South Carolina church's sign shows un-Christlike attitude toward Obama

Could somebody please tell me where there is a scriptural mandate for what the Jonesville Church of God in upstate South Carolina is doing with their sign?

From the story at WYFF in Greenville's website...

Small Church's Obama Sign Causes Big Controversy

POSTED: 4:20 pm EDT April 21, 2008
UPDATED: 10:18 pm EDT April 21, 2008

JONESVILLE, S.C. -- The sign in front of a small church in a small town is causing a big controversy in Jonesville, S.C.

Pastor Roger Byrd said that he just wanted to get people thinking. So last Thursday, he put a new message on the sign at the Jonesville Church of God.

It reads: "Obama, Osama, hmm, are they brothers?"

Byrd said that the message wasn't meant to be racial or political.

"It's simply to cause people to realize and to see what possibly could happen if we were to get someone in there that does not believe in Jesus Christ," he said.

(snip)

Pastor Byrd, it's an open question as to whether we already have someone "in there" who seriously believes in Jesus Christ today. So why is your church showing such concern now?

And how is what this pastor and his church showing that they sincerely believe in Christ, anyhow?

I said a few weeks ago that this kind of thing was going to continue leading up to the election. And though I'm not now and never will support Obama or cast a vote for him, I'm not nearly so worried about what he might do if he were to become President as I already am about too many of my fellow Christians who are not only frightfully paranoid - when scripture tells us many times to not be afraid of the things of this world - but also show such selective myopia on the basis of worldly politics. George W. Bush is already the most un-Christlike President in American history... so has the Jonesville Church of God ever condemned him?

Pastor Byrd says that the congregation of Jonesville Church of God unanimously voted to keep the message. Too bad they likely never bothered to pray and study scripture about the issue before deciding to press forward.

EDIT 11:43 pm EST 04/22/2008: I couldn't help it...

Courtesy of Church Sign Generator. Credit for the idea goes to Ed Darrell who suggested it on Kevin Bussey's post about Jonesville Church of God's ridiculous sign.

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We are sooooo screwed

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain using WWE Pro Wrestling to pimp themselves.

America really is turning into that movie Idiocracy, isn't it?

What a contrast. Last night we watched the finale of HBO's John Adams, which conveyed the virtue and nobility of the Founding Fathers as beautifully as any production that possibly comes to mind. And less than 24 hours later, we see what has become of the fruits of their labors and sacrifice: three of the worst possible candidates for office of President of the United States, using metaphorical bread and circuses to reach out to what is supposed to be an enlightened constituency.

Some smart-alec is probably going to say that this is nothing different than when Richard Nixon appeared on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. But I disagree. Laugh-In was a smart show, and had serious cultural relevance. And that was just a gag anyway. This presentation by the three "front runners" smacks too much of serious campaigning.

John Adams, I'm sorry: we couldn't be responsible with the freedom you and your friends gave us.

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"Peacefield": A magnificent conclusion to HBO's JOHN ADAMS

There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

That was the most perfect ending for a television miniseries that I've seen since Lonesome Dove. And easily one of the best finales for anything ever produced for the medium.

All day long, HBO had a marathon going from start to finish of John Adams. Lisa and I watched Part 6, "Unnecessary War", and then segued right into the finale "Peacefield". The previous chapter ended with the image of Adams, alone and seemingly friendless, leaving the Presidential Mansion (it wouldn't be called the "White House" for another ten years) for the last time, ahead of the inauguration of longtime friend-turned-rival Thomas Jefferson.

"Peacefield" picks up the story two years later, as Dr. Benjamin Rush diagnoses John and Abigail's daughter Nabby with breast cancer. For the next hour, the final twenty-three years of the life of the second President of the United States plays out as seemingly one unrelenting tragedy after another: the death of Nabby, and then having to watch John as he loses his dear wife Abigail after 54 years of marriage. The final portion of "Peacefield" finds Adams reconciling with Jefferson in their final years, and struggling to ensure that future generations remember the sacrifices that were made by so many to secure freedom for the new country. Which might have been the saddest spectacle of all in "Peacefield": the sight of 90-year old John Adams, looking on John Trumbull's classic painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, telling the artist about how he got so many details all wrong in the picture. So it is that we see Adams and Jefferson as "the last two": the shoulders on whom have fallen the weight of history (although there would still be one final signer of the Declaration alive after the deaths of Adams and Jefferson: Charles Carroll of Maryland).

