Inflation and the Fall of the Roman Empire

An *incredibly* good article on economics - with a focus on the impact (short-term and long-term) of government decree - can be found here.

It opens with an interesting observation:

"...the wonder was not that the Roman Empire had fallen, but rather that it had lasted so long...."

For the purposes of this blog, application of the article to modern times is left as an exercise for the student. No doubt, different people will see different lessons to be learned, but I think the key point is in the last paragraph:

"...In other words, the Roman state was the enemy; the barbarians were the liberators..."

A most fascinating read. Enjoy.

- Steve

What Happened While I Was Gone?

Steve,

Reading your comment on my last post, I sort of feel like the guy who had to go during a meeting, but then suddenly realized a lot of really important stuff must have went on while he was in the john. I mean, what did I miss?

You say securing the borders is the ultimate, numero uno, tippity top priority - and I've already conceded that. What do you want me to do, write it across the sky in letters of fire? By all means, lets do. Lets build a wall a mile high and a hundred feet thick, with moats, guard dogs, high powered rifles and loud speakers blaring BeeGee recordings 24/7.

You say a fence is the cornerstone of immigration reform. Okee ka-dokee, sign me up! I've already said it won't work, but maybe there are some fence guys out there who are a lot better than the guys who have been failing at this for the last 4,000 years. You know, the Great Wall guys, the Hadrian's Wall guys, the Maginot Line guys - those guys. But pay attention here. Try to get a mental picture of me cupping my hands around my mouth and yelling, "I don't disagree with the principle that nations have a right to secure borders".

I don't disagree with the principle that nations have a right to secure borders. There, I said it twice - along with the two other times I said it in my previous posts, that makes four. Wanna' go for five?

Picture a world in which we are beyond the question of the fence. In this world, we move on to the next step. Like this:

A: We have a fence.
B: What do we do now?

I'm giving you A. So stop complaining and get on with B. For starters, you can tell me why "CIRA was a crock". And please, don't tell me you've already unpacked that issue. You haven't. And besides, by your own rules, you claim we shouldn't be talking about the next step until we agree on the first. Have you been breaking your own rules?

-Chris

More on Immigration

Steve,

Back to business...

I read a revealing article a couple of days ago in the NYT: " Illegal Workers Swept From Jobs in "Silent Raids" ".

To summarize:

In contrast to the Bush administration, which favored raids by several agents on targeted businesses to round up illegals, the Obama administration is pursuing a policy of "silent raids", where one or two agents audit payrolls and levy fines based on the hiring of illegals. Practices under Bush usually resulted in deportations - under Obama they result in the firing of all illegals working at a given business.

Typically, Republicans have been critical of this new practice, since the end result hasn't produced nearly as many deportations. But that's just politics. According to the article:

"Employers say the audits reach more companies than the work-site roundups of the administration of President George W. Bush. The audits force businesses to fire every suspected illegal immigrant on the payroll— not just those who happened to be on duty at the time of a raid — and make it much harder to hire other unauthorized workers as replacements. Auditing is “a far more effective enforcement tool,” said Mike Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers League, which includes many worried fruit growers."

Now my point here is not to argue the relative effectiveness of one strategy over the other, but to take a look at what happens in the aftermath of a silent raid. Sorry for the long excerpts, but they are instructive:

"In April, Michel Malecot, the chef of a popular bakery in San Diego, was indicted on 12 criminal counts of harboring illegal immigrants. The government is seeking to seize his bakery. He has pleaded not guilty. In Maryland, the owner of two restaurants, George Anagnostou, pleaded guilty last month to criminal charges of harboring at least 24 illegal immigrants. He agreed to forfeit more than $734,000.

But the firings at Gebbers Farms shocked this village of orchard laborers (population 2,100) by the Columbia River among sere brown foothills in eastern Washington. Six months after the firings, the silence still prevails, with both the company and the illegal immigrants reluctant to discuss them...

"The Gebbers packing house is the center of this company town, amid more than 5,000 acres of well-tended orchards, where the lingua franca is Spanish. Officials said public school enrollment is more than 90 percent Hispanic.

"Throughout last year, ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) auditors examined forms known as I-9’s, which all new hires in the country must fill out. ICE then advised Gebbers Farms of Social Security and immigration numbers that did not check out with federal databases.

