The Celebrity Couple Otherwise Known As McFreed

The McFreed's Greatest Hits. This post has always been one I have been proud of because it shares the inside pride I have for me. Originally posted September 7, 2007, I decided to re-post and re-visit it again. Hope you enjoy!

Sean says...

Ian Roberts

"What is it to be a man?"  This is the question that former Australian pro-rugby player, now actor Ian Roberts has tattooed on his right arm.  Why? Roberts has this question tattooed on his arm to continually query himself about what it is to be a man because he is gay. 

His tattooed question, for some reason, is stuck in my own mind since I read the cover story about Roberts in The Advocate a few weeks ago. What is it to be a man? Is it really about being sexually attracted to women, the carriage of the body, the facial expressions, a certain annunciation of words, the basic interests in sports, the movies you like, or even the job you pursue sometimes. Is being a man mean masculinity, testosterone, and the typical "normal jock guy" stereotype?

To me I always doubted my own categorization as a "real man" like I am sure every gay man has done now and again. Another Vox poster spoke about how every time you meet a new person, move to a new place, or start a new job you are continually coming out as you move through life after announcing to the world and yourself, for that matter, that you are a gay man. And that is where my own doubt comes in. I joke a lot with my friends about taking away their "gay card" when one of us does something that fits the "normal" gay stereotypical activities or likes. Do we do this because we feel like lesser men?  Are we lesser men for being gay because we have a little swish in our hips, a higher voice, use words like "darling" now and again in jest, wear a certain style of clothing, or enjoy Valley of The Dolls?

Then I see men like Roberts, who meets the straight "real man" stereotype but has embraced his true self, and feel better.

That emotion of feeling better though is not just self-medication, it opens up the thought that being a man is just based on physicality and the rest is just what you make it. I am the man that I created. I am gay. I enjoy watching baseball, football and tennis. I can recite every line of Steel Magnolias. I enjoy the stereotypical gay delivery of sarcasm upon occasion. I love cuddling with my partner, another man, in the early morning when the day is new. I get excited about buying shoes. I live for seeing new places, hiking new trails, and seeing animals in the wild. I like saying a naughty word now and again followed by my own laughter.  I enjoy hanging out with straight men and talking about sports and politics. I don't fear or dislike Log Cabin Republicans, I am not afraid to speak my mind and be stern when I want to be. I am not a fan of pride parades. I beleive in God and go to church. I am not neat. I love cooking and eating good food. I prefer a cocktail to beer. And that is just some parts of the man I am.

I love me...something I have not always done in my life. But now I do love me for being the man I have become, gay and all. I think that is why Roberts had this tattooed this on his arm...and this is my opinion...he did it to remind himself that you are the man you make yourself to be. And that is where the true comfort of my own sense of being becomes truly satisfied.

Sean thinks...

Esquire Magazine recently came out with it's list of 75 Movies Men Should See (I guess before they die or to prove their masculinity in deep party conversation about pop culture is supposed to be the tag unspoken here) and it is not a bad one.  When my friend Bill told me about it, I was skeptical. Usually, these lists consist of ever explosive and frat boy laden gag laden film out there and mostly there of the last 20 years or so. But this is not, so thought actually went into it. The list actually deep and makes sense. I will also applaud them for including such foreign fare as Fitzcarraldo and Hate. I have blogged the list here as to avoid a super long post.

The films they SHOULD NOT be on there are:

1. Iron Man - This is just a shameless attempt to seem relevant although the movie is a good one.
2. Johnny Dangerously - Bad movie then, bad movie now.
3. Gone Baby Gone - Another attempt to appear 2009 relevant.
4. The Warriors - Um, why would men benefit from this really horrid musical gang movie?
5. Tootsie - Funny film and one of the best comedies ever but I could pick a better film to talk about a man getting in touch with his feminine side than this.

Honorable Mention here goes to: Dr. No (there are better Bond flicks) and Shakes The Clown (c'mon Bobcat Goldthwait is really not that funny).

