democratic Rep. Barney Frank led the charge in defending Fannie and Freddie: "These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios. And even if there were a problem, the federal government does not bail them out."

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, backed Frank and said, "We do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac and particularly Fannie Mae under the outstanding leadership of Frank Raines." She also accused those raising concerns as being "racist" as Raines is black. Raines later directed millions of campaign contributions to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. There's an interesting video on YouTube with Frank and Waters attacking the whistle-blowers.

As Thomas Sowell wrote:

"Those who warned of the dangers had their warnings dismissed." One of those whose warnings were dismissed was our much-reviled, much-blamed, former president, George W. Bush. Bush warned of the problems brewing at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at least twice - first in his 2001 budget, and then again in 2003, when he warned that a meltdown by Fannie and/or Freddie could cause "systemic" problems in our financial system.

Who was it that dismissed those warnings? Democrats, including Maxine Waters, Barnie Frank and Chris Dodd, who demonized those giving the warnings as being against low-income housing, and worse!

Dodd In Political Trouble

Senator Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., is facing a rebellion in his home state, according to a new Time magazine article.

The Connecticut voters' unhappiness with Dodd ranges from his role in the mortgage meltdown to his sweetheart deal with mortgage lender Countrywide.

The Time article reads in part:

Much of Dodd's current woes stem from a pair of mortgages that he must wish he had never gotten. His reputation still has not recovered from the revelation last year that he received a sweetheart deal on his mortgage, saving upwards of $75,000 courtesy of Countrywide, one of the biggest pushers of the subprime mortgages that have landed the U.S. economy in such dire straits. Connecticut officials say there is no evidence of wrongdoing, and Dodd, who has allowed reporters limited access to his mortgage documents, denies he got any preferential treatment and insists he is going to refinance with a different bank. "I made the mistake of not addressing it earlier," Dodd concedes in an interview. Still he will not allow reporters to further examine the "hundreds of pages" of mortgage documents, saying, "no one has ever showed as much as we have." But the scandal has left a bad taste with Connecticut voters; in a January Quinnipiac poll, 56% of them said the Countrywide connection made them less likely to vote for Dodd.

The voters' ire was also raised when Dodd moved his family to Iowa during his short-lived presidential campaign in 2007.

Time goes on to say that Dodd's worries over his re-election and health care reform has distracted him or stretched him too thin:

Still, the double distraction of a looming tough reelection battle and the ongoing health-care talks has some worried that Dodd might be neglecting the Banking Committee at a crucial time, or at least be stretched too thin. "Health care is yet another distraction on the list of things that have distracted Dodd from his [Banking] Committee work," says one Republican senator who has served with Dodd on the committee. "Legislation to regulate the insurance industry and to crack down on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac languished before the committee while he was on the campaign trail. Then Countrywide distracted him from the housing bill, a bill that had to be overhauled by the Obama Administration this week," the senator said, referring to the Obama Administration's changes to the housing program created by Dodd's bill last summer. The changes, which did not require congressional approval, were badly needed to loosen up the $300 billion fund that had been choked by conditions Congress had placed on the money. "We created a bill that did a lot of good things but made it cumbersome to deal with foreclosures," Dodd concedes, adding that his committee held 82 hearings "on the foreclosure issue" in the 110th Congress.

To add to Dodd's woes, a botched book deal announcement was met with ridicule.

Crown Publishers announced that Dodd would be the author of "Thirteen Days: How the Financial Crisis Changed the Politics of Washington" last month. Republicans attacked the announcement. "You have to wonder who advised Senator Dodd that striking a book deal on a crisis that he was at least partially responsible for was a good idea," said Brian Walsh, a National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman. "A more apt title would be '13 Weeks: The Senate Banking Committee Chairman's Time in Iowa While the Housing Market Collapsed.'" The publisher has backed away saying that a book deal hasn't been finalized. Right.

It is good that Connecticut voters are unhappy with Dodd. Whether there's enough of them to defeat him next year is another question. But his role in the mortgage crisis continues to dog him and that can only be helpful to the Republicans. Dodd was one of several Democrat senators who protected Fannie and Freddie, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who have received mind-boggling levels of financial support from them over the years. Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee chairman, received more than $165,000 in contributions from Freddie and Fannie's PACs. When the crisis was jelling, Dodd said Freddie and Fannie were "fundamentally strong". He also said they were in a "sound situation" and "in good shape" and to "suggest they are in major trouble is not accurate". We know differently now, don't we? He should be in jail, instead of writing banking legislation.

