Well, if Peggy Noonan found it disturbing... (and something else Nazi-ish about Bush)

Peggy Noonan is prolly one of my favorite people to ever come out of mainstream politics in the last 20 years or so. Didja know that she's the one who helped Reagan with his speech on the afternoon after the Challenger exploded? Still makes me cry whenever I read the words of that.

Well, she's also someone who ain't afraid to note when something is terribly out of kilter, no matter who it's regarding. And in "Way Too Much God", she's got some choice words about Bush's inauguration speech. It's a good read and worth contemplating and there's a lot I could cite from it, but here's the heartmeat of her beef about what was wrong with Bush's mindset yesterday:

"This world is not heaven."

A man can follow Christ. A man can be the world's most powerful leader. But a man cannot be a Christian world leader in the sincerest sense at all unless he surrenders to what that statement means.

Also found this, "Will Bush Side with the Property Thieves?" published at the Future of Freedom Foundation's website. Never heard of these guys but they oppose gun control, federalized education and socialized medicine... so they're hitting on all the right cylinders in my book. The author of this piece, one Sheldon Richman, is noting that the Bush Administration is coming down on the side of local governments that condemn and seize the property of average citizens and small businesses, then sell the land to major corporations (Wal-Mart has been involved in a number of such incidents) to develop as they please. The rationale posed by the municipalities is that big companies - like Pfizer, mentioned in the article - will produce much more tax revenue for these governments than do small-fries like Joe Sixpack and Pop's Corner Grocery. Doesn't look like they've done anything official yet, however according to Richman's piece...

The twist is that the Bush administration — self-proclaimed champion of the "ownership society" — will apparently give its blessing to the land heist. According to the Wall Street Journal, "[The] Administration may file an amicus brief against property owners in an upcoming Supreme Court case concerning eminent domain." Several property-rights advocacy organizations have publicly asked the administration to side with the landowners but — ominously — there's been no response.

If they support this seizure in such a way, the Bush Administration will be saying, in effect, that in the eyes of American law that some really are "more equal than others". But somehow I don't think that even Orwell would have conceived of a day when in the United States a large corporation - an artificial entity - would be given greater consideration and priority over a flesh-and-blood individual.

Someone in the comments recently suggested I was being foolish for comparing Bush to Hitler. Well, that Bush is even considering putting his support behind this kind of practice is as damned close to what the Nazis held to as you can get: National Socialism was a centralized authoritiarian government much like that of the Soviet Union. But unlike the Communists, National Socialism didn't just allow but encouraged private industry, especially large corporate entities... so long as they contributed to the sustenance of the government's power. Whatever was deemed necessary to keep the trains running on time for the political and industrial leaders, was carried out... and individuals be damned!

Folks, what Bush is close to giving a wink toward was standard procedure of the Third Reich. And if he has no problem with letting ordinary Americans having their homes and livelihoods destroyed for sake of a major corporation, what might such a mind do if he deemed it required that such sacrifices be made for "the homeland"?

There is either the right to possess your own property in America without feeling threatened by undue seizure, or there is NO right at all and what you think of as "yours" is ultimately government's to take at its pleasure. If the latter is the predominant mindset behind this government's motive, then there exists no basis for freedom or liberty in America at all, since the right to own personal property is the absolute foundation upon which all other rights and liberties are derived.

Thus, President George W. Bush has set himself up as the sworn enemy of freedom and liberty for the American people.

Thought y'all would like to know that.

And I'll close this post with a final remark relating to all this: was in a history class in college years ago that was discussing this very thing on a philosophical level. And it was agreed upon - by FAR more than those opposed to it - that if such a thing were to ever start happening in America, that we owed it to ourselves and our posterity to preserve the right to private ownership, and defend our own homes accordingly. And if that meant assassinating those who so lusted after that which was rightfully ours that they tried to take it by force of government... well, there would be a moral obligation to do so.

No, again I don't want to see anyone killed. But gotta admit, there's something to be said about instilling a healthy dose of fear in would-be tyrants when those they would lord over realize that they need not so eagerly take up the rifle, but merely keep it ready beside the front door.

Don't trust anyone, unless you're fully convinced they're worth trusting. The Founders did a work of genius when they intended there to be a level of tension between those that govern, and those that extend their grace to be governed.

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It was Newspeak's finest hour...

"Hey, all you 'evangelical Christians' that voted for me..."

"...UP YOURS!"
After reading this, the dark "id" creature dwelling in the recesses of my heart is licking its chops, salivating in anticipation of the next four years. So many people are going to be made out before one and all as being deluded fools who preferred a lie more than they would adhere to the truth.

Tonight they party. Tomorrow comes the hangover.

It'll be tough, but I promise to try and not gloat when the hard reality finally strikes them in the face...

"We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world... So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."

Ahem...

Bush also said this, a little over four years ago: "But we can't be all things to all people in the world. I am worried about over-committing our military around the world. I want to be judicious in its use. I don't think nation-building missions are worthwhile." (Presidential debate at Wake Forest University, October 11 2000).

"America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies."

This from a guy who used to explode frogs with firecrackers and start vicious whisper campaigns against college classmates that he was jealous of. And so far as pretending that dissidents shouldn't be silenced: Hey Bush, stop using the "free speech zones" and having people arrest for the "crime" of wearing a Kerry t-shirt. Then we'll talk, bucko.

"The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you must learn to trust them."

?!?!?!????

THIS, from the biggest control-freak who ever sat in the Oval Office?! Who trusts people in lands 8,000 miles away more than his own?!

I'd suggest that those who voted for this guy should now feel ashamed for their ignorance... but they tend to be the ones who don't have a sense of shame anyway, so why bother?

"From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon."

Translation: Prepare for more breast-fondling and strip-searches of 80-year old WWII veterans by the TSA goons whenever you fly. And pay no attention to the millions of illegals and Lord knows who else coming across from Mexico.

"All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself - and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character."

In other words you might as well sign up for the military as this gang's cannon-fodder now, before the inevitable draft coming down soon takes you in anyway.

