Dear fans,

Welcome to The Gerb Report’s official blog. This website will be a place for me to put all of my  writings, whether they be from Owl Radio’s website or The Sentinel, onto one blog. I will also be using this blog to alert my fans about upcoming episodes, events, and other things that are happening on the show.

In addition to this website, I have a facebook page, twitter, and show page, the links to which can be found at the bottom of this site. There are plenty of ways to keep updated about the show.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am the host of The Gerb Report, a libertarian talk show on Kennesaw State University’s Owl Radio. You can listen every Thursday from 7-9 p.m. at http://ksuradio.com.

I am also a senior columnist for The Sentinel. You can read my columns at http://ksusentinel.com

It is very unprofessional for me to respond on The Sentinel’s website or ksuradio.com to comments about my posts and/or columns. Therefore, I will re-post every blog and column from those sites onto this site for any readers or listeners that wish to discuss the issue directly with me. The other websites will be used for discussion solely among the readers of those posts.

I hope you enjoy the new site.

Justin Hayes

Twenty years ago, when some of us weren’t even born or were too young to understand the game of cricket, a sixteen year old boy had just started playing for the Indian cricket team. The opposition was Pakistan, a team that can be called a traditional arch-rival and one that had excellent fast bowlers like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, and a quality spinner in Abdul Quadir. The young lad was the cynosure of all eyes as he handled these bowlers with elegance and poise. That kid was none other than Sachin Tendulkar, a player who has now become an all-time great because of his sheer brilliance and mastery with the bat.

Over the last two decades, Sachin has broken almost every major international batting record there is — he has the most runs and centuries in test cricket as well as in one day cricket and has exceptional averages in both these forms of the game. The greatest things about him are, however, not reflected in the records. His passion for the game hasn’t been withered by age and he can still play like a dream, something that was seen in his recent ODI century against the Australians at Hyderabad. The first lines of one of my favourite movies go something like this, “Remember remember, the fifth of November…” It was on this very date, hardly a month back, when the innings that I have just mentioned was played. India was chasing a mammoth 351 and Sachin almost chased that down on his own. Sadly, that was not to be as he fell for a magnificent and stunning175 as India was bowled out for 347, losing by a mere three runs. It was an innings that left me, among many other fans of the sport, speechless. Not many will disagree with me if I call this his greatest one day effort. Yes, I loved this knock more than those two brilliant back-to-back centuries against the same opponents in Sharjah eleven years ago, two superb innings that have often been referred to as ‘Desert Storm’. The surprising thing is that his strike rate in both these knocks was lesser than that in this recent innings of his, something which tells us that his mindset hasn’t been affected by age. The thing with Sachin is that he has never let success get to him. His childlike enthusiasm for the game, coupled with his humility has got him respect from all his peers, and cricket fans all over the world.

A couple of days back, in the first test against the Lankans, he scored his forty-third test hundred, and during the course of this innings became the first batsman to have scored 30,000 runs in international cricket. If this isn’t dedication, I honestly do not know what is. Not only can the guy bat, he is a very handy bowler too, one who has often been used to break partnerships and has delivered on many occasions. He may not be my favourite cricketer, but he will always remain one whom I will continue to respect despite all odds.

It is a pity that the Indian batting line up is still very dependent on Sachin. I feel it is high time these so-called ‘youngsters’ learn something from the great man, a man whom I hope keeps playing for at least another five years as he has made himself more than just a man by devoting himself to an ideal. The opposition has never managed to stop him and he has now become something else entirely — a legend. Oh, and yes, for those who are wondering whether the last reference was to a movie, I would like to tell them that they are right. It isn’t for nothing that Sachin is considered a demi-God in our country!

-The Sentinel

I’ve had a fabulous response to yesterday’s announcement on the PR coaching programme.

I mentioned it at BNI this morning and three or four of my fellow networkers said what a good idea they thought it was. I may even have a couple of people signed up already!

And I’ve had some hits from the local media too. Six to be precise, including Midlands Business News.

So it’s encouraging, but I need to do what many PR agencies in Staffordshire fail to do – promote myself effectively. I should point out that I’m not suggesting this is just a Staffordshire problem! It affects PR firms everywhere

It’s bizarre and ironic that PR companies – the ones always telling other companies how to raise their profile – aren’t very good at doing it for themselves.

I am working on some coverage in The Sentinel, but they’ve asked me to come up with an idea for an image! Surely that’s their job? They are the photographers!

And I’ve done an interview with Staffordshire Life which should be published in a couple of weeks.

But I need to maintain that momentum and I’m thinking of organising a launch event for the beginning of January. What do you think? I’ve heard of (and managed a few) product launches – but service launches????

I’m also struggling for a name for it – what do you reckon? I’d welcome your suggestions…

COLD CRUSH

Ol’ Skool Electro Funk, Rap & Boogie.

Fri Dec 4th @ 202 Broadway

Patrick HAF (The Sentinel), Simon Caldwell, OSC-00, Retali8

Info: Cold Crush web site & Facebook Link

Mixtaps: OSC-001 ELECTRO MIX & Patrick HAF (The Sentinel) ELECTRO MIX

Sydney’s newest – and only – monthly old school electro freak sensation! Cold Crush drops a bomb on you with the dopest electro, funk, old school rap, hip hop and party rocking sh!t once a month on a Friday night! Residents OSC-001 and RETALI8 bringing the heat alongside headliner Patrick HAF (Southern Outpost, Datadisk / San Fran) and Simon Caldwell.

And check www.coldcrush.com.au for old school videos, graff photos and mixes from Bambaataa, Patrick HAF… and just posted OSC-001’s ‘Freakbeats Volume 1′ mix – a heavy mix of all things West Coast electro funk from an original digger and promoter of Sydney’s mid-90s Panic Zone party!

Herbie Hancock – Rock It

Thanks To Cold Crush (http://www.coldcrush.com.au)

Scratching is an integral part of of many kinds of music.

Developed in New York during the early 80s by hip hop DJs like Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore and Dj Kool Herc, from hip hop, to Miami bass and electro funk, you can now hear thousands of tracks featuring a Dj scratching the record back and forth to the beat, now it has even broken out of its hip hop roots to be heard in styles like pop and even metal.

While not the first record to feature scratching (that honour goes to Grandmaster Flash – The Message, in 1982), certainly one of the first songs to reach huge commercial success was American Jazz musician Herbie Hancock’s single Rockit, a single from his 1983 album Future Shock.

