The Professional (movie)...

...gets 3-4 STARS from me. My evaluation technique is quite sophisticated. I use a series of tricky, complicated questions and grade the movie accordingly. Here are my standard questions:

Was the movie entertaining? (that is the only question- I lied about using a series of questions).Heh.

Based on that rigorous screening of potential screen gems, THE PROFESSIONAL (CIRCA 1994) gets 3.5 stars! I highly recommend it.

Enjoy The 4th of July.....

......God damn, I have a green thumb!

66 Degrees at 8AM .........

.......Have we broken a new record for heat waves due to global warming or climate change or whatever we are calling it these days? This is downright frightening!

Today, on July 3rd at 8AM in the Philly area, it was an unbelievable 66 degrees! I fear for the future of mankind if these kind of heat waves continue.

The New Toy

I just got this recumbent bike for home. So far, it's great! In one hour I work up a good sweat plus it is super-quiet so you can watch TV and DVD's. That eliminates the boredom factor bigtime.

This blogger may watch way more movies and become a movie critic. That will help me with this blogging crap because I am required to do 176 blog posts a year on this blog (per my probation officer) and so far this year, I am way off that pace.

Things You Will Never Hear In America........

The headline is "Putin Tells Russians To Stop Drinking & Gambling". Click the link if you actually want to read the story...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6612860.ece

But my point is............Due to the ginormous tax revenues the United States gets from these two legal activities, you will never hear an American politician say that to American boozers or gamblers.

$51,000 Per Year

I am referring to the cost of one year's tuition, room and board at a well-respected college, Drexel University, in the Philly area. I don't know if this includes the cost of books which can run you $1,000 per semester if you major in a science (I mean a "real" science major not a "psuedo" science major like political science or sociology).

Someone I know mentioned this price tag to me. It was for her oldest kid who has been accepted at Drexel and will try to get a science degree and go on to a career in health services.

This is way too much money even for a great school like Drexel. Something is out of whack and I do not blame it on the govt or Bush or Obama.

Obama says he has to fix health care because it is eating up more and more of our GDP. I have a sneaking suspicion we have been dishing out larger and larger amounts for education if you include the costs of K-12 with all post secondary schools.

That is one reason "for profit" education schools are appealing to private equity firms. If you own one, let me know, I'd like to find you a buyer.

Govt Will Cut Cost of Health Care.....

...Not in my world.

Let's see. Today, the govt annoounced it would cost $1 Trillion over the next ten years to cover those without insurance. When asked about this, the new HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius,, estimated however that would only cover about 15,000,000 of the estimated 45,000,000 million who are currently uninsured.

Hmm is Sebelius innumerate? Is the entire Obama administration innumerate? Cause where I come from this $1 Trillion cost is $100 Billion per year. If it covers 15 million people, that translates to a cost per person per year of $6,667!!! [ or more than $26,000 per year for a family of four].

Christ - why don' t they just request a quote from a bunch of insurance companies to provide insurance? Do we really need some big, new govt bureaucracy? If the numbers are accurate, we now have the dumbest presidential group in history. If the numbers are not accurate, why didn't Sebelius correct them when asked?

Rendell Misled Us ....Once More

In January, Fat Eddie Rendell said he would not increase taxes.

Today, he announced a 16% increase in the personal income tax rate. The tax rate will increase from 3.07% to 3.57%. That represents a tax increase during a recession of about $2 Billion per year!

During his six years in office, Fat Eddie has increased state spending by an average of 7% per year or a total of 42% over the six years.

Question for Pennsylvania taxpayers: Did your pay increase by 42% in the last six years?

Universal Health Insurance

Thought for the day.

I hear the proposed universal health care plan may require every American to buy their own healthcare. Of course, there will be huge taxpayer funded subsidies for those who can't afford to buy it.

I wonder how they will find and identify every American ? Afterall, most politicians are oposed to a national ID card syetem and the Obama administartion has put the kubosh on the employer E-verify system.

So how the heck will the guvmint even determine who is an American? and who has purchased and who hasn't purchased the required insurance?