Sheriff's deputy goes "berserk" and kills 6 innocent teenagers

And the death toll might be 7, if another hospitalized victim loses the fight for his life.

Here's one story that I've found so far about Tyler Peterson, a 20-year old off-duty sheriff's deputy in Wisconsin who, overcome with anger after an argument with his girlfriend, stormed her house with a gun and opened fire on ten teenagers, who were having a party with movies and pizza. At least seven were hit, with six dead including Peterson's girlfriend.

I'm hearing some reports that in spite of his age, Peterson was already a member of the sheriff's department's SWAT team. Which if true would add an even worse angle to this story. Nobody that young and inexperienced needs to be put into the situation of being a SWAT member. Personally, I think that SWAT teams are something that lend themselves toward tremendous abuse anyway: the trend is that we see these ninja-suited thugs with way too much weaponry, who don't think anything about shooting first and asking questions later. A lot of innocent people have died at the hands of these goons in the past few years ("rack 'em stack 'em", some SWAT types call it) during supposedly "official" business.

It just comes with the nature of being given too much power: something that most people can't adequately handle without being corrupted by it. So giving it to a 20-year old kid - if Peterson indeed was a SWAT member - who lacks the self-discipline to understand not only how to use that power but how not to use it, is only asking for trouble.

Sadly, this reinforces my arguments from a few days ago, when I wrote that without law enforcement officers (another thing that is wrong: calling them "law enforcement" officers, which automatically suggests that an empowered government is of utmost priority over all else) being as much in fear of common citizens as the citizens have been led to be in fear, then there becomes something worse than a state of anarchy. There is no reason at all why Peterson shouldn't have been made to wonder if any of his intended victims might be able to strike back at him. As it is, it took another law officer to take him down (Peterson is now dead also).

Either we are all equal, or we are not. Either we have the right to defend ourselves, or we are forced to rely on officers of the law who cannot guarantee that they will be able to immediately heed our call for assistance. Either we depend on our own ability and initiative, or we depend on a government which in spite of its promises cannot possibly provide for our safety and well-being.

As I said in that earlier post, there is a role for duly-sworn officers of the law in our society. And the ones who understand that role and the responsibilities that come with it do deserve our full respect. But the fact remains that we can't depend on them to keep us entirely safe. And to expect that would be no more fair to them than it would be to ourselves.

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The "Radioactive Boy Scout" gets 90 days in jail

Oddly enough this is the second story in the past few days involving Boy Scouts and hazardous materials (here's a link to the first). Curious, that...

Anyway, last week David Hahn was sentenced to 90 days in jail for stealing smoke detectors from an apartment complex. After being caught taking one, police found 15 other smoke detectors in his apartment.

Years ago David Hahn achieved quite a bit of notoriety as "the Radioactive Boy Scout". It was as a 15-year old kid in Michigan working on achieving his Eagle Scout that Hahn, having already earned the Atomic Energy merit badge, set out to build a full-blown nuclear breeder reactor (a reactor that not only generates energy but creates new fuel) in his parents' shed. The entire weird story was later turned into a book. When Hahn was 17 the authorities finally caught wind of what he was doing. By that time the shed now had a thousand times more radiation than normal background levels. The shed and all of Hahn's apparatus were later buried in a low-level landfill in Nevada.

By the way, Hahn found a lot of the material for his original reactor by cannibalizing smoke detectors for the radioactive isotope of americium that most detectors contain. So was Hahn trying to build another reactor, this time in his apartment's living room?

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Dinner at Texas Roadhouse

Yesterday Lisa and I went to Winston-Salem and wound up eating at Texas Roadhouse. This was my first time trying their food, although Lisa ate at one in Georgia a few months back and kept telling me how good the barbecue ribs were.

Well, I ordered a full slab of ribs and something happened that very, very rarely occurs: I couldn't eat the entire order. And ya wanna know why? 'Cuz that slab was huge!! Probably the biggest portion of ribs that I've had in quite a long time. Next time I may have to get a half-order. But they were delicious! The meat was tender and true to their word, comes clean off the bone. The sauce was exquisitely spicy. I'll definitely be enjoying the leftovers tonight for dinner. The place also had great service.

Lisa says that a Texas Roadhouse is supposed to be coming to Burlington sometime soon, in which case I'll be getting to eat there more often. But in the meantime, if there's one fairly close by to you, check out Texas Roadhouse. And if you're really lucky maybe you can sit in the "Willie Nelson Corner" just like we did last night :-)

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First review ANYWHERE of TRANSFORMERS: THE SCORE by Steve Jablonsky (and a peek at how you might be able to get a signed copy!)

The doorbell rang just after 11 this morning.

Usually that means it's Dad come by for a visit, 'cuz he's the only person who ever rings the doorbell: everyone else just knocks. So I took a looksee out the peephole to see if it was him.

It wasn't. It was a lady in a FedEx uniform holding a package.