Say, when do Jenna and Barbara enlist? I mean, they were up there with their Daddy: shouldn't they be setting the example by proving to the rest of us that there's some integrity behind his words? Seems like it would be a thing to uphold the honorable name of a parent, y'know.

"America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home - the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty."

Liberty in America was secured by idealistic individuals with guns aimed at tyrants. To add anything more would possibly incur a visit from the feds, but you catch my drift.

"Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before - ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Someone already did a better job than I in commenting on this: here's Sabertooth's take.

So did Bush write this himself or did he use a speechwriter? If someone else drafted it, Bush should fire them immediately: this entire thing is filled with little (anything at all?) but empty rhetoric and blatant falsehoods. If Bush himself wrote this...

...Well, it's said that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. His grasp of the concept of human liberty is downright lethal.

If he's serious about "creating" freedom and democracy around the world, he's already damned to be one of the worst Presidents in American history. You can't bestow freedom on a people that aren't ready to achieve it on their own. Iraq should be more than adequate proof of this.

There's no way he can fulfill all of this without a massive replenishment/reinforcement of the armed forces: they're far too stretched across the board as it is, and in situations that a defensive military was never intended for at all. Considering that the neocon hawks are now hot about - and heavily hinting at - invading Iran, there's going to be no logical option but to build up more military forces via a draft if they're seriously hellbent on committing to this. And when it's factored-in that Iran has quietly been acquiring some pretty scary ordnance (like the Sunburn anti-ship missile) for well over a decade, well... it wouldn't be as nicely a "mission accomplished" as Iraq was by any stretch.

Bush is not prepared for what he's suggesting, either in conceiving so vast an endeavour or to accept the consequences of his own actions when it fails.

All of this and more leads me to feel pretty thankful tonight, that I've chosen not to align with this lot.

(And with this entry, The Knight Shift has hit the mark for 100 posts made :-)

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Awright, put down that Da Vinci crap and check this out

So far no one in my circle of friends has told me that I absolutely must read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (right now we all seem to be reading Michael Crichton's State of Fear, re-reading all the current Harry Potter novels, or the first serious biography about Oskar Schindler... that's me :-). Not really expecting anyone too either. And already plenty confident that I won't waste a single dime or moment of life reading this tripe.

We're told that The Da Vinci Code is a "phenomenon". Heck, Ron Howard is doing the film adaptation (starring Tom Hanks) right now: I like both of 'em but I'm not gonna plunk down good money to see their movie either. In fact, they're making a huge mistake by having anything to do with this project. No doubt it seems like THE sure-fire hit right now, but enough people have complained that the story is "juvenile", badly manages its plot and boasts characters with all the depth of a kiddie pool. Ten years from now it'll be laughed at, but The Da Vinci Code will no doubt dazzle enough people to merit a mini-franchise... all because of its central premise: that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and had children through her and that a centuries-old secret society has concealed this knowledge from lay Christianity.

yawn...

This crap is so old that it long ago ceased being "intriguing" at all. The Prieure de Sion, the Cathars and Knights Templars, those pesky Merovingian descendants and their "sang raal", whatever is laying around Rennes-le-Chateau in southern France... I'd already known more about this stuff than probably anything Brown put in his tale. And that was years BEFORE I'd even read Holy Blood, Holy Grail... by every indication the book that Brown shamelessly ripped-off when he wrote The Da Vinci Code!

Speaking of which, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, first published in 1982, is currently ranked #50 on Amazon's list of top-selling books. It's the original source for this theory, which doesn't validate it at all 'cuz it's a curious mix of journalism, archaeology, religious conjecture and conspiracy theory: from which the resulting syncresis should not be taken at face value. Not "dissing" Holy Blood, Holy Grail per se, just that it's... odd. Definitely to be read with a discriminating mind.

But if this is the sort of thing that strikes your fancy and you want something REALLY juicy to focus your curiosity on, this lil' item is just what you're looking for. Wanna say this: my jaw literally dropped when I saw this on television this afternoon. Because as recently as 10 or 12 years or so ago, there were no photographs of Otto Rahn that were known to exist anywhere.

While randomly searching for something to watch on the tube I came across the Discovery Times channel and something called "Nazis: The Occult Conspiracy". It was a two-hour documentary on the religious underpinnings of Hitler and his followers... something that's been sorely under-researched or publicized despite its eighty-plus years of history. It was just starting and I tuned in and about halfway through it or so, they start talking about Otto Rahn: perhaps the most baffling and mysterious figure ever associated with the Third Reich yet a name so obscure that even many credentialed experts on Nazism have never heard of him.

Born in 1904, from an early age Rahn showed an intense interest in history and literature, and then of things occultic in nature. In 1929 he began excavations of Montsegur - once a fortress of the Cathars - and from his studies determined that it was most likely the Montsalvat from the Holy Grail stories. The Cathars, Rahn believed, had been the custodians of the Holy Grail itself.

Well, long story short, being the time that it was and that he was German, Rahn aroused the attention of one Heinrich Himmler. Himmler (a) had a jones for occult weirdness second only to Hitler (that thing in Raiders of the Lost Ark about Hitler being "obsessed with the occult" was WAY real, y'all) and (b) was just made head of a new group called Schutzstaffel... better known as the SS. Himmler recruited Rahn to be a civilian attached to the SS, which sponsored his further research into Grail lore. It was pretty clear that Himmler intended to locate the Grail and make it another relic (like the Lance of Longinus) that the Nazis would draw strength from. In effect, Otto Rahn was the real-life Indiana Jones looking for an object of reputed unimaginable power... albeit for the bad guys!

What happened after that is... well, no one's sure what happened exactly. Otto Rahn was found dead in 1939 in the Tyrol Mountains: no cause of death was ever given. Some say he was killed by the SS. Others hold that Rahn killed himself, in a manner that paid homage to the Cathars he long studied (and may even have adopted their faith as his own), because his conscience could no longer bear the burden of knowing that his life's work was being exploited by a evil regime readying itself to unleash war upon humanity.

