Review: Avatar

Dazzling. Detailed. 'Classic Cameron'. Predictable. Futuristic.

I went into this film skeptical. I had the same feeling before seeing Titanic: "Why does it take so much money to make a film?"

But then I went and saw the movie. Then I it all made sense. James Cameron may have a reputation for having an ego and for being a tyrant on set, but in the end his end justifies his means. Like him or not, you have to respect the art, the achievement.

The film is in fact quite a cinematic achievement. Film technology just keeps getting better and better, and Avatar takes the medium a big leap forward. The technology is literally opening new worlds.

Avatar is about exploring new worlds. It's about blending worlds together, and that is exactly what Cameron has done in the story and with the technology. Very clever. The imagery is beautiful to look at. The details are there, and the realism is palpable. I actually really like the whole concept of building the alien body and then inhabiting it. But the basic story of the film is very simple, timeless if not basic. I agree it is a sort of "Ferngully" but they put a twist on it. I will say, the environmentalist in me got all emotional when they blew up the tree... really got me.

I would say this film is very worthy of the Oscar for Best Picture. I used to think there were things I didn't like about James Cameron, like that you don't need to be a tyrant to get things done. But I have come to see that sometimes seeing your vision through can take time, and it can rub people the wrong way, or take ten years to make a film. But in the end that's how things get done; by forcing them along, by seeking perfection, and by keeping people and production in line. I am full of respect for people that have a vision and that follow it through. Well done, Mr. Cameron, well done.

The movie is good.

Review: An Education

An Education

Educational. Witty. Simple. Heartfelt. Compelling.

I enjoyed this movie. It was the perfect length, the perfect pace, and very well written. It’s about a girl who learns the hard way why education is so important. She gets an education on life, when she realizes the man she was going to give up her Oxford education for was not who he said he was. Simple, solid, and interesting.

The actors in it all did an excellent job. Carey Mulligan especially stood out for me. I think she is Oscar worthy. Her timing was great, and her performance, for me, felt genuine and real. All the rest of the cast did very good as well.

Movies like this are great for their ability to help us learn a lesson with the character. I felt I learned something I kinda already knew: Education comes first

Good movie. Good Message.

I liked it.

Artist need to be taken Seriously!

I found this from my Cousins Facebook page:

Reposted from ashwings' LJ which was reposted from CraigsList

This would be directed more toward people on devArt but I figure it's good to post this everywhere. This is for anyone who ever asked me for a "free" commission.

--------------------------------------------------

Craig's PISSED

Every day, there are more and more Craigs List posts seeking "artists" for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.

But what they’re NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.

To those who are "seeking artists", let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? …none?

More than likely, you don’t know any. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be posting on craigslist to find them.

And this is not really a surprise.

In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.

So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?

Would you offer a neurosurgeon the “opportunity” to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him “a few bucks” for “materials”. What a deal!)

Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you?

If you answered “yes” to ANY of the above, you’re obviously insane. If you answered “no”, then kudos to you for living in the real world.

But then tell me… why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks?

Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit.

A few things you need to know;

1. It is not a “great opportunity” for an artist to have his work seen on your car/’zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a “great opportunity” for YOU to have their work there.

2. It is not clever to seek a “student” or “beginner” in an attempt to get work for free. It’s ignorant and insulting. They may be “students”, but that does not mean they don’t deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a “student” once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition it JUST as stupid.

3. The chance to have their name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it’s one or one million, is NOT a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to their “portfolio”. They get to do those things ANYWAY, after being paid as they should. It’s not compensation. It’s their right, and it’s a given.

4. Stop thinking that you’re giving them some great chance to work. Once they skip over your silly ad, as they should, the next ad is usually for someone who lives in the real world, and as such, will pay them. There are far more jobs needing these skills than there are people who possess these skills.

5. Students DO need “experience”. But they do NOT need to get it by giving their work away. In fact, this does not even offer them the experience they need. Anyone who will not/can not pay them is obviously the type of person or business they should be ashamed to have on their resume anyway. Do you think professional contractors list the “experience” they got while nailing down a loose step at their grandmother’s house when they were seventeen?

If you your company or gig was worth listing as desired experience, it would be able to pay for the services it received. The only experience they will get doing free work for you is a lesson learned in what kinds of scrubs they should not lower themselves to deal with.

6. (This one is FOR the artists out there, please pay attention.) Some will ask you to “submit work for consideration”. They may even be posing as some sort of “contest”. These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the “contest”, or be “chosen” for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own. You will NOT be paid, you will NOT win the contest. The only people who win, here, are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or “spec”, work. It’s risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely. For more information on this subject, please visit www.no-spec.com.

So to artists/designers/illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favor, ESPECIALLY yourselves, and avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are “spec” gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls. They need you. You do NOT need them.

And for those who are looking for someone to do work for free… please wake up and join the real world. The only thing you’re accomplishing is to insult those with the skills you need. Get a clue.

State of the Union 2010

STATE OF THE UNION
President Obama
27 January 2010

These are my thoughts as I watched it...

***

There is no such thing as a perfect senator.

I hate the Sarah Palin, Mike Huckaby, types. Politics is supposed to be about making change, not celebrity. When the focus shifts to Celebrity not creating benificial policy I have a problem. Don’t use donations to enrich your life, and leave them SOL.

Obama said “no rewarding bad behaviour”.

Great spirit, and decent.

Nobody liked the bailout. Analogy to a root canal was perfect. Painful, horrible to go through, but it can save the tooth.

Our union is strong. The people are the union. The people are strong.

People are like a union, and the Fed is like the boss. Time to renegotiate the contract.

A fee on the biggest banks is a great idea. “Meltdown insurance” is more than fair.

I like that Obama keeps it real. So refreshing.

“Jobs Bill” This could be awesome. How about things like local beautification artists? How about state/city gardens to grow food for shelters.

The government can be very creative in problem solving. It can even print money.

Small business is key. I would love to have one myself.

America is way behind on “green” initiatives and mass transportation. Time to cut all the red tape and get the systems built! Bullet trains, metros, and infrastructure.

America should not put its future on hold. No more waiting. America failing or falling from it’s vast lead over every other nation would be an “allowing”. We must not allow it.

Time to bring out the clean (free) energy. It will be a great for/in America when that happens. America needs more energy so why not have it be free?

No – no – no! I am morally opposed to any more drilling. No new rigs or wells. We do not need anymore energy from dirty oil. No drilling in untouched places. No drilling in places like Santa Barbara until the old rigs and spills are actually cleaned up. If they keep the original promises they do not deserve our trust again.
If people are going to spend billions to TRY and reach really deep oil, without guarentee. We would be much better off to spend billions to create GUARENTEED free energy (wind, solar, ect) that is sustainable and clean.

