The End of Hollywood?

Julian Myers, a longtime publicist, is afraid that the end may be near for Hollywood. He feels that the WGA strike will be the doom for Tinseltown.

He sees people crossing the lines and believes that violence and even fatalities are probably inevitable.

"Does a dying Hollywood need a civil war today to hasten its erosion?" he asks.

I'm afraid Mr. Myers is worried about the wrong end to Hollywood. Of course, I don't believe that Hollywood will end. But I would like to see it become less relevant - and I think that it is heading in that direction.

I think Hollywood has taken up the liberal agenda of dumbing down society in order to make moral relativism the status quo. They are the mass marketers of immorality. I'm no prude, by any stretch, but they make movies and television shows that glamorize the various social ills of our society.

Hollywood used to be FOR America. It had stars like John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, and others of that genre, that actually loved this country. They made movies that showed America in a positive light. Now, we get movie after movie like Redacted, Rendition, In the Valley of Elah, The Kingdom and Lions for Lambs. They are all anti-American films - some more subtle than others.

These recent films, set against the backdrop of war in Iraq and post-9/11 security, have failed to win over movie-goers. They are scratching their heads and they can't figure out why.

I know why...Americans don't think of themselves as losers. At least, not real Americans.

I believe Americans are positive people. Americans are upbeat and believe in this country. Hollywood does not reflect America. Oh, they think they do and they try to engineer our social morals, but the recent spate of 'hate America' movies have been utter box office failures because Hollywood, like liberals, are out of touch with real America.

Americans, real Americans, believe in the greatness of this country. When was the last time a Hollywood movie had that as its theme?

So, Mr. Myers, Hollywood will not ever go away. I don't want it too. But Hollywood's demise, to whatever extent it will be, will not be due to a bunch of writers that want more money for their work and may resort to physical violence.

Instead, it's erosion will be from the fact that they forget that real Americans love this country and don't want to pay money for the anti-American garbage that they overwhelmingly produce.

A-6Dude

And in keeping with the theme of this post I give you the Hollywood Martini:

6 parts Gin

1 part Goldwasser

1 part Dry Vermouth

Shake over ice and strain into cold cocktail glass. Garnish with bleu cheese stuffed olives

Quotes: They Really Say These Things

Every once in awhile I will collect a montage of priceless quotes. Feel free to comment on them too. This will be fun!

1. “The war in Iraq is the biggest disappointment for us, I mean the inability to stop the war in Iraq," Pelosi, 67 and in her 11th House term, said in a recent roundtable interview. At the beginning of 2007 she believed Republican support for the war would erode. It didn't. In fact, it solidified as the U.S. surge that began in the summer helped reduce the violence.
"They have stayed wedded to the president on this," Pelosi said.

WOW! Madame Speaker, have you ever considered that real American’s don’t like to quit and don’t like to lose? I guess it’s just too bad for the Democrat Party that we are reducing the violence in Iraq. We certainly wouldn’t want to confuse that with any sign of success, would we?

2. “The titans of the major media don’t see themselves as in need of reform. They think the voters have to be reformed, not the media.” —Brent Bozell (so this one wasn't a stupid quote but worthy of mention for its accuracy).

Perhaps they should look at the latest polls on how American’s feel about the job the mainstream media does. Our President is polling higher.

3. “It’s getting lonelier all the time at the top for America, which with a corporate tax rate of 35% is one of the few developed nations left with a rate of more than 30%... Foreign leaders have learned that, in a world of easy global capital flows, high tax rates chase away investment and entrepreneurs.” —The Wall Street Journal

The Democrat Party wants to be like Europe and the rest of the world so perhaps they should get on board with and lower the corporate tax rate. Wouldn’t that rile their base?

4. “There’s no doubt about it. And there’s no way to read it except as a rebuke to President Bush.” MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Barak Obama’s caucus win in Iowa.

Hey, Chris: Bush was not on the ballot.

5. From the Class Warfare Department: “There was a statistic that came out this week from the Congressional Budget Office which was just stunning to me. It said that in the last two years—from 2003 to 2005—the increase in income for the top one percent exceeded the total income of the bottom 20 percent. Given that, what would be wrong with letting the tax cuts for the top one percent expire and plowing that money into education?” —ABC’s George Stephanopoulos

George, how do you cut taxes for people that don’t pay them? From the IRS website: Here is who pays taxes – The top 1% of income earners pay 39% of all taxes; the top 50% of income earners pay 97% of all taxes; the BOTTOM 50% only pay 3.46% of income taxes!