To read the full article, go here.

We're Becoming Frogs In Obama's Soft Tyranny

President Obama, since January 20, 2009, with the power of his pen, has increased the power of the State over the individual, thereby implementing a soft tyranny. Obama is implementing soft tyranny through executive orders without bothering to wait for congressional action.

What we have now is a government that believes that it is the sole decider on what’s in the best interest of citizens, as opposed to the people themselves. Normally, elected representatives and the courts would provide a check and balance to what the chief executive can do. Since January 20, Democrats (now with large majorities in Congress) who share Obama's ideology have not provided any checks or balances. In fact, many took the lead in implementing the Obama Administration's policies. The Republican Party has been weakened during the last three election cycles, thus being rendered impotent to thwart Democrat excesses.

Presidents have used Executive Orders since 1789 although there is no provision or statute that explicitly permits Executive Orders exists in the U.S. Constitution. In our history, the Supreme Court has overturned two Executive Orders. Again, the system of checks and balances have been missing in action.

Alexis de Tocqueville coined the term soft tyranny in his 1835 work entitled "Democracy in America." This soft tyranny occurs whenever the social conditions of a people hinder any prospect of hope among its members, with soft tyranny comes hope lost and freedom lost for the individual and a movement for the "good of the collective."

This soft tyranny is manifesting itself in the people's desire for the government to "do something" about the current economic situation, without any consideration that what the government is doing may be harmful to their civil liberties and the free enterprise system. It is the old story on how to boil a frog. If you drop a frog into boiling water, he will jump out of the pot. But if you sit the frog in cool water and gradually turn up the heat, he will be boiled before he knew what hit him. Per Wikipedia, "In the boiling-frog allegory, the frog represents the citizenry, whilst the gradual heating of the water represents the incremental encroachment of government." It appears that we have become frogs for the Obama Administration and the Democrats in Congress.

C.S. Lewis wrote "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment" which expressed that this soft tyranny is the most oppressive. "Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Unless the people wake up to what is happening in their country, we will become the boiled frogs. Once implemented, these policies will be extremely difficult to undo.

Limbaugh & Kennedy: Democrats First To Say It

Limbaugh & Kennedy: Democrats First To Say It

The Associated Press reported:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Democratic official rebuked conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh on Friday for suggesting a health care proposal will be named in memory of Sen. Edward Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer. On his radio show, Limbaugh said President Barack Obama's proposed health care revisions will be championed by "the liberal lion Teddy Kennedy."

"Before it's all over, it'll be called the Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care bill," Limbaugh said.

Brian Wolff, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, called the remark outrageous and reprehensible.

Limbaugh has been at the center of a partisan dispute since telling a conservative group last month that he hoped Obama's economic policies would fail. Democrats have accused Republicans of letting Limbaugh be their de facto leader, which GOP officials deny.

Limbaugh did not respond immediately to a request for comment that was sent to the e-mail address provided on his Web site.

This is completely laughable as several Democratic colleagues of Kennedy's have said that whatever health bill comes up will likely be named after Senator Kennedy. What Rush said was something some Democrats have already said.

Back on January 13, FoxNews.com reported:

A spokeswoman for one of the architects of a national health care bill said that any legislation that emerges would be named after Kennedy.

“He wouldn’t name it for himself, but the majority of the body working on the legislation would say he’s devoted his life to it,” said Jude McCartin, a spokeswoman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., a member of Kennedy’s committee. “Now that we’re on the verge of doing something major, the naming of the legislation should reflect his longstanding involvement.”

Looks like the Democrats are itching for a fight. They should do a little research before whining about anything Rush says.

Japan Travel Looking Better For Consumers

Japan Travel Looking Better For Consumers

by Armand Vaquer

It appears that international travel (or travel in general) is looking more consumer-friendly these days.

I was perusing last Sunday's Los Angeles Times Travel section and noted that the average airfares they found (via computer) are around $580.00 for a round-trip ticket from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Tokyo (Narita). The airlines the Times checked included All Nippon, American, Continental, Delta, JAL, Northwest, Singapore and United.

