US: Greek Crisis Is A Warning To Europe, U.S.

US: Greek Crisis Is A Warning To Europe, U.S. – Investors.com

Supporters of the Greek Communist party take part in a rally against austerity measures at Omonoia square in Athens Thursday. A string of parliamentary resignations on Thursday threatened to thwart Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou's plan to reshuffle his cabinet and pass austerity measures needed to save the nation from default.

As heavily indebted Greece continues to implode, threatening to drag Europe down with it, Americans should remember one key fact: Repeated bailouts don’t work, only fiscal responsibility does.

Make no mistake: Greece’s wounds are self-inflicted. The socialist government of George Papandreou has been chronically unable to agree on badly needed cuts to push the country onto a sound fiscal path.

Now, Papandreou is fighting for his political life, trying to reshuffle his cabinet and win support for austerity reforms that will bring more European Union bailout money, even as he faces riots in the streets and demonstrations against his government’s austerity.

Problem is, Greece’s debt is unsustainable, yet the public — which voted an economically inept socialist government into office — seems to believe the welfare state gravy train never has to end. But it will. It must.

Greece owes close to $240 billion to European Union governments and banks that it can’t pay. Roughly half of that is owed to France and Germany, and right behind Greece are some much bigger debtors that really scare the Eurocrats. They include Ireland ($870 billion in debts), Italy ($1.4 trillion), Spain ($1.2 trillion) and Portugal ($290 billion).

This is why the EU has decided to throw good money after bad, doubling the size of its bailout fund from $1 trillion to more than $2 trillion. It fears political chaos, widespread bank failures and a collapse of the euro.

The bailout must be big enough, notes European Central Bank governor Nout Wellink, “to frighten the market and to convince the markets that governments are prepared to really defend, to the end of their days, Europe as it is and the monetary union.” That’s panic.

But what, really, are they defending? The Greek government’s right to spend far more than it takes in? Or the Greeks’ pathetic refusal to understand that other Europeans won’t pay for their welfare state?

As the Financial Times noted, “Even if Greece successfully raised ($45 billion) from privatizations, met all its tight budgetary goals and grew in line with the optimistic official forecasts, its government debt would still equal about 150% of gross domestic product in 2014.”

Seen in that light, the bailout really isn’t about Greece’s economy at all. It’s about saving the EU from financial contagion and political chaos. Unfortunately,bailouts merely replace old debt with new. Studies show that cutting spending, not raising taxes, is the way to fix a nation’s finances and get its economy growing.

Time’s running out. At a minimum, the recent crisis means the EU’s cradle-to-grave welfare state is dead.

In its place, Europeans need to restore a sense of self-responsibility, hard work and market discipline, and pare back their demands from government.

As for the U.S., we can neither ignore this crisis nor gloat about it. If we don’t do the same, we’ll be next.

The UK Bans “The Human Centipede II” – Is the US Next? Plot Review and Trailer - Video

Okay, every now and then a movie comes along that we can’t exactly categorize – or understand.

In fact, we’re shocked that a movie like this could actually be released - much less filmed and edited with a straight face.

“The Human Centipede II – Full Sequence”, written and direct by Tom Six, is the follow-up to the original “Human Centipede” released in 2009.

For those of you who have never heard of it – consider yourself lucky. Most movie goers had not heard of it until Matt Stone and Trey Parker did a spoof about it on South Park last month.

The concept is simple, yet repulsive.

A demented surgeon finds three unwilling victims and surgically attaches them end to end – mouth to anus, turning them into a Siamese Trio – the human centipede.

Seriously. We’re not making this up.

The trailer below is from the first film and will go a long way in helping you understand the basic concept. We’ll wait…. Go ahead… watch it..



Were we right?

Now that you understand the rudimentary premise of the first movie we can move on to the troubles Mr. Six is facing in Britain with regards to his sequel.