The final moments of "Peacefield" were everything that I was hoping they would be. The passing of Jefferson, and then Adams, and that final coda before the credits rolled...

Like I said, it was perfect.

Paul Giamiatti deserves an Emmy for his portrayal of Adams. That scene with the painting of the signing of the Declaration alone should be enough to secure that. Laura Linney was fabulous as Abigail Adams. The whole cast and crew poured their hearts into John Adams. And in the end they broke our hearts with it too. Which is as it should be.

HBO, and to everyone involved with John Adams: I tip my hat to you, and will gladly buy the DVD of this the day it comes out on June 10th.

And I'll pray that more Americans might take the time to watch John Adams too. It would do well to remember what Adams and his compatriots did for us, and all too often at such terrible price.

"Posterity, you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that ever I took half the pains to preserve it."

-- John Adams

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New DOCTOR WHO this week voyages to the "Planet of the Ood"

"The file is irrelevant, sir. Have a nice day."

"Now that's what I call a spaceship. You've got a box and he's got a Ferrari!"

"We're so not married. Never ever."

"D'oh!"

"Who do you think made your clothes?"

"I spent all that time looking for you Doctor, because I thought it was so wonderful out here. I want to go home."

"It's a revolution."

"Please have a drink, sir."

"Being with you, I can't tell what's right and what's wrong anymore."

"Every song must end."

Friday night on the Sci-Fi Channel saw the start of Season 4 (or Season 30 depending on how one chooses to reckon it) of Doctor Who here in the States, beginning with 2007's Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned". This was my first time seeing it and to be honest, I didn't care too much for that one. Even by Doctor Who standards, "Voyage of the Damned" was incessantly hokey. I mean: the Titanic in space? It was certainly no "Love & Monsters" (will I ever be able to cleanse my mind of that atrocity?) but it was nowhere as good as "The Christmas Invasion" in 2005 or even the subsequent season's "The Runaway Bride", either.

But this coming week most American viewers will get to see the first regular episode of the season, "Partners in Crime" (read here for my original review), which is a far better episode, and perhaps the strongest season premiere of the revived series to date.

Meanwhile over the weekend "Planet of the Ood", the third episode of the new season, was transmitted by BBC One. It was then bootlegged by many among our Brittish brethren (I'm still waiting for someone to catch that joke) onto the Internet, for downloading by impatient Doctor Who fans around the world. Speaking of which: I do not advocate piracy, and I happen to own Seasons 1 and 2 of the new Doctor Who run on DVD. Why? Because it's honest, it shows sincere support for the franchise especially from across the pond, and because I like being able to enjoy this show on my 42-inch high-def LCS television. And it's also going to be a fun thing to watch with my children someday.

(By the way, Geoff and Phillip and a few other people: I really can't wait to see what you think of "Partners in Crime", especially the last few minutes of it :-)

Anyways, "Planet of the Ood" marks the first time that the Doctor brings new companion Donna to a world other than Earth, after setting the TARDIS for a random destination. It delivers them to a frozen, seemingly dead planet very unlike anything that Donna was expecting. Her disappointment is quickly mollified as a luxury spaceliner soars above them. Then the Doctor hears a mournful song... which Donna strangely doesn't notice. It leads them to an Ood that lies dying in the snow.

Yes folks those lovable Ood – last seen in 2006's intense "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit" two-part story – are back. And true to the title there is now a whole planet of them! If you were left wondering why the Ood were such a willingly servile race to humans, this new episode will provide the answers. Even though you may not like those answers but hey, that's why the Doctor is here!

"Planet of the Ood" continues the hot streak – which some will claim is very unusual this early in the season – that Doctor Who is on right now. I thought this episode has some terrific "hide behind the sofa" moments, but also good humor and even some social commentary that never goes so far with confronting the viewer as to beat them over the head with a message (which is the best way to handle social commentary in any show that's primarily concerned with entertaining people). It also has amazing use of make-up and special effects: the scene where the Doctor is trying to escape the industrial claw-lift is especially cool. David Tennant continues to shine as the tenth Doctor. And Catherine Tate is doing something with Donna that hasn't been done nearly enough in the history of Doctor Who: using a companion to illuminate and explore the many myriad facets of the Doctor's existence. It's a trend that the new show's producers became very good at doing with Rose in Season 1, and time has proven that they're getting even better at it.