Now, The Da Vinci Code and most of its associated lore is speculative, at best. The story of Otto Rahn is quite real, and as much a part of modern history as that of any other 20th century figure. And it's a most fascinating story, at that.

And until this afternoon, I'd always wondered what exactly Otto Rahn looked like, but no source ever produced an actual photograph of the man. Looks like a LOT has happened in the field of Nazi history in a few short years, 'cuz the Discovery Times documentary must have shown at least four or five pics of Rahn. I did a Google search and located even more of him. Would be neat to know where these have been all this time.

But anyways, if you read The Da Vinci Code and maybe found it lacking but wonder if there was ever anything legit to all this, you owe it to yourself to look into the story of Otto Rahn. I left a lot of stuff out of the story for you to discover if you're so inclined, and plenty of it is sure to raise your eyebrows a bit. Sure as heck did mine when I first stumbled on the tale :-)

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"Then during The Duel, the potato masher shoves Anakin Spudwalker into the hot oil..."

...and the only thing keeping him from being a fish and chips dinner for Ewan McGregor was when this once-innocent potato was pulled from the fryer by his dark master and given new life behind the terrifying blackness of a breath-mask.

It's Darth Tater!
PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) _Jan. 19, 2005 — Hasbro Inc. is promoting its latest Mr. Potato Head figure, Darth Tater.

The toy spud will be available next month, ahead of the May release of "Star Wars: Episode III _ Revenge of the Sith," the latest installment in that film series.

Darth Tater will come with a light saber, cape and helmet, in addition to the regular Mr. Potato Head accessories such as eyes, mouth and nose.

The Pawtucket-based toy maker says children will be able to "have all kinds of mix n' match, Mr. Potato Head fun with this wacky spud dressed as the infamous `Star Wars' villain, Darth Vader."

The toy will retail for $7.99.

"Star Wars: Episode III," starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman, will open in theaters nationwide on May 19.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

Hey, it took ten years but at long last Lucas Licensing is finally redeemed for giving us the Star Wars Bend-Ems :-P

Seriously though, it's a great time to be alive when your childhood favorite bad guy is set to be THE hottest-selling toy again. Between this Sith-lord spud and stuff like the Darth Vader Voice Changer and the upcoming Episode III LEGO sets (like the Vader Transformation... but at "Ages 6 and up" WHAT THE %*&# IS LEGO THINKING wanting kids to play with something THAT f'ed-up CREEPY?!?) looks like 2005 is going to be a big year for the original Man in Black.

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Bored with Bush. Bored with politics. Bored with America... but I'm having a GREAT day today!

Funny thing: all my friends will attest that most of my life I've been addicted to politics. Even from a very young age no matter what or where or who, if it was political I had to study it some. Probably because of why I had to make the drive to Washington D.C. last June (twelve hours after an already long drive back from Georgia) to watch the procession carrying Ronald Reagan's casket from the White House to the Capitol and why the following night was spent waiting to go through the Rotunda (was there for the next-to-last changing of the guard, by the way). I was one of the Reagan generation, and that was the neatest time for a kid to grow up amid so much history: I was prolly the only kid in third grade who knew that much about Andropov in Russia or Walesa in Poland. When most of my peers were out riding bikes in summer of '87, I spent my pre-eighth grade days watching the Iran-Contra hearings. At 17 I started writing letters to the editor of the nearest big newspaper, and soon after was seeing some full-bore op-ed pieces getting published. Couldn't wait to participate in the grand experiment that is American democracy, so the day after turning 18 I registered to vote (originally as a Democrat, then years later as a Republican... so I've been all over that board).

It led to some pretty bizarre stunts, too. Like the night before the '96 election when two friends and I printed up dozens of posters and stuck 'em all over our college campus: Hillary Clinton in black S&M leather holding a whip, with the caption "Put yourself in bondage: Elect Clinton on Tuesday!" Glad I can finally 'fess up to that openly now :-)

Will admit this too: I really wanted, after college, to find a career that was associated in some manner to the political realm. It almost sent me to work for a very well-known leader in conservative circles. The opportunity came and out of hundreds of people considered, they told me I was one of two finalists. Obviously, I didn't get it... but they say that when God closes a door He opens a window: if I'd had to move that far away, I would have never met the beautiful young lass who would become my wife, so I can't complain.

In hindsight, my fascination with politics had to do with my intense interest in ideas and beliefs. That at an early age I perceived a vast "arena of ideas" in the world around me, and I couldn't wait to come of age and partake in that battle. I wanted to understand The Truth of things, ya see, and all of this political process was the engine that was driving us toward that, fueled by raw thinking and consideration.

That's what led me to major in history in college. And now... I'm wondering what good was it, when the America I grew up - the America that I believed valued things like honor and integrity, and openly welcomed the individual's efforts in making the shining city on the hill that much brighter - doesn't even exist anymore, at all.

Maybe this means I'm getting older. Or getting wiser. Or getting more weary of things that I'm coming to increasingly realize that those which are not eternal, really are of no worth at all. Or that I'm just too damned fed up with how screwed-up this world is to really care anymore.

Except whenever I tell my dear wife that, she always tells me "Oh Chris, but you do care, even when no one else does. That's one reason I fell in love with you!"

Charles Schultz - who I believe will be marked in history as one of the greatest Christian theologians and commentators the Western world has ever known - once said "I love mankind; it's people I can't stand." I'm finally understanding what he meant by that. Because I do love my fellow man, as a whole. Like Anne Frank, I still like to believe that "in spite of everything that people are really good at heart."

Except that too many people in this world are either (a) complete morons or (b) all too willing to let themselves be ruled by complete morons. All of which meaning that I like to entertain the hope that people eventually come to their senses... but in the meantime I'll admit to the temptation of wanting to beat the living crap out of them for chronic stupidity that affects the rest of us. And if they get screwed royally... well, they had it coming.

Except, again, that I do care, in the end. Even for the morons.

Today is Inauguration Day 2005. In another hour or so George W. Bush will get sworn in for a second term of office. And I wish him well, and all the best, and my prayers will go up for him that he'll be a capable and honorable servant of the citizenry for the next four years.

