Tonight's LOST: Will "Greatest Hits" be Charlie's swan song?

Last week's episode of Lost is still freaking me out. The part where Ben takes Locke to Jacob's cabin might be the hands-down creepiest scene from a television show I've ever watched. No kidding: when Locke heard that voice I jumped from the shock. Then the whole cabin went nuts. And then there was that final scene where Ben showed Locke what happened to the DHARMA Initiative... again, creepy.

There are two episodes left for Lost this season, and of all the episodes so far these are the two that I know the least about. Tonight's is titled "Greatest Hits" and all I know is that it's centered on Charlie. And that for quite awhile now it's been rumored that Charlie is going to die soon. Will it be tonight? I hope not: Charlie has been one of the most fun characters to watch. He deserves to get back home and have his music career take off and become the man that Claire needs and the father that Aaron deserves to have.

But this is Lost, and the best things aren't guaranteed to happen to the characters we like most. Any one of them is ripe for killing-off.

Then next week is the 2-hour season finale, "Through the Looking Glass". And I am hearing that details about this episode have become very widespread in the past few days. I don't know what those are and don't want to know until the episode ends next Wednesday night. Just wanted to give plenty of warning to anyone else so they'll know that the spoilers are being disseminated out there, so if you want to go into the season finale as pure as possible, there are some places on the 'net you might not wanna visit for the next week or so.

Read More

About what Ron Paul said last night ...

He's right.

The biggest attacks against Dr. Paul for his comments on terrorism and 9/11 are coming mostly from those who proudly call themselves "neoconservatives": the ones who can't get enough of American intervention in the rest of the world. And that's what has invited so much hatred against America to begin with. I defy anyone to tell me that there hasn't been a correlation between our trying to be the world's policeman, and anti-American sentiment.

As for Rudy Giuliani's tantrum: to me it seemed more like an act of desperation than something of solid principle. So he took what Paul said out of context and tried to spin it to make Paul look like a "kook".

But I've no problem with what Ron Paul said last night. It was an honest and intelligent answer. What else are we supposed to want out of a potential future President?

Read More

Larry Flynt makes a statement about Jerry Falwell

Say what you will of Larry Flynt, but this was high class. And I can't help but think he's sincere in saying all of this, in spite of the legal turmoil that went on between him and Jerry Falwell. Here's the statement he released today after news came out that Falwell had died:

"The Reverend Jerry Falwell and I were arch enemies for fifteen years. We became involved in a lawsuit concerning First Amendment rights and Hustler magazine. Without question, this was my most important battle – the l988 Hustler Magazine, Inc., v. Jerry Falwell case, where after millions of dollars and much deliberation, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in my favor.

My mother always told me that no matter how much you dislike a person, when you meet them face to face you will find characteristics about them that you like. Jerry Falwell was a perfect example of that. I hated everything he stood for, but after meeting him in person, years after the trial, Jerry Falwell and I became good friends. He would visit me in California and we would debate together on college campuses. I always appreciated his sincerity even though I knew what he was selling and he knew what I was selling.

The most important result of our relationship was the landmark decision from the Supreme Court that made parody protected speech, and the fact that much of what we see on television and hear on the radio today is a direct result of my having won that now famous case which Falwell played such an important role in."

Read More

Bush's most glaring leadership failure yet

President George W. Bush has tapped Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute to be his "war czar".

For the first time in American history, the President of the United States has outsourced his job as Commander-in-Chief.

Bush started this insane war in Iraq. Now he doesn't want to devote any more of his own time toward finishing it. So he's letting someone else handle it.

Pathetic!

Read More

Gonzales, "attempted" software piracy, and Inslaw/PROMIS

Let me get this straight...

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wants to make "attempted" copyright infringement a crime.

Among other things, Gonzales is calling for life imprisonment for software piracy.

It logically follows, then, that the entire frickin' U.S. Justice Department - and a damn huge chunk of the rest of the federal government - should be sentenced to life in prison for its continued piracy of the PROMIS software.