The cuts in Rockit are by Grand Mixer D.ST, using the record Change The BeatFab Five Freddy and B-Side. Years later, legendary DJs Qbert and Mix Master Mike would go on to describe Rockit as the spark that inspired their interest in turntablism. Check out the documentary Scratch for more. Rockit is also more recently famous for its appearance in the soundtrack of Zoolander, as it is the record used as the secret signal for Zoolander to kill the President of Malaysia. (check the video link to hear it), by

The video itself is directed by Godley & Creme, featuring robot sculptures by Jim Whiting. Herbie Hancock himself only appears in the video playing piano on the TV screen, which is smashed to pieces in the closing moments of the clip.

Herbie Hancock certainly knew how to rock it baby. If you’re looking for the mp3, Rockit and the Future Shock album are available to download from Amazon right here.

Don’t forget – the opening night of Cold Crush, Sydney’s only monthly electro funk, Miami bass and old school rap club is this Friday night at 202 Broadway! (on the corner of City road) See you there.

Originally published in The Sentinel on November 10th, 2009

Since the Charter School Bill of 1993, there have been other attempts at to  school choice in Georgia. Unfortunately, many of the bills didn’t pass. For example, Senate Bill 458 would have given students at schools that have lost their accreditation scholarships the ability to attend another local institution. Unfortunately, it was withdrawn from the Georgia State House on April 4, 2008. Other bills like 458 have been proposed, but none had enough votes to pass Georgia’s legislature.

In 2008, the state was able to take another step in the right direction for school choice. On May 14, 2008, Governor Sonny Perdue signed HB 1133, which allowed private citizens and corporations to “get income tax credits for donating money to non-profit scholarship organizations.”  Parents can then turn to these organizations for scholarships to help send their children to private schools or other close public schools.

This, of course, is only a small part of bringing real school choice to Georgia. Real school choice would mean the opportunity of every parent and student, rich or poor, to send his or her child to the institution of his or her choice, whether public or private. Voucher plans that would make this opportunity a reality, have been successful in other countries.

Belgium ranks relatively high when it comes to education, especially higher than the US. In Belgium, instead of the government giving money directly to their schools, the money follows the student. According to Van Raemdonck, a former citizen of Belgium,  “[a] system where the funding follows the student and where it is possible to attend any school of choice (regardless of family income) forces public and private schools to compete for students among themselves and with each other.”

Some say that the current system in the US is fair because it provides free education to all. However, in most school districts, parental choice is limited to none. The voucher system eliminates this problem and benefits families of both rich and poor backgrounds.

Some argue that a voucher system would limit the diversity found in public schools and leave the new system separated by class. Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman argues that in the current system, “stratification of residential areas effectively restricts the intermingling of children from decidedly different backgrounds.” In other words, our current system already seperates by class. Only the wealthy can afford to send their kids to private schools, limiting the amount of “intermingling.” In a voucher system, parents can choose schools based on quality and are not tied to a specific location, nor is price a factor.

One of the most prominent arguments against a voucher system contends that it violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution because the government can potentially fund a religious institution. However, Raemdonck says that, in Belgium, “[t]o deal with church and state issues, tax monies are allocated without regard to any religious affiliation of a recipient school.” To put it simply, the parents choose the school and the government basically provides the funds, without any respect to a specific religion.  Therefore, the government does not support any religion.

A final concern deals with questionable curriculum and performance of private schools. Some argue that some private schools might teach taboo material and/or have no oversight to make sure students are being “properly” educated. However, this means that parents will have to pay more attention to their child’s schooling.

If a school is unaccountable or inefficient then a parent can immediately pull their child out and send him or her to another institution. If enough parents start pulling their children out, the school must either change its ways or bring in new management. Both private and public schools would have a strong incentive to act responsibly.

A voucher system in Georgia would greatly improve education for everyone. It is founded on competition, accountability and, most importantly, freedom of choice for parents and students. It would also encourage more local involvement in education, as seen in the charter systems.

We have state elections coming up in 2010. We should look for candidates who believe in the freedom to choose the best education for our children.



America desperately needs a new tax code. The U.S. Constitution can fit in my pocket, while the U.S. tax code is more than 60,000 pages long and counting. With so many deductions, rules, compliances and other arbitrary mumbo jumbo, the IRS could essentially arrest anyone for violating the tax code; but then where would they get their revenue?

Besides its complex and lengthy regulations, our progressive tax code is simply not fair. The top 10 percent of income earners in this country carry the burden for about 71.22 percent of the income taxes as of July 2009 according to the Tax Foundation. The top 10 percent of income earners include those who make $113,018 or more annually. These are the productive members of society who create jobs and keep the economy running, yet they are forced, under this tax code, to bear the weight for more than three-quarters of the taxes collected in the U.S.

We cannot expect to have a productive economy under this burdensome tax code. Many people demonize tax cuts, especially on high-income earners, but there are substantial benefits for reducing tax rates. Most of these people are small business owners, which means that a tax cut could help them hire more employees, invest in new capital to expand, increase the wages of current employees, and/or decrease the costs of their products to consumers.

There are plenty of alternatives out there. In Georgia, especially, it is hard to have a conversation about taxes without someone mentioning the FairTax. For those who don’t know, this is a plan that would eliminate the income tax and replace it with a national retail sales tax of about 23 percent on all new goods and services. This is actually a good plan, but a cumbersome one to pass. Because the FairTax requires that the 16th Amendment be repealed, it would have to receive approval by a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate as well as receive ratification by three-fourths (38 out of 50) of the state legislatures. Keep Reading…

Have you heard of this movie? The answer to that’s probably ‘no’, since I’ve never heard anyone in my entire life so much as mention it. It was a modestly budgeted supernatural horror from ‘77 that carried a mind-boggling amount of star power, but not a lot of word-of-mouth here in the States. Directed by Michael Winner of Death Wish fame, The Sentinel has a pretty scary concept, an abrupt style that is just as jump-inducing as any loud music sting you could throw at an audience, and a claustrophobic soundtrack that feels like a spider building its web in your innards. If the cast were just a little more worthwhile, I would be calling this an undiscovered classic.

In a tiny posh neighborhood of Brooklyn, a young girl named Allison has just closed a deal on a super-cool rental house divided into apartments. She’s a famous fashion model with a few too many neuroses, and needs to be by herself for a while. She’s had a rough time with life, and has attempted suicide twice in her life already, and now, leaving her friends, her family, and her Roman Catholic faith behind her, she’s trying to get on with herself and start healing. But what her real estate agent doesn’t tell her about the apartment is that there are some odd neighbors in the apartments around her that aren’t all they seem. At the top floor lives a mysterious blind priest named Father Halloran, an old man with a shady past who just sits in his room all day looking out t the window. Another neighbor, a mysterious old man named Charles Chazen, comes to Allison one night and invites her to his cat’s birthday party (???) where she can meet all her other neighbors. Needless to say, he’s kind of bizarre, and Allison is unnerved by him. The longer she stays in the apartment, the more her mental and physical health deteriorates, and the more she is haunted by the painful memories of her past. And of the present, when she begins to see visions of mysterious, disfigured people mindlessly roaming the halls and corridors of her building. All this is compounded by the fact that when she asks her real estate agent about her other neighbors, she shocks Allison by telling her that the only other neighbor she has is the blind priest (!!!). So who is Charles Chazen? Who are the strange people who inhabit the building at night? Can she find out before it’s too late?