Seriously.

He's not our "king", or our "Caesar". He's an employee of the American people. I'm going to pray that he keeps that in mind too, and far moreso than he has the previous four years. If he does not... well, history tends to level a better judgment beyond the ken of our mortal years. That's a good thing to remember no matter what circumstance you find God (or man) has put you in.

But otherwise, today's events are a dreary bore for me, and it has nothing to do with party alignment (I'm un-affiliated, by the way) at all. Instead it's because I cannot be persuaded away from what I've come to understand: that our current mode of government is unrestrained force, with no real respect toward its founding documents or even an acknowledgement that there is such a thing as the rule of law instead of men. That the political process I desired to partake in for so long is revealed to be an illusion projected by government, and a corporate-driven media, and thousands of petty tyrants and yes-men. That the vast majority of the American people are so entranced by this illusion that they would not break free from it, though they might know of it. That everything we are expected to buy into as being "the reality" is a facade over the REAL nature of things: that there are those among us who would keep their brothers in bondage, and forever ignorant of the freedom that could be theirs... if they would but reach out and grasp it.

I voted for Kerry this past election, though I never supported him in any way. Logically, it seemed that if the polls were running that close then pitting a Democrat President against a Republican Congress would at least produce enough gridlock to keep either from really messing this country up more. I was foolish to have voted for Kerry though, I see now, because in the end it wouldn't have really mattered: I made the mistake of giving the illusion that much more credence than it deserved.

As a Christian, I - and the rest of us who profess a belief in Christ - are taught to seek and know and live in truth, and for truth. Why should or even can we buy into a sphere of lies that only serves to make us ignorant of truth? Can somebody tell me how it is that ANY devout Christian would want to be a part of that, at all?

Maybe now some of you will understand (and if not, I don't care: if you don't want to consider my arguments now, you never were going to anyway) why I've been railing against Bush in particular lately, and the entire messed-up system of American politics in general. I'm bored with the politics... but I'm frustrated and put-out as Hell at my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who should have known better for too many years already than to prostitute what we are called to be, for sake of worldly power.

And why the &%*@ should I want anything to do with an entire "scheme of things" that doesn't give a damn about concrete values and original ideas anymore? The way to get things done in today's America is to start the ugliest rumor, hurl the lowest insult, write the nastiest diatribe, condemn others to hellfire and brimstone because they're "Democrats", lend weight to false documents because they target "Republicans", do anything and everything in one's power to discredit and destroy another because they stand in the way of power without ever wondering if one even deserves that power anyway...

I dunno. You tell me: why should this day's Presidential inauguration really interest, or matter to me at all, when the outcome was already established years ago? It makes no difference if that's Bush or Kerry getting sworn in today: either would perpetuate the illusion for the masses. And guys like me... don't really fit into that mess, at all.

Four years ago today, I had a helluva good day when Bush got sworn in for the first time. It was snowing in Atlanta and Lisa took me all over downtown and the Underground area. Later that afternoon we saw Stomp perform at the Fox Theater. I had no idea or even cared that we had a new President at all until the next morning when they showed Bush getting sworn in on the news.

A day without a moment wasted worrying about who it is or isn't becoming President. Now, that's a heckuva good day. That's the kind of day that most Americans used to have, once upon a time. Too bad that it's my lot that as a Christian and a historian, that I'm called to keep an eye out on how bad this guy might mess up and warn others accordingly.

But, I don't think he's going to do too much of that this day. So I'm going to take off now, and put it out of mind, and occupy this afternoon with much more meaningful endeavours. And if something REALLY important happens that warrants my attention, I'll look into it.

Now go out and play. It's a beautiful day outside :-)

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"Deep into that darkness peering..."

"There are some secrets that do not permit themselves to be revealed."
-- Edgar Allan Poe

There's something about this whole story that... well, it's one of those things of enigma that nowadays run scarce in this world. We shouldn't be able to explain everything and though it would probably be pretty easy to find out exactly why this takes place every year, we don't really need an explantion, or need to know anything else about the people responsible. Whoever they have been, their tradition should be revered for its own sake, and given the respect it's due as a uniquely American mystery...

The three roses and bottle of cognac left by the Poe Toaster this year (held by Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum)

January 19th is the birthday of Edgar Allan Poe. And on its night, every year since 1949 (at least) someone steps out of the Baltimore night, enters the Old West Burying Ground cemetary, and places three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac on Poe's grave. The darkened figure then disappears into the shadows as quickly as he arrived.

The "Poe Toaster", as he has come to be called, came to honor Poe's birthday again this year. Herein lies the tale, as relayed from the AP via Yahoo!

Mysterious Fan Marks Poe's Birthday
Wed Jan 19, 7:16 AM ET
U.S. National - AP

By KASEY JONES, Associated Press Writer

BALTIMORE - The mystery man was dressed for the cold rather than tradition, and some spectators were not quite as respectful as in years past. But for the 56th year, a man stole into a locked graveyard early on Edgar Allan Poe's birthday and placed three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac on the writer's grave.

Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum, who has seen the mysterious visitor every Jan. 19 since 1976, gathered with about 20 people Tuesday night to glimpse the ritual.

"It was absolutely frigid," Jerome said of the sub-20 degree temperature.

No one, not even Jerome, knows the identity of the so-called "Poe Toaster." The visit was first documented in 1949, a century after Poe's death.

This year, the visitor arrived at 1:10 a.m. in a heavy coat and obscured his face with a black pullover, Jerome said. He was not wearing the traditional white scarf and black hat.

"He put the roses and cognac at the base of Poe's grave and put his hand on top of the (tomb) stone. He paused and put his head down," the museum curator said. He left after about five minutes, Jerome said.

The visitor's three roses are believed to honor Poe, his mother-in-law and his wife, all of whom are buried in the graveyard. The significance of the cognac is unknown...

