Corey Haim, Earmarks, WASPs and Sean Penn

THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK
· I went to my first auction today. Okay, so maybe not my first, but I sure don’t remember when the last one was. So here I am thinking this will be a nice way to spend three hours or so with the wife and my dad and stepmom. And who knows, maybe I will find a hidden gem or two. SEVEN hours later and I am exhausted. WOW. Who knew it would take so long? And of course the things I am remotely interested in they save for last. I did manage to get a couple of really good deals, and if you know what you are doing I am sure you can make some money. But could we find a way to like triple speed up the process?
· I am still in mourning today. I miss Corey Haim. I have missed him for almost 20 years. He was never my favorite Corey, but if you grew up in the 80s how can you not feel sad at his passing. He could be the poster child for how not to handle being a teen star. His demons are well chronicled. And I have to admit I was a closet watcher of ‘My Two Corey’s. And if you watched that you knew this day was coming. Still, I hope he has found peace now. And may one of ‘The Lost Boys’ live forever…

RANT OF THE WEEK
· This week the big news in Congress is going to finally ban earmarks. You know those appropriations that never see the light of day and every single member of Congress is complicit in, even if they haven’t proposed one themselves. The Democrats, desperate to stem the tide of public backlash that is currently going on, came up with a brilliant idea. Let’s ban Earmarks for ONE WHOLE YEAR! Yeah! But let’s read the fine print. The ban only applies to for-profit companies. This would reduce earmarks by at least 1,000. But it does not affect thousands of earmarks in aurthorization, tax, tariff and transportations measures. According to the Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) in all fiscal 2010 measures there were 9,500 earmarks worth $15.9 Billion. Most of these earmarks go to state or local agencies that spend that money on….for profit companies. What I don’t understand is if these earmarks are so important, why aren’t they brought up in committee and voted on, debated like everything else. What is wrong with that? If the committee includes them and it’s passed great. It went through the legislative process. But the current earmark process, I firmly believe, is not what the founders of our system of government intended. And it is definitely not open, or transparent, so that most U.S. citizens have no idea what is going on.

SPORTS NEWS OF THE WEEK
· Evidently I haven’t been paying attention. The NCAA is seriously considering expanding the NCAA basketball tournament from 65 teams to 96. And may do so as early as next year. Of all of the half baked, stupid, money grubbing ideas the NCAA has come up with over the last few decades, this is the worst. And it isn’t even close. Right now, the NCAA basketball tournament is close to the perfect sporting event. Who doesn’t fill out a bracket? Who doesn’t watch at least one game? What other sport gets an entire month almost exclusively to themselves? Every team in NCAA Division 1 has a chance. Every team plays in a conference tournament. And the NCAA selection process is about as fair as can be. But NOOO, the NCAA can squeeze a few more hundred millions out of CBS. So let’s add 31 teams. Give the top 32 teams a bye. Extend play by a week. And it will be great. NO IT WON’T!! How many casual fans will take the time to fill out a bracket? And who will care about conference tournaments? And why should the 10th place team in the Big XII, ACC, Pac-10 with a 5-12 league record go to the tournament? Just SAY NO NCAA. But remember, the NCAA is who is responsible for the BCS…

COOL PERSON OF THE WEEK
WASPs – This week Congress honored 1,102 Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) who served during World War II. Many of you know my great love of anything surrounding World War II and what our country was able to accomplish and overcome. The WASPs are a group I did not know much about. The WASPs were created in 1942 to recruit and train female pilots to fly at home to allow men to fly combat missions on both war fronts. They flew fighter craft, they ferried planes from factory sights to training stations. They became the first women ever trained to fly military aircraft in the history of our nation. Some of them died for our country. These women are all heroines. Thank you, all 1,102 of you, for serving our country.

DOUCHE OF THE WEEK

Sean Penn. There are a lot of reasons why I don’t like Sean Penn. And there are reasons why I have boycotted most of his films. Thankfully we live in a country where he can make movies and I can boycott them. But one wonders if Sean Penn truly understands what kind of country we live in. Now Sean Penn and Hugo Chavez are good friends. Have been for years. Fine. Whatever. But now Sean has taken this friendship to a new level. Sean thinks that Hugo Chavez is a model democrat and that those who call him a dictator should be jailed. To use his words “Every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it, and accept it. And this is mainstream media. There should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies.’ Really? You want the press to go to jail for reporting on the news? Do you think if Sean lived in Venezuela and thought this about a rival Presidential candidate that Hugo would let that go unpublished? I have an idea Sean. Move to Venezuela. Disagree with Hugo Chavez on one thing publicly. Just one. See what happens. Douche.