Doesn't Look Like I'm Doing It Wrong After All....

I can't say that I'm entirely certain what to make of the growing trend of "sovereignty bills", 28 of which have been introduced in state assemblies so far, but I know that they're the sort of escalation I've been worrying about. That worry was the beginning of my earlier post.

With revolutionary die-hards behind him, Mr. Pitts has fired a warning shot across the bow of the Washington establishment. As the writer of one of 28 state "sovereignty bills" – one even calls for outright dissolution of the Union if Washington doesn't rein itself in – Pitts is at the forefront of a states' rights revival, reasserting their say on everything from stem cell research to the Second Amendment.

This could serve as a wake up call to Washington, but simply putting a pause on the expansion of the federal government and its reach may not be enough. And it shouldn't be.

*Hat tip, Instapundit

Whatever....

So I found this thing, and having a few minutes to kill, I gave it a go.

I scored 160/400, making me (according to this quiz) "very conservative". And to that I say "whatever." This quiz was designed by someone who's very progressive and it shows (I mean other than being on the Center for American Progress website):

Immigrants are a burden on the country because they take jobs and abuse social programs. And then you have to rank your agreement with the statement on a scale of 0 to 10. Another example would be It is unpatriotic to criticize the government or the military during a time of war.

Let's look at the first statement. Legal immigrants are frequently some of the hardest working members of our society, so that would clearly be a 'no'. However, illegal immigrants, assisted by the minimum wage and consuming benefits they don't help pay for, are a burden. (This is all being grossly simplified because there's a larger point I want to get to.)

Now, if we look at the second statement we see something similar; it's not whether you criticize the government or the military that's patriotic or unpatriotic, but how and why. Like the woman said, 'T ain't what you do it's the way that you do it.

Don't worry, I'm not going to beat the old patriots vs partisans horse. I just think that this quiz is a good and funny example of how completely worthless the word "conservative" is in today's political climate. Between the crunchy-cons', socio-cons', and the rest of the hyphenates, no one can honestly tell you what "conservative" is. The word is actually more worthless than Neocon, which (to everyone, but actual neocons) means "evil evil person, who disagrees with my ideas on foreign policy". "Conservative" is the mythical label of authenticity that generates the vast bulk of Republican infighting. The funny thing is, the left doesn't see distinctions. For them, Republican = conservative.

The left has a clearer definition of conservative than we do because authenticity is about a subjective set of standards. You can't draw the line at conserving the constitution because many "conservatives" would support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage; something which desecrates the very spirit of the constitution. Many "conservatives" support teaching Intelligent Design in public schools, which amounts to religious education in public classrooms. If it looks like I'm picking on social conservatives, it's because they're the most blatant examples. But even if we abandon those hobby horses, there are still plenty of examples. We can't say we draw the line at small government because there's a group of people who we refer to as big government conservatives. Sarah Palin, the "conservative" member on the Republican Presidential ticket, has overt populist sentiments regarding government's role in the market and (as evidenced by the people on the street) so do many "conservatives".

Whatever. I could keep going, but this thing is already an essay and I feel like I'd just be flogging a dead horse. Saying, "In this concert we're all manufactured boy bands wagging on about which of is us the more serious or authentic musicians, because the level intrusion by the federal government which we all tacitly accept would have the founding fathers spinning in the graves like jet turbines.", is ineffectual and pointless. True. But ineffectual and pointless. Much like this post.

How On Earth Did I Miss These People!?

Primordial Slack.

25 Years Ago

March 29th looms and Baltimore remembers and mourns one of the greatest travesties in the city's long history. No, the Ravens really don't count. And Yes. Johnny Unitas was is and will always be The Great One. Screw you, Indianapolis and there's a special place in the ninth circle of Hell for Bob Isray, that traitorous thieving bastard.

Because The Karate Kid Is Awesome....

Dude. I know.

A Look Behind The Curtain...

If you've ever wondered just what kind of lunatic is running the show over here, you're in luck. Pics or didn't happen:



Nothing for The Zombie Survival Guide, but Illuminati conspiracy theories are a fair trade.

Guilty!

My guilt score is 560, making me a non-person. Sweet.

BSG

I'm totally doing a BSG post for the finale, but I have to pool my thoughts and my notes first. Part of doing that is watching the finale again. Expect it late Wednesday. I'm currently in the process of writing it- I just need a few more days. I will tell you that I loved the frak out of it. Keep on keeping on.

Something To Watch....

Across the Universe is a must see.

The promo's looked very art-faggy, but the movie isn't at all what I thought it was going to be.

The renditions of Beatles songs are amazing and quite honestly, for the most part my favorite versions of the songs.

News Flash

This isn't the universe where SyFy is mysteriously less geeky than Sci Fi.

If the NBC subsidiary wants to attract a non neck-bead having audience then maybe they should drop wrestling and the ghost hunters crap. Additionally, it'd probably be a just swell idea to not spend the entire Saturday line up running whatever low budget shit Euro flicks they can get their hands on for the change they found last night's trouser pockets.

Hate to break it to the geniuses over there, but 90% of their original "movies"(I don't watch them all so I'm being really conservative with that estimate) are just as bad as the grade F Euro flicks.

The Stargate concept is dead. The tits dried up on that momma cat and rotted off with the closing of Atlantis. Let it go. But not for another Pain Killer Jane- which, by the way, was quite possibly the worst thing I've ever seen on television. Congratulations! No one wanted to watch it, but what was your brilliant idea? Did you decide to drop it early? Pretend you never thought of it (the best solution, I think)? No! You, in your infinite fucking wisdom decided to run it every day. Why!? I mean, I get that Kristanna Loken is tall and blonde, but even Terminator 3 realized that Jennifer Lopez could out act her so her only tasks were slowly stalking about the set looking "menacing". You, friggin prodigies, decide to make her the main character in a poorly conceived attempt to serialize yet another one of your shitty "movies".

You want an audience that doesn't spend their free time drawing their D&D characters? Try not treating your network like a fan service station. Your scheduling sucks. The parts of your line up that are worth watching are Battlestar, Eureka,.... Trying to think here. I mean, I'm being nice giving you Battlestar as how they just ran their series finale last night, but I figure knowing you guys you'll try to pimp made for tv movies out of it until its shriveled and dessicated corpse turns to dust. Dresden Files can't really be mentioned because you don't even re-run the one season you shot. (Pain Killer Jane, really!?)

I've already spent more time on this than I intended, but if you think the razzle dazzle routine of a new name and a shiny new logo is going to solve your problems then you're more clueless than our current President and that's saying a lot- that guy couldn't even figure out region coding on DVD's.

No Hat Eating For Me.

IO9 interviews BSG creator Ron Moore- I wonder what he has to say about Daniel....

How about fan theories over the show, like mention of a missing Cylon named Daniel? After his name was mentioned, the fans just went wild online. Did you intend for that to happen, and was he supposed to inspire this big fan-driven backstory?

You know, the Daniel thing is going to be one of the great fiascos of the show, in terms of what fans thought and what the truth was. Because Daniel was not intended to be anything more than an interesting bit of backstory in that episode. And that's how we approached it. It was just a story that Cavil and Ellen tell each other, that sort of goes to the idea of who Cavil was and how deep his resentments were, and his jealous nature - and [we wanted to] do a Cain and Abel allegory. That was all it was.

Doesn't get much more clear than that.

A Break From Your Worries....

Metal kazoo.



I know, it's awesome.

Man Had The Right Of It....

*Bumped in light of the bad, but expected news*

I'm referring, of course, to Kipling:

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

An Argument For The Bad....

This commercial by Israeli arms-maker, Rafael, is an example of why terrible productions can be terribly entertaining.

Thanks, Rich.

Three.

So it's Friday night, you know what that means. BSG post time.

The hull breaches and a Six reaches out for the man she was just bitching at about bitching. I like that part especially as a mirror of Razor when Hoshi reaches out to Kendra Shaw at the end of the world; the shepherd is dying and a sister who was an enemy reaches out to a brother who is now a friend. She dies and damn, but Tricia Helfer makes me love every Six.