I thought that it must be something Lisa had ordered, because she's all the time getting books and other stuff for her music classes. Although I had been told that something was coming to me via FedEx, but I wasn't expecting that particular package until sometime next week. So I signed the lil' computer pad thingy and the nice FedEx lady handed me the package and the first thing that I noticed is that it was addressed to "Chris Knight".

The second thing that I noticed is that it was sent from "Steve Jablonsky".

Here's some of what was inside:

Steve Jablonsky sent signed copies of Transformers: The Score to both Lisa and me! Lisa was especially thrilled about it: this is going to be quite a cool thing for her to show to her students! It must be said: between the Star Wars decor in her classroom, doing stuff that encourages appreciation of folk music and now this, she goes all-out to make learning music interesting.

And as for my copy, well... I already have some plans for it. This CD of Transformers: The Score signed by Steve Jablonsky himself is going to be put on display in a shadowbox, along with a printed-out copy of the online petition that I started a few months ago (including ALL of the signatures). And my original idea was to put a little plaque in between them saying "Some things are worth fighting for" but my friend Eric Wilson had an even better idea: his suggestion is that it should be emblazoned with "NO SACRIFICE, NO VICTORY!". So that's what it's going to say :-)

Along with these two CDs, Steve also sent a signed copy of the D-War soundtrack. And he sent one more signed copy of Transformers: The Score, which has a very special purpose which I'll talk more about to wrap-up this post. Which I can't thank Steve Jablonsky enough for not only sending us these nice copies of the Transformers score, but how he's helping out with a really groovy cause.

Okay, wellllll... here's the first review anywhere of Transformers: The Score. I just spent the past few hours listening to it twice. So what's it like?

In a word: "Magnificent!"

Folks, I can gladly report to you that the wait has been well worth it. In fact, as good as Transformers: The Score sounds, I now appreciate that they didn't rush this into production. It is exceedingly obvious that a great deal of care and attention went into putting this CD together. It is the common belief of many people that Steve Jablonsky's score for Transformers is among the finest in motion picture history, and a lot of us have wanted a CD that does justice not only to the movie and its score, but to the man who composed the orchestral soundtrack. Thankfully, Transformers: The Score does all of that, and more.

If you're a fan of the Transformers movie and you loved its instrumental soundtrack, you absolutely should do yourself a favor and purchase the actual CD, rather than buy a digital download. Why? Because I don't know if a digital file can come close to replicating the tremendous depth and splendor of a compact disc, and this score absolutely demands that you enjoy it at the fullest possible clarity. I cannot begin to emphasize this point nearly enough regarding Transformers: The Score. It deserves space on your CD rack, to be admired and appreciated. It's a beautiful CD to just look at, even.

There are 20 tracks on this CD. Only a few themes from the movie didn't make this cut, but don't fret: there's plenty of material here, including all of the most important pieces. And not only that but most of them are significantly longer than how they were used in the final film. The CD clocks in at just 2 seconds shy of a full hour: quite a bit longer than most CDs that I've bought in the past few years or so, but about par for the course so far as movie soundtracks go.

By the way, I can also report that the names of some of the tracks, which had previously been mis-spelled when details about Transformers: The Score first appeared online, are now spelled correctly. That is worth mentioning because not long after the track listing was revealed, some sources said that those would be the names printed on the labels because the CDs were already well in production. Now it looks like they went back and fixed these names. At least they are correct on the copies that we received. Those are noted below.

Okay well, let's get right to it! By the way, those tracks which are described on the CD as being different/longer than how they are in the movie will be marked with an asterisk ("*").

1. "Autobots"*: The opening theme from the movie, but greatly expanded. Sounds epic and majestic. Already, there's a sense of how much effort and appreciation went into this CD, because the crispness and clarity of the audio is astounding.

2. "Decepticons"*: MUCH longer than the "Decepticons" MP3 that first appeared on the Burger King tie-in website over the summer. Continuing the high quality that was introduced with "Autobots", there is also far more depth than anything we have heard before so far as available Transformers music goes, and it's especially apparent with the ominous chanting. More than any other track, I think here Jablonsky is really emphasizing the utter alien-ness of the Transformers race... which is something that hasn't been done nearly enough in the entire long history of the franchise.

3. "The All Spark"*: Music for a machine god. Has a nice, dark use of cello (I think that's what it is: my cello-playing buddy Darth Larry will doubtless tell me if I'm wrong :-).

4. "Deciphering The Signal"*: Very "cyberpunk"-ish and driving vibe here.

5. "Frenzy"*: Evil and sneaky, a fitting theme for the namesake Decepticon. This is a lot of the stuff that we heard when Frenzy was hacking into Air Force One.

6. "Optimus"*: Starts off as a soft, noble "new age"-ish theme for this, one of the most beloved characters from popular culture of the past two decades. Some beautiful strings in this track (reminds me a lot of what Howard Shore did for the Rohan theme from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers). It gradually becomes something more soaring and mighty.

7. "Bumblebee"*: A lot of the Autobot theme but "personalized" for Bumblebee's character. I thought it sounded really sweet and heroic.

