Turn on any political show on television, read any newspaper, Internet, or magazine article, and the subject of the economy dominates the conversation.
Democrats are once again reciting the “blame Bush for the economy” along with the “Obama inherited this debt” mantras, while Republicans point out that Obama will triple that debt, and has done nothing to either reign in spending, or truly stimulate the economy. Democratic talking heads counter that by saying that Bush inherited a booming economy, and left behind a ruined one, with a staggering rise in the national debt.
On the surface, their claims appear to be true, after all, the 2009 debt was Bush’s last budget. In fact, there is a lot of merit to both their positions on the subject…yet, are we looking to place the blame somewhere other than on the guilty party here?
Let’s examine the claims.
Was the economy booming when Bush took office?
Not really, that great economy of Clinton transformed itself into the dot-com bust, and even prior to the attacks of September 11, Democrats were openly discussing the “Bush recession”, just months after he took office.
So, if Bush was blamed for the recession he inherited from Clinton, why can’t Obama be blamed for the current state of the economy?
At best, that is stupidity in their part, or perhaps an assumption that the American voter, a nation where ADD is pandemic, won’t pick up on the lie. At worst, it is demagoguery of the worst kind.
Then again, the 2009 budget WAS Bush’s budget, not Obama’s.
Yet, that doesn’t answer the question…whose deficit is it anyway?
Who should we blame for this sorry state of affairs?
Well, we first must accept the fact that the deficit is caused by bad budgeting; anyone running a household knows that writing checks past that point where the funds are completely depleted from the bank account, is akin to committing personal financial suicide. In fact, doing that is a crime, and the blame for the financial disaster (and the criminal charges) falls on the individual making the decision to overspend their available income.
Congress is constitutionally charged with all aspects of spending, borrowing, taxation, and debt payment, so it’s fair to say that since the responsibility of setting a budget in place, AND controlling the revenue raising aspect of paying for that budget, belongs to the Congress, then the blame for budgetary short falls belong there as well, so increases (and decreases) in the national debt come about as a result of actions by Congress…not the Office of The President.
The chart below, tracking the rise and fall of budget deficits according to which Party controls Congress, rather than which President resides in 1600 Pennsylvania, exposes some rather startling data.
Under a Republican-controlled Congress from 1995 t0 2000, federal deficits fell and became a surplus. In 2001, because of reaction to the attacks of 9/11 and spending related to them, the curve began to trend up into a deficit again slowly.
In 2002, Democrats took control of the Senate, and the deficit rose significantly until 2004, when Republicans regained control of Congress. The deficit then dropped steadily until 2007, when Democrats took control of Congress with a super majority.
Once that happened, the Federal deficit skyrocketed from $500 billion, to $1.3 trillion.
Media pundits and political hacks are busy diverting your attention away from the true culprits, away from the people who actually created this economic mess we’re in. They want to blame the fatal auto crash on the guy that was sitting in the passenger seat yelling “faster! faster!” instead of the individual slamming the gas pedal to the floor.
It’s time we place the blame where it belongs, and end it the game right where it began…at the polling booth.
Fire enough Congressional Democrats to seat a hostile Congress for however long Obama stays in office.
Now, THAT’S change we need people.
H/T Shanghai Dan
Watched “Avatar” last night. A visually stunning movie that will without a doubt change movie making forever.
But…
Those are WoW night elves fighting the guys from Halo to save their world’s ecosystem from a capitalist Evil Empire.
One of the Halo guys infiltrates the heroic elves to learn their ways, and help the evil corporate Halo guys find ways to remove them from their home, so they can go about the business of rapping the world for its natural resources. If they can’t get them to move, they’ll just kill them.
Mmmm…an eco-political quest in a galaxy far, far away, or a commentary on something far closer in space and time?
My niece calls the movie “Dances with Smurfs”, not a bad analogy when you think about it.
I kept looking for the fat, overbearing night elf, but I didn’t see him.
I was certain that Al Gore would have gotten in on this one.
I’ll look harder when the DVD comes out…he’s in there somewhere.
There is one thing about that movie.
It makes you think.
I certainly did.
Cross-species mating presented as a love story?
In the Scottish version, will the aliens resemble Ovis aries?
I can only answer for myself, and you know what?
Dating a chick with a tail wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Think of the possibilities.
I can get over the four toes.
AP – Military officials were starting Friday to piece together what may have pushed an Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress to turn on his comrades in a shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 30 in Texas.