Schools… don’t get me started.

Don’t reward failure!!!

Our schools have failed, so we must improve our community colleges to help the people that primary school failed.

Tax breaks for college education/funding. Great idea. “No one should go broke because they chose to go to college.”

I’m so glad to not have a mortgage on a house worth less than I paid.

We need healthcare reform. Keep the lobbyists out. Problem is not going away. Congress can not walk away. Any congress member who fails us on Healthcare Reform must not be re-elected. Healthcare must be addressed and fixed!

Is the prescription drug bill what messed up healthcare? It didn’t make people healthier, didn’t save anyone money, cost the Gov billions it did not have. Disasterous! At all levels. It made the system sick.

Creative solutions…. Not more money.

We must not do what we did the last 8 years. It failed us. Washington must change it’s ways. If it can’t the people must change Washington. One person at a time…

Deficit of trust (last 8 years). End lobbyists. I want real government or I want a new government.

Control of lobbyists is essential. Time to weed out those that take money from lobbyists and pass spending bills at the expense of the people.

“Creepy” law the Supreme Court passed. Foreign enemies(?)

Publish all earmarks online. Must be published at least a week prior to vote! Great idea.

Congress must settle partisan differences. No behaving like every day is election day. Job description is not to work toward election day.

Why do politicians not have the courage to do what needs to be done despite it being unpopular? I want real leadership. I want politicians who can get things done!

We need politicians who get things done. Out with those who don’t. That goes for state, city and local politicians too.

No more thinking “if you lose – I win”. We should all be helping eachother succeed. The success of your neighbor is your success.

Out with blockers. No more blocking just because you can. We need action. We need to get things moving. Improving.

There is a wonderful Entertaining element about Obama.

Still need to govern. That goes for all.

No running for the hills. Time to work. Politicians must serve citizens.. not personal ambitions. Help solve people and America’s problems or get out of the way.

There is way too much change / efficiency / effectiveness that needs to be achieved.

Obama has great personality. I love that he meets with all. Great idea.

Security… Uh oh. The threats to America are vast and scary.

Better future for America equals better world.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff looked skeptical.

Arms control is so necessary… so scary. Nukes are never good.

Our destiny is connected to the world’s.

Had to mention Haiti. Haiti is an example of how America can and must help the world. The world needs America’s help, and leadership.

America must stand on the side of freedom and human dignity.

Obama was correct with immigration. People must play by the rules.

Values built America. Not “Jersey Shore” mentalities. America needs its values back.

We must not tear each other down. We need to help each other.

Change is never easy when it’s not instant, and is hard even when it is.

Don’t avoid the hard truths. Do what’s best for next generation.

Keep dream alive.

The spirit of America is in us – and is strong.

“I don’t quit.”

God bless America.

CA Budget Crisis and Building Prisons in Mexico

Should Schwarzenegger Send California Prisoners to Mexico?

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has an idea to ease prison overcrowding and help the state's beleaguered budget in one fell swoop -- send inmates to Mexico. Schwarzenegger proposes building prisons in Mexico to house the 20,000 illegal immigrants currently behind bars in California.

"Think about it -- if California gives Mexico the money. Not 'Hey, you take care of them, these are your citizens'. No. Not at all." He told the Sacramento Press Club Monday. "We pay them to build the prison down in Mexico. And then we have those undocumented immigrants down there in prison. It would half the costs to build the prison and run the prison. We could save a billion dollars right there that could go into higher education."

Do you think this is a good idea?

***

The simple answer is yes and here is why...

1) Housing prisoners in CA cost about $40,000 per inmate, per year. This is insane and must change immediately. Building prisons in Mexico is a solution to this problem.

2) The cost is largely due to prison Unions and guards making over $100K per year. In Mexico we could offer guards $20K a year and they would be lining up for the jobs. It's time to break the choke hold of these unions on CA. This would address this problem. It would allow us to weaken the power of these unions.

3) Detaining illegal immigrants in CA is not practical, and is a huge waste of money. It makes sense to deport them to a place where CA and the Federal Government knows and trusts; especially if they are dangerous. After all the reason we don't just turn them over to the Mexican authorities is because we want to make sure they are incarcerated. We want to make sure they don't just get released and then come back into the US (which they currently do).

4) The Prisons in Mexico would serve a dual purpose, as a prison, and a detention / processing center for illegal immigrants deported from the US. Whenever an illegal immigrant is arrested here in CA (or any state) they would immediately be sent to one of these prisons/centers. There they will be processed, tried in a Mexican or US (or combo) court and sentenced. No more detaining illegals in the US. Ship them out immediately. People that are not Mexican could be deported elsewhere from this center as well; once their term is complete.

5) This would be a great way to team up with Mexico to address this immigration problem. We would be providing them with long-term jobs, and boost their economy while also helping our own security. It's a win win.

6) These prisons would be a joint venture between The Fed, States, and Mexico. Because the illegal immigration problem is a Federal and State issue, both would be involved in these prisons. Funding would come from both the Fed and the State. The Fed will be in charge of the tracking of illegals and submitting criminal records to immigration, local police and to all parties involved in determining citizenship eligibility. We also need to be tracking fugitives of the Mexican government that find there way into America, we need to know to detain them if they are picked up.

BOTTOM LINE: We need to be working with Mexico on this problem on way or another.

They said what???

43 Things Actually Said in Job Interviews

By Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer

Find Jobs
"I'm not wanted in this state."
"How many young women work here?"
"I didn't steal it; I just borrowed it."
"You touch somebody and they call it sexual harassment!"
"I've never heard such a stupid question."

Believe it or not, the above statements weren't overheard in bars or random conversations -- they were said in job interviews.
Maybe you were nervous, you thought the employer would appreciate your honesty, or maybe you just have no boundaries. Whatever the reason, you can be certain that you shouldn't tell an interviewer that it's probably best if he doesn't do a background check on you. (And yes, the hiring manager remembered you said that.)
We asked hiring managers to share the craziest things they've heard from applicants in an interview. Some are laugh-out-loud hysterical, others are jaw-dropping -- the majority are both. They will relieve anyone who has ever said something unfortunate at a job interview -- and simply amuse the rest of you.
Hiring managers shared these 43 memorable interview responses:

Why did you leave your last job?
"I have a problem with authority." - Carrie Rocha, chief operating officer, HousingLink

Tell us about a problem you had with a co-worker and how you resolved it
"The resolution was we were both fired." - Jason Shindler, CEO, Curvine Web Solutions

What kind of computer software have you used?
"Computers? Are those the black boxes that sit on the floor next to the desks? My boss has one of those. He uses it. I don't have one. He just gives me my schedule and I follow it." - Greg Szymanski, director of human resources, Geonerco Management Inc.