8. "SOCCENT Attack": This was used twice in the movie: at the beginning when Blackout attacks the base in Qatar, and then later on when Megatron resurrects. So if you want the music for when N.B.E. 1 wakes up poky and declares "I am... Megatron!" here ya go! Wonderful music to accompany with mankind's first encounter with the Decepticons.

9. "Sam At The Lake": Pretty much what it says. For some reason I'm noticing it more listening to it from the soundtrack CD than I did in the movie. It sounds... I don't know, more "catchy". Yes, even the music from the scene when Sam and Miles are at the lake, sounds terrific on this CD :-)

10. "Scorponok"*: "BRING IT!!!" And no, your eyes are not deceiving you: the title of this track is fixed from what it was earlier reported to be! I'm looking at it on the CD label right now and it is spelled "Scorponok", not "Skorpinok". This is another one that is significantly longer than the movie version. Which will delight many because this was one of the most demanded themes from the soundtrack: Scorponok's assault on the SOCCENT survivors and then the Air Force's massive counter-attack. Of all the tracks on this CD, this is the one that I am most in fear of. Why? Because it's got that same kind of "FASTER GO FASTER!" vibe that "Duel of the Fates" from the Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace soundtrack had. Which actually caused me to get a speeding ticket a few days after it came out while driving to Elon University. I solemnly promise you, I will keep this track handy in the car when Lisa goes into labor someday and I need to get to the hospital fast.

11. "Cybertron": A very desolate, empty, haunting theme. For some reason I'm reminded a lot of Brian May's score from The Road Warrior. A sad requiem for a dead world.

12. "Arrival To Earth"*: THE MOST DEMANDED track on the whole thing, bar none! This is the track that was called "The Autobots Descent" by a lot of people over the summer (some still refuse to call it anything but that... yeah I'm looking at you Mr. Smart-Alecky Young Dutch Filmmaker :-P). Whatever it is you want to call it, "Arrival To Earth" is staggering in its majesty. The whole theme, from just before the "meteors" appear in the sky, to Optimus's introduction, is here. And there is a LOT more to it than what you heard from the movie, too! I actually had a tear in my eye listening to this one from the CD, just as I did when I watched this scene in the theater. Pretty much the heart and soul of the entire album.

13. "Witwicky": Mischievous. Notice that the title of this track is also fixed, where earlier reports had it as "Whitwicky". This is from when Sam arrives back at his house and the Autobots are trying their best to hide.

14. "Downtown Battle": This is the music that you'll probably have playing in your head when you know that something big and angry is about to arrive to lay some serious smack down.

15. "Sector 7": Trying hard to remember where this was from: when Simmons first arrives on the scene, perhaps? Good music for a government agency that doesn't really exist. Too bad the National Security Agency can't ask Steve Jablonsky if they can use it for their anthem 'cuz coming out to get permission like that would be an official acknowledgment that they are really there :-)

16. "Bumblebee Captured": A very moving track. This was a genuinely painful thing in the movie to watch: sorta like that very horrific scene in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial that has scarred my mind ever since seeing it at the theater in 1982. "Bumblebee Captured" strongly evokes the innocence of this brave Autobot caught in tragic circumstance. Quite appropriate music for the scene's tone.

17. "You're A Soldier Now": A continuation from "Downtown Battle" with a nice reprise of all the major themes spread throughout, especially those of the Autobots and Decepticons.

18. "Sam On The Roof"*: There's a really nice use of the chorals from the Decepticons theme in this one. More continuation of the previous tracks used for the Mission City fight.

19. "Optimus Vs. Megatron": It all comes down to this: the battle between two brothers. "At the end of this day, one shall stand, one shall fall."

20. "No Sacrifice, No Victory"*: They have lost a beloved comrade. But they have gained new ones. Ends with military-like drumming along with the closure of the Autobots theme, as the remains of the Decepticons are consigned by the U.S. Navy to the freezing depths of the north Atlantic.

By the way, I haven't looked at the interior fold-out artwork much. Since the front label is what Steve Jablonsky signed, I'm very reluctant to mess with that :-) I will be buying another copy this coming Tuesday from the local retailer, and make my fair contribution. Actually, I might buy more than one, maybe as Christmas stocking-stuffers for friends or something.

How do I rate Transformers: The Score? I'll give it the full five sparks!

That's pretty much all I have to say about the actual score itself, but there's one more thing that I need to talk about to finish out this post. As I said earlier, Steve Jablonsky sent signed copies of Transformers: The Score to Lisa and me. He also sent one more, which isn't signed to anyone in particular. We asked for his help on something, and he was very glad to oblige. For this, we are extremely thankful:

There are a few things I need to wrap up on this end before I can get this going. But this copy of Transformers: The Score, signed by Steve Jablonsky, will soon be put up for auction on eBay. Where everyone can bid for it. And 100% of the proceeds will be going toward something involving music education.