To this day, the Justice Department has not paid Inslaw a dime for what was proven in court to be a clear case of software piracy by the federal government.

If this isn't a grandiose case of "chutzpah", I don't know what is.

Read More

Jerry Falwell has passed away

Breaking news now. Was found in his office "unresponsive" and rushed to the hospital. In just the past few minutes it's coming out more or less verified that Falwell has indeed died.

I know that I've written a lot on this blog about how I disagreed with a many things that Falwell did. The biggest problem I had with him was that he put too much an emphasis on gaining political power. That said, I have to add here that my prayers are definitely with his family today.

Read More

Classic Garfield cartoon: "Mistakes Will Happen"

This is not only one of the best animated Garfield cartoons ever: I think it's also one of the greatest cartoons of all time! From the fifth season of Garfield and Friends in 1992, here is "Mistakes Will Happen":

Read More

When Christians get it all wrong ...

Two stories - both from here in North Carolina - that caught my attention this morning, that illustrate the frustration that I have so often with some who profess to share my faith in Christ...

The first has to do with Good News Independent Baptist Church in Raleigh: its pastor has placed this sign out in front of the church. I could say something about the horrible grammar and spelling ("Christain"?) but that's not the point. What is troubling is that Rev. Gary Murrell is being a very poor witness for Christ in doing this. Does he seriously believe that this sign is going to convince any Muslim to give up his or her religion and embrace Christianity? Because he's gravely mistaken if he does. We are supposed to be convincing people of Christ with our love toward them, and not militant hostility. When Murrell does this, he's really not showing that he's that much different from the Muslims who do kill other people. The hatred and loathing is the same, it's just a difference of extremes to which each chooses to express that hatred.

The other story involves the opening prayer at Forsyth County Board of Commissioners meetings. The ACLU is suing the board for what it calls "sectarian prayer" during its meetings. The board is supposed to be voting on how to handle the situation later tonight.

Here's the thing: I don't believe that the ACLU should be filing these ridiculous lawsuits against local municipalities for how they choose to carry on their public meetings. This is something that's left up to the local community. So I definitely believe that the ACLU should butt-out. At the same time, too many of the people who are most defending this kind of prayer are doing so for the completely wrong reason. They aren't "defending" or "standing up" for prayer for prayer's sake. They are doing this to turn prayer into a public show of force and power... which is something that Jesus expressly taught against. In fact, Jesus said that people who do this kind of public prayer were "hypocrites". Prayer is supposed to be a personal thing between the individual and God, not a public rallying cry against "those evil liberals" or some-such. When it becomes that, then prayer is worthless... and like the story of the church sign above, it poisons our witness for Christ.

The common point in both of these stories is the notion that Christianity should be a "religion" in competition with all the other religions of the world. That is wrong, because that gives Christianity the purpose of accumulating temporal power instead of furthering the kingdom of God for no other reason than it's own sake. Christianity shouldn't even be considered a "religion" at all, anyway. It's about relationship with God, not ritual for God.

We do neither God or ourselves any favors when we use the name of Christ to achieve stature in the eyes of the world.

Maybe if the Christians of this country would realize the dire need for humbleness, and stop trying to dominate the world, then perhaps we would get out of the way and allow God to fix some of the things that we complain about most. But hey, I'm just a guy with a blog: what do I know?

Read More

First surface map of an extra-solar planet

The first map of the surface of a planet outside our solar system has been produced. This is a temperature-variation map of HD 189733b, orbiting a star about 63 light years from Earth. HD 189733b is considered a "hot Jupiter": a gas giant that orbits extremely close to its parent star (like, closer than Mercury does to our Sun). The map was produced with observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope. Click here for more info.

Absolutely amazing. It wasn't that long ago that we only suspected that there were planets orbiting other stars. In just a few years we've catalogued hundreds of new planets and now we've arrived at where we can get a picture of a planet's surface. Who knows what kinds of things we'll be picking out of the sky in another 10 or 20 years.