What are your hobbies and interests?
"[He said] 'Well, as you can see, I'm a young, virile man and I'm single -- if you ladies know what I'm saying.' Then he looked at one of the fair-haired board members and said, 'I particularly like blondes.'" - Petri R.J. Darby, president, darbyDarnit Public Relations

Why should we hire you?
"I would be a great asset to the events team because I party all the time." - Bill McGowan, founder, Clarity Media Group

Do you have any questions?
"Cross-dressing isn't a problem is it?" - Barry Maher, Barry Maher & Associates
"If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?" - Megan Garnett, Articulate Leadership Team, Articulate Communications Inc.
"What do you want me to do if I cannot walk to work if it's raining? Can you pick me up?" - Christine Pechstein, career coach
"I was a chamber of commerce executive once hiring a secretary. [The candidate asked] 'What does a chamber of commerce do?'" - Mary Kurek, Mary Kurek Inc. Visibility Consulting
"Can we wrap this up fairly quickly? I have someplace I have to go." - Bruce Campbell, vice president of marketing, Clare Computer Solutions
"What is your company's policy on Monday absences?" - Campbell
"If this doesn't work out can I call you to go out sometime?" - Christine Bolzan, founder of Graduate Career Coaching
"How big do the bonuses really get once you make associate? I hear it's some serious cash." - Bolzan
"[The candidate asked,] 'Can my dad call you to talk about the job and the training program? He is really upset I'm not going to medical school and wants someone to explain the Wall Street path to him.' The dad did call. Then that dad's friends called and I ended up doing a conference call with a group of concerned parents ... long story." - Bolzan
"If I get an offer, how long do I have before I have to take the drug test?" - Bolzan
"When you do background checks on candidates, do things like public drunkenness arrests come up?" - Bolzan
"Can I get a tour of the breast pumping room? I heard you have a great one here and while I don't plan on having children for at least 10 or 12 years, I will definitely breast-feed and would want to use that room."- Bolzan
"So, how much do they pay you for doing these interviews?" - Jodi R.R. Smith, Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting

Why are you leaving your current job?
"Because I (expletive) my pants every time I enter the building." - Abbe Mortimore, human resources manager, True Textiles Inc.
"I was fired from my last job because they were forcing me to attend anger management classes." - Smith

Why are you looking for a job?
"Cigarettes are getting more expensive, so I need another job." - Pechstein
"My parents told me I need to get a job so that is why I'm here." - McGowan

Why do you want to work for us?
"Just for the benefits." - Jennifer Juergens, JJ Communications
"My old boss didn't like me, so one day, I just left and never came back. And here I am!" - Matt Cowall, communications manager, Appia Communications
"I saw the job posted on Twitter and thought, why not?" - Rebecca Gertsmark Oren, communications director at The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity

What are your assets? (as in strengths)
"Well, I do own a bike." - Pam Venné, principal, The Venné Group
What are your weaknesses?
"I get angry easily and I went to jail for domestic violence. But I won't get mad at you." - Pechstein
"I had a job candidate tell me that she often oversleeps and has trouble getting out of bed in the morning." - Linda Yaffe, certified executive coach
"I am an alcoholic and do not deserve this job." - Deb Bailey, owner, Power Women Magazine & Radio Show
"I'm really not a big learner. You know ... some people love learning and are always picking up new things, but that's just not me. I'd much rather work at a place where the job is pretty stagnant and doesn't change a lot." - Michaele Charles, Voice Communications

When have you demonstrated leadership skills?
"Well my best example would be in the world of online video gaming. I pretty much run the show; it takes a lot to do that." - Rachel Croce

Is there anything else I should know about you?
"You should probably know I mud wrestle on the weekends." -- Venné

When can you start?
"I need to check with my mom on that one." - Bolzan

Use three adjectives to describe yourself
"I hate questions like this." - Katrina Meistering

Tell of a time you made a mistake and how you dealt with it
"I stole some equipment from my old job, and I had to pay for its replacement." - Meistering
Have you submitted your two weeks' notice to your current employer?
"What is two weeks' notice? I've never quit a job before, I've always been fired." - Meistering

Random responses
"One guy [said] 'it would probably be best' if I didn't run a background check on him. Of course, I did, and learned all about his long, sordid past of law-breaking. Our client actually offered him a job as a staff accountant, but quickly retracted the offer when I had to tell them all about his recent arrest for a meth lab in his basement." - Charles
"[A] guy said he did not have a mailing address, as he was living in a gypsy camp at the airport." - Sandra L. Flippo, SPHR
"I went into the lobby to pick up a candidate. As he stood up, his trousers fell to the floor! [He said] 'Oh, my gosh -- they told me I needed a suit for the interview. I've got no money -- so I borrowed this thing. It's too big!'" - Beth Ross, executive and career coach
"Wow -- I'm not used to wearing dress shoes! My feet are killing me. Can I show you these bloody blisters?" - Bolzan
"May I have a cup of coffee? I think I may still be a little drunk from last night." - Smith
(During a telephone call to schedule the interview) "Can we meet next month? I am currently incarcerated." - Smith
"[A candidate] was asked whether he could advocate impartially on behalf of the various universities he would be representing since he had attended one of them. He responded, 'Well, I don't like to poop where I eat, but I thought my education sucked, so I certainly wouldn't put that school above the others.'" - Darby

Review: Up in the Air

Witty. Dark. Timely/Topical. Funny. Interesting...

I would call this film: Satisfyingly Unfulfilling

I very much enjoyed this film. I found it original, smart, real, fun and well done. Reitman's vision came through nicely it would seem, albeit I gather recent events gave the film a darker edge. Had the global economy not crashed and millions of people were not actually going through what goes on in the film, it would have been more comical. Instead, getting fired, or losing your job is not comedy to most in 2009 - 2010. It made the film much cheaper to make if that makes you feel better. Lots of abandoned offices to film in...

The film is dark in that way, and also in another way. I actually think the world that the George Clooney character lives in is actually quite dark as well. An impersonal, sterile, and fake world devoid of closeness and love. In the film the George Clooney character seems to like it... but all I kept thinking is "my god how could you eat airplane food 322 days a year???"

Everyone in this film did a very good job. The people getting fired in all.

Vera Farmiga is amazing. Her performance was perfect for me.

Anna Kendrick also was great. She has great timing, delivery and expression.

All in all the film was good, but the fact that it was left uncompleted or 'up in the air' is both annoying and perfect. Ryan (the GC character) does not find resolution, or rather, his resolution is 'Up in the Air'.