There will be much more about this very very soon. In the meantime, keep checking this blog for further details.

Very special thanks again to Steve Jablonsky, for his remarkable score and for how he's helping us with this.

So now you all know what to do to help Steve out: go buy Transformers: The Score next week and put some money in his pocket!! Go buy it because you love this music and you want to enjoy it at its fullest grandeur. Go buy it because in your heart, you know it's the right thing to do. Or, don't buy it, and perish in flame.

It's your choice. But, not really.

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Y'all ain't gonna BUH-LEEEEEVE what I'm listening to right now!

It arrived via FedEx today!

It's not out in stores until this coming Tuesday!

It's (GASP!) a legitimate copy!

It's even signed by the composer!

I'm listening to it right now!

It sounds glorious!

And there is something very very cool coming soon regarding this, that is going to be for a good cause, that you are going to have the opportunity to take part in.

Review coming soon.

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The "Star Wars" school board commercial is 1 year old today

It was one year ago today - on October 6th, 2006 - that the now-(in)famous first commercial from my campaign for Rockingham County Board of Education started broadcasting on WGSR in Reidsville...

I had just finished it that morning, and while the video was doing the final render I ran out to find Debbie Moore so that I could give her the check for a month's worth of airtime. Then I got home, burned it onto a CD and drove it over to WGSR and handed it to Matt Smith. Right after that I had to go to Greensboro for an errand, then got back home and after seeing Lisa I went back to the station to see if the commercial was running yet.

Ooh-boy...

Y'know, this commercial, I had to make it. If I didn't produce it for my school board run, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life. It was one of those "vision things" that when it overtakes you, you're compelled to see it through. So I did it and thought that it did a pretty good job conveying who I was and what I believe in, so that should be the end of it, right? Right?!?

Instead I get to the station and Matt not only tells me that it's already running, but general manager Charles Roark tells me that my commercial is going to be the topic of discussion for the 5 o'clock show: "I've never seen a commercial like this before in my life!" he told me. So he started the show and he runs the commercial and the phone lines began lighting up like a Christmas tree. Quite a few people actually said that they would vote for me. About the same number said things like "I think this Christopher Knight has a mental problem" and "he looks evil" and "who does he think he is, blowing up a school right after those Amish children were shot?" etc.

Probably the best moment of it all was something that nobody saw on television, when Tyler Richardson walked into the front lobby just as the commercial started airing: the incredulous look on his face is something that I will remember for the rest of my life :-)

And then Mark Childrey started off his newscast talking about it, and during his Talk Back segment people were still calling in to either praise or rant against my commercial.

I got back home from the station and started uploading the commercial to YouTube, with the innocuous title "Christopher Knight for School Board TV Commercial #1". Along with some tags like "Star Wars" and "Death Star" and "lightsaber". I put it on YouTube mostly so that I could post about it on this blog and share it with a few friends.

Then the following week the News & Record ran a story about not just mine but the other wacky commercials in the Rockingham school board race. And then The New York Times featured the commercial! And over the next few days it would also wind up in the pages of The Reidsville Review (with a huge color pic of me wielding the lightsaber on the front page), the News & Observer in Raleigh, the Charlotte Observer, and a few other places. I didn't see them but people told me that Fox 8 WGHP and WXII (the local NBC affiliate) also ran the commercial during their newscasts.

So then there was the election, and I didn't win a seat. But was that the end of the commercial? Far from it: things were just getting ramped-up! A few months after I put it up on YouTube it started getting a lot more notice. This past June it was screened at the Pixelodeon film festival at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

And then VH1 featured it on their show Web Junk 2.0. Which ummmmm... led to quite a lot of commotion. But there's already been enough written about that.

So here it is: my very first commercial is one year old today. And what a long, strange trip it has been since then because of it. Y'know, I really did make this mostly for the local audience in mind, 'cuz those were the voters that I was trying hardest to appeal to. That it wound up going this far and being so widely discussed and apparently rather popular was something I never imagined would happen to it. And oddly enough, out of the three commercials that I made for my campaign, the "Star Wars" one isn't my favorite: that honor belongs to the third and final one.

But I'm still rather proud of this one. It was a lot of hard work (and not a lot of time to make it in). It uses a lot of humor to convey a very serious message. The commercial was even discovered by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, which called it the "Best Campaign Ad Ever!"

Not too bad for a guy who used the Death Star to blow up a school while trying to win election to Board of Education :-)

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Bad cops, fear, and the Second Amendment

A deputy sheriff in Minnesota shot and killed a family's dog, in front of a 2-year old toddler in the family's yard. It's a pretty sick story.

Who here is willing to bet that after an "internal investigation" that it's going to be announced that the deputy over-reacted and will be fired?

More likely the sheriff's department will come out and say that the deputy did nothing wrong, and will soon be back at work as if nothing happened.

That's what always happens in these situations. And they've been happening all too often in the past few years.

Let me be clear on something: for the most part, I honestly believe, there are good people in law enforcement. I've known plenty of them over the years. Some are good friends, if not outright members of my family. I can't say that there's been any reason for me to think anything but very highly of them.