Are you serious?
What’s there to “piece together” here?
A feasible story to cover up the actual one?
Something to feed a public that KNOWS that we now have two (known) instances of Muslims in our military choosing Islam over duty?
If you do a word search on the AP article, you may be surprised that the words “Islam” or “Muslim” are not mentioned once.
You MAY be surprised…but only if you woke up from a decades long coma sometime yesterday afternoon.
In fact, there is only one place that you can find the word “Muslims” in that entire AP page…way down in the bottom:
Muslims Worry About Backlash From Shooting
They know what everyone in our government and the complicit media is trying to bury.
They know that the 500-lb gorillas in our military wear turbans.
What’s more important is that they know that we know.
What is a Judas goat?
The Urban Dictionary:
A Judas goat is a trained goat used at a slaughterhouse and in general animal herding. The Judas goat is trained to associate with sheep or cattle, leading them to a specific destination. In stockyards, a Judas goat will lead sheep to slaughter, while its own life is spared. Judas goats are also used to lead other animals to specific pens and on to trucks.
Have you ever seen a Judas Goat?
Here’s one:
The 40-million member AARP will support the $1.2 trillion health care bill heading toward a vote in the U.S. House, a potentially critical endorsement, the Associated Press is reporting.
The powerful seniors lobby has been in a difficult position on health care legislation this year. It has generally supported revamping the system but has also lost tens of thousands of members over concerns about how the current proposals in Congress would affect Medicare.
AARP throws its weight behind health care reform that will be paid by cuts to Medicare?
How does that make sense?
After all, President Obama himself has targeted Medicare Advantage for cuts which would be used to fund health care reform.
So why would AARP support such a plan?
Because the chief alternative to Medicare Advantage in today’s market is AARP’s own Medigap plans. Offering fewer benefits at higher premiums, the royalties generated by AARP from the group that provides most of the policies marketed under its brand last year, exceeded $222 million dollars; an amount nearly equal to the dues collected by AARP during the same period of time.
Obama plans to eliminate AARP’s competition in return for their endorsement:
We’ve got to eliminate programs that don’t work, and I’ll give you an example in the health care area. We are spending a lot of money subsidizing the insurance companies around something called Medicare Advantage, a program that gives them subsidies to accept Medicare recipients but doesn’t necessarily make people on Medicare healthier.
And if we eliminate that and other programs, we can potentially save $200 billion out of the health care system that we’re currently spending, and take that money and use it in ways that are actually going to make people healthier and improve quality. So what our challenge is going to be is identifying what works and putting more money into that, eliminating things that don’t work, and making things that we have more efficient.
AARP leads its membership to the slaughterhouse, and lives to benefit from it.
There’s no Judas Goat like an old Judas Goat.
Update
It seems that my figure on royalties collected by AARP from insurance companies was actually the total collected from ONE company…UnitedHealthCare.
The seniors group used to rely primarily on membership dues, but it now collects about 60% of its revenue from royalties on AARP-branded health, life and auto insurance as well as other arrangements, up from about one-third in 1999, according to the AARP. Last year, AARP collected $652.7 million in royalties, 63% from UnitedHealth Group alone, according to the group’s financial statements. By comparison, it received $249.3 million in membership dues.
6:58 A.M. Awakened by the schnauzer; time for her morning constitutional. Downstairs I hear my wife moving around, and I know that our youngest is readying for school.
7:30 A.M. I am already, as is the case every day of the week, waiting on the peculator and checking my overnight e-mails. Noting the slightly out-of-the-ordinary and discarding the customary, I make some quick notes, pour the coffee, and pick up the ringing Blackberry. The morning is developing as any other morning.
7:45 A.M. Our teenager stumbles downstairs and plops face down on the couch; unlike our youngest, he was never a good morning person. I kiss one son goodbye as he runs out the door after Mom, already waiting in the car, and try waking the sleeping giant on the couch; for a moment I recall that not-so-distant past when he could cozy up on a single cushion. The Blackberry rings again ending my reverie.
8:00 A.M. Mom is back from school run #1, and begins the slightly more difficult task of mobilizing he of the size 13.5 sneakers. He is cranky (nothing new), wants garbage for breakfast (nothing new), and insist on watching ESPN (nothing new) as he ponders his Pop Tarts.
