Roy Orbison

I was just channel surfing, and came across a great concert on PBS. It's all in black and white. It's Roy Orbison singing. In the background I picked out Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Rait and I'm sure there are others I don't recognize. Roy was truly one of the greats. As far as I am concerned, he is the Man in Black, not Johnny Cash. (although Cash was great also)

Battlestar Galactica Pt 13 (spoilers)

First of all, October??!!?? I have to wait until next October?

With that out of the way.....

1) A new model of Cylon..Dean Stockwell. Puts whole new irony into his counseling sessions with Chief Tyrol.

2) Roslin continuing to keep an eye on Hera on New Caprica. Will the Cylons find out about her? What happens when they do?

3) The resurrected Caprica Six, together again with Gaius. Can that plot line get anymore convoluted? Will Baltar's treason be revealed?

4) The resurrected Galactica Boomer (Tyrol's Boomer) Will she and Tyrol meet? What happens when they do?

5) Where's the Caprica Boomer (Helo's Boomer) ? Is she still in the brig on Galactica?

6) How many people were on the ships that jumped out?

7) What's going on on Caprica and the other colonies? Did the Cylons return or are they empty?

Tonight's episode was much better than last week's. It wasn't as good as the season 1 finale, or the finale for the first half of season 2, but it left me impatient for more, which is what it was supposed to do.

The Day After

The Day After was one of those semi-hyterical apocalypse movies that came out in the 1980's. For some reason the Sci Fi channel showed it tonight. I remember watching it at the time and thinking how dumb it was. Some quick thoughts:

1) I was surprised at how many famous actors were in it, many before they became famous, some on the downslope of their careers. All the cars and clothes look ancient.

2) It's amazing how heavy handed the propaganda is. Completely unsophisticated. The Left could do much better now.

3) The main message was supposed to be that the US was going to provoke a war if they insisted on stationing Pershing medium range missiles in Europe. Well President Reagan did move forward with those plans, and history has shown us who was right, President Reagan or the appeasement Left. But at least one thing is consistent, the Left is still blaming the US for the world's troubles.

4) When this movie came out, I was living on a NATO first strike base. (meaning the Soviets had targeted the base for destruction with chemical and nuclear weapons during their first series of attacks) I regularly saw and participated in drills that simulated such an attack. I actually had nightmares of dying in such an attack. But even as a teenager at the time I knew enough to reject the idea of appeasement, and completely supported President Reagan. I had to put up with the morons from the CND (campaign for nuclear disarmament) picketing in front of my base. We had tactical aircraft, A-10's stationed there. The A-10 is incapable of carrying nuclear weapons.

5) Crap like this makes me appreciate movies like Dr. Strangelove all the more. Even with Dr. Strangelove I oppose the message, but at least it is well done.

Anne McCaffrey

Anne McCaffrey is one of my Deadpool picks this year. Three of my picks this year are Sci Fi writers: her, Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke. All three are Damon Knight Grand Master Award winners, which commemorates the greats in Sci Fi.

I grew up reading Anne, eagerly anticipating the next installment in her Dragonriders series. Anne was one of the first Sci Fi authors I remember to work in shared universes with other authors (always with other female authors). She is a pretty ardent feminist, (although this is rarely mentioned in discussions of her life) in fact her first work was written to rectify what she saw as a lack in strong female protangonists in Sci Fi.

Suddenly, three years ago her Dragonrider books began appearing with the name of one of her sons, Todd, on the cover. That was when the sad truth emerged, that Anne is in failing health. The last three books in the series are all co-authored by Anne and Todd, but stylistic and content differences lead me to believe that Anne's inclusion is a polite fiction. At best she contributed a plot outline.

Sadly, the most recent photo of Anne I could find, from Aug 2005, seems to show her increasing infirmities. She is one of the all-time greats and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for the hundreds of hours of enjoyment and wonder she has brought me.

Sons and Daughters

This is the new show getting all the buzz. I just saw the first two episodes, and to be honest, I don't know what I think about it yet. The show is definitely different, and parts of it funny. Let's see how I feel next week.

White Boy Rap

Apparently it all started on Saturday Night Live. (which to be honest I have stopped watching...is it still funny, or has it returned to the sucky days?) They did a rap song.

Like all things rap, there soon developed an East Coast/West Coast rivalry.

Feeling left out, some Indiana boys decided to enter the fray.

Word.



(h/t: The Corner)

Final Frontier Pt 2

I have written previously when NASA announced the approaching end of the shuttle program of my belief that the AF had a secret spaceplane program. Now comes word that the AF is shelving it's spaceplane from Aviation Weekly, a well-respected aviation magazine.

I repeat my earlier assertion, that we have an operational spaceplane. The only way the US government would discard this asset, is if there was a better one available.

This information, combined with the recent success of Spaceship One lend hope that the exploitation and exploration of space is finally just around the corner.

(h/t: Captain's Quarters)

2006 Academy Awards

I could not care less.
I did make a prediction back in January though. I haven't seen any of the movies though, and now everyone is saying it's between Crash and Brokeback Mountain.

Battlestar Galactica Pt 12

Last night's episode was completely underwhelming. I can only hope that it was the boring "set up" episode and next week's 90 minute finale is the payoff.

Here are my hopes:

1) The Caprica rescue team meet up with the reincarnated Caprica Six and Galatica Boomer. Imagine the Galactica Boomer (who is now on Caprica) meeting up with the Caprica Boomer (who is now on Galactica...but actually is also on Caprica at this moment....maybe I'll have to start calling them the Tyrol's Boomer and Helo's Boomer)

2) Another human model Cylon is exposed. Preferably a re-occuring character from the series. ( My personal wish would be either Gaius or Tyrol.)

3) A messy death for another of the Biers model Human Cylons.

Conflicting Civilizations Pt 3

This was sent to me by a member of my family.



[Editor's Note: Below are selected excerpts from Brigitte Gabriel's speech delivered at the Intelligence Summit in Washington DC, Saturday February 18, 2006].
We gather here today to share information and knowledge. Intelligence is not merely cold hard data about numerical strength or armament or disposition of military forces. The most important element of intelligence has to be understanding the mindset and intention of the enemy. The West has been wallowing in a state of ignorance and denial for thirty years as Muslim extremist perpetrated evil against innocent victims in the name of Allah.
I was ten years old when my home exploded around me, burying me under the rubble and leaving me to drink my blood to survive, as the perpetrators shouted “Allah Akbar!” My only crime was that I was a Christian living in a Christian town. At 10 years old, I learned the meaning of the word "infidel."
I had a crash course in survival. Not in the Girl Scouts, but in a bomb shelter where I lived for seven years in pitch darkness, freezing cold, drinking stale water and eating grass to live. At the age of 13 I dressed in my burial clothes going to bed at night, waiting to be slaughtered. By the age of 20, I had buried most of my friends--killed by Muslims. We were not Americans living in New York, or Britons in London. We were Arab Christians living in Lebanon.
As a victim of Islamic terror, I was amazed when I saw Americans waking up on September 12, 2001, and asking themselves "Why do they hate us?" The psychoanalyst experts were coming up with all sort of excuses as to what did we do to offend the Muslim World. But if America and the West were paying attention to the Middle East they would not have had to ask the question. Simply put, they hate us because we are defined in their eyes by one simple word: "infidels."
Under the banner of Islam "la, ilaha illa allah, muhammad rasoulu allah," (None is god except Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) they murdered Jewish children in Israel, massacred Christians in Lebanon, killed Copts in Egypt, Assyrians in Syria, Hindus in India, and expelled almost 900,000 Jews from Muslim lands. We Middle Eastern infidels paid the price then. Now infidels worldwide are paying the price for indifference and shortsightedness.
Tolerating evil is a crime. Appeasing murderers doesn't buy protection. It earns one disrespect and loathing in the enemy's eyes. Yet apathy is the weapon by which the West is committing suicide. Political correctness forms the shackles around our ankles, by which Islamists are leading us to our demise.
America and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and identify the real enemy: Islam. You hear about Wahabbi and Salafi Islam as the only extreme form of Islam. All the other Muslims, supposedly, are wonderful moderates. Closer to the truth are the pictures of the irrational eruption of violence in reaction to the cartoons of Mohammed printed by a Danish newspaper. From burning embassies, to calls to butcher those who mock Islam, to warnings that the West be prepared for another holocaust, those pictures have given us a glimpse into the real face of the enemy. News pictures and video of these events represent a canvas of hate decorated by different nationalities who share one common ideology of hate, bigotry and intolerance derived from one source: authentic Islam. An Islam that is awakening from centuries of slumber to re-ignite its wrath against the infidel and dominate the world. An Islam which has declared "Intifada" on the West.
America and the West can no longer afford to lay in their lazy state of overweight ignorance. The consequences of this mental disease are starting to attack the body, and if they don't take the necessary steps now to control it, death will be knocking soon. If you want to understand the nature of the enemy we face, visualize a tapestry of snakes. They slither and they hiss, and they would eat each other alive, but they will unite in a hideous mass to achieve their common goal of imposing Islam on the world.
This is the ugly face of the enemy we are fighting. We are fighting a powerful ideology that is capable of altering basic human instincts. An ideology that can turn a mother into a launching pad of death. A perfect example is a recently elected Hamas official in the Palestinian Territories who raves in heavenly joy about sending her three sons to death and offering the ones who are still alive for the cause. It is an ideology that is capable of offering highly educated individuals such as doctors and lawyers far more joy in attaining death than any respect and stature, life in society is ever capable of giving them.
The United States has been a prime target for radical Islamic hatred and terror. Every Friday, mosques in the Middle East ring with shrill prayers and monotonous chants calling death, destruction and damnation down on America and its people. The radical Islamists’ deeds have been as vile as their words. Since the Iran hostage crisis, more than three thousand Americans have died in a terror campaign almost unprecedented in its calculated cruelty along with thousands of other citizens worldwide. Even the Nazis did not turn their own children into human bombs, and then rejoice at their deaths as well the deaths of their victims. This intentional, indiscriminate and wholesale murder of innocent American citizens is justified and glorified in the name of Islam.
America cannot effectively defend itself in this war unless and until the American people understand the nature of the enemy that we face. Even after 9/11 there are those who say that we must “engage” our terrorist enemies, that we must “address their grievances”. Their grievance is our freedom of religion. Their grievance is our freedom of speech. Their grievance is our democratic process where the rule of law comes from the voices of many not that of just one prophet. It is the respect we instill in our children towards all religions. It is the equality we grant each other as human beings sharing a planet and striving to make the world a better place for all humanity. Their grievance is the kindness and respect a man shows a woman, the justice we practice as equals under the law, and the mercy we grant our enemy. Their grievance cannot be answered by an apology for who or what we are.
Our mediocre attitude of not confronting Islamic forces of bigotry and hatred wherever they raised their ugly head in the last 30 years, has empowered and strengthened our enemy to launch a full scale attack on the very freedoms we cherish in their effort to impose their values and way of life on our civilization.
If we don't wake up and challenge our Muslim community to take action against the terrorists within it, if we don't believe in ourselves as Americans and in the standards we should hold every patriotic American to, we are going to pay a price for our delusion. For the sake of our children and our country, we must wake up and take action. In the face of a torrent of hateful invective and terrorist murder, America’s learning curve since the Iran hostage crisis is so shallow that it is almost flat. The longer we lay supine, the more difficult it will be to stand erect.