To contrast with their list, here are 30 films I would recommend to men. I will indicate if it is on their list accordingly. The numeric order has no significance.  I tried to stay away from the typical action film and tried to focus on films that had substance yet might not be on the mind of the average man today. I also wanted to challenge a male mind unfairly characterized as shallow with images and stories that either force a man to ask questions of himself or films that force you into a black and white choice on whether you loved it or hated it. How did I do?

1. Wages of Fear - A French film about men who agree to risk their lives for a good paycheck by driving trucks filled with nitroglycerin up through a windy mountain road in blazing heat.

2. The Guns Of Navarone - The Dirty Dozen concept before there was one. Great acting and great story. A group of British and Allied soldiers and resistance plan an assault on a hilltop fortress in order to silence it's guns before an invasion fleet goes by. Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quayle,  Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker, and Richard Harris star with the addition of Irene Papas as the strongest of them all. The scene when they decide what to do with a traitor amongst them is just brilliant and jarring. 

3. The Big Country - A western which begins with sea captain Gregory Peck being brought to Texas by his financee to meet her father and see her world quickly becomes about what truly makes a strong and true man. The film becomes about what decisions a man should make and what a man should be and not what he is perceived to be by men alone. Burl Ives and Charles Bickford shine here as bitter old men focused on their own personal battle over water rights.

4. Seconds - A man, Rock Hudson in his finest role, becomes bored with his life and finds out that he can have a reboot. He embarks on a total physical make over and enjoys a life full of his secret passions only to succumb to his own regrets about what he left behind. A science fiction film that shows Hudson could actually act is really worth the watch. It challenges the idea that youth is what makes man happy and not the success of love and family.  

5.  The Commitments - A musical that revolves around a struggling Irish band who for one moment makes it to the top only to be undone by its own inner squabbling and personal agendas. A film that shows men how greatness can be achieved by teamwork and ruined by ego. And there is no breaking out into song in the middle of a dialogue...

6. Dazed and Confused - A visit to the 1970s and how the beginning of summer represents both entry into one of the most memorable periods of your life - high school - and also its exit. Told in a Robert Altman-esque way, this film shows men who they were and where their choices about their own characters can determine their direction... and it is just such a great throwback to the 1970s culture!

7. Endless Summer - The pursuit of the perfect wave takes the audience on one of the best road trips on film.

8. Gallipoli - The story of a World War I assault that went horribly wrong from the perspective of two Australians. A great film about rivalry and the importance of comaradary. Mel Gibson became known to America by this film although it is not his film entirely. Heartbreaking and thrilling, it will bring you to tears when its over.

9. Black Hawk Down - Another war tale about lost causes in battle which shakes a man's soul down to its core. Brilliant in technical delivery, the story lags a bit but over all a great film about what men are about and what truly makes them and shakes them.

10. Zulu - Probably one of the best war films ever made. The film tells the story about the battle of British troops against the Zulu Tribe in turn of the century South Africa. 140 British soldiers face 4,000 Zulus in an epic battle similar to David vs. Goliath. Brilliant in execution and suspenseful.

11. 40 Year Old Virgin - Ok I reverted to a film that came out in the last 10 years but it really works for my purposes here. It has a frat boy comedy quality but a great message about waiting to have sex. A movie about how men are only victims of popular culture and made unhappy by it.

12. The Graduate - This film is always on a list somehwere, but it really is a great film. Dustin Hoffman is our everyman who is lost in the question of who he should be, only to become trapped ultimately in what others think he should and rebelling against it to the point where he just becomes lost again.

13. Grizzly Man - A documentary about a grizzly bear activist Timothy Treadwell and his life with grizzly bears in Alaska and his subsequent death by their hand. 

14. Gunga Din - A tale of Britain's foray into Afghanistan and India which says even the smallest of men can be heroes.

15. The Man Who Would Be King - Rudyard Kipling's tale of two soldiers who become kings of a Afghan kingdom only to be downed by their own greed and their subjects xenophobia. Sean Connery and Michael Caine star. 

16. Jaws - The ultimate fishing trip. This is on Esquire's list.

17. The Killers (1944) - A film about greed, vengeance, and devotion to the wrong woman. An Ernest Hemingway short story becomes something extraordinary! Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner star.