Just before Christmas, managers summoned the workers in groups. In often emotional exchanges, managers immediately fired those without valid documents...

"Many workers lived in houses they rented from the company; they were given three months to move out. In Brewster, truck payments stopped, televisions were returned, mobile homes were sold, mortgages defaulted.

Many immigrants purchased new false documents and went looking for jobs in more distant orchards, former Gebbers Farms workers said. But the word is out among growers in the region to avoid hiring immigrants from the company because ICE knows they are unauthorized...

"After the firings, Gebbers Farms advertised hundreds of jobs for orchard workers. But there were few takers in the state.

“Show me one American —just one — climbing a picker’s ladder,” said María Cervantes, 33, a former Gebbers Farms worker from Mexico who gave her name because she was recently approved as a legal immigrant...

"After completing a federally mandated local labor search, Gebbers Farms applied to the federal guest worker program to import about 1,200 legal temporary workers — most from Mexico. The guest workers, who can stay for up to six months, also included about 300 from Jamaica. (my emphasis)

“They are bringing people from outside,” Ms. Cervantes said, perplexed. “What will happen to those of us who are already here?”

Now let's break this down. ICE raids Gebber Farms, Gebber Farms fires illegals, advertises 1200 job openings, can't find Americans to fill them, and finally has to go to Mexico and Jamaica to bring in "guest workers".

Now this would almost be comical if the results in human terms weren't so tragic. At Gebber Farms at least, the government effectively freed up 1200 of the kind of jobs illegals are always accused of stealing from Americans - but as it turns out, Americans don't want them! So now Gebber Farms is back to square one. Well, maybe not even that - call it square minus one - since even menial jobs like this require some experience - and Gebber is going to have to deal with lower production rates - year after year - as each new batch of guest workers is brought up to speed.

And this makes you think: what exactly is the kind of job an illegal will assume that a typical American will not?

Pay attention here Steve. I'm not going to turn this into some morality piece which contrasts hard working illegals against snobish, pampered citizens. But on the other hand, I do think simple economics is at the core of the issue of illegal immigration. You can talk all you want about building fences, but until you understand and address the economics, you aren't going to ever come up with an effective solution. Let's start with your's...

Let's say that by some amazing miracle, tomorrow we build a bullet proof fence at the border (we both know which one). Then, by some other miracle, 15 million or so illegals voluntarily turn themselves in - to be sent back to their home countries and "the back of the line" of those waiting to immigrate legally. Here's how that conversation goes:

Agent: Great news Joe, we fixed immigration!

Joe: Oh yeah? Tell me more...

Agent: Well, all you have to do now is turn yourself in and we send you back to Mexico.

Joe: Er, how is that different?

Agent: Well Joe they've got a line down there now and you can get in it buddy.

Joe: Sounds great. Say, let me get back with you on that. I've got a cake in the oven...

So now we have our fence and all the illegals have been cleared out. What then? Well if Gebber Farms is any indication, and I believe it is, all those job openings which magically appear are going to go unfilled. And not just because these jobs are defined by hard work and low pay, but because many more like them are seasonal and temporary, with virtually no benefits or opportunity for advancement - in other words, the little cracks and crannies of any job market.

So who wins? Certainly not the guys who lost their jobs at Gebber, or for that matter, Gebber Farms itself. Neither did the American public, which despite record unemployment, can't seem to bring itself to climb a ladder and pick apples.

So to solve the problem - once again, the economic problem, we're going to have to invite 15 million foreign nationals back into the country as "guest workers". That solution by the way has been tried before, and it didn't work.

I come from farming country back in Indiana, where one of the major cash crops has always been tomatoes. Growing up, I can remember picking season, and all the thousands of Mexican "pickers" who came through year after year. You can still drive through some parts of Grant County and see many of the compounds of little 15 or 20 foot square shacks which housed them. Anyway, these picker crews were operated by companies in Mexico who contracted with big farms and followed the harvest across the country, busing workers North and South. Not surprisingly, the labor companies got the biggest share of the money, and life for a picker was incredibly hard. They lived in sub standard housing, sometimes without running water or even electricity. They worked incredibly long hours - sun up til sun down - with few or no breaks. Time after time, year after year, I can remember driving by the fields and seeing them out in the sun, usually with their poor kids playing (or more commonly, picking) at their sides. I guess we became a little desensitized to it - but in retrospect, it really looked no different than cotton fields must have looked like back before the Civil War.