The bottom wage earners already pay less than 4% of income taxes. Yeah, let’s stick it to the ones that already pay the brunt of the bill. That makes sense.

6. “Bush Won’t Visit Yasser Arafat’s Tomb” —Jerusalem Post Headline

Darn that President Bush not going to the grave of a terrorist.

7. “George Clooney Boycott Threat to Oscars” —Times (London) (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

And that's a bad thing? I say anytime we don’t have to see or hear Clooney is a good time.

8. More from the Class Warfare Department: “[Last week’s] jobs report confirms what most Americans already knew: President Bush’s economic policies have failed our country’s middle class.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Madame Speaker, how does a failed policy give us 24 quarters of uninterrupted economic growth? How does a GDP grow 3.8% in a quarter with a failed economic policy?

9. “Of course he’s sexy. He seems to be flourishing and following his calling. It’s just the most enviable thing in the world, like watching a beautiful racehorse run.” —actress Uma Thurman on Al Gore

Uma, maybe all of that fake blood in the Kill Bill movies hasn’t been cleaned out of your eyes. The word ‘sexy’ and Al Gore do not fit together.

10. "The economists can argue about it, you can see them on TV," Senator Clinton said, discussing her economic stimulus plan. "The statistics are one thing. The stories are something altogether different."

That’s right, Hillary, don’t let statistics and facts interfere with the gloom and doom soup kitchen economy the Democrat Party wants us to believe is out there.

A-6Dude

And here's one from my martini library you'll love:

Heavenly Coffee Martini

1 part Vanil Vodka

1 part coffee liqueur

Shake over ice and strain into cold cocktail glass. Garnish with coffee beans.

Apologizing for Slavery or Pandering?

Slavery is a big stain on the history of civilization as a whole, not just America. The idea of slavery is repugnant. Unfortunately, it still exists in various places around the world today.

New Jersey is considering legislation to apologize for slavery. Four Southern states (Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia) have already done this and I am not sure I understand why.

How is writing legislation to say ‘we’re sorry’ for something we abolished in 1866 relevant to anything today? There are plenty of other issues that our lawmakers need to address that are of significance. This isn’t one of them.

What about something meaningful for the blacks in NJ? How about their education? How about those Democrat legislators do something about helping those that rely on the government for their livelihood break that dependency? I doubt they’ll try to do that – the Democrat Party needs them dependent upon them for their seemingly inevitable vote.

So with that in mind the New Jersey Democrats feel that since those four Southern states can apologize for slavery then why can’t a Northeastern state. New Jersey was the last Northeastern state to abolish slavery (1846) and after 162 years some liberal lawmaker feels that they ought to apologize for it. It will make them feel good about themselves and will accomplish absolutely nothing. It’s irrelevant and non-productive.

First of all, slavery was ended about 140 years ago. There is no living person that was a slave back then. There is also no living person that was a slave owner. So, as I see it, there is no one that can deliver the apology and no one that can accept it. Thus we have a waste of legislative activity.

I’m a huge fan of Dr. Walter E. Williams, an American economist and a professor at George Mason University. I’ve heard him a few times on the radio and have a couple of his books.

For those of you that don’t know of Dr. Williams, he is black. He is also one of the smartest people in the world. He offered an interesting thought on this issue in a TownHall.com piece entitled “Regrets on Slavery” in response to Virginia’s legislation to apologize for slavery. He says:

“Isn't that nice? I agree that slavery was an abomination, but I'm going to be even more generous than Virginia's General Assembly. I regret the murder of an estimated 61 million people whom the former USSR executed, slaughtered, starved, beat or tortured to death. I also regret the Chinese government's slaughter of 45 million Chinese; Hitler's slaughter of 6 million Jews; the Khmer Rouge's murder of 2 million Cambodians; the half a million Ugandans murdered by Idi Amin's death squads; the million Hutus and Tutsis murdered in Rwanda's genocidal bloodbath; and slavery that still exists in the Sudan and Mauritania.

All of these, and many more, are horrible injustices at least as horrible as the slavery that existed in the U.S. But after all the regrets and apologies for injustices, what comes next? Let's examine Virginia's statement of regret with an eye toward what it might mean.

I can personally relate to the Virginia General Assembly's declaration. My great-grandparents were slaves in the Virginia cities of Chase City and Newport News. The General Assembly's statement of regret for slavery means absolutely nothing to me. If anything, it's nothing less than a cheap insult and capitulation of white delegates to black hustlers. Possibly, the whites who voted in support of the declaration were mau-maued into it or they felt guilt over our history of slavery. In any case, they should know that their actions mean little in dealing with the day-to-day plight of many black Virginians -- which has nothing to do with slavery.”

