Saturday, January 29, 2005
Oh great, Bush can protect Iraq's borders with OUR Border Patrol agents...
The man's a traitor. Plain and simple. Too bad he's protected by a Republican majority in the House and Senate... but that says a lot about a man's character that he needs that kind of seeming immunity from whatever evil he thinks he can get away with.
Anyone who posts a comment defending this in the slightest bit, or alludes that Bush is still a great President despite his VIOLATING THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION IN A MORE GROSS FASHION THAN BUBBA CLINTON EVER DID, is not just a traitor but a damned idiot.
A history professor in college once told us how a nation's leadership does deserve any punishment met out to it, if that leadership is so ignorant and uninterested in serving his own people. Especially if that ignorance results from the leader's desire for personal profit or comfort. Louis XVI was "a nice enough guy," he told us, "but he wanted to party too much. He was told all the things that were going wrong but he'd only answer 'oh okay, that's bad. Where's the party?' He may have been the nicest king France ever had but he more than deserved getting executed for that."
I'm finally beginning to understand what he meant by that.
Maybe it's genetic and the man can't help it though. I mean, now that it's come out that Bush is a descendant of the Irish king who sold out his own island and people to the English, along with a few other unsavory barbarians, seems like he's just following a family tradition of being disloyal to fellow countrymen. But we knew that a few generations ago with Prescott Bush and the Nazis anyway, right?
By the way, just as the edge of the snowstorm was approaching I went out and bought the new Star Wars novel (and direct prequel to Episode III) Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno. I'm a little more than 100 pages into it and it's fast becoming one of my all-time favorite Star Wars stories. But Labyrinth of Evil is also a very strong attack/indictment against President Bush, no subtlety at all. In Luceno's hands, Palpatine is Bush. He even slams things like Homeland Security, the TSA and warantless searches. And Palpatine brushes off the criticism because "the Constitution is a living document": his exact words. And there's some alluding to the idea that the Republic's political factions are a way of distracting everyone from the REAL evil that the Sith have been working against everyone.
As a strict Constitutionalist, this book is a hoot to read. I've met Luceno before, a few times: genuinely nice and brilliant guy. Feel now like we're philosophical kindred as well.
Hey who knows: maybe when Episode III comes out in theaters enough people will REALLY start to wake up to what's going on in real life. I sure as Hell wouldn't mind being part of a Rebel Alliance ;-)
Finally saw the new Battlestar Galactica last night
HOW the heck are these humans, however much they ARE identical to us, using and speaking English, have the same style of clothes as North Americans, have the same religious customs etc., when there shoule be HUGE differences between us and them after thousands of years of "cultural drift" from the separation?
I don't get that. The only theory I can come up with is that humanity started off on Earth, then migrated to Kobol and then to the twelve colonies, and after awhile the real story got muddled-up in their history. So when Galactica does reach Earth, it's going to be the Earth of our distant future.
That's the only thing I can conceive of that makes sense.
But there's only one thing that can be said about this new Battlestar Galactica: this is an AWESOME show!!
I can forgive the previously mentioned incongruity, and will make it a huge thing to commit to watching this regularly, if they keep it this strong and fresh and bold. I've a lot of catch-up to do, but last night's episode started with a freak accident that killed dozens of people onboard the ship, especially their fighter pilots. Which is a HUGE loss given that there's not many people in the convoy anyway and fighter pilots are too desperately needed. But here's the thing: how many times do freak accidents like this happen in a TV show, much less a sci-fi show? Goes on all the time in real life, for no reason that makes sense at all. But to lose a bunch of people in a way that DOES NOT make sense and has no purpose at all... that's both an unattractive thing to base a show's episode on, much less make it captivating for the viewer.
Last night's Battlestar Galactica did that though. It made me realize that this is one of the very, very few TV shows - of any genre - that really does focus on the characters. It didn't seem like a sci-fi show at all, felt more like a reality show or a documentary film (my wife asked from the other room if this was a reality show even, not knowing what I was watching but she could hear it).