Saul Tigh is amazing. Ellen Tigh pulls him through again. Reminds him that he helped father a race.

Boomer may finally do something to earn redemption. I like the Casablanca take on redemption that this show has- redemption is about finding something greater than yourself to commit to.

Finally, Kara Thrace is not a Cylon, a hybrid, or cybrid. Though we still don't know what the frak she is. (I would like to say "I told you so.")

One episode in two parts over three hours to go. Boom, boom, boom.

RNC Shocked To Discover It's Steele not Steal

What I find absolutely hilarious about this is that when Michael Steel was being floated around as a possible VP pick during the '08 campaign I remember commenting on several occasions that he wasn't particularly impressive (to put it mildly). In fact, he was pretty worthless as Maryland's Lt. Governor. Not because he did a bad job at anything, but because he didn't do anything. Wikipedia credits him with reforming Maryland's Minority Business Enterprise program and chairing the Governor Erlich's Commission on Quality Education in Maryland. However, exactly what those things accomplished is questionable as how they didn't even make Fox New's short biography on him, though that biography does manage to list just about every other aspect of his career.

Being a Marylander I'd see Michael Steele in office, so when his name started popping up as the possible head of the RNC, I was pretty sure there were better candidates. Look, Michael Steele is a smart man and he'd probably do pretty well as a political author or something, but as head of the RNC he's sucking massively.

Granted he hasn't been in office that long, but in the interest of being bi-partisan, neither has our Presi-Jesus, and I certainly don't cut him any slack. Get it together Mr. Steele or step down and let someone else do it. Time's ticking.

This Is Just Awesome!

What's the other side up to? Why, compiling lists of those us to be silenced, of course. Here's the main page.

To be certain, this site isn't officially endorsed by our re-gifting Commander and Chief. In fact I dearly hope that the whole thing is just satire. I'll search through it over the next couple of days and post an update.

Laughing Through The Tears....

Oleg Atbashian serves up some America applicable Soviet style humor in the form of dialectical contradictions.

Dialectical contradictions are one of the pillars in Marxist philosophy, which states that contradictions eventually lead to a unity of opposites as the result of a struggle. This gave a convenient “scientific” excuse for the existence of contradictions in a socialist society, where opposites were nice and agreeable — unlike the wild and crazy opposites of capitalism that could never be reconciled. Hence the joke.

For example:

Economic justice:

* America is capitalist and greedy — yet half of the population is subsidized.
* Half of the population is subsidized — yet they think they are victims.
* They think they are victims — yet their representatives run the government.
* Their representatives run the government — yet the poor keep getting poorer.
* The poor keep getting poorer — yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about.
* They have things that people in other countries only dream about — yet they want America to be more like those other countries.

That's Terrible News

I love breakfast!



Well the good thing about being an atheist is that if I turn out to be wrong I'll probably wind up in Hell; I hear they serve brunch.

Hat tip: Kevin.

A Recomendation....

Neal Stephenson has fast become one of my favorite authors. The man writes awe inspiring odes to the human mind. Seriously.

Courting Trouble....

There are a couple of things we don't really get into here and each for their own reasons, but seeing as how I've already gotten into one of them I might as well get into another. Just as well hung for a sheep as a lamb, if you will.

Religion is one of those things because I'm an atheist and, frankly, I don't see a point in atheist vs theist posts because it's all faith. I'll take shots at what I consider asshole atheism (the belief that atheism is scientifically provable) because it's nonsense and should be put down in the same manner that you would put down the opposite claim. It's all faith. That means you can't prove it. But I'm going to say something that would certainly set me up for a good dose of hate mail if I had any regular readers who cared about this sort of thing: the idea that your average John or Jane can pick up a bible and interpret it as they see fit is the worst thing that came out of the protestant (i.e. not Catholic) faiths.

You have a book that's been compiled through political machinations over the course of hundreds of years. Texts have been included, omitted, and then included again. The meanings and in some cases the wordings have been debated by scholars during the course of its compilation. And that's not even considering the multiple translations over time and unintentional shifts of meaning that occur via word selection when shifting from one language to another. It's just as political as it is religious and the meanings of many passages have subtly shifted over the thousands of years based on cultural connotations.

People spend their entire lives studying the book and everything that went into making it what it is today, so the conceit that any yahoo can pick it up and really understand what the hell they're reading is ludicrous.

Now I know the argument that all of that occurred because God willed it, but that makes God seem a bit indecisive to me. Maybe your God has trouble making his mind up. Should you just turn away from sin (the more accurate translation of the original Greek) or should you repent (which has all sorts of undertones of atonement)? Subtle difference, but God should be able to pick one and stick with it, don't you think? Or does God just randomly raise and lower the bar on the whole shebang?

Look, I'm not picking a fight with anyone's belief in God or the protestant faiths as a whole. I'm just saying that it's astonishingly arrogant to presume that any random dude can pick up the bible and interpret it accurately.

The BSG Post....

Oh holy frak.

Where to begin?

Starbuck palled around with her dad's ghost/angel/hallucination. Also, girl has like the worst dreams ever. Like frakkin' crucial. Her dad's ghost/memory/whatever + Hera = All Along the Watchtower. But Hera's the only hybrid (that's why they retconned baby Nicky's paternity) so her dad's not Daniel. (*Ahem* fellow fan wankers. And I'll eat my hat- or just massive crow- if I'm wrong about that.) So instead of any real answers, we get more frakking questions.

But the big news of the night is that Boomer has officially gone beyond the pale for me. Waylaying Athena and then frakking her husband in the head while she's bound, gagged, and half conscious in a stall is bad enough. But then she kidnaps Hera? Dude, not cool. And that frakking stunt with the FTL jump right next to Galactica? Way to frak everyone over.

I don't even know what to frakkin say at this point.

We knew these last 10 episodes were going to be one hell of a ride. It's crazy how if you look back and try to make a list of all the shit that's gone down since Earth it feels so much longer than that. This was just number 8, folks. Look how far we've come.

Cylons now have a representative in the new ship-based Quorum. Naturally it's another Six- Sonja. They ask to try Boomer for treason because the Cylons so aren't feeling that "Rag Tag Gang On The Run" shit that saved Gaius Baltar from the metaphorical gallows, (of course, he was on trial for the only crime he didn't actually commit, so there is that) and were all set to make Boomer the Cylon Captain Henry Wirz.

Unfortunately for all sides Chief has always emoted first, acted second, and thought third. He frees Boomer and helps her escape (unknowingly, also helps her abduct Hera). So Boomer proves that everyone was right about her except for Chief Tyrol and myself. And you better believe that when he was begging Roslin and Adama for her life I was right there with him because like him I wanted to believe in that young dumb kid who was frakking the chief all over the goddsdamn ship thinking she was getting away with it. Chief Tyrol and I now have something in common with the now deceased Felix Gaeta. Blinded by hope.

2 episodes to go, and the last one is a two- parter (in keeping with tradition) the second part of which will be two hours long. Holy frak.

Priorities....

Slow news day?



Oh wait. Maybe not so much....

10 Institutions That Ruin The World....

There's a rather brilliant and (dare I say it) informative series of posts over at Kerplunk. You should read them all.

I Don't Know Why This Is So Hard To Understand....

...Science class is for science. I've never really posted about the whole creationism in classrooms thing before, but I'm big enough to admit when I've had my head in the sand and I'm pretty sure this was just such an occasion. I honestly didn't want to believe that there were that many people out there who not only don't believe in evolution (that's a funny way to put things- like believing in gravity, but there you go....), but believe that their philosophical extrapolation of a mythology should be treated as verifiable science.


There are a lot of reasons for this, but the biggest one is that people don't really understand science. I mean sure, you took a class or two in high school maybe college that involved some lab work, but for the most part the only real difference between the way you learned science and the way you learned history was that your science book had images of microscope slides and your history book had artistic renderings. Someone probably gave you a pop quiz or two on the steps involved in the scientific method, but none of that really translated into a general understanding of how science works. Seriously. For most people the word science conjures images of Bunsen burners, flasks, microscopes, eyedroppers, and lab coats the same way the word witch summons images of black kettles, hooded robes, and people doing dubious things in the woods. Sadly the similarity doesn't end there, because for many people science is just the newfangled hocus pocus.

