DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK: THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

Anybody with a pulse in the country should agree with me that the unforgivable ruling by the Supreme Court unleashing gobs of corporate money on us has been every bit the disaster most of us saw it would be. Both republicans and dems get a big FU as well for not doing anything to fix this situation which will lead us directly to a fascist state. Let's look at the runner ups.

1) The California Police Dept- Yet another example of why I dislike cops. These douchebags extraordinarie are warning parents to be on the lookout for dope laced candy gotten form the dispensaries. This is nothing more than a fear tactic. First if anybody ever did this, which they haven't by the way, they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. However as it's probably not going to happen because most peope who smoke pots aren't dickish enough to do such a thing. And even if they were, nobody gives away candy that costs 10 to 15 dollars a piece. This is fearmongering to stop Prop 19. Don't fall for it.

2) Boston Cops- Sure are a lot of police getting caught screwing up lately. This latest debacle comes from video taken of a dozen cops, kicking and punching a 16 year old defendant who was already on the ground. As some one who took martial arts for years I can tell you these guys are the worst trained police I've ever seen. 12 guys and you can't subdue a 16 year old kid, and not even that big of one from the mug shots it looks. Did no one show you how to do a simple arm lock? Maybe a new career line is in store for you like crossing guard or gay twink porn star. There is never an excuse for what you guys did and I hope you all get fired.

3) Tea Party and their Supporters- Helped along by my douchebag of the week, the tea party has seen a resurgence in the polls putting many a dem in trouble. These fools are voting for an end to the American dream and a new Depression. Awesome. Recent polls show a majority of Americans who incorrectly believe that their taxes went up, that the stimulus did nothing and that TARP will cost us billions. None of those are true. Neither is cutting taxes a way to prosperity. The Great Depression resurged when spending was cut in the wrong places and regulations failed to be put in place that would stop the problem from happening again. Sound familiar?

4)Polls- Depending on what channel you watch, newspaper you read, or radio channel you listen to, the polls given will be radically different. Studies have shown a marketable difference between robo calls and those conducted by a real person. this may be due to the fact that people are more likely to tell the truth to a machine than real person who may judge them. If someone told me they were voting for Christine O'Donnell, I would indeed laugh at them. There is also the generational gap where many younger people do not have landlines. As polls are never conducted by cell phone, these polls will always skewer older and more Republican. Tuesday will be the kicker.

5)Politics- With the floodgates of money wide open, my prediction of non stop ads have come to pass, most of which are barely capable of telling the lies from the facts from both sides of the aisle. The amount of foreign money being introduced is unknown but what isn't is that the Republicans have benefited greatly from this new law as their candidates are all pro business even if they don't sound like it on the campaign trail. The Tea party and Republicans are not your friends, albeit the dems are more the enemy of my enemy rather than true allies. This year though will near unlimited funds, the voices of reason and democracy are being pushed out by the loudest and the brashest. We face a serious problem over the next few years and this isn't helping. God help us. So yes politics you are indeed douchebag of the week.

Nouriel Rubini: Top Economist Predicts Disaster

Nouriel Rubini, one of the top economists in the world, has publicly said that the the US is headed for a train wreck and that there is little we can do to stop at at this time. Oddly enough, even though I don't have a degree in economics, his predictions mirror mine exactly. We are headed for a cliff and the Tea Party is sending us there in a barrel. With the GOP certain to make historic gains next week, out fate is sealed. Even if some miracle happens and the GOP doesn't gain enough ground, I have feeling there are plenty of psycho right wingers ready to shoot first and ask questions later, a notion echoed by candidates such as Sharon Angle, the nutbag from Nevada. When the GOP gains power in the House and possibly the Senate, government will grind to a halt. Sure glad nothing serious is going right now. Oh wait. It is. As one of the first to predict the housing crash, along with yours truly who nailed it down to the exact month the collapse would happen, Rubini is someone to listen to and his future is pretty bleak. Gridlock will lock the US up for the next few years, with only quantitative easing being used to help out, which it won't. What it will do is lead to inflation, possibly hyperinflation the likes of which we haven't seen since the days of the Wiemar Republic, a government we are eerily paralleling right now. He writes that we are on a course of fiscal irresponsibility brought about by both parties weakness for corporate dollars. Combine that with Social Security and Medicare collapsing due to lack of entitlement reform and the huge debt being piled up by states for out of control pension plans and we have a recipe for disaster. A recent study done by a BU professor says that the US is actually 200 trillion dollars in debt or more money than the whole world has. That with the suspected 600 trillion dollar loss in the derivative market and the chickens are coming home to roost. How long can the government juggle these balls before dropping one and sending the whole system into bankruptcy? Not long I fear with the idiot Tea Party demanding budget cuts in places guaranteeing the economy to collapse. I'd like to point out that Germany is doing much better due their regulation of the derivative market, modest austerity cuts and tax breaks. Their economy is growing, their unemployment rate very low and their citizens enjoying all the benefits of living in a country that takes care of their people. Not here where the insane Tea Party wants to go back to the days of no minimum wage or maximum hours work laws. They want to send the country right back to the days of the robber barons when the work place was a minefield of destruction. ARE THEY NUTS? Apparently they are because only a fool would fight for things that will end up hurting themselves. But as they are hell bent in getting rid of Obama, reason has left the building. And we are all gong to suffer as a result.