Simple fix for LA scavengers

Los Angeles has a major problem with scavengers. People that dig through peoples trash to find recyclables. This is against the law, yet the state encourages it by giving people money to do.

Why would the state encourage such bad behavior?

The people that do this are generally also:

Trespassing - Going onto peoples property to dig through their trash
Littering - Throwing trash on the ground as they dig
Unsanitary - ripping open trash bags and spreading germs and disease
Loud - they slam trash cans in the middle of the night, trop through neighborhoods
Thieves - many have stolen shopping carts they collect cans in. Plus they are stealing from the state recycle programs
Illegal Immigrants - Many of the scavengers are here illegally.

People claim they use this money to survive, but the harsh reality is at least half use it for drugs.

Food and shelter are available to those that need it. There are soup kitchens and shelters throughout the city.

Many politicians don't seem to know what to do about the problem. The news stories, show interviews with overpaid 'do-nothings' who talk and talk and do nothing. I'm sick to death of it, and of those people.

THE WAY TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM IS SIMPLE

SOLUTION: End the cash rebate for recyclables!!!

It's so simple.

People will stop digging through the trash if they don't get money for doing it!

The state can still collect the CRV, and can use the money it collects to increase the funding to Homeless shelters, and soup kitchens, and halfway houses.

Then the state will also get millions (billions?) more in revenue as the recycling they collect quadruples. California sorts all it's trash already so they can get all the recyclables out if they are in the trash. This can encourage more recycling and give money to any other needy group affected by the ending of cash handouts.

What about the kids?

Kids can collect recyclables and turn them over to the schools who can get money for them. This helps the schools and the kids.

We don't need to give out cash to encourage recycling anymore. This is no longer helping society, it's hurting it.

Time to tackle the problem head on.

Movie Review: 2012

Entertainingly implausible.

Fast and Fun, with amazing special effects, but as I thought way over the top on the plausibility scale.

But then again this film was not meant to be plausible. It is designed to put you right into the action, and thrill even if that means total suspension of belief. But after a while you forget that the escapes achieved could NEVER happen, and just get lost in the visual spectacle.

The script was not as bad as I thought. The basic premise is that in 2012 the poles shift and this destroys the world. While there is scientific basis for this they make it feel pretty fantastic. If the poles did change all communication would be lost instantly. People would also all become disoriented, because we also depend on the Earth's magnetic field for our brains to function properly. But this would not make for a good movie...

Aside from the special effects, I found this film very formulaic, and predictable. But when you spend +$200 million you prob don't want to take many artistic risks. This is your classic disaster film.

All in all I thought it was enjoyable.

Letter to the Addiction Fighter

Letter to the Addiction Fighter

I am a little worried about you. It’s hard to see you fall of the wagon. You know I care about you, and I will always be your friend, and that’s why I can tell you this. Its not easy to hear, but it’s necessary. I noticed you were acting a little strange, and so did many other people at your birthday. Your friends don’t like to see you fall off the wagon and it makes you harder to be around. I like the sober you, and I’m not the only one. You are so much fun, but that all gets lost when you drink or take drugs. I know it’s hard, I’ve been there.

I know you feel like you are missing out when you don’t drink or use. You feel like everyone is having fun but you. But you have to realize that the opposite is actually true. Fun is a state of mind that you can have without drugs or alcohol. Part of growing up, and getting older is realizing that binge drinking is not actually real fun. Drugs are not a sustainable source of pleasure. Once you become dependent on them you are in for a world of pain. You have to move on from them, or you will never be happy. Drugs are destructive, dangerous, and they age you and it keep you from being in touch with yourself and others. If you had to take the downside of drugs before you got the upside, no one would ever take them! I have found that I have only truly experienced fun in situations where drugs and alcohol are not involved. Like connecting and hanging out with friends: good food, hiking, bike riding, conversation and games. Drugs sometimes seem or act like a bonding agent between friends, but drugs prevent actual bonding. Friendships based on drugs never last and are not real. Your real friends are the friends who you (can) connect with sober.

When you are addicted to something, it takes time to find that place of sober contentment. It takes work too. No one says it’s easy. But once you do, you will live a longer, more fulfilling life. You will connect better with people, and you will develop deeper more meaningful relationships. You will learn better, see clearer, and have more energy. Drugs and alcohol prevent you (and everyone) from finding that place of real connection. Connection with yourself, your true feelings, and then connection with others. That is what life is all about. That is what will lead you to true lasting happiness.

The longer you have been abusing something, the longer it will take to break yourself of the addiction to it. A stretch of TOTAL sobriety (don’t transfer your addictions from one substance to another, that doesn’t accomplish anything) is necessary to clear the mind; to find that “moment of clarity”. You need to find that inner peace and strength. We all have it. Some of us just burry it very deep; sometimes under a mountain of ‘lies and emotions’. The more we abuse and lie to ourselves the more digging and soul searching is required to find our true self, our inner peace.

If for years you develop your brain to find pleasure in drugs/alcohol, this wiring of the brain is not easily undone. It takes work. It takes time. But it is worth it. You have to do the work. There are no short cuts (there is no lipo for alcoholics, and we all know lipo is only for minor touch ups, you can’t suck out hundreds of pounds of fat because it would kill you and leave you looking/feeling all wrong). Once you do the work, and find that ‘moment of clarity’ you will realize you are stronger, better and more powerful than you ever imagined. You can do anything, and the world is yours for the taking. You will find success in your work, in your social life, love and with your family.

No one can ever be truly happy if depend on drugs or alcohol to be ‘happy’. Drugs only mask problems, they never solve them. Eventually they will make anyone unhappy, unfulfilled or totally unconnected to their life and friends. So disconnected that their life will fall apart, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, physically or all of the above.

Being addicted to drugs/alcohol is equitable to being addicted to food. If you are addicted to food and constantly binge on it you become over weight. Drug/Alcohol addiction doesn’t necessarily make you overweight (certainly unhealthy though) but hypothetically it’s the same. The ‘weight’ of the problems with a drug addiction is the same except that the weight is emotional/spiritual/mental/physical. The only way to lose this ‘weight’ is to do the work. You need to work off that ‘weight’ by exercising your spirit and emotions (they become atrophied during addiction). The emotional exercise means to talk it out, search your self, or rather develop your ‘inner strength’. You will need to improve your diet which now is defined as: ALL THINGS YOU CONSUME (not just food). Only consume that which makes you stronger and more present.