With the exception of some of the statistics that may be different, he could apply his comments to what the NJ Democrat party wants to do today.

In another piece, Dr. Williams offers another point of view on slavery.

“Thank goodness for slavery. If my ancestors hadn't been slaves, I wouldn't have grown up in the richest country in the world.”

And he is right. I’ve been around the world and I’ve yet to see a place where blacks, or any other minority for that matter, have the same opportunities that are enjoyed in this country.

What this is really about is white guilt and pandering to the black voters. However, guilt implies that you did something wrong. I was not part of slavery; no one alive today was part of the slavery of blacks in America. Therefore, I am not guilty and I will not allow myself to be made to feel guilty.

Since I am not guilty I have nothing for which to apologize. Nor do we, as Americans, owe an apology to anyone living today for an abomination we abolished 140 years ago.

A-6Dude

For the New Year, the Leap Year Martini

8 parts GIN OR VODKA
2 parts SWEET VERMOUTH
2 parts ORANGE LIQUEUR
1 part LEMON JUICE

Add ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake until container is too cold to hold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with an orange twist. Enjoy!

Voter IDs

Next week the Supreme Court will hear arguments for Indiana’s voter ID law. Georgia’s similar law will be affected by their decision, expected sometime in June 2008.

The Republicans want this law in effect to prevent voter fraud. I agree. In Virginia, I have to show my driver’s license every time I vote. I don’t have a problem with it. I smile, show them my ID and then go cast my vote. It takes about 15 seconds of my time.

To me this makes great sense. Voting is reserved for U.S. citizens. Why should it be a problem to verify your citizenship status and eligibility to vote? I have to prove my citizenship status every time I get a new job and for a host of other events in my life. So why is it a bad thing for us to prove we’re U.S. citizens when we vote?

The Democrats say we’re disenfranchising the poor. How? It is not hard to prove you’re a legal citizen. It takes little effort to get a copy of your birth certificate if you don’t have one.

The Dems only care about this because it is the poor that usually vote for them. After starting the War on Poverty 40 years ago the Dems still cannot declare victory and yet the poor seem to follow them like sheep. And this has created a section of our population that has become dependent on the government for their well-being.

Just think about that for a minute – the Dems started a war 40 years ago and have spent over 7 trillion dollars on it and still have made no real progress. Why do the poor in this country continue to follow them?

And if there is no requirement to prove you’re a legal citizen of this country then illegals can vote and that the Dems want – to create another permanent underclass of people that are dependent upon them for their well-being. That’s just what they’ve done to the poor in this country.

To me this is a no brainer. Even though it is part of a voter fraud preventative measure, it is also an issue of right and wrong. Voting in America is a right of U.S. citizens and they should be able to prove, and have no problem with proving, that they’re legally eligible to vote.

A-6Dude

Here is the classic Dirty Martini as I make them:

2 parts premium quality Vodka

Vermouth mister

olive brine

olives

Shake Vodka over ice till the shaker is too cold to hold. Strain into ice cold cocktail glass. Add about a tablespoon of olive brine and spray 2-3 mists of vermouth over vodka. Add olives and drink.

Immigration Enforcement, the American Way

Here is something I am glad to see. In Scottsdale, AZ police have begun routinely asking for proof of citizenship from every suspect they arrest and turning those who are in this country illegally over to federal immigration officials. More cities need to follow suit.

The county I live in is trying to do something about it themselves and are not waiting for the feds to do their job. The legal challenges will determine what our county eventually is able to do but at least they’re doing something about it by scaling down the services that illegal aliens are able to get. It's a start.

And in Scottsdale they are asking everyone about their citizenship status. I’m sure some will be offended but so what. I get asked that question on a daily basis by a lot of the customers and partners I deal with in my job. I politely and proudly say I am a US citizen and go on with my day.

The illegal immigration issue is a complex beast. But like a lot of issues we face the first thing we need to do is enforce the laws that we already have on the books. I don’t know why our politicians think we need new laws. Maybe it's to convince their constituents that they are actually working. Maybe they're graded on the number of legislative initiatives they sponsor.

But the cost that this country incurs paying for services provided to illegal aliens is astronomical. No one should be denied emergency medical services but other social services should not be available to those that are not here legally. I have yet to hear an argument with any merit that causes me to change that view. Talk about something that will and does drain the economy - it’s all of the money we spend on services to people that are here illegally. And they think they’re entitled to it!