Oh yeah, they did some space fightin' in last night's episode. And whenever they showed outside the ships, in the blackness of space, there were no sounds at all. No guns firing, no loud explosions. Just silence with a very subdued ambient thing in the background. There shouldn't be sound at all, and the last time anyone was that accurate on this was Stanley Kubrick and 2001: A Space Odyssey back in 1968. There was no sound in space during the fights... but that made it no less exciting to watch or accept. In fact, it made me buy into it even more that these were real people and a real ship, and they really were out there somewhere. I'm a science-minded type guy and was looking for anything like the "particle of the week" technobabble that Star Trek: The Next Generation became notorious for. If there was any, I couldn't find it here: the only thing that violates known physics is having a ship that big moving faster than light (and have read that there's even a strong basis for that in theoretical physics).
Man, this was so far off from what I was expecting. It's NOTHING like the original Battlestar Galactica, other than the names of most of the characters - Starbuck is a girl(?!) in this new take - and even the opening theme music has nothing to do with the original's beautiful score. Just going by last night's episode, I'm sorry that I've missed watching it all this time because the new Battlestar Galactica is television the way the medium should be.
Rush has a moment of reality (maybe the drugs are wearing off)
But now that he is in a second term, Rush is finally comfortable enough to see and talk about the truth? That Bush and his kind are putting American sovereignty in jeopardy and don't care a flying rat's butt that they're doing it.
What they're doing in exposing our border with Mexico is pretty much what Benedict Arnold did at West Point... but on a much grander scale. If Arnold merited being hung for that (which he wasn't: he died bankrupt and despised in 1801) how much moreso do our "brilliant" modern leaders deserve?
I stopped listening to Rush a long time ago. He used to be engaging, thought-inspiring and darned funny back in the day. He's now so full of himself that he can't confront the hypocrisy he espouses unless he sees that he's destroying himself with it. The man has no more credibility in my book, and there's a lot better places to find original ideas than an ethically bankrupt sad individual who's wasted his life supporting a political party that he didn't even stop and consider if they were worth supporting to begin with.
Friday, January 28, 2005
California elementary students forced to wear microchip ID by power-mad principal (kids should do what Gandhi did and burn 'em)
From KFWB News 980 in Los Angeles comes this:
School Officials Make ID Badges Mandatory for Elementary Students"I get to make those kinds of rules."SUTTER, Calif. (AP) 1.28.05, 9:50a -- Parents of Sutter elementary students told school officials Thursday they're concerned about the school's new policy that requires students to wear security badges.
Brittan Elementary School District Superintendent Earnie Graham said the school is doing a test run to see if the technology improves campus security.
The badges contain a "passive antenna" that emit radio waves to a reader mounted above the doorway in each classroom. The readers picks up the child's ID number and sends it to a handheld computer that tracks attendance.
But parent Dawn Cantrall said the badge was "creepy and cumbersome," and complained that it had too much information on it, including a student's picture, full name and identification number.
"Now somebody can come up to her, see her name, and tell her, 'Your mom told me to pick you up,"' she said.
The school board approved the trial run last summer for kindergarten through eighth grade students. All staff members and volunteers also wear badges, said Graham.
The school board approved the free test run unanimously last summer. Graham held a special meeting Thursday for parents who had concerns about the new policy. Graham apologized for the scant notice given to parents, but said it was to increase school security.
"It's not an option," Graham said. "(The badge) is just like a textbook, you have to have it. I'm charged with running the school district and I get to make those kinds of rules."
The badges are supplied by InCom, a technology firm based in Sutter. The owners offered the school a small donation for the inconvenience of testing the badges and attendance scanners.
Read that again: "I get to make those kinds of rules."
