As the Sears ship continues to sink into the depths of devalued stock prices, irrelevancy and non-existent sales, the rats scurrying for dry ground have expanded from executive talent to activist investors.   Noted activist investor Bill Ackman has reduced his SHLD holdings by 92.5 percent. When an activist like Ackman dumps like that, he has probably decided that nothing he says or does will make a difference.

So why did Ackerman bail?   In fairness to Sears, he may have simply decided that the the current state of the retail sector merited a pull out. He however does not appear to have reduced his Target holdings.   It is more likely  that he finally came to the conclusion that there is nothing he could offer that was going to stop the SHLD free-fall or turn company fundamentals around for the long term. He realizes that changes such as the return of layaway are simply desperation gimmicks and not fundamntal changes.  It is also more evidence of the either unwillingness or personality inability of Sears chairman Eddie Lampert to listen to anyone with real world experience.  If you do not have a Ivy League MBA you have nothing meaningful to say to him. Maybe all the Harvard, Yale and other big time MBA types at Sears can waterproof their degrees to use as as rafts when Sears finally goes under.

I love disaster films.  I must have an inner desire to see the Earth pulverized or mankind snuffed into extinction by a  biological plague.  Maybe the dogs and cats can do a better job at managing the environment than we have.  There are literally thousands of movies out there that could be classified as “disaster movies”  In coming up with my list, I gravitated to movies that in my opinion  had attention holding story lines as compared to movies that were simply built around disaster special effects.  I tried to include movies from a wide variety a genres such as zombies, historical events, aliens and natural disasters. The minimum requirement was that a large group of people had to have been killed off.  While large is a relative term, I took the pornography approach.  I know it when I see it.  Some notable disaster flicks did not make my list. These include Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow and The Core.  I viewed these as having no semi-believable story line or simply special effect excuse for movies.  Since it impossible to suspend disbelief in a Zombie movie(unless you believe in Zombies) I only included  Zombie movies that attempted to address underlying social issues. This left out Night Of The Living Dead type movies. I also did not include some of the original disaster genre flicks such as Earthquake and The Towering Inferno. While these were ground breakers for their time I do not consider them particularly good movies.  I also did not include made for television movies which would leave out the very good Testament and  The Day After.  These are intended to be nothing more than my personal choices, feel free to comment with yours and why.

1. Deep Impact.   Full of cliches.  Standard disaster story line.  I don’t care.  This is my favorite disaster movie. The scene where the tidal wave strikes New York City still gives me chills. I think I enjoy it so much because it is rated one of the more scientifically accurate natural disaster movies.  For me a great disaster film is one that does not have to suspend reality too much.

Memorable Quote: “We get hit all the time by rocks and meteors some of them the size of cars, some no bigger than your hand, but the comet we discovered is the size of New York City, from the north end of Central Park to the Battery, about 7 miles long. It weighs 500 billion tons”

2.The Poseidon Adventure. I am talking about the original and not the crappy remake. The Poseidon Adventure is considered the father of epic disaster films. I remember seeing it with my parents at a theater that no longer exists in Pittsburgh, Pa. I cried when the priest played by Gene Hackman died at the end saving the lone surviving group of passengers. The pre-digital era special effects of the wave hitting the SS Poseidon is laughable by today standards. Looking at it today you can tell it is pretty much a model boat in a bathtub. It  does not matter.  The Poseidon Adventure is a disaster film from a long gone era where the story line and not the special effects defined the movie.

Memorable Quote:  “They’re suppositories Mr Rogo. You don’t swallow them.”

3.The Ten Commandments The movie that defined Charlton Heston as Moses. How can I not include a movie where the 1st born of Egypt are killed and the Pharaoh’s army is wiped out in the Red Sea. Anyone who has taken the Hollywood Universal Studios tour got to see how they actually parted the waters. Quite impressive for its day. Once again I prefer the films where the production actually tells a story versus being a vehicle for special effects.

Memorable Quote: “You will be mine, like my dog, or my horse, or my falcon, except that I shall love you more – and trust you less.”

4. Titanic The one and only time any of us guys can say we went to a Chick-Flick Disaster Movie and not be talking about simply it simply being a disaster that we were dragged kicking and screaming to a  chick snoozer.  This far and away beats out its terrible chick- flick disaster competitor, Armageddon.

Memorable Quote: ” Do you know of Dr. Freud, Mr. Ismay? His ideas about the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you.”

5. Planet Of The Apes The Charlton Heston original and not the terrible Mark Wahlberg career damaging remake. What makes this one of the great disaster movies of all time is that you do not realize it is a disaster movie until the final chilling Statute Of Liberty scene which many sites have rated one of the greatest endings of all time.

Memorable Quote: “ Get Your Stinking Paws Off Me You Damm Dirty Ape!”