Good movie, although somewhat of a diatribe for the reawakening of the Catholic faith. Is it just me, or has anyone ever noticed that most horror movies with a religious message always tend to terrify people into piety? As if to say, “You better come back to the Catholic Church, or the Devil is going to rip your face off and use it as a decorative napkin!” Anyway, The Sentinel is a film that tends to think that less is more, and I agree. We really don’t see all that much of the horror and terror in Allison’s apartment, unless you count Burgess Meredith’s intense graying countenance as Charles Chazen. There’s a lot of that. But all the oddities and apparitions in the apartment are mostly left to the imagination as to what they could be. But when they show you the horror, get ready for some intensity. The one scene that everyone mentions online about this movie is really in-your-face, and just shock-and-awes my nerves. Allison’s investigating  a dark room, and before she can actually walk into a room, some scary guy just walks with intention in front of her and crosses the room. Not that kind of thriller walk, where the film speed downplays the quickness of the character; this guy power-walks in front of her, and if you’ve ever had someone walk right up to you that fast, but it’s a little jarring. Here, it’s fucking heart-pounding, because you don’t even know who or what it is.

It’s kind of hard to comment about the special effects and make-up. Considering I don’t know exactly what the things in the apartment are, I don’t really know how good they look comparatively. But they do look scary, that’s for sure. They’re very pale, their skin is textured and disfigured, and they each have some unique characteristic to them that makes them individually eerie. This film has come under fire in their past for a particular scene in which some of the “neighbors” are played by circus “freaks” and side-show carnival folk. And while I don’t think that part was in particularly good taste, it’s a lot less demeaning than their day-jobs (“Come one, come all, to take a look at the FREAKS!”) and it does add something to the scene’s climax. They’re not being beaten to death by Burgess Meredith with a rusty steel pipe or anything, so I don’t think it was the worst call in the world to make on Michael Winner’s part.

Speaking of Burgess Meredith, he’s the gleaming ball of sunshine in this otherwise lackluster cast. He plays Charles Chazen, the shady guy who might just be a bit more than your friendly neighborhood cat person. He’s creepy, freaky, and all-together perfect with his low, growling voice and his bulldog face. Everyone else, though, suffers from deer-in-headlights syndrome. Allison is played by Christina Raines, and she looks rather confused as to how she’s supposed to act. Her role, such as it is, is interesting, but she has all the subtlety of a grilled cheese sandwich to the face. But she’s just the tip of the iceberg. Would you believe Christopher Walken is in this movie? That’s right; Christopher “I Have A Chicken” Walken is Detective Rizzo, a guy who’s investigating the odd occurrences as a favor. He’s still in Young Walken mode, before he went full-on applesauce insane, so he’s pretty tame here. He’s actually kind of boring, really, so he gets no thumbs-up from me. John Carradine makes a brief cameo as the blind priest Father Halloran, but he’s in it for only a few seconds, so he’s more of a set piece than an actual character. Martin Balsam is here too! And Ava Gardner! And Jeff Goldblum! But nobody is really that great! It’s really all about the Meredith here, a testament to his career that he could still act circles around people in his old age.

So a bland cast mars an otherwise great feature. The Sentinel is good supernatural haunted-house story that anyone can just sit back and watch without a care in the world. It’s spooky, it’s thrilling, and if you can get past the glaring religious message, it’s quite entertaining. There aren’t a lot of movies like this, so if you don’t try it once, you might really be missing out. It will make the perfect accessory for a dark October night snuggled up on the couch as the night moves slowly upon the world like waves on the sands. I give The Sentinel 7 1/2 power-walking demons out of 10. Check it out!

Whew! Almost caught up! Keep checking back with me for my review of Cirque du Freak: The Vampires Assistant! Until then!!!

So,

My birthday is SOON (10-31) and I want recommendations for my birthday. Fandoms I enjoy:

Stargate: SG1 & Atlantis
NCIS & NCIS: LA
Criminal Minds
The Pretender
The Sentinel
Star Trek (anything but Voyager)
Star Wars (I would totally slash Luke/Han Solo if I had time)

Come on– lay them on me!
Keira

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO TOOK THE TIME TO RECOMMEND FICS FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!

Rather than hit you death blow style with a cavalcade of horror “hits” all at once, I’ve decided to roll them out single file leading all the way up to Oct. 31st. the first of ten  being this particularly sleazy entry…

1977’s The Sentinel (not to be confused with the Keifer Sutherland/ Michael Douglas thriller of the same name) is one of the strangest films ever made.  Based on the novel by Jeffrey Konvitz, it boasts a cast of Hollywood luminaries a mile long: Sylvia Miles, Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, Martin Balsam, Arthur Kennedy, Eli Wallach, Jerry Orbach, José Ferrer, Christopther Walken, Chris Sarandon, as well as Richard Dreyfuss in a cameo. A highly lauded bunch to be sure (and that’s not even including the below-the-line credits of Dick Smith and Albert Whitlock!) but before you go thinkingthat this is some high-brow literary epic, the likes of which a David Lean would produce, think again. The Sentinel is positively neanderthalic, and easily one of the sleaziest movies produced in the seventies. Seriously, it’ll have you racing for a shower like you spent a night in garbage can, and not one of those fancy yuppie cans mind you, we’re talking old school Oscar Grouch-style… Still, I’m recommending you see it!

Directed by Death Wish helmer Michael Winner, The Sentinel centers on a rather foreboding building in Brooklyn Heights (Yay!).  Located about a block away from the promenade, it’s apparently the gateway to hell (Double yay!).  In order to keep evil in check, the Catholic Church has to provide a sentinel to keep watch over the whole meshuggah building. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. The plot mixes elements of both Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist and becomes way, way convoluted: There’s possessions, creepy apartment denizens, shady clergymen, and a whole lot of weird sex stuff, i.e. Sylvia Miles massaging Beverly D’Angelo’s boob, and an outlandish scene with a barely clothed Fred Stuthman!?!  Yikes! It also happens to be extraordinarily violent and the climax involving an entire parade of honest-to-goodness freaky-deaky people, led by the intoxicating Burgess Meredith, is something that still creeps me out just thinking about it.