Just the polite way of saying "I am a government official with power over your children, meaning that I have power over you. If I want your kid to be nothing but a numbered piece of meat, that's what he'll become and there's not a damned thing your or anyone can do about it, because I have more money and power and lawyers and men with guns than you'll ever scrape together. Who the Hell do you think you are to question my power anyway, you pathetic little plebian. Now shut up and take your number like a good serf should."
It's people like this guy who honestly don't believe that they're doing anything wrong. And they'll insist that they were always innocent right up to the moment that they're lined up against the wall or marched up the scaffold.
Let me put this another way: no children of mine will ever be in a public school. But if they were, and the principal tried to force THIS to them... I would kill him. And anyone else who'd attempt the same.
These people are in the same mindset as the Nazis were, except they're worse: see, they've chosen to be this way, despite all the history that they can't possibly claim ignorance of. The way I figure it, we either put the fear of God in them now, by ourselves if we have to, or we shoot 'em. The only other alternative is to be in fear of them and wait for our turn to be shot or gassed or bayoneted, whatever.
I went to Brittan Elementary School's website and found the latest school newsletter. Regarding the badges it says that "The badges are very durable, but students who lose or destroy their badges will be accountable for the cost of replacing them." About as galactically a STUPID a thing to impose on kids as there is, 'cuz kids being kids are naturally going to LOSE something like this somehow or another. But what the &$%# sick kind of bastiches FORCES something THIS expensive on ANYONE, much less SOMEONE ELSE'S CHILDREN and then dares tell them that they will PAY for something that THEY DIDN'T BUY, EVER APPROVED OR WOULD HAVE PROBABLY WANTED ANYWAY!?
Hey, why not just stick this radio ID chip in their forehead or right hand? That'll keep 'em from losing it for sure, no doubt.
Here's the badges themselves in action, by the way. There's more info about 'em at InCom Corporation's homepage about their "InClass" product:
"Badges? We don't need no steenkin' badges!"
But before we resort to the bullet box, we still have the soap box. So this is what the good people of Sutter should do against their would-be masters...
A hundred years or so ago, Mahatma Gandhi burned his British-imposed pass that all non-white people in India were forced to carry. It was the beginning of the "passive resistance" that ultimately saw an independent India.
This was the the parents of Brittan's students should encourage their kids to do, not just for themselves but for children all over this country: have a public burning of these damnable badges. They are nothing but glorified versions of the same passes that Gandhi and those he inspired burned: if they didn't have to live under that kind of rule, then our kids sure as Hell don't deserve it either.
Burn 'em, folks. Do it in front of God and everyone. Make sure this principal and his kind know that you're doing it. Thumb your noses at them and don't apologize for it. Let 'em know damned well that the children do not belong to the school or the government or anyone else but to God and their own families.
If that ain't worth fighting, however that fight is carried out, then I don't know what is.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
"WAR!" Huh-yeah, What is it good for?
So if you're curious as to what the text will be for the opening crawl on this, the final Star Wars movie of all time (unless The Plaid One chooses to make one about 80-year old Han Solo and drags Harrison Ford out in another twenty years... which should be before they finally get to work on that Indiana Jones 4 they keep promising) 'cuz this is what always sets the tone for the movie to follow, here ya go, courtesy of Paul and Pablo and Steve and Jim and Rick (and George 'course) and all the other good folks at StarWars.com:
Episode III
REVENGE OF THE SITHWar! The Republic is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Sith Lord, Count Dooku. There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere.
In a stunning move, the fiendish droid leader, General Grievous, has swept into the Republic capital and kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Galactic Senate.
As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their valuable hostage, two Jedi Knights lead a desperate mission to rescue the captive Chancellor....
"Heroes on both sides"? "Evil is everywhere"? The first hints at nebulous morality, which is good for this series. Lot of fans - myself included - are of the belief that Dooku is NOT all that bad a guy: that the only reason he threw in with the Sith is because he saw how corrupt and decadent the Republic had become while the Jedi did nothing... so he said "to Hell with it, and screw you Yoda!" and went his own way to make things right. He's not in it for the power (which doesn't make him a real Sith at all anyway), he just wants enough power for the moment to effect some much-needed changes. He's got the right motive, it's just that his methods are lousy. That's just one example though, and it's good that Lucas is getting more bold as his series matures (hope it carries on into the TV show in 2006).