Read More

My latest letter to the News & Record: ban political labels from the op-ed page

Here's the link to my latest letter to the editor of the News & Record. I had a wonderful conversation with Becky Layton in the editorial department a few days ago when she called to verify that I wrote this (standard procedure for letters to be published) and I said then that I'm very serious about this suggestion. The News & Record staff had a great idea when they started encouraging blogging and commenting on op-ed pieces. Now here's a chance to take it way on past the next level: ban all political labels, like "Democrat" and "Republican", "conservative" and "liberal", "right wing/left wing" etc.

Some will say that this will drastically limit the amount of material for the op-ed pages. No doubt that's true. But it will encourage serious, engaging and even polite debate about real ideas, instead of the partisan bickering that has become so anemic. And there are plenty of writers out there who do pursue ideas instead of ideology.

Words are like tools, or weapons: they can be used for good and they can be used for evil. But they should always be used with consideration and forethought. And if the News & Record would actually do this, it would not only be raising the bar and expectations (which is always a good thing) but it would become a real leading light in the field of the news media.

Anyway, you can read the letter at the link above, and leave a comment if you feel so led.

Read More

How Ron Paul is destroying the media's grasp of politics

Something I'm not seeing talked about much during the past week or so, especially in light of the intense popularity - online and elsewhere - that Ron Paul seems to be enjoying following last week's GOP presidential candidates debate.

There seems to be a massive disconnect between what the mainstream press sees and is reporting, and the apparent support that Paul is getting as gauged from "alternative" outlets. F'rinstance, right now Paul has more people subscribed to his YouTube channel than any other Republican candidate. And as of this writing, "ron paul for president" entered into a Google search yields 162,000 results... compared to 75,400 for mainstream press-projected "frontrunner" Rudolph Giuliani.

And yet, the "traditional" media persists in largely ignoring Ron Paul, because he's not "polling high enough" compared go Guiliani, Romney, and a few others.

There's something horribly, horribly wrong with the mainstream media's perspective...

The only "scientific" polling that is being done by the major news organizations relies on old-school telephone landlines. No cell phones are being called for these polls (it's not allowed by law). A lot of people have migrated entirely to wireless phone sevice. That doesn't necessarily mean that a huge portion of those without landlines will not be supporting the "frontrunners", but it certainly seems that there would be a comparable level of interest in these candidates on the Internet. But right now, there isn't any.

In every way, Ron Paul's candidacy is the one getting the most attention... except the standard media isn't seeing that because it's still locked-in with old-school methodology.

What does this mean? I think it indicates that there are a lot of people who are interested in Paul and his message of less government, that are invisible on the regular media's radar screen. And there really is no currently known way of taking many of those into account with statistical polling as has been understood for the past several decades.

If the mainstream press is to act as responsible journalists, it's going to have to take this into consideration when reporting on candidates from now on, because otherwise they are practicing subjective reporting by omission... which I am compelled to wonder whether or not this might be by design.

I'm going to be interested to see what kind of reaction there will be following this coming week's Republican candidates' debate. A lot of people did not know who Ron Paul was before last week. Since then he's fast become an unavoidable contender. How much higher might his star rise in the weeks and months to come in the lead-up to the only polls that really count: the ballot boxes? And how is the media going to react to something that, for the first time in a very long time, it cannot project with any sense of accuracy?

Read More

Megatron is one banned 'bot in Australia

The government of Australia has banned the import of the Transformers Masterpiece Megatron collector's toy into the country (click here for the story).

This is Megatron as he originally appeared when the Transformers line was first introduced in the early 1980s... but this one has a much better sculpt, is greatly articulated, is made of die-cast metal and is a lot sturdier than the '83/'84 model (how many of us cried when the original Megatron's arm came off?).

He also transforms into a life-sized Walther P-38 semi-automatic pistol... which is the problem. Masterpiece Megatron is now considered a public health threat by the authorities in Sydney. Yup, 20 years ago this was a perfectly okay child's toy. In 2007, at $100 a pop and marketed primarily to adult collector's, you need permission from the Australian government before you can import one from there. So far they've impounded about 50 Masterpiece Megatrons.