This is certainly good news for those travelers who are on a tight budget.

Also, the currency exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen is looking a little more favorable.

I checked XE.com's Universal Currency Converter just minutes ago and this is the rate it came up with:

1.00 USD = 98.2650 JPY

1 USD = 98.2650 JPY 1 JPY = 0.0101766 USD

While this exchange rate is still not as good as it was a couple of years ago, it does indicate that the foreign exchange rates are at least headed in the right direction. Keep in mind that these rates are available to high-roller travelers. Your rate would be a bit lower.

Still, this is welcome news!

Deception Is The Core of Obama Plans

Charles Krauthammer nails President Obama again in his article, "Deception At Core of Obama Plans."

In it, Krauthammer notes:

The "day of reckoning" has now arrived. And because "it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we'll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament," Obama has come to redeem us with his far-seeing program of universal, heavily nationalized health care; a cap-and-trade tax on energy; and a major federalization of education with universal access to college as the goal.

Amazing. As an explanation of our current economic difficulties, this is total fantasy. As a cure for rapidly growing joblessness, a massive destruction of wealth, a deepening worldwide recession, this is perhaps the greatest non sequitur ever foisted upon the American people.

At the very center of our economic near-depression is a credit bubble, a housing collapse and a systemic failure of the entire banking system. One can come up with a host of causes: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pushed by Washington (and greed) into improvident loans, corrupted bond-ratings agencies, insufficient regulation of new and exotic debt instruments, the easy money policy of Alan Greenspan's Fed, irresponsible bankers pushing (and then unloading in packaged loan instruments) highly dubious mortgages, greedy house-flippers, deceitful homebuyers.

The list is long. But the list of causes of the collapse of the financial system does not include the absence of universal health care, let alone of computerized medical records. Nor the absence of an industry-killing cap-and-trade carbon levy. Nor the lack of college graduates. Indeed, one could perversely make the case that, if anything, the proliferation of overeducated, Gucci-wearing, smart-ass MBAs inventing ever more sophisticated and opaque mathematical models and debt instruments helped get us into this credit catastrophe in the first place.

And yet with our financial house on fire, Obama makes clear both in his speech and his budget that the essence of his presidency will be the transformation of health care, education and energy. Four months after winning the election, six weeks after his swearing in, Obama has yet to unveil a plan to deal with the banking crisis.

Maybe it's because he has no plan. He is either clueless or the biggest liar in Presidential history!

Krauthammer knows what's going on:

What's going on? "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste," said Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. "This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before."

Things. Now we know what they are. The markets' recent precipitous decline is a reaction not just to the absence of any plausible bank rescue plan, but also to the suspicion that Obama sees the continuing financial crisis as usefully creating the psychological conditions -- the sense of crisis bordering on fear-itself panic -- for enacting his "Big Bang" agenda to federalize and/or socialize health care, education and energy, the commanding heights of post-industrial society.

Clever politics, but intellectually dishonest to the core. Health, education and energy -- worthy and weighty as they may be -- are not the cause of our financial collapse. And they are not the cure. The fraudulent claim that they are both cause and cure is the rhetorical device by which an ambitious president intends to enact the most radical agenda of social transformation seen in our lifetime.

Right-o. Obama is an idealogue steeped in socialism and Marxism. Many of us had him pegged months ago, but the drones who voted for him have yet to wake up. When they do, it just may be too late for this country.

At least Rahm Emanuel is honest in his comments. They are taking advantage of this bad economy and are using it to further their socialist aims. That's why they are using scare tactics to panic people into demanding fast action, not realizing that they are being deceived and the "fast action" is leading this country into socialism.

As Rush Limbaugh has been asking the Obama drones, Did you really vote for this?

To read Krauthammer's full article, go here.

Amber Alert: Allison Corrales

I received the following Amber Alert message from Missey Smith of Kelsey's Army:

Allison Corrales

An Amber Alert has been issued for 4-year-old Allison Corrales after her mother was found dead inside their home Friday morning.

Police are calling the scene a possible homicide at 4023 Harvard Circle after the 27-year-old female was found dead inside the home.

The woman's 4-year-old daughter and the family vehicle, a red 2001 Kia Sophia with a Missouri plate, were both missing from the scene.