Unfortunately, there are some people out there who are employed in law enforcement agencies, who do not deserve to be wearing a badge. And there are starting to be plenty enough of those that they are ruining things for the rest of us, including their fellow officers.

These thugs - the ones who do this kind of thing - always get away with it. They never go punished. Or if they ever have, I've certainly never heard about it.

I won't deny that there are some lesser angels of my nature. This is going to be one of those times when I give them a voice...

The Second Amendment has but one purpose: to give good people without badges the authority to shoot and kill bad people with badges, if need be.

Peace in the community ultimately can't be something that we can rely on duly-sworn officers of the law to create and uphold. It's something that every citizen is called upon to build.

What is the purpose of police and sheriff's deputies, then? To be a bulwark against the citizenry being consumed by its appetite for power, which ultimately leads to chaos and anarchy. But without the citizens likewise providing a bulwark against the government's own appetite for power, there becomes something worse.

If people employed by government are abusing the power of government, then it becomes a moral obligation for those being governed to remove these agents of government by any means necessary. Up to and including with lethal force, if all else fails (and it will always be my prayer that it never comes to that).

Would this thug of a deputy have been so quick to have killed an innocent dog in front of a baby, if he had felt that someone would have shot back at him in retaliation? Probably not. But what would be so wrong with a sheriff's deputy or any other law enforcement officer being susceptible to the same kind of fear that it seems too many of them try to instill in us?

Maybe America needs the bullet-riddled bodies of a few bad cops laying around, as a warning to the others that they can't abuse the power that's been entrusted to them.

Is that an evil thing to say? No. Just something that comes after long observation of human nature. And the biggest thing that I've learned about human nature is that it ultimately cannot be trusted with power, without some kind of checks and accountability. These bad cops get away with what they do because they aren't held accountable. And unfortunately, I don't know of what else is going to shake them back to their senses without their knowing that some of their own kind are pushing daisies because of their own arrogance.

"They" need to be in more fear of us than we are in fear of them. That's the way it must be. Otherwise, we really will be living in a police state.

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A FEW GOOD MEN on Family Channel at 8 tonight

I'll never forget that movie. The first time I saw it, was on a red-eye flight to Brussels in late June 1993. The movie ended and when everyone opened their windows, England was below us.

That was a pretty wild flight for a commercial airliner. All kinds of neat characters wound up on that plane. It was sorta like Cheers at 35,000 feet. Too bad passengers aren't allowed to be so jovial anymore.

Anyway, it's a great movie if you've never seen it before, so I thought I'd let y'all know it's coming on :-)

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Is "Globalization" a merit badge? Lead-laden Chinese products now plague Boy Scouts

Yesterday the following item landed in my e-mail:

Attention Scouters and Parents,

We received notification on Oct. 3 relating to defects in the Cub Scout Immediate Recognition Kit (Item # 01804). It may contain lead levels in excess of U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission standards in the paint on the totem badge.

The Boy Scouts of America has directed all of its Scout Shops to remove it from their shelves immediately. We are requesting anyone who may have purchased the item to remove the Cub Scout Recognition totem badge from their children’s possession and, until further instructions are received, keep it in a safe place where only adults will have access to them. Our highest priority is the safety of our youth members and their families. Boy Scouts of America apologizes for any concern this matter causes parents. BSA is doing everything we can to ensure the health and safety of all those who participate in our programs.

Over there on the right you can see what the Cub Scout Immediate Recognition Kit looks like. It's something worn over the chest pocket (hence the hole for the button). Every time a Cub Scout earns three achievements, he gets one bead. You start out as a Bobcat in Cub Scouts and then you earn your way up to Wolf, and the yellow beads represent your progress toward that. Then after you've earned Wolf you can progress to Bear, and the red beads mark your way toward that.

I've still got my old Cub Scout uniform, including the Progress Toward Ranks thingy with all of the beads. I don't know who made that one (it was 25 years ago when I started in Cub Scouts) but the Cub Scout Immediate Recognition Kit that's being recalled is marketed by Kahoot, a toy company in Roswell, Georgia. According to its website, Kahoot has been around for 22 years so my own Progress Toward Ranks predates the company.

In light of all the Chinese-made products - especially items for children - that are being recalled lately because of how much lead they contain, I wondered when I first got this e-mail if the Cub Scout Immediate Recognition Kit was also made in China. I started looking into it on my own...

...but I didn't have to look for long: it turns out that the Cub Scout Immediate Recognition Kit sold by Kahoot IS being made in China!

Look, I've been an assistant scoutmaster for 15 years now. I've been involved with the Boy Scouts since 1982, when I became a Cub Scout. I earned my Bear Badge, then achieved the Arrow of Light as a Webelos Scout and then attained the rank of Eagle Scout: something that is still quite a rare thing for a Boy Scout to do. I defy anyone to tell me that I'm not loyal to the Boy Scouts and what they're supposed to stand for.