If I've one complaint about "Planet of the Ood", it's that this "evil corporation/industrialist" as the Antagonist Of The Week™ shtick is starting to wear thin. Even if it was as a dummy front company like in "Partners in Crime", I'm starting to feel as if too many episodes I'm watching some variation of Weyland-Yutani from the Alien franchise. In fairness though, the context of "Planet of the Ood" made that appropriate for this story, but it's still something I'd like to see a respite from for awhile.

Look for Tim McInnerny from Blackadder as Halpen, the ruthless CEO of Ood Operations: a role to which McInnerny brings much of the humor that he was known for in his earlier series. Fans of the Star Wars series might also recognize Ayesha Dharker, the Indian actress who played Queen Jamillia in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. And another familiar face... even if we never actually see him... from that saga shows up in "Planet of the Ood" as Silas Carson – who played Ki-Adi Mundi and Nute Gunray in the Star Wars prequels – returns as the voice of the Ood.

"Planet of the Ood" gets 4 Sonic Screwdrivers out of 5.

Next week: everybody's favorite alien race of evil Mr. Potato Heads returns after being gone for 30 years in "The Sontaran Stratagem"!

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The photo that may scare you from ever again buying Chinese-made products

Every politician, corporate executive, and management-type in America who believes that globalism is "a good thing" and that there's nothing wrong with outsourcing our jobs to China, had better take a damned good hard long look at this photograph...

This is what passes as a high-grade pharmaceutical plant in the village of Xinwangzhuang, in the Juangsu Province of China. The guy is harvesting the mucous membranes from the intestines of dead pigs.

The tissue is then processed to make heparin: a drug widely-used in surgery and kidney dialysis here in the United States and elsewhere.

There have now been 19 deaths and numerous allergic reactions reported because of the drug.

I defy anyone to look at that photo, and still tell me that China is a responsible trading partner or that it's "sound policy" to entrust it with so much industry that we could be doing far better at home.

Oh yeah, it's "cheaper" to outsource it. Remember that, Mr. Free-Trade Politician, the next time you're having surgery while getting drugs pumped into you that were made in a "lab" filthier than the average gas station restroom.

The New York Times has plenty more about this on their website, if you can stomach such a story.

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Lost Infocom games unearthed

Journalist and programmer Andy Baio's discovery of an old backup hard drive used by legendary computer game publisher Infocom has yielded, among other things, some games that were publicly announced but never saw the light of day. The most notable so far is Milliways, the sequel to the game based on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

And if you go to the link you can even find playable games for download, too!

Baio writes that a lot of stuff is on that drive: from internal company memos to the source code and finished files for "every released and unreleased game Infocom made." So are there any hitherto-unknown Zork projects on that thing? And I've heard mention a few times over the years that Infocom had planned a third Battletech role-playing game (it's second, Battletech: The Crescent Hawks' Revenge is arguably the first real-time strategy game ever created). Yeah I know that those Battletech games were developed by Westwood for publishing by Infocom but if there was ever a third one in the works then surely there must be mention of it somewhere in Infocom's archives.

That's why this kind of stuff fascinates me: it's like neo-archaeology. Who know what else is out there floating on long-forgotten hard drives or tape backups, waiting to be found.

So since this has to do with Infocom, and is a discovery of some import, I know of no better way to celebrate than with a hearty drink...

"Want some rye?

'Course ya do!"

(You've no idea how long I've been waiting to make a Return to Zork reference on this blog :-)

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Bush Administration defends NAFTA, declares "There's nothing broken."

If nothing else has convinced any among my fellow citizens who beyond all reason yet hold to an opinion but that the government of George W. Bush is completely and hopelessly insane, then perhaps this will persuade them otherwise. It's about the disastrous North American Free Trade Agreement. From the Associated Press story...