Anyone with information is urged to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

More info: Fox4KC.com

Jimmy Olsen's Monster Movie

Jimmy Olsen's Monster Movie

by Armand Vaquer

(Originally published in G-FAN #58 (Sept./Oct. 2002))

King Kong vs. Godzilla was released in the U.S. in the summer of 1963, and was a big hit.

A year later, National Periodical Publications (now known as DC Comics) released Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #84 (cover date April 1965) which contained the cover story, "Jimmy Olsen's Monster Movie," featuring Titano the super-ape (who had kryptonite vision) and the Flame Dragon from Krypton.

The story begins with Olsen screening a new monster movie by his movie producer friend Ron Wyck, and boasting that he can make a monster movie that would earn ten times the amount of money as Wyck's current feature. On a hunch, Wyck agrees to provide the financial backing for Jimmy to make a monster movie.

Jimmy uses a device called the Time-and-Space Warper (kind of sounds like the Dimension Tide from Godzilla x Megaguirus), invented by Professor Potter, to bring Titano and the Dragon to the movie's island location.

Fortunately, Jimmy includes Clark Kent in the cast, and when things start to go wrong (things usually go wrong with projects Jimmy is involved in), Superman is nearby.

In a twist, as Superman tries to intervene when one of the monsters gets out of control, Jimmy rescues Superman from Titano's kryptonite vision by using the Time-and-Space to send the monsters back where they came from.



Was "Jimmy Olsen's Monster Movie" inspired by King Kong vs. Godzilla or coincidence?

Obama Causing Market Crash

Source: MoneyNews.com

You can't blame the current economic conditions on George W. Bush anymore (as if you could anyway, since it really was caused by Democrat mortgage policies). The Bush Administration sounded the alarm about potential problems with Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac in 2001 and tried to get a regulator for those mortgage giants in 2003. But the Democrats, led by Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd, fought those efforts.

The Stock Market has tumbled since Barack Obama was inaugurated and pushed his socialistic policies.

Greg Brown at MoneyNews.com writes:

Since Barack Obama was sworn in as president on Jan. 20, stocks have tumbled to record lows — with investors losing an estimated $2.5 trillion in market value.

The trend continued Thursday, with the Dow closing down 281 points, a 4.1 percent drop for the day. Since Inauguration Day, the Dow has fallen 20.4 percent.

All week, negative headlines have competed with the slumping market ticker, including early news Thursday that General Motors might well go bankrupt despite billions in taxpayer loans.

As selling sped up, Citigroup traded at one point under $1 a share, General Electric dipped under $7, and international financial names like Barclays saw declines of nearly 30 percent on the day.

"Everybody is so bearish right now that you would expect to be in the midst of a counter-trend rally," Steven Goldman, market strategist at Weeden & Co, told CNNMoney.

"But the implosion in the banking and insurance sectors is just overwhelming."

Let's call it for what it is, it's the Obama Stock Market Crash of 2009.

To read the full article, go here.

“The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
–Margaret Thatcher.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
- Winston Churchill

Conservative Turncoat List Grows

The list of "turncoat" conservatives keeps growing.

Last year, Colin Powell, Peggy Noonan, David Gergen, Christopher Buckley, Kathleen Parker, David Brooks committed sins of either a.) giving lukewarm (or no) support for the McCain-Palin ticket, b.) badmouthed Gov. Palin, c.) gave lukewarm (or enthusiastic) support for Barack Obama or d.) claiming Obama will govern as a centrist like Clinton did.

Now the list just got a new addition: David Frum. Frum committed the sin of personally attacking Rush Limbaugh following Limbaugh's speech before CPAC last weekend. Frum had his head handed to him last night when he called into the Mark Levin Show. Mark Levin made hamburger out of Frum. To hear the audio of the Levin-Frum exchange, go to the Mark Levin Show link on this page.

The trouble with most of these people, they like to curry favor with the elites in the Beltway and be invited to the posh cocktail parties. But it certainly does not help them with their own readership members. In fact, they have lost a lot of followers. True conservatives with principles will never take their views seriously again.

Since Obama and the Democrats have passed socialist legislation, supposedly to remedy the recession, Christopher Buckley has come out disavowing his backing for Obama. Too little, too late. His dad, William F. Buckley, must be spinning in his grave.