18. M - A 1931 German film which takes on the seriel killer genre head on with great visuals and a look at society's part in both creating and catching the killer.

19. The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly - A great western about a three way rivalry for personal gain. Clint Eastwood rises as the star in his role as the man with no name. This is on Esquire's list.

20. Network - A prophetic film which was meant as a satire of television and ended up foretelling the future. "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

21. The Seven Samurai - A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves. A Japanese film by Akira Kurosawa almost every action film about a group of men since has guided itself by.

22. The Third Man - An American pulp writer arrives in post-WWII Vienna only to find that the friend who waited for him is killed under mysterious circumstances. The ensuing mystery entangles him in his friend Harry Lime's involvement in the black market, with the multinational police, and with Lime's Czech girlfriend.

23. Bullitt - The ultimate Steve McQueen film that presents the story about a San Francisco cop becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection. The grandaddy of car chases and a inspiration for films that followed with a silent anti-hero. 

24. White Heat - One of the best James Cagney films ever. A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. "Top of the World Ma!"

25. North By Northwest - The best action oriented James Bond film that wasn't. A Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock creation that just works. This is on Esquire's list. 

26. Cool Hand Luke - No man film list would be complete without a Paul Newman film. This is on Esquire's list.

27. This Is Spinal Tap - A great mockumentary about a band that really sucks but wants to come back anyway.

28. Theatre of Blood - A Vincent Price film which devilishly mixes horror and camp.

29. Akira - To add some anime/animation in here, this is a film which will have you decide if a genre well known for its male following is worth your time or just over-hype. A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psionic psychopath that only two kids and a group of psionics can stop.

30. Y Tu Mama Tambien - I am going to be bold here and select this 2002 film that captured Mexico's box office and had us the word "bromance" before it was invented. This sexually uninhibited film takes the viewer on a road trip with two teens (who are the best of friends from different sides of the tracks) and the woman who convinces them to take the journey.

I think this is a solid list. What do you all think?   

Sean says...

Esquire Magazine came out with it's list of 75 Things Men Should... recently. Among the lists were 75 Movies Men Should See. The movies they selected were:

1. In the Heat of the Night
2. Slap Shot
3. Iron Man
4. Jaws
5. Save the Tiger
6. Twelve Angry Men
7. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
8. Chinatown
9. The Godfather
10. Fitzcarraldo
11. Ghostbusters
12. Glory
13. Wall Street
14. Runaway Train
15. Rosemary's Baby
16. North by Northwest
17. Lone Star
18. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly*
19. The Conversation
20. The Thin Blue Line
21. Johnny Dangerously
22. The French Connection*
23. Miller's Crossing
24. The Great Escape
25. Dawn of the Dead
26. Shaun of the Dead
27. Hate
28. First Blood
29. Bottle Rocket
30. Bad Day at Black Rock
31. Tootsie
32. Broadcast News
33. The Terminator
34. Shakes the Clown
35. Dirty Harry
36. Straw Dogs
37. Raging Bull
38. Citizen Kane
39. The Shining
40. Fatal Attraction
41. The Incredibles
42. Blade Runner
43. Sling Blade
44. Giant
45. Glengarry Glen Ross
46. Serpico
47. Double Indemnity
48. Down by Law
49. The Searchers
50. Do the Right Thing
51. Gone Baby Gone
52. The Big Kahuna
53. M*A*S*H
54. The Verdict
55. The Warriors
56. Alien
57. Stalag 17
58. The Bridge on the River Kwai
59. The Misfits
60. Reservoir Dogs
61. The Maltese Falcon
62. Dr. No
63. Cool Hand Luke
64. The Road Warrior
65. Patton
66. True Romance
67. Run Silent, Run Deep
68. All Quiet on the Western Front
69. Platoon
70. Caddyshack
71. Hud
72. Blazing Saddles
73. Three Kings
74. Paths of Glory
75. On the Waterfront

All -

We wanted to beg forgiveness from all our fellow Voxers for being slow to update the last two months. Stefan and I have been planning the wedding and attending adoption classes during our weekends. This week we will post a few things and try and be a little long winded about our thoughts. We will admit Facebook has been an easier alternative, but the true essence of McFreed of course comes out best here.