Brigitte Gabriel is an expert on the Middle East conflict and lectures nationally and internationally on the subject. She's the former news anchor of World News for Middle East television and the founder of AmericanCongressforTruth.com.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth Taylor !

Today is Elizabeth Taylor's birthday. She is 74 years old today. Since she is one of my Deadpool picks, I hope she doesn't get much older. She was undeniably beautiful in her day, and a huge sex symbol. She dominated Hollywood for years like no one does today. But her time has come and gone. Now she is known primarily as an AIDS activist and a one-time companion to that creep Michael Jackson. (although seemingly she has been wise enough to dump him - I don't remember seeing her or hearing from her during his recent trial unlike in 2003) For you fans, here is a link to a Elizabeth Taylor trivia quiz.

Happy Birthday Liz!

Rumblelanche!!!!!

Welcome everyone from Gut Rumbles. Pull up a chair and look around. Stay a while. Don't cost nuthin'. (but don't feed the animals)

Questions for the Pro-Choicers

OK, based on the debate I've been having, we know that over 97% of abortions in the US are for reasons other than the mother's health, and 87% of them are for reasons other than the mother's health, rape or incest, or the fetus's health. (and just how does an abortion solve a fetal health problem better than birth would?) We also know that the latest mantra of the Pro-Choice movement lately (since they have seen their support slipping in both public opinion and the courts) is abortion should be safe, legal and rare. We now know that there are about 1 million abortions a year (not including over the counter "morning after" pills). Low estimates put the number at 800,000 and high estimates put it at around 1,400,000. Most sources put live birth rates at around 4 million. So if you take the best case scenario, 1 out of 6 pregnacies result in abortion, use the worst case and it is about 1 in 3. (The CDC says that there were 246 abortions per 1,000 live births in 2001, which puts the number at 1 in 5)


So to you Pro-Choicers: Is this rare enough for you? If not, what are you doing to make it rarer? How rare should they be? Are you OK with over 700,000 abortions a year for reasons of convenience? (87% of 800,000, the low estimate)

We know that while you are willing to support laws that say you need parental permission for a teeneager to get aspirin form their schools (but prophalayctics are handed out like candy no questions asked), or a tattoo or their belly pierced but for some reason you think it is perfectly acceptable for them to get an abortion without even parental notification. Why? Don't say incest, all parental notification laws have work arounds in cases of abusive parents. We don't give children the right to choose to drive, use legal drugs (alcohol and tobacco) or vote, but we do give them the right to kill their baby.

Abortion

I am currently involved in an online discourse on abortion with a fellow blogger named GS. In one of my posts I characterized abortion as routine. He challenged my assertion, and wrote a post on his blog laying out his argument.

My first response was to challenge his statistics, using the example of partial-birth abortion. It is now established fact that abortion providers, and the pro-choice movement have lied about the number of partial-birth abortions performed each year. One of the doctors who was responsible has in fact admitted on television that he lied.

I decided however to accept his numbers for the sake of argument, and respond to his assertions. I have posted the following on the comments section of GS's blog, but I felt the points were valuable enough to reprint here.

Now on to some substance if we accept your numbers for the sake of argument.
1) You cite the number of abortions as approximately 1.37 million a year, (not quite the millions I postulated, but close) and the number of live births as somewhere between 3.8 and 4 millions a year. So even if we use your numbers, nearly a third of US pregnancies result in the purposeful killing of the baby. I think it is fair to say that something that happens between 1/4 and 1/3 of the time can be said to be routine.

2) If 47% of abortions are done on women who have already had an abortion, that is almost 1/2 of them. Again, something that happens 1/2 the time is fairly routine.

3)I said abortion was used as a form of birth control, not the primary form, so this is a bit of a strawman argument. Still almost half the women did not use any form of contraception during the month they became pregnant, a number I certainly find troubling.

4) "3.3% of women have an abortion due to a risk to fetal health" Please. My baby's health is at risk, so let's kill it. Surely that doesn't make any sense to you?

5) "3.3% of women have an abortion due to a risk to fetal health. 2.8% of women have an abortion due to a risk to maternal health. (Add on to that 6.1% the number of abortions performed due to rape/incest." These numbers come up to 12.2%. So using your numbers 87.8% of abortions are done for convenience, not medical necessity or rape. That sounds pretty routine to me.

Add to this the fact that most abortions are done on an outpatient basis, I stand by my characterization of abortion as routine.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines routine as "1 : of a commonplace or repetitious character"

Update 1/26/06: GS has responded to this post on his blog. He still insists on quibbling about my use of the word routine. But he, like others of his ideology, is missing the forest for the trees. Let's look at his numbers again.

1) 1 out of three pregnancies today results in an abortion. How can anyone read that number and not be absolutely appalled? Even if you don't believe in the humanity of the fetus, surely the number shows an incredible lack of responsibility and a rend in the social fabric? And for those of us who do recognize the humanity of the fetus, this is a holocaust beyond belief. The pro choice crowd likes to crow that they want abortion to be rare...just how rare is it, and what are they doing to make it rarer?

2) The pro choice crowd uses a strawman argument that abortion is needed to protect the health of women. Yet these numbers show that only 2.8% of abortions are done for maternal health reasons. In other words, over 97% of abortions are not done to protect the health of the woman. When you weigh that number against the small but definite chance of dying from having an abortion, the risk of infertility, the possible increased risk (unproven as yet, but ancedotal evidence) of cervical and breast cancer, and the observed dangerous changes in behavior (such as begining to smoke), it is entirely possible that abortion produces as many health risks for women as it prevents.

Visas? We Doan Need No Stinkin' Visas! pt 9

They're talking about illegal immigration on Fox today, and they brought up the strawman of how the illegal immigrants help our economy.

That is complete bullshit.

Any possible benefit the US economy receives from illegal immigration is geometrically outweighed by the drain they represent on our economy.

The only benefit they provide is a source of cheap labor. But this effect is not as large as it used to be. There is quite a large demand for this labor, and that demand is driving the pay of illegal immigrants up. In fact in the central valley of California this year, crops are rotting in the fields because they can't hire enough migrants to pick them.

The costs of this illegal immigration are myriad. First, the public services these illegal immigrants consume are a drain on our economy and taxpayers. The liberal judges have ruled that we have to give these criminals (they by definition have broken our laws) free medical care, education and in many cases welfare. Most of them work on the underground economy, so you can not even argue that they pay their fair share of taxes. They don't pay payroll taxes at all. Secondly, much of the money they earn is not plowed back into our economy to create new jobs and wealth, but instead is sent to Mexico, where it props up the corrupt regime. Money wire transfers from the US is now Mexico's second biggest source of income, behind only oil exports. We are talking billions of dollars. Thirdly the presence of so many unskilled workers drives down the wages for American citizens.

So let's lay that strawman to rest, illegal immigration DOES NOT benefit the US economy.

Dr. Who

Dr. Who is an extremely long running, at times superb Sci Fi series from the UK. There have been multiple actors in the role (at least half a dozen), they work around this by having the character morph into a new person when it regenerates. The version I am most familar with, and watched weekly growing up, was portrayed by Tom Baker. There is a new incarnation of the series coming to the Sci Fi channel in March. I'll give it a chance and see how it goes.