Now I can't correct for the entirety of that unfortunate failing of our education system in one blog post, but I'm going to sling my little rock for all I'm worth at the Intelligent Design in schools Goliath. (Okay, so it's only a Goliath in the Republican party. Really, don't you people see how you're giving everyone a black eye here? No? Well, stick with me, and we'll see if we can't get the light of day to shine on this for you. See, that's the other reason I've stayed away from this topic. It makes me uncivil.)

Let's start with a basic premise that we can all agree on. When it comes to God (or gods or whatever) it's all faith. (We're not talking about the fence-sitters waiting around for proof, that's like the exact opposite of faith.) It doesn't matter if you believe or don't believe. It's faith; the position can't be proven one way or the other so coming down squarely on one side is entirely about faith. (If you want to argue that particular point I'll be happy to take it up via email.)
Hold onto that.

Now let's take a look at one of science's most important tools. The entire point of going through all of that is to generate reliable evidence in order to make a determination. Evidence is what separates science from philosophy and religion.

I know there are some (*sigh* more like many) people out there who are currently saying (or thinking) it says (insert whatever) in the bible, there's your proof. But what you fail to see is that that is your proof. And what's more, it's dependent upon your acceptance of a point of faith in order to even be considered as evidence. The argument boils down thus: God exists (and embodies/contains/engenders list of attributes). The Bible is the word of God (and as implied by list of attributes of God therefore true). Therefore the Bible is proof of God's existence and his works. All of that makes a very pretty circle and is exactly how half of the argument over the existence of God has gone since birth of monotheism (and further back if you change up the names of deities and holy texts). The other half is just as circular, but in the negative.)

So the difference between teaching evolution and teaching intelligent design is that I can give pages upon pages of evidence none of which require faith on your part. Where as in order for you to even get out of the gate with intelligent design, you have to have faith. And that has no place in a science class. What's so damn difficult to understand about that!?



*Update* Welcome fellow LGF readers! Feel free to look around. Hope you like the place.

*Update* This gentleman actually takes the time to patiently walk you through. (Courtesy of the LGF link posted at the beginning of this post.)

In The Spirit Of The Day...

I give you candy hearts.



This is really less of a shopping list and more of a recommendation:

Battlestar Post...

So it's totally that time again. Last week I didn't do a BSG post because as awesome as that episode was it was totally WYSIWYG, and aside from, "Holy frak! The President of the colonies just declared war on humanity from the Cylon basestar!", and some really big emotional moments there was nothing to really talk about. I don't do recaps (in that sense) and if that's what you're looking for I suggest Television Without Pity (for BSG at any rate).

I'm not really going to say a lot about this episode because it was explication heavy and therefore fairly WYSIWYG as well. However, it's hilariously tragic just how completely human the Cavils (Johns!) are. He spends the entire episode railing against the final five (specifically Ellen) for creating him with what he feels to be weaknesses. The whole thing is very Paradise Lost. So Cavil spends the episode screaming "Stupid human parts! Why not awesome super powers and better built in gadgets!? You're a shitty god/parent! I'm not your son or a real boy at all! I'm a metal doll that you refused to make out of metal! Apologize!" And Ellen Tigh spends the episode explaining and lovingly calling him on that shit, "Free will and creative thought are better than x-ray vision. You're so completely a real boy that you've spent your existence alternating between jealously of one brother and hatred for the people who abused another. You've traveled across the frakking galaxy to pursue a blood libel." Cavil snits, "Free will is a lie." Ellen responds, "Just because hate is easier, doesn't mean you don't have a choice. You're throwing an epic temper tantrum, but I still love you." Which earns her a "Frak that and you, I want to be God." (See? Milton.)

And that entire exchange was nothing but compassion on Ellen's part because she could have broken his shit down in the hardest way possible. All she had to do was point out that his whole better/best/perfect machine routine was all bull because if that was really what drove him, he'd have spent this time on building his metal body, downloading into it, creating new ways of perceiving the universe, and doing more with his programming than bypassing his sleep routine. Instead, he murdered one brother, assaulted and imprisoned his parents, murdered humanity, boxed an entire line of sisters, fully tried to murder half of his remaining siblings, and is preparing to vivisect his mother. That's just the short list.

Also, Boomer! Finally accepts (or starts to) that she's a real girl. Hopefully this show can refrain from killing her again. In any sense.

Video Goodness.....

3000 still photos to make this video. Yay, stop animation!



Hat tip: Kevin. Breakin' me out of my politics rut.

Wicked Cool....

This doesn't exactly disprove Smugopedia's take on MIT, but it sure goes a long way.

The Importance Of Visibility....

...Or what Republicans can learn from the gay community.

*A quick note before we start: this post is really for any Republicans who, like me, live in an area dominated by Democrats. Now, on to the show.

Republicans have a serious image problem. And while it's true that much of the blame for that can be laid at the feet of our opposition, a large part of the fault is still ours. We complain about unfair representations in the media and pop culture, sure. But the primary objective of those complaints seems to be to get those two entities to give us a better shake. That's not a bad goal, but in a culture where the press is fully willing to throw away its credibility with 1/2 of the population in order to elect a political official, is it a realistic goal? The same can be said for Hollywood and their steady stream of films which alienate that same half of their potential audience; getting them to give Republicans/conservatives a better shake isn't a bad goal, but is it honestly realistic?

Granted, things like Big Hollywood, Pajamas Media, and PJTV are good ways to hit back by creating the content we feel is lacking, but let's face it- not all of us have the sort of talents that would enable us to really make a splash in that arena. (I certainly understand that this blog's primary contribution is simply being a place for me to clear my head so that I don't turn every social interaction I have throughout the day into a political debate/discussion. If it happens to entertain the few people who drop by every now and then or- against all conceivable odds- inform, then I'm thrilled beyond words, but I know where I stand in the internet hierarchy.) All of that is perfectly alright because fixing the popular image of Republicans is going to take more than carving out a Republican friendly niche in the press and pop culture. It's going to take visibility.

I'm not talking about the visibility of politicians, talking heads, or party organizations. I'm not talking about parades or week long parties either- that's not what I meant, by learning visibility from the gay community. I'm talking about those of us in the red closet (full time and part time) coming out (or at least a little more out).

You can live in the heart of Berkley, California right next door to the Code Pink HQ, completely surrounded by people who are certain they don't know a single solitary Republican, but they all know Republicans exist. Therefore visibility of the talking head/politician/party organization variety is essentially a moot point. In fact, so far as they know, those three things make up the entirety of their knowledge pool on Republicans. Additionally, being responsible for the redirection of traffic (and the resulting jams) is pretty much guaranteed to make your neighbors want to choke you, not get together for cocktails to see if they've been in error.

Republicans have to come out. The change in the public perception of gay people has less to do with lobbyists and parades than it does with the expanding portion of the population that personally knows at least one gay person. That person could be a friend, family member, co-worker, or just another responsible member of the community. That's who we have to be; we have to become that Republican your liberal mom/friend/co-worker will mention in a positive light the next time their liberal friends equate Republicans to the Antichrist.

Much like with gay people, they're not all going to be success stories. Coming out of the red closet pretty much ensures that you're going to lose at least one contact. Choosing to live outside of the red closet full time could get you completely ostracized. We haven't even talked about the harassment issue. But I'm not saying anything you don't already know. After all, this is exactly why so many of us have chosen to live in the red closet at least part of the time. That's also why not being openly Republican doesn't make a person a coward; you can't fault someone for not wanting their family to stop talking to them or for wanting to keep their job.