Thanks for your patience and taunting emails!

Sean and Stefan

Sean predicts the Oscars as he does every year...

So after seeing four of the five Best Picture nominees so far, The Reader being the hold out, here are my predictions for the Oscars. I placed in parentheses an alternate choice, if I have one or am rooting for someone else. Feel free to play along....

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire (My personal choice would be Frost/Nixon.)

Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz With Bashir

Best Animated Feature: Wall-E

Best Documentary Feature: Man On Wire

Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler (Sean Penn, Milk, and Rourke deserve to tie for this award.)

Best Actress: Melissa Leo, Frozen River

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress: Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler (This is my risky pick!)

Best Original Screenplay: In Bruges

Best Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire (My personal choice would be Frost/Nixon)

Best Cinematography: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (This is a category that I use as a DVD selection criterion. This film is in a battle for the award with Slumdog Millionaire.  I split this one with Film Editing to reward both.)

Best Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire (Of any of the awards, this is the one that this film deserves the most.)

Best Art Direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Costume Design: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Original Score: Defiance (Slumdog Millionaire deserves this award for its incredible fusion of Indian and techno music.)

Best Sound Editing: The Dark Knight

Best Sound Mixing: The Dark Knight

Best Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Original Song: "Down To Earth", Peter Gabriel, Wall-E

Best Animated Short Film:  This Way Up

Best Short Live Action Short Film: Spielzeugland (Toyland) (Manon On The Asphalt sounds promising though... hard to figure out who deserves these things when you can't watch them unless you buy them first.)

Best Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Sean announces his 5 favorite Best Picture Oscar winners of the last 81years...

The Academy Awards have always been a spectacular American event that has both been celebrated and derided. I personally enjoy the Oscars for what it does for movies, it makes us talk about them and debate what our favorites are. The films, actors, and technicians behind the magic are not always our favorite choices. Sometimes the Oscar's select based on a person's total work or the novelty of a performance. Sometimes the Academy puts a benchmark on the movies and performances of a certain year and tries to guide us to check out what was wrought. And sometimes they get it horribly wrong and the film or performance is just one of those we have to see in order to finish a list of Oscar winners we might attempt to do.

Here are my favorite Best Picture Oscar winners. They might not be yours, but that is OK because I want to know what yours are or hear what you feel is the flaw in my selection. So below is a list followed by a trailer or scene from each of the five films chosen.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Casablanca (1943)

This is a selection that frankly is a no brainer. This is probably the best film ever made in my opinion, although it ranks second on my all-time favorites. This film is like a satisfying seven course meal. 

Two letters of transit are stolen from German Couriers on a train to Casablanca. The search is on for their killer and Rick Blaine's nightclub is first on Vichy France's place to look. Does Rick have the letters? Who's selling them? Who wants them? Who deserves a ticket to freedom? Who will die because of them? Who will live because of them?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

A David Lean spectacle that lasts 4 hours but is so worth your time. An incredibly acted and produced telling of the World War 1 British hero T.E. Lawrence and his adventures in the Middle East. I personally am a fan of the "No Prisoners!" scene which you have to see to experience the "WOW What a great scene!" discovery.

 
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
All About Eve (1950)

The film that launched a thousands quotes. This film launched my true love of old movies. An acquaintance I made in high school at the lunch table was telling me about the American Movie Classics (AMC) on cable and all the great movies it was playing. This was 1986. She went on and on about a movie titled All About Eve. She taped it for me on VHS and I have been in love with it ever since. I just recently saw it with Stefan on the big screen at the American Film Institute.