Once you are ‘inner strong’ and emotionally fit the work gets easier. Once you are fit, if you slip up it’s easy to get right back on track. But most likely when you are really fit you don’t really slip up. Once you are in great shape (some people may have damaged themselves so bad they will never be truly ‘inner strong’) the addiction begins to not exist. If you address and fix your addiction early, you can control it and mitigate the damage it causes. If you do that, you may eventually be able to treat yourself to a little ‘slice of cake’ everyone and then without falling right back into addiction. But if you are still way over weight you can’t indulge until you are grounded and able to physically/emotionally metabolize your indulgence. Most people find that they don’t even like cake anymore because they like the way they look and feel without it so much better.

If you have an addiction, you can and should beat it. You can do it. If you have friends with addiction, help them. Tell them you care about them, and you want them to succeed. Once you beat your addiction, you will be in control of your life. You will find that people treat you with admiration and respect. Hold on to the good. When you feel the urge to drink, or do drugs remember the pain it causes. See the path that the drugs take you down… they take you to a place of loneliness, suffering and floundering. The path of sobriety, of balance and restraint, one choice at a time, one day at a time, takes you to deep inner strength, fulfillment, beauty and happiness.

NETWORK

I watched the movie ‘Network” (1976, Faye Dunaway) recently; if you haven’t seen it rent it. It’s a great film. It’s about a TV news anchor who has a breakdown and says he is going to kill himself on his show. When a network executive realizes how high his ratings are, they put him back on TV. It’s witty, satirical and very relevant today. From it’s take on the dark times (the recession of the 1970’s, the War in Vietnam) to the corporate take over of the world (just beginning then) it is a great parallel to the times we are in today. The main character ‘Howard’ is exploited by the Network until he says something on the air that hurts the networks parent company. When the CEO of the company requests to see Howard, he explains to Howard how the world and the Network really works: Corporate power and Money. Howard then takes a very dark world view and his high rating begin to decline. The Network then has to figure out how to get rid of him…

The film was way ahead of it’s time. It takes a postmodern look at not only TV, but characters, screenplay/story structure and the way the world works. It’s a neo-noir film that is comedic in its darkness and witt. After I watched it, I realized, it’s a great look at how America works. It’s interesting, scary, and available for your viewing pleasure.

Ramblings about TV...

Rambling about TV

Did you know that no one really knows what the entity of ‘TV’ really is. What it means and what it does…

If you ask me: TV is a postmodern religion.

People live by it. Worship it. Follow it. Do what it says. And in the worst cases it rules the entire mind of people. TV is culture. TV watches us as we watch it. How we affect TV and it effects us is not clear (Chicken or Egg?). Today we can interact with TV live. We can vote, Tweet, or email the show. Now TV is merging with the internet, it’s available on our phones and is merging with reality…

Reality TV isn’t real. But it’s also not unreal; “It’s real-like”. Reality TV brings out the worst in us if you ask me. It’s the cheapening of the medium. It cuts us down to the very worst parts and edits together stories that don’t exist. If the people on it aren’t competing for “love” (please), or groveling in the mud (ew), then they selling themselves or their “skin care lines or fashion line” that they (in ‘real’ reality) had no hand in making or creating. But what I can’t stand most is when they are not acting like themselves… they are acting like they think they should, or the other Reality stars who came before them… it’s so fake. Reality TV needs a reality check!

With that said I do like a few Reality shows. “The Amazing Race” is one of my favorites. I also like “Flipping Out” because I feel like ‘Jeff’ (the star) is the same when the camera is on or off: crazy. I also got sucked into “The Real Housewives”. The only season I couldn’t get into was Atlanta. It was too “Jerry Springer”. Bravo is on a roll if you ask me, which is great for NBC (which owns it) because NBC can’t get it’s act together.

NBC lost me when it decided to put Leno on at 10pm five nights a week. If I was Conan O’brien I’d be pissed. But more importantly it’s cheap on their part. How about you develop some real shows NBC!! Stop being so cheap! Make some new shows!! Plus Leno had his run and needs to just be done. Some people don’t know when to let go…

NBC did one thing right and that is hire Joel McHale. The Soup with Joel McHale is easily my favorite show right now, since it brings together the best (i.e. the worst) that TV has to offer. They watch all the shows I never would and give me the best parts. Love it.

Sometimes I feel like there is too much TV. Sometimes I feel like there is nothing to watch. I don’t feel like TV is getting better, per say. But I do feel like it is getting more creative and more informative. TV is finally getting diving into things it never touched before… secrets about the world. They can do this, because they know it’s hard to catch them unless you know what you are looking for. TV knows most of us, as Jean Baudrillard put it:

“You are hypnotized by the tube, by the obscene flow of images. You raised your eyelids. A vampire is kneeling over you – voluptuously – the muscles of her neck, the ivory curve of her shoulders, illuminated as if by cool moonlight. She licks her scarlet lips like an animal, glazing them with a sheen of moisture, her engorged tongue glistening as it laps the white teeth. She leans closer, you feel her cool breath, then the sharpness of incisors penetrating your neck. You close your eyes in a long ecstasy and wait – wait with beating heart.”

TV… Humanity’s Frenemy.

Blockbuster

I'm almost done with my latest script!

It's been a labor of love, passion, mystery... for almost a year now. Good things take time, and I wanted to do this script right. No one has read it yet, which is weird because I always let my friends or family read parts, and tell me what they think. For this top secret mind blowing script I am not letting any one read it until its perfect.

I have high hopes for it.

I have wanted to write a mind blowing 'tent-pole' script for a while and have been developing the idea for this script in my head for three years.

I just hope the world is ready for it.

Simple Fix for America's Healthcare

If the first (couple) trillion dollars spent on healthcare doesn’t make people healthier, what makes anyone believe trillions more will? Money will not make people healthier, in fact it can make people less healthy as we have seen.How can we fix healthcare without touching the existing private healthcare sector?

It’s actually quite simple!

Healthcare is like education. If you don’t do your ‘homework’ you will never learn, and you will hold everyone back. Homework is health education, food choices, and exercise.

>> FOOD IS THE BEST MEDICINE <<

Exercise is second. The point is, what is the point of paying trillions to treat people, who are not treating themselves? If someone refuses to quit smoking, why should the state spend thousands on treatment of their lung cancer? It’s pointless. It won’t help, and won’t make them better. Why should the state pay for expensive diabetes treatments that can be cured by eating better i.e. FREE?

TAX TOXIC FOOD, and food ingredients that are health detriments; Transfats, carcinogens, sugar, ect, and put the money from these taxes into the public healthcare system fund. We tax cigarettes and alcohol to pay for education and treatments, why should food be different?DO NOT tax business, health benefits, or anything else. We all know that food/diet is what determines 90% of your health. If you eat tons of sugar, and junk food, you are way more likely to have high body PH and get sick; thus you should be paying more for healthcare, and you would in the form of taxes.

This would also help show the true cost of our diet habits. People that are healthy should not be forced to pay more for people who are not healthy, or at least are not trying to be health.