As for "evil is everywhere"...
<beavisandbuttheadlaugh>Good crawl. Seems like Lucas is going to let his saga go out with a bang :-)
Heh. Heh-heh. Heh-heh-heh. Heh-heh. Heh. Heh-heh.
</beavisandbuttheadlaugh>
He's not sorry for wasting dozens of lives in Iraq, yet Bush regrets getting caught in op-ed parlor trick on American people
But if he's supposed to be so moral and ethical, why did he start doing it to begin with?
Given how dishonest a practice this is, what kind of public official even conceives of such a thing?
Why would the President of the United States do this?
Why would Bush spend our money to try to trick us like this?
With each passing day I'm becoming all the more glad that Bush won(?) the election. It would have been better for his political career to have died quick and mercifully. Now he begins to suffer death by a thousand cuts. Twenty years from now, he will be regarded as one of the worst Presidents in American history... even surpassing Bill Clinton. I'm a patient man: I can wait to gloat at the Bush-bots for awhile, when there's nothing they can do about it by that point.
I just wish that he could prove his incompetence in a better way than having so many American soldiers dying without purpose in a country whose people are now far worse off now than when we "liberated" it from an already evil dictator. The man who's sent well over a thousand to die meaningless deaths yet has never so much as acknowledged their "sacrifices" by attending a soldier's funeral is now threatening more of this nonsense:
"We value life and we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life," the president said. "But it is the long-term objective that is vital, and that is to spread freedom."At the rate his madness is accelerating, I'm tempted to pray for God to send a CvS (people in the know will understand wink-wink).
Gotta wonder something: if Bush is not paying any more commentators after these two were discovered, how many more working in television or print media have whored themselves out that we don't know about yet?
Idol's Leroy Wells singing a new song: "In The Jailhouse Now"
American Idol hopeful Leroy Wells watches his performance from the lockupAhh geez, what a waste. EVERYONE was talking about this kid all day after his "performance" on Tuesday night's show. It was a hilarious moment that made a lot of people smile and to know it's marred by something like this...
Last Update: 1/26/2005 11:00:19 PM
Posted By: Ron Reams(MOBILE, Ala.) January 26 -- An American Idol hopeful, gaining notoriety, but not just for his shot at stardom. T-V viewers found Grand Bay's Leroy Wells on national T-V Tuesday night. However, on Wednesday, the would-be “idol” could be found in Mobile Metro Jail.
While millions of American Idol fans kept it locked into Leroy, Leroy was locked up behind bars for failing to appear in court.
The 22-year-old Grand Bay, Alabama native wowed fans with his rendition of "Got Your Money" by O-D-B. Even though he wasn't able to watch his performance from home, sheriff’s deputies tell NBC 15 they did allow Leroy and other inmates to watch American Idol from jail.
Mobile Police spokesman Marcus Young says Leroy Wells was arrested earlier this month for reportedly shooting a hand gun into an occupied vehicle. “Apparently they were arguing over how the cars were in the roadway at which time Mr. Wells allegedly shot the victim in his hip,” Young says.
"Violence. Don't play that game."
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
"GECRUNKPRAJESUSCAYUDIGIT?!?" Tonight's American Idol one of TV's funniest hours ever
Tonight's show was the auditions in New Orleans. And the guest judge was Gene Simmons from KISS. Factor in how an American Idol audition is always a magnet for the really strange over the real singers. It was like the perfect storm of hilarity waiting to happen!EDIT: leroy-wells.com has the video from American Idol in streaming Windows Media format. Please don't watch if you've just come out of gall bladder surgery as the intense laughter can open the incision.