The film tells the tale of  40-year-old stage actress Margo Channing who hires on Eve Harrington as her assistant, but fears Eve is scheming to replace her in all venues of her life. Bette Davis is Margo. Anne Baxter is Eve. The stand out to me is George Sanders as Addison Dewitt. In an Oscar-winning role, Addison narrates and plays in this story or deceit, paranoia, and parlor games behind the curtain of the Broadway stage. Did I mention short but memorable parts for both Marilyn Monroe and Thelma Ritter as well?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Marty (1955)

A Goodyear Television Playhouse teleplay that conquered both television with Rod Steiger and the movie screen with Ernest Borgnine, this great film is honest and real in its casting and emotion. Marty is a 34-year-old butcher whose Italian family is constantly after him to get married. He meets plain-looking schoolteacher Clara. They are both lonely, unglamorous people who have resigned themselves to their unloved lives. But they manage, in time, to grope their way to love. this film is simple and it's plot has been replecated since, but it will tug your heart and revel in its power.

Sean shares a list he came across...

The Congressional Republicans have come up with a list of what they consider "wasteful spending" in the new stimulus package being debated in the Senate. Here is the list below. I bolded those items I disagree are not pork and should be included in the stimulus.  I provide comments along the way. Please tell me your opinions! 

• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.

• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.

• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.

• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).

• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.

• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.

• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.

• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD's.

[Sean: This is a public effort that deserves funding and shouldn't be shied away from. If the program is suspect I understand, but frankly this is stimulative by being preventative health care. This is something more imperative than any other since this is a communicable situation.]

• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.

[Sean: Rural communities are hard hit and deserve more focus for this stimulus.]

• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.

[Sean: Trust me this needs to be done is a HUGE job.]

• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.

• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.

[Sean: This is a sapte of temporary jobs that will put money in the hands of low income workers across the nation. It's better than welfare folks!]

• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities."

• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.

[Sean: Win/Win scenario. We must improve our community colleges because most families are starting their kids their first before moving into a four year school. Technology must be up to date here to better train our kids tomorrow. Not to mention the boom to the computer firms. I would want to make sure this was to take care of outstanding contracts though before moving it totally forward.]

• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.

• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.

• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.

[Sean: This should be removed for another time since this needs more debate. Unless there are already projects already approved but starving for cash these projects can wait. We can't keep shoring up flood plains and letting people continually rebuild here at a huge risk.]

• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.

[Sean: Many of the canals are old and have many risks involved. We should check our infrastructure for safety. However, I would want to scrutinize the conditions here before moving ahead with approval. ]

• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings.

• $500 million for state and local fire stations.

• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.

[Sean: Like FDR's CCC, this is something that needs to be done to improve our forests as well as improve this valuable resource to the world. This brings jobs to rural areas and saves our parks for our future generations to enjoy.]

• $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs.

• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.

• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.

• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.

• $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.

• $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.

• $850 million for Amtrak.

• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.

[Sean: I am for this if it involves existing programs and existing procurements and these all concentrate on removal and disposal only.]

•  $75 million to construct a "security training" facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.

• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.

[Sean: I am for this if it involves existing procurements pending funding.]

• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.

Sean gives his opinion as always...

I, like many of I am sure, am confused about all the solutions being touted in the discussion of the Obama Stimulus Package being debated by our Congress. Beyond reading the entire 600 + document, I have been looking for various breakdowns that avoid political or policy rhetoric so I can wrap my head around whether I can support it or not. Frankly this has proven difficult and I find my partisan leanings at times has me supporting it. The first version of the TARP stimulus that was passed in November 2008 was something I actually called my Congressman to tell him to vote against it. I would have done it again the second time but it was destined to pass anyway so I held back.

In the end I decided to sit down and answer the question, "What would I want to see in the stimulus package?" and see how it matches up to what is actually into it based on what I have heard and read. By doing this also, many of you will get an insight into my personal political philosophy and critical thinking leanings.

What do I want to see in the stimulus package?

1. Strategic Thinking. What is President Obama's strategic plan for America?  We should see this reflected in the stimulus package without creating new programs or starting new procurements. What are our top goals and where can we both stimulate the economy and move our strategic goals closer to achievement?

2. Federal-State Partnership.  The federal government and states must identify projects that might benefit from federal influx of funding. This funding should be firm-fixed and based on estimates already approved. This might be a great way of allowing states to redirect funds toward spending gaps in some areas while still funding worthwhile infrastructure, health care, and other social service projects.

