'You're a Liberal! No!!! YOU'RE a Liberal!'

By Si Dunn

So now we have John McCain and Mitt Romney accusing each other of being "a liberal," as if that label somehow is synonymous with being a creep, a Nazi or a cybercrook.

Look up "liberal" in most any dictionary, however, and you'll find such definitions as "tolerant" and "not narrow in opinion or judgment."

I would wear those labels gladly, and I sincerely hope the next President of the United States is both tolerant and not narrow in opinion or judgment. We've already had almost eight years of overtly constricted opinions and judgments under George W. Bush and his supporters in the House and Senate.

If John McCain suddenly were transformed into a true political liberal, I might, albeit grudgingly, consider voting for him. It would take more than a miracle, however, to convince me of the sincerity of political opportunist Mitt Romney's sudden transformation to liberal.

Of course, none of this "You're a commie liberal! No, you're a slimeball liberal!" is going to matter much in the grand scale of things once we finally--finally--get the chance this fall to sweep the close-minded conservatives out of office and once again put some liberals in real positions of power, at the local, state and federal level.

Washington, D.C., and the rest of America are long overdue for fresh shots of tolerance and leadership thinking that reaches well beyond the pale of tax cut...tax cut...tax cut...tax cut....

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Economic Stimulus--from Planet Clueless?

By Si Dunn

Many Americans have been hurting economically for a long time, approximately the same length of time that George W. Bush and his disciples of greed have been in national power.

If you're middle class or lower, "financial struggle" is your middle name. And no amount of corporate or upper-class tax cuts will make much difference to your quandry, particularly in the near future.

Now that the careless Bushits have helped the nation's economy slam into a recessionary brick wall, leaders on both sides of the political aisle suddenly have been screaming: "Rebates now! Economic stimulus, now! Dole out the cash, now!"

So that's what's happening: Republicans and Democrats recently were trying to decide exactly how much allowance to give us, so we can blow it all in one weekend on pizza, Chinese lead toys, lottery tickets--and campaign contributions.

The Bush Administration initially wanted to hand out generous tax rebate checks of $800-$1,600, but only to people who already earn enough money to have to pay taxes. According to the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, the Bush "largess" would have ignored 30 million working households where wage earners don't make enough to pay income taxes. And another 19 million households apparently would only get partial rebates.

In other words, the Bushy Boys wanted the money to flow straight into the hands of those who already have--at least theoretically--reasonably good to fabulously nice incomes. As for our poor robotniks who grub all year cleaning toilets, mopping floors and changing bed pans, yet never rise high enough on the income ladder to show up on IRS radar...well, let them figure out how to save more of their meager money and create their own economic stimulus packages. In other words, they should just buck up and quit being poor.

The bulletins now emerging from Washington say an agreement has been reached. The money--borrowed from somewhere to be paid back later (somehow) by others--soon will start flowing from the Treasury, even (at the Democrats' dogged insistence) to the "stimulus-unworthy" poor.

Once again, supposedly, we will now save ourselves and also save the world simply by spending a few hundred bucks apiece on electric bills, car payments, SUV fillups, karate lessons or nuclear-powered cell phones with built-in HDTVs.

There has to be a better way to run this economic railroad. And maybe we should start by running the Republicans out of Washington on a rail next year. But first, be patriotic: Spend your rebate! Buy some American cheese. Buy some American peanuts. Buy an American hamburger! Then leave the change as a tip!

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Ghost Haunts Movie Set?

By Si Dunn

Was it the smell of Thanksgiving turkey that briefly brought out a ghost? Or was it just the opportunity to haunt the actors, extras and crew of the movie The Significant Other?

Shot in Gainesville, Dallas and Plano, Texas, in 2007, the romantic comedy feature gained national attention after a ghostly image briefly appeared in a mirror and was captured on video during the shooting of a Thanksgiving dinner scene. The incident occurred at the movie’s main location, an 1896 Victorian-style mansion in Gainesville and has been recounted in The Hollywood Reporter and on CBS News, as well as other in media outlets.

“Maybe it was the aroma of the turkey that brought out the ghost,” said the movie’s director, Shalene Portman. “It freaked a lot of us out, but it never bothered us again” after the dinner scene incident.

A brief video clip of the ghostly appearance can be seen on the movie’s website, http://www.thesignificantothermovie.com/. (Disclosure: I am one of the movie's associate producers, but I was away from the set at the time and did not witness the ghost incident.) Watch the mirror closely as the image appears and disappears.

The house had no known history of being haunted until the movie's producer and director, Shalene Portman, brought in the scene's mantle and mirror and had them installed while the house was being refurbished.

The Significant Other is now in post-production and planned for release during the 2008 holiday season. For more information, contact SamiLu Production at SamiLuProduction@gmail.com. (There is no “s” after “Production.”)

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