The Sentinel is by no means a “good movie”. It’s dirty and offensive, but for fans of oddball Hollywood, and for people like myself who actually even enjoy the rip-offs of great horror films, you really can’t go wrong.

In my fellow columnist James Swift’s most recent piece, “Freedom of speech v. the right to bear arms,” he makes the argument that freedom of speech should have primacy over our Second Amendment right to bear arms. Should this same line of thinking apply to every other amendment in the Constitution?

Should the First Amendment have primacy over the Fourth Amendment? Would Mr. Swift be okay with the government entering his home without a search warrant as long as he still had his freedom of speech?

The Bill of Rights was not placed in the Constitution as an order of most important rights to least important ones. Each right in the first ten amendments were what the founding fathers believed to be essential to a free society.

Before I refute Mr. Swift’s argument about the Second Amendment, I think it’s important to look at some of his claims about the First Amendment. He says that the vagueness of the First Amendment makes it hard to apply to “today’s America.”

Keep Reading…

I remember when Specialty’s Cafe and Bakery used to be something pretty amazing in downtown San Francisco. As Specialty’s has expanded and as sandwich shops (such as The Sentinel) have seriously upped the ante, Specialty’s has dropped a few notches on my list. Still, as sandwich shops go, and for the money, the food is quite good. I’m a big fan of the barbecued chicken sandwich (with bacon) myself. Of course, Specialty’s chocolate chip cookies are still some of the more decadent and amazing in the city.

The one area where Specialty’s has never excelled, however, is their coffee. This is a fact made all the more puzzling since they are a wholesale client of Intelligentsia. Various Specialty’s shops have proudly display Intelligentsia banners and served Intelligentsia coffee long before most of the Bay Area’s third-wave shops were even considered. Most of their cafes tend to serve Intelligentsia’s House Blend and/or the Diablo blend, which are both fairly dark and uninspiring blends. And while Specialty’s various cafes use Black Cat for their espresso, they often use super-automatics. While the resulting coffee and espresso isn’t atrocious, it is very sub-par for what I’ve come to expect from Intelligentsia wholesale clients and poor enough that I haven’t bothered previously to give them a formal review. One can only speculate why Intelligentsia hasn’t stepped in to assert some quality control (big client = big paycheck? an early contract that locked them out of this option? the value of a foothold in the Bay Area market?). If you’re interested, you can read up on how past Specialty’s espressos have fared on Coffee Ratings.

But there is cause for hope. My wife spotted the above remodeling of the Specialty’s cafe on Pine Street – soon to offer a new Intelligentsia Coffee Bar with Intelligentsia Coffee (see clarification in the comments below). I contacted Specialty’s, skeptical of any real changes, but it seems that someone may have finally decided that the time is right for a more true to form Intelligentsia-fueled expansion into the area. The plan is for a free standing coffee bar with “slow pour” single-origin coffees, which I’m assuming will mean some kind of drip or Chemex station. There will also be Black Cat espresso and Intelligentsia signature drinks such as the Angeleno (1,2,3). While this high end, slow food take on a Starbucks coffee slushy doesn’t move me much either way, I’m hoping that Specialty’s attempt to produce such concoctions mean a greater attention to the ingredient at their core – i.e. the coffee. Hopefully, well-trained baristas also come along with the package.

I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. Allegedly, the redesigned cafe will be open in mid to late October. Keep your fingers crossed.

Like many PR agencies in Stoke-on-Trent (and probably the world), we are often asked what the key to getting great media coverage is.

There’s only one answer – persistence! Oh and having good media contacts. And the ability to write a press release. So there are three answers. Actually there are four answers because you need to know what makes a good story as well

(Apologies to Monty Python for the merciless rip off of ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’)

Persistence is the key though in all honesty. You could have all of the other answers, and still not get anywhere without the determination to get that coverage.

The ultimate goal of any PR campaign has got to be getting a good spread in your local rag, or the top magazine in your trade (usually a good spread would constitute at least a page). Or it could mean a good interview on the radio or on the telly, with your biggest local station.

Ideally this needs to happen on a regular basis in the same publication (or radio station or whatever) - it helps you generate momentum and, in time, name recognition.

That’s what we all want because people like to buy from people they know.

Sadly this will not be achieved by getting a small three or four paragraph article hidden away in the corner of the page. It’s only real saddos like me who scour every newspaper and magazine – your customers and prospects are unlikely to do the same.

It’s pretty easy to organise small coverage like that, but since you’re not really interested in it, you need to get to know your target media title. Or more precisely what they like to use, and what they’re planning to use.

And you need to get to know the editor/producer.

Let me give you an example. This summer, Hanley Park in Stoke-on-Trent hosted the 2nd Six Towns One City Carnival. It was a great success and attracted between 15 and 20,000 people, depending on who you believe

For three months in the run-up to the event, we organised articles in The Sentinel, our local paper, and interviews on Radio Stoke and Cross Rhythms, two of our local radio stations.

We’d had limited success, mainly getting the filler articles – those small pieces I mentioned earlier – into the paper.

At the same time, we’d been speaking to The Sentinel’s Feature Editor on a regular basis. It was worth the effort. Two days before the Carnival we got a massive spread in the What’s On section of the paper.

It was this, along with numerous plugs on Radio Stoke and Signal Radio (another local station) on the day, which helped bring a record number of punters through the gates.

So to have any chance of getting the coverage you need, you’ve got to be prepared to spend some time on your PR. But if you do that, you can succeed and without spending any of your hard-earned on someone like me!

“Let Me In, Let Me In” was salvaged from the opening sequence of Ragazze Finali, originally intended as the second story of the ‘Final Girls’ series. It started strongly enough, but ended up being such a direct pastiche of gialli that the fun rather fell out of it. Regardless, I was fond enough of the opening (the original version of which can be found a few posts down) to re-work it today in to a standalone short story, which can be found here.

On the giallo front, I’m going to a showing of Dario Argento’s ‘Giallo’ next week. Not sure how low to set my expectations for this, as he’s not made a great film since Opera, or a halfway decent one since Trauma, (Mother of Tears was jolly enough, but when placed against Suspiria and Inferno, it looks pedestrian and adolescent), so it could go either way. Shall report back after the showing.

In terms of reading/viewing over the last few weeks, I’ve been fairly busy. Read Ramsey Campbell’s Midnight Sun – one of the few of his mid-period works that I’d never gotten around to. Alas, it was another disappointment, which I’m not going to go on about at length as I’ve already given some of his later work a bit of a kicking elsewhere on this blog and I don’t want to make a habit out of it. I’m hoping that Needing Ghosts, which is on the reading pile, will give me the dose of vintage Campbell I really need.