The White House on Friday vigorously defended the 14-year-old free-trade agreement among the United States, Mexico and Canada against sharp criticism from Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

"There's nothing broken. Why fix it?" said Dan Fisk, senior director of Western hemisphere affairs for National Security Council. He acknowledged the administration must do a better job of explaining the benefits of the agreement.

(snip)

Bush has suffered a major setback on the trade front with the derailing of a proposed free-trade pact with Colombia. Bush sent the agreement to Capitol Hill earlier this month, but the House, led by Democrats, decided to eliminate a rule forcing a vote on the deal within 60 legislative days. The House's decision probably kills consideration of the agreement this year, leaving it for the next administration.

"Leaders in Congress have made a serious error," Bush said in a speech. "A serious error for economics reasons. A serious error for security reasons. It's not too late, however, for them to get it right."

(snip)

"We think NAFTA works," he said. Fisk said the criticism from the campaign trail has gotten a lot of attention from U.S. trading partners. "Some of the statements that have been made here have made bigger headlines in Canada and Mexico than they have here," he said.

"We want to find ways to, frankly, convince the American people from our perspective first and foremost that this is an arrangement that has worked for us and it's also worked for our neighbors," he said. "It's been a win-win situation."

So countless jobs lost because of NAFA, to say nothing of the millions more Mexicans who have crossed into the United States illegally because of NAFTA's effects, is a "win-win situation" to these people?!

Dear God in Heaven, we are at the mercy of idiots.

I was one of the people who wrote letters and made phone calls about NAFTA way back when. I remember the day the U.S. House passed it. You could say it was the beginning of my cynicism and little since has allayed my fears: that America is no longer controlled by the people but by the big money interests. Indeed, the remarks coming out of the Bush Administration very much confirm that. All they can conceive of are the profits on paper. They do not see, no do they care for, what this has cost the average American.

A few days ago I did something that I had never done in almost 17 years of published writing: I used what is considered the worst possible expletive to describe what is becoming of America. I haven't regretted that I chose to use that word but I have regretted that it was the last desperate arrow left in my vocabulary to convey my anger. Reading these comments out of the Bush White House now tempts me to fire an entire volley at them.

By the way, Lisa and I watched Part 5 of HBO's John Adams tonight. Go see it if you can, and listen to the speech that Adams gives to toast George Washington as the first President ends his term. Now compare that to the simpleton mangling of the current President's thought patterns: "Leaders in Congress have made a serious error... A serious error for economics reasons. A serious error for security reasons. It's not too late, however, for them to get it right."

Ladies and gentlemen, in contrasting between the Founding Fathers such as John Adams, and George W. Bush who we are told is the product after more than two centuries of their efforts, I posit that this is clear enough evidence that evolution into more complex forms of life is a fraudulent theory.

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Gasoline prices in Reidsville, North Carolina today

Averaging about $3.39 a gallon. Up about 10-15 cents in just a few days' time. And $4.45 has been spotted in at least two places around town. I had to pay a bit more than $50 to fill up my Toyota Camry.

While gassing-up at a convenience store on Scales Street I had a spirited conversation with one guy and his mom, about the high gas prices. We all agreed: we are being led by "lunatics and madmen" who probably can never remember the last time they had to touch a gas-pump nozzle.

The funny thing of it is, it's not necessarily that the oil is "running out" or even refinery problems right now that's causing the outrageous jack-up of prices. It's inflation, a primary reason for that being that the federal government for the past few weeks has been injecting about $38 billion per day into the economy to boost failing financial institutions like Bear Stearns, etc. That's $38 billion per day of fiat money, without anything really backing it.

And now what these "brilliant" leaders are doing is biting the little guy hard in the pocketbook.

Once again I am reminded of that term that came to mind a few months ago to describe the times in which we live: "the Hell Époque". America cannot long suffer this kind of inept, irresponsible management.

Sometimes I wonder if that was the plan all long, in someone's reckoning.

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DC rolling out Gears of War comic this fall

WRAL is reporting that Cary-based Epic Games and DC Comics have announced plans to publish a Gears of War comic book/graphic novel this fall, in the lead-up to the release of Gears of War 2. The story is to be set after the conclusion of Epic's 2006 mega-selling video game, which saw main character Marcus Fenix giving humanity a dire-needed victory over the Locust Horde.