8:17 A.M. The first crisis of the day arrives via Blackberry, it’s handled, nothing Earth-shattering then three more, they are handled. I pop up my Outlook to check my schedule for the rest of the day then bang! bang! bang! bang! the Blackberry is at it again…it’s going to be one of those days.
8:42 A.M. I know it’s 8:42 A.M. because I am starting to gauge how much more I can get done at my desk before I have to let things rest long enough for me to shower, dress, get out the door, and make it to my 10:30 on time. Miami Beach is an hour away in good weather and better traffic. I can handle auditing two more contracts (maybe) before drop-dead shower-and-shave, I-have-to-get-on-the-road time.
8:45 A.M. Mom drops checks that need my signature on my desk, she is making a Post Office and bank run. “Keep an aye on the clock; it’s at least an hour to South Beach.” Kiss…
8:57 A.M. Kiss Mr. Middle School, size 13.5 Kobe IV wearing, hair gelled (HAIR GEL?) son before he leaves on Mom’s morning taxi run #2. Mom comes back, rushed: “Did you sign those checks?” I give her the envelope and the prepared deposit slip…kiss. “Bye!”
9:02 A.M. “Have to call you back in a few.” Hang up the Blackberry on the newest issue requiring my attention; it immediately rings again…have to talk while the shower is running. Talked while I shaved. Talked after I shaved.
9:27 A.M. Damn…now I am behind, will not pick up that damned call. Text message my 10:30 meeting to let them know that I am running late. It’s Miami, it’s expected.
9:33 A.M. Damned Blackberry won’t stop ringing.
9:41 A.M. (I know that it is 9:42 A.M. because I am now checking the time on the clock by my razor almost constantly). I hear the door downstairs, and I know Mom’s taxi has run its errands and is back home. If I hurry, I can get out by 10:00 A.M.
9:43 A.M. Rinsing off…is someone crying? “Honey?!”
9:44 A.M. She walks into the bathroom, “I can’t find the checks! Did I leave them here? I checked everywhere!”
I don’t know what time it is. I am trying to console her, trying to dry off, trying to put some clothes oh, trying to figure out what happened between 8:57 A.M. and 9:41 A.M., trying to talk to her while she is busy tearing the house apart, trying not to walk past an open window soaking wet and wearing nothing but an undershirt.
“IwenttothePostOfficeanddoppedoffthemailthenIwenttothebankandhwhenIreachedinmypurseforthechecksTHEYWEREN’TTHERE. THEY WERE ENDORSED AND I LOST THEM!”
9:52 A.M. Regaining composure…I am anyway, she’s not. “You have to call them and have them put a stop payment on those checks! THEY WERE ENDORSED AND I LOST THEM! (I am texting what used to be my 10:30 A.M., trying to make it my 1:30 P.M. because I know that my 11:30 and my 12:15 aren’t flexible. They say OK…they’re running late too. It IS Miami, it IS expected). YOU HAVE TO PUT A STOP PAYMENT ON THOSE CHECKS!”
Losing track of time again, trying to regain composure. This is what I do for a living after all…remain composed during difficult situations.
9:55 A.M. She tells me that she traced back every step she took since leaving the house with Mr. 13.5 Kobe IVs and the deposit, and that maybe they either fell out or were taken out of her purse at the Post Office. She went back, found nothing and nothing had been turned in to the clerks. “YOU HAVE TO PUT A STOP PAYMENT ON THOSE CHECKS, THEY WERE ENDORSED. SOMEONE IS GOING TO CASH THEM!”
9:59 A.M. Type out e-mail to issuing company asking them to put a stop payment on the checks. Please re-issue and deduct any expenses incurred by the stop payment procedure.
10:02 A.M. Sent e-mail (I can tell the exact time from my Outlook). Trying to settle her before (finally) getting dressed (still wearing an undershirt) and out the door. “Hey! It happens to all of us. I’m sure that they will send us new checks…” The house phone is ringing, it’s our bank. She takes the call.
“Yes, this is Mrs. ############.”
“Excuse me?”
“When?”
“Did they give you a name?”
“Mail it…that’s fine. Thank you.”
October 29th, 2009. 10:03 A.M. My faith in mankind is somewhat restored by an indiscriminate act of human decency from a complete stranger. A nameless, faceless human being who upon finding two endorsed checks and a deposit slip in an envelope in a Post Office parking lot, drove to a bank and deposited them in an account belonging to complete strangers, just because it was the right thing to do, has reminded me that there are still honest, decent, caring people in this world.
