Terrorist Dream

I had this crazy dream last night and thought I'd share it:

I was walking out of a grocery store to my car, when I almost got ran over by this guy who was on a cell phone. A bit flustered, I kept walking toward my car when I felt strongly that I needed to go a different direction in the parking lot, so I went left instead of right. As I walked, I heard the sound of a crash not too far in front of me. I quickly passed a set of parked cars and just on the other side the same car that almost hit me had ran into a police car, going really fast. People had already started gathering around the accident. The cop in the police car was unconscious and the guy in the other car had rolled out onto the ground, also unconscious. I went over to the man on the ground and immediately checked him out to see if he was okay (he was). I then asked the people standing around if anyone had called 911. No one had, but a lady began making the phone call. I then proceeded to gently position the man on his side and treated him for shock.

After taking care of the man on the ground I went over to the cop in the police car. He was still unconscious. I began patting him kinda hard on the shoulder, yelling, "Are you okay?!" I did that a few times, when the cop finally came to. Unfortunately I had startled him and he, not knowing what was going on, grabbed the gun from his hip and pointed it at me. I backed up and told him to calm down, that he had been in an accident, and that I was helping him. He slowly began to lower his gun and since he was pretty weak, I quickly took the gun from him and laid it on the ground away from him. As I was caring for the police officer, I heard commotion from the people by the man on the ground. I looked over to see the man conscious and sitting up slightly. He had a grenade in his hand and pulled the ring from it, holding the grenade tightly in his hand. Everyone scattered and I immediately began struggling to pull the cop from his car. Fortunately, the cop was a small guy, so I was able to pull him from the car and was able to quickly get several feet away and hide behind a car for protection. One lady was still by the man with the grenade, and despite the crowd, who had ran away for safety, calling for her to run, she stayed put (for a reason I don't know). Shortly after I got behind the car, the grenade--still in the hands of the man--exploded, with the lady still by the man at the time.

That's all I remember from the dream. I remember feeling pretty horrified after the explosion and for a moment in my dream, I thought it had actually happened, that it was not a dream. It was pretty realistic. CRAZY!

Arrested Development Movie???
That was a freebie.

So I just found out from a friend's Facebook profile (who happens to be an Aussie) that there is a possible Arrested Development movie in the works. How cool is that?! You can check it out from the words of Ron Howard yourself here.

For those of you who are not familiar with or never heard of Arrested Development, it's a tv series that was on the air for only 3 seasons. From what I understand, it wasn't popular at the time (hence the short life-span of the show), but became such only after it went off the air. It's about the Bluth family and it's family members as they try to run the Bluth Company, a real estate business owned by the father, who went to jail for messing with the accounting books...among other things. It's pretty random and has some slap-stick humor, but honestly, that's what makes the show. "Marry me!"

Anyway, if this does become a movie, then I look forward to watching it (provided it isn't rated R, though I can't see that happening). I've provided a link to the pilot episode for your viewing, thanks to hulu.com. Enjoy!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/589/arrested-development-pilot

America, the Spoiled

With the continuance of the downward spiral of the U.S. economy (Congrats Wall Street! The Dow has officially dropped below 8,000!),we have seen several companies prostrate themselves before Capitol Hill in hopes to receive bailouts to survive this unstable economy. One of the latest topics in regards to this subject is that of the auto industry crisis. In a nutshell, the Detroit-based auto makers are losing money fast, and without immediate government aid, GM could face bankruptcy.

Although the auto industry has been pleading to Washington for a $25 billion aid package, warning that "the societal costs would be catastrophic"¹ if no aid is received, there is a current head-butt going on between President Bush and many Democrats in Congress, causing a "deadlock"² to prevent any aid coming to the auto industry any time soon.

Despite the dark and ominous clouds that are rapidly moving in and covering any optimism for the auto makers to receive any kind of aid and, thus, bypassing an otherwise highly-probable bankruptcy, former governor and Bain & Company (and Bain Capital) CEO Mitt Romney suggests that there is still hope for the crippled industry. In yesterday's New York Times he writes an article outlining a strategy that could get the American auto makers back on their feet and become more competitive with foreign auto makers, who are now leaving GM et al in the dust. Basically, he tells the auto industry not to take a bailout, to tough it up, and swallow its pride to ensure future success.