Why would we tax healthcare benefits to help people get benefits? It doesn't make sense, that will make people lose benefits! We have millions of people (many illegal immigrants) not paying into the healthcare system at all. The only way to get them to pay into it, as they should, is through a Health Tax (or tax on food that detriment health). Also, public healthcare treatments must include classes on being healthy, eating right, and exercise. People with similar ailments will meet and discuss what works and what doesn’t, and how to get better, as well as track progress (AA meets Jenny Craig). If people do not attend the diet + exercise classes then they are dropped from the (expensive) treatment program and will be only be provided pills. This will weed out those that don’t really want to get better from those that do. The money will be spent on those that do.

Bottom Line:

1) We cannot afford to help people who will not help themselves.

2) Tax toxic foods, and food additives. This will pay for reform, and will lessen use giving a double benefit effect.

***

More often than not, the simplest answer is the right one!

Taxing things that are unhealthy makes perfect sense!

Sugar, transfats, carcinogens and additives are NOT a necessity for anyone. Therefore a tax on them DOES NOT HURT ANYONE. In fact it helps them make better choices. It will help them. Trust me the corn syrup lobby does not have your health in mind.

>> Taxing things that have no health value would also target everyone equally. No one has to eat junk food. <<

If people are living on junk food they are a major health risk, and this will cost them and the tax payers in the long run. Perhaps they should be persuaded to make better choices, to see the true cost.

America spends over $4,500,000,000,000.00 (trillions) a year on healthcare, like $100,000 PER PERSON and yet we are far from the healthiest people in the world? It's not lack of funding, and more funding will not fix it.

Why?

Diet. Toxic food.

Groups that are against a tax on toxic food are diabetically blind to the nature of the problem. They want the rich, or the insured, or the healthy to subsidize there lifestyle. THERE IS A HIGH COST TO EATING POORLY!

No one is saying you can't eat what you want. This is America!

But the true cost of these choices must be seen. It is the only way.

I really wonder if America has the guts (ironically is a nation of big ones) to truly reform Healthcare. As I see it, throwing more money at the problem will make things worse!!!

Ignoring the real problem, and thinking trillions more will solve anything is INSANE!!!

***

From what I heard NYC successfully banned transfats? Right? No need to tax that... Nation wide would be great, but a tax on it (at the portion, per twinky value added) is the next best thing.

jforgizmo wrote:
Since manufacturers of foodlike products are very effective lobbyists, taxing each different kind of food appropriately for it's level of junkiness will be hard to design or implement

I don't see it as that hard. 10¢ per candybar, 5¢ per can of soda, 20¢ for McDiabeties explotion, ect. Value add it. At the manufacture level, build it in to the price.

Not wanting to do what's right because there will be a fight is not what makes/made America great. The food companies will fight, but this is about what's right, and what's best for people, not their bottom lines. If congress is not able to do what's right for the people who elected them, make the hard choices, then government has truly failed us on this issue.

jforgizmo wrote:
It is much more expensive to eat fruits and vegetables than to eat burgers.


Last I checked fruit and veggies ARE cheaper than burgers, thats a cop out. Remember the true cost of burgers is very high, not only on health but on the forests cut down to raise the cattle and the methane...

jforgizmo wrote:
When most people want jobs, it is also hard to have someone availalable to work for nothing, daily, to prepare meals from scratch from fresh ingredients. Processed foods made with whole grains and unrefined oils have shorter shelf life, are less profitable, and more expensive. Packaged sweetened food products (most of what is sold) can not include stevia (only sugar, corn syrup, and a few others), because Con Agra pulled a fast one with the FDA and got only their version of stevia approved as a sweetener, so they will have a monopoly on a patented version of a natural, calorie-free sweetener.

You can process food without transfats, carcinogens, artificial sweetner, and MSG. There are health alternatives that still allow for a long shelf life. And we don't need need to ban all those things, there is a place for them, I am just saying that the true cost of them should be shown. "The high cost of Low Price". America needs to spend more on prevention to prevent bankruptcy on intervention.

All sweeteners (real or artificial) have no health value and should be taxed. If its not diabetes, it's cancer, same damage, no benefits come from them. Tax them all the same.

In regards to the rest of what you said:

I think Universal Healthcare is ideal, but in America where 50% of healthcare dollars spent goes to 5% of the population, this gets tricky.

I think what we need is a Public and Private parallel system, like we have for schools and universities. We need to have universal care, but we need to keep the private side intact (innovation et al). If you can pay, and have millions you should be able to spend it on your health, this is America. But on the same token, if you have no money, or are just getting by, you should get the care or the treatment you need without being bankrupted by a system designed to make money, not treat people.

So, we need a public system designed to keep people healthy (tax junk food, health classes, food/exercise as part of treatment) as well as a private system that keeps the ideas and innovations flowing. If you can pay you can get crazy death delaying treatments and not have to take health classes.

The Fix of Healthcare requires a three prong fix.

1) Encourage health through incentives: Tax junk food, Tax rebates for staying healthy

2) Create a public universal system that covers emergencies and the basics. Rationing exists already! What do you think your health insurance company does to you? We need clinics and to get people out of the emergency room, who should not be there.

3) Turn Health Insurance to be more like car insurance. You buy it and file a claim for 'other' treatments should you need or want them, or put money into a health saving account to pay for treatments that are not part of the public system. Getting the basics and emergency treatments off the backs of private insurance will solve a great deal of the problem and will stop the frivolous testing and fraud.

***

Bottom line:

America needs healthcare reform >> Create a universal public system

America needs to be healthier >> incentivize better diet, encourage health

We will be so much more productive and prosperous once we get this done.

Movie Review: Terminator

Loud. Action. Intense. Confusing. VFX-overload.

I was not as blown away as everything in the film was, but it is a great film for video game types who love to see things blow up, and love to shoot at everything.

I have only seen one Terminator movie (a very long time ago) and I think the presented a problem for me in understanding what was going on in this film. The story didn’t really come together or make a whole lot of sense to me.

While over 50% of the film is like an exploration in blending outdoor explosions with digital special effects, the human acting parts seem pushed to back. To me it seems as if the director McG did not focus enough on these parts, maybe a little to much emphasis on explosions, noise and digital. I know a lot of people are really into that, but for me it only works if you can blend it with your actors well. For me, I’m not sure that came across on screen. Christian Bale was way over done in every scene, most of the other people were fine for me.

The movie was not bad, but it wasn’t great either.

Movie Review: Star Trek

Another old franchise successfully revived. Good job JJ Abrams and Paramount.

I was never a huge Star Trek fan, I never got into the old stuff, but this film I truly enjoyed. Great casting, fun, mind bending effects, good story… it had all I could really ask for in blockbuster Hollywood film.