10:32 A.M. I am on the road to my 11:30. I should be able to make my 12:15 and my rescheduled 10:30 pretty much on time, if traffic holds steady. If not, I may be a few minutes late (it’s Miami, it’s expected). I can’t stop thinking about the incredible turn of events and the individual whose tiny act of selflessness has now indebted me to “pay it forward”.
My Blackberry has been unusually quiet for some time, resting itself for the rush of after-lunch issues needing resolution, so for the moment, maybe a little music. I dig up my favorite oldies CD, and forward the tracks to the tune I want to hear. A day like today merits a little Jackie DeShannon:
Think of your fellow man
Lend him a helping hand
Put a little love in your heart
I have to pay this forward. I have to repay one stranger’s selfless act of basic decency with an anonymous act of decency myself.
And the world will be a better place
Maybe, if we would all simply engage in one indiscriminate act of human decency toward another human being, and if every one of the recipients of those acts would pay them forward, the world would be a better place.
And the world will be a better place
For you and me
You just wait and see
My God…I feel so good! I am going to hug a tree or something!
10:47 A.M. The shrill ring of the Blackberry brings me back from my euphoric daydream…the screen says “Home”, I answer it. “YOU HAVE TO STOP THEM FROM PUTTING A STOP ON THOSE CHECKS!”
10:49 A.M. There are cars whizzing by me at speeds that would knock me into tomorrow if they veer just a couple of inches to the right, as I type my second e-mail of the day: “You are never going to believe this…”
People, now put a little love in your heart
Each and every day
Put a little love in your heart
There’s no other way
Put a little love in your heart
It’s up to you
Put a little love in your heart
10:52 A.M. I pull back into traffic, thinking ahead to the issues to be dealt with during my 11:30. I am going to be a little late, but it IS Miami, and it IS expected.
It’s OK however. Thanks to an indiscriminate act of human decency from a total stranger, I feel like I can tackle the whole world today.
Put a little love in your heart!
Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) — San Diego health officials said that the county expected to run out of swine flu vaccine yesterday after receiving only 25 percent of the 411,000 doses anticipated for October, as reports of shortages nationwide mount.
New shipments may arrive “in the next week or two, we hope,” said Jose Alvarez, a spokesman for the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency.
More than 3,000 parents and children stood in line on a chilly Saturday to receive swine and seasonal flu vaccines at a community-wide clinic in Cobb County.
Many said they were anxious to obtain vaccines, especially for their kids, amid concerns about reports of children’s deaths and vaccine shortages.
Brad and Erika Bunn woke their kids early, with Erika running around the house announcing the kids had to get up and get out. It was, she said, “a frantic morning.”
“We thought it was important to get the kids vaccinated, since we’ve heard of cases of children who have died,” said Brad Bunn, 37, of Smyrna, who arrived with his three children.
By the end of day, 1,860 people had received the swine flu vaccine and 579 people had received seasonal flu shots, said Darlene Foote, a spokeswoman for the Cobb health department.
The Daily Breeze, Los Angeles:
People not deemed at risk for swine flu are being asked to stay away from county-run vaccination clinics until more supplies become available, health officials said Tuesday.
The announcement was the first formal indication that the county is rationing its limited supply of vaccine, which has been in high demand since county clinics opened last week.
“As time has gone on, there has been a more acute shortage,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. “The expected distribution of vaccine to us and other parts of the country has been significantly less. Therefore, we have to be more strict in deciding who will get the vaccine.”
The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel:
As doctors cope with shortages of swine flu vaccine and large numbers of people suffering influenza-like illness, the state and federal governments have shifted away from mass vaccination clinics toward targeting limited doses at those with greatest risk.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists those at greatest risk of serious illness from swine flu as: pregnant women; healthcare and emergency medical staff who have direct contact with patients; people who live with or provide care for children under 6 months old; children ages 6 months to 4 years; and children 5 to 18 with chronic medical conditions such as asthma and diseases of the heart and liver.
The recommended shift from mass clinics to targeted vaccinations forced the Milwaukee Health Department to re-evaluate plans for the 1,500 doses of vaccine left over from last week’s large clinics.
“It’s all needing to be reworked,” said Raquel Filmanowicz of the Milwaukee Health Department.
She said the city has received no new shipments of vaccine.
Shortages…
Long waits…
Rationing…
Excuses…
The shape of things to come when socialized medicine settles in.
Oh boy…my inner Roy Neary is at it again.