As Peter Robinson wrote this week at Forbes.com:

Contrast Buckley, Gergen and Brooks with, let us say, Rush Limbaugh, whose appearance at any chic cocktail party would cause the hostess to faint dead away, or with Thomas Sowell, who occupies probably the most unfashionable position in the country, that of a black conservative.

Limbaugh and Sowell both got Obama right from the very get-go. "Just what evidence do you have," Sowell replied when I asked, shortly before the election, whether he considered Obama a centrist, "that he's anything but a hard-left ideologue?"

The elite journalists, I repeat, got Obama wrong. The troglodytes got him right. As our national drama continues to unfold, bear that in mind.

Jim Cramer Fights Back!

Jim Cramer Fights Back!

By his own description, when Jim Cramer comes to work each day, "whether as a commentator for TheStreet.com or a host of Mad Money With Jim Cramer, I have only one thought in mind: helping people with their money."

Cramer is also a liberal Democrat. He donated to the Democrat Party and was a supporter of Barack Obama, but when he recently went after President Obama's economic plan, he found himself being attacked by the White House.

Cramer had enough and is fighting back. He posted a response which reads in part:

The lines are drawn pretty clearly: If you can help people make money to be able to retire, enjoy life, pay for college, pay down debt, etc., you are a "good guy," so to speak. If you take the other side of the trade, you are, well, let's say, a less favored fellow. And if you gun for the gigantic investor class that is out there that includes 90 million people in one form or another, whether it be 401(k)s or individual stocks or pension plans, then you are on my enemies list.

Now some, including Rush Limbaugh, would say I am on another enemies list: that of the White House. Limbaugh says there are only a handful of us on it, and if I am on it for defending all of the shareholders out there, then I am in good company. Limbaugh -- whom I do not know personally, but having been in radio myself, know professionally as a genius of the medium -- says, "They're going to shut Cramer up pretty soon, too, but he'll go down with a fight."

Limbaugh's dead right. I am a fight-not-flight guy, so I was on my hackles when I heard White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' answer to a question about my pointed criticism of the president on multiple venues, including the Today Show.

"I'm not entirely sure what he's pointing to to make some of the statements," Gibbs said about my point that President Obama's budget may be one of the great wealth destroyers of all time. "And you can go back and look at any number of statements he's made in the past about the economy and wonder where some of the backup for those are, too."

But Obama has undeniably made things worse by creating an atmosphere of fear and panic rather than an atmosphere of calm and hope. He's done it by pushing a huge amount of change at a very perilous moment, by seeking to demonize the entire banking system and by raising taxes for those making more than $250,000 at the exact time when we need them to spend and build new businesses, and by revoking deductions for funds to charity that help eliminate the excess supply of homes.

If that makes me an enemy of the White House, then call me a general of an army that Obama may not even know exists -- tens of millions of people who live in fear of having no money saved when they need it and who get poorer by the day.

To read Cramer's full response to the White House, go here.

Bireley's

Mothra, copyright 1961 Toho Co., Ltd.

Bireley's

by Armand Vaquer

One of the earliest examples of product placement in Toho’s daikaiju eiga movies during the Showa (or Golden) Age of Japanese giant monster movies was an ad in Godzilla (1954) for a Japanese motorcycle company. Another example was Bireley’s soft drinks.

Around 1923, Frank W. Bireley was a student of very modest financial means and was trying to earn his way to attend Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. He bought an orange squeezer and a few crocks and began to squeeze orange juice and made orangeade. He offered it to restaurants, hotels and campus eating clubs in the area.

In two months, Bireley's business had grown so big that he quit school and moved to Hollywood, California where he was soon able to buy orange squeezing machines. By 1939, his company was squeezing 144,000,000 oranges a year.


In 1930, Bireley's introduced the orange soda drink. Bireley's was a pasteurized fruit drink made from blended fruit juices, and was not carbonated.

Bireley's began to market other fruit drink products in the United States and around the world. Bireley's was licensed in several Asian countries, including Japan. In Mothra (1961), a Bireley's sign is prominent in a scene as Mothra's larva makes its way to Tokyo Tower. The Bireley’s sign has turned up in other Toho kaiju movies.



Bireley's is still available in Japan.

GOP Senators Guilty of Earmarks

If the Republicans in congress hope to restore their reputations as being fiscally responsible stewards of our tax dollars, what follows will not help in those hopes.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is also one of the spenders. Is this setting a good example, Mitch?