This would have still been classic if the only ummm, "unique" person to show up was Daron Beck, the guy in all-black who sang "I Put A Spell On You" by Screaming Jay Hawkins. And believe you me, he had every nuance of that song down pat and maybe did a hella better "You're MIIIIIIIIIINE!!!" scream than Hawkins.
Then came Leroy Wells. Remember William Hung, whose rendition of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" last year made him a household name (despite the fact that, as he admits, he sang lousy)? And the year before that it was Keith, the guy at the Atlanta audition in the big green turtleneck sweater who sang Madonna's "Like A Virgin". If every season of American Idol must have a mascot standout who didn't make it past the audition, Leroy Wells has season 4 all "crunked" up. Folks, by any means necessary, you absolutely MUST watch the footage of this guy. You're probably going to see him anyway, on TV shows and websites devoted to him. Maybe even t-shirts with his face. We only understood four things he ever said: his singing "I Feel Good" by James Brown, that he did something with paint for a living, "praise Jesus" and the thing that I told my wife is going to be this decade's answer to Flip Wilson's "The Devil made me do it" 30 years ago...
"CAN YOU DIG IT?!?"
The real scary thing is, I don't think Leroy is on drugs or did this as "an act" at all. And one contestant who auditioned the same day affirms that what we saw tonight is 100% undiluted personality. I couldn't make it out but everyone who watched it tonight said that he talked about "getting crunked" or something.
This was the hardest we've laughed in a long time.
I called Mom at the next commercial break and she was hysterical with laughter. This was... geez how do you describe someone that you can't even understand what the heck he's saying?
Here's hoping that whatever it is that he's supposed to be, that Leroy Wells will go far. He's definitely his own person and that's a rare thing in this world. That, and because he (and most of the others tonight, save for two) were extremely gracious in being turned away. Success is never guaranteed, but that's okay, 'cuz I saw a lot of people able to walk away and smile that they at least gave it their best.
Including Leroy Wells :-)
Sunday, January 23, 2005
NO MORE TO COME: Tea-Time ends for Art Fern, Aunt Blabby goes quiet, Floyd R. Turbo fires his final shot, Carnac reveals the last great mystery...
Johnny Carson died today.
Another legend has gone.
Bill Clinton to get third term? Pray it doesn't happen... for his own sake.
Saturday, Jan. 22, 2005 8:36 p.m. ESTFunny that I'm reading about this now (if it's true that is) 'cuz this morning my wife and I got into a conversation about the current state of things, and how - loathe that we were to admit it - in a buncha ways the Clinton years were a lot better time than we've got now. I shared something with her that I've really come to believe in, now that Clinton's been out of office long enough and there's been time for contemplation: Bill Clinton did a lotta things that messed up this country, and diminished our capacity for self-defense. Not to mention the maybe irreparable damage he brought to the office of President because of what he did with that intern and a cigar.Strategists Eyeing Deal for Clinton Third Term
Political strategists are reportedly pondering a deal that would allow Bill Clinton to run for president again by getting Republicans to agree to a change in the constitutional ban on third terms.
Calling it "a long shot," U.S. News & World Report says the deal would work like this: "Congressional Democrats will OK a constitutional amendment allowing naturalized citizens like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to run for president if Republicans help kill the 22nd Amendment."
"Right now it's the talk among political strategists," says the magazine's Washington Whispers section. "But look for it to spread on Capitol Hill when Sen. Orrin Hatch reintroduces his plan to let naturalized citizens run for president after 20 years."
Clinton himself has boasted that he "could be re-elected" one more time...
But in hindsight, I believe that Bill Clinton gave as good a performance in the capacity of President as he was able to muster. Will even go so far to say that - and this is going to become increasingly obvious as the years go by - that Bill Clinton was a very flawed man that came in the way of what might actually be a very sincere heart. What might inherently be a good heart, even.
