News Worth Knowing

A couple of interesting things have happened in the past few weeks, lets review:

The first topic is our inconsistent judicial system. I've mentioned it before in my Michael Vick article and the last couple of weeks affirms my beliefs. The people who we elect to uphold the law are not consistent in their rulings. Two cases come to mind.

• Donte Stallworth, hits and kills a pedestrian while intoxicated and receives 30 days in jail, 10 yeas probation(2 years house arrest), and 1000 hours community service. This can be heavy sentence but remember, he killed a guy. Inconsistency comes in the form of another disgraced NFL'er who didn't kill anybody but killed animals and has just finished serving a 2 year prison sentence. Everybody, that officially means that you can kill someone in Florida and get a slap on the wrist but kill a dog in Virginia and you get 2 years in prison. That or Vick should have bought of somebody, anybody. I know these are different states with different laws and court systems, but it all boils down to the fact that the United States should be more consistent as a judicial system as a whole, not vary from state to state.
• Chris Brown viciously beats his then girlfriend, Rihanna, and gets 180 days community service and 5 years probation. Domestic violence isn't something prosecutors want people to be taking lightly, so why did they agree to a light sentence with Brown's plea deal. I guarantee if it were any regular person, a plea deal like that would never have existed.

Money screams louder than the law, and if you have it you might be the loudest person in the room. I hate to sound like a person that complains that the rich get off easy, but in most cases they do.

Another topic that I found worth mentioning is how an organization like PETA continues to use scare tactics and shock value to gets it's points across. They even called out President Obama on killing a fly. A FLY! It's just a fly, I'm pretty sure even Michael Vick can still kill flies and not be labeled the devil again. J.P. Goodman, founder of The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade has openly criticized PETA for using what he calls silly claims and goofy stunts. Goodman believes that PETA should stop spreading horrible messages that make them look like extremists and get back to the basics, a voice for the animals. In the end that's what PETA looks like, extremists. Any pamphlet that you get from PETA is all about shaking your core and making you cringe. The same way violence isn't the answer to our worlds problems, neither is graphic imagery. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, I prefer to call them People Effectively Terrorizing America.

News worth Knowing brought to you by MME. I love me some MME.

Three To Watch

I've taken the liberty of watching a couple of movies and grouping them in their appropriate category.

First up, I Love You, Man. This movie is not what one might expect out of a typical guy movie like Old School or BeerFest. The movie chronicles the road it takes to go from stranger to best man at a wedding all without a single homophobic remark about two guys being good friends. Jason Segal and Paul Rudd star in what I'll categorize as a Romantic Comedy.

Next up, The Hangover. Doug is about to get married and what a better place for his two closest friends and his oddball brother-in-law to host a bachelor party than Las Vegas. After a night of partying they wake up not remembering a thing and with the groom missing. The guys must piece together a puzzle of a night that includes a baby, a hospital, Mike Tyson, a tiger, a stripper, and of course a conflicted Chinese gang leader. A bunch of guys who's names I could type here and nobody would probably know any of them star in what I'll categorize as a Mystery.

And last up is, Up. Disney and Pixar team up for another hit with this animated film about an man's promise he intends to keep to his wife. The score and style of Up is unlike any other D/P film in the way that the first 15 minutes of the movie has very little dialogue and revolves more around a montage time sequence. This film can satisfy a kid with the computer animation and humorous storyline, while capture emotions in adults with the love story that lies underneath the whole plot. If anything this movie makes you appreciate the time you have with the one you love. Because this film covers so much I think I can categorize it as one phrase and most people would understand: Disney/Pixar.

Three Movies, three reviews, now go watch.

Signs Of the Times

A collection of headlines that I've read through out the month, in my perspective:

• A suburban Pennsylvania woman lies to police when she falsely reports that two black men have abducted her and her daughter. She was apprehended in Orlando, Florida enjoying a day at Disney World with her daughter. Have we not learned anything from real life runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks. Black men, Puerto Rican men, or any other type of men don't like abducting depressed suburban women.
• Great news for all the baseball purist because LA's Manny Ramirez was not taking steroids. Woman's fertility drugs maybe, but not steroids. Ramirez is currently serving his 50 game suspension, or as one Sports Illustrated writer calls it, 'maternity leave'.
• The vehicle make I drive is officially 60% owned by the U.S. government. Sorry GM, or should I say Government Motors.
• Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor gets no love from Republicans, citing reasons like 'She's Racist' and 'a radical'. Because the last thing we need in this country is a group of racist that make radical statements like 'the terrorists want to kill your babies'. Either that or they feel like they might be pushed out from that pantheon.
• Spencer and Heidi are still famous.
• A judge in Saudi Arabia ruled that it is legal to slap your wife for spending to much money.
• And finally, an Ohio high school cancels graduation after learning of a cheating scandal that an estimated 60 graduating seniors were involved in. Said one parent of the cancellation, "the school district is treating them like a bunch of criminals". Don't worry no jail time was involved but, I would say the school treated them like a bunch of cheaters would be more of an appropriate statement.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, these are the times we live in.