Now I don't think this country has the moral insensitivity to return to that kind of arrangement. So, to maintain the viability of a guest worker program, laws would have to be passed which would ensure clean living conditions, minimum wages and benefits, and access to rudimentary health care. You think I'm kidding? Think it through, Steve. Are you, a relatively staunch conservative, willing to advocate a guest worker program which results in fifteen million foreign laborers being treated as little more than slaves? And even if you are, through some outrageous convolution of morality, how long do you think it would be before such a system would buttress American industry with a more or less permanent class of slaves?

But once again, if you pass the necessary wage, hour and benefit laws regarding a guest worker program, all you are really doing is raising the price of labor - and handicapping it with several obvious disadvantages. Companies like Gebber Farms would probably wind up paying more for less. Less that is, than before the ICE auditors came in and cleaned out the illegals. Let's wrap this up.

Here's a better plan - one by the way which probably has no more chance of getting enacted in today's poisonous political climate than any other rational plan.

Let's say the ICE auditors go to Gebber Farms and identify 1200 illegals on the payroll. Then, instead of being forced to fire them, Gebber is allowed to enroll these people in the sort of path to citizenship envisioned by CIRA. In return for being allowed to become citizens, these people agree to background checks, the economic reality of paying fines (actually, fees) to support the program, back taxes (if any are owed), and a defined probation period during which they pay into funds like Social Security and FICA with graduated vesting.

I think this kind of plan would work. Furthermore, I think Gebber farms and their employees would be all for it. Gebber Farms gets to keep what had become an effective work force and the (now former) illegals get to raise their families in the peaceful pursuit of the American Dream - just like the rest of us.

Oh and by the way, who loses? Certainly not the 1200 non-existent Americans who didn't want the jobs in the first place. Not the local businesses which benefited from sales to a more or less permanent community. And finally, not you or me, who in the long run are going to pay less for apples - if they come from Gebber Farms that is.

Now you can talk about legal principles all you want. But this to me is the issue where the concept of what works and what doesn't is where the real action is. Go - build your fence. And when you're done, come back here and start working on the real problem.

Enjoy....

Chris

Peace!

Pork ala Christophe

Steve,

I assure you I'm raring to go on this illegal immigration thing. By coincidence, I received a robo- call from some Republican running for a minor post in Paulding County, and by George, the whole call from start to finish was about what this dude was planning to do about - well, you guessed it - illegal immigration: the "Crisis du Jour" which has Republicans wetting their pants hither and yon. Now I won't deny illegal immigration is a problem - but why all of a sudden are Republicans running around with their heads on fire over it? I'll tell you why - but later. Right now I have something far more important to talk about. I call it,

Pork, ala Christophe

.

Now its a well known fact that ever since some caveman accidentally left a hunk of mastodon steak out in the sun for a few days, men have loved jerky. Beef jerky, buffalo jerky, heck, any-meat-that-can-be-dried-out-and-eaten jerky. As a matter of fact, when they see any creature that walks, crawls, swims, soars, slithers, limps, creeps, squirms, paddles or wades - in, on or above the Earth - most men think of how they can turn it into jerky.

.

That said, have you seen the price of jerky lately? Steve, its the most expensive thing in the grocery store! We could all dine on Kumamoto at Le Bernadin in New York City for less. WalMart sells a dinky bag of floor sweepings for around 4 bucks each - I think they're made of rubber. The really good stuff sells for 8 or 9 dollars for a two mouth-full bag.

.

But thanks to a fantastic new discovery from the kitchens of Chef Christophe (me), our troubles are over! "Pork ala Christophe" is the same thing to store bought jerky as methadone is to heroin... only better. Pay attention now.

.

First, go to the store and buy some really nice pork loin (currently selling at around 2 bucks a pound), and have it cut up into one inch steaks. Then go back home and cut the steaks up into 1/8" strips - like little pieces of bacon:

.

As you can see, Chef Christoph is also preparing "Flat Iron Steak ala Christophe". Anyway, once you get your strips cut up - douse them in chili powder, like this:

Mmmmm..., doesn't that look scrumpdilyishous! Now, get your frying pan out and fill 'er up with canola oil. Then toss these little strips of heavenly goodness into the oil!