Yes, I'm quite aware of the alleged rape of Juanita Broaddrick (he should have served hard prison time a loooong time ago if true... and there's plenty of evidence that it did occur). And selling out a lot of our national security to communist China (which in olden days would have had him in front of a firing squad for treason). And the inordinately long list of people associated with the Clintons that have died under suspicious circumstances. And the handling of the Elian Gonzalez incident. And his administration's botching the Branch Davidian thing at Waco (David Koresh could have easily been picked up anywhere on the street away from the compound: instead it had to be a "show of force" by the government). And all the other women who've come out over the years with claims and corroboration that Clinton sexually violated them. And the Arkansas prison blood scandal. And the rampant cronyism. And his use of the IRS to harass and intimidate political enemies. And his betraying his oath of office and the sanctity of the law that he long ago pledged to serve by lying under oath. And literally dozens (hundreds?) of other things that if committed by the average American citizen, would in a sane world have either landed him in prison or driven him to madness and suicide.
And let's face it: anyone who let's their Christmas tree be decorated with condoms, drug needles and sex toys is obviously suffering from a diseased mind. That would be disturbing behavior for anyone... but when it's the President of the United States doing that in our White House... well, you get the point.
On issues, I couldn't have disagreed more with the guy. I'm very strongly pro-2nd Amendment, while Clinton wanted more handgun control. He's pro-fetucide (sorry, I just don't see how it can be called "pro-choice" at all) and I'm adamantly pro-life. He supported NAFTA and I saw back then that we would come to regret it.
I do not like, or have ever approved or appreciated, the things that Bill Clinton did as President. Back in the day, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who was more looking forward to his impeachment: I'll readily admit to literally praying that if God was so willing, that He would see Clinton taken out of office. By force, if necessary.
Did I hate Bill Clinton? Yeah... yeah, I think I did. I know I did. But I don't know if that was a hatred of the things he did, or a hatred that was just projected onto Clinton out of frustration and exasperation that he'd be so stupid as to led a life like this and then let it wash over the rest of us. But so far as pure hatred or fear goes for the man himself... it doesn't seem like that was ever there, looking back from today.
Everything wrong that Clinton did, he should be held accountable for committing them. I wouldn't want to see harm come to anyone, even if called for by the rule of law... but his entire term in office was one long begging for the rule of law to be acted upon. Making him answer for his misdeeds would have reinforced the belief that ours is a nation of laws and not men. But it wasn't. It was ignored out of political expedience... on both sides of the aisle! And I can see where the failure to prosecute Bill Clinton as any other American might have been from similar acts has only served to make not just the executive branch, but the entire government far more removed and less answerable to the American people and the law that they do still adhere to.
All that said, and even knowing that he more than likely deserves more punishment than most people... I feel sorry for Bill Clinton. Because I've also seen a lot of things in his life to make me think that there's a good person in there, somewhere, that has never known how to come out.
This is a man who was born into dire poverty and grew up in a town so criminal, it never occured to most residents that it's biggest industry was illegal gambling run by the Mafia. His natural father was killed three months before Clinton was born and his step-father was an alcohol-enraged compulsive gambler who regularly abused Clinton's mother and half-brother. By every indication, Clinton was a young man bereft of any real love or chance to escape for something better. But when it did come, he poured every iota of passion and effort into its pursuit.
Unfortunately, while it's one thing to escape your circumstances, it's quite another to escape your wounds. Sooner or later they must be confronted. And instead of forcing himself to do that, Clinton ran away from it and threw himself into his ambitions and abilities that much more.
And then, however much wrong he had done already was compounded by another tragedy. Perhaps the worst mistake that Bill Clinton ever did with his life: he met and married Hillary Rodham.
You'd have to be either very blind or willingly stupid to not see that Hillary Clinton only married her husband because she saw that he "was going places" and had to attach herself to him. Hillary wanted power and Bill was the vehicle she intended to ride to a helluva lot of it. And when he had outlasted his usefulness to her and she was where she wanted to be... well, how many times since he left office have we really seen Bill and Hillary together? We see plenty of Hillary nowadays: as New York's Senator, as a possible Presidential candidate in 2008... but as a "wife" at all? Can't say that I've seen that even once since his term ended (and it was pretty rare during it already).
