penelope cruz pirates - pirates of the caribbean 4

As they continue along with their European press tour, Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz were once again side-by-side for the "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" photocall during the 64th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on Saturday (May 14).

The fabulous co-stars both looked splendid as they took to the Palais des Festivals venue while joining up with co-stars Geoffrey Rush, Sam Caflin, Ian McShane and Astrid Berges-Frisbey.

Set to hit theaters on May 20th, the film's director, Rob Marshall, recently spoke to Parade magazine about how he dealt with the news of Penelope's pregnancy - which became known just a week prior to shooting the much-awaited picture.

Marshall explained, “We were like, uhhhhh. I said, ‘Are you going to be okay sword fighting with a baby in your stomach?’ But she was up for it. She said she’d understand if we had to replace her, but she didn’t want to be replaced. It took more time, ultimately, but she was worth it."

 Rob also addressed questions as to whether this will be the last of Captain Jack Sparrow, telling, “It’s like the James Bond series. I think there are probably lots of stories still to tell.”

The Republicans Have Less than $99 Billion to Go Before Signing Their Death Wish in Congress

Have you seen the national debt? It is now at $14.195 trillion and probably much higher as I type this. That means Congress has less than $100 billion to go before they reach the debt ceiling. As you know, this is probably a done deal, no matter how much political kicking and screaming that goes on in front of the cameras, the Republicans, who just passed a meager bill to keep the government operating in exchange for some really meager spending cuts and who failed to even come close to the $100 billion in spending cuts promised, more than likely will vote to raise the debt ceiling. They almost have to considering their compromise with Obama for the Bush tax cuts. They were clearly outplayed.

“The Treasury Department now estimates that the United States will reach the debt limit between April 15, 2011 and May 31, 2011."

Time Magazine: Where is Karl Marx When You Need Him?

The main stream media isn't even hiding anymore. They are quite open about turning the United States into a Karl Marx brand of socialism country. Consider this sad article from Time released yesterday:

Before I started writing this column on why paychecks are likely to keep shrinking even if unemployment starts to inch down, I consulted Google to see if the term Marxism was trending upward. It was and has been ever since the end of December, the conclusion of a year in which workers' share of the U.S. economic pie shrank to the smallest piece ever: 54.4% of GDP, down from about 60% in the 1970s.

No wonder Marx is back in fashion. It's been more than 100 years since the German philosopher predicted that capitalism's voraciousness would be its undoing - as bosses invest more in new technologies to make things more cheaply and efficiently and less in workers themselves, who, deprived of fair wages, would eventually rise up and revolt. That hasn't happened, of course, though depressed wages certainly contributed to the revolution in Egypt, not to mention lots of other instances of public unrest over the past few years. But the fact that wages in the U.S. and most other rich countries have been falling since the 1970s and went off a cliff after the recent financial crisis is going to become a more pressing economic and political concern. Just think how hard it will be for Obama to sell himself in 2012 if salaries are still falling. (See 25 people to blame for the financial crisis.)

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is Going to Milk 49 States so New York Can Have Cheaper Milk

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is preparing to squeeze the taxpayers teat all so New York can have cheaper milk. She announced plans today to ensure federal help gets to New York's declining dairy farm industry.

The state lost 23 percent of its dairy farms in five years. Gillibrand will announce emergency steps such as preventing cuts to the Milk Income Loss program and fixing the milk-pricing system to create competitive pricing for New York dairy producers.

From 2002 to 2007, New York State lost nearly 25 percent of all dairy farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and continues to lose dairy farms.

Like I said, she is going to squeeze the other 49 to ensure New York has cheaper milk, and I cannot for the life of me see how this fits under interstate commerce since the goal here is to deliver New York Milk to New Yorkers. So expect federal subsidies to ensure Senator Gillibrand fixes the prices just like other agriculture subsidies have done the same.

Six Republicans Jump Off the Boehner Keep the Government Operating Express

John Boehner lost the support of six Republicans with his plan to prevent the government from shutting down. Reps. Justin Amash (R., Mich.), Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.), Louie Gohmert (R., Texas), Steve King (R., Iowa), Ron Paul (R., Texas), and Walter Jones (R., N.C.) all voted against Boehner's meager $4 billion spending cuts to prevent the shutdown. Amash was the only freshman to vote no.

The two-week spending resolution cuts spending by $4 billion dollars and ensures the government will function at full steam ahead for another two weeks. By the way, to show you how insignificant this $4 billion in cuts is, the federal government spends $36 billion a day as of 2008, and as of 2007, the daily average added to the national debt totaled $4.15 billion. That number has skyrocketed since Obama took office.

Why is John Boehner so intent on keeping the government operating at full-capacity rather than slow it down until Democrats are willing to cut critical programs that continue this absurd building of the national debt?

I support the efforts of my GOP colleagues to move the budget process along so that we can work toward serious spending reductions. Unfortunately, this budget cuts spending at the rate of only $133 million/week or $6.95 billion/year. That’s four-tenths of one percent of our annual deficit.

By the way, fed up with wasteful spending Billy Long once again sided with the establishment. oh, yes Long continues to prove himself as a budget-cutting JOKE.

Obama to Hit States Up for $118 Billion to Cover Medicaid Expansion

Obama has been given states and their rights some lust lately. You can't call it love, because lust, and not love, betrays. Remember last week, Obama said the states could opt out of Obamacare under certain conditions. Consider the next fact, and ask yourself how is any state going to opt out when the federal government comes after this large sum of money from struggling states across the fruited plain.

Obamacare is set to expand Medicare. For this expansion, the federal government will look to the states for $118 billion dollars total by 2023. Here's what you need to know from National Review:


The massive increases in new federal spending under the health care law did not include the new Medicaid state spending mandates; and American taxpayers are still discovering the extent of PPACA’s costs. In 2017, state governments will be forced to spend new money on expanded Medicaid populations, and by 2020, the states will shoulder these new costs fully. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) originally estimated new state spending on Medicaid at $20 billion between 2017 and 2019, and an independent report from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured found that new state spending would be even higher at $43.2 billion through 2019. More recently, CBO has estimated a $60 billion cost to the states through 2021. …

This report conservatively estimates that PPACA will cost state taxpayers at least $118.04 billion through 2023.

The state-by-state findings9 of this report indicate just how unrealistic PPACA’s Medicaid mandates are for the states. California will spend at least another $19.4 billion on Medicaid; perhaps that is why former Governor Schwarzenegger said, “It is not reform to push more costs on states that are already struggling … and this bill … is a disaster for California…” The Texas Health and Human Services Commission estimated that Texas alone will be forced to spend $27 billion—more than the program’s entire annual budget today. The state of Idaho found that the law would grow its Medicaid program by nearly 50 percent. With $675 million in new costs for his state, it is not surprising that Governor Beshear (D-KY) recently said, “I have no idea how we’re going to pay for it.” Finally, former Governor Bredesen (D-TN) noted reality: “I can’t think of a worse time for this bill to be coming … nobody’s going to put their state into bankruptcy or their education system in the tank for it.”

March 2011: I Turn 40 This Month: Bungalow Bill's Mid-Life Crisis is Upon Us

I am amazed at how fast this month really did come. The last ten years have flown by. I have no clue where they went, and now it is March 2011. In just over two weeks, I turn 40. I really don't know how I feel about that. In some ways, it's just another day and another number, but then there is that reality check. Forty...

Anyway, I think Bungalow Bill is having a mid-life crisis, and I can't even put the top down on the car to deal with it like so many have before me. So I guess I will just listen to one of my favorite songs. Here's Jack Johnson doing one of Jimmy Buffet's classics--A Pirate Looks at 40.