On a related note, Paranormal Magazine are giving away free DVDs with their latest edition, one of which is The Nameless, the acclaimed adaptation of Campbell’s novel. I haven’t watched it yet, but I’m looking forward to it greatly. It’s currently sitting in the DVD pile along with In The Loop (which I saw at the cinema and loved – funniest thing I’ve seen in years), the box-set of the short-lived series The Lost Room, and various other odds and sods.

Last night  a bunch of us watched The Sentinel – Michael Winner’s 1976 attempt to cash-in on The Exorcist and The Omen – which was far better than it had any right to be and contained some  genuinely disturbing images, though it took a while to get going. We also watched The Exorcist III, which is a long-term favourite of mine. Not only is it superior to the original, it’s also one of the most unsettling and peculiar horror movies of the last 25 years. I can only hope that one day William Peter Blatty will find the missing footage and get a chance to release his original cut without the tacked on exorcism forced on him by the studio (who, having forced the ‘exorcist’ name on Blatty – he’d wanted to keep the novel’s title, Legion – realised that there was no exorcism in the movie and forced re-shoots. Ridiculous).

For a laugh, we also watched Mega-Shark vs Giant Octopus. There were no laughs.

Back with the reading, I finished the first collection of Arthur Machen’s stories – which included The Great God Pan and The Three Impostors, which was wonderful. I’m very much looking forward to starting on the second volume, which includes The White People of which I hear great things, but it’ll have to wait. Back to Ray Bradbury’s short stories now, and I’ve also started Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, though I’m not far enough into to form any thoughts on yet.

Today, though, is lazy Sunday and will likely consist of a little writing, a bit of Angel season 3 (we finished Buffy Season Six last night – jesus, what a miserable series that was. It ended on a high, though), and maybe some gaming. I’m back in to my Halo again. Anyone fancy a deathmatch, the gamertag is ‘Auld Scratch’.

And so on.

Now onto the next 10 in the list . . . numbers 60 to 51 . . .

60. Tom Welling

Another younger actor who has a bright future and is very sexy too, haha.

59. Hugh Grant

He is not a big favorite of mine, but I did just love him in Notting Hill, as he was so silly and cute with his floppy hair, haha. I went off him a bit with Daniel Clever in Bridget Jones, after hearing thats more what he is like in real life. Its strange the things that can put you off people. But he is still sexy.

58. Ben Affleck

Who wasnt totally head over heels for Ben in Armageddon ?!?!?! He was just sooooo sexy in that, and in pretty much everything else that he has been in. Yeah he lost some of his appeal when he was with JLo but he definatly has that back now. Keep being sexy Ben !!!

57. Liev Schreiber 

I must start off with saying, well done Naomi Watts. You have bagged yourself one very sexy man in Liev !!! He is anotehr manly man, and just oozes sex appeal. I had not seen him in anything until Defiance and suprisingly he caught my attention even with Daniel Craig on the screen, haha.

56. Robert Downey Jr.

Last year was a big year for Robert, he made a good comeback and an Oscar nomination to go with it all. He really is a sexy guy and proved it once again as Tony Stark aka Iron Man. One of the hits of last summer !!!

55. Rob Lowe

One of the original members of the brat pack, and still sexy to this day. He really is and always has been a very attractive man.

54. Eric Bana

Another Aussie on my list,  Eric first caught my eye in Troy. He was just so fantastic in it. He is a very attractive man, a bit rough looking when he has the beard, but o so sexy and lovely.

53. Vin Diesel

The ultimate action man . . . rough, tough and sexy? Yep that is definatly Vin Diesel. He is a massive manly man and just pure sex on legs. Again he is not obviously sexy but he he so hot. His body is his biggest pull, the massive muscular arms are a massive turn on.

52. Kiefer Sutherland

Kiefer is definatly a guy who has got sexier with age. I think he is so much more sexier than he was when he was younger. Love it when men get better with age. I love The Sentinel as Kiefer is comanding and just great in all fairness, haha.

51. Ryan Reynolds

Ryan is extremly sexy, and has a very bright future ahead of him in the movie business. He has already worked with so many fantastic actors and actresses. He always stands out in which ever role he is in, yes that could be because he is so hot. As the picture above shows he has a nice body to go with his lovely face.

Jeffrey Konvitz – The Apocalypse (NEL, 1979)

Blurb:
She was the Sentinel, the living guardian of the gates of hell.

She was the sole barrier between humanity and the forces of satanic evil pent up since the Fall from Grace. Hers was the most terrible penance of all; chosen for her sins, she had been committed to a living death, a blind nightmare in which the only reality was the reality of her demonic adversary, and the awful powers she had been endowed with to constrain him.

Now her penance is nearly up. For Monsignor Franchino that means the resumption of the most dreadful task the Church has efver bestowed: once again he, and he alone, must find and commit a new victiom for the guardianship: knowing that at every step the powers of evil will battle to prevent the change-over.

For the Prince of Darkness it means a final chance to unleash His minions on the world, and begin at last His long awaited reign of evil.

For mankind it means …. THE APOCALYPSE

Things have been slow lately. I’ve been doing some last minute editing of the manuscript since the final version is due to the publisher by the 15th. That’s pretty much done. I wanted to print and bind a final version for myself to have and so did that with the help of my lovely librarian wife.

Other than this I have been trying to catch up on some reading. I’ve picked up a number of titles recently that I want to read, including the following:

1. James Langer, Gun Dogs (Anansi, 2009)
2. Patrick Warner, Mole (Anansi, 2009)
3. A. F. Moritz, The Sentinel (Anansi, 2008)
4. Sachiko Murakami, The Invisibility Exhibit (Talon, 2008)

I’ve read Gun Dogs and The Invisibility Exhibit already and will get to the others once I finish Karen Solie’s Pigeon, which is, so far, an incredible book. Langer’s book is excellent as well. It’s once of the first times I’ve read poems inspired by places I know intimately. Even an event in the book concerning a person being run down by a car happened in an adjacent community about 15 minutes from the place where I grew up (I also know the person involved). I’m not used to being this acquainted with subject and it really took me offguard and I was able to experience this and other sections of the book in a wonderful way.

I’m developing quite a back log of other books I want to read as well and hope the summer will provide the reading time I so desperately want.