Incidentally, so far as is known there is only one photo of the Poe Toaster known to exist: an image that Life Magazine ran in July 1990. Supposedly this is the original Poe Toaster, the one who began the tradition. When he came in 1993 a note was found that said "The torch shall be passed". During a later visit another note was left behind, saying that the man's sons were continuing the tradition and that the original Toaster had died.

That ain't the only communication there's ever been from the Poe Toaster(s). Two years ago, on the eve of the Iraqi War this was found alongside the mementos: "The sacred memory of Poe and his final resting place is no place for French cognac. With great reluctance but for respect for family tradition the cognac is place. The memory of Poe shall live evermore!", obviously a smack against France not participating in the war. And two years before that the Toaster honked off all of Baltimore when he rooted for the opposing team in the Super Bowl: "The New York Giants. Darkness and decay and the big blue hold dominion over all. The Baltimore Ravens. A thousand injuries they will suffer. Edgar Allan Poe evermore."

First time I heard about this tradition was well over ten years ago. Never forgot it and one of these days, I'm going to make a trip up to Baltimore and watch this happen.

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Fantastic Four trailer now online...

...but geez I'm conflicted on this. Hate to admit but it's not really resonating/feeding the "wanna see" factor with me like the movies for Spider-Man and X-Men, and even Daredevil have done. I mean, it looks good:Those are all the right visuals - except the Thing could stand to be bigger, and boast a larger brow - but having watched the trailer 3 times now, it just doesn't feel like the spirit of the original Jack Kirby/Stan Lee comics (gotta wonder where Lee will cameo in this one :-)

The origin of the Fantastic Four is structurally similar to their beginnings in the comic, but it screams too much government-funded mandate and one little nuance that I loved from the Marvel mags is that Reed Richards basically hijacked his own test rocket ship so that he could try it out before they cut the pursestrings. He conned his best buddy Ben Grimm to fly the thing... not to mention letting his girlfriend Susan and her hot-headed little brother Johnny tag along for the ride, not knowing they were all gonna get zapped by cosmic rays and get superpowers. This trailer looks like not only will EVERYONE know they're doing it anyway, but that Doctor Doom is involved in it somehow. Which is where this movie REALLY blows already: ya see, Doctor Doom is not the main villain to use for the first movie about the Fantastic Four. He should be saved for the second one, and keep him Richards' old college roomie who messed around with that machine so he could talk to his Momma's soul in Hell and wound up getting his face scorched off in the process. Yeah, bring Doom in for part 2, as the dictator of Latveria that Richards is the only one who can contest his bid for world power. But since this is the Fantastic Four and pitting them against Mole-Man out the gate wouldn't be any fun, they should have used this guy for the first movie's baddie:

I would pay to see this movie at least ten times if they'd chosen to use Galactus instead and that alone would have cemented Fantastic Four as a classic movie. So, say Galactus takes notice of Earth somehow (via the same cosmic event that empowers the Four?) and comes to devour the planet. That would have set up a BRILLIANT attempt by Richards to persuade Galactus to spare Earth, instead of fighting him outright. Given that Richards is a man of science and Galactus is a fundamental component of nature beyond normal understanding... well, it would have been more faithful to the comic's spirit that way, and have catapulted Fantastic Four beyond anything like usual superhero movie fare instead of making it a cliche "good versus evil" flick.

But anyways, here's the trailer for Fantastic Four (Quicktime format). Gotta say that the Human Torch effects look pretty darned good though :-)

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Build him an army worthy of Mordor... or at least LEGO

This just might be the most darned kewl-est thing I've seen in WAY long time. Saber-Scorpion you rock!! Seems that this young man has quite the talent for LEGO and he put it to use in a way that almost makes me drool to look at. I mean, check this out...Sauron, the Lord of the Rings himself... with every cruel detail replicated as a LEGO minifigure! And there's PLENTY more where that came from (I only had the heart to post Saber-Scorpion's Sauron: wait'll you see his Gollum :-) on his Lord of the Rings LEGO Customs page. He's also got some Star Wars and Halo stuff done in LEGO too! Nice job Saber-Scorpion... now get to work on a mumakil complete with wartower and swarthy-looking Haradrim on its back!

(Though must admit I'm getting chills wondering if he replicates the assault on Minas Tirith: catapulting dozens of little yellow smiling minifig heads over the walls would be... yech! :-)

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Don't worry, it's only money. Yours, mostly.

Well, let's see what we've gotten so far and what we'll be getting soon...

- The cost of the American Revolutionary War was $130 million spread over 7 years.

- The cost of the War of 1812 was $107 million spread over 2.5 years.

- The cost of the Mexican War was $74 million spread over 2 years.

- The cost of production of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy was $270 million spread over 4 years.

- The cost of building Hoover Dam, with an estimated life span of a thousand years give or take, was $170 million spread over 5 years.

- The cost of digging the Panama Canal was $639 million spread over 34 years.

- The cost of constructing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel – 17.5 miles long – was $200 million spread over 2.5 years.

- The cost of the Manhattan Project's results – considered by some to be the greatest technological leap within the shortest span of time in history – was $2 billion spread over 3 years.

- The cost of one F-117 stealth fighter, with an estimated lifespan of 20 years, is $45 million.

- The cost of one SR-71 Blackbird, last built three decades ago and first flown in 1964, was $35 million (and it's STILL flying).

- The cost of the Louisiana Purchase, which in 1803 doubled the then-current size of the United States, was $15 million spread over approximately 900,000 square miles.

- The combined cost of the Statue of Liberty and its base – with costs shared by the United States and France – from the time construction began until it was dedicated in 1886, was $530,000 spread over 12 years.

- The cost of the Apollo 11 mission that put the first man on the moon – culminating just more than eight years' effort beginning after President Kennedy challenged America to pull it off in less than a decade – was $355 million spread across 8 days of mission time.

- The cost of appropriations for the Interstate Highway System, per the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1954, was $175 million spread across 46,000 miles.

- The cost of the space probe Pioneer 10, launched in 1972 with a theoretical lifespan of 2 years, was $100 million, currently spread across 33 years and more than 7.6 billion miles (now on trajectory through the Kuiper belt toward the Sun's heliopause en route to the star Aldebaran in constellation Taurus. ETA: 2 million years).