These are the top 20 earmarks solicitors in the Senate, based on dollar amount of individual earmark requests in the omnibus spending bill:

1. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. -- $122.80 million.

2. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. -- $114.48 million.

3. Kit Bond, R-Mo. -- $85.69 million.

4. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. -- $77.90 million.

5. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. -- $75.91 million.

6. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska -- $74 million.

7. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa -- $66.86 million.

8. James Inhofe, R-Okla. -- $53.13 million.

9. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. -- $51.19 million.

10. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii -- $46.38 million.

11. Patty Murray, D-Wash. -- $39.22 million.

12. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. -- $36.55 million.

13. Pat Leahy, D-Vt. -- $36.16 million.

14. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. -- $35.58 million.

15. Robert Casey, D-Pa. -- $27.17 million.

16. Harry Reid, D-Nev. -- $26.63 million.

17. Arlen Specter*, R-Pa. -- $25.32 million.

18. Herb Kohl, D-Wis. -- $23.83 million.

19. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. -- $21.96 million.

20. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. (Retired) -- $19.56 million.


Source: Taxpayers for Common Sense. Republicans in bold text.

*Specter was one of three GOP turncoats who voted for the porkulus bill.

Rush Job: Behind The Democrats' Limbaugh Plan

Senior White House aides are behind a strategy of making Rush Limbaugh the face of the Republican Party.

Jonathan Martin at Politico.com wrote:

Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House.

The strategy took shape after Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh’s name in an October poll and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters. Then the conservative talk-radio host emerged as an unapologetic critic of Barack Obama shortly before his inauguration, when even many Republicans were showering him with praise.

Soon it clicked: Democrats realized they could roll out a new GOP bogeyman for the post-Bush era by turning to an old one in Limbaugh, a polarizing figure since he rose to prominence in the 1990s.

Limbaugh is embracing the line of attack, suggesting a certain symbiosis between him and his political adversaries.

"The administration is enabling me,” he wrote in an e-mail to POLITICO. “They are expanding my profile, expanding my audience and expanding my influence. An ever larger number of people are now being exposed to the antidote to Obamaism: conservatism, as articulated by me. An ever larger number of people are now exposed to substantive warnings, analysis and criticism of Obama's policies and intentions, a ‘story’ I own because the [mainstream media] is largely the Obama Press Office.”

To read the full article, go here.

UPDATE: Since the Democrats and Obama have made Rush Limbaugh the "de facto" head of the Republican Party, Limbaugh today challenged President Obama to a debate or discussion on the issues on radio or on television. Limbaugh even offered to pay all expenses including flying the President and his Secret Service detail on his "EIB One" private jet.

Limbaugh said:

But I have an idea. If these guys are so impressed with themselves, and if they are so sure of their correctness, why doesn't President Obama come on my show? We will do a one-on-one debate of ideas and policies. Now, his people in this Politico story, it's on the record. They're claiming they wanted me all along. They wanted me to be the focus of attention. So let's have the debate! I am offering President Obama to come on this program -- without staffers, without a teleprompter, without note cards -- to debate me on the issues. Let's talk about free markets versus government control. Let's talk about nationalizing health care and raising taxes on small business.

We'll see if Obama will accept the challenge. To read the full transcript of Rush's challenge, go here.

Election Day In Los Angeles

Today is election day in Los Angeles. I hope you vote for Walter Moore for mayor.

The best we can hope for is to force Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa into a run-off election. If successful, then the fireworks will really begin and Villaraigosa will have to debate Moore.

Again, vote for Walter Moore so we can restore good govenment to Los Angeles.

UPDATE (3/4/09): Villaraigosa was able to avoid a run-off election, but his crony Councilman Jack Weiss (running for city attorney) was forced into a run-off. It is too bad that people in L.A. aren't interested enough to go out and vote.

Haruo Nakajima To Attend S.F. Film Festival

Haruo Nakajima To Attend S.F. Film Festival

by Armand Vaquer

August Ragone announced today that the original Godzilla, Haruo Nakajima, will be the guest of honor this summer at the Godzilla and the Monsters of Mass Destruction Japanese monster film festival at the Castro Theater.