That still doesn't exonerate him from his sins. But the longer Bill Clinton is out of office and the further he remains from the woman who exploited his good fortunes, the more he's going to finally start to grow up. And understand that he's got to face up to some things. His recent heart attack must have had some effect on him to cause reflection and consideration. Who knows, but maybe that brush with mortality made him realize that life is short, and not about pursuing money or power or sex at all. And that there is still time to make something of it that would be far nobler - and of far more lasting value - than anything he did while serving as President of the United States.
Consider a man like that, who was born into a broken home with nothing. Not even a moral compass apart from what little his own desperate and hardened conscience knew about. Whose had considerable God-given talents... and then became an instrument to be used by petty, godless despoilers who otherwise had no route toward that for which they lusted. Who obviously has a lot of human weakness and committed much unatoned-for wrongdoing. Consider someone like that who would want to be clean in his conscience before God and other men.
Now, contrast such a man to one who was born with every privilege and comfort. Whose sense of morality derived mostly from an aura of elitism and aloofness from others. Who had no desire to develop whatever talents God gave him and instead chose to "coast" through life on the charity of others and affluence of his name. Who has boasted that he cannot and will not be held accountable for anything, that he has not made any mistakes or apparently is capable of making a mistake at all. Who has also done much wrongdoing... and then let it be magnified by bringing on the deaths of thousands of his own people and countless more in distant lands. Who instead of letting his conscience be broken in the sight of God, is so brazen as to wield the name of God as a talisman against others, so that he might continue his own damnable desire for power unhindered?
One can confess sin and wrong (but could still do a lot more). The other believes he does not need to confess any wrongdoing (and has let his unrepentant heart cause misery toward others beyond measure).
I can't hate Clinton anymore. I can't hate Bush either, for that matter. Both are men who, just as I or your or anyone else, God is trying with all His might to bring Home to Him someday. But first, that reconciliation must be desired... and Jesus had some words about the kind of man it would be who would have it:
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.Something to consider.-- Luke 18, verses 9-14
One last thing: I just noticed that although George W. Bush won this past election by the most votes ever cast for a winning candidate and by a wider margin of victory than in his 2000 run against Al Gore, the best he's been able to muster was 1/3rd of the percentage that Clinton got in the 1996 election, when Clinton drastically increased that margin over what he got against George Bush I and Ross Perot in 1992. Clinton also was first elected with the largest percentage of turnout from eligible voters since Nixon beat McGovern in '72 (Nixon's percentage margin of victory in that race remains the biggest since Franklin Roosevelt's in the 1936 election).
When you run the numbers, Bill Clinton statistically had a greater mandate from the American people than George W. Bush has ever been able to boast, if we're gauging this by how big a slice of participating voters approve of a candidate.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
WOW! Alzheimer's damage is "reversible" with "rapid recovery", study finds
First was yesterday's news that the "master gene" triggering cancer has been discovered. So far as medical research goes, that's maybe bigger than Enrico Fermi figuring out controlled nuclear fission. With a bit more studying, we might stand a chance of wiping most and maybe even all cancer and very soon at that.
And if that wasn't miraculous news already, findings from another study are being made public and DEAR LORD THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR GIVING US A CHANCE AGAINST THIS!! MAYBE BEATING CANCER WAS INCREDIBLY GRACIOUS ENOUGH BUT THAT WE MIGHT CAN LICK THIS... OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN, SHOW THOSE BOYS AND GIRLS IN THE WHITE LABCOATS EVERYTHING THEY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PROTEIN FOLDING OR ANTIBODY EFFECTIVE RATES OR WHATEVER 'CUZ I'VE BEEN PRAYING THAT BOTH OF THESE COULD GET CURED BUT NEVER THOUGHT BOTH WOULD HAPPEN AND THIS FAST!!!