I’m a few days late on posting this, but the shortlist for The Griffin Poetry Prize was announced last week and I was very happy to see that my good friend and mentor, A.F. Moritz, had made the Canadian shortlist for his book The Sentinel (Anansi). The Canadian shortlist was filled out with two other fine poets: Kevin Connolly was nominated for his fourth poetry book Revolver (Anansi), and Jeramy Dodds was nominated for his excellent debut collection, Crabwise to the Hounds (Coach House). Here is the full Canadian and International shortlist:

Canadian Shortlist

Revolver • Kevin Connolly

House of Anansi Press

Crabwise to the Hounds • Jeramy Dodds

Coach House Books

The Sentinel • A. F. Moritz

House of Anansi Press

International Shortlist

The Lost Leader • Mick Imlah

Faber and Faber

Life on Earth • Derek Mahon

The Gallery Press

Rising, Falling, Hovering • C. D. Wright

Copper Canyon Press

Primitive Mentor • Dean Young

University of Pittsburgh Press

.

Ecco gli ascolti, basati sui dati forniti quotidianamente da Auditel, dei programmi di prima serata di ieri 25 marzo 2009, e a seguire una guida completa a cosa potremo vedere questa sera sui principali canali TV italiani in chiaro e a pagamento.
Per maggiori informazioni sulla programmazione televisiva visitate le sezioni Telefilm News, Cartoon News, Sat News e Dig News, per esprimere la vostra opinione utilizzate la sezione settimanale TelePagelle.

MERCOLEDI’ 25 MARZO 2009

BILANCIO DELLA SERATA: vittoria suddivisa (4,5 milioni di spettatori a testa) tra il film thriller in prima visione su RaiUno “The Sentinel” con Michael Douglas e Kiefer Sutherland ed il grande risultato dello “Speciale Che tempo che fa” con Fabio Fazio interamente dedicato a Roberto Saviano; molto al di sotto delle attese invece il film commedia in prima visione su Canale 5 “Commediasexi” con Paolo Bonolis, che ha raccolto “appena” 4,3 milioni. Non eccezionale il risultato del film fantasy in prima visione su Italia 1 “Eragon” con Ed Speelers e Jeremy Irons; stabili il programma divulgativo “Voyager – Ai confini della conoscenza” con Roberto Giacobbo ed il varietà “Stranamore” con Emanuela Folliero; infine, il programma settimanale di La 7 “Exit – Ai confini della conoscenza” con Ilaria D’Amico (con 616.000 spettatori – 2,65%).

LE FASCE DI PRIMA SERATA (ore 20.30/22.30)

A seguire alcune segnalazioni sugli ascolti disponibili di prima serata, e per concludere una guida alla TV di questa sera.

IERI SERA IN TV…

• Alle 20.39 il gioco “Affari tuoi” (7.221.000 spettatori – 25,84%). Alle 21.15 il film thriller “The Sentinel” (4.576.000 spettatori – 17,54%).
• Alle 21.10 il programma divulgativo “Voyager – Ai confini della conoscenza” (2.610.000 spettatori – 10,42%, preceduto alle 21.02 da un’anteprima con 1.418.000 spettatori).
• Alle 20.37 il 2.768° episodio della soap italiana “Un posto al sole” (2.971.000 spettatori). Alle 21.08 il programma “Speciale Che tempo che fa – Serata Roberto Saviano” (4.561.000 spettatori – 19,01%).
• Alle 20.46 il varietà “Striscia la notizia” (7.185.000 spettatori). Alle 21.16 il film commedia “Commediasexi” (4.313.000 spettatori – 16,83%).
• Alle 20.28 il gioco “La ruota della fortuna” (2.355.000 spettatori). Alle 21.12 il film fantastico “Eragon” (2.801.000 spettatori – 10,81%).
• Alle 19.40 la soap tedesca “Tempesta d’amore” (1.921.000 spettatori). Alle 20.29 l’episodio 18 “Verdetto pericoloso” della nona ed ultima stagione del telefilm Walker, Texas Ranger, con 2.623.000 spettatori. Alle 21.11 la quinta puntata del varietà “Stranamore” (2.490.000 spettatori – 10,32%).

GIOVEDI’ 26 MARZO 2009

Sono elencati principalmente i programmi di prima serata. Gli orari e i programmi indicati possono variare senza preavviso.

CANALI IN CHIARO

• Alle 21.10 la serie italiana “Butta la luna 2” con Fiona May e Andrea Tidona – puntata 5.
• Alle 21.05 il programma “Annozero” con Michele Santoro – puntata 23. Alle 23.35, per il ciclo “Palco e retropalco”, la prosa “L’uomo, la bestia e la virtù” con Leo Gullotta.
• Alle 21.10 il film d’azione “The Guardian – Salvataggio in mare” (2006), con Kevin Costner e Ashton Kutcher.
• Alle 21.10 il varietà “SuperPaperissima – Speciale calciatori” con Gerry Scotti e Michelle Hunziker.
• Alle 21.10 la serie poliziesca C.S.I.: Scena del crimine con William Petersen e Marg Helgenberger – episodio 8×04, alle 22.05 la serie poliziesca C.S.I.: NY con Gary Sinise e Melina Kanakaredes – episodio 4×11. Alle ore 23.05 il programma “Real C.S.I. – A sangue freddo” con Adriana Fonzi Cruciani – puntata 1.
• Alle 21.10 due episodi della soap tedesca “Tempesta d’amore” con Martin Gruber e Natalie Alison.
• Alle 21.10 la serie poliziesca inglese L’ispettore Barnaby con John Nettles – episodio “Il taccuino nero”, alle 22.45 la serie poliziesca canadese Cold Squad con Julie Stewart – episodio 4×02.
• Alle 21.00 la serie tedesca Kebab for breakfast con Josefine Preuß e Elyas M’Barek – episodi 3×13-14. Alle 22.00 il docu-reality “The Hills” – episodio 2×11.
• Alle 21.00 il programma musicale “Mono”.
• Alle 21.10 il film d’azione “U-112 – Assalto alla Queen Mary” (1966), con Frank Sinatra.
• Alle 20.45 il programma sportivo “Il Campionato dei Campioni” con Fulvio e Caterina Collovati.

SUL DIGITALE TERRESTRE:

• Alle 21.00 il film d’azione “Beverly Hills Cop II – Un piedipiatti a Beverly Hills II” (1987), con Eddie Murphy. Alle 22.40 il magazine “SUGO – 60 minuti di gusto e disgusto” con Carolina Di Domenico – puntata 11.
• Alle 21.00 il film commedia “Travolti dal destino” (2002), con Madonna e Adriano Giannini. Alle 22.30 la serie poliziesca C.S.I.: Scena del crimine con William Petersen – episodi 3×13-14.
• Alle 21.00 il varietà “Wannadance 3”, alle 21.30 la serie d’avventura Hercules con Kevin Sorbo.
• Alle 21.00 la serie animata “Roary the Racing Car”, alle 21.15 la serie canadese Grand Star con Tyler Johnston, alle 21.40 la serie animata “Tommy & Oscar”.
• Alle 21.00 il programma “La storia siamo noi”.
• Alle 21.00 il programma “TGtg – Telegiornali a confronto”. Alle 21.40 la serie australiana The Flying Doctors con Andrew McFarlane e Liz Burch.