I thought it was very clever how they get out of the old franchise parameters by using a change in the “space-time-continuum” to change the whole future of the people so the shows and movies you saw before… they are now a parallel world that technically will never happen. This is perfect so the writers of the future films have total creative freedom. I can just see the pitch to the studio executives; it’s a win-win!

I love these type of films, fast, technical, set in the future… so much fun. They bring out the nerd in me.

Movie Review: Angeles & Demons

Review: Angeles & Demons

Beautiful. Graphic. Moving [Fast]. Intriguing. Catholic.

I really enjoyed it. I never read the book so I went into it fresh. Usually when you read the book you are disappointed because it wasn’t as good, but this didn’t play into it for me. I love these kind of stories, I think this exactly the kind of fare that people are interested in these days –esoteric, science, religion, secrets.

A classic Hollywood film, it had great production value, beautiful scenery and stunning visual/special effects. I thoroughly enjoyed the visual spectacle and was surprised (sort of) to learn they did not film at all in Vatican city (why would the Vatican allow it though, right?); the point is, you can hardly tell.

This film is much more sympathetic and kind to Catholicism than “Da Vinci Code”. The inner workings of the church are fascinating to me. The history of the church is also so connected to the history of Western Civilization and the world at large that it makes for great subject matter. The clash of religion and science seemed oddly forced, in the film though it is the central theme of the movie. Chunks of dialogue eluding to it come off as blatant exposition and didn’t really feel real. The whole ‘Illuminati’ thing also didn’t really fit together for me…

Some say the “Illuminati” actually control the church today, but good luck proving that, and you didn’t hear it from me!

Ewan McGregor did good. Tom Hanks was Tom Hanks. And everyone else was pretty good for me.

All in all I liked it.

Healthcare

Healthcare

America needs national healthcare. There is no getting around this fact.

It’s difficult to understand why the worlds most rich and powerful country by a huge margin has such horrible healthcare and so many sick people. It doesn’t seem to make sense.

The truth is America has the best healthcare in the world. The problem is that most people don’t have access to it; they can’t afford it. Healthcare is expensive.

Healthcare is expensive to research, study and practice. Innovations come from years of study and work, which more often than not produce no results, or short lived euphoria followed by a flood of lawsuits.

Capitalism corrupts health:
>> Eat processed crap that cost more, feel gross then take pills (you don’t need) to feel better. Sleep and repeat.

Capitalism makes healthcare better:
>> Bio-tech, medicines, painkillers, and pills take tons of money to create, test and prove reliable. This takes billions and capitalism demands a profit for it’s efforts, i.e. patent.

Capitalism keeps healthcare out of reach:
>> Hospitals are business that need profit to function. They can’t turn people away by law and so they over charge (sometimes even defraud) the government. This drives up the cost. People can’t pay so they don’t, then the hospital overcharges the government, and cycle repeats until healthcare is so over inflated it takes over the whole economy.

Capitalism cannot be taken out of healthcare.

So how do we fix healthcare in capitalist America?

We have no choice but to completely overhaul the system.

Step 1: Personal Accountability
Every person needs to take full responsibility for their own health. We need to understand what it means to be healthy, how to get healthy and how to stay healthy. We should do our part, because if we don’t, no amount of treatment/healthcare will be able to help you and it will waste tons of money, $1 of prevention is worth $10,000 of intervention/treatment.
Solution: Health education, exercise, & health accountability

Step 2: Health Taxes
Foods that have no health or nutritional value (i.e. health detriments) should be taxed. Soda, candy, fast food, junk snacks… anything without a nutrients (except water of course) or a positive impact on a persons health should taxed according to it’s lack. The taxes collected from this should go into the healthcare fund. This has dual positive reinforcing action: discouraging bad health habits (by showing their true cost) and funding the treatments for the use thereof. People that consume large quantities of junk food undeniably are a greater health cost/risk and thus should pay more into the system they will be relying on. It is fair no matter how you slice it. The only people that can disagree with this are the people selling the junk food to you and your kids. You can’t legislate good choices, but you can encourage them by bringing them (their cost) to light.

Step 3: Emergency Care
Emergency care needs to be there when we need it; and fast. We need to rid our emergency rooms of things that are not true emergencies. The issue is people without healthcare coverage go to the emergency room to get help, even if it is not a true emergency. Since this is a place that cannot turn you away, and must see or help you by law this makes sense. The problem is this is also extremely (the most?) expensive for the government and corruptive/hurtful to the healthcare system. This problem lowers the quality, slows the service speed and ‘cries wolf’ (fake issues cause real issues to be ignored). This problem must be addressed and corrected.
Solution: Government run clinics. We need to set up more free clinics and places for people to go for help with their non-critical health needs. Emergency rooms need to be able to deflect people to the clinics and visa versa. Keeping people out of the emergency rooms is beneficial to everyone. It will speed the service, cut the cost and even save lives.

Step 4: Universal Catastrophic* Healthcare Coverage
>> If you are injured, or have an unexpected health crisis that comes out of no where, through no fault of your own, that must be addressed you will be covered.
This coverage will come in two forms with two guidelines.
1) Catastrophic injury. For instance if you get in a major car accident, or fall down the stairs, you will be given the help you need. Your recovery is very much in the financial interest of the country and the people of the country want you to get better. Your surgery, stitches, reasonable (generic/cheap) pain relief medication, and to a certain extent physical rehabilitation will be covered.
2) Catastrophic Illness gets slightly more tricky. If you need an operation to save your life you should get it. But if you need tons of insulin injections because you refuse to change your eating habits you should not get it (for free). Here’s how it breaks down: Those that are truly looking to get better need to be separated from those that are not truly looking to get better. How can you tell the difference? Simple: Give them a personal plan to follow –group meetings, classes, eating guidelines, weight loss requirements/help. If they follow the plan, they obviously really do want to get better. If they don’t follow their plan, they are not demonstrating they do want to get better and thus will not be allowed to waste precious resources. The plans and classes would be free and would be facilitated, designed and improved on by past participants and success. There would be volunteer requirements and pay would be awarded to those that show great skill and prowess in helping others. It is well known and proven that a healthy eating regimen, group meeting and/or classes in conjunction with initial treatment will cure a disease. People that follow their plans but need more treatment will be given more treatments and intervention as necessary. Those that do not follow their plan will not be offered additional resources, or will accrue additional volunteer work. Pain medication will be made available for those that require it.