- The cost of building and outfitting the HMS Titanic was $7.5 million spread over 3 years (including 4 days of actual sailing time).

- The cost of James Cameron making a movie about the HMS Titanic was $200 million spread over 3 years (including 4 days using the actual, original script).

- The cost of Alaska, as negotiated between President Andrew Johnson and the Russian government, was $7.5 million spread over nearly 590,000 square miles.

- The cost of the Georgia Dome, boasting almost 400,000 square feet beneath the world's largest cable-supported fabric roof, cost $214 million spread over 2 years.

- The cost of the "Spruce Goose", the largest airplane ever built, from time that Howard Hughes was awarded the contract until completion was $23 million spread across 6 years (culminating in a single flight of a few hundred feet).

- The cost of the Sears Tower, formerly the world's tallest building for 22 years, from point construction started in 1970 was $150 million spread over 3 years.

- The cost of building the Golden Gate Bridge, from time construction began until opening in 1937, was $27 million spread across 4 years.

- The cost of building the World Trade Center, from time construction began in 1966 until final work ended, was $350 million spread across 11 years.

- The cost of George Washington putting his hand on a Bible and repeating an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States was $0 spread across two inaugurations.

- The cost of George W. Bush putting his hand on a Bible and repeating an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States is currently projected to be more than $140 million spread across 1 day.

I dunno about that last one... inflation, maybe?

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"Did he REALLY mean that when he said it?!"

A couple of people have asked, in e-mail and otherwise, if I was serious when I suggested doing something in another post a few days ago.

Was I serious?

Yup.

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If you thought Microsoft was bad when it came to violating EULA...

...then check THIS out. At least Bill Gates doesn't have a strikeforce that'll bomb your house if you put cracked Windows XP on Kazaa.

Army to Hackers: We Know Where You Live

By TechWeb News

The executive producer of "America's Army," the free online game funded by the U.S. Army, is hopping mad at hackers who have taken advantage of the game's security holes, saying, "the Army is angry, and we're coming for you."

In a posting to the game's official forum, Phil DeLuca, said that hackers infiltrating the game were not only "breaking the EULA you're misusing Army property " and, worse, you're misusing US Army computer programs and equipment."

DeLuca's post, which has since been removed from the site, went on to say that "we know who you are, and can track down where you play from." He also went so far as to cite 20th century tensions between Japan and the United States to lambaste who he called "the bad guys."

"In the early 1940's, Japan learned an important lesson " "let the sleeping giant lie." We may not react swiftly, but when we do it's with unstoppable force. The Army has partners that deal with cyber crime as a matter of course. These include not just various Army IT departments, but also the Department of Justice, the Secret Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations."

America's Army has more than 4.5 million registered users, but the taxpayer-funded first-person shooter game has come under fire from some disturbed by its links to Army recruiting.

I'm curious to know what exactly people are doing with America's Army: modding it like Doom 3?

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Finally watched Return of the King: Extended Edition

It's been sitting in our living room for about a month, still shrink-wrapped. We fired up the DVD player last night and watched the first disc (of the actual movie: the film is two discs and the others are supplemental material) then the second this afternoon.

VAST improvement over the theatrical version but that's mostly because a lot of things that we barely saw in the original one are delved into more here (Faramir and Eowyn hitting it off in the Houses of Healing, the Mouth of Sauron riding out to "welcome" Gandalf and crew to Mordor, etc.) If Peter Jackson could be said to have made a mistake at all with this movie trilogy, it's that he didn't include Christopher Lee's scene as Saruman in the original, making it appear here for the first time. It's not that long a scene, but greatly adds to the story while wrapping up a few dangling threads (we now see how something so valuable as Saruman's palantir got thrown into the muddy water after the Ents trashed Isengard). It's also tons more bloody/gruesome than the first run.

We liked it :-)

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First it was Hitler. Now Bush is copying Pontius Pilate...

...and he's doing a damn poor job of it too.

"We had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 elections," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. "The American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates, and chose me."

Read the full story here.

There is one difference between Bush and Pilate, though: Pilate was openly conflicted about the meaning of truth. Bush doesn't have that problem... becaue he doesn't care about the truth.

Y'know, if a revolt ever happens - and completely against the grain of the Christ-like spirit that I struggle to keep in my heart - I must admit coming to relish all the more the opportunity to take headshots at Bushbots... if for no other reason that because if Romania in 1989 was any indication it'll cleanse out of the system enough of the idiots who give such fools too much responsibility for anyone's good.

By the way, you can't escape accountability via any earthly vote, Mister Bush.

Gotta wonder if in his diseased mind, getting re(?)-elected(?) absolves him from being accountable for ANYTHING, be it past or future. Someone of this bad a psychosis might believe that getting another term as President was God's cosmic nod of approval on him, that he must be anointed now and is doing the work of God. And that he thus can do no wrong.

I've heard a number of Bush supporters say they're going to relish seeing how anti-Bush people are going to be "suffering" through the next four years of his being President. I won't be suffering: for one thing, it's not worth worrying about, because I don't make this a personal thing. It's only a "thing" for me because as a historian I know what comes of this mindset if it's not countered... and I feel a moral obligation to counter it as best I can: I'll be too busy doing that to worry about what the Bushbots think of me.

And I'm seriously wondering if it will be just four years: given enough of an "emergency", Bush could remain President indefinitely... and he'd have enough worshippers on his side to feel justified in staying.

Those who believe they're unaccountable to man have the tendency to do things above and beyond the morality of man. Don't break out the ammo just yet folks, but do be wary that ya might need to use it in the near future: it's better to have something and not need it, than to be without it when in grave peril.

Oh yeah, "aim small, miss small".

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America should apologize to Japan: now WE have a God Emperor that can't be looked upon!

"When the Emperor passed by we had to bow our heads very low. We were made to believe that the Emperor was too awe inspiring for ordinary humans to look upon directly."