How about this for a set of laws for immigrants in our country (this does not apply to legal US citizens):

If you immigrate to our country, you have to speak the our native language.

You have to be a professional or an investor or a skilled worker; no unskilled workers allowed.

There will be no bilingual programs in the schools. The native language will be the only language in which classes are conducted (excluding foreign language classes).

No special ballots for elections. All government business will be conducted in our language.

Foreigners will not have the right to vote — or hold political office. If you’re not a legal citizen in our country, you are not entitled to welfare, food stamps, or other government handouts.

You can come if you invest here: an amount equal to 40,000 times the daily minimum wage. If not, stay home.

But if you want to buy land, it'll be restricted. No waterfront property is allowed to non-citizens. As a foreigner, you must relinquish individual rights to the property.

You don’t have the right to protest. You're allowed no demonstrations, no foreign flag waving, no political organizing, and no bad-mouthing our country, our President or his policies. You’re a foreigner: shut your mouth or get out!

And if you come here illegally, you're going to jail.

Whoa! Harsh, huh?

Well, every one of those laws are actual laws of Mexico today! See how the Mexican government handles immigrants to their country. But yet they don’t want us to protect our border or our culture. Sounds like a double standard to me.

So how do we fix it? Here are my thoughts after listening to many discussions from both sides of the aisle.

The first thing I would do is to do whatever it takes to stop illegal aliens from crossing the southern border, or any other avenue of entry. If that means a fence, great. But we need to do whatever it takes.

I don’t want to stop immigration. Legal immigration is vital to the growth of this country and it needs to be promoted. And legal immigrants coming to America need to properly assimilate. We can handle the influx of the right numbers of legal immigrants economically.

Then we should allow more qualified, skilled immigrants like high-tech graduates, specialists and other skilled workers into this country.

The next thing to do is deal with the 11 or 12 million, or however many, illegal aliens that are here now. I'd recognize they're here. I don't know that deporting them is a reality. I'll keep that option open for now.

But we have to do what's necessary to stop more of them from getting in, find the ones that are here, fine them and put them through a process that makes them legal. And that process cannot be any easier than what we make any legal immigrant go through to be here legally or become a US citizen.

If we get tough on the borders, there shouldn't be another 11 or 12 million illegal aliens in the next 20 years, or 200 million the next 20 years. But if you don't have a border you don't have a country, and if we're not going to enforce our borders then why worry about having a country.

So we need to fix our borders first. If you did that you'd have a much easier time coming up with an enforcement plan with which people can agree. As long as that border remains porous and we continue to always have 11 or 12 million illegal aliens that are always here, or more, it's going to continue to be an issue that plagues us on many different fronts….socially, economically and in our national security at a minimum.

As I see it, this is a local as well as a federal issue. Don't all law enforcement officers and public officials raise their right hands and swear to defend the consititution an the laws of the land?

I’m glad to see another city take the bull by the horns and not wait for someone else to do their job. That’s leadership and that’s American.

A-6Dude

For the Christmas Season, here is a good martini recipe:

Gingerbread Apple Martini

1 oz vanilla vodka

2 oz Canton Ginger Liqueur

2.5 oz apple cider

3-4 drops of lemon juice

orange zest

Agave syrup

Line a chilled martini glass lightly with agave syrup. Rim the glass with graham cracker crumbs. Place all ingredients except orange zest n a shaker with ice and shake until the shaker is too cold to hold in your hand. Strain into the martini glass and grate orange zest on drink and serve immediately.

Citizen Journalists

I’m not a fan of the ‘mainstream media’. I don’t trust them to report the news accurately or fairly. I believe they have an agenda. And I wish they would just be honest and say what they really believe in and not try to hide it behind the façade of trying to be impartial.

Bloggers, on the other hand, are usually transparent as to their real beliefs. I don’t have to agree with them but at least I find them honest about what they believe.

But we’re not real journalists and we expose the journalist industry to fraud and abuse. We’re dangerous!

That’s what David Hazinski, an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, said in a recent piece in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. I wonder what his students think of his comments. I’m sure that a lot of them are bloggers and users of You Tube and other ‘dangerous’ forms of non-journalistic media.

Although a graduate of that fine institution, I am not a journalist. Nor do I wish to be one. It’s more fun being dangerous and fraudulent! Maybe that’s what Hazinski doesn’t like. And because bloggers are not part of the mainstream media we should be regulated.