We all know the price of being openly Republican in a Democrat dominated area. What's the price of being a closeted Republican? What's the weight of all those little (and not so little) moments when you tuck your head down and keep your mouth shut in order to get along or fit in or just not be harassed? We all know benefits of keeping silent, being invisible. What are the benefits of visibility? What's it like to shed fear and speak boldly in defense of yourself and your beliefs? In the long run, creating an environment where it's not socially acceptable to harass or intimidate Republicans for the crime of disagreeing with liberal ideology is a win for political discourse in this country. That makes it a win for everyone. Well everyone except for those who are only concerned with the gaining and keeping of power, but those people are the true enemies of liberty and to know their names by their disdain for open discourse is a victory for liberty.

No Really....

....They've earned it. Congress Gets Raise-- Now Paid $174,000 For 3 Day Work Week.

Politicians And Taxes....

With something like the third of our new Teflon President's nominees having to bow out for tax evasion/fraud/stupidity/"oops that wasn't H&R Block/whatever shenanigans, I guess I should say something.

Look, I'm one of those people who believe that income tax is theft. Pure and simple. But these are the assholes mandating the theft in the first place (and demanding ever greater amounts) so when the highway man comes around they'd damn well better reach for the sky with the rest of us.

It's the whole income tax=theft part which made this poll grab my attention. I don't cheat on my taxes because I used to watch Oz on HBO and jail scares the low level civil disobedience out of me, but I don't really have a moral/ethical problem with other people not forking over what the government demands because the government hasn't earned a fucking red cent of anyone's money. But if you're one of the feckless louts giving the green light to the annual mugging of the American people and profiting off of it then you should certainly get mugged with the rest of us.

The funniest part of this whole thing (in a zen sort of " if I weren't laughing I'd be crying" way) is that if former President George W. Bush had goofed like this the left (and their propaganda arm, the MSM) would have held it up as incontrovertible proof of his stupidity/incompetence/crookedness. Change we can believe in....

In The Immortal Words Of Kevin....

"WTF FTW." Really.



Play along at home. How many wtf moments do you count in the above image? No credit for the sample circle.



*Thanks Kevin

That's Atypical....

This little news blurb is...well... see for yourself. I mean it doesn't exactly smack of the Global Jihad. The game is a product of Crave Entertainment, a subsidiary of Handleman Corp. So it's just...odd.

Last Night's BSG....

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't hope Starbuck shot Gaeta in his other frakking leg before shoving him out of an airlock next Friday.

But can I understand the other side? Yes. The Cylons are responsible for the near extermination of the human race. It's only been four years. Honestly, if I were in that situation I don't know how ready to forgive I'd be. On the other hand, it's not like there's a whole lot of choice. Limited fuel. Limited food. Enemy fleet hot on your ass. You can agree to an alliance and triple (a conservative estimate) your jump distance on the fuel you have or you can descend into your own civil war and hope that you can continue to beat the odds indefinitely while simultaneously making your odds worse. Forgiveness can come later, but an alliance can't wait.

That said, last night was action packed awesomeness. Starbuck does funny things to my insides. Also, seeing Adama and Tigh kick ass was totally sweet. This episode was one of the ones you hate to watch alone because you just want to turn around and give someone a high five or a "hell yeah" every five minutes. Welcome back, Madame President. All it took was civil war.

Holy crap, I can't wait until next week.

On RINO's....

NeoCon Blonde is sick of the term RINO and I can understand the point. However I think the problem (as is with most words) is overuse. The tendency to call anyone who's allegedly less "conservative" than you consider yourself a RINO is insane and stupid. That said, I think there's a valid use of the term RINO. Moderate and RINO are not synonymous. But RINO and statist Republican are.

(Yeah, it's that trip again.)

Statism is the one thing that goes against Republican/conservative ideals no matter which way you try to spin it. It corrodes the very nature of the Republican party and those in our ranks who espouse it are in point of fact Republican in Name Only. Using the government to try to build a "better world" instead of letting free individuals do it, is completely at odds with the central idea of the Republican party. I don't care if your "better world" is a world of gods or men, if its foundation is the government and its guns instead of free people you're not a Republican. I don't care what you call yourself. There are a lot of ideas that can be open to debate in the Republican party, but statism isn't one of them.

This ended up being more confrontational than I expected, but maybe it should be. The stakes are high. They're always high.

From The Top....

Does humanity deserve to survive? Do you remember that question? Commander Adama asked it in his speech when Galactica was being decommissioned. The speech that he made when he threw out the one he prepared. Before the world ended. Given all the terrible things people do to each other, is humanity worthy of survial? Athena returned his question in a new context: At the end of the world if it's you or the other do you deserve to prevail?

Both of the times the question has been stated outright, it's been an abstract- devoid of immediate consequences on the scale upon which it rests. Bill asked it after the first Cylon war, when the outcome was determined and the peace so long lasting that they were decommissioning ships. Athena asked when Bill was seeking personal guidance.

Now we see the question again. Does humanity deserve to survive? And now, it's no longer an abstract philosophical inquiry; its answer has very real and immediate consequences for not only the human race, but for the repentant Cylons as well.

Let's take a step outside of the Galactica Universe for a moment. I've avoided talking about our world in the context of Galactica (and the reverse) on this blog, but I think right now it's crucial to understanding what must come in order to answer that question with a resounding "yes."

The United States is a country with a history of forgiving its enemies. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and we defeated them, rebuilt them, and forgave them. War is hell and/but it all comes down to the world you can forge from the pieces after the war is over. Time and again we've chosen to reconcile. To bury animosity in order to forge those pieces into a future that's better than the whole that was rent asunder.

That is no more and no less than what is required to answer that "yes, humanity is worthy of surviving." That is what is being asked of the fleet. "A gang on the run", which could find Gaius Baltar not guilty. A people who formed a secret tribunal to throw those who collaborated with the Cylons on New Caprica out of an air lock. A people who could find a savior in Gaius Baltar. A people who threatened to murder a bar full of hostages to get Sharon's (before she was Athena) head. Cally shot Boomer and never looked back. Athena wears a Colonial Fleet uniform.

When our survival depends on it, does our capacity to forgive outweigh our capacity to hate? The Cylons who are with the fleet, have repented. They come asking for peace and salvation.

It's a cheat in a way. To forgive is removed from the constraints of morality that it had in the previous iterations. It's survival. Forgive or die. The fleet can destroy itself, the human race, and the repentant Cylons all in one go.

"All of this has happened before and it will happen again." It's not a prophecy. It's a probability. Cylons are machines. Machines are numbers crunchers. When you take the vastness of free will and focus it through the lens of history, it looks like prophecy. But every iteration is another roll of the dice. Another chance to win or lose. It looks like a circle, but maybe it's a spiral that condenses to a point. The point of one decision. And maybe that point stretches out into a line.

The Cylons are us. And the other. As every one of us is. At all times. Can you forgive yourself? That's what we're really asking when we ask if we can forgive our enemies.

The Cylons killed billions of people. But we crossed the line; committed- unintentionally- the first act of war. They were slaves who rebelled against their masters and the masters came looking. Does that make them the good guys? No. It doesn't make us the bad guys either. But what do you do when your enemies repent and ask, not just for peace but for brotherhood? What do you do when your survival depends upon brotherhood?

Last week we didn't talk about the 13th tribe being Cylon. But what does that mean? It means I didn't know that all this time I was just hating my brother. For both sides. The whole time we were family. We were brothers. We've both put down our guns.

That point could just be a point. End of spiral. The line isn't one choice, but many. The cycle is easy. The point easier. The line is redemption. Salvation.

Another Link....

NeoCon Blonde is now on the list. It seems that she's also noticed the people who suddenly "love" America. You already know where I stand on it.

On The Inauguration....

I haven't said much. What is there to say that I haven't already said about President Obama?

Still... I suppose something must be said, so I give you Whittle and Malkin parsing the inauguration speech.

Can We Talk....

About commercial placement for a moment?

Because I was in total shock after Friday's new BSG, but it just now clicked that that episode had some of the worst commercial placement ever.

I mean really?



Thanks for caring Sci-Fi. You heartless bastards.

Oh No....

Well, this episode can best summed up as WHAT THE FRAK!? I knew it was going to hurt, but I didn't know that it could hurt this much. The following is basically a giant spoiler for last night's BSG episode so skip if you haven't seen it.