Battlestar Galactica Pt 11

Well that's interesting. The reincarnated Caprica Six has Gaius living inside her skull like she is living inside the real(?) Gaius's skull. When he first appeared in the reincarnation chamber I was SURE he was a Cylon, twenty minutes into tonight's episode, and I'm not sure.

Well the baby's name is Hera, after one of the human gods. Wife of Zeus, mother of the Olympian gods. Hmm.......

I really don't like the Biers model. (plus I can't get my head around the fact that it is Lucy Lawless.) Watching Six bash her in the head was almost fun.

This was a pretty cool episode. Lots of interesting possibilities. I was a little disappointed that no new human Cylon models were revealed.

Execution

Here in California, a judge has denied the people justice yet again. A piece of scum named Morales (the first Hispanic slated for execution in California since the death penalty was reinstated) was supposed to be executed for raping and murdering a a teenage girl in 1981. He had a fair trial and was sentenced to death by a jury of his peers.

The first outrage was a decision by a judge that lethal injection was potentially cruel and unusual, because if the convict happened to wake up from the sleeping drug, he might feel pain from the other two (one of which paralyzes him). Excuse me? Since when did pain become cruel and unusual? I put up with pain every time I go to the dentist. I want execution to be painful. There should be an element of punishment involved. Hell, if it was up to me, the convict would be executed by being killed in precisely the same manner that he murdered his victim.

The second outrage was the original judge in the case refusing to sign a new death warrant. so this murdering bastard has cheated justice for longer than his victim lived her life, and will continue to do so for an indeterminate length of time.

When told of his reprieve, the bastard smiled.

My Ass (links are slightly not safe for work)

Everyone else has been posting pictures of their ass on their blog (here and here), so I decided what the hell I might as well join in.

(H/T: Gut Rumbles)

The Producers

I just got through watching the original version of the movie The Producers. Genius, pure genius. Gene Wilder gives one of his best performances and launches his comedic career. Zero Mostel is masterful as you would expect. There are some surprises too, the best being Christopher Hewitt (best known in the US as Mr. Belvedere) as the director.

Now, I love Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick and Wil Ferrell. (and Uma Thurman for that matter, although Lee Meredith was better in the original) But there is no way the new version can be as good as the original. In fact, from the clips I have seen, it's not.

I really hope Mel doesn't decide to re-make Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein next.

We've got to protect our phony baloney jobs, gentlemen.

Man, this would be too good to be true! Dick Morris is saying that Sen. Robert "I'm staying here until you drag my cold, lifeless body from this chamber" Byrd might actually lose his election this year. This after being elected to the Senate eight times already. You have to take it with a grain of salt, because it is Dick Morris, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes.


Personally, I think the people of West Virginia have decided to get rid of Sen. Byrd before every building and road in the State is named after him.

Since he's one of my deadpool picks, I'm hoping he drops dead this year anyway.

Thought Crimes

There is a man in Austria who has been held in prison for four months, and faces the prospect of ten years in jail. What awful crime did this man commit? After all, this is a country in which a sentence of life in prison sometimes means only fifteen years.

David Irving is in jail, and facing trial, for making statements that question the truth of aspects of the NAZI holocaust during WW II. Yes, you read right, this man is in jail for his thoughts and opinons. I personally think he is a kook, and completely wrong. I have been to Dachau and seen the ovens. But that doesn't mean he has no right to his opinions. You deal with speech like his in two ways. You either ignore it as the ramblings of a madman, or you counter it with more speech. Throwing him in jail for it is an atrocity. This is the same country that had the audacity to attack the State of California and our governor for executing a brutal morderer who had 20 years to appeal his sentence. (of course in Austria, he probably wouldn't have even been in jail after twenty years)

Word has just arrived that he has been sentenced to three years in jail. Shame Austria, shame.

(h/t: The Snow Job)

Why Deify Earnhardt?

This weekend is the fifth anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's death. Once again people are making a big deal about it. OK, I can handle that. But what I don't understand is how he suddenly became the "greatest NASCAR driver ever".

What I remember of Earnhardt is the reckless and dangerous manner in which he drove. I remember the fights he got into for knocking other drivers out of a race. I remember the disrepect he had for other drivers. He was the "bad boy" of NASCAR. Even his fans called him "The Intimidator".

As far the "Greatest driver in NASCAR", there is only one man who deserves that title, and it is hands down, Richard Petty, The King. There is simply no argument possible if you know anything about NASCAR. He was the first driver to win seven NASCAR championships. (to be fair, Earnhardt is the only other driver to do the same thing) Petty won 200 races. (by comparison Earnhardt only won 76 races)

Everyone makes a big deal about the fact that Earnhardt's son is a NASCAR driver. Richard Petty is part of four generations of NASCAR drivers:
His father Lee, who also won a NASCAR championship,
His son Kyle,
and his grandson Adam, who unfortunately was killed in a NASCAR accident.

Day By Day Extended

Day By Day has been doing extended strips on Sunday for the past month or so. The first two panels are reprinted on the bottom of my blog like the daily strips. You have to follow the link in my blog roll to see the whole Sunday strip. Today's extended strip shows Jan playing air guitar in a bikini.

That brings back the memory of me playing air guitar at my friend's wedding a couple of years ago. It was late at night, and I was one of the last guests there thankfully. An AC/DC song came on, (not one of my favorites, but I was just too drunk to care) and I hit the dance floor and started to play air guitar like a drunk teenager. The only thing that saved the moment, is that the bride joined me out there!

Politically Incorrect Joke

A Zebra died and went to heaven. When he got there he wandered around. One day he ran into God."God" he asked, "can I ask you a question?"

"Sure" God replied.

"I've wondered all my life, am I a black horse with white stripes, or a white horse with black stripes?"

"You are what you are" God replied, and walked away.

The Zebra kept wandering around, and soon ran into St. Peter."St. Peter " he said, "can I ask you a question?"

"Sure" St Peter replied.

"I've wondered all my life, am I a black horse with white stripes, or a white horse with black stripes?"

"Why I don't know" St. Peter replied, "you'll have to ask God."

"I did" the Zebra replied.

"Well What did he say?" asked St. Peter.

"He told me you are what you are" said the zebra.

"Well there you go" said St. Peter. "you must be a white horse with black stripes."

"How did you figure that out?" asked the Zebra.

"Well, if you had been a black horse with white stripes, God would have told you "you is what you is."

Christmas in February!

My Amazon. com order showed up today!!! Let's see -

Five Movies:
The Producers (orginal version)
Young Frankenstein
Blazing Saddles
The History of the World Pt. 1 (Can you tell I'm a fan of Mel Brooks?)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Three CDs:
AC/DC Live
AC/DC Back in Black
Rose Royce The Best of Rose Royce

Four books:
1901 by Robert Conroy (alt history)
Designated Targets by John Birmingham (alt history)
Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman (alt comics history)
The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas Woods

Battlestar Galactica Pt 10

Well that was an interesting episode. Now we have an Adama in command of both Battlestars. However the most interesting part to me was the sneak peak at next week's episode. I wonder if we'll meet any new models of humanoid Cylon?

Cheney's Hunting Accident pt 2

OK, As I understand it the whole problem with the accident is that Cheney waited 18 hours to report the accident, right?

Well let us just imagine that Cheney had held a press conference that same day on the hospital lawn immediately after Mr. Whittington had been admitted. The story we would all be hearing about now is:

"How come it always has to be about Cheney? His friend is lying there hurt in hospital and he's holding a press conference. How arrogant. "

or

"They just released the story now to try and suck up all the news space and distract from the Katrina hearings and Iran starting to enrich uranium."

Happy Fracking Valentine's Day

Cheney's Hunting Accident

What is the big deal? I bet the same thing happened a dozen times this weekend. If it had not have been the Vice-President involved, no one would have ever heard about it. Talk about a tempest in a teapot, or making a mountain out of a mole hill.


Even worse than the hysterical coverage of the accident itself is the outraged demands of the media to know why they weren't informed at once. What would they have done, broken into normal TV with the report? A special edition of the newspapers? What did the White House supposedly have to gain by the delay? Since when does the media have the right to be instantly informed about ANYTHING, let alone an aspect of the Vice-President's private life? If I had been Scott McClellan I would have told the media to get a life!

Update: Many on the Left are calling on Vice-President Cheney to resign. You know what? So am I. That way President Bush can appoint Secretary of State Rice to replace him.

Grey's Anatomy

Wow. What have I missed? These last two episodes with the bomb are the first ones I've seen in over a year. If the rest of them were this good I missed some great shows. I nearly jumped out of my skin when that bomb went off! Those two characters won't be re-occuring. I hope the young paramedic does though...she was easy on the eyes.

The Weather

Have you seen the storm hitting the East Coast today? They're expecting two feet in some places! Man what a bummer. Of course, it's only going to hit 83 out here, still I don't think I'll need a sweater.

Policing our Own

There is currently a tempest brewing over some of Ann Coulter's latest remarks. Ann is a powerful speaker and writer. She has done valuable work in exposing the lies and hypocrisies of the Left. However Ann is controversial because she tends to use language and hyperbole we are more accustomed to seeing and hearing from the Left. Naturally, the MSM highlights this, and seizes every opportunity to use her actions to brand the Right, while ignoring equally and even worse statements from the Left.