A few days ago I wrote that I'd finished playing the game and how much I enjoyed it but that some more back-story would have been nice. I'm guessing this new comic is going to "flesh-out" the Gears of War saga greatly. Oh yeah, I started playing it again last night on Hardcore mode. So far so good... but I still doubt that I'll ever try it on Insane :-)

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No joke: THIS is what Storm Shadow and Baroness will look like in G.I. JOE

Words fail...

There are many more pics of the G.I. Joe actors in their costumes over at What Would Tyler Durden Do, including additional pics of Rachel Nichols as Scarlett, Ray Park as Snake-Eyes, and also Dennis Quaid as Hawk... who looks like a cross between Solid Snake and General Bernard Montgomery.

I haven't seen that many tight butts and rubber nipples in a movie since Batman and Robin: is Joel Schumacher an executive producer on this thing?

Seriously though, I look at these characters, and I feel no attachment to them. No empathy with them at all. The G.I. Joe characters from the Eighties franchise were well-grounded personalities: most of them (other than Snake-Eyes) we were given their names, where they were from, a bit of their history. Their individual costumes were not just a reflection of those characters, they helped to define them too. I see these "G.I. Joe" movie characters, and all I can think of is "They've become nothing more than toy soldiers."

And where is that big crimson Cobra sigil on the Baroness's outfit?

More at the above link.

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More American jobs moving overseas

A few days ago RF Micro announced it would relocate much of its work from its Greensboro, North Carolina plant to China. 80 local jobs will be lost at the microchip plant.

And yesterday Dan River, a textiles plant that has been in operation for 126 years in Danville, Virginia, announced it would be closing down. It was a little over a year ago that Dan River was bought by a company based in India.

About time to post on this blog a video of James McMurtry declaring the obvious: "We Can't Make It Here Anymore".

(By the way, I don't agree with everything depicted in this video, especially about blindly supporting unions and the Democrat party... but I think otherwise the style of this clip describes things pretty darned well.)

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Potential breakthrough in creation of renewable oil receiving too little attention?

WorldNetDaily has published a story about a new process that, if it's economically viable, would use bacteria to break down organic matter like grass clippings and wood chips and convert it into cheap hydrocarbons: the basis of gasoline and diesel fuel. Which would mean a renewable supply of oil for the first time in human history. The guy who came up with the process has calculated that from 2 billion tons of biomass, 5 billion barrels of oil could be made each year.

Based on what I've read about it, it makes plenty of sense. Consider that this organic material received its energy from the Sun to begin with. Why just let it rot and waste when it could be recycled... and without any deleterious impact on the environment that comes from drilling, as alleged by some. Ecologically and economically, it's a bank shot if it works.

But the proponents of the plan are now claiming that there is a veritable conspiracy at work to prevent news of their discovery from getting out. The national "mainstream" news media is refusing to touch the story... which in the minds of too many Americans means that the story isn't happening at all, even if it were to wind up being amazingly true.

So we might have a way to produce our own oil, and kiss OPEC goodbye... but there may be some who don't want word of this to get out? Not even to the people who may soon be paying $4 a gallon for gas by the end of summer?

Here's that link again. Feel free to read it and judge for yourself.

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DOCTOR WHO meets THE DUKES OF HAZZARD

With the new season of Doctor Who now airing on the BBC (and very soon here in America on the Sci-Fi Channel, thanks for the tip Geoff!) a lot of fans are celebrating the return of the Doctor. Here's what one clever chap did: mashing up footage of both Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant as the Doctor from the revived series, with Waylon Jennings' classic theme song from The Dukes of Hazzard...

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WARNING: This post about the government contains the mother of all swear words... and it's about time

The federal government will soon be taking DNA samples from EVERYONE that it arrests.

It took almost five years, but the dam has finally burst on this blog.

If you have any small children reading this blog, now would be a good time to escort them away from the monitor. Because I'm about to use a word that until now, I've never, ever used of my own volition here. Why am I going to do this? Because I know of no other way to express the anger that I'm feeling right now at how out of control this government has become, and I really don't give a damn any more about "polite society". If I use this word, God won't hold it against me. But He might have something to say if I stand before Him someday, unable to tell Him that I did whatever I could in the time that was given me.

