Two “screen gems”

Here are two wonderful movie marquees seen this holiday weekend that have been lovingly cared for over the years.

The Capri Drive-in located on US 12 west of Coldwater, Michigan.

Capri Drive-in

The Pickwick Theater on West Main Street in downtown Syracuse, Indiana – my personal favorite small town movie theater anywhere.

Pickwick Theater in Syracuse, Indiana

“Screen” better days

Earlier this month I posted photos of two historic and impressive movie theater marquees in Ann Arbor – the Michigan and the State. Here are photos of two old theaters in south-central Michigan. The first, “The Main” is along U.S. 12 in downtown Coldwater and the second, The Bronson, is also along U.S, 12 in Bronson. Sadly, they have both “screen” better days.

The Main Theater as seen on Saturday.

The Main from a photo on the web when the marquee name was still in place.

Bronson Theater marquee on Saturday.

Bronson Theater marquee from a photo on the web.

Inflated costs or profits?

One of my favorite breakfast foods are English muffins. I enjoyed them as a kid, but had eaten bagels more often in recent years. That was until bagel prices started going up last fall.

So, I started buying English muffins once more, because I could purchase a six-pack of Kroger brand ones for a dollar each pack. That stayed true until about 45 days ago when the price increased to $1.25 per six pack.

If that increase wasn’t bad enough, imagine the shock when I went to the local Kroger this week and discovered the price was now $1.59 for a package of six. WTF? A 59% increase in the price of English muffins in a 45 day period! I don’t recall hearing about a wheat shortages, hoarding of English muffins, or rampant food inflation.

I could have lived the initial price jump, but now I am not buying English muffins…at least not from Kroger. Just another product I will now buy at Meijer’s or not at all.

Cherishing, not criticizing diversity

Every now and then I hear (or overhear) an offensive comment from someone that irritates the daylights out of me. Late Monday afternoon this happened when a person make the following obnoxious comment:

“It’s getting to be like the intersection of Singapore Street and Calcutta Boulevard around here.”

Really? How very 17th Century of you. Just because people are different, may do things differently than you, or have different opinions, doesn’t mean they are wrong. Nor does that give you any right to be derogatory.

Live and let live. It is the beautifully vast diversity of cultures, people, ideas, art, and beliefs that make living in the college town (and on this planet) so very wonderful.

Sadly, far too many people are trapped in their xenophobic attitudes and have no idea of all the wonderful things they are missing out on. If they would just take a moment, step back, and absorb the amazing wealth of diversity around us, they might learn to cherish all the blessings found on the lovely sphere that we all inhabit.

A disturbing example of role reversal

In 2010, the Supreme Court decided in the Citizen United case that corporations are “people.” More recently, I have seen and heard references to people as something other than “people.”  I have heard “units” utilized on a television commercial for Colonial Penn Life Insurance and “giving units” at two different churches to describe people who donate to the church. While this may be accounting lingo, I find it very disturbing that corporations are being called “people” while people are being described as “units.”

This may seem innocent to some, but my concern is these subtle alterations slowly but surely dehumanize people into something other than human beings, while raising corporations up to a standard of perception that frankly, they do not deserve.  When you dehumanize people, it can be the start of a very slippery slope towards mistreating and disrespecting them. It is much easier to dispose of a “unit” than a “person.” We all know history is littered with the corpses of those poor souls who were dehumanized by their enemies.

To keep humankind from repeating some of history’s lowest moments, it is high time for all of us to re-emphasize our love and respect for ALL of humanity, whether they are our friends, family, neighbors, fellow citizens, or our enemies. Love is life’s greatest gift. It is time for each and every one of us on the planet to start behaving like we appreciate this generous blessing.

The pungent odor of GOP brain farts

Oh, isn’t it quaint how republicans and fiscal conservatives so conveniently forget which party is principally responsible for the national debt. Being an election year, the pungent odor of hot air being expelled by them reeks across he airwaves on a daily basis.

Guess what? The national debt skyrocketed during Ronald Reagan’s presidency and ballooned again under ‘ol Dubya’s eight year reign. If the GOP is/was so concerned about budget deficits, then where the hell was their song and dance at those times? Check out this truth-revealing weblink to a chat showing how much each president has contributed to the national debt during their term. A brief summary is provided below.

• Carter: +41%
• Reagan: +189%
• Bush I: +55.6%
• Clinton: +36%
• Bush II: +89%
• Obama: +41%

The clearest and easiest way to reduce the budget deficit is to address the biggest piece of the pie – THE $1.3 TRILLION DEFENSE BUDGET, duh!  But, oh no, we can’t touch that sacred cow, despite the fact that the Defense Secretary does not what some of the programs being proposed by the right-wing.

Political brain farts are nothing new. They just tend to be stinkier and fouler these days due to the blatant flip-flopping and bold-faced lies being told, particularly by the right. Hopefully, the majority of the American public can smell rats when their catch a whiff of their aromatic b.s.

The preamble of the Constitution as it is applied in 2012

A small dose of reality is provided below as the plutocracy continue to shape this nation in their twisted and self-serving image.

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The preamble to the Constitution as originally adopted:

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The preamble of the Constitution as it is being applied today:

“We the rich people of the United States, in order to form a more profitable union, establish injustice, insure economic disparity, provide for our own self-defense, promote corporate welfare, and secure the blessings of privilege to ourselves and our own posteriors, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of Scamerica.”