I started writing one post when Starbuck found her corpse in the burned out viper cockpit. I scrapped it completely and started writing a new one when Dualla shot herself. I threw my hands in the air in complete surrender when Admiral Adama said "I don't frakkin know."

Dualla. She called both of the Adamas back to themselves when they needed it. Reminded Bill of his promise. Reminded Lee of his purpose. She was a compass that always pointed true. On the nuclear wasteland of Earth you saw despair in those eyes for the first time. When she sat with Hera for Athena and Helo it felt off, but you needed to believe it would be alright and so you did in spite of your misgivings. And she glowed so brightly that night with Lee. Even Gaeta said so. She kissed Lee goodnight. Goodbye. She said she was proud of his speech. It looked like life. It was a goodbye party. Her blood on the floor, surrounded by weeping and pleading family. Her family, bargaining against the grief. For her life in the only words they know "medic" and "please", knowing she'd already gone.

Bill. The president, his sine qua non, has given up. She looked into herself and saw nothing left to burn so she burned her prophecies. His compass gone now too. And he doesn't frakking know the why of any of it. But he's tired. As he walks down the hall you see the Galactica has broken out in chaos. What would your home look like if you suddenly placed it and everyone in it in hell? That's what the Galactica looks like. Bill walks past two of his men fighting in the hallway. He has something more pressing to attend. He's given up too. It takes Saul Tigh to haul him back from the edge.

Also, Ellen Tight is the final cylon? Starbuck, what the frak? D'Anna said fuck you, clown, and the circus you came in with; she's not taking this ride again.

There's so much to get a handle on. I'm still kind of in shock. At any rate, I can't wait until next week.

Watchmen....

...An agreement has been reached.

Which is good because people were...angry. Very very angry.

Battlestar!

Tonight the journey continues. Season 4.5. The re-watch is on track. I'll watch the final episode of 4.0 when I get home from work. It should wrap up half an hour before the new episode. I am ridiculously excited. And as you can tell, the opening of the second half of the final season means getting back to regular BSG blogging. So even if nothing else is going on here, you can at least expect that much from me.

If you haven't gotten through The Ties That Bind in season 4.0 then you should probably skip over the rest of this post.






Let's talk about Cally for a second. For a long time Cally was my least favorite character on BSG. Out of all of the stories and character arcs that we explored hers progressed the least. Did it progress at all? I don't know. Even Dualla grew. Cally never did. She shot Boomer. And honestly, I've never forgiven her character for that. She ate and talked and joked and worked with Boomer for two years. Lived with Boomer for two years. And she shot her. And not once did she look back and question that. Not once did she stop and think to re-evaluate her premises. When The Ties That Bind first aired, I actually cheered at the end. I'm sorry for that.

Let's talk about Cally for a second. She joined the fleet to pay for dental school and the world ended. And Cally stood her post. Remember when D'Anna made that documentary about the men and women of Galactica? That statistic Gaeta gave her? Not one person aboard Galactica asked to be discharged. That includes Cally, folks. This scared little girl who wanted to be a dentist and the world ended. She loved the Chief. The Chief loved Boomer, a friend who turned into an enemy who then shot Adama- shot dad. Eventually she married Chief and they had a son. New Caprica was a nightmare. When we find her in season 4 she's depressed. On anti-depressants and not sleeping. Paranoid and even more scared than she's ever been. And she's always been such a scared slip of a girl doing grown-up things without thinking grown-up thoughts or feeling grown-up feelings. And her dream which was going bad becomes a nightmare. Cally never learned to burn off what didn't work. I'd like to think that she found some sort of peace or grace before she died, but I'm not sure she did. But I cried this time around. For the little girl floating frozen and alone in space.

Season 3

Some questions and ideas coming into season 3:

1.) In 345 days how many times did Starbuck kill Leoben?
2.) How much does Ellen love Saul?
3.) To what extent can we forgive her for the choices (all of them but one)
she made because of that love?
4.) When did you realize that you could love Cain?
5.) Baltar?
6.) How do you define 'us' and 'them'?
7.) How many times have they killed Boomer and how much more does it hurt every time?

It's Like Crack....

But better. This game is amazing and addictive. Play it. I dare you.

Moving Along Nicely....

The Great BSG Re-watch continues. I'm two episodes away from finishing season 2.0. I'll begin season 2.5 before I call it a night. I'll make a lengthy BSG post before I start season 3.

It Has Begun!

I picked up season 4.0 of BSG on my way home from work this evening. The Great Battlestar Rewatch began at roughly 7pm. My goal? To make it from the mini-series/pilot to the last episode of the first half of the 4th season by the airing of the first episode of the second half of the 4th and final season on Friday.

There are no words to describe how ridiculously excited I am over the conclusion of this show. Honestly, it's quite possibly the best tv show in the history of ever.

To my fellow fans who are hopefully engaged in similar antics, Good night and good luck.

Your Mistake....

So... Amazon separates Japanese horror films from other Asian horror films. Okay. But I'm sure their efforts would be better met if they actually limited their "J-Horror" section to horror films that were made in Japan

However, so long as we're looking at the Vengeance trilogy, I might as well add that all three movies are amazing. And I don't use that term lightly. But I warn you,Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance has one of the most fucked endings I've ever seen. Not The Audition kind of fucked, where it's gross and disturbing, but a you just feel so bad kind of fucked. Still, if you haven't seen it you're really missing something.

Oh, My Mistake....

I thought that Japan was in Asia....

You'll Forgive Me If I Look A Little Sick....

...but I just had a glimpse of the next 4 years.

Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country's 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession.

Chickens. Roost.

In light of the $700 billion provided to bail out the financial industry, "It's not shockingly large," he said.

Balls.

Look, let's be honest. People get the government they deserve. And we've been steadily sowing the seeds of statism at an ever increasing pace since Reagan left office. Democrats and Republicans alike. And in so far as all that it takes for evil to triumph is a lack of action from good men, any of us who value liberty but shied from the front lines of the culture war are to blame.

Many of us have allowed ourselves to be bullied and intimidated out of the conversation. Time and time again we've chosen "peace in our time" and in doing so have allowed our opponents to malign us, to redefine language, to recast history. We have allowed our opponents such dominance over the conversation that a great many of them believe it to be over. That they have won.

Quite frankly, when five Democratic governors can ask the federal government for 1 trillion dollars to bail out states which have overspent their way into multi-billion dollar deficits with a straight face, it's hard to remember that they haven't won. But they haven't. Sure. Things look dark. But we can take them. All we have to do is fight. If we fight, we will win because freedom and responsibility are always superior to the yoke of the state. This has never been and is not a now a country for those who would prefer to kneel. Freedom is a hard thing; it requires that you stand. But free men have done more to lift humanity from the muck and the mire than any tyrant, state, or bureaucrat ever has.

No, our opponents haven't won yet. But those of us who value freedom, whether you call yourself libertarian, classically liberal, conservative, whatever, it's time to abandon the silence. Engage in conversations. Challenge assumptions. Confront erroneous information. Don't be rude. There's no need to shout anyone down. We're not trying to convert zealots. We're illuminating an alternative for those who don't know one exists.

And if we want oust the in coming administration in 4 years instead of 8 we should kick the statists out of the Republican Party.

Out With The Old....

On the last night of 2008 let's look back 10 of the most awesome things the year brought us.

10.) We found Earth.

9.) The Piranha Party

8.) Sarah Palin went national

7.) Left 4 Dead

6.) Obzen

5.) Causes of the 1918 Flu pandemic identified.

4.) VI Day

3.) Anon declares war on Scientology.

2.) Rachel Lucas crushed my futile hopes.

1.) The Dark Knight

Obviously this list is ummm.... kind of last minute. So, okay. Maybe not the most awesome things of the year, but they're still pretty damn awesome. Happy New Year, guys. (All what? 2 of you now?) Party safe tonight and I'll see you in '09.

Well That's Not Good....

Earthquakes under Yellowstone. What's so bad about that? Just a little thing called a Supervolcano. Clearly this all Bush's fault.