Because of this, many of the Right feel the need to rebuke and repudiate Ann. Fine, that is their right. But I hope none of them are counting on earning any Brownie points or the moral high ground. Because such hopes ignore the essential nature of the Left. The Left will never acknowledge such repudiations or concede the moral high ground. They will merely use attacks on Ann from the Right as ammo against both Ann and the Right. They will never respond in kind by rebuking or repudiating hate speech or hyperbole from the Left, because as far as the Left is concerned there is nothing too extreme when attacking the Right.

So go on and rebuke Ann. The Left is watching and laughing.

Oakland Raiders

I just heard that Art Shell is coming back as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. What the hell? Didn't he get enough abuse from Al Davis the last time? Good luck Art, and keep the Maalox handy.

Battlestar Galactica Pt 9

Well I guess Dana Delaney won't be making another appearance on Battlestar Galactica. (unless she was a Cylon - which I doubt.) I was shocked to see the character of Billy killed off also. (Maybe he was a Cylon? - nah.....)

Winter Olympics

I was surfing through the channels while waiting for Battlestar Galactica to come on, and happened to catch a little bit of the Opening Ceremonies, the bit where they re-created the ski jumper using people in parkas. It was actually kinda cool.

Voter Apathy

I live in a city that had 185,000 residents in the year 2000. I'd bet we are a lot closer to 200,000 now. We elected our mayor last night. We only have 68,000 registered voters, and slightly over 14,000 bothered to vote yesterday. The man who won only received 9,000 votes! That is unbelievable!

SuperBowl XL (Liveblog)

3:05 - Where was Terry Bradshaw for the MVP salute? I don't remember seeing him? Is there a conflict between Fox and ABC that wouldn't let him appear?

3:12 - National anthem was uneven to say the least. Neither Aretha Franklin nor Aaron Neville were up to it. Disappointing and embarassing frankly.

3:15 - First commercial break. Nothing special.

3:22 - Coin toss. Seattle picks tales. Brady tosses tales, Seattle takes the ball.

3:24 - You've come a long way baby!, both sideline reporters are women.

3:26 - Second commercial break. Nothing special

3:27 - Opening kick off!

3:28-3:32 - Seattle's first drive. Ends with a sack on 3rd and 9.

3:32 - Third commercial break, nothing special.

3:34 - Pittsburgh's first drive. Horrible start, false start penalty. 3rd and 14, another false start.
3 and out.

3:38 - Fourth commecial break. Moderately funny Bud Light commercial. (Magic Fridge)

3:46 - Fifth commercial break. Funny Fed Ex commercial. Moderately funny Bud Light commercial (Bear attack)

3:47 - Pittsburgh 3 and out on their second drive.

3:51 - Sixth commercial break. Interesting movie clip. V for Vendetta. (I believe it's based on a comic book)

3:54 - Jackson gets his record-tying fifth reception of the first quarter.

3:55 - Jackson has his sixth catch (for a td) wiped out by his pass interference.

3:58 - 47 yd field goal, Seattle scores first, 3 - 0 with :22 left in the first quarter.

3:59 - Seventh commercial break. Funny Aleve commercial (Spock) Moderately funny Bud Light commercial (Fixing the Roof)

4:04 - End of the first quarter Seattle 3, Pittsburgh 0. The Steelers are about to go 3 and out for the third time. (4th and 10) Pittsburgh becomes only the fourth team not to get a first down in the first quarter.

4:04 - Eighth commercial break. Nothing special

4:07 - Begin of second quarter. Good punt return by Seattle, called back by holding.

4:11 - Blown call. That was a catch and fumble by Stevens.

4:12 - Ninth Commercial break. Funny Budweiser commercial (Streaker)

4:15 - Bettis' first carry. Gained 2.

4:16 - Pittsburgh gets their first first down on a 3rd and 8.

4:17 - End around for 17 yards by Pittsburgh. Back to back firsts.

4:18 - Tenth commercial break. Nothing special

4:20 - First turnover, Seattle interception

4:20 - Eleventh commercial break. Dove self-esteem fund? WTF?????

4:25 - Twelth commercial break. Second Ford commercial about their hybrid.

4:29 - First Al Michaels Lake Placid reference. C'mon Al, that was 26 years ago!

4:34 - Big play by Pittsburgh. Nice scramble and toss. First and goal.

4:35 - Thirteenth commercial break. Nothing special.

4:37 - Two minute warning. Fourteenth commercial break. Another Posiedon Adventure remake? Didn't they just have a Posiedon TV movie a couple of months ago? 5 blade razors? Why?

4:40 - Pittsburgh scores on a QB keeper by Roethlisberger at 1:55 of the second. Should be reviewed. It is.

4:41 - Fifteenth commercial break. Nothing special

4:43 - Play stands, TD. I think it's the wrong call, but it was close.

4:44 - Pittsburgh leads 7-3.

4:44 - Sixteenth commercial break. Nothing special.

4:53 - Seattle misses a 53 yd field goal with :02 in the first half.

4:54 - HalfTime Pittsburgh 7 Seattle 3. I'm not going to blog halftime, I have chores and I'm sure plenty of people will blog it.

5:30 - Second half kick off.

5:32 - Willie Parker breaks a 75 yd run for a TD. Nice play. Longest rush in the SuperBowl.

5:33 - 14:38 in the 3rd Pittsburgh 14, Seattle 3

5:33 - Seventeenth commercial break. Nothing special.

5:41 - 50 Yd field goal attempt by Seattle, missed.

5:41 - Eighteenth commercial break. Cute Budweiser commercial.

5:47 - Nice ten yd run by The Bus to the 10.

5:49 - Nineteenth commercial break. Nothing special

5:51 - Seattle interception inside their 10. Run back to the Pittsburgh 20. Herndon ran out of gas or he would have scored. Longest interception return in Superbowl history. Quite a few records being broken tonight.

5:54 - TD reception by Jeremy Stevens. He finally held onto a ball.

5:55 - Pittsburgh 14, Seattle 10 at 6:45 of the third

5:55 - Twentieth commercial break. Nothing special

6:01 - Twenty-first commercial break. That stupid five blade razor again.

6:14 - End of the 3rd quarter. Pittsburgh 14 Seattle 10.

6:14 - Twenty-second commercial break. Mildly amusing Sprint homage to Benny Hill (ringtones). Mildly amusing Jack in the Box commercial. (Sourdough Ultimate)

6:22 - Intercepted by Taylor for Pittsburgh at his 5 yd line, run back to the 29, ending a nice drive by Seattle.

6:23 - Twenty-Third commercial break. Lame Emerald Nuts commercial.

6:25 - A bad call from the refs gives Pittsburgh 15 more yards to the 44.

6:27 - A reverse pass by Randle-El, TD catch by Hines Ward. First TD throw by a wide receiver in the Superbowl.

6:28 - Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10 at 8:56 of the fourth quarter. (phone call by my brother Thom) Big swing in the last minute of game time.

6:29 - Twenty-fourth commercial break. Nothing special.

6:33 - Fumble by Hasslebeck at 8:26 of the fourth, ruled not down by contact. Under review. Recovered by Polamau for Pittsburgh. (Another phone call by my brother.)

6:34 - Twenty-fifth commercial break. Nothing special.

6:36 - Call reversed, Seattle gets the ball back.

6:34 - Twenty-sixth commercial break. Nothing special.

6:3? - Twenty-seventh commercial break. Nothing special.

6:53 - 2 Minute warning in the fourth. Seattle will get the ball back, but has no time outs and is down by 11.

6:53 - Twenty-eighth commercial break. Nothing special.

6:58 - One minute left. It's not looking good for Seattle.

7:01 - Seattle turns it over on downs, with :03 left. Seattle was pretty ugly at the end of each half. There is no clear MVP for Pittsburgh. I wonder who they pick?

7:03 - Pittsburgh wins their fifth, 21-10. I'm happy for Bettis, but I really don't like Cowher.

7:14 - The MVP is Hines Ward. He's as worthy as anyone else. I probably would have gone with Willie Parker.

Super Bowl XL

Well I predicted before the playoffs that it would be Denver VS Seattle (pretty damn close with Denver losing in the AFC Championship game) and I predicted Seattle would win. With the actual game being Pittsburgh VS Seattle I am not so sure, but I will stick with Seattle.

Conflicting Civilizations Pt 2

To further expand some thoughts:

1) We can never truly trust Islam. Their religious texts explicitly say that they do not have to act in good faith with non-believers. Any lie or deception is not only admirable, but expected.

2) Their culture was founded on spreading their religion by the word and the sword. Mohammed imposed Islam on Mecca and the Arabian Peninsula at the head of an army. This tradition continued under the Caliphs after him.

3) There is no reward for moderation in the Islamic culture. The way to power and wealth is extremism. Moderates are ignored or eliminated.

4) There is huge historical resentment in the Islamic culture. They remember that they were once the zenith of civilization. They cannot accept that their present backwardness is due to their theocracies. They do not yearn to achieve our standard of living, they would be perfectly willing to reduce ours instead. (the bucket of crabs phenomena)

5) Their religious leaders are not stupid. They know the dangers of Western liberalism poses to their position, power and influence.

6) Secularism is practically non-existent in the Islamic culture. The one Islamic country that pays lip service to secularism, Turkey, is still dominated by religious considerations.

7) We have seen in the UK, France and to a lesser extent the US, that even second and third generation immigrants will reject their host culture and embrace militant Islam.