But how the hell is it that the Boy Scouts of America is using products made in China?

Aren't there any companies in the United States that can make these Cub Scout awards?

Did the Boy Scouts of America actively seek out companies to supply them, that have products that are made domestically?

Why is the Boy Scouts of America, in the least bit way, helping not just a foreign economy but one that would like nothing more than for there to be no more America?

I know that, unfortunately, it's not possible to avoid everything made in China at the present time. I wish it were otherwise. There is no reason why the United States cannot produce everything it needs so far as consumer goods go. Maybe someday we will be making things again instead of just buying them as cheaply as possible.

But let's get real: it's a thin plastic badge with synthetic beads and a thong. How really difficult is it for a factory in America to stamp these things out?

In the Boy Scouts there are three merit badges: Citizenship in the Community, Citizenship in the Nation, and Citizenship in the World. All three are among the merit badges required for Eagle, so I had to earn each of them. Something I realized in the course of achieving those merit badges: we as Americans are at our best when we are good citizens in our communities. And we as citizens of this world are at our best when we are good citizens of America. If we take care of what is immediately around us and then apply that to the nation that God put us in, that is how we do our part to be good stewards in this world.

Helping foreign industry, to the detriment of our own, is not showing good citizenship in either our community or our nation. And it's not good citizenship in the world, either.

This kind of thing, of "going with the flow" and not supporting our own industry because something can be bought cheaper (and Lord only knows what kind of labor went into these badges) makes a mockery of everything that the Boy Scouts used to teach about American citizenship.

Maybe that's "globalization", and perhaps someone, somewhere in the Boy Scouts hierarchy is hoping that it will become a merit badge. But the day it does, then I can't be a part of the Boy Scouts of America any longer.

The Boy Scouts need to learn from this. The organization should begin to actively take steps to make sure that the companies it contracts with to produce Scouting materials, as much as it is at all possible, use American industry to produce these goods.

And I'm especially talking about materials with the "Boy Scouts of America" brand on them. If something made for the Boy Scouts of America can't honestly boast of being made in America, then it's not really of the Boy Scouts of America at all. It may bear the logo, but it will never boast the spirit of Scouting.

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Dinner at Back Yard Burgers ... with magic by Marlo!

For the past few months WGSR has been running these 30-minute promos for the Back Yard Burgers in Danville (just across the border in Virginia for those who aren't local). I'd never eaten at a Back Yard Burgers before, so last night Lisa and I drove up U.S. 29 to check it out.

I think that many more trips to Danville are going to be in my future, because I got the Double Meat Back Yard Burger with lettuce, tomatoes and Swiss cheese and it was deeeee-licious! Tasted just like a hamburger you might grill on your patio. I also got a chocolate milkshake was also quite tasty.

We also got treated to a show by Marlo the Magician, who comes by every Thursday night at 6 to entertain the patrons, 'specially the kids. Marlo came by our table and whipped out his wallet to give us a card. But as soon as he opened the wallet it caught fire! I mean serious flames coming out of that thing, 'cuz Marlo said that his was "the hottest show in town". I'm still in a bit of shock after that one :-) We watched Marlo do his thing for a bit and thought he was pretty good. We'll probably come again some Thursday just to watch him again.

Anyhoo, if there's a Back Yard Burgers somewhere near you (click here to check out their locations) I'll recommend it as a pretty darned good place to eat.

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Obama won't wear an American flag pin... and I agree with him

I will never vote for Barack Obama to be President. Let me be absolutely clear about that. You'll never see me trying to persuade others to vote for him either. But if he seriously believes this, then I'll absolutely agree with the man on this much. Obama has stopped wearing the American flag pin that is seen adorning just about every politician in this country.

Why? Because since 9/11, Obama told an Iowa TV station, the pin has become "a substitute" for "true patriotism."

He's right.

And it's going to be interesting to see how many "patriotic conservative" pundits come out of the woodwork to condemn him about this. I think Obama is doing something perfectly conservative: he's choosing not to wrap himself up in the flag and portray phony patriotism. Obama's patriotism, if it's really there, is going to be on display for whatever it is. For however the voters choose to accept it or reject it. Which is just as it should be.

In all honesty, I hate those stupid little American flag pins. And I think that elected officials or those running for office are shallow and tacky when they wear them. I didn't wear one when I ran for school board, and I'll never wear one if I ever run for office again. If some prospective voter thinks less of me on that basis, I won't care and wouldn't have wanted their vote to begin with. I'd rather win an election based on my beliefs and ideas, not cheap theatrics or gaudy decorations.

Because the fact of the matter is, I still do believe in what the American flag stands for - or what it used to stand for - too much than to want to use it to hide my own shortcomings.

But it's this kind of use of the American flag, like wearing it as jewelry, that has almost completely robbed the flag of any meaning whatsoever.