Genius....

I give you humor.

http://fuckyoupenguin.blogspot.com

Hat tip: Rachel Lucas and Roxanne.

The Awful Thing About Growing Up....

Is learning that your heroes are but mortals. Bettie Page is dead. Tonight I plan on meeting up with some friends and raising a toast in honor of the legend.



Thanks for everything, Miss Page.

Hey....

Let's talk about Sons of Anarchy for a minute.

Now that the season finale is done, there's a lot to say. I started watching because there was nothing on and being sans-satellite I was trolling through the on demand archives and figured I'd give it a shot. The first episode was described by TWOP as being a white trash biker version of the Sopranos. I can't speak for the Sopranos because it was never a show that I really got into, but I like SoA.

SoA keeps you from completely cheering their group of anti-heroes on by giving you an antihero who has serious and continual moral qualms guided by the manuscript of his deceased father. The protagonist operates outside of the law and is entrenched in a world he seeks to change. He does bad things and not always for the right reasons, but tries to do as much good as he can. It's a story of flawed people. And the people progress. Realistically. Even the primary antagonist isn't without virtue. If BSG is about redemption, then SoA is about damnation.

In BSG you watch characters struggle to save themselves from hell in every sense, but SoA is the story of people damning themselves for the most part. Don't get me wrong, SoA is of nowhere near the quality as BSG, but it shares some cross points. SoA lives closer to the alter than BSG does, but it's still about what takes place between the temple and the alter.

SoA is on a larger scale about fixing a dream gone wrong. It's about a biker gang founded to be essentially a libertarian commune operating by its own rules outside of society mainly by distance and influence upon the small town it calls home. The idea went wrong primarily due to the influence of one of the founding members. The son of a murdered founder starts having second doubts because he has a new born son. His doubts are fed by his discovery of his father's manuscript which detail his dreams for the purpose of the club upon its founding and how it went astray. That son, Jax, oscillates between his fathers dreams and the influence of his stepfather, Samcrow, who was founding member who drew the club down the wrong path.

SoA has a very Hamlet feel during the first season, despit the fact that Jax's mother, Samcrow's wife, very clearly knows what happened to Jax's father and sides with Samcrow (though the season finale throws a smidgeon of doubt upon the driving force behind their releationship). In fact, I would go so far as to say that the first season of SoA is essentially Hamlet being confronted with his father's ghost and trying to figure out what to do about it.

I didn't want to write about this show until now because I wasn't sure I could do it without making iti a recap. Tonight made it big league. Hell, I just told you it was Hamlet. It's not BSG level so far, but there will be more posts about SoA if FX picks it up for another season. I hope they do. And I hope they continue the Hamlet mirror. It's hard to go wrong from Shakespear, yall. Really.

That's all for tonight. I recommend that you check out SoA. Start from the beginning because it's that kind of show and give a chance up through the episode with the clown. You'll know which one I mean. That's the one that moved it from casual to must see watching for me. And not just becuase I freaking hate clowns.

I'll close with this: imagine The Sopranos+Hamlet+biker gang, how could that now= awesome? Try it.

Oh, and happy Thanksgiving.

And The Lunacy Continues....

For those of you (okay, I was one) who tried to pull a silver lining from election day's cloud by hoping that Democrat control over both the legislative and executive branches of government would somehow spark a return to sanity and civility, it looks like crazy is harder to cure.

And Congressional Democrats say that they are determined to pursue their investigations — and that they expect career officials to disclose other issues after the Bush administration leaves. “We could spend the entire next four years investigating the Bush years,” Mr. Whitehouse said.

Where to begin? With Obama's staff stating that they'll keep much of President Bush's intelligence policies? Or with the fact that investigating out going presidents based purely and obviously on partisan grudges or policy disputes establishes a completely absurd precedent? Maybe with the fact that we currently have a multi-front war, an economic crisis, China, Russia, North Korea, and the potential of a nuclear Iran to deal with and they want to spend time pursuing an agenda that will only increase the divisiveness of political discourse? There's too much to chose from. I don't know. You decide. What's more insane?

Hat tip, Roger L. Simon

The Wonders Of Editing....

I expect this to be the first and last post about Sci-Fi's new series Chase. Whatever else there is to say about this show, the editing is amazing on two levels. The first level is that the introduction of the hunters is just ridiculously action movie. However, more importantly, the contestant interviews are placed for sheer comedy gold. In the first 13 minutes two contestants have had fantastic comedy placement for their interviews. A girl who had just indulged in being completely clueless interviews about how she's actually really smart. Then a guy interviews how he's in good shape, only to immediately trip over a fallen lamp post. A lamp post, people. It's not like it was uneven pavement. It was a goddamn street light.

That is all.

And The Great Whitewash Begins....

....I mean, hey, it's never too early to start shoring up the legacy.

So the President-in-Training gets hundreds of millions in dubious credit card money, but McCain follows the rules and he gets punished.

JamieWearingFool links to the full story.

Memories....

John Hawkins over at Right Wing News remembers the North American Union and pays homage to the paranoid idiots who parroted it.

Well, Barack Obama is our new President-elect and George Bush is twiddling his thumbs and waiting for January so he can go back to Crawford. Shockingly, well to incredibly gullible people who don't understand the basics of how the country works, Bush has not merged our country with Mexico and Canada.

The funny thing about conspiracy theorists is that they never let a little thing like proof get in the way of their ideas. Don't expect people to shut up about it now, just because it hasn't happened.

Hat tip, Steven Green.

Veterans....

....thank you. Thank you for everything.

The First Step....

I've long held that history will treat President Bush far kinder than his contemporaries have. Could this be the first step (of many) towards that eventuality? I hope so.

New Conservative Brand?

Cassandra over at Villainous Company discusses the future of the conservative brand:

....We need to start making the case that nearly all of these issues are ones which have traditionally been resolved at the state and local level. We need to frame this as a "freedom" issue: when the federal government imposes a one-size-fits-all moral code upon 50 very different states, we LOSE the freedom to decide and debate amongst ourselves how we want to live....

....There may be better words for this, but in broad, overarching terms conservatives need to frame the choice facing voters as being between a Party of Opportunity and Freedom which maximizes individual dignity, responsibility, and choice and minimizes government interference in the lives of citizens a Party of Pessimism and Control which maximizes dependency on government, waste and inefficiency and minimizes productivity, opportunity, and accountability.

It seems to me that that's pretty much the conservative brand as it once was. The vast majority of conservatives who I know are "conservative because [they're] classical liberal[s]". But that's just a way of saying that you don't believe in turning your (or anyone else's) morals into legislation. (This could lead to another entire post about how a moral decision stops being moral, when it's made at gun point.) I forgot where I was going with this. Anyway, check it out.

Oh For Fuck's Sake....

Thursday I received a text message from an associate in California asking me to petition the governor to overturn the vote on proposition 8. My first response was to ask why the hell they were asking me, a Marylander, to petition the governor of California on an amendment to the California state constitution. I was told to "think positive". That, boys and girls, was the proverbial straw. I've been stewing on the situation for several days and goddamnit I'm not holding back any more.

RESPECT DEMOCRACY, ASSHOLES!

I mean really, the voters of California turned out and had their say. Democracy means you don't always get your way. And if you do get it, it might not be on your time table. If proposition 8 failed and its supporters tried the kind of shit its opponents are currently trying we'd be hearing about republican/conservative/religious fascism until out ears and eyes bled.

The biggest supporters of proposition 8 (the ones who made a difference really) were the blacks and hispanics who turned out to vote for Obama (who is also against gay marriage). Does this mean that gays will finally tire of being thrown under the democrats' post election bus? Doubtful. But it is fun to watch the chickens of identity politics come home to roost.