Update:
8) Reason is not nearly as important in the Islamic civilization as our own. Our reliance on reason is an outgrowth of classical liberal thought. In the Islamic culture religious belief, raw emotion, honor and revenge are all more important than reason. Reasonable people do not become suicide bombers.

9) The Islamic culture is an Eastern one. They do not value individual life as we do. This is again due to the lack of classical liberal thought. They are still tied to the ideas of family, clan and tribe and are perfectly willing to subsume the interests of the individual to the larger whole. They see our concern for individual lives as a weakness to be exploited. This will make any eventual conflict between our civilizations even bloodier.

Update (2/7/06) :

10) Moderation and accommodation (both of which are necessary in order to co-exist with a competing ideology) require that you respect your opponents, and grant their motives and beliefs legitimacy. Islam does not and cannot do this. It runs directly counter to its doctrine and dogma. To the question of "Can't we all just get along?" the Islamic civilization replies, "Only if you convert."

Update (2/12/06):

Check out this link to an article that says much of what I have been saying from last August.

Protein Wisdom

I've had my spat with Jeff in the past, but I think he has just done me a big favor. I noticed the name of another poster on his blog was similar to a friend from high school. I've missed her a lot, she was smart, funny and a great lab partner. When I went to her linked blog, I became sure of it, when she talked about being the #2 debate team in Dodds- Atlantic. (Because I was on the #1 team that year...I made a ridiculous argument in the final match that I am almost...almost..ashamed of today.)

Jamie if you are reading this, please write me using the e-mail from my profile..I'd love to get in contact with you again, even if only as fellow bloggers.

Conflicting Civilizations

First let me state that I have been a supporter of the Palestinian people for over 20 years. I believe they were treated horribly by the UK, the UN, Israel and the US in the 1940's, and that that has led to the decades of violence since. I believe they deserve a homeland every bit as much as the Jews do.

That being said, I have now come to believe we are in a war between competing civilizations, the modern Western Liberal (in the classical sense) civilization, and the medieval, Eastern Islamic civilization. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly clear that there can be no accommodation between the two civilizations, for the same reason that there could never be an accommodation between the US and the USSR. (despite the left's 40 years of attempts) This is because the Islamic civilization (like the USSR) is only interested in world domination, not accommodation and co-existence. In fact, its basic ideology and the foundation of its existence (in both cases) demands world domination.

We were able to defeat the USSR through economic measures after forty years of conflict. In the current conflict we are actually subsidizing the Islamic civilization because of their control of oil. We have tried to change the hearts and minds of the Islamic populace with charity and Western culture. They merely accept our largesse on one hand and condemn us with the other. They see our compassion and mercy as weakness. It is becoming increasingly clear that our best, if not only option is going to be the destruction of the Islamic Civilization.

Let us be clear about what this is going to require. This will be ugly, very ugly. It will require killing hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions of people. It will require mass deportations from the Western world. It will require the occupation of huge parts of the world by the West, with an accompanying brutal and repressive occupation while we impose our civilization. It will require the virtual (if not actual) eradication of the Islamic Religion. It will challenge our very notions of our own civilization, by forcing us to behave in ways we now find repugnant. It could very well destroy our civilization in its current form also.

But it is becoming increasingly clear that it is coming down to a matter of us or them. And I vote for us. Even if examined unselfishly, and critically it is inarguable that our civilization is superior and preferable by every standard of comparison.

It is sad actually. At one time the Islamic civilization was the height of civilization. They preserved knowledge they would have been lost forever during the West's Dark Ages. They made advancements in medicine, science, mathematics and poetry. There are many admirable attributes to their religion. However, their one fatal flaw, their intolerance for other ways of life and call for jihad, overwhelms the rest.

I truly fear that the time for crusades has returned, and heaven help us all.

Justice Alito

I was pleased that Justice Alito was confirmed today, and that he was able to be present in his robes at the State of the Union address. It was kind of cool to see him standing there with Justice Thomas and Chief Justice Roberts.

As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap......

I hope everyone on the left remembers this confirmation fight. Because I guarantee that those of us on the right will.

We provided a recent example to the Democratic Party on how confirmations were supposed to take place. During President Clinton's (a man the right despised at least as much as the left despises Pres. Bush) term of office he appointed two Justices, and both confirmations were handled respectfully by the Republicans. (Even though it would have been easy to filibuster both of them.) Remember this is after the disgraceful actions of the Democratic Party in regards to Judge Bork and Justice Thomas. We had every reason to extract a measure of revenge, but instead did the mature thing.

Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg was a lawyer for the ACLU, and clearly a far-left Liberal. However she was confirmed with a 97-3 vote.

Justice Breyer was confirmed with a 87-9 vote.

Even though the Republican Party opposes the liberal and activist philosophies of these two Justices, Republicans recognized that President Clinton had won the election (and it must be noted won with less than 50% of the vote) and had the right to appoint the Justices he wanted. It would have been extremely easy to justify a filibuster on Justice Bader-Ginsberg by using her work for the ACLU, or even on the grounds that President Clinton had not won a majority, and thus should appoint someone more mainstream. (Remember at the beginning of the hearings when the left was telling evetyone that President Bush should appoint someone more mainstream, even though he had won election by a majority?) However, the Republicans acted maturely and responsibly, and confirmed President Clinton's appointees.

Now we have this infantile and emotional display from the left. It will not be forgotten. One day by some miracle the left might win the presidency again. And that president might have the opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court Justice.

Tell me truly, how do you expect the Republican Party to act then? You can treat us with disrespect and contempt for only so long before we will respond in kind.

Sen. Chafee

This guy really chaps my ass. He has received millions of dollars of support from the Republican party in fighting against more conservative challengers from the right. Then he turns around and supports the filibuster, thus giving the Democrats the cover they need to start calling the filibuster bipartisan. It's time to abandon Chafee, and let him change parties like he obviously wants to do, and support Stephen Laffey. I hearby pledge that I will donate no money to any Republican organization that does not repudiate Chafee and support Laffey.

Update: Apparently sanity returned, and Chafee voted for cloture. I'm still not thrilled with the guy. All he has managed to do is annoy both the right and the left.

Time to Halt the Gravy Train pt 4

I just heard on Headline News that FEMA is going to extend the deadline for those staying in hotels yet again! Somebody needs to wake up! These freeloaders aren't going to leave until you evict them! They're living better and more comfortably than they ever have, and than they will be when they are finally cut off from the government teat. Katrina hit New Orleans and Mississippi on August 29, 2005. According to FEMA, there are currently 27,000 rooms still being paid for by we taxpayers. Those people can get a code that will allow them to stay in those rooms after Feb. 7, 2006. Some of them will be allowed to stay Until March 1, 2006. (and theoretically even longer in some cases)

How many times are we going to tell these folks that their time is up...find yourself a place to live? I would love for somebody to do a survey of the people living in those 27,000 rooms and find out how many of them were, and are, on welfare and other government handouts.

Sir Arthur C Clarke

This visionary is one of my deadpool picks this year. He is 89 years old, confined to a wheelchair, and lives in a third world country. But somebody up there apparently likes him, not even the Tsunami that hit Sri Lanka ( He has lived there for fifty years) was able to touch him. He predicted satellites nine years before they were invented and that men would walk on the moon in 1945.

He was knighted by the Queen of England (after enduring charges of pedophilia that were disproved) for his work in science and science fiction. He has several awards named after him, and continues to encourage the exploration and exploitation of space.

My heart is glad he is still with us, but my greed says it is time to go.....

Whither the Democratic Party?

The Democratic Party is currently lost in the wilderness. It can't decide if it is the party of the center-left as represented by the DLC, or the party of the far left, as represented by the loonies like Michael Moore and the Daily Kos. Everyone knows that the Democratic Party can't win national elections. They haven't won a competitive election since LBJ in 1964. The only reason Pres. Carter won in 1976 was because he was running against an unelected president who had been appointed vice-president by Pres. Nixon and savaged by the popular media as a buffoon. President Clinton only won his two elections because they were both three candidate elections in which the third candidate syphoned off votes from the Republican candidate. (Clinton had a plurality, not a majority in both of his elections)

The loony left has convinced themselves that the reason why the Democrats can't win is because they aren't loony enough! They oppose thiose who try to maintain the Democratic Party's claims to being mainstream , like the DLC and Sen. Zell Miller. They are currently savaging people who are Democratic supporters, and all but Democratic operatives, such as Katie Couric and Chris Matthews. They have managed to draw the support of Sen.s Kerry and Kennedy, and this is forcing others like Sen.Feinstein and Sen. Clinton to tag along to protect their standing in the party.

We could be seeing the implosion of the current Democratic party. Will they follow the loony left into oblivion? Will they drive the loony left from the party? How will the party react when they lose in 2008?

The party of Andrew Jackson has fallen on hard times indeed.

Space Shuttle Challenger

Today is the 20th anniversary of the destruction of the Challenger. I remember that day quite vividly. I was in college at the time, and the shuttle was still new enough that I set my alarm clock to wake up in time to watch the launch. I remeber seeing the explosion, and knowing instantly what had happened. The TV reporter though didn't. (I believe it was Kent Shockneck) He kept up his routine of mindless chatter about what the mission was going to accomplish, while I was sitting there with tears of rage and grief running down my face screaming at him on the screen. I have always felt a deep and abiding love for the space program. I believe it is our destiny (and our best chance for ultimate survival) to settle the solar system and the stars. I was grieving not only the astronauts just killed, but the damage done to the exploration of space in general. I knew there would be a protracted delay, especially because of the presence of McAuliffe. (She was a civilian, a teacher, who was chosen to fly into space for essentially PR purposes.)