6. The Omega Man Another Charlton Heston flick that is an adaption of the 1954 novel ” I am Legend.” Most are familiar with the visually better but storyline and politically inferior 2007 remake starring Will Smith. The Omega man in my opinion is better because it take a much more introspective look at the dangers of biochemical warfare and the dangers of technology. It does much more with the story and relies much less on special effects as you would expect from of movie of that era. If you have seen  the Will Smith I Am Legend, give the Omega Man a look and compare for yourself.

Memorable Quote: “You know the old song? If you were the only girl in the world, and I was the only boy, well, okay, but until then, don’t bother me? Well, I guess I’m the only boy…”

7. 28 Days Later The U.K version of I Am Legend done with much more style, story and suspense. With all respect to George Romero and his Night Of The Living Dead franchise, this and the sequel 28 days later are two of the best zombie holocaust movies of all time. Great use made of the en vogue, “fast cut” zombie carnage that you see in most horror films now.

Memorable Quote: “Plans are pointless. Staying alive is as good as it gets.”

8. Fail-Safe One of the most unique and riveting disaster movies of its day.  At the height of the cold war with the Soviet Union the Unite States military protocols break down resulting in the dropping of an atomic bomb on Moscow. In order to prevent all out nuclear war, the President Of The United States played by Henry Fonda agrees to the unthinkable.

Memorable Quote:  ” I’ve been making a few rough calculations on the effect of two twenty megaton bombs dropped on New York City in the middle of a normal workday…”

9.Independance Day The dialogue and acting are so campy you are not sure whether this is a disaster flick or parody of a disaster flick ala Mars Attacks. The special effects however are spectacular. This one gets on the list for the destruction of the White House. See it in Blu-ray if you have a compatible blu-ray  player and television.  Boomer Boomer!

Memorable Quote: “If you’re so smart, tell me something, how come you go to M.I.T. for 8 years to become a cable repairman?”

10. The Andromeda Strain A meteorite strike brings an alien virus to earth wiping out a town.  Scientists must work to find a cure before the virus destroys mankind. Great performance by Arthur Hill.  Watch this instead of the dialogue idiotic Dustin Hoffman remake Outbreak.

Memorable Quote: “….the aircraft and pilot’ll have to be sterilized”

11. War Of The Worlds The original adaption of the Orson Wells radio broadcast of the alien invasion that panicked the world.  Much superior to the Tom Cruise remake which  in my opinion is unwatchable save the first 20 minutes of the movie.

Memorable Quote”  “After all that men could do had failed, the Martians were destroyed and humanity was saved by the littlest things, which God, in His wisdom, had put upon this Earth.”

What to do with the Arizona 8 year old charged with murdering his father Vincent Romero along with one of Romero’s co-workers, Timothy Romans.  The child(his name is legally protected as a juvenile) appeared in court today charged with both murders. He admitted that he killed his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39.  Both men were found dead in Romero’s home. Police said that the boy had confessed to shooting the two men with a .22-caliber weapon. No motive was give nor has one been uncovered to date.  There is allegedly evidence that the child, who had been taught to shoot guns by his father, had methodically planned and “thought out” the murders.  A stunned town and law enforcement community is grasping for ways to understand this act with nothing concrete to grasp on to.  Was the boy abused?   Was there evidence of mental instability?  Give us something to hold on to that will make us feel good about ending(metaphorically) the life of a child that plays with Transformers and watches Ninja Turtles.

So what do we do?  What we do is let the justice run its course to determine the child’s fate.  But which justice system?  The adult system that could send the 8 year old to prison for the rest of his very long life or the juvenile justice system which would cap his sentence out when he reaches 18 years old. It comes down to a simple choice.  When discussing this child’s fate do we want to talk about the past or his future.  If we try him as an adult we are only concerned with the past. We are only concerned with the crimes he committed and the punishment to be inflicted.  If we try him as a juvenile we are concerned about whether he has a future even the face of the futures he took away from his father  and the other victim.

I could say that this would make a great Law and Order espisode but this scenario has already been played out in several different episodes of my favorite television show.  Hard nosed Manhattan District Attorney Jack McCoy would demand the child be tried as an adult and spend the rest of his very long life in Attica prison general population where he would no doubt come out with a “lifetime” criminal label and the in-house training of a true societal predator. Released on society with all the prison skills and true brutal intentions he did not possess when he went in.   Is that what we want for this child?  Is that what he deserves for the  two  murders if convicted as an adult?  Not a decision I envy for the real life District Attorney.  The local police department wants this child charged and tried as an adult.  While I do not agree, I certainly understand the knee-jerk emotional reaction of those at the heart of the investigation. Those who witnessed first hand the brutality and collateral damage of the crime.  With each grieving family contact, crime scene photo, blood stain and fact learned about what a good people the victims were, the age of the “perp” fades into the bright red  of simple payback.