3. Infrastructure Improvements. What current projects have reached or passed the procurement stage of the financial allocation process and can be either revived or sped up by immediate influxes of cash?

•  All Class A ports of entry (the one's accepting all foreign nationals) into the US should be reviewed for facility and technology improvement and select one from each of the 43 states that have them and an additional 50 prioritized by using a criteria of immediate impact, rural proximity, and security vulnerability. This pumps money into rural areas along the nation's borders and strengthens border security overall at all ports of entry. In addition, this could pump money into also adding at least 1 or 2 border guards. In addition, more money could be pushed into training of new recruits.
  
• Review all federally financed airport facilities and see which can benefit from a larger surge of cash into project completion.
  
• Work with governors to prepare a list of current state financed infrastructure projects and establish criteria for selection of immediate cash infusion. The criteria I would select would be a) projects currently under development, b) infrastructure items identified as the worst at risk for failure but have not been started, c) projects already cleared by environmental impact studies, d) projects providing the most impact to the population nearby economically and provides significant impact on interstate commerce beyond the Interstate system. Supplementation of the budget already developed should be the capped price of the project and the cash burden of states is relieved for redirection elsewhere.
  
• Review above and underground rail mass transit projects and identify where projects are already cleared of budget planning and environmental impact studies but are also going to have an immediate impact on population usage and air pollution. Supplementation of the budget already developed should be the capped price of the project and the cash burden of states is relieved for redirection elsewhere.
• Ensure funding for highway and railway trash cleanup is continued and temporarily expanded. These are short term jobs but is an easy way to provide work to small businesses and improve the environment and look of our nation's by-ways.
• Increase funding for broadband and satellite communication technology improvements.
• Increase funding of electrical grid improvements. The electrical grid needs a major overhaul and this would be a chance to start something that would be a long term solution.
• Increase funding for lead paint removal.
  
• Increase funding for water pipe and water waste treatment infrastructure improvements. Focus on the most at risk locations as well as prioritizing existing projects that have budget planning and environmental impact approvals.
• Increase funding for landfill and Super Fund/hazardous waste management and cleanup. 
  

5. Infrastructure Research and Development Grants. Increase the dollars for research and development into new technologies aimed at environmental improvement, renewable energy, communication technology, water treatment, and waste management.  We should look into later development of a central government entity for R&D. We need to think about new ways to improve federal funding flow to entities that require a public/private partnership to survive. Other countries invest in various product development and frankly we need to also. We could limit it to categories that improve road technology for example or examine alternative energy. I am not an investment bank expert but something needs to be done here that is not Congressional pork suspect but beneficial to creating new alternative solutions to many strategic goals and potentially improves eventual revenue return to the nation.  

6. Military Construction. The consolidation of military facilities has devastated some towns and improved the economic viability of others. Review current projects that have budget planning and environmental impact settled and can benefit from immediate cash infusions and start up. In addition, pumping funding into towns that will have to clean up facilities being retired by the military should be stepped up as well.

7. Education. The federal government, states, and localities need to do 3 things:

• Identify elementary, middle, high school, and library facilities requiring immediate maintenance and provide funding that improves student work environments.  Schools are obvious fixes but libraries in many cases also provide after-school programming and shelter for many children. 
  
• Increase Pell Grants and Stafford Loan access for college students with a goal of keeping those in college in school despite the personal financial situation of they or their parents.
  
• Improve federal access to funds for technology improvements in all schools that directly affect student comprehension of computers and other technologies.
  
• Provide direct investment in the development of a personal finance curriculum that would be required in all school districts by 2010. This would be a directly funded mandate aimed at pushing personal financial responsibility at the middle and high school levels.
  

9. Payroll and Small Business Tax Relief. There has to be a meaningful cut in payroll and small business taxes to speed delivery of tax relief in a faster fashion than an income tax or capital gains cut.
 
10. Mortgage Asset Purchase. Purchasing of toxic assets from banks for improvement of bank capitol reserves.

I am sure I am missing something but this is what I could think of what I would want to focus on. What do you think? Do you have any ideas or tweaks to mine? 

