John Hughes favorites

The Breakfast Club and Ferris Beuller’s Day Off have always been high on my list of “movies I want to own some day,” but alas upon learning of the untimely death of director John Hughes it occurs to me that I still do not have a single one of his movies in my film collection.
So here are the John Hughes films I would love to add to my collection some day:

Breakfast Club
Ferris Beuller’s Day Off
Sixteen Candles
Pretty in Pink
Planes Trains and Automobiles
Uncle Buck
Home Alone I & II

It would make an awesome boxed set, anyway.

Healthcare lies

This Steven Pearlstein column is one not to be missed -- Republicans Propagating Falsehoods in Attacks on Health-Care Reform

The recent attacks by Republican leaders and their ideological fellow-travelers on the effort to reform the health-care system have been so misleading, so disingenuous, that they could only spring from a cynical effort to gain partisan political advantage. By poisoning the political well, they’ve given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They’ve become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems.

A commenter at Nick Marinelli’s blog wonders why Democrats think democrats think “all this dissent is manufactuered”.
Well, it’s not that I think the dissent is manufactured so much as the anger which is being drummed up by the malicious lies people are being fed about healthcare reform.

Fiesta Texas

We had a good time at Fiesta Texas yesterday. My son got a free ticket through a reading program at his school this year so even though we have season passes to Sea World, we ponied up for a day at Six Flags.
Naturally it was a scorcher on Thursday. The prediction was for 102 and as it turned out it hit a record 103. But we were prepared with lots of sunscreen and spent the hot part of the day at the water park. I made the mistake of not bringing flip-flops and quickly realized my mistake after we put all our stuff in a locker and headed out for the water. While the wife and kids went on to the pool, I doubled back to get my credit card out of the locker and then sprinted over to one of the gift shops, scalding my feet in the process. I found a pair of cheapie flip-flops for $7 but the kid behind the register just looked at my credit card and asked for my ID. D’oh!!
So I had to sprint back across the hot cement a second time to the lockers to retrieve my wallet. This time I was smart and put on my tennis shoes before making the trek back to the shop. Later in the day when it was time to pay for our $35 lunch which consisted of one double-meat cheeseburger, some oninon rings and drinks (seriously), I had my ID ready only to find that they took my credit card without asking for it. Grrrrrr!
Fiesta Texas was great. There was lots more than we could do in one day even getting there at 10:30 a.m. and staying until the park closed at 9 p.m. We live close enough to Fiesta Texas that I can hear the fire works every night from my front lawn so it was nice to finally get to see the fireworks and laser light show up close. It will probably be a few more years before we get a season pass to Fiesta Texas. Our kids are still too young for most of the rides and aren’t old enough to appreciate most of the music shows. But they love animals which is why we go to Sea World. I just hope that Six Flags stays solvent and doesn’t close down before then.

Disney movie collection

Here is my Disney movie collection which has grown exponentially over the years and which I am still looking to add to:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (VHS)
Pinocchio
Fantasia (VHS)
Dumbo
Bambi
Saludos Amigos
The Three Caballeros
Make Mine Music
Fun and Fancy Free
Melody Time
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Cinderella
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Lady and the Tramp
Sleeping Beauty
One Hundred and One Dalmations
Sword in the Stone
Mary Poppins (VHS)
Jungle Book
The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit
The Love Bug
The Aristocats
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Robin Hood
Escape to Witch Mountain
The Apple Dumpling Gang
Gus
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Rescuers
Return From Witch Mountain
The Cat From Outer Space
The Black Hole
The Fox and the Hound
Tron
Oliver & Company
The Little Mermaid
The Rescuers Down Under
Beauty and the Beast
Aladdin (VHS)
The Lion King
Pocahontas
Toy Story (VHS)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Mulan
A Bug’s Life
Tarzan
Toy Story 2 (VHS)
Dinosaur
The Emperor’s New Groove (VHS)
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Monsters Inc.
Return To Neverland
Lilo & Stitch
Treasure Planet
Piglet’s Big Movie
Finding Nemo
Pirates of the Carribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
The Haunted Mansion
Home on the Range
The Incredibles
National Treasure
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie
Sky High
Chicken Little
Chonicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Cars
Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Meet the Robinsons
Pirates of the Carribbean: At Worlds End
Ratatouille
Enchanted
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
WALL-E
Tinker Bell
Bolt
Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin
The Tigger Movie
The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (VHS)
Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo
Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
Lilo & Stitch II: Stitch Has a Glitch
Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie
Air Buddies
Space Buddies
The Complete Goofy
The Chronological Donald Vol. 1
The Chronological Donald Vol. 2
Mickey Mouse in Black and White Vol. 2

New Weird Al video!!!!