Let 'em cook down a ways. Buddy, you can't screw this up. The pork strip's gooses are cooked pretty much from the time they hit the oil anyway (or is that "geese's are cooked?), so just pop a top on a Bud Lite and by the time you're half way through they will probably be done. Then, let them drain on a convenient paper towel:

The last step is kind of optional. I put my Pork (strips) ala Christophe up in the fridge for a few hours - this sort of dries them out a little and makes them tastier. But if you've had enough beers while you are making them you probably will have eaten the whole day's production by the time you get to the fridge step anyway. So don't worry.

Steve, if you love jerky - and I know you do - these guys taste way better. Make some buddy, and in no time you will find yourself strolling into WalMart and telling them to stick their four dollar bags of dried guano where the air is always yucky and the sun never shines.

.

You can thank me later...

.

Chris

.

Peace!

Steve,

You may want to lie down after I say this...

Illegal immigration is at best a modest problem which has been cynically re-manufactured into a national crisis by extremists on the right wing fringe, with fabricated statistics, xenophobic rhetoric and contemptible lies.

A path to a perfectly rational, practical, humane solution to this modest problem is easily within reach. But we aren't going to take that path as a nation because at the end of the day, the extremists aren't really looking for solutions. And most Republicans in Congress, terrified of losing their jobs to candidates on the far right, are going along with this whole, pathetic charade.

There. Take a couple of ibuprofen, lie down for a few minutes and maybe the room will stop spinning.

In a June 26th interview, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer pretty much summed up the course of the right wing hysteria:

"Well, we all know that the majority of the people that are coming to Arizona and trespassing are now becoming drug mules," Brewer said. "They're coming across our borders in huge numbers. The drug cartels have taken control of the immigration.

"So they are criminals. They're breaking the law when they are trespassing and they're criminals when they pack the marijuana and the drugs on their backs." (my emphasis)

Listen Steve, every nation has a right to secure borders and reasonable laws governing citizenship and immigration. But, once and for all, we're not being overrun by a horde of illegals who are just coming here to sell drugs, steal our jobs and rape our women. So long as we have people in positions of leadership poisoning the well with that kind of inflammatory rhetoric - rational solutions are virtually impossible.

Now what is happening, and has been happening since I was a kid, is that we are experiencing a steady stream of illegals, largely from Central America, and nearly all of whom are just coming here to work hard and build a better life for themselves. Unlike Americans, they aren't covered by the same workplace rules we take for granted. If they get injured on the job, or get sick and can't work, tuff noogies. If they get assaulted or are victims of theft, they can't report it. Studies have shown they pay far more in taxes than the value of services they will ever get back.

Furthermore, the border between the United States and Mexico really is safer than it has been in years. From the Dallas News:

"The top four big cities in America with the lowest rates of violent crime are all in border states: Austin, El Paso, Phoenix and San Diego , according to a new FBI report. And a U.S. Customs and Border Protection report shows that Border Patrol agents face far less danger than street cops in most U.S. cities.

The Customs and Border Protection study, obtained with a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that 3 percent of Border Patrol agents and officers were assaulted last year, mostly when assailants threw rocks at them.

That compares with 11 percent of police officers and sheriff's deputies assaulted during the same period, usually with guns or knives.

In addition, violent attacks against agents declined in 2009 along most of the U.S-Mexican border for the first time in seven years."

In this context, the context that is of the real world, "amnesty" is a whole lot less frightening a term. I believe I've said before here on this very blog that one of the better pieces of legislation to reach Congress during the Bush Administration was The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. As you know, it proposed amnesty for the roughly 12 to 20 million illegals residing in this country, as well as a tough but fair path to to citizenship. Among its co-sponsors were Republican heavy weights Hagel, McCain, Graham and Brownback. It passed in the Senate but not the House, and since then the 22 Republican Senators who voted for it have been repeatedly hung out to dry in hundreds of viral e-mails.

From a 2007 NYT article:

"Polls show that most Americans would let illegal immigrants get right with the law and become Americans, too, if they have clean records, learn English and pay back taxes and fines. Weighed against keeping the shadowy status quo or deporting 12 million people, a citizenship path strikes them as a proper blend of justice and common sense. Last year’s stalled Senate bill took this approach, and it will surely be central to any new legislation.

