Column

Just finished a wonderful cruise from San Francisco to Hawaii and back. Trivia games were played every day and were well attended. It goes to show you that elderly people have fun too. Let’s try some of Princess Cruise Lines’ questions. I am sure there is no licensing problem.

1. What is the only word in the English language that ends with the letters “mt”?
2. Where were the 1936 Summer Olympics played?
3. Hitler coined his oppressive society as the Third Reich. What was the First Reich?
4. In what movie did Paul Newman play “Fast Eddie Felson” and win an Oscar for doing so?
5. Cher sang a song devoted to “Gypsies, Tramps and who?
6. What two countries fought in the 1600s in the “Bishop’s War?”

April Answers

1. Alvin Dark
2. Buddy Ebse
3. Jose Feliciano
4. Jack Kemp
5. Edie Hart
6. Fibber McGee and Molly

WIN LUNCH ON BEN!
The first person to email or mail, no calls please, the correct answers to all of the above questions will win a $25 gift certificate for The Uptown Cafe in downtown Danville, compliments of Ben Fernandez! Entries must be received by May 20, 2012. In the event of a tie, the winner will be drawn at random. Please email your answers to info@aliveeastbay.com, or mail to ALIVE East Bay, 3200 A Danville Blvd., Ste. 204, Alamo, CA 94507.
Employees and family members of employees of ALIVE East Bay are not eligible. Restaurant may be changed without notice.

“How perfect does your child have to be?”

Vincent Freeman (interesting last name) is a God Child conceived on the Riviera. The car, that is.

Gattaca is Science Fiction Drama at its finest; a little bit out there and a whole lot believable. Released in 1998, this film still seems fresh. Somehow, Sci-Fi isn’t supposed to seem believable after 14 years. Back to the Riviera.  Vincent’s (Ethan Hawke) parents created a God Child in a time when genetic engineering was “just what you did” if you could afford it. He had flaws compared to what he could have been. His brother born a little later got the advantage, a better genetic quotient.

Vincent spent his life comparing himself to his brother and striving against all odds for a different life. He dreamed of breaking free from society’s constraints and traveling into space. His vision was to be a Navigator for the Gattaca Corporation.

Problem One … Navigators had to be “Valids”. If you were one of the natural born minority, there was no future in space flight. Enters Tony Shalhoub, under the radar, DNA Broker and Jerome Morrow (Jude Law), a “Valid” with a broken body.

I am so tempted to tell you how they did it, but I won’t. Vincent aka Jerome is accepted at Gattaca and begins to prepare for his space journey. Boy meets girl, Uma Thurman, who also works for Gattaca. His “Valid” brother also comes into the picture creating the tension a good movie needs. New Zealand screenwriter Andrew Niccol has his Directorial debut along with Alan Arkin who also acts in this film.

One of the things I thought kind of creepy was the automaton aspect of the employees of Gattaca. They dressed alike, talked alike and almost looked alike. As they entered the building they went through a type of turn-style that pricked their fingers for a blood sample to determine their validity. This is an environment that one eyelash could give away a ruse.

Gattaca is so morally complex; I’m not sure where to start. Can anyone spell HITLER? Have you read about the work of Planned Parenthood in the Appalachians? Eugenics is an evil thing. That is one woman’s perspective. Designer children are an abomination to God.  He doesn’t make junk and I think anyone who ever raised a handicapped child would agree. Vincent’s parents believed that a child of love would be happier so they put their faith in God’s hands. Then the specialists started talking to them about what could be done to improve their next child. The genetic engineering vs. education and experience is one topic still bandied about depending on what social circles you enjoy. I truly understand wanting what is best for your child. In some cities people are vying for a slot in a pre-school before their child is born. (So much for Big Bird!) We have a Creator who fashions perfect specimens every day, every minute.

I would ask a bigger question. What “validates” you? Do people validate you? Does your degree on the wall or money in the bank validate you? Hmmm. The movie starts with a quote on the screen, “Consider what God has done; who can straighten what He has made crooked?” This isn’t fatalism but a reminder of who God is. So, to quote Vincent at the beginning of this movie, “How perfect does your child have to be?”

I write, but it is perfectly okay to push back. Either way, watch the movie and tell me what you think at chastings@rockcliff.com.

 

So, were you surprised by the recent, so-called GSA (General Services Administration) scandal? Shocked? Maybe. Alarmed? Angry? You should be both! It was our money they were spending and as of this writing, with hearings just getting started, it looks as though this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I doubt that you were surprised. How could you be? With out-of-control spending in Washington having ballooned our national debt to nearly 16 trillion dollars—that’s sixteen TRILLION, with a “T”—we all knew that “oversights” like this were probably common. We just don’t want to believe it. I don’t know about you, but for me it’s a bad dream where I keep repeating, “This can’t be happening. There’s no way they would do this.” But they do, do it—and they just keep on doing it.

I grew up in the 1960s—the era of Vietnam and “flower power,” when mistrust of big government became mainstream. Maybe you weren’t around yet but some of us remember the revelations of $400 hammers and thousand-dollar toilet seats—all products of the “military-industrial complex.” This propensity to spend without limit is nothing new, but the problem is, it’s getting worse, as that glaring “T” number above bears witness.

One thousand, thousand is one million. One thousand, million is one billion. A thousand billion is one trillion. To get a picture of what a trillion dollars looks like, a stack of $1,000 bills, four inches high, is one million dollars. A stack of $1,000 bills 358 feet high is a billion dollars. With a trillion, your stack is 67.9 MILES high. You’d have to be launched ten times higher than the space station orbit—over 1,086 miles into space—just to see the top of a stack of $1,000 bills. hat is our current (and growing) national debt.

Just how much debt is that, really?  It translates into over $50,000 dollars for every citizen—every man, woman, child, infant—in the United States. Is that a lot? The Treasury Secretary of the United States, Timothy Geithner, apparently doesn’t think so. He recently appeared on Meet the Press and spoke of our national debt as if it were little more than a modest nuisance—something that will be handled in due time.

I know I’ll get some flack for saying this, but my 1960’s upbringing won’t allow me suppress it, so here goes: Thank God for the Tea Party! They were the ones that most recently started shining some light into the filthy, black hole of unaccountable government spending.

As the GSA debacle unfolds, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn about legions of other “public servants,” caught in the act of shredding, burning or erasing the telltale tracks of outrageous waste.

I’ve always heard that trust is something you earn. But when those “T” dollars are thrown around, without so much as a faint appreciation of the fact that it came to them by way of the sweat of your (and my) brow, to my way of thinking, the GSA and their ilk have yet to earn even one red cent’s worth.