Election Looms: Stupidity Reigns

With the all but certain conclusion that the Tea Party will officially hijack the Republican party next week, moderates everywhere should be packing their sanity bags because we're going on a road trip. With the right wing establishment dumbing down the electorate with taunts of socialism and communism, we now face the end of everything Democratic about this country. I'd like to point out that Germany, a socialist state, has lower unemployment, greater benefits and higher taxes on the rich. The result: the best economic numbers in 18 years. Meanwhile our country tailspins because the morons have come home to roost. With Oompa Loompa John Boener the most likely new Speaker of the House, cutting spending is their number one priority, never mind the fact that is how the second part of the Great Depression started. If we do this, like the Tea Party demands, our society will fall apart. We must cut spending, but not in eliminating social programs like disability, unemployment and Social Security. The Defense budget must be cut in half, which would still make us the greatest military in the world and Social Security must be revamped but not privatized or eliminated. The better example would be to raise the age and to drop anyone from the ranks who make over a certain amount of money such as a net worth over 5 million. These people don't need the social security net and regardless of whether they paid into for their whole life, that money should go to somebody not as fortunate. We cannot afford to give these benefits to everyone, especially those that don't need it. But idiot America is going to get rid of the pussy democrats because they quite simply have been terrible leaders. Incapable of explaining or bragging about any initiative they have, they have resided themselves to the dust bin of history because of their sheepishness. Next tern, if the Republicans want to filibuster a good bill, LET THEM. Don't you guys remember what happened when the Republicans did that back in the mid 90's? They got crucified, which led to Clinton easily winning a second term. Make them explain to the American peope why they are holding up things like Unemployment or tax breaks for small businesses. They will fail miserably at this and the democrats will be back on top again. Plus, come up with wedge issues like gay marriage and legalization of pot and don't be wishy washy about it. Let the other tongue draggers vote for their idiot candidate. Make yourself stand out. And for everyone else out there, vote Democrat or true independent (not the Tea Party or Republican independents ala Scott Brown) to save yourself and this country. Don't and the new Nazi's will turn this country into a true fascist directorship, a slope we already going down. The police are out of control and need to reigned in. Boston this week saw a teenager pummeled by multiple cops and a friend was arrested again in East Hartford (true Nazi's in this town) for stealing a motor that he had already spoke to the owner about and had his permission to take it. Unfortunately the owner is in Vietnam for the next month, sparking a ten thousand dollar bond and a hundred dollar loan from yours truly. I'll get it back next week, so it doesn't really matter to me but the hassle factor for my friend is off the charts. The crime won't stand and as soon as they get a hold of the owner, the whole thing will be dropped again. But East Hartford tax dollars are going to pay for this whole fallacy. And stuff like this is happening nationwide in our increasingly hostile fascist police state. Fear the police. They are not here to help but to protect the rich. If a civil war does start, these fools will be on the front line. And some of us are better armed. Remember the French Revolution. Viva la France.

NEW BLOG STARTED: LOSTANDFORGOTTENFILMS.BLOGSPOT.COM

As of today I am dividing my site into two separate entities. This site will continue to discuss all the news not being talked about into today's corporate controlled media state. Entertainment news will now be at lostandforgottenfilms.blogspot.com. In addition to reviews of TV, videogames, and movies, we also have a weekly column dedicated to lost and forgotten films just like the Douchebag of the Week Column here, a popular column I might add. This week's entry is The Boogens, a hidden classic from the early eighties which I happened to find on TCM late one night (thanks for the shout out Darren). I hope all of you will look up my new site and let me know what you think.