But the idea sticks in the craws of the members of a vocal, mostly Republican faction that wants every door to opportunity for illegal immigrants shut and locked, except the one marked “guest workers.” Those they would keep because they don’t mind having an underclass of docile, ill-paid foreigners who do America’s dirtiest jobs and then go home." (again, my emphasis)

Steve, frankly, the American Way Of Life (if it ever really existed) of quiet, tree lined streets, sidewalks, and every house owned by a Ward and June Cleaver, is gone for good and there is no way we'll ever get it back. Hispanics aren't like you and me. First of all they're, well, Hispanic. They speak Spanish and most of the new arrivals among them come from radically different backgrounds than yours and mine. So what? They want a piece of the American Dream just like you and me. I say let them have a crack at it.

-Chris

Do we really have an immigration policy?

(Just to have post returning to political thoughts...)

I've opined in this blog on the immigration issue previously. I admit it is an exceptionally complex issue. There are No easy answers. It is so very easy to spout off generalities and platitudes (guilty as charged!).

That said, I could not help but notice that our Southern border is now MORE secure than any time in the last 20 or so years. I know this true because the President said so, and he wouldn't lie (would he?). He certainly *must* have access to the relevant data that would support such a claim... But, I also note that there exist particular sections of the Arizona border where U.S. government actually warns American citizens they are not safe and should avoid these areas. Worse, there was there was a recent gang war shoot-out, killing many people, not far from that so-called "safe and secure southern border" the President was talking about... Hmmm. Does the left hand know what the Right hand knows?

In the midst of all this, the remedy, according to the President, is amnesty - although he uses different labels for that process; apparently believing if we change the tag, we change what it is: pure foolishness, yet again. *sigh* I'm not sure why we should worry about amnesty, since the border itself is becoming increasingly safer and safer, but I digress.

The President goes further and says the reason our immigration policy is "broken" (its not working?) is because of... Republican opposition. It seems the current Democratic majorities in both houses are "not quite large enough". Therefore, according to the President, it is the duty of the Republicans to reach across the aisle and cooperate (translation: do it OUR way) on comprehensive immigration reform (whatever that is). I suppose that since the borders are already safe and secure, this should all be reasonable and very easy --- if it weren't for those petty, childish, disgruntled and nasty, (racist?) Republicans.

Meanwhile, back here in the Real World (called by some the United States), poll after poll shows that about 70% of the population WANT border fences, and they want them NOW. Given that there is also considerable concern over "jobs" and "stimulating the economy", you would think that someone, somewhere - i.e., The President - would remove their blinders long enough to realize a potential win-win is staring them in the face...

Building an effective and *really* secure fenced border would be a good stimulus project. It has all the necessary ingredients: it's a legitimate function/task for government, it employs lots of people, it's expensive, and it's something just about everyone actually wants...

Just what is the (reasonable and rational) argument that says building a fence is a BAD IDEA? And, yes, there are other sticky and difficult immigration tasks to be addressed - what to do about those already here, how open should the borders be, etc. But do we *have* to develop a complete and comprehensive plan everyone will agree to before doing ANYTHING?

It looks like the simple idea of going ahead and building a fence not only isn't on the table, I don't think anyone is even thinking about it. Why?

- Steve

LRA&H Official Movie List

Our list as of 7-1-2010:
>Steve Green (SG) Chris Rhetts (CR) Ted Roman (TeR) Tim Roman (TiR)
> First Update - Adding Jacob Gaither (JG) and April Finnegan (AF), 7/1:
>Second Update - Adding Christine Gaither (CG) 7/3:
>Third Update - Adding Rocio Becerra (RB)  and Jane Mitchell (RB) 7/4:
>Fourth Update - JG added 3 films 7/4:

Comedy:

Its A Mad Mad Mad Mad World CR/TeR/TiR
The Great Race CR
What's Up Doc? CR
The Court Jester SG
Duck Soup SG
Young Frankenstein SG/RB
The Naked Gun TeR
Ghostbusters TeR
Planes, Trains and Automobiles TiR
I Love You to Death TiR
Monty Python and the Holy Grail JG/AF/RB
Airplane JG
Blazing Saddles JG
The Awful Truth AF
Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House  AF
Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood CG
Forest Gump CG
Enchanted CG
The Court Jester RB
Old Dogs RB
The Party RB
Hook JM
Nothing to Lose JM
First Wives Club JM
Legally Blond JM
Raising Arizona JM
Big Business JM