I thought I had successfully exorcised Roy right out of my system, but I guess I was wrong. Roy is painting Devil’s Tower across my mind with neon-colored markers, and that five-note melody is starting to boom from behind it.
“Castro…Chavez…Zelaya…ACORN…Obama”
It gets louder with the ascendancy of each new czar. It rang with urgent insistence with every rumor of compulsory health insurance, it played with manic intensity with every replay of the “Mao is my favorite philosopher” video, but it was the Obama administration declaring war on FOX News that boomed out the melody like Roy Neary’s mothership upon arrival.
But it wasn’t the spat…that’s just Chicago politics.
It’s the stuff AROUND the spat that has my inner Roy Neary spinning out of control.
Certainly spats between the White House and the media are not unique, but this one is enraging even the venerable Helen Thomas.
Here’s what’s bothering me.
Rahm Emmanuel defines the administration’s stance on FOX News:
The Obama administration dismissal of a major media outlet as “not a news organization” goes beyond an attempt at marginalizing dissenting voices within the media, it is the first step toward taking away a news organization’s right to access, and limit their ability to report the news.
White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, calls FOX News “the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party”, continuing the push toward establishing Executive branch exclusionary rights over the press.
David Axelrod continues the administration’s attacks on FOX:
Note that both Emmanuel and Dunn hold up CNN News as being a true news organization, and that both Axelrod and Emmanuel go so far as to suggest that CNN and other news outlets should not allow themselves to be led by FOX News, questioning their legitimacy as a news organization in the process.
Translation: CNN and others should not pick up and report on news stories broken by FOX News.
That message is so blatant that even MSNBC is catching on:
So, what is the Administration’s end game here?
This is where Roy finally sees the spaceship come over the mountain.
This little blurb from The Hill caught my eye:
The president said he is “happy to look at” bills before Congress that would give struggling news organizations tax breaks if they were to restructure as nonprofit businesses.
“I haven’t seen detailed proposals yet, but I’ll be happy to look at them,” Obama told the editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade in an interview.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has introduced S. 673, the so-called “Newspaper Revitalization Act,” that would give outlets tax deals if they were to restructure as 501(c)(3) corporations. That bill has so far attracted one cosponsor, Cardin’s Maryland colleague Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D).
Newspapers restructuring themselves as 501(c)(3) corporations and receiving money from the Federal government?
Wouldn’t that place those “restructured” newspapers in the same position as those banks that received Federal bailout, and now are supervised by the Fed?
Imagine a newspaper owned “by the people”, beholden to the Federal government, and operating under the strict limitations imposed on them by the newly acquired 501(c)(3) status: limited to spend a minimal percentage of their income on political speech, and strictly regulated when expressing opinions on political issues.
Actually, you don’t need to imagine it, the FCC is scheduled to discuss such newspapers in December.
Is it truly a free press that is limited to publishing what the government allows it to publish?
If you ask Castro, Chavez, and Zelaya, they will tell you that eliminating media opposition after you have seized power is in the best interest of the people, and (as Chavez puts it) journalists expressing opposition to government control of the media can be compared to “drug traffickers opposing anti-drug laws or criminals complaining about crime-fighting”.
Perhaps Barack Obama is not comparing media opposition to drug traffickers and criminals yet, but he is directing his administration to attack the legitimacy of the opposition by trivializing its news credentials.
So what do we have here? What does the future hold for us?
It was an encouraging sign to see the media stand in solidarity against The White House, and in defense of the First Amendment, but is that enough?
We know that Castro took measures to control the media after taking power, that Chavez did the same, and any reasonable person will assume that Zelaya was planning on following the Socialist blueprint to the “t”.
We know that NBC is owned by GE, that GE received a $140 billion bailout, and that it was NBC that was granted unprecedented access during their filming of “Inside the Obama White House” infomercial.
We know that he is discussing the possibility of bailing out newspapers, effectively putting newspapers under government control.
We know that he has the populist movement (Organizing for America) set in place.
We know he’s got the shock troops (ACORN) set in place.
We know that he has been extremely busy demonizing any group who opposes his policies (tea partiers, FOX News, the US Chamber of Commerce, etc), while simultaneously fostering class warfare.
And now we see that he may very well be building himself a State-run media arm.
Who is going to be surprised when the movement to overturn the XXII Amendment to the Constitution begins in earnest?