The American flag is not our own version of the Blutfahne. In fact, there is nothing very special or significant about the American flag itself, at all. There is no intrinsic value or power imbued in the thing. And yet many Americans - and too many politicians - hide behind it as if it were the Shield of Perseus.

We've come to think that it guards us when facing evil. In truth we use the American flag to guard against facing ourselves.

If the American flag is to have meaning, it's only going to be because the American people have given it meaning, first.

So folks, what exactly can we say, that we have given this flag?

Because I don't know how we can still be proud of this flag, when we dare fly it while we keep surrendering the freedoms that too many of our ancestors fought and died for us to have. The American flag does not give us freedom. The American flag can't give us freedom.

Without that freedom, it's just a worthless scrap of cloth. That's practically all it is now.

And we're not going to regain that freedom by slavishly following after some power-mad lunatic in a suit and a silly flag pin.

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Sputnik was launched 50 years ago today

One of the biggest achievements in human history took place 50 years ago today on October 4th, 1957. That was the day that the Soviet Union launched Спутник-1, better known to we in the western world as "Sputnik 1" (it means "Co-Traveler 1"), the first artificial satellite to be launched into Earth orbit.

For something about the size of a beach ball, Sputnik raised a hella big furor back in the day, especially for Americans. Cartoons such as the one on the right bemoaned the fact that the Russians could now put something in the sky right over the United States and there wasn't anything that could be done about it. My personal favorite cartoon from the time was one where a Russian dude is telling an American woman "Who else can give you a moon?" Less than a month later the Soviets triumphed again when they launched Sputnik 2 with the dog Laika on board: the first living animal to be put into space (unfortunately Laika survived launch but died a few hours later from heat and stress).

The Americans didn't catch up with the Soviets until January 1958, when it launched Explorer I. Then it was a race to put a man into space. The Soviets not only did that but they put a woman up there, too. And then both sides set their eyes on the Moon...

The space age had begun.

In remembering the importance of this anniversary, I also feel obligated to honor the memory of the man who not only designed Sputnik, but was in every conceivable measure the father of Russian space flight...

Sergei Korolev was a man who over the past decade I have come to absolutely respect and admire. From a young age Korolev studied the works of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and other rocket researchers, and Korolev set out to make a reality out of the theory. It was Korolev who first proposed Sputnik, and from there he went on to oversee everything else in Russia's early space program. Korolev was a brilliant engineer and a man of remarkable vision who pulled off some amazing things. All of it in spite of the political posturing by the Soviet government that became more hindrance than help. One famous example was when Nikita Kruschev was visiting the United Nations and he phoned back to Russia and demanded that Korolev launch a rocket to demonstrate Russia's space superiority. Kruschev wanted that rocket and he wanted it "now!" So Korolev had no choice but to send one up. Unfortunately Kruschev was in such a rush that there was no time to properly prepare the rocket. It blew up on the launch pad and took hundreds of lives, including most of Korolev's staff at the site. The folks back home got boxes of dirt to bury. Korolev was furious! But he had no real choice but to keep heading the Soviet space effort. By the time he died in 1966, Korolev was already well into the design phase for an attempted Soviet lunar landing.

Anyway, to Sputnik and its creator, here's a toast raised in their honor on the anniversary of their historic journey!

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Hollywood coming to Rockingham County! MANDIE AND THE SECRET TUNNEL to film at Chinqua-Penn

This is great news, because it really shows how far Chinqua-Penn Plantation has come in just the past year. The historic manor near Reidsville was once among the most opulent and celebrated houses in America, until it had to close down several years ago because of lack of funding. Then last year Calvin and Lisa Phelps bought the place and immediately started turning things around. This past weekend they even had Gatsby Days (a celebration of the 1920s) again at Chinqua-Penn.

Now there's this: film production company A Five Picture Deal out of Atlanta is going to start shooting Mandie and the Secret Tunnel at Chinqua-Penn next week!

It stars Dean Jones! Who played whats-his-name in Disney's "Herbie" movies!

Look! Press release!

October 2, 2007

For immediate release –

Chinqua Penn Plantation, located at 2138 Wentworth Street in Reidsville, N.C., is pleased to announce it will be the site of a movie to be filmed October 10 – 25, 2007. Independent film makers, Owen Smith and Joy Chapman of A Five Picture Deal in Atlanta chose Chinqua Penn for the interior scenes of "Mandie and the Secret Tunnel". Smith acquired the film rights from author Lois Leppard's book by the same name, several years ago when his little sister was reading it and suggested it be made into a movie. The story centers on Mandie, who comes to live with her Uncle John at his estate upon her father’s death, and the adventures she shares there with new-found friends. Set in the early 1900's, the Mandie series boasts a delightful cast of characters who, in the tradition of Little House on the Prairie and Anne of Green Gables, learn valuable lessons as they suffer hardships and celebrate life's triumphs.

A Five Picture Deal specializes in period family films. Smith and Chapman teamed up previously to produce the five-part Sugar Creek Gang series based on books by the same name. Their approach is to make the films accessible and entertaining for all ages. Rather than a kid film with a few laughs for the adults, or a grown-up film with some silly character tossed in for the kids, Smith and Chapman strive to create fully developed stories that are timeless in their appeal and therefore target people of all ages.