As tough as Romney appears on the auto industry, the solutions he offers are very practical and focuses on the reality that a bailout would only delay the problem instead of proactively solving it and moving on. The following are some "prescriptions" he gives to Detroit's auto makers:

1. There are costs that can be alleviated, such as new labor agreements and cutting back retiree benefits (which, according to Mitt, is a large reason why the costs per domestic auto is much more than those of foreign autos).
2. The current management needs to leave. There needs to be a fresh view on how things are run, and they need to cut back on some (if not many) of the luxurious costs of being an executive.
3. Stop looking for quick profits and focus on investing in the future.
4. Don't get rid of the sales people that can grow sales.

I couldn't agree more with Mitt Romney about not giving the auto industry a bailout. In fact, I'm really not an advocate of giving out bailouts anyway (at least, not freely like Washington has been doing). As is the case in human nature, once one company or industry gets a bailout from a liberal Uncle Sam, it's inevitable that other companies and industries will throw a fit like a spoiled child, crying for their necessity of a bailout as well. What good is that for our economy? More reliance and dependence on big government? Why has the American economy thrived for so many years, and even been able to pick itself up after sudden economic downturns? It's because of America's belief and focus on capitalism, on a free-market society. Now, with our spoiled-more-than-ever behavior, if things don't go our way, we turn to the government for aid. Why must our society shame ourselves and defame Capitalism by demanding governmental aid, instead of overcoming our own challenges? What happened to self-reliance? What happened to independence? Have we forgotten the American Dream? Have we forgotten the foundation upon which today's richly blessed America is built?

It seems that the call of a bailout is too much of a quick fix and is based off of selfishness and greed, two things that will NOT help this economy get out of its slump. In fact, it's because of selfishness and greed as underlying factors that put the U.S. in the mess we are in today with our financial/credit crisis. I say SUCK IT UP America; it's time for us to grow up and rebuild ourselves as a "city upon a hill"³, just as we were foreordained to be!

I'll get off of my soap box now. I have a lot more to say about the topic, but I think you get my drift. What are your thoughts???

Footnotes:

1. The MarketWatch website.
2. Bloomberg website.
3. John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity" in 1630. This speech was given aboard the Arbella, traveling to the American continent from Europe.

"Traditional Marriage" Preserved!!!

So after much controversy, stress, sign-stealing, grass roots campaigning, and several millions of dollars donated and spent, the political turmoil regarding California's Proposition 8 is over...with Prop 8 WINNING!!! In fact, CNN's website shows us the results, with 99% of the precincts reported:

So there it is! BOOM BABY!!! I was actually more anxious about finding out the results of Prop 8 than I was about the Presidential Election, but that was mostly due to the fact that I could see Obama winning it a mile away (I mean, other countries were holding Election parties in anticipation of the Election, hoping "Barack Hussein Obama" would win). So, to make it clear, Proposition 8 will be amended into the California State Constitution that marriage will be between only one man and one woman.

And what the heck???

There was one very unfortunate event that transpired on Tuesday, of which I wish to briefly make mention: the slandering commercial against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which I am a member. It shows two LDS missionaries barging in a lesbian couple's home, saying, "We are here to take away your rights." They proceed to take their wedding rings, then search the house for their wedding certificate, which they promptly shred. As the two missionaries leave, they jeeringly laugh, "What should we ban next?"

Okay, so it's one thing to put an add on the air to get people to support your campaign over another. It's something completely different--and wrong--to slander an organization and put it under false report, in order to sway more voters to their side. This seems to me to be a last-ditch attempt of a desperate society vainly seeking more support for their dying cause. A Catholic Bishop commented about the commercial by saying that the ad was "a blatant display of religious bigotry and intolerance."

If you want my opinion (which you obviously do if you're reading this) the commercial is basically that of no class and poor taste. Seriously, the video was super cheesy and really uneducated and had the word "IGNORANT" written all over it. The so-called "Mormon missionaries" displayed in the commercial:

1. wore no black tags on their shirt,
   
2. their hair cuts were anything less than missionary appropriate,
   
3. and they totally walked in a house without having a third priesthood holder with them, when only women were there (which would be breaking the mission rules found in the "White Bible").

So obviously, the two missionaries shown could not have been from the LDS Church...maybe a fundamentalist break-off. I don't know.

It is true, however, that the LDS Church is the religion (if not overall contributor) that put the most money into the Yes on 8 Campaign. That is a fact I'm pretty proud to admit; it shows that the LDS Church is very proactive in preserving the doctrines it stands for! Which it should be, if we profess to hold the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ! You can check out the LDS Church's Proclamation on the Family here.