Things Fall Apart, The Center Does Not Hold

With a week left to the next election, one has to wonder what does the future hold. If history has anything to say about it, Muslims should be very worried that they will be the new Jews of a resurgent Nazis movement. I am indeed talking about the corporate Christian group, The Tea Party. Think back to Nazi Germany circa 1936. Their economy was devastated, their middle class wiped out, they had just been through a brutal war which they lost and helped bankrupt their country. Sound familiar? It should because it's happening right now. Fear got them elected in Germany and the same is working now with the Republicans. Mind you the democrats deserve their fair share of the blame here by being incapable of passing even the simplest of laws when they had a super majority (three to be exact and none were any good). After the Republicans win the House and possible the Senate, all bets are off. Most of the idiots want to do things like privatize social security and eliminate unemployment. If a truly charismatic leader comes out of the woodwork to oppose Obama in 2012, we could be seeing the beginning of the end. God help us all if it turns out to be Sarah Palin which I still see as huge long shot as even Republicans don't trust her in mass. But we stand at the edge right now. Jobs that supported the middle class are gone. I just found out that good paying sales jobs have gone the way of the dodo, just like manufacturing and construction. Most of the jobs pay commission only which is a great way to get around paying for pesky things like a salary or benefits. The rate of pay as a result is less than half of what these same people would have been paid just five years ago. My last job with the newspaper now pays half of I made and get worse results for it. Remember Circuit City dumb asses? Rumors of voting fraud have become rampant, only this time Democrats are getting the edge in places like Nevada, where people say they are voting for Angle but Reid is coming up. Any jerk voting for that lunatic should be lucky that the voting booth isn't electrified to kill anyone this stupid. Do the ruling elites actually not want a nutbag like Angle in office? It's possible. Her insanity may be too hard to control, and she is definitely certifiable. Regardless of dirty politics, Republicans will still win the House and then we get to look forward to two years of gridlock. Unemployment extensions? Not going to pass. Budget problems? Going to have to wait until 2012. Good thing we aren't in the middle of a Depression or anything. Oh wait. We are.
The possible overthrow of the Lebanese government has come full circle with even the Saudis asking the current leader to step down to avoid a civil war. Hezbollah will be the new de facto rulers then, a prospect that cannot thrill Israel. With the nuclear power plant in Iran set to activate in the next two weeks, both the US and Israel seem oddly unfazed. What do they know that we don't?
Unemployment in the US has reached staggering level upwards of 40% in some cities like Detroit. The recession/Depression never really ended. They just said it did to make themselves feel better and to lie again to the American people. Only when jobs come back with good salaries will the depression end. And that'll happen when pigs fly. The middle class is dead. Long live the new serfdom.

DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK:NPR

Another week, another round of so many choices. Oddly enough, no political party gets the honors this week. Shocker.

1-WIKILEAKS AND THE PENTAGON- Double edged sword here as both get a big raspberry this week. Wikileaks gets a big WTF for unleashing 800 phone book pages of classified info which I admit I'm torn about. On one hand they are pointing out hypocrisies our government is once again caught lying to us about. On the other, they are also pointing out people, specifically Iraqis who helped us in the war, which not only puts their lives in danger, but makes sure that no one will trust us again to keep their identifies secret. I give a slight edge to the Pentagon for douchebag supreme as the new documents show an alarming lack of candor about Iran's involvement in the war. It reminds me a lot of China's involvement in Vietnam, which we didn't want to acknowledge because we didn't want a bigger war. Then we shouldn't have gone in the first place. Fight a war all out or not at all. This piece meal crap is killing us. This is why wars drag on for decades. Because no one wants to really win. More weapons get sold that way. These wars have to stop today and the next time someone wants to attack us, remind them why we have nukes.

2-MOUNT PLEASANT POLICE FORCE- Having killed a young black man for doing nothing more than moving his car out of fire lane seems like overkill for even the most ardent cop supporter. The cops then released the fact that the young man was drunk at the time which may be contributing factor but still doesn't give them the right to fill him full of holes. The fact that his parents are not ghetto trash but highly articulate, well educated individuals doesn't make the cops look any better. I have a feeling this is going to get ugly. Cops are rapidly becoming targets, as seen by the mutliple deaths of police over the past few months. And while I don't like cops, most of them don't deserve to get shot at a traffic stop. But civility is dying due to a lying fascist government who are using the police to enforce their illegal laws.

3-ANDY QUIAD AND HIS WIFE- In a Holy God what were they smoking moment, Randy Quaid and his wife were arrested AGAIN for illegally squatting at a former residence. These two nutbags had been picked up before for skipping out on a huge hotel bill earlier this year. Randy Quaid said his life was in danger and seeked asylum from Canada as a result. Supposedly, eight of his friends had been murdered like Heath Ledger and David Carridane and he was next. The fact that both died from their own hand didn't seem to matter. Quaid had been banned from Broadway for life last year due to his overbearing attitude that made both cast and crew demand his removal. His career is over.