Just one more sign that the world we live in has gone positively bonkers.

By the way, my friend Phillip Arthur has the good fortune of being the proud owner of one of these babies! Check out his in-depth review here and if you find yourself salivating for one, you might be able to luck out on eBay (I'm seeing Masterpiece Megatron currently going from $90 all the way up to almost $200).

Read More

Unintended Christian imagery in this week's LOST?

Maybe I'm seeing too much in this, but when I first looked at this photo from this week's Lost episode "The Man Behind the Curtain", something immediately jumped out at me. It's the scene where Locke and Ben are on the creek bank before setting out to see Jacob.

Do you see it too?

Look at the reflection in the water. I don't know if this was intended or not (I'm guessing probably not) but the branch that's seen behind Locke's reflected head... it looks just like the horizontal beam of a Roman cross. Here's that portion of the image flipped upside-down...

Taking the straight branch into account, Locke's head is in much the same position as you see Christ's head in quite a few depictions of the crucifiction.

Now think about that very last scene from last week's episode "The Brig" and what Locke was carrying on his back.

And also think of that very last shot of this week's episode, and where Locke was.

And then think about what Locke seems to be becoming in the eyes of many of the Others.

Like I said, I don't know if this was intended or not, but in light of all the Judeo-Christian references in this show, I thought this was still pretty cool.

And the thought just came to me: Ben's final words in this week's episode sound a LOT like those of a certain thief who was also being executed next to Jesus.

What astounding parallels! No wonder I love this show so much...

(Found this pic at The Tail Section by the way :-)

Read More

Three new Terminator movies on their way

This does not need to happen. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines did not need to happen either (although I will admit there were some pretty good sequences in that movie). For me, the Terminator story neatly tied itself up at the end of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. But I guess Hollywood is running on fumes so far as new ideas for movies go, hence this whole new "Terminator trilogy" that will almost certainly tank at the box office.

Read More

Anti-school uniforms task force has an e-mail address

Parents Opposed To Standard Mode Of Dress - also known as P.O.T.S.M.O.D. - is a group that's formed in the past month to stand against the school uniforms that the Rockingham County Board of Education voted to impose on Reidsville Middle and Reidsville High schools last month. They have an e-mail address if you wish to contact them: it's at potsmod@triad.rr.com. Thanks to Wendy Inman for passing that along.

Read More

Immediate reaction to tonight's LOST "The Man Behind the Curtain"

No exclamations I might write could possibly do it justice.

Remember the final moments of "Two for the Road" toward the end of last season? Didn't this this one coming either, did we?

The brake has come completely off the highballing train that is Lost. There's no stopping it now. And it looks to be headed toward one helluva cliff.

Ever since the return from hiatus in February, we've been recording each episode to DVR. Lisa turns in early ('cuz she has to be at school in the mornings) so I watch it when it firsts broadcasts and then we watch it together the next afternoon when she comes back. There hasn't been one episode that lacked a moment that I couldn't wait to happen again on playback, just to watch Lisa's reaction...

...so tomorrow afternoon is going to be a lot of fun for me :-)

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'll give this episode a 14.

I want to get one thought in, before anyone else suggests it: the island is going to be destroyed. They set it up right in front of our eyes tonight. Remember Chekhov's rule of drama: "If the gun is fired in Act 3 it must be shown in Act 1..."

MAJOR UPDATE 11:43 PM EST: I just re-watched the scene with Jacob. SOMEONE IS SITTING THERE! I'm looking right at him at this very moment with the playback paused from the DVR. If you recorded this, it's a very brief image right after Ben screams "you've had your fun!"

Someone is there. See for yourself.

EDIT 11:53 PM EST: Here he is, taken from the episode. Do not click unless you absolutely want to.

Read More

47 minutes into tonight's LOST ...

"That was Jacob."

What the ... ?!?

More soon.

Read More