The film festival will be held August 21-23 at the historic Castro Theater in San Francisco. The address is 429 Castro Street (at Market Street).

Nakajima, 80, was awarded the Mangled Skyscraper Award at last summer's G-FEST XV in Chicago and enjoys meeting with his American fans.

For those West Coast (or any) fans who were unable to attend G-FEST XV last summer, this is a real opportunity to meet Mr. Nakajima.

For additional information, go to www.shock-it-to-me.com.

Bree Turner Rising

Above, Armand with actress Bree Turner in Hollywood, 2005. Photos by Brett Homenick.

FoxNews.com has a little article on actress Bree Turner:

She burst onto the scene with the unforgettable part of Dancer No. 1, in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me."

They referenced an article at Maxim.com in which Turner describes her idea of a perfect date:

"This is what you should do guys," Turner told Maxim.com. "I love a man who plans a romantic dinner, candlelight, good food, eggplant parmiagana, my personal favorite, a bottle of good red wine, romantic conversation, followed by, you know, one of those nights back at the house!"

About four years ago, I attended a play reading to photograph Godzilla Final Wars pimp Darren Schnase and Bree Turner was also one of the actors in the play. I met up with her afterwards and the photos shown here were taken.



My impression of Bree was that she seemed to be a good actress with a very nice personality and that she was destined for bigger things.

To read the FoxNews.com article, go here. It also has links to some photo galleries of Bree.

What Would Lincoln Think?

"While the people retain their virtue and their vigilance, no administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can seriously injure the government in the short space of four years." - Abraham Lincoln.

If President Lincoln could see what's happening now to our country with the excessive spending and tyrannical regulations being imposed by President Obama and the Democrat Congress in a little over a month, he would probably hedge on that statement.

Possible Lead In Amber Leeann Dubois Disappearance

America's Most Wanted has joined in the search for missing Escondido, California teen Amber Leeann Dubois.

Also, police are checking on a lead that Amber may have been walking with a "tall boy" the morning she disappeared. So far, nobody has come forward identifying themselves as this tall boy.

The FBI has joined in the efforts to find Amber and the family has also hired a private detective.

The family has set up a website in their efforts to find Amber.

Rush Hits Home; The Left Reacts

Rush Hits Home; The Left Reacts

by Armand Vaquer

One can always tell when a political speech hits home (by giving the opposition a hard punch to the gut) is by their reaction to it.

The liberal media and bloggers have been going non-stop in their vitriol against Rush Limbaugh's CPAC speech yesterday. Naturally, since they couldn't come up with effective counter-arguments to Limbaugh's statements, they have to resort to name-calling and attacks.

Some examples:

Salon.com wrote,

But strip away the platitudes and cheap applause lines about freedom, self-reliance and the virtues of capitalism, and you're left with the subject that really interests Rush Limbaugh: himself. The conservative talker with the self-professed "talent on loan from God" spoke incessantly in the first person: there were more "I's" in his CPAC address than in an Idaho potato field. One clear message emerged from the speech:

"Le mouvement conservative, c'est moi."

And it's a message that makes some of the nominal leaders of the Republican Party uncomfortable.

The reliably self-aggrandizing Limbaugh referred about nine times during his speech to it being his first ever live televised national address.

When you can't attack a person's message, go ahead and attack the messenger.

At Synthesis.net:

If you watched Rush Limbaugh’s speech today at CPAC and identified with the principles and ideology outlined therein, congratulations, you’re a complete moron.

If one believes in freedon, liberty and free market capitalism, by this person's standards that makes one a "moron."

One woman posted a comment on a MSNBC blog:

There are people on this planet that are so heinous, so evil, and so insidious, that a word is needed to describe them. CPAC is a dangerous and irresponsible group of people, truly evil!!

People like Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have one common goal, which is to enrage their base, creating hate. It's a very dangerous thing; I find it, and its members, revolting.

Now is calling someone "evil" because you disagree with their political views raising the level of discourse? Doubtful. She used a lot of adjectives to describe CPAC attendees, yet she says "a word is needed to describe them." Okay, if you say so.

You get the point. It appears that Limbaugh did score points in his speech as those in opposition are beside themselves in rage that points were scored.

Do you wonder why this country is so polarized?

To view videos of Rush's CPAC speech and read the full transcript, Rush Limbaugh.com has it.