War:


Full Metal Jacket CR/TiR/JG
Saving Private Ryan CR/TeR/TiR
Black Hawk Down CR/RB
Patton SG
Tora, Tora, Tora SG
Stalag 17 SG
Battleground TeR
The Longest Day TeR/TiR
Heartbreak Ridge JG
Platoon JG
Empire of the Sun AF/RB
Schindler's List AF
To End All Wars AF
Pearl Harbor CG
Inglorious Basterds CG
Cold Mountain CG
The Great Escape RB
The Manchurian Candidate RB


Western:


Unforgiven CR/TeR/TiR/JG
Dances With Wolves CR/TiR
The Wild Bunch CR
Silverado SG/TiR/JG
The Magnificent Seven SG
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon SG
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly TeR
Maverick TeR
Big Jake JG
The Searchers AF
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid AF/JM
Young Guns AF
Australia CG
Legends of the Fall CG/RB
Gran Torino CG
Tombstone RB
Brokeback Mountain RB
Paint Your Wagon JM
True Grit JM
Cat Ballou JM


Crime:


The Godfather CR /SG/TeR/TiR
The Godfather II CR/TeR/TiR
Goodfellas CR/TiR
The Maltese Falcon SG
Thin Man, The SG
Casino TeR/TiR
The Usual Suspects JG
Rashomon JG
Primal Fear JG
Laura AF
Suspicion AF
Rebecca AF
Devil's Advocate CG
A Time to Kill CG
Shawshank Redemption CG
Scarface RB
Sherlock Holmes RB
Death on the Nile RB
The Thomas Crown Affair RB
Entrapment RB


Historic:


Alexander Nevsky CR
Dr. Zhivago CR
Braveheart CR/SG/TeR/TiR/JG
Missiles of October SG
Apollo 13 SG/TeR/JG/RB
Glory TeR
Passion of Christ TiR/JM
The Right Stuff TiR
Gone With the Wind JG/AF
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex AF
The Three Musketeers AF
Gone With the Wind CG
From Hell CG
Calamity Jane CG
Amistad RB
The Diary of Anne Frank RB
Shindler's List JM


Science Fiction:


Star Wars CR/SG/RB
Star Wars (original trilogy) TeR/TiR
Alien CR/JG
Jurassic Park CR
Forbidden Planet SG
Metropolis SG
The Matrix I TeR/RB
Close Encounters of the Third Kind TeR/TiR/RB
District 9 TiR
Aliens JG
Predator JG
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) AF
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi AF
The Fly AF
The 9th Gate CG
eXistenz CG
Flight of the Navigator CG
Minority Report RB
Back to the Future series JM


Drama/Suspense


Casablanca - (1942) CR/SG
Sin City CR
Pulp Fiction CR
Citizen Kane SG
North by Northwest SG
Schindler's List TeR/TiR
Amadeus TeR/TiR
Escape From New York TeR
12 Angry Men TiR
Secondhand Lions JG/CG
Legends of the Fall JG
Cinderella Man JG
Dragonwyck AF
To Kill a Mockingbird AF/CG
Signs AF
Black Snake Moan CG
Jaws RB
The Manchurian Candidate RB
The Da Vinci Code RB
The Green Mile RB
The Others RB


Horror:


The Exorcist CR/TeR/TiR
The Thing (1982) CR/TeR
The Shining CR/TiR
Alien SG/TeR
Frankenstein SG
Psycho SG
Blair Witch Project TiR
Hellraiser JG/CG
Nightmare on Elm Street JG/RB
Friday the 13th JG
House on Haunted Hill (1959) AF
Last Man on Earth AF
The Innocents AF
The Sixth Sense CG/RB
28 Days Later CG


Fantasy:


