Club For Growth Scorecard

You might want to check out today's release of the Club for Growth's Congressional Scorecard for last year. Broadly speaking, the Club favors keeping economic decision-making in the hands of the private sector as much as possible; their scorecard reflects how well your Congresscritters and Senators voted along those lines.

Granite Staters: you want the good news first, or the bad?

The good news is that Senator Sununu was in a three-way tie for first place (with Senators Coburn and DeMint), a 100% "correct" voting record. Senator Gregg came in well above-average, with a 92% score, good enough for 11th place.

Presidential candidates: Senators Clinton, Obama, and Biden scored 8%, 7%, and 1% respectively, putting them on the short bus. Senator Brownback impressive at 98%, good for fifth place. Senator McCain: 76%, putting him solidly in "shows promise, needs improvement" category.

Speaking of Senator Sununu, he's up for re-election this year. I have no particular insight into his race, but according to guys I trust, he's said to be "vulnerable". My personal opinion is that if he loses, New Hampshire will be well on its way to becoming another Tedious New England State, and that would be a damn shame. We'd need to change our motto from "Live Free or Die" to something more progressive, something like, oh, say, "I'm a Loser, Baby, So Why Don't You Kill Me?"

Anyway, on to the bad news: On the House side, our ex-Congressmen got pretty mediocre scores: Jeb Bradley got 49%, putting him in 168th place. Charlie Bass got 43%, in 200th place. Note: their "moderation" on these "growth" issues didn't save them from becoming ex-Congressmen. On the other hand, it's a safe bet their replacements will not score as high in next year's compilation.


Last Modified 2007-03-14 6:44 PM EDT

The Marine

[Amazon Link]
(paid link)
[2.5
stars] [IMDb Link]

This movie is put together by "WWE", World Wrestling Entertainment. The hero, John Triton, is a pro wrestling superstar. I must quote from the DVD box:

WWE champion John Cena dominates the big screen as Marine John Triton. Wherever there's danger, Triton is usually smack dab in the middle of it... and he doesn't play by the rules! After he's unwillingly discharged from Iraq, Triton's beautiful wife Kate ("Nip/Tuck's" Kelly Carlson) is kidnapped by merciless jewel thieves led by a vicious killer (Robert Patrick)! Now, Triton must fight to save her, utilizing his most powerful weapon - himself!
I went in with very low expectations, and so wasn't disappointed. The plot was ludicrous, but straightforward. There were some funny lines (all from the bad guys, I think), and the acting was better than you might expect. The filmmakers followed some pretty simple rules:
  • Any large sheet of glass will eventually either be shot at, or have people hurled through it;

  • If large gasoline or propane tanks are present, they will explode in impossibly large fireballs within minutes;

  • Any wheeled vehicle will be eventually destroyed; Blowing it up (in an impossibly large fireball) is best, but driving it off a cliff or pier is acceptable too, as long as it's also on fire or full of bullet holes;

  • Despite undergoing multiple instances of physical stress that would (at minimum) land any mortal in the hospital for a week, the hero will persevere in kicking ass, until all asses are ultimately kicked.

The theatrical release was rated PG-13. The blaring UNRATED on the DVD means, I'm pretty sure, that a few frames of violent content were patched in, which would raise the rating to about a PG-16 or so.


Last Modified 2024-02-02 4:40 AM EDT