The shuttle program has proven to have been a major mistake. If we had simply maintained our manned rocket program we would have accomplished as much, and as probably more, as we have with the shuttles. In my opinion the shuttle program has set back our progress in space by at least a decade.

I believe that the Air Force has secretively developed a much more effective space plane program. Given both the facts that Rutan has developed an experimental space plane that works (and is currently developing a commercial version) and the retirement of the spy plane program, I think it must be assumed that the Air Force has developed a space plane.

That being said, I firmly believe that the future of space exploration and settlement is in private commercial enterprise. NASA has lead the way, now it is time for a modern Prince Henry to step forward.

Battlestar Galactica pt 8

A so-so episode last night. Looks like Pegasus needs a new commander. Again. It might be tough finding someone to do the job. (I imagine the wardroom full of officers going.."I'm not going to do it...you be the commander.") Actually it brings up a bit of military inconsistency. Since Pegasus is the more modern and militarily capable ship, Admiral Adama should have shifted his flag to her from Galactica, and left Col. Tigh in charge. Looks like Zarek is in charge of the black market now, building himself a new power base. That will probably come back to haunt Adama and Roslin. It also looks like Roslin is getting ready to put the hammer down on Baltar. With all of Adama's talk about family, I don't see him killing the Caprica Boomer or her baby.

Recent Elections

Well this week's elections were a mixed bag.

The results in Canada were good, but not great. The Conservatives won enough votes to form a governing coalition, but not an outright majority. They should be much better neighbors than the Liberals were. Hopefully they will govern well enough that they can call a new election in a couple of years and win a majority.

The results in Palestine were pretty bad. One the one hand, it was encouraging to see the Palestine National Authority run elections honest enough to vote Fatah out of power. On the other hand, that means that Hamas was votd into power. If Hamas uses this opportunity to launch more attacks on Israel, they must be slapped down hard. Ther results also play into the hand of Netanyahu in Israel's upcoming elections in March. It could be a long, hot and bloody summerin the Holy Lands.

Commander in Chief

Gee, could you be any more obvious? Guess what burning issue tonight's episode dealt with? A woman president supported by her husband and the idea of a "two for one " presidency. Now where have I heard that before? Oh yeah....that's what we were told we would get if we elected Bill Clinton president.

Oh look at how that evil Republican Senator tries to smear that hard-working, centrist female president by bringing her husband into things..that's just wrong!

I wonder if Hillary is going to claim these shows in her campaign contributions?

Battlestar Galactica Pt 7

We are told there are only twelve models of humanoid Cylon. (there are also twelve colonial planets...is there a connection?) So far the Humanoid Cylons we have seen:

1) Six - white female (played by Tricia Helfer)
2) Sharon Valerii (Boomer) - Asian female (8) (played by Grace Park)
3) Aaron Doral - white male (5) (played by Matthew Bennett)
4) D'anna Biers - white female (3) (played by Lucy Lawless)
5) Leoben Conoy - white male (played by Callum Keith Rennie)
6) Simon - black male (played by Rick Worthy)
7) Brother Cavil - white male (played by Dean Stockwell)

Update 2/24/06: Sharon is apparently model 8. Biers apparently model 3.

Update 3/10/06: A new model of Cylon. Played by Dean Stockwell.

Battlestar Galactica - Points to Ponder

What follows are some thoughts I've had late at night, unable to sleep, or upon awakening (apparently I even dream about BSG) about the Galactica universe, specifically the religious aspects.

I) The humans believe in what we call the Greek Olympian Gods. We know that some worship Apollo, Artemis and Athena. At one point Zarek describes Commander Adama as "Zeus returning to Olympus", so they are literally the Olympian gods. We also know that the Greek astrological zodiac is important to their culture, because their twelve colonies are named after them. We don't know how closely their theology mirrors that of Greek mythology. We know there are some differences. These differences appear to incoporate aspects of Mormon theology and a concept of a wheel of time.

II) The Cylons (the humanoid ones at least - we have yet to see evidence of individual personalities in any form of mechanical Cylon) are monotheistic. Their god seems to be an analog to the God of Earth's Old Testament, in the following ways:
1) He desires to be acknowledged and worshipped.
2) He is seen to be omnipotent and omniscient.
3) There is a concept of redemption.
4) There is a plan.
5) He punishes transgressors.
6) He is seen as a father as well as a creator of man.
7) He commands them to "be fruitful"

III) The humanoid Cylons know that their "soul" exists, and believe in an afterlife, as well as a form of reincarnation.
1) Human Cylons claim to have the ability to reincarnate when their body is destroyed, retaining both their Personality and memories. (We have yet to see any evidence of the truthfulness of this in the BSG universe...No instance has yet occurred of a destroyed Cylon Personality reappearing.)
2) No evidence exists that this ability is shared by mechanical Cylons. Their has been no sign of individual Personalities in the mechanical Cylons, and they are not treated as equals to the humanoid Cylons. (on at least one occasion they are referred to as "pets".)
3) There has been no explanation of the nature of the humanoid Cylon "soul", nor its origin. (is it mechanical? Biological? Are new "souls" being created? If so how?)
4) Humanoid Cylons believe in an afterlife beyond corporal existence, where they will dwell in the presence of their god. (is there a Cylon concept of Hell?, are their corporal actions judged? )

IV) The Cylon religion sees man as flawed and evil. They see themselves as god's redemption and punishment of humanity.
1) Part of this redemption (for both Cylon and human) seems to be a synthesis of Human and Cylon. The most religious of the Cylons (Caprica Six) places an immense importance on the offspring of Helo and the Caprica Boomer, in order to fulfill god's commandment to be fruitful. (by the way, Six is the only Humanoid Cylon referred to by her model number, all the others are referred to by a form of their "names")
2) This redeemer is a currently an unborn child. Its gender is as yet unknown, yet has already "miraculously" saved a life.

V) Roslin is important to the human religion. She seems to be fulfilling an ancient prophecy. Starbuck has some importance in the Cylon religion. She is told this by the Conoy Cylon she tortures in the fleet, and the Caprica Boomer after she is rescued from the Cylon hospital. But Starbuck is also important to the human religion, she is the one who retrieves the aArrow of Athena. Baltar also seems to be important, at least to the Caprica Six.

Update 1/27/06: In Home pt 2, at the end, the Caprica Six announces that she is an Angel of God, and that her purpose is to guide Baltar to the end of the human race. So the Cylon religion does have the concept of Angels. I wonder if they believe in Angels that were created before humanity also, or if in their theology, the Human/Angel genesis is reversed?

The Pink Panther

Peter Sellers is one of my all-time favorite actors. I love his work. Everything from Dr. Strangelove (in which he played three separate characters) , to The Mouse That Roared (sadly forgotten, this is a movie that deserves a re-make), to perhaps his most famous role as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films. ( The Pink Panther, The Return of the Pink Panther , and The Pink Panther Strikes Again- it is hard to believe he only made three of them.)

The Pink Panther films are notable in that an animated character from the title credits eventually became a movie short and TV cartoon as the Pink Panther. (winning an Oscar in 1964) In the live action movie the Pink Panther is a diamond.

There was a fourth movie, with Alan Arkin playing the role of Clouseau instead of Sellers. This was much less successful.

Now comes word that there is going to be a new Pink Panther movie, this one billed as a prequel to the original movie. This one features Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau and Kevin Kline as his boss, Dreyfus. If anyone can bring back the spirit of the original films it is Martin and Kline. Here's hoping they pull it off.

National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 2006

President Bush has proclaimed today the National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 2006 . In a saner world, this would not even be controversial. One of the foundations of our republic is the inalienable right to life. Proctecting the unborn and the helpless should be a basic function of our government. The advancement of science is only going to make issues dealing with the sanctity of life more difficult the longer we put them off. The most valuable and unique resource in the universe is each individual life, even more so for those of us who do not believe in reincarnation or an afterlife.

(H/T: Michelle Malkin)

West Wing

NBC has just announced that The West Wing will end in May after seven seasons. One of the reasons they have cited is that the ratings have gone down since they moved the show's timeslot. That happens a lot. The network takes a show that is doing well, moves it to a new timeslot, and then cancels the show when the ratings drop. Why not just leave a successful show where it is?

West Wing was a guilty pleasure, I will miss it.

Authentic Frontier Gibberish

You want to know just how deranged the left is getting? Someone has created a blog just to attack Chris Matthews. Apparently Matthews made the mistake of comparing Michael Moore to Osama Bin Laden. Now as contemptible as Moore is, he is not a terrorist. Matthew's remark was a form of hyperbole.

The left however are busy savaging Matthews over his remark. Which is fracking funny for people on the right like me. Matthews has been carrying the water of the left for decades, and now they have savagely turned on him. That's gratitude for you. The left constantly accuses the right of not allowing dissent, but it is the left who savage their own for not being ideologically pure enough.

Just how much farther is there to go before the loony left hits rock bottom?