The Wizard of Oz CR/SG/TeR/TiR/CG/RB
The Return of the King CR/SG
Lord of the Rings (series) TeR/TiR/AF/JM
Time Bandits CR
Harvey SG
Its a Wonderful Life TeR/TiR
Big Fish JG
Pirates of the Caribbean (series) JG/CG/RB/JM
Harry Potter (series) JG
Underworld AF
Horror of Dracula (1958) AF
Big Fish CG
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe JM
Prince Caspian JM
Willow JM
Princess Bride JM

Full Length Animated:


Fantasia -1940 CR/SG/JM
The Little Mermaid CR/TiR/JM
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within CR
The Incredibles SG/TiR
Dumbo SG
UP TeR/TiR/AF
The Lion King TeR/JM
The Triplets of Belleville TeR
Wall-E JG/CG/RB
Team America: World Police JG
The Road to El Dorado JG
The Spongebob Squarepants Movie AF
How to Train Your Dragon AF
Ratatouille CG/RB
Nightmare Before Christmas CG/RB
Fantasia 2000 JM
Mulan JM
Snow White JM
Sleeping Beauty JM
Beauty and the Beast JM
Sword in the Stone JM
Robin Hood (Disney) JM
Prince of Egypt JM
Tarzan (Disney) JM

Romance (ick!):


Frankie and Johnnie CR
As Good As It Gets CR
Shakespere In Love CR
Gone With The Wind SG
Shenandoah SG
Old Yeller SG
When Harry Met Sally TeR/TiR
Titanic TeR
By Big Fat Greek Wedding TeR/TiR
Roman Holiday TiR
The Notebook JG/CG/RB
What Dreams May Come JG/CG
The Last of the Mohicans JG
Pride and Prejudice AF
It Happened One Night AF
The Bishop's Wife AF
Hope Floats CG/RB
For Love of the Game RB
Pride and Prejudice RB


Romantic Comedy:


Pretty Woman RB
Leap Year RB
Something's Gotta Give RB
It's Complicated RB
When Harry Met Sally RB
You've Got Mail RB/JM
Fools Rush In JM
Sleepless in Seattle JM
Big JM
Cactus Flower JM
The Proposal JM
New in Town JM
Overboard JM


Fun for the whole family:


Big CR
Its A Wonderful Life CR
Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation CR
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad SG
Mary Poppins SG/TeR/TiR
Raiders of the Lost Ark SG
The Love Bug TeR
Babe TeR/TiR
The Muppet Movie TiR
Goonies JG
Monsters Inc JG/JM
Willow JG
Harry Potter Series AF/CG/RB
Nacho Libre AF
Muppets in Space AF
Back to the Future Series CG/RB
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang CG
Indiana Jones Series RB
Pollyanna JM
Toy Story series JM
Alice In Wonderland (2010) JM
Finding Nemo JM
Heidi (w/Shirley Temple) JM


Musical:


Singing in the Rain SG/TeR/TiR/JG/AF/CG/RB
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers SG/TeR/TiR/CG
Paint Your Wagon SG
Cabaret CR
Grease TeR/TiR/RB
Little Shop of Horrors JG
Tommy JG
GI Blues AF
Help! AF
Mary Poppins CG/RB/JM
The Sound of Music RB/JM
Moulin Rouge RB
Chicago RB
Mama Mia RB
My Fair Lady JM
Anna and the King JM


Action/Adventure:


Flight of the Phoenix SG
King Kong (1939) SG
The Time Machine (G.Pal version) SG
Raiders of the Lost Ark TeR/TiR/JG
Pirates of the Caribbean (Black Pearl) TeR
The Dark Knight TeR
Back To The Future TiR
Star Trek Movie Series TiR
Rambo JG
Rocky JG
Zombieland AF
The Princess Bride AF
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade  AF/JM
Kill Bill Series CG
Lord of War CG
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow CG
Mr and Mrs Smith RB
Gone in 60 Seconds RB
16 Blocks RB
Behind Enemy Lines RB
Enemy of the State RB
Willow JM
Up JM
The Incredibles JM
The Rock JM

Foreign Films (Catagory added 7/3):


Memoirs of a Geisha CG/RB
Rashomon CG
House of Flying Daggers CG
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon RB
Pan's Labyrinth RB
Like Water for Chocolate RB
Talk to Her RB
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown RB
Brotherhood of the Wolf JG
Danny the Dog (Unleashed in the USA) JG
Zatoichi: The Blind Samurai JG