Step 5: Suffering Prevention
What about older people that are not able to participate in plans or volunteer work? This again is difficult. Because the state is of limited resources, state resources must be rationed. If this seems cruel, remember that in the current system these same people are getting nothing except long lines at the emergency room. No one will be allowed to suffer. Treatment and pain relief are cheap and should be made available, but there is such thing as misplaced treatment, and too much treatment. On this note assisted suicide is an option that should be available (but closely checked and monitored).


*Catastrophic would have to be outlined and defined by the congress with an ability for appeal

The Lessons of Success.

The Lessons of Success.

If you want to be truly successful in America it does not matter what you look like.

It doesn’t matter what your religion, sexual orientation, or social background is. People that work hard, rise above there circumstance and do things right deserve to rise the ranks. That is why America was created; right? One thing that is common among all of America’s most successful people is their grasp of the English language. They know the right words to say, and that gives them power. Knowing how to speak and how to express yourself is paramount for success in the world today.

Whether it’s Barack Obama, ABC anchor John Quinones, or the recent supreme court pick, they all knew that in order to get the respect they deserve they would need to be able to speak and represent themselves on paper eloquently. If you can do that, then you will be respected.

Why is this?

English is the language of law, business, travel, aviation, computers, science, medicine and more. If you want to be successful in this world you are going to need to know it, because you are certainly going to run into it.

With that in mind, it seems a disservice to students in America to give them a pass for not learning to write and speak English correctly. Why would you not encourage children to learn and understand a tool that will serve them so well? A skill that will allow them to rise out of any social strata or economic situation? I don’t think anyone should turn their back on their heritage, but I do think that everyone should know how to understand the most powerful/influential/wide-spread language in the world.

Bilingual education should only be used to quickly bridge students into full English. Anything less is a total disservice to them. It will only hold them back. But don’t take my word for it, just ask the new supreme court justice what she says about it.

The Problem with California

The Problem with California

Ask not what your State can do for you, but what you can do for your state!

California is the edge of Western civilization and one of the worlds largest economies, 5th or 6th in the world. It is thus one of the wealthiest states (not per capita), but in terms of revenue. It is the center of three of the USA’s major and most promising fields of enterprise, movie making (USA’s greatest export products), Silicon Valley, and Stem cell research. California is also home to the world best public higher education system. Many of the worlds top research universities call the Golden State home.

California is the land of Hollywood dreams that come true. California is the American Dream, the land of innovation, the center of the tech, bio tech, and communication, image/media driven future of the global economy. It is bursting with potential and ideas, arguably generating more innovations these days than any other state by a sizable margin.

With so much going for it, and so much money coming in, where is it all going? Why all the problems…

We’ll get to that.

California has some of the most conservative and most extreme liberal people in the nation. It is a huge state that is hard to bring together. It is also one of the most racially diverse states, a true blending of all the worlds colors, creeds, religions and ideals. It has the largest minority population (57% in 2005) of any state.

California is interesting in that the bulk of the people live in the south, but the center of government is in the north. The people that run the government (minus Arnold) are mostly people who have never worked in or been a product of it’s business sectors (long enough to show it at least). If they were they would see that California has become extremely business unfriendly. This means that it is no longer able to support the entitlement programs in loves so much.

California’s are very empathetic people, they have so much, and they see so much money floating around that they want to help everyone. They want to house, educate, feed, provide medical care, childcare, and even drivers licenses to everyone who asks for it. No questions asked, nothing required in return. This is not a bad thing, per say... What’s bad is what happens when that helping hand cannot afford to give because it has nothing for itself. What is happening is that because they state was so generous, people took advantage (Octo-mom, illegal immigrants, unions, Medi-Cal fraudsters, ect.) and now those that are actually paying taxes are seeing what they have paid into disappear, or not be there for them. A sick mother cannot care for her kids as the saying goes.

So how can the state heal itself?

The simple version is this:
1) In the short term, clean house, cut spending and eliminate waste
2) Follow the laws it has on the books, and the will of the people

California needs to deal with it’s problems. It cannot afford to turn a blind eye to it’s woes. Whether they are financial, immigrant, business, climate, political, economic, educational…

The painful truth that no one in California politics wants to say (it’s pretty much political suicide in this state) is that California has a MAJOR illegal immigration problem.

Illegal immigration is a major Problem!

I said it. Go ahead and hate me. Call me names. That won’t help anything.

Truth creates money.

In Wilson’s administration, a study prepared by Philip J. Romero for the Governor’s office found that illegal immigrants and their U.S.-born children received about $3.6 billion more in state services than they paid in taxes. The 1994 study was followed up in 1997 with the Jordan Commission’s study of California conducted by the National Research Council. In looking at California’s budget, the study found that there was “a net fiscal transfer to the average immigrant-headed household of $3,463” and that the “net fiscal burden on native households in California is families from Latin America.”

In 2007, Romero updated his earlier work and estimated that illegal aliens in California now receive somewhere between $9.6 and $38.2 billion more in state services than they pay in state taxes.
(“COST OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION EQUALS COST OF CALIFORNIA BUDGET DEFICIT, By Diana Hull, Ph.D., April 7, 2008 @ http://www.capsweb.org/)

"California is melting down with an unemployment rate of 9.3 percent, 257,400
jobs lost in 2008, median home values plummeting 50% since spring of 2007, and
the lowest S&P bond rating of all fifty states," said Dan Stein, President of
FAIR. "While Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing draconian cuts in spending,
ordering furloughs for state employees, and delaying expected taxpayer
refunds, he continues to ignore the budget-busting cost of illegal
immigration. With the highest concentration of illegal aliens of any state -
nearly one in eight residents is illegal - it's no wonder California is in the
mess it is." (FAIR, California Budget Meltdown Would be Lessened by Combating Increases in Illegal Immigration, Feb 6, 2009)

California will not be able to financially recover until it addresses the illegal immigration problem. California is sick with Lung Cancer and illegal immigration is it’s cigarettes. There will be no healing until the cigarettes are dealt with.
If California cannot afford to pay for it’s legal citizens and their state parks, libraries, hospitals, social services, or workers, then it certainly cannot afford to pay for illegal citizens. This is a given and must be corrected immediately.

It seems harsh, and some say it’s not fair, but what is not fair is bankrupting the state of California to support/house/treat/support people who broke (and show no respect for) state and federal laws and should not be here. What kind of message does that send to those who follow the laws? Once we fix the illegal problem we can have a normal functioning immigration and temp worker system.

Prop 187 must be re-enacted.

The state cannot afford to educate, heal, and support every person that enters its boarders, it’s actually quite simple. It is a recipe for collapse and collapse hurts everyone. The collapse of California, the back bone of the US economy is not good. As goes California, so goes the USA.

California (politician) needs to understand that it must obey the will of the people. To ignore the will of the people is what is called: A Failed State.

Please don’t let California fail.