4-NPR Explaining in graphic detail why I hate PC nonsense, NPR fired reporter Juan Willams this week after he made "disparaging" remarks about Muslims. Thing is, he didn't. He didn't say "I hate Muslims," or "all Muslims must die," which would be a firable offence. He said when he got on a plane and someone was wearng Muslim garb, he got nervous. WHO DOESN'T? That's it. He then went on to explain that generalizations are dangerous and we shouldn't lump all Muslims together, which he's right about. So what did NPR do? They canned his butt. This was more likely that he was a Fox news staple and the liberal elites didn't like that. Well too bad. I don't particularly like people who are too liberal or too conservative and here the line has definitely been crossed. So way to go NPR. You are douchebag of the week.

Paranormal Activity 2:: A Scary Movie For Us Ghosthunters Fans

Paranormal Activity arrived last year to much fanfare and some derision from the fanboy crowd. A sizable group, myself included, found the first film to be quite scary and riveting. It wasn't about a giant monster in a rubber suit or CGI jumping out and scaring the beejesus out of you. It was much more subtle than that and was definitely influenced by the hoards of ghost shows now on TV, some of which are decidedly terrible. However regular viewers of Ghost Hunters or Ghost Adventures will see much the same kind of footage and that stuff appears real. I had an encounter myself some years ago in my old house in New Jersey. The heat had gone out again on the coldest night of the year and I was trying to keep warm using the fireplace. But no matter how big the fire got it was still freezing. Figuring something was wrong, I went into the basement and found the dead bolted door there open. I had been down there the day before and knew the door was closed and locked. Yet here it was open and letting all the cold air in. I have no rational explanation how that door got open. A friend of my staying with me for the weekend while his place was getting ready fled in terror one night while I had been away. He would never talk about what exactly happened but mentioned the Starship Trooper bugs my house had (they looked like miniature versions of the movie bugs) attacked him, strange sounds coming from other rooms even and little green men, which was odd because I had never told anyone that as a child I had woken up one night and saw three or four greys at the foot of the bed. I screamed, they aimed some sort of device at me and then it was morning. I still don't know if what I saw was a dream (most likely) or real. My sister said I screamed out in my sleep in the middle of the night but saw nothing so I still like to think it was just a dream. But after my friend left to go sleep in Central Park rather than spend another night at my house makes me question it all the same.
That is exactly what the movie is. It is a series of moments that most of us would rationalize as being nothing, even though we in the audience know better. Normally I hate prequels, which this film is, but in this case it works as it gives us a better understanding of what the demon that haunted Katie and Micah in the first film really wants.
The movie opens with Katie's sister's family bringing home their new baby. Cut forward a year or two later and the time period is 60 days before Micah dies. Apparently, Katie's sister is the original haunting for deeds done by one of their ancestors decades earlier. Now it wants the newborn Hunter. And it will do anything to get it. Like the first film, this one starts off slow; moving pans, a dog barking at nothing, the pool cleaner moving out of the pool. Through it all the Dad finds reasonable explanations for everything. The Daughter and Mom however think differently and begin scouring the security cameras the family had installed after a break-in for anything odd. Eventually things go horribly wrong as even the most ardent skeptic would have to realize that there is indeed a real problem.
The scares are real and the footage has a Where's Waldo aspect to find what's moving or where that shadow is going. This is infuriating for some but for any fans of Ghost Hunters this is what we do every week watching these shows. Some HATE HATE HATE this kind of movie in which case don't go. I am so tried of the trolls In the Internet pistol whipping anything they find objectionable with no realization that everything on the planet isn't geared just for them. Another example of the dumbing down of America where everyone gets a trophy for participating and originality is considered the way not to conform to everyday values. It's sickening.
This film does has it's problem. As there were no credits, I'm pretty sure the lead actress was Sprague Greydon from shows like 24 and Sons of Anarchy which doesn't help the "family in distress angle." Couldn't find another no name actress? Really? And the continuity errors in this movie were jarring. Several scenes had disappearing plates, napkins and pans. One such scene changed pots hanging on a rack every time the scene cut away to a different angle. The pans were silver, then red, then they changed position. This kind of stuff really hurts a film that's supposed to be found footage.
I would recommend this film to anybody who loves ghost shows. If your expecting a splatter picture wait until next week when Saw 3D opens. You'll be much happier.

3 and 1/2 stars out of 5