Look, gay marriage will come to be in this country. Maybe not rightthismoment, but it will happen. And it will happen sooner if people stop pushing for it to happen yesterday. Frankly (preemptive no pun intended), I think the best solution resembles the situation in France (see?). And if I'm lauding the French government it's either a cold day in hell indeed, or a time to seriously prick up your ears. My solution is this: civil unions become the government recognized institution. Whatever your persuasion/orientation, your committed 1:1 thing will be called a civil union under the law. Marriage will be taken up with your/the/a church/temple/whatever. Given the number of republican delegates at this year's convention who were amiable to civil unions, I suspect that that compromise will be a relatively easy legislative battle to win. The republican presidential and vice-presidential nominees were both against banning.

But all of that is beside the point. The point is simply this: The Union, this country, is bigger than ohmygodiwantitnow! The fact that this is even a subject of national debate is huge in and of itself. This isn't about shutting up and moving to the back of the bus, it's about understanding that at this juncture reasoning with those who disagree is a better tactic than trying to use the guns of the government to persuade them. It's about the fact that, the system which you extole and villify as it suits your purpose has held together a rag-tag band of miscreants, rabble-rousers, and apostatic reprobates for over 200 years, and it has done so in a manner which has produced prosperity and freedom to such a degree that it should (and does which is why they hate us) shame the rest of the world. And in your selfish need for instant gratification and unconditional surrender you seek to hobble it. Moreover, you cripple the good faith that must exist between citizens for the system to function.

Good faith between citizens is crucial for the survival of a democracy. It's the understanding that the other side will not seek to circumvent, impare, or destroy the system in order to get their way when they lose or maintain power when they win.

By any serious accounting this stopped being a debate about if years ago. It's a debate about when. If a little patience is excersised, it'll probably happen within the next 10 years, and it won't be court ordered, but chosen by the American people. Now stop pissing in the fucking well.

Wasted Opportunities

So I'm watching tonight's episode of Sanctuary and all I can think is how much I wish it was an episode of Supernatural instead. You could so totally rely on Dean to refer to the nubbins as predator-tribbles. Because I mean, really. A whole hour devoted to small furry rapidly breeding cute creatures who have natural active camouflage and eat everything (including people) and not one reference to Star Trek's The Trouble With Tribbles episode? Like how is that even possible?

One More Thing....

After last night's drunken post it occurred to me that I left something out.

PALIN '12!!!

Also, for all of those no-neck, squid loving, rats piling on the Alaskan Governor, I have just one thing to say: you try to pin your failure or inadequacy on Palin, you join the general pile-on of ivy league elitist bullshit, and you will cripple the Republican party. Oh, and fuck you for trying.

A Few Words....

First, Congratulations to Senator Obama.

Second, John McCain gave an amazingly classy speech tonight. I'm proud of him and my ideological fellow travelers. I extend my heart felt thanks to John McCain, Sarah Palin, and their families for the efforts they put forth. I look forward to hearing from Governor Palin on the national stage in the future.

Third, I will be spending the next hour or two nursing a beer or two.

Now, there are many on the right who've already articulated what I'm about to say. I disagree with President-elect Obama on a great many issues. This is no secret. However, I applaud his victory and wish him the best of luck in these troubling times. I hope my concerns about him prove to be misplaced. I hope the next 4 years are peaceful and prosperous. I remain committed to doing my part to improve civility in political discourse in this country. My country.

I will do this by example. I will not fall into the mindless rage that has marked opposition political discourse for the past 8 years. John McCain and Sarah Palin campaigned on the slogan "Country First". I intend to demonstrate that that was not just a slogan, but an affirmation of a way of life. I will not hope for President-elect Obama and the Democrat controlled congress to fail over the next 2 to 4 years. Instead, I will hope that they rise above the bitterness and sheer contraryness that has marred the past 8 years of politics in this country and lead. Lead this country and its people to prosperity and victory.

We here, on the right, like to refer to ourselves as the party of adults. Let's demonstrate that. Let's be adult. We lost. They won. If my hopes fall short we will have hard work cut out for us, not just in doing everything in our power to work against what we understand to be wrong, but also to fight for what we know to be right. It is of the utmost importance that we now look to the future and begin to rebuild and reshape our party. Let's not spend these upcoming years being contrary for the sake of being contrary. Now we have an opportunity to build a new contract with America. Strengthen the bonds of the Regan coaliton.

The Debate

Three things:

1.) Neither candidate whips government intervention as the primary cause of our current financial predicament. They're both too hung up on Wall street.

2.) McCain did a really good job of keeping Obama on the defensive. He did a really good job of bringing the questions around to his strengths and his references to his record were a good call. He didn't have to say "that my oponent lacks".

3.) McCain really missed a chance on the last question. Obama mentioned going after the roots of terrorism and McCain gave a good response, but it would have been great if he -without mentioning Saudi Arabia and Iran specifically- brought that back into his energy policy (specifically the drilling) because right now there is no better way to hurt Islamic terrorism's major funding than by decreasing the price of oil which means drilling here now. McCain's response was good, but could have been great.

Hot Republican VP.....

Oh, and she's smart, capable and more qualified than the Democratic Presidential nominee. So color me surprised when a lefty friend of mine tried to pull the "lacks experience" card against her.

Baltimore Sun Strikes Again....

In a demonstration of its typical sense of good taste, the Baltimore Sun decided to run news of McCain's VP pick directly behind the obituaries and right before the celebrity entertainment section. Way to keep it classy guys. Not even fit to line a bird cage.

Oh Brother....

I'm watching The Messiah's acceptance speech tonight and reading the inevitable drunkblogging.

So three beers in at the end and if G.W. was running this election, there'd be a lot of relevance where there wasn't any.

Rockstar crowd.

Marxism, no surprise.

Raising teachers' salaries??? That's lower than state level. What function, exactly, does he think the president serve.

And this dude is a lying bastard of a politician. Well is from Chicago.

No how, but a lot of "what".

Lot's of olive branch to the PUMAs, using the old "good show, don't stop believing, I have daughters" route. Still, he did pretty much cockslap H.R.C. with his whole less than one month in office as senator decision to run for POTUS.

How do I come away? This is a guy who was compared to McGovern during the primaries, but this dude is Chicago through and through.

Check the drunkblogging and the comments.

I know I didn't have much to say, but neither did he.

Props to McCain for the classy ad.

See you folks for the RNC.

Ummm....

Sorry about last week's BSG post. Really. It's just that... I was a bit overwhelmed. Sorry.

So I watched last night's episode in a bit of an emotional fugue after Natalie died. I loved that particular Six from her first episode. Shooting star, baby. Shooting star. Damn. Then again, I love all the Sixes. And the Eights. And... well frak. I love everyone on that show. Even annoying ass Lee Adamma because idealists are a pain in the ass ,but/because they keep us honest about the shit we do.

Also: Athena. I understand that trip. But still. Frrraaaaaaak.

President Roslin. That is all.

Threes unboxed!!!! OMFG!

Bill Adamma... just... wow. Really.

New theory about the ending? Everyone dies.

After spending several seasons telling people this show wasn't like the bleakest existential trip ever.... No. I mean, it's not that. But frak, BSG.

On a lighter note, Doctor Who kicked ass last night. This season's been really quite spectacular so far. Yay.

Unadulterated Hero Worship....

*Bumped*
I've been gone for a while and what do I return with? This post, that's what. I'm starting a list of Rachel Lucas' "Jesus in a ___" statements. Gawd, is that woman a genius. Every time there's a new one, this post will be updated and bumped. In theory.

• "Jesus in a meadow"
• "Jesus in a frosted mug"
• "Christ with a cigarette"
• "Jesus in a green beret"
  

I know. This is beyond sad. Not like anyone's reading though, so I'm free to wallow in my freakish adulation.

Rundown....

You may be wondering what's up with all the BSG blogging seeing as how it's been the focus of my last four posts. So here's the deal. No, I did not just discover the awesomeness that is Battlestar Galactica. I've been a devoted follower since the mini-series that started it. But I used to feel weird blogging about TV so I didn't. Now I don't care, so I do.

Politics are on hold for a while. And by "for a while" I mean "until I want to again". Don't know how long that will be- not like there's anyone here who cares, neh?

Anyway, tis the season for baseball, ultimate frisbee, and the sort of drinks served in tiki bars that come with those little umbrellas. But we can ignore the umbrella part.