(H/T: Protein Wisdom)

Update 1/28/06: Now they are calling Matthews a rightwing extremist, who people percieve to be a serious journalist. If that isn't clear evidence of how deranged they are getting on the left, I don't know what is.

Upcoming Elections

There are two major elections coming up next week.

First there are national elections in Canada. Canada is a parliamentary system, so they are electing both their executive and legislative branch at the same time. Furthermore, they are electing their complete legislative branch at the same time, they do not stagger the elections as our legislature does. This provides for huge political swings, and by all accounts one is on the way. The Liberal Party has dominated post WW II Canada, but that could be coming to an end. It now seems likely that the Conservative Party will at least win enough seats to form a coalition government and come to power. The Conservative Party has made modest promises to reduce anti-Americanism and contribute more to the war on terror, so a Conservative win would be helpful.

Then on Wednesday the Palestine National Authority will be holding their elections. They will elect a parliament. Their president (who is the Head of State) is elected separately (Mahmoud Abbas was elected last January) and appoints the Prime Minister (who is the head of the government). (our president is both the head of state and the head of government, in Canada and the UK, the Queen is the head of state and the prime minister {elected by the governing party in parliament} is the head of government) Now the outcome of the election on Wednesday will have little effect on the United States, but it will have an effect on the upcoming Israeli elections in March, and those will have an impact on the United States. It remains to be seen whether or not Sharon's new Kadima party will win enough support to govern. That would seem to be the best outcome for the United States.

Battlestar Galactica Pt 6

I've been watching some of the deleted scenes available on the DVDs. If you are a BG fan, I highly recomend you getting your hands on them.

For instance I've always been bugged about Col. Tigh, his drives and motivations, and Adama's friendship with him. Well, all of this backstory is developed in some of the deleted scenes.

This week's episode was fairly interesting. Especially Roslin's flashbacks where she sees Baltar with Number Six on Caprica. What will she do about it?

Commander in Chief Pt 2

There is currently a video interview of Geena Davis talking about her TV show available on AOL. At the very end, she mentions that former President Bill Clinton was asked about female presidents on 60 minutes recently, and he mentioned her show. Really? I'm shocked! I wonder if he wife knows about the show?

Gonzales V Oregon

This was the Supreme Court decision that dealt with the right to commit suicide. The Court ruled that the Attorney General of the United States could not use the federal Controlled Substances Act to prevent Oregon from passing a law that allows doctors to prescribe a fatal dose of drugs. It was ruled 6-3. Dissenting was Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Scalia and Thomas.

It is important to understand that the case never dealt with a "right" to die. Rather it dealt with the issue of federalism, and when it is OK for the federal government to trump State law.

What is most interesting about this case is contained in Justice Thomas' dissent. He notes that in the previous decision dealing with the same federal statute trumping State's rights (California medical marijuana) the Court ruled the opposite way. What happened to Stare Decisis?

Why is it OK for the federal government to tell California that its doctors may not prescribe marijuana, but not OK for the federal government to tell Oregon that its doctors may not prescribe a fatal dose of barbituates? As far as Constitutional issues go, the cases are identical.

For the record I believe the Court ruled correctly in the Oregon case, and incorrectly in the California case.

Local Teacher's Union pt 2

I have a long day today. The union is having all of the reps attend the school board meeting in a show of force to show our displeasure with contract negoiations.

For some reason, we start every year without a new contract and operate based on the old one. Our work year begins in July, and we still haven't come to an agreement with the school district on what we should be paid for the 2005-2006 school year. (the one that is half over already)

The State gave our District a 5% adjustment this year. So we are asking for a 5% raise. We are one of the lowest paid districts in the area, and we are losing teachers and have unfilled positions. The District offered us 1% at first. Then 2%, and I guess the latest offer was 2.5%.

I personally think we are going to get something around 3.5%. Then we are going to get this huge retro pay check for the differential back to last July. This money comes in a big chunk, and the government takes a bigger chunk of taxes the month it shows. Plus most of us could have used that extra $100 or so a month during the year.

Then in July, we'll start all over gain.

Clarence Ray Allen

Clarence Ray Allen was executed early this morning. Good riddance. There are three things notable about this execution.

1) His lawyers tried to get the sentence commuted based on Allen's age and sickness. They said that the 23 years he spent on Death Row, and his ill health and age would make his execution cruel and unusual. They even got Justice Breyer of the US Supreme Court to agree with them. This is like killing your parents and then asking the court for mercy because you are an orphan. If he had been executed 20 years ago, none of this would have been an issue. The reason he wasn't executed 20 years ago is that he and his lawyers tried every legal maneuver possible to prevent his execution.

2) His case gives all the argument necessary to support the death penalty. He was already serving a life sentence for murder when he arranged for the murder of one of the witnesses against him. His hitman also killed two innocent bystanders. So while he was in jail serving a life sentence for murder, he caused the murder of three more people. If he had been executed for the first murder in a timely manner, the other three murders would never have occured.

3) The State of California provided millions of dollars of medical care to Allen, including restarting his heart, the last time in September. Then they spent millions of dollars in order to execute him. Something is not right here. I understand that we have an ethical duty to provide inmates with medical care, but this case just doesn't sit right with me.

Blogosphere Etiquette

My recent contretemps has led me to ask myself: Is there an established code of behavior on the blogosphere? And if there is, what is it?

Is it appropriate to delete comments without informing the poster or leaving some sign that a post was deleted?

How many warnings should you give someone before considering them a troll and banning them?

Should you inform them there are banned, either by e-mail or in your comments?

When referring to another blog, or a story they are covering, when is it appropriate to tip your hat and/or provide a link?

When someone sends a huge amount of traffic your way, should you acknowledge the fact on your blog? On their blog? Both?

Those are just some questions off the top of my head. What say you?

High School Bitch Fest Pt 2

Apparently I have pissed off the BMOC of blogdom. He has responded to my earlier post in the comments section of his blog. Apparently even though I am "an egotistical moron who has convinced himself that you are somehow above the vicious, bloody fray of the rabble. ", Jeff feels the need to respond to me. Rather than respond on my blog in the comments section of the post he refers to, he responds on his blog, of which he has apparently banned me. In my opinion, that is simply rude.

Jeff, I'm not worthy. Seriously, I'm not. I don't know why you felt the need to come to my blog and attempt to insult me, or why you felt the need to respond to my post on your blog, but you did. Maybe I hit too close to home. Understand this: I will not be bullied. I will never be as popular as you, and probably not as good a writer. But I don't give a shit. My opinions are just as valid as yours, and I will express them.

I was going to post my response to your comment that I sent to you by e-mail, but have decided not to. Feel free to post them on your blog if you wish, but frankly I don't expect you to.

Good luck with your writing, and I sincerely hope your medical condition improves. Believe it or not, it was never personal for me until you made it so.

Update (1/17/06) I just wish to point out that my blogroll contains members of Pajamas Media and bloggers who have criticized PJM.

Update II (1/21/06) Apparently I am not the only one who finds the whole thing high schoolish.

Commander in Chief

Well, it has begun. Geena Davis won a Golden Globe tonight for Commander in Chief. If you have ever watched the show, you know that this one was not won on the merits. It was a political statement made by Hollywood to help prepare the way for Sen. Clinton in 2008. (just as the show itself is)

Mayor of New Orleans Pt 6

He's done it again. This time Mayor Nagin is blaming his, and New Orleans', troubles on the US invasion of Iraq. (God is angry about it, so he sent hurricanes) He also blames the hurricanes on the wrath of God about Racism in the US.

Then to cap these two lulus off, he pledges that one day New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city once again. (meaning majority Black)

1) It is clearly his goal to postpone the elections until this is true. He has the other main Katrina culprit Gov. Blanco in his corner on this one.

2) Could you imagine any White politician using the term "chocolate" to refer to Black people and getting away with it?

3) Could you imagine any politician pledging that his city would one day be majority White again?

Nagin has had his 15 minutes of fame and then some. It is time for him to hit the ash heap of history.

Welcome Fellow Hoggers

Welcome to all those coming over from Hog On Ice. Relax, take off your shoes and stay a while. As you can see my humble blog is no where near as professional or entertaining as Steve's, but I'd like to think that I have a worthwhile thought or two. Browse around, leave a comment or two, it don't cost nothing.

Update: Welcome also to those of you from the Riehl World View. I'm glad you are here, pull up a chair.

High School Bitch Fest

Remember all the cliques, and elites in high school? Remember all the infantile fights and bitch fests that happened when the groups re-arranged and some people got left out, and some people didn't join and formed new groups etc?

Well it is happening now in the blog world, and I feel like the chess club geek watching it all unfurl from the cheap seats.

Not too long ago Charles Johnson from Little Green Footballs and Roger Simon from his self-titled blog, formed an organization with the stated desire of promoting blogging and making a buck off it from advertising. They got some financing from venture capitalists and asked for bloggers to join them. They got around 300 responses. They immediately pissed off a huge number of people by cutting this down to an elite 70 or so, and abandoned the rest with nothing but a non-disclosure deal. They then had huge problems from the outset, including infringing on someone else's name (open source media) to an extremely slow roll out of their ads, which after all was the main purpose in the first place.

Now some other bloggers made note of these facts. Dennis the Peasant apparently had an agreement with Roger Simon to set up this organization, and was then cut out of the deal. Others merely took a little pleasure in pointing out the mistakes the new organization was making. Among them are Steve H and Moxie.