I don't care how ridiculous that comes across. Dammit, I've lost too many people over the past few years to cancer and Alzheimer's. So don't NOBODY suggest that that was over-the-top because I've damned-well earned the right to rejoice as loud as I wanna get about this. Oh yeah, what's that other news? From the AP via the San Francisco Chronicle:
Mouse experiment on clearing of brain plaques may offer hope in Alzheimer's researchIf this is as effective in humans as it's been in mice, our grandchildren might never know firsthand the pain of watching a loved one slowly slip away from this. And we can look forward to enjoying their company all the more as hope burns bright for our having a full and active life with them.JIM SALTER, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, January 20, 2005(01-20) 14:31 PST ST. LOUIS (AP) --
Brain cells in mice recovered rapidly after brain plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease were removed, offering hope that plaque-clearing treatments could benefit patients with the disease, Washington University researchers said Thursday.
Results of the study will appear in the Feb. 5 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
No one knows for sure if the sticky plaque -- amyloid beta peptide -- is the true cause of Alzheimer's, a brain degeneration disease that eventually robs victims of memory and the ability to communicate and care for themselves. About 4.5 million Americans have the disease.
But the plaque is a prime suspect, and several companies are developing drugs to target the buildup.
Researchers at Washington University injected mice with an antibody that cleared plaque in parts of the brain. Where the plaque was cleared, swelling on nerve cell branches disappeared quickly, the researchers said. They cautioned that while encouraging, more studies are needed to determine if similar effects might occur in people.
Removing the plaque "often led to rapid recovery of normal structure over a few days," said Dave Holtzman, senior author of the study and head of the Department of Neurology at Washington University.
He said that confirmed benefits of plaque-clearing treatments and "also gets us rethinking our theories on how plaques cause nerve cell damage..."
To quote Jasper when he came out of Apu's freezer on that episode of The Simpsons: "Hmmmm, Moon Pie! What a time to be alive!" :-)
Friday, January 21, 2005
Best news in a LONG time: scientists identify cancer's "on-switch"!
Scientists identify a single 'master' gene that seems to turn on cancer-causing action of other errant genesRead the full story at Newsday.BY DELTHIA RICKS
STAFF WRITERJanuary 20, 2005
An international team of scientists believes it has found cancer's master switch with the discovery of a gene they dubbed "Pokemon."
Like the electronic game figures - tiny monsters with bad tempers - the cancer-triggering gene apparently instigates the misbehavior of other cancer-causing genes, leading to tumor formation.
In today's issue of the journal Nature, researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, in collaboration with teams in Japan and Britain, announce that the gene plays a key role in starting a malignancy. As a result, scientists now believe they have stumbled upon an important new target for an anti-cancer drug...
"This is the master switch that interacts with other genes... It acts differently than other oncogenes. Others regulate cell growth, but Pokemon impacts on critical properties of cancer cells."
Among those key properties, Pokemon enhances a cancer cell's ability to resist aging and death. This immortalizing factor essentially endows cancer cells with a Peter Pan-like quality that renders them robust indefinitely, the very trait that makes tumors difficult to treat...
If this is as big a breakthrough as I'm inclined to think it might be (always thought that it would come via researching telomeres... but hey who's complaining?!?), it's plausible that we might see most - and Lord willing, all - forms of cancer eliminated within the next decade. It's definitely within the realm of possibility now.
And who'da thunk that looking for Pokemon would actually have a real payoff? :-)
Well, if Peggy Noonan found it disturbing... (and something else Nazi-ish about Bush)
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.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
It was Newspeak's finest hour...
"...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 :-)
Awright, put down that Da Vinci crap and check this out
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 :-)
"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!Hey, it took ten years but at long last Lucas Licensing is finally redeemed for giving us the Star Wars Bend-Ems :-P
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
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.