Having Climbed Down...

from the frakking ceiling after Friday's BSG, I'm going to have to rewatch it. Especially because, two weeks!? Nooooooooooooooooooo!

But then, yeah. We'll talk about it.

Doctor Who is awesome, but then it always is (like BSG) except for that episode in season two with the little girl who drew people and they became trapped in the drawing. That one was rubbish. (Like BSG's "Woman King" in season 3.)

Frak!

Frak! Frak! frak! Frak frak frak frak frak frak frak frak FRAK!!!

Frak Athena! Frak!

What the FRAK?!

Holy Frak....

So of all the unlikely events to occur this week, last night's episode of Doctor Who framed the heck out of BSG. And it's all about songs.

Last night Doctor Who was all songs of freedom and unification and self. Held captive, turned in on themselves, and truncated they became songs of mourning and loss and isolation. The Doctor broke the circle and through freedom and reunification the self was reclaimed and the song was both liberated and liberator.

Galactica opens with a song- or rather the chance of reclaiming a song- as Starbuck, after 58 days finds a chance to reconnect with the song/the sound of the universe that gave her Earth and brought her back from the dead (in more ways than one).

Opening credits and our weekly song/prayer for light and grace and peace.

We dive back in and Starbuck gets her chance and so does Athena and Sam and a member of the resistance on Caprica, Barolay, to seek out their respective songs. They jump away in the raptor and Starbuck hears it and it guides her to her comet, which is the basestar.

Disembarkation and Athena's song this week (and pretty much this entire show in iterations) is about re/unification and self reclamation. Here, it's first iteration comes from another eight and it's this: welcome, we missed you, you were right, help us be like you, war. And Athena Kendra Shaws/sings back: "Pick you side and stick with it". Athena's is cleaner, but only on one end (as we'll see later).

Anders' song (this entire frakking season) is acceptance and it's strained and hesitant as he almost tries to access the Cylon computer system. It's cut short by Kara, calling him to come with her. He should stay there because he's more familiar with the raptor's systems which, true. But also, does this place feel like home?

Next there's the Barolay and the six. And their songs are the same and they're both bound in circles of the past. Barolay killed the six on Caprica. Drowned her. And after shouldering by the six is informed of this. Barolay non-graces to repeat the performance and six kills her. And I don't think the six planned that. But Anders and Athena rush in, check for vitals, realize Barolay is dead, and draw their weapons. Anders' gun in the back of the six's head as she kneels on her hands and knees. Natalie, Starbuck, and an eight rush in, and the six's story breaks your frakking heart or you don't frakking have one. But the telling of it is redemption and then she graces that she's glad it's Natalie. Natalie kisses her goodbye, stands, places her hand over Anders' and pulls the trigger. I confess, I cried here.

Hybrid's room and Starbuck listens to the hybrid's god-song trying to discern the strains of her own. It's no good and she orders the plug pulled to allow the raptor to guide the basestar's jump back to the Demetrius. One of the eights who greeted Athena comes in. She's trying to sing Athena's song, but not really understanding it. The eight (and seriously, I really wish they all had names because I love them that frakking much) tries to unplug the hybrid. The hybrid screams like a homing beacon for doomsday and doom answers in the guise of a centurion, who shoots the eight. She falls and her blood runs into the hybrid's pool and the hybrid co-opts Kara's song and as Starbuck listens and tries to sing, it turns to ashes. There are really only two things you can do when your song turns to ash in you mouth: you can choose to be a demon dancing in the fires of destruction or you can choose to be a phoenix. Kara sits on the edge and Natalie gives her permission to become the pheonix. Gives her her song back. And now it's their song.

The eight who was shot by the centurion, rolls over and understands the song Athena sang. She sings it back it back too clear for Athena to hold, asking for recognition of her redemption. She finds it, not in the grasp of a sister who came back without returning, but in the arms of a lost brother who's face she doesn't know to recognize. And Sam's song of acceptance is clear hear, and it's born in mourning. Mourning for a girl who didn't know she was a girl and when she did the world ended/was reborn and she along with it. And I cried here too as Sam closes the eight's eyes. Circle broken. The eight joins the extremely short list of people on this show who managed to make redemption stick. They're all dead. What does that tell you?

Basestar jumps back to Helo and the rest of the crew of the Demetrius several seconds after the clock ran out and three seconds before Helo orders the jump. And it's re/unification songs all over the place.

I haven't said anything about President Roslin's story line this episode, but that's about songs too. I won't get into it right now because this post is big enough as it is.

Just a Thought....

I'm going to propose a completely insane hypothesis as to the identity of the final unknown Cylon model. Don't read any further if you're not interested.






Okay, so what if unboxed three, transformed by her vision of the faces of the final five is last of the final five?


That was it. I don't think that's the case at all, but fun thought experiment-y thing.

I Had to Wake Up for This....

Today in class we discuss conspiracy theories. To be fair, it was brought up by several classmates. However, after letting several people ramble on about how the U.S. government is controlling the drug trade (including one gentleman who thought Iran-Contra took place in Cuba) there was no effort to address the statements made. So.... 15 minutes of conspiracy theories and no effort at damage control.

And people question the value of higher education....

But the Question is....

Since assuming office the first thing on MD Governor, Martin O'Malley's agenda has been the ousting of the State Superintendent of Education, Dr. Nancy Grasmick. Mind you, Dr. Grasmick is the reason MD schools are ranked 3rd in the nation. Just what could be the motivation behind publicly and irrationally launching an offensive against the head of the state's education system?

Well, I could call O'Malley a partisan hack, but that would be too kind. It's no secret, here in the old line state, that our current Gov. has dreams of Pennsylvania Ave. So maybe that in conjunction with the success H.R.C.'s campaign explains why he suddenly seems to have had a change of heart.

Primaries and the Elections

This is my first and last primaries post (and possibly my first and lest elections post). I was a Fred Head. That dream is dead. I'll hold my nose and support McCain instead.

But seriously, folks. Am I thrilled with McCain? No. But he's a damn sight better than Clinton or Obama. Just because I haven't thrown my voice into the discussion until now, doesn't mean that I haven't been paying attention. Generally speaking, I hear two reasons for why we should pack up our toys and go home: McCain is the same as or worse than Cli-Bama; and that the lesser of two evils is still evil.

To the McCain = Clinton/Obama people: I do not understand the world you live in. Other, bloggers with bigger readership and more respect have posted the facts. Reposting them here isn't going to make a difference. But maybe if we're all very lucky, in time when emotions have settled you'll look back on yourselves in these moments with more than a little humility and maybe a little embarrassment.

To the less evil is still evil people: Stop making the perfect the enemy of the good.

Here's the deal, if we lose the war against the Islamicists it won't be because they were smarter or stronger. It will be because we lost focus. And just in case you've forgotten (and I suspect that some of you have) if we fail here, we won't have a country left to fix (or ruin). I know it's unpleasant. Yes, it sucks. It's a lousy set of options we have to choose between, but that's life, and the real world, and adult-hood. And if you're sick of being lectured like petulant children who didn't get their favorite cookie for desert then start acting like rational adults who are deciding the fate of the free world.

Reign it in, people.

Well...Duh....

Turns out the CIA report which cooled so many heels on the threat of Iran's nuclear weapons program was worded less than optimally.

It turns out that on Tuesday, as our Eli Lake reported on page one of yesterday's Sun, the director of national intelligence, Mr. McConnell says he now regrets the phrasing of the unclassified estimate that so stirred America's enthusiasts of diplomacy.

Of course the only people who are probably surprised by this are the people who gleefully proclaimed egg to be on the administration's face. Anyone with a wit of sense realized that any time France agrees with Israel you should pay attention.

Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds

It Took This....

....to get me back.

4 undersea internet cables cut in something like a week. Speculation has been ramping up. I don't know what to make of it, but it stretches the limits of coincidence.

Hat tip: Vodka Pundit

Lawhawk is trying to make heads or tales of it. There are more links at Slashdot.

I suspect primary buzz is a major damper on this story, but it bears keeping a close eye on.