So here it goes...

Lisa and I have been watching HBO's John Adams miniseries. We watched the episode where the Founders negotiated and signed the Declaration of Independence. Afterward I went back and read the Declaration, as I have many times before, and not for the first time found myself wondering: "Why don't people ever think and speak this way anymore?"

I've hoped and prayed, for a long time, that this country might return to the vision of the Founding Fathers. But I don't see it happening. Instead I see a government that is so wildly removed from anything the Founders intended, seizing more power unto itself and running roughshod over the people it's supposed to be serving. Is supposed to be an extension of, even. But it's not. This is now government for sake of government, and I know of nothing else throughout history that has had more potential for great evil.

And now this government has brazenly declared that it will violate our privacy to the utmost, by seizing without due process not only our rights but the tangible material endowed to us by our Creator.

Not surprisingly, the Bush Administration and the Department of Homeland Security are eager to do this.

Perhaps less surprisingly, there are too few good men and women left who seem able to stand and resist.

So let me be succinct: America, is fucked.

This is no longer the country that John Adams, George Washington and too many other good people fought and sacrificed for and even died for.

The idea of that America, warts and all, I'm still going to be loyal to until the day I leave this world. But I will not be loyal to this current government, which is founded in no virtue apart from its willingness to bear might against its own people.

In a sane world, any agent of the federal government that tries to swab the mouth of a citizen under such frivolous circumstances would be shot dead before they can reach for the Q-tip.

You want to know what I really think about what this country is turning into, and about damned too many of the politicians that are destroying her?

Here's what I think:

God bless the Constitution of the United States of America and the people for whom it was intended to serve, and GOD DAMN the enemies of the Constitution either foreign or DOMESTIC!

And anyone who believes this government is right to violate those principles, can kiss my ass and go to Hell.

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This is NOT Scarlett!

Somebody doing marketing/promotional work for the upcoming G.I. Joe movie has screwed-up bigtime. Because this cannot possibly be what Scarlett is going to look like...

That's so much black Spandex, how can there be any left over to use on the Baroness? She's got the cute ponytail and crossbow (which are iconic to the character) but this outfit is all wrong. I was really looking forward to the original, classic Scarlett getup: the tan and gray one, which would have been a great contrast to Snake-Eyes... which if you know anything about those two characters would have been very fitting.

I just don't like it. But I'll be willing to overlook this, if the designs for Destro and Zartan end up looking sweet.

Oh yeah, and Scarlett needs to speak with a Georgia accent in the movie.

Credit goes to JoBlo.com for the otherwise great find :-)

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Just beat Gears of War

And in case anyone's wondering, it was in Casual mode. I might try Hardcore next. And since I never got far in Doom on Nightmare mode, I doubt I'll ever survive Insane on this game :-P

I've had Gears of War for the Xbox 360 since late January, and had to re-start several times because stuff kept coming up and with a video game narrative like Gears of War, I like to play it through with a sense of uninterrupted story.

This was one of the best video games I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Gears of War, along with Halo and BioShock (which I've also been playing and will review shortly) represents an exciting future for storytelling: a deep, immersive plot that pulls the player in and makes him or her honestly believe that this is a living, breathing world they are interacting with.

Anyhoo, I had some time this afternoon in-between projects, and decided to have another go at taking out General RAAM: something that's eluded me for two days now. The strategy that finally worked for me against that black-clad freak: use the barricade for cover, stay in the light so that the Kryll won't bother you (I also had to duck when they approached 'cuz otherwise they chew me to shreds) and hit RAAM with the Torque Bow to dissipate the cloud of Kryll that surrounds him. Then quickly switch to the Lancer, aim for RAAM's head and do well-timed Active Reloads whenever possible. With that strategy I was finally able to kill RAAM in about a minute, without taking serious injury or having Dominic hurt too much either. Ironically it was a hit from the Torque Bow - which I was only using to shoo the Kryll away - that delivered the coup de grâce to RAAM.