“The Human Centipede II – Full Sequence” supposedly follows another demented surgeon who became sexually obsessed with the original movie.

He proceeds to replicate the Siamese trio just as in the original movie but with twelve people instead of three – and he adds one special demented twist.

His goal is to exploit his new creation sexually, and explore the concepts of sex, fantasy, pain, pleasure, and release with his new creation(s).

It’s really hard to wrap your head around isn't it?

Below is the movie trailer Six released last year promoting Centipede II. While not graphic in detail it doesn’t really reveal any plot, but the message seems to be clear - it will be “the sickest movie of all time.”



But Mr. Six has run into a big problem.

It seems the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has ruled no amount of cuts, redaction, or editing would allow them to give the new film a certificate of release and said it may violate the Obscene Publications Act.

They went on to say,

“The potentially obscene Human Centipede sequel poses risk of harm to viewers. There is little attempt to portray any of the victims in the film as anything other than objects to be brutalized, degraded and mutilated for the amusement and arousal of the central character, as well as for the pleasure of the audience.”

This may well prevent the film from ever seeing the light of day in Europe.

But what about the United States?

The U.S. has a habit of following along with the BBFC in its development of the United States MPAA rating. (Motion Picture Association of America)

The original film was given a MPAA rating of “R” which allowed it to be shown in American theaters. But if the MPAA can’t, or won’t rate the sequel, then it cannot be shown in the U.S.

We think that is a good thing. This is not really the kind of movie we want playing at the Mall on Saturday afternoon anyway. Our kids have enough to deal with already and we don’t need to plant any more bizarre ideas in their tiny little heads.

InfoStar says – Keep Centipede II away from the U.S.

Follow InfoStar on Twitter
 

Superman Denounces His American Citizenship – Going Global to Fight Crime

There are a ton of reasons to love Superman.

He can run fast, he can fly, and he can even deflect bullets and see through walls.

But in a sign of the times the super hero has decided to take the non-traditional Superman approach to our current Geo-political problems.

In an effort to reconnect with his fans, he will walk across America in Action Comics issue #700. The man of steel is walking instead of flying because he wants to be close to the people. Writer Michael Straczynski says,

"You have to remember that when Superman was initially created, his fights weren't against vast interstellar forces. They were against criminals preying on the average guy. Superman was created to be the ally of the average American, the guy who didn't have lots of money or friends in high places."

The storyline will play out over multiple issues and create what might be the biggest Superman exploit ever taken in issue #900 when he announces he is going to give up his U.S. citizenship.

That’s right – and it’s not because he can’t find his long form United States Birth Certificate.

But how can this be? After all, the very theme song says Superman is all about “truth, justice, and the American way." How can you take that away from us?

We can blame it on writer David S. Goyer.

He wrote the DC Comic issue #900 where Superman tells the President's National Security Advisor, who is outraged that Superman appeared in Tehran to non-violently support the revolution protesters demonstrating against the Iranian regime.

However, since Superman is seen as an American, the Iranian government has considered his actions as the will of the American President, and indeed, an act of war.

Oh brother. First a cartoon showing Mohammad almost started a war, and now Superman?

Superman says he was a fool to think that his actions would not reflect politically on the American government, and that he therefore plans to renounce his American citizenship at the United Nations the next day, and to continue working as a superhero from a more global than national perspective.

So now we have to call Bruce in India just to get in touch with Superman?

It makes sense. The Daily Planet Newspaper was absorbed by evil Rupert Murdoch’s FOX Entertainment years ago, and then shut down when Glenn Beck joined the network. Who needs newspapers anyway?

What if Superman finds himself on the no-fly-list and can’t fly back to Washington for an important meeting of the Super Friends? What if he gets groped by a TSA agent who feels those buns of steel?

We know art imitates life, but in this case art is imitating a part of life that makes most people uneasy in the real world. We get the whole Globalization thing.

But how are we going to explain this one to our kids?

Follow InfoStar on Twitter