No one would disagree that if this kid is tried as an adult and  convicted his life is over.  We might as well just lethal injection him up right now because by doing so we will be saving on two different levels.  We will save the state millions of dollars to house a life whose potential to contribute to society will have been snuffed out by the correctional system.  We will have saved countless future victims of the this child’s future criminal life because make no mistake , that is the only life that will be left of him when ever he is finally paroled.  That is not to say that his life is not over regardless of under which system he is tried.  10 years in the Arizona juvenile system may not offer any more hope for a non-violent future.  How do you impose the criminal consequences of an act on a child who does not even understand crime or consequences?

You know where I stand.  Try the kid as a juvenile. If found responsbile(the equvialent of an adult guilty) use the maxium time allowed to figure out what went wrong with this child and whether it can be fixed in the 10 or so years he will be incarcerted. What more can you do without completley throwing this childs life away?  I am not diminsihing the lives taken and the necessity that there be accountability.  I just see no benefit to anyone in adding this child to the scrap heap of societal revenge when there is so much more at stake including every other person this child comes into contact with in his lifetime.  If Vicent Romero or Timothy Romans could speak from the grave about this child’s fate, I wonder what they would say…

The Supreme Court has said no but oddly enough the  former  Alaska high school student Joseph Frederick who offered Jesus up a toke during a school sanctioned Olympics rally  will be $45,000  richer for it. The money no doubt to be used for some prime Mexican sensimillia for further offerings.  The school district will pay Frederick $45,000. In exchange Frederick will drop remaining claims not heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.  The settlement also calls for the district to spend as much as $5,000 to hire a neutral constitutional law expert to chair a forum on student speech at his former high school.

The United States Supreme Court initially agreed to take the case after Frederick, a Juneau, Alaska high was suspended for ten days for allegedly “disrupting” an off-campus school sanctioned rally by unfurling a 14-foot-long banner that read:

“BONG HITS FOR JESUS”

Frederick was suspended in 2002 after he unfurled the banner just outside school grounds as the Olympic torch relay moved through the Alaskan capitol, headed for the Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Frederick was not on school grounds when he put up the banner; he was standing on a public sidewalk. He was asked to take the sign down and refused. He was then suspended for ten days. He appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, who agreed that his First Amendment rights were infringed upon. The 9th Circuit found that the banner did not disrupt the educational mission of the school, as it was on a public sidewalk and therefore, was considered protected free speech. The school district appealed to the United States Supreme Court. The school’s position was that it was a school-sponsored event in which the students were dismissed from class, and therefore, he should be bound by the same rules as if he were in the classroom. Ken Star, famous for checking into former President Bill Clinton’s “cigar collection,” represented the school district. (Mr. Star was the independent prosecutor in the Lewinsky “affair.”)

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school district upholding their right to suspend Morse. The justices ruled that Frederick’s free speech rights were not violated by his suspension over what the majority’s written opinion called a “sophomoric” banner.   In writing for the majority Chief Justice John Roberts stated:

“It was reasonable for (the principal) to conclude that the banner promoted illegal drug use– and that failing to act would send a powerful message to the students in her charge,” (Opinion)

Roberts also stated that while the court has limited student free speech rights in the past, young people do not give up all their First Amendment rights when they enter a school sending a strong signal that this case is limited to its facts. The Supreme Court ruling while taking the school district off the hook under the United States Constitution did not put an end to the controversy.  There was still litigation pending in the appellate court to determine whether Fredrick’s rights were violated under the Free Speech Provision of the Alaska Constitution. The settlement puts that to rest as well.  There very well could have been a different result under the Alaska Constitution which much to Sarah Palin’s chagrin reads differently than the U.S Constitution.

“Every person may freely speak, write, and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right.”

I frankly called this one wrong when the case first hit the news. I would have bet the mortgage that even a conservative court  was going to come down on the side of the student.  Public sidewalk. Not a voluntary membership school-sponsored event such as football, band, etc., which are privileges. The school did not offer students the opportunity not to take the day off from school.  In my opinion once the student left school grounds, he was “Joe Q. Bong-hitter” and was free to put up any sign he wanted as long as it did not cause an “educational disruption,” incite others to violence, or break some constitutional man-made law. The “center right” Supreme Court did not agree with me holding that a banner “promoting drug use” did disrupt the educational mission.  I did not see the banner as promoting drug use.

How would the landscape of such cases change under the Barrack Obama presidency with as many as 3 new appointments to the Supreme Court?   There is no doubt that if President-elect Obama gets the right people on the bench we will have a much more activist court.  It will  drive the Federalists crazy.  When you throw out terms such as “economic justice” it leaves little doubt that Constitutional definitions and context are fair game for radical change. Every provision of the Constitutional will be looked at in context of who is invoking it and the justice sought as compared to what it actually says. This will be especially interesting in the free speech and right to privacy areas. Would a new left leaning court find the principal’s interpretations and actions reasonable?  What does that mean for the next student offer up some “religious smoke”?  What if the sign had said “HOOKA HITS FOR JESUS!“  Jesus is probably getting high right now at the thought of it…