Weird Al Yankovic does White Stripes! Too cool!

Radical Right - Today’s Hippie protesters

The video of an angry mob chanting “Just Say No!” over and over again in an effort to harass U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett during a forum on health care is a prime example of how Radicalism has replaced Conservatism in this country.
These people are no different than the radical “Hippies” of the 1960s who came to represent left-wing or liberal politics all the way to the present. If anything, they are even angrier than the “Flower Power” children of the 60s ever were.
It is disturbing that these radicals are organizing protests around the country with the express purpose of drowning out any efforts to examining the health care debate in a civil manner.
Do you suppose the national media will start portraying these radicals in the same negative light that their 60s counterparts were? Or will they be too cowed by these braying morons’ charges of “liberal bias” to dare offer any critical coverage?

Wow! Government really can do something right!

Via The Washington Monthly comes an excellent article about the Corrupt, Bloated, Private For-Profit Fire Fighting Industry of the 1800s before we replaced it with government-run fire protection.
I wonder how many people would like to turn back the clock and return to the days of private, for-profit firefighting outfits rather than the “socialized”, government-run system we have today?

TPA Roundup 8-3

Here we are in August, and like every other week it's time for another Texas Progressive Alliance blog roundup.

TXsharon needs your help to Expose This Dirty Video.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme calls out KBH and the GOP for using racism and the NRA to get out the vote in 2010. Having a competent, experienced Latina judge? Not important.

Off the Kuff reminds us that Governor Perry's consistently wrong decisions regarding unemployment insurance will cost the state two billion dollars, maybe more.

McBlogger takes a look at a lawsuit against TRS and discovers losses, possible corruption and a nightmarish problem for the Republicans in 2010.

John Coby says you better think before you trust a republican with your family's health care.

Mean Rachel decides that Democratic gubernatorial candidate is still too Bush League for her tastes.

Our governor is living the life of the rich and famous. It does so on our dime and on the "dimes" of his fat cat contributors. Libby Shaw gives us the ulgy details over at TexasKaos, Our Kept Governor to the Unemployed: Eat Cake.

Why did Ciro Rodriguez vote against the Waxman-Markey climate change bill and then suddenly flee the House? And why is he taking grip-and-grin meetings with David Dewhurst? PDiddie at Brains and Eggs would really like to know.

Vince at Capitol Annex tells why he believes that the smart money is on Texas Governor Rick Perry picking Lt. Governor David Dewhurst to replace U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison if she resigns before the end of the year.

Neil at Texas Liberal posted a video he made that will take only 39 seconds your life to watch. Also, Neil made a post marking the third anniversary of Texas Liberal. Texas Liberal has run 1500 page views a day so far this year and had racked-up over 725,000 views since it began. Thank you blog reading public!!

WhosPlayin notes that the City of Lewisville is cancelling its Cinco de Mayo celebration for 2010 due to budgetary concerns.

Dembones at Eye On Williamson points out Rep. John Carter's latest nuttiness, Franking Commission draws the line on Rep. Carter.

Mike Thomas at Rhetoric & Rhythm reviews Debra Medina's campaign video and deems her the Sarah Palin of South Texas.

Teddy of Left of College Station was forced to evacuate his home in Bryan due to a warehouse fire that was burning toxic materials, but was able to return to his home the next day. Before the evacuation Teddy was able to write about Michael Vick’s return to the NFL, and whether or not he deserves a second chance. Left of College Station also covers the local and progressive events in the Bryan-College Station this month.

If nuclear power companies are already having trouble with their credit ratings, why are Texans rushing to throw them billions for plants that even the builders can't finance themselves? Good question, says Citizen Sarah at Texas Vox.