After all, bloggers can write opinions and our readers know that they are, in large part, opinions. Too often, the mainstream media write their opinions and try to pass them off as facts and unbiased journalism.

Hazinski writes, “Education, skill and standards are really what make people into trusted professionals. Information without journalistic standards is called gossip.”

Perhaps he hasn’t seen that we don’t trust journalists. CNN, once the go-to station for 24 hour news, has dropped from 42% to 28% in its trust ranking among viewers. That drop occurred in a 6 year period from 1998 to 2004. I looked at several different polls and studies by Pew and others that also show that trust in our mainstream media is sinking lower and lower.

I predict that one day Congress will have approval ratings higher than that of journalists.

But Hazinski offers a solution…regulate us. He thinks citizen journalists offer much but that our work should be verified to prevent having fake stories surface (you mean, like, Dan Rather and his fraudulent documents about George Bush’s National Guard service?). I know, I know. Fact checking takes time. But isn’t that their job?

Of his suggestions on how to regulate us are:

- “[Citizen Media] should clarify and reinforce their own standards and work through trade organizations to enforce national standards so they have real meaning.”

So I am “abusive and fraudulent” and now I have no “real meaning”. The difference here is that I don’t pretend to be something I’m not. I’m not a journalist. I’m a guy that lives at the end of a cul de sac and writes opinions on things I see.

And:

- “Journalism schools such as mine at the University of Georgia should create mini-courses to certify citizen journalists in proper ethics and procedures, much as volunteer teachers, paramedics and sheriff's auxiliaries are trained and certified.”

Journalists are taught ethics and such too. I don’t want to lump all journalists in the category of those I don’t trust but I don’t find many of them truly honest. Outlets like CNN should just say that they are a liberal leaning organization. Then, viewers will truly know what they are getting when they watch. I see FOX News as more balanced but they’re leaning is to the right and they should admit it.

But remember earlier that Hazinski said “…standards are really what make people into trusted professionals” … then he hits the nail on the head with this one:

“Journalists generally don't like any kind of standards or regulation. Many argue that standards could infringe on freedom of the press and journalism shouldn't be regulated. But we have already seen the line between news and entertainment blur enough to destroy significant credibility.”

While he knows that his own profession doesn’t want to be regulated, he feels that, since we are not professionals, the citizen journalists need to be. Maybe he doesn’t like the fact that the citizen journalists often shine the light on the mainstream media’s errors.

“Continuing to do nothing as information flow changes will further erode [credibility]. Journalism organizations who choose to do nothing may soon find the line between professional and citizen journalism gone as well as the trust of their audiences.”

I have news for you David, if you look at the latest approval numbers for the mainstream media you’ll find that we don’t trust journalists. But don’t worry, our approval rating of this Congress is lower – for now!

But typical of liberals, they want more control. So I have another suggestion for you David – move to Iran. The way a lot of the mainstream media cozy up to the enemies of America perhaps you’ll like the solution Ahma-genocide uses takes care of his citizen journalists – shut down the internet cafes. Regulation at its finest!

Yes, citizen journalists serve a purpose as long as we don’t challenge the views of the mainstream media and we support their current action line.

I don’t think most people confuse blogs with real news outlets. But then I don’t confuse real news with reality in most cases, either.

A-6Dude

Get Married, Stay Married, Save the Planet

My blog last week was about how my second fridge for beer was contibuting to global warming. I really don’t want to get wrapped up in the farcical premise that man is causing global warming, but this week there was another article that was just too rich to let go by.

We all know that divorce damages families. I’ve watched many friends deal with divorce and hope I never have to deal with it. It's an ugly situation, to say the least.

Though I am not being green because I have a second fridge, I just found out that I am offsetting that environmental sin by the fact that I have been married to the same woman now for 22 years in a row (and I give her the credit). And I should also be well ahead in my 'marriage offsets' since I’ve only had the second fridge less than a year and I have been married for over 22 years.

There are a lot of benefits to being and staying married. Among the things being married should be able to do for my family is to provide a loving, stable home, and I hope to set an example for my kids to follow when they decide to choose a spouse that commitment and hard work can have rewards.

What I wasn’t aware of was that I was saving the environment by all of that commitment and hard work. Out of the UK, in the Times Online, comes an article that describes what divorce is doing to our environment (oh yeah, single people are guilty too)…scientists have finally quantified the effect of divorce on the planet. YGBSM!!!

You mean to tell me that with all of the things that scientists could be researching, some of them sat around and actually thought that this was a useful study? And, even more amazing, someone funded this crap!!