CANALI A PAGAMENTO

Nell’elenco non considero i vari canali “+ 1″ disponibili.

DIGITALE TERRESTRE

• Alle 21.00 la serie drammatica Jack & Bobby con Logan Lerman e Matthew Long – episodi 13-14
• Alle 21.00 il film commedia “Scrivimi una canzone” (2006), con Hugh Grant e Drew Barrymore.
• Alle 21.00 il film di fantascienza “Atto di forza” (1990), con Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• Alle 20.40 la serie animata “What a mess Slump e Arale”, alle 21.20 la serie animata “Baldios, il guerriero dello spazio”, alle 21.45 la serie animata “Mobile Suit Z-Gundam”, alle 22.25 la serie animata “Detective Conan”.
• Alle 21.00 la replica dell’incontro di calcio Napoli – Milan di Serie A.

DIGITALE TERRESTRE

• Alle 20.45 il programma sportivo “Gol Week”.
• Alle 21.00 il programma sportivo “Shock Treatman”.

DIGITALE SATELLITARE

INTRATTENIMENTO:

• Alle 21.00 il film commedia “Tutto quello che voglio” (2002), con Elijah Wood e Mandy Moore.
• Alle 21.15 la serie Dr. House – Medical Division con Hugh Laurie e Jennifer Morrison – episodio 3×14, alle 22.05 la serie soprannaturale The Listener con Craig Olejnik e Ennis Esmer – episodio 4.
• Alle 21.00 la serie Lipstick Jungle con Brooke Shields e Kim Raver – episodio 2×01, alle 21.55 la serie Grey’s Anatomy con Ellen Pompeo  – episodio 5×09.
• Alle 21.00 la serie poliziesca C.S.I.: Scena del crimine con William Petersen e Marg Helgenberger – episodio 9×03, alle 21.55 la serie poliziesca C.S.I.: Miami con David Caruso – episodio 5×03.
• Programmazione dedicata  24 ore su 24 alla diretta del reality show “Grande Fratello”.
• Alle 21.00 il varietà comico “I soliti idioti” con Francesco Mandelli e Fabrizio Biggio – puntata 7, alle 21.30 il varietà “Neurovisione 2” con Bianchi e Pulci – puntata 7.
• Alle 21.00 il programma “Paint Your Life” con Barbara Gulienetti.
• Alle 21.00 il clip-show sportivo “Premier League Greatest Goals” – puntata 6. Alle 22.00 il film comico “Alì G” (2002), con Sacha Baron Cohen.
• Alle 21.00 il programma “Real Bagatta” con Guido Bagatta – puntata 11. Alle 22.00 la serie canadese Flashpoint con Enrico Colantoni – episodio 1×12.
• Alle 21.00 la replica della puntata di martedì sera del talent show musicale “X Factor” con Francesco Facchinetti.
• Alle 21.00 lo sceneggiato “Sospetti 2” (2002), con Sebastiano Somma e Irene Ferri – puntata 1.
• Alle 21.00 la replica del “TG5″ delle ore 20.00,  alle 21.30 la replica del programma giornalistico “Matrix” con Alessio Vinci.
• Alle 21.00 il programma “Dr. 90210″ – puntata “Imperfezioni quotidiane”.
• Alle 21.00 la sit-com 30 Rock con Alec Baldwin e Tina Fey – episodi 1×17-18. Alle 21.50 la serie argentina Socie con Andrea Pietra e Nancy Dupláa – episodio 1×02.
• Alle 21.00 la serie canadese Wind at My Back con Shirley Douglas e Cynthia Belliveau – episodi 3×05-06.
• Alle 21.00 la serie animata per adulti “SuperNews!”. Alle 21.30 il documentario “Quannu mori l’erba tinta?”.
• Alle 21.00 il film thriller “Lantana” (2001), con Anthony LaPaglia.
• Alle 21.00 la serie American Gothic con Gary Cole e Lucas Black – episodio 2. Alle 22.00 il film di fantascienza “Repo Man” (1994), con Emilio Esteves e Harry Dean Stanton.
• Alle 20.30 la miniserie inglese “London Hospital” con Alfie Allen, alle 21.30 la serie inglese Afterlife con Lesley Sharp.
• Alle 21.00 la serie Nip/Tuck con Dylan Walsh e Julian McMahon – episodi 3×07-08.
• Alle 20.50 il film d’azione “Sky Fighters” (2005), con Benoît Magimel e Clovis Cornillac.
• Alle 21.00 la serie animata “Transformers”, alle 21.30 la serie animata “Robotech”, alle 22.00 la serie animata “Inuyasha”.

SPORT:

• Alle 21.00 la replica dell’incontro di calcio Barcellona – Lione di Champions League.

CINEMA:

• Alle 21.00 il film thriller “Prospettive di un delitto” (2008), con Dennis Quaid e Matthew Fox.
• Alle 21.00 il film thriller “La promessa dell’assassino” (2007), con Viggo Mortensen e Vincent Cassel.
• Alle 21.00 il film drammatico “Freedom Writers” (2007), con Hilary Swank e Patrick Dempsey.
• Alle 21.00 il film horror “Scream 3″ (2000), con Neve Campbell e David Arquette.
• Alle 21.00 il film drammatico “Sotto corte marziale” (2002), con Bruce Willis.
• Alle 21.00 il film commedia “L’appartamento spagnolo” (2002), con Romain Duris e Audrey Tautou.
• Alle 21.00 il film drammatico “Lassù qualcuno mi ama” (1956), con Paul Newman.
• Alle 20.50 il film d’azione “Il giallo del bidone giallo” (1990), con Emilio Estevez e Charlie Sheen.
• Alle 21.00 il film poliziesco “Bulletproof” (1996), con Damon Wayans e Adam Sandler.

DOCUMENTARI:

• Alle 21.00 il programma inglese “Top Gear” con Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond e James May – puntata 11×02. Alle 22.00 il programma inglese “Fifth Gear Europe” – due puntate.
• Alle 21.00 il documentario “Le meraviglie della vita” – puntate “Bebè” e “Gemelli identici”.
• Alle 21.00 il programma “Jurassic Fight Club” – puntata 5 “Il branco”. Alle 22.00 il documentario “La fabbrica della paura” – puntata 7.
• Alle 21.00 il programma “Animal Cops a Detroit” - puntata “In catene”.
• Alle 21.05 il programma “Come è fatto” - due puntate.