The McFreeds share this tidbit...

Two stories about how Equality Maryland was designated a terrorist group by MD State Police.

From The Washington Post...

State Police Classified Gay Rights Group as 'Threat'

By Lisa Rein

Equality Maryland, the state's largest gay rights group, was among the peaceful protest groups to be classified as terrorists in a Maryland State Police database.

The group was designated a "security threat" by the Homeland Security and Intelligence Division, which also kept dossiers on dozens of activists and at least a dozen groups. Police kept files on Equality Maryland's plans to hold rallies outside the State House in Annapolis to press for legislation reversing the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Police plan to purge the files.

The files were revealed yesterday at a news conference, where a dozen Democratic lawmakers announced plans to introduce legislation to prevent future surveillance of nonviolent groups.

Police would need "reasonable articulated suspicion of actual criminal activity" before they could conduct surveillance, the legislation's sponsors said.

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) also plans to call for a similar bill. The measure also would prevent police from keeping files on citizens, unless the information is part of a legitimate criminal investigation.

----------------------------------------------------

From The Baltimore Sun...

State lawmakers propose anti-spying legislation

Move is response to state police covert watch on peaceful activists

By Julie Bykowicz

January 23, 2009Lawmakers who want to prohibit the Maryland State Police from spying on peaceful groups and keeping files on their members announced yesterday the first legislative response to a "misguided" surveillance operation revealed last summer.

The proposal would require police to have "reasonable suspicion" of criminal activity before using covert tactics to investigate political activists. It also would ban the state from keeping files and dossiers on activists unless the information is part of a criminal investigation.

Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, said he will propose similar legislation, but the lawmakers who drafted the bill unveiled yesterday say theirs will be more expansive. The American Civil Liberties Union supports the legislators' plan.

The ACLU of Maryland, which sued state police to obtain information about the surveillance operation, said more than 50 individuals were improperly labeled as involved in "terrorism" activities. Additional spying targets continue to come forward. Dan Furmansky, former director of Equality Maryland, a gay and transgender advocacy group, said yesterday that he learned only weeks ago that state police have a photo of him on file and compiled information on his "suspicious" organization.

State troopers also went undercover to infiltrate anti-death penalty and anti-war groups.

Sen. Jamie Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat and lead sponsor of the Senate anti-spying bill, called the police tactics "Orwellian" and said he and other lawmakers wanted to send a strong message to the police that Maryland will not tolerate violations of constitutional rights.

The operation began in 2005 and lasted about 14 months under former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, and his state police superintendent, Col. Thomas E. "Tim" Hutchins. Ehrlich has said he knew nothing about the tactics.

At O'Malley's request, former Maryland Attorney General Stephen H. Sachs investigated the operation and concluded in a 93-page report that it was "misguided" and dismissive of civil rights.

Lawmakers said they intend to use legislative hearings to ferret out more information about the extent - and intent - of the surveillance operation. Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat, said the state police have been "lawyerly" so far in responding to questions about the operation and he would like to learn more.

Other groups named in police documents provided to the ACLU were People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Amnesty International, a group fighting BGE utility bill increases and the DC Anti-War Network. Several of the activists monitored by state police were in Annapolis yesterday to support the legislators' efforts.

Del. Sheila E. Hixson, a Montgomery County Democrat and lead sponsor of the House anti-spying bill, said it is clear to her, based on the liberal-leaning groups that were monitored, that someone in the Ehrlich administration ordered the state police to spy.

"State police get their orders from the executive department," she said. "They don't just decide on their own to spy on a group because they have nothing else to do."

Col. Terrence B. Sheridan, the current police superintendent, has called the operation "disconcerting" and said similar activities have not occurred under his watch. State police said they began the operation out of concern about the possibility of violent protests around two planned executions in 2005, although no evidence of potential violence emerged.

O'Malley's legislation could be introduced Monday and is expected to codify Sachs' recommendations.

Sachs suggested that police be able to show reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before launching covert tactics, but he did not say the agency should stop keeping files on activists. That could be a key difference between the two anti-spying bills.