Hirohito was the last to sit on the Chrysanthemum throne and be considered a god upon Earth. It used to be taught to every small child during the long centuries of Imperial Japan that they must not dare look at the Emperor... else they would be struck blind. Many among the Japanese were still gripped by that sense of fear and awe, even long years after Hirohito relinquished any claims of divinity following Japan's surrender to the United States after World War II.

(The Emperor is still a big kahuna over there though. You know he's the ONLY person in Japan who by law cannot eat fugu? I think that's pretty neat... well unless Akihoto really WANTs to eat a fish loaded with lethal neurotoxin. But anyhoo...)

It took sixty years but I think we've finally done the Japanese one better here. Ya see, we aimed guns at them and told them to look. Now we aim guns at ourselves and are told not to look! Here's the lowdown from Scripps-Howard via The News-Herald newspaper...

01/11/2005

You're invited?
By: Joan Lowy

Be ready for metal detectors, personal body searches and the highest security in inauguration history
WASHINGTON - The nation's 55th presidential inauguration, the first to be held since 9/11, will take place this month under perhaps the heaviest security of any in U.S. history.

Dozens of federal and local law enforcement agencies and military commands are planning what they describe as the heaviest possible security. Virtually everyone who gets within eyesight of the president either during the Jan. 20 inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol or the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue later in the day will first go through a metal detector or receive a body pat-down.
Thousands of police officers and military personnel are being brought to Washington from around the country for the four-day event. Sharpshooters will be deployed on roofs, while bomb-sniffing dogs will work the streets. Electronic sensors will be used to detect chemical or biological weapons.
Anti-abortion protesters have been warned to leave their crosses at home. Parade performers will have security escorts to the bathroom, and they've been ordered not to look directly at President Bush or make any sudden movements while passing the reviewing stand...

(snip)

Thousands of performers - marching bands, color guards, pompon dancers, hand bell-ringers, drill teams on horseback and Civil War re-enactors - will be bused early in the morning to the Pentagon parking lot across the Potomac in Virginia. While performers disembark and go through metal detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs will search the buses.
Then everybody will get back on the buses for a trip to the National Mall, where they will spend most of the day in heavily guarded warming tents. Participants have been warned that they will not be allowed to leave the tents except to go to portable toilets accompanied by a security escort.
Other instructions given performers include a warning not to look directly at Bush while passing the presidential reviewing stand, not to look to either side and not to make any sudden movements.
"They want you to just look straight ahead," said Danielle Adam, co-director of the Mid American Pompon All Star Team from Michigan, which also performed in the 2001 inaugural parade.
"Last time we went security was really tight," Adam said. "This time we got almost like a book of things we needed to fill out beforehand."

I can see it now: some private-security muscle escorting a group of adults to a potty break while his hand's resting on his holster. Let's make them walkin in line hold each other's hand while we're at it. But what do you expect from a President who "sees America as we think about a 10-year-old child"?

What the hell kind of employee of the American people - that we pay the salary for, by the way - is it that tells us, any of us, not to look at him?

Come to think of it, what kind of employee spends $50 million to celebrate getting a job that pays only a couple million or so over a span of four years?

They don't have to worry about whether I'm looking or not, 'cuz I won't be tuning in for this thing anyway: got better things to do than watch an orgy fit for Bacchus.

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There's nothing wrong with KILLING people who want to do this to your children...

Now, the tendency among a lot of folks - namely, some Christians - is that they'll hear about this and automatically assume it's the biblical "mark of the Beast". That's a pretty new idea, actually. Until ten years or so ago no student of the Bible (serious or... nevermind) had a clear picture of WHAT exactly this might be but with the advent of implantable chips, it's by far the most accepted theory of what the "mark" will be. Doesn't mean it will be the mark, but it sorta makes sense if it is. So this article at Wired News is no doubt gonna raise some eyebrows...

Brave New Era for Privacy Fight

By Kim Zetter

02:00 AM Jan. 13, 2005 PT

As the nation prepares for President Bush's inauguration next week, privacy activists on both sides of the political spectrum are bracing for a White House push to augment controversial domestic surveillance powers gained under the Patriot Act and other legislation passed since 9/11.

"The administration has made it clear that they do intend to continue their move to dramatically reduce privacy and constitutional protection for our citizens," said former Republican congressman Bob Barr, who now works as a speaker and consultant to organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union.

But surveillance legislation isn't the only concern on the minds of privacy advocates. They're also looking at technologies and services coming out of the commercial sector that could seriously affect civil liberties.

(snip)

Radio-frequency ID tags will become a bigger issue in 2005 as their use expands into new areas. Currently, stores and companies embed RFID tags in the packaging of drugs and commercial products to help track product supplies and update orders. But privacy advocates say the tags will soon be embedded in clothing and other products, raising concerns that the tracking might not stop when consumers leave a store with the product.

"The problem is not only about tracking the whereabouts of people but about linking associations," Rotenberg said. "Students with RFID student cards can be grouped and monitored in terms of who they're with."

Chips embedded beneath the skin will also become a larger issue.

Last October, the FDA approved an implantable computer chip that would contain medical information to assist with health care. The military has discussed implanting the chips in soldiers to speed up medical care, and Rotenberg said it's likely the chips will soon be used in prisoners, parolees and eventually children. The concern is with forced chipping, which would take away choice from individuals receiving the chips...

I don't care if it is the "mark of the Beast" or if it isn't: nobody is going to implant a chip into my body. For no other reason than because my identity is my own and is soveriegn only to God. And nobody is going to implant a chip into the bodies of my wife and children either. Or anyone else that I love.

And I swear to Almighty God that I will kill anyone who attempts to do so.

And so should you.

You are not a number.

You are not a piece of meat.

You are not a slave.

Your children are non-negotiable.

Your mind is your own.

You owe allegiance to no man, or party, or government, unless they've proven worthy of it in your own estimation.

You do not have to let "them" win.

You do not have to do something simply because "the government" or "the party" tells you to do that thing.

You win the only victory that really matters in this world when you say "no I won't" just one more time than they say "yes you will".