Now it's just a wait 'til November, when Gears of War 2 comes out and continues the story of Marcus Fenix and the rest of Delta Squad in their fight against the Locust. One thing this saga needs that I would have appreciated: some more back-story. Especially for the planet Sera. My theory is that this was a bare-bones colony from Earth that was dropped onto the surface, and in this fictional universe starship travel is a hard premium. So there's not much contact with other human worlds and those on Sera have to fend for themselves, but they've also been able to reach a level of culture and technology on their own that approximates that of 21st Century Earth. And the Locust Horde? Right now I'm thinking those are humans that got exiled early on in Sera's colonization, that "went native" and hooked up with the local wildlife and now years later are back for revenge. Maybe we'll find out more in the sequel.

Worth noting that Gears of War is pretty much a product of the Tarheel State, having been made by Epic Games out of Cary, North Carolina.

Very, very cool game. And a beautiful thing to behold on a 42-inch LCD high-definition screen at maximum resolution :-)

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The Knight Shift officially endorses Eric H. Smith for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction

Longtime readers know already that I'm very hesitant to hand out endorsements of candidates. Someone running for office has to sincerely persuade me that he or she is the right man for the job.

In this case, that wasn't a hard thing at all...

As of today, I'm announcing that The Knight Shift blog is officially endorsing Eric H. Smith in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of North Carolina.

Smith is running as a Republican candidate in the North Carolina primary on May 6.

For disclosure's sake, I am compelled to notify my readers that in addition to my support of Eric in this way, I am also the treasurer of the Smith For NC Kids campaign committee. That's already been public record ever since Eric filed the paperwork to run. Eric offered me the position when he first considered "throwing his hat into the ring", and I accepted. Not just because I'm honored to have him as a friend but also because I earnestly agree with his philosophy regarding education.

In short: Eric believes that parents - and not bureaucrats - are the ones who most fully understand the best interests of their own children. And he believes that parents not only have the right to determine where their children go to school at in public education systems, but they also fully have the right to not participate in public education at all. In that regard, he is perhaps the most outspoken advocate for the rights of home schoolers that I have ever seen run for office at this level.

Eric believes in rooting out the corruption that we've seen in Raleigh and ending the wasteful spending at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Eric has also been a very vocal critic of No Child Left Behind and the failed ABC Accountability System.

And though it doesn't seem to be an "education" issue per se, Eric is strongly against illegal immigration. To the point that he does not believe that our tax money should be funding the education of illegal aliens. Free public education is part of the "honey pot" that is luring so many to enter this country illegally. If states begin denying publicly-funded education to those who are not eligible for it to begin with, it will be that much more incentive denied to those looking for a reason to come across our border illegally.

By the way, in addition to being treasurer of his committee, Eric has also asked if I will produce the television commercials for his campaign. So I'll be doing that for him, too. Remember those commercials we did when we ran for Rockingham County Board of Education that wound up mentioned by The New York Times and a lot of other media outlets? There's more stuff like that coming soon, and this time they'll be broadcast from Manteo to Murphy! They will be serious ads, and will explore these and other themes of Eric's educational beliefs... but I can also guarantee that they will be a bit entertaining, hopefully memorable. Maybe even downright controversial (hey, I'm the guy who blew up a schoolhouse to run for school board, remember?).

This is something I wanted to do a few weeks back, then decided I'd just wait 'til we were closer to the May primary and also "work in" the announcement into the new blog design that I'm now finding time to work on. I am proud to be able to say that I am giving Eric my complete support in his run, and I've no doubt that he will be a very strong and proactive superintendent for North Carolina's school system.

There is already a website for Eric H. Smith's campaign, but it is currently being redesigned (again for disclosure's sake, that is something that I am not working on and it's been contracted to another firm). There is more coming to is very soon but in the meantime you can discover more about Eric's thoughts on education. If you are a believer in smaller government, I believe there is much you will find about Eric that will have a lot of appeal for you.

If you would like to make a contribution to Eric's campaign, please follow the directions listed here on Eric's campaign website. Because of recent changes to campaign laws, the Superintendent of Public Instruction position is one of two that can not accept online contributions. All donations must be in the form of a hard-copy check.

From this point on I'll be posting regular reports about Eric's campaign, and will strive to keep everyone posted as to what's going on.

And I gotta admit: being treasurer of a state-wide political campaign, and getting to make TV commercials for it, is a pretty cool thing to feel good about :-)

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