Chapman said, "In our search for the perfect mansion we initially looked for a classic southern plantation home. Fortunately for us, Chinqua Penn has the word plantation in its name! An internet search brought up the web site for Chinqua Penn and the uniqueness of the house quickly gave us new ideas for taking the location in an entirely new and interesting direction. Chinqua Penn is the sort of place we would never have imagined to look for, but it is exactly the place we needed. The house and its contents quickly became characters in their own right and will add an entirely new dimension to the film. No one is going to be prepared for what they see when we introduce them to the interiors of Chinqua Penn Plantation in the movie. I know we were certainly not expecting it when we were given our initial tour of the house."

Dean Jones, well-known for his work with Disney in such films as Herbie the Love Bug and That Darn Cat, stars as Jason Bond, caretaker of the estate. Lexi Johnson, of The Sugar Creek Gang series plays Mandie. Amanda Waters,
child model, will make her acting debut in "Mandie" as the title character's neighbor. William Yelton (past work includes the upcoming HBO mini-series John Adams with Tom Hanks, a part in the film Bolden and Hound Dog with Dakota Fanning) will play the role of Joe Woodard, Mandie's life-long friend.

The shooting will be closed-set and therefore the house will not be open for weekday tours October 9 through October 25. However, tours will be conducted on weekends as usual during this time and Grounds Tours, the Gift Shop and the Wine Tasting Room will operate on their regular week-day schedule over these dates.

Very cool news indeed! Maybe someday I'll get to make a movie there :-)

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More copyright insanity: Sony BMG claims ripping CDs is "stealing"

Slashdot is reporting that the head lawyer for Sony BMG is claiming that we should not be allowed to copy the tracks from CDs that we buy to our personal MP3 players. Jennifer Pariser says that we should be buying multiple copies of a CD: one for each device that we intend to play it on.

Ars Technica has more on the story, which came from testimony in a court case involving music companies.

As someone on the Slashdot thread has already noted: Sony thinks that it's wrong for us to use CDs on more than one device that we own, but Sony also doesn't have a problem with installing malicious software on our computers without our knowing about it.

By the way, my wife and I each own an MP3 player. Would this mean that we should be compelled to purchase three CDs: one for each player and one for regular use in our home's stereo system?

I doubt it will ever happen anytime soon, but there needs to be a codified right where it's made explicitly clear that consumers are entitled to make a reasonable amount of copies of music or software that they have purchased, so long as it is for personal use. I don't want to see piracy take place here... but it has to be said that when Sony comes out and claims that we should have to buy a CD just so that we can put that on our MP3 players, then something has gone terribly screwy.

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30-second clips from TRANSFORMERS: THE SCORE now online

30-second snippets from each track on Transformers: The Score are now on the CD's product page at Wal-Mart's website.

Just going by these clips, this album sounds amazing. Easily many orders of magnitude better than anything from the score that has wound up online (with "official releases" like Burger King's posting of the Decepticons theme on its website in mind). And there are now only six days left before it comes out!

I was thinking the other day: wouldn't it be incredibly cool if sometime or another, that there could be a live concert performance of the Transformers score? A few years ago Lisa and one of her college friends and I went to Atlanta to hear Howard Shore himself conduct a concert of his music from The Lord of the Rings. It was a positively epic experience: I will never forget listening to the Rohan theme, with its majestic use of the violin. Now imagine hearing the music from the Autobots' arrival on Earth being played by a live orchestra. I know: that probably won't ever happen... but it's sure fun to imagine :-)

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My wife leaves me to go study banjos

No joke: over the past 3 months my wife Lisa has been gone from home for roughly a month. All on trips to places where she's been learning how to enhance her abilities as a music teacher. This past week she went to the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching out in Cullowhee (right across the road from Western Carolina University) to learn about the banjo and its history: from its origins in Africa to its adoption as a traditional Appalachian folk instrument.

Look! Lisa even posted about it on her blog!

She had a lot of fun. And she learned a lot about the banjo and how to apply it to her classes. Not to mention that she brought home a wazoo-load of CDs from bluegrass groups that came to the seminar like Carolina Chocolate Drops and Balsam Range.

In spite of its location, Lisa informs me that at no time did anyone perform "Dueling Banjos"...

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An X-Wing Fighter that actually flies!

An outfit calling themselves Polecat Aerospace in California has built an almost full-sized X-Wing Fighter from the Star Wars movies. It's 21 feet long, has a 19-foot wingspan, and it really flies!

It is made of wood and some aluminum, and is propelled by four solid-fuel rockets. It even has an Artoo unit that can rotate its head by remote control. And to top it all off, the wings can adjust position in flight just like a real X-Wing would!

Polecat Aerospace is going to launch it next week. Can't wait to see the video of this thing in action!

More details about the X-Wing here.

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