You are not alive today just to eat and sleep and screw and spend and be amused by far too little and then to die.

You do not deserve to be exploited by evil men.

You must be sober in mind and gentle in spirit.

You must give "them" every possible chance to retreat from their madness...

...And if they do not, you must stop them. And it does not matter who "they" are, at all.

There's only so much freedom in this country as there is a willingness of the people to put officials and agents of their government in a state of constant fear. That's the bulwark - that the Founding Fathers designed - against government growing too powerful. Or having jurisdiction over things that are now now, or ever will be, given to it.

"Against the law"? Yeah, what I just wrote could be easily construed as that. And I won't dodge around it: if anyone desires something like "chipping" my family or subjecting my children to state-imposed mental health screenings (read into that what you may), they should be made to understand that they can be killed for pursuing such insanity.

But from where I'm seeing things, breaking the law by warning those who feel empowered to do such a thing that they will die - and potentially doing the deed if they persist - is a very measly thing to worry about when you're dealing with the sanctity of your own and unique soul.

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Disney REMAKING Tron?! Zap down Eisner's butt onto the Gaming Grid NOW!!

From a ransom note that will soon be delivered to Walt Disney execs:

dEar DiSNeY dOPEs,
wE ARe hoLdInG tIMoN aNd PUMbaA hoSTAge. dO NOt rEMAKe troN Or yoU WiLL nevER SEe tHEm aLIVE AGaIn iN fACt wE mAy BARbEcuE puMBAa FOr DiNNer hAHAhaHahAHAHahAHaHAhA.

If this is true... grrrrrrr...

So help me, I'll hire a squad of kamikaze Muppets to walk into Magic Kingdom with suitcase nukes if they screw this up.

Tron is one of those movies that, yeah it didn't make all that much money at the box office and it's not quite a cultural classic but you don't want anyone to mess with it either, because to enough of us it is a classic. Why that is, I can't explain but I think part of it has to do with the children of the first Star Wars generation, in the years after Episode IV: A New Hope and kids used to stare up into the night sky at the stars and wonder if fierce battles really were going on up there. Tron was like that but in a way more intimate: instead of far-out space it make you look at your desktop PC and wonder what really went on inside it: for all we knew, there WAS a teeny-tiny world behind the monitor where good and evil programs hashed it out. It was a neat thing to imagine, anyway. Personally though, Tron was the very first time I saw a movie on a VCR, over at my best friend Chad's house, and that's the kind of "techy first" that stays with a guy for life.

And let's face it, Tron was DECADES ahead of its time in a jillion ways: computer-generated effects, virtual reality (NOT the first in fiction though: that honor probably goes to "The Deadly Assassin" story on BBC's "Doctor Who")... and it was hella fun eye candy to look at. Yeah maybe not a classic, but in every way it's still perfect to a lot of people. And recently it was thought that Steven Lisberger was going to make a sequel that tied-in both the original movie and the Tron 2.0 game (more on that later).

That is not going to happen, if Disney has its way (can't Michael Eisner just go away now or at least NOT mess anything else up before he does leave in another year or so? Nope, instead of letting Lisberger make a REAL sequel, Disney is going to FUBAR-it all to shreds. From ComingSoon.net:

Tron Remake in the Works at Disney
Source: Variety
January 13, 2005

Disney has hired screenwriters Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal to write a remake of Tron, the 1982 Steven Lisberger film about a computer programmer who gets sucked into the parallel world of a computer program, reports Variety.

Klugman and Sternthal, who just wrote the historical epic Warrior for Gavin O'Connor to direct and Icon to produce, feel that the world has caught up with Lisberger's original concept, making it ripe for redo.

"We are contemporizing it, taking these ideas that were ahead of the curve and applying them to the present, and we feel the film now has a chance to resonate with a young audience," said Klugman.

Sternthal said the new conceit is that the computer programmer gets trapped in a cyberworld, so that the film can utilize the Internet...

Awright stop right there: folks, it's now patently obvious that the executives at Walt Disney Inc. do not even watch their own movies!! Because the Internet was in the original Tron: it wasn't called the Internet by name but... GEEZ how ELSE do they think that Master Control Program had managed to infiltrate EVERY major computer system on the planet?! Through a 300-baud modem and a CompuServe account?!

And if they really want to get particular about it, they don't have to re-invent the wheel at all because the world of Tron has already been brought into the 21st century from the dark ages of 1982: the Tron 2.0 computer game from Monolith. It's a FAITHFUL follow-up in every possible way: it "upgrades" the computer realm from 1982's technology to reflect the existence of things like PDAs and network firewalls without losing consistency with the designs of the movie, it's a thoughtful continuation of the original story, now 20-some years after the MCP was destroyed, and it's a heckuva lotta fun to play. Oh yeah, and Bruce Boxleitner returns as the voice of Alan (the creator of the Tron program) from the film. As far as I'm concerned (and many others if sales and good word from fans are any indication), Tron 2.0 is the sequel to the original... which does not merit a "remake" the least bit.

Sigh...

This just reeks.

I mean, this blows. It REALLY blows.

I can't begin to say how bad a thing this is for Disney to be even THINKING about.

Well, actually yeah I can say how bad a thing it is.

This pegs the needle on "Chris Knight's Bad-O-Meter".

There's only one thing that can be said about Mad Michael Eisner raping another great movie like this.

Children and those with weak hearts, leave the keyboard now. I'm gonna say it.

I'm going to say something that I keep in reserve, and bring out ONLY to describe the absolute worst of bad things.

I mean it. This is happening, now. No backsies.

Okay, everyone gone that doesn't need to bleed from the eyes?

Okay, here it comes...

Walt Disney Pictures' remaking of Tron SUCKS DONKEYS BALLS TO NO END!!!

There, I feel better now.

Okay, need to go: Timon is downstairs in his cage screaming for a cigarette. Don't ask where we've got Pumbaa.

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We're Lost

The lovely Spousal Overunit and I finished watching a full episode of Lost for the very first time. It seems... intriguing.

I've absolutely NO idea what's supposed to be going on here though.

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