Civics Lesson

The Washington Post babbled again about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush. Amazingly enough,...... a lot of people swallow this nonsense. So once more, a short civics lesson.

Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress, and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. They controlled the budget process for FY 2008 and FY 2009, as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.

For FY 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.

And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009.

If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.

In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th.

Movies, Movies

This weekend we rented a couple of movies and enjoyed both. I would recommend both.



First was The Spy Next Door. It was very predictable and aimed mainly at kids, but it was good, harmless fun.



The second was The Book of Eli. This one was really good. But the movie has a very dark look and atmosphere until the end. I am not the biggest fan of post-apocalyptic stories, but this one is quite good. I also enjoyed the religious element and conviction of the character of Eli; specifically his conviction that God spoke to him and promised to protect him in his journey. Even the bad guys had respect for the power of the Book even though their motive to obtain it was not for a righteous purpose.
It's also a violent movie and has some language. I have seen many really good movies that have language, but in this case I think they could have left out the F word and still have had the same impact with the dialog. But the violence would still have kept the R rating.

If you haven't seen it the following contains spoilers:

School News

At the beginning of the year many of the teachers at the school where LaRue teaches were told that they had to empty their rooms by the last day of school. The south wing of the existing building is being torn down to make room for the construction of an entire new school. The demolition was to begin immediately after school ended.

LaRue's classroom was at the south end of the wing to be torn down. So, the last couple of days of school all the teachers affected were scrambling to get things boxed up and moved to another part of the building.

Here are a couple of pictures of just a fraction of the stuff we moved from LaRue's old room out into the hall by her "new" room for next year:




Since school ended, LaRue has spent almost everyday (and me when I wasn't working) at school trying to finish moving the heavy stuff and dismantling what she needed from her old room. We haven't had any spare time to do much but work and sleep.

Then this last Monday the construction people knocked down the wing of the building:



The right hand most corner of the foundation was LaRue's room. The fence line used to go to the corner of her room:





And, finally, we had a sudden hail storm this afternoon. Here's a little of the hail:

Extraordinary Measures

I remember when this was playing at the theater but we never went to see it. So, the other night we rented it. It's a wonderful movie. Everyone does a fantastic job. And the fact that it is based on a true story makes it even better.

Here's the review from Amazon.com:
Imagine Harrison Ford as a rogue scientist exploring not ancient artifacts of lost arks, but biochemical research to help cure rare diseases. In Extraordinary Measures, Ford manages to keep some of that wry rebellious Indiana Jones energy as he plays Dr. Robert Stonehill, a fringe researcher whose findings just might help keep alive the two children of John Crowley, played with heart and sobriety by Brendan Fraser. Extraordinary Measures is based on a true story, one chronicled in the gripping book The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million--and Bucked the Medical Establishment--in a Quest to Save His Children, by Wall Street Journal reporter Geeta Anand. The cast is excellent, with Ford tamping down his occasional urge to vamp for the camera, and Fraser grounded in his first true adult role. The supporting cast is also strong, including Keri Russell as Crowley's frantic wife, facing the near-certain death of both of her children; Dee Wallace, Jared Harris, and Courtney B. Vance also appear as strong supporting characters. Director Tom Vaughan switches gears from his wildly successful romp What Happens in Vegas to turn in a crisply paced and suspenseful family drama. As Crowley and Dr. Stonehill team up to raise money to support Stonehill's research, Crowley says, "Who's going to be half as motivated as the dad who's trying to save his own kids?" Extraordinary Measures brings to mind similar dramas like Lorenzo's Oil, but its heart and drive are unique to the story of the Crowleys, a very special family indeed.

It's a movie that I will probably purchase to have in my collection.