RAGAZZI:
(i canali Disney Channel, Playhouse Disney e Cartoon Network sono anche ricevibili a pagamento sul digitale terrestre)

• Alle 21.00 la serie animata “Heidi”, alle 21.25 la serie animata “Anna dai capelli rossi”, alle 21.55 la serie animata “Ransie la strega”.
• Alle 21.00 la sit-com Drake & Josh con Drake Bell e Josh Peck, alle 21.30 la serie Ned – Scuola di sopravvivenza con Devon Werkheiser.
• Alle 21.10 la serie animata “Le nuove avventure di Scooby Doo”, alle 21.30 la serie animata “Scooby Doo”, alle 21.55 la serie animata “Zatchbell!”.
• Alle 21.00 la serie animata “Tom & Jerry”, alle 21.20 la serie animata “Looney Tunes”, alle 21.45 la serie animata “I Flintstones”.
• Alle 21.00 la serie cilena Nessuno mi capisce con Renata Oyarzún, alle 21.25 il magazine “Up’n Pop”, alle 21.40 la serie neozelandese Holly’s Heroes con Dominique Crawford – episodio 11.
• Alle 21.00 la serie animata “La canzone della buonanotte”, alle 21.10 la serie animata “Boo!”, alle 21.35 la serie animata “Louie”.
• Alle 21.05 la sit-com italiana “Chiamatemi Giò”, alle 21.15 la sit-com italiana “Quelli dell’intervallo”, alle 21.35 la serie animata “Bruno the Great”, alle 21.40 la sit-com italiana “Life Bites – Pillole di vita”, alle 22.00 la serie australiana The Sleepover Club.
• Alle 20.55 la serie animata “Bibi piccola strega”, alle 21.20 la serie animata “Minuscule”, alle 21.25 la serie animata francese “Un pizzico di magia”.
• Alle 21.00 la serie animata “Yin Yang Yo” – due episodi, alle 21.50 il telefilm Piccoli brividi.
• Alle 21.05 la serie animata “Phineas e Ferb”, alle 21.30 la serie australiana The Sleepover Club – due episodi.

= film, serie o fiction in prima visione sui canali non a pagamento, o al primo passaggio sui canali Sky.
= film o film TV.
= telefilm (serie/sit-com) straniero o cartone animato [l'indicazione tipo "3x01" segnala il primo episodio della terza stagione].
= fiction di produzione italiana o straniera.
= soap opera italiana o straniera.
= programma sportivo.
= variazione rispetto al programma previsto.

Other health care markets can act as model for health care woes.

Originally posted at ksuradio.com

Via Reason.com

I have also written and discussed many times about how important it is to look to other sectors of the economy to find solutions for the rising costs of health care. If we looked at plastic surgery, technology, and the car-insurance industry instead of Europe for reforms, we could decrease health care costs and increase quality and access to care. Unfortunately, politicians would not get any power doing it that way. Letting people decide and control their own health care decisions without the force of government is the only moral way towards health care reform. In the system the Democrats want, the successful are forced with a government gun to work for the needs of the moochers and looters.

Read my column about the issue here.

Be sure to tune into The Gerb Report Season Finale, this Thursday (December 10th, 2009) from 7-9 p.m.

Originally posted in The Sentinel on November 17th, 2009:

In Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing this summer, Senator Arlen Specter (Democrat – PA) spent quite a bit of time asking the judge whether or not she agrees that Supreme Court hearings should be televised. Senator Al Franken (Democrat – MN) spent most of his time praising her “terrific answers.” Senator Orrin Hatch (Republican – UT) asked about a case involving the legalization of nunchuck sticks.

Throughout most of the hearing there were only a few rough mentions of the Constitution or of specific provisions therein. When the Democratic Senators were not praising her achievements, many of the harder questions dealt with her jurisprudence, prior statements she made about her job, her prior rulings, her opinion on former Supreme Court cases and her take on specific policies. All of these are important questions, but should be of least priority for an appointment to the final stop for laws passed by Congress.

We need a new set of questions to ask those officials nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to top levels of the government. This includes Supreme Court justices, cabinet members and should include the President’s team of “special advisers” or “czars.” The questions will not be hard to come by as the founding fathers gave us a pretty good source -the Constitution.

Start with the basics. Do you believe that the Constitution is a good document? Do you believe that the founding fathers meant for the Constitution to hold firm to ensure the protection of our liberties from tyrannical government? Do you believe that the right to life, liberty and property are essential to a free society? If the nominee answers no to any of those questions, they should be dismissed immediately.

Question their beliefs on the articles in the Constitution. Do you believe the general welfare clause grants Congress the power to do anything it wishes as long as it benefits the country? Do you believe the necessary and proper clause is an affirmative grant of power for Congress to do as it wishes? Do you believe the President’s title of Commander in Chief allows him complete reign over foreign policy and national security? If the nominee answers yes to any of these questions, then he or she believes in an expansive federal government with little constraint and should
be reconsidered.

Question their views on the Bill of Rights. Do you believe it is acceptable to curtail the freedom of speech if it goes against the public good? Do you believe it is tolerable to establish a state religion or abolish religion? Do you believe the government should regulate the press to keep it fair and out of corporate hands? Are there limitations to the people’s right to assemble peacefully or protest? If the nominee answers yes to any of these questions, the candidate believes that the people should have little check on government power.

Do you believe that the right to bear arms only protects the right to form a militia? Do you believe that warrantless searches and seizures are sometimes justified in the name of national security? Do you believe that cruel and unusual punishment is sometimes justified? If they answer yes to these questions, the nominee believes in an expanded role of the state as a police power rather than a protector of liberties.

Finally, question their view on state’s rights and latter amendments. Do you believe that the 10th Amendment reserves all rights denied to Congress to the states and the people? Do you believe that the 17th Amendment undermines the role of the state governments in the federal government by taking away their representation in the Senate? If they have no problem with overstepping the 10th Amendment or taking away state power, then the nominee obviously has no understanding of federalism and its function in our republic.

There should be no more beating around the bush with the officials of our government. They should believe in and protect the Constitution with unwavering certainty. They should believe in our natural freedoms and rights. They are not up for debate, and anyone who contests these rights is not fit for a position in our government.

In 2009, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave the state of Georgia a grade of D in academic achievement, ranking 39th out of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. Some organizations have ranked Georgia even lower.

Whatever the case, it is clear that Georgia’s education system has some urgent problems. Education ensures a skilled workforce and a literate public, both of which are essential to a functional republic and a sound economy. Georgia’s lack of positive results in education is a problem that requires quick and practical solutions.

Many experts believe that lack of sufficient funding to public schools caused the negative results. Georgia ranked 10th in total education expenditures, spending about $18 billion in 2007-2008. Spending more on education obviously does not mean improvement. Keep Reading…