But they did and here’s an excerpt of the article…

“Across America – one of 12 countries studied – divorced households used 73 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2005 that could have been saved if the families had not split up. That is equivalent to about a fifth of Britain’s consumption.”

Where do they find the statistics? Do they do a cross-check of divorce court records and then hack into the power company’s database to examine utility bills? And, what percentage is that of the total consumption of electricity in America?

But, it doesn’t stop there….

“Broken couples also increase demand for housebuilding and infrastructure such as new roads. “The global trend of soaring divorce rates has created more households with fewer people, has taken up more space and has gobbled up more energy and water,” said Jianguo Liu of Michigan University, who carried out the latest research.”

Perhaps we should create communes for divorced people. This will allow them to still be contributing to the reduction of global warming vice making it worse by being single and living …. alone!

Really, though, I think I’m in the wrong business. With a divorce rate of about 50% in this country I should be a building contractor. These soaring divorce rates are causing a soaring demand for housing. I could just go find the market segment that has the highest divorce rate (that would be Nevada for the latest stats I could find…and I used to live there), build some housing and wait for the profits. Since the average duration of first marriages is less than 8 years I won’t have to wait that long for customers. Evil capitalism at its best!!

I could check the papers for wedding announcements and then show up at the wedding and give them a gift card worth some amount of discount on their housing requirements when they come to see me after the divorce. Hey, with those odds I’ll probably see half of them! And for some reason, they’ll need more rooms.

“The study… found that the average number of rooms per household was between 33% and 95% higher for divorced couples than for married ones.”

I’m sure I’m misinterpreting this but are they really saying that if I get divorced I will move from a 5 bedroom home to a 7 to 9 bedroom home? Am I going to win the lottery? I’ll need to because I’ll be lucky to find a 7’x9’ room that I could afford if I divorce.

So aside from the social and economic impacts, it appears that this divorce stuff also contributes to global warming. I’ve seen things get heated for people during a divorce…but enough to warm the planet??

“Liu also calculated that America now has an extra 38.5[million] rooms in houses and apartments built to meet the demand for more accommodation generated by divorce over the past three decades.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not for divorce but….SO WHAT? Are the rooms being rented or owned? Does that not mean the laws of supply and demand are working? Isn’t that what a free economy runs on … supply and demand?

Does any economic or technological growth NOT cause global warming? Why is man so evil?

These people are wackos. There have to be better things to research that will have a more meaningful impact on society than the affect of divorce on global warming. But as I said, as far as marriage goes, I’m GREEN!

Sadly (for purposes of this discussion that is), though, I was not always married. At one time in my past I was single. Like other singles out there, divorced or never married, I was not aware that I was making our planet warmer. I am reformed now. I am married. I am GREEN. HEAR ME ROAR!!

When I got engaged I was in the Navy. I was in Attack Squadron 95 - the Green Lizards. One day our Command Master Chief (these guys were the salty, old sages of the command) came into my office and said, “Lieutenant, I understand you’re getting married.” I replied, “Yes, I am, Master Chief.” He looked at me very gleefully and said, “Well, good. There’s no reason for you to be happy.”

I have used that line many times on people when I hear they are engaged but now I am going to change it for my nieces, nephews, friends and other single people I know. Now I am going to tell them that they are causing global warming and that marriage is their obligation so that they can help cool the planet (it cools off a lot of other things too…but that’s a different blog). And to help them understand that they must take this seriously and strive to stay married, I will hit them with facts according to the study:

“The growth of single-person households is also damaging the environment. Research published in the journal Environment, Development and Sustainability found that:

- One-person households are the biggest consumers of energy, land and household goods, such as washing machines, refrigerators, TVs and stereos, per capita

- They consume 38% more products, 42% more packaging, 55% more electricity and 61% more gas per capita than four-person households

- People living alone create 1½ tons of waste annually compared with a ton by those in households of four or more.”

All of that seems like ‘fuzzy math’ to me. But if the math is right, then marriage makes us more efficient in all aspects of our lives than if we were single.

And all of that efficiency has given me more time to go to my second fridge to get some olives and brine to enjoy a Dirty Martini and a good cigar.

A-6Dude

And here’s a martini recipe to help us stay green:

Kyoto Martini
6 parts Gin or Vodka
2 parts Melon liqueur
1 part Dry Vermouth
¼ part lemon juice
Mix all ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake till too cold to hold the shaker and pour into a cold martini glass. Garnish with a melon ball (green, of course).