Throw in blogger awards, and allegations concerning those awards and you can practically smell the zit creme in the air. Hostile posts are springing up all over the blogosphere, friendships and working relationships are being destroyed, and several entertaining writers are wasting valuable bandwidth on this.

Just for the record, I was, and am opposed to Pajamas Media because I knew it would have exactly this effect. I still read several Pajamas Media sites everyday, although I do not go to their central site. I also read several of their critics everyday. I think there are excellent writers on both sides.

I am just sad to see that we never leave the silly high school stuff behind. I've seen it crop up in other, otherwise adult situations also. I guess it is just the flea picking, dominance-game-playing primate coming out in us.

By the way, my comments are being moderated at Hog on Ice, and deleted at Protein Wisdom. So it looks like I've managed to piss off people on both sides of the catfight.

Update: For an example of how pathetic it is getting, check out the comments on the post below this one. My "offense" was trying to post on Jeff's blog that I thought the whole thing was high schoolish.

Update II: Steve H is moderating all posts at Hog on Ice, not just mine.

NFL Playoffs

Oh my God. Tell me Bettis didn't just fumble the ball on the 2 with 1:13 left to play?

Comment Moderation

I have just discovered that my comment moderation did not work as I thought it did, and was holding comments submitted in abeyance without sending me an e mail that they were there. I apologise to all commentors, and I have immediately turned the moderation off. I'll just have to deal with the spammers.

Battlestar Galactica Pt 5

Season 3 Episode 2:

Ensign Ro gets killed by a Cylon? That's fracking weak! Apollo has a death wish? Adama kisses Roselin? What the hell is this General Hospital?

Battlestar Galactica Pt 4

Season 1 Episode 7:

Big Band music? The colonies never discovered Rock and Roll? Oh the horror.........

And at this point I am convinced that Tigh's wife is a Cylon.

Liberal Mythology

For some reason, the Left is still living in the age of mythology. These issues have all come up in my readings recently, and the Left still insists on clinging to false illusions.

Amongst other things, the fall of the USSR produced a great benefit. It provided the evidence we have needed in several cases to settle some of our historical issues. This, along with some good hard research by historians has proven beyond a doubt:

1) Sacco and Vanzetti were guilty.

2) The Rosenbergs were guilty.

3) Mc Carthy and the House Unamerican Activities Committee were right, Hollywood and the American government were heavily infilitrated with Communists and Soviet spies in the 1950's and 1960's.

4) The North Vientamese and the Vietcong were militarily defeated in South Vietnam in 1973. It was only the actions of the left wing protests and complicity of the mainstream media that forced the US out of South Vietnam. This allowed the North Vietnamese to recover and invade South Vietnam in 1975. (Don't take my word, ask the North Vietnamese generals and political leaders, there is a reason photographs of Kerry and Hanoi Jane appear so prominently in their war museums.)

These are simply undisputed facts among rational beings, yet the Left continues to reject them. It truly is either self-delusion and a rejection of reality, or a form of mental illness.

Local Teachers Union

I am the rep for my school at the local teacher's union. ( I am forced to belong, it is a closed shop, and no one else is willing to do the job.)

I was at the rep meeting last night, and the issue of endorsing political candidates came up. I made a motion that we not endorse anybody, and instead encourage the CTA and NEA to assume a politically neutral stance. We had a debate and I lost.

Then someone else made a motion that we endorse the (almost exclusively Democratic) recomended slate. I argued that we should allow our representatives to be independent actors instead and vote their conscience. I won that one.

By the point of my post, is that afterwards many people came up and thanked me for speaking out against the position of walking in lock step with the Democratic party. But they did so quietly and secretively. The same thing happens on my campus.

I have come to the conclusion that the teaching profession is much more conservative and even Republican than most people think, but that many people are intimidated by the Democratic and left wing domination.

Recall Gov. Blanco

If anybody reading this happens to live in Louisiana, or even knows somebody who does, I hope they'll support the movement to recall Gov. Blanco.

She deserves to be recalled based on her actions and inactions during Hurricaine Katrina alone. However that was sheer incompetence. It was her actions in delaying the mayoral elections in New Orleans to protect Mayor Nagin that has outraged me the most.

(hat tip: Michelle Malkin)

Alito Hearings Pt 3

I'm tired of conservatives having to pussyfoot around. I watched Alito parse his words again today. I want a nominee who is going to say:

"No I don't believe Roe V Wade is good precedent, I think it is an awful case and would overturn it if possible.

No I don't think there is a right to privacy in the Constitution. The word doesn't even appear there. There are some privacy rights, but they do not produce either a penumbra or an emanation.

Yes I do think the commerce clause has been over used and abused.

No I do not support Affirmative Action, it is racial discrimination pure and simple.

Yes I do support the right to own a gun. There is a reason the Founders made that our second Amendment immediately behind free speech."

It is time to stop these silly games we play with the Democratic Senators every time, especially when their nominees sail through without being grilled.

The Economy

The NYSE finished above 11,000 for the first time since 9/11 yesterday. Unemployment is beating historical averages. Home ownership is at an all time high. The growth rate of the GDP was just revised upward. Government revenues are at an all time high. Pres. Bush's economy is in full recovery.

Of course the Democrats and MSM will be able to tell us why this is a disaster.

Alito Hearings Pt 2

Well according to all written reports, yesterday went about the way I thought it would.

Look for the Dems to go into full attack mode today.

Election Day Thugs

The trial began today for the five Democratic Party operatives that sliced the tires of cars rented by Republican Party operatives on Election Day last year. Imagine that these five had been Republicans slashing the tires of Democrats. Wanna bet we would have heard exponentially more about it in the media?

Imagine if one of the men had been the son of a Representative of Congress? Oh wait one was, but of course Rep. Gwen Moore is a Democrat, so this is obviously not an important news story.

Or how about if one of them was the son of the former mayor of a major city? Oh wait, one was, Mayor Marvin Pratt. But he too was a Democrat, so this story is not important.

Tell me again there is no bias in the media.

(Hat tip: Michele Malkin)

Kill Them Now

I just saw the new Pepsi commercial. They ruined the most important scene of the movie Spartacus. Bastards. Pepsi and the mercenary bastard who let them do that with Spartacus.

The Joke is Just Too Easy....

Sen Kennedy has a dog named "Splash".

(hat tip: Michelle Malkin)

Alito Hearings

The hearings begin today on the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. I expect most of the time today to be spent by the Senators giving stump speeches. NSA wiretapping, Roe V Wade and Affirmative Action should all be featured prominently.

The hypocrisy of Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Schumer should be particularly notable. (comparing their actions today to their actions in the hearings on Justice Bader-Ginsburg)

Battlestar Galactica Pt3

Reflections from a Battlestar Galactica marathon:

1) There is an awful lot of sex going on on Battlestar Galactica

2) Apparently the easiest way to uncover a cylon is to induce an orgasm and look for the red glowing spinal column.

3) Pretty brutal torture scene between Starbuck and a cylon in Season 1 Episode 8.

West Wing

It's weird watching the West Wing tonight. John Spenser plays a major role. I just can't stop thinking about the fact that he is already dead. I wonder how they are going to work around his death, and how many episodes he had finished before he died?

Vince Young

Vince Young just declared for the NFL draft today. He will probably be taken by Houston with the first pick. (If they don't the owner and head coach might get lynched, Young is from Houston.) If he falls to second, the Saints will definitely take him.

A lot of people have been picking Texas for #1 again next year. That has just changed. Losing Young and most of the offense line at the same time has moved them pretty far back into the pack. The big question facing college football right now is : What does LenDale White do?

With Young coming out, and Vick kicked of the team, Brady is the overwhelming Heisman favorite. If White stays, he will compete for the trophy also.

Battlestar Galactica pt 2

I bought the boxed set of the mini-series and season 1 on DVD today. I started watching them on my computer (17in flatscreen) rather than my TV. (28in tube) The difference is amazing. I'm definitely buying an HD TV as soon as possible, and hopefully a flatscreen LED one.

If you are a fan of BG, and haven't done so, I recommend you go back and watch the mini-series again. It gives you a whole new perspective.

It seems to me like the mini series was setting the Boxy character up to be a re-occurring character. His intro to the chief, and he is in the front row of the funeral scene with the main characters, in a fleet uniform. I don't remember him appearing in the regular series though.

Update (1/8/06): I missed this episode when it aired. First Boxy sighting in the regular series - a walk by cameo in Episode 3. He later appears with Starbuck in the ready room and is rude to Col Tigh. I'm not real happy about that. He has a couple of other cameos in this episode.

Update (1/15/06) I'm watching the deleted scenes from Season 1, and one of them is a scene of Boxy in Episode 2 (Water). He breaks into Boomer's locker and finds the bag she had in the beginning of the episode with her wet clothes and (bloody? Rusty?) towel. There is a second scene in which he again shows a smart mouth to an adult. Later in the scene he is dealing Ambrosia to a member of the crew. There is another deleted scene in Episode 12 (Kobold's Last Gleaming Pt.1) where Boomer is practcing quick drawing her gun, and pulls it on him. All in all, I'm glad it appears that they have decided to write the character out of the series.

Battlestar Galactica

The first episode of the new season is on tonight. This series bears very little resemblence to the original series beyond the names. It is quite dark, which I find much more fitting than the almost sitcom tone of the first series.