After all, when speaking of the removal of Manuel Zelaya from office in Honduras, Obama pledged that the US would “stand on the side of democracy”, and called the unanimous actions of the Honduran Congress, the Honduran Supreme Court, and the Honduran military “not legal”.
Obama raises Democracy above Constitutionality…and THAT is what brought Roy Neary to life in my mind.
Now I am puzzled.
Why don’t we all know what Roy Neary knew beyond a shadow of a doubt?
Why can’t we all see the huge spaceship hovering over our heads?
Being Roy Neary can sure be a lonely thing.
Some last quotes…food for thought if you may:
“What we’re facing now is a drive for a real one party press, not through free expression but through open intimidation by the top officials of our government… I cannot help but wonder what the substantive difference is between the administration’s position and that in practice in the Soviet Union.”
Who said that?
Not Rush Limbaugh, not Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity or Bill O’Reilly. As a matter of fact, it was no one from FOX News. It wasn’t even Helen Thomas.
You should have figured out that speaking about the Soviet Union in the present tense effectively dated that statement.
That’s a quote from Norman Isaacs who was the president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors during the Nixon administration, commenting on President Nixon’s and Vice President Agnew’s attempts to chill free speech and the press.
Here’s another one:
“Certainly government officials have a right to defend their actions and to challenge those who criticize them… But when the highest officials of the government launch a deliberate and premeditated attack upon the right to comment…this is a serious matter and a cause for alarm.”
That was Senator Hubert Humphrey also discussing the Nixon White Hose.
One last one:
“What the hell do they think we are, puppets?”
Not nearly as eloquent, that is veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas’ reaction to the Obama administrations’ attempts to control the media.
They say that politics make for strange bedfellows, and the combination of FOX News and Helen Thomas could be the strangest one in the Universe.
Just ask Roy Neary about strange bedfellows…if you can figure out where in the Hell he went after he got in that spaceship.
This is too rich…
Big Brother 9 winner, Adam Jasinski, was arrested. Jasinski was arrested on Saturday, October 17. Jasinski flew from Florida to Boston to hand over 2000 oxycodone pills in a sale. Jasinski didn’t know the buyer was an undercover agent. Jasinski was caught in a sting.
Adam Jasinsk allegedly hid the pills in a sock that was attached to his pants. His buyer wore a wire tap to record the transaction.
Jasinski was charged with possession and intention to distribute oxycodone pills, a powerful painkiller. Jasinski put up a struggle when he was arrested.
Jasinski allegedly admitted he invested his prize money from winning Big Brother 9. Jasinski used his half million prize money to invest in buying drugs to resell them.
Jasinski is now in hot soup. He faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted of the charges and also may have to pay a $1 million fine.
How ironic is it that Adam, BB9’s self-described “ladies’ man”, stashed the pills in that sock we all knew he stuffed his pants with?
That’s one way of investing his winnings.
In a move sure to be debated for years to come, Tinseltown’s prestigious “Best Actor” Oscar award recipient has been announced months in advance of the traditional broadcast of the awards show.
This year’s winner will be Tyler James Williams, star of the popular television sitcom “Everybody Hates Chris”. Tyler wins the award for his possible portrayal of President Barack Hussein Obama in a movie of the President’s life (expected working title “The One”), speculated to be filmed sometime during the next ten to fifteen years.
When questioned about their controversial choice, members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) explained that their decision was based on the fact that young Mr. Williams resembles Mr. Obama, and is sure to be picked for the part of the movie that is surely to be made of the popular President’s sure to be extraordinary life and achievements.
“The Academy wishes to take center front in the fight against racism and hatred in America, and this is what we can do to advance the ideals of equality, peaceful coexistence, and brotherhood” – said Academy President Tom Sherak, dressed in a blue pinstriped suit, and sporting a fashionable “Free Polanski” button on his lapel.
Tyler James Williams appears surprised and humbled upon receiving news of his advance Oscar during the NAACP Image Awards.
Director Spike Jonze is protesting the Academy, claiming that racism played a part in his not getting the Best Director nod for the possibility of directing “The One”.
“I mean, who else would direct it?” said Jonze. “Ima gonna let Tyler get his props but I’m jus sayin, seriously…they gonna let Opie direct this movie?”
Standing near Jonze in support, rapper Kanye West had no comments.
In a related story, the Nobel Foundation has nominated all 6,000+ members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its peace Prize award, in recognition of the Academy’s extraordinary vision.
