Are there any consistent politicians left?

As I write this, Drudge Report has a red-colored link to a story about Governor Rick Perry of Texas vowing that he would assert that state's Tenth Amendment rights if he had to in order to oppose President Obama's plans to nationalize health care.

Hey, I'm all for that. I think every state should consider using that Tenth Amendment. But does Governor Perry seriously oppose Obama's mad medical plot on account of principle?

Because as recently as two and a half years ago Perry was very much for government-mandated medicine! It was in February of 2007 that he issued an executive order mandating that all girls entering the sixth grade be vaccinated against cervical cancer. The only vaccine available, Gardasil, is manufactured by Merck & Co.

And it soon turned out that Perry was more or less in Merck & Co.'s pocket, having received $6000 from the corporation's political action committee and that his former chief of staff was one of three registered lobbyists for Merck.

Ultimately the executive order was defeated by act of legislation, after a tremendous uproar from doctors, parents and others. Had it been enforced, that would have been all of Texas's young ladies having to get a shot at $120 each... with the money going to one of Perry's campaign contributors.

Rick Perry wanted to take a vital health care decision out of the province of families and their private practitioners, and hand it over to bureaucrats and government flunkies.

Sounds like Rick Perry was "for it before he was against it" when it comes to government-managed health care.

I am so damned sick and tired of these partisan #&@$ers who apparently have no virtues or principles that they aren't willing and able to sell out for the right price. And I mean both of the major parties that are dominating this country's politics.

How many elected officials in high office can I say that I respect? I'll only remark that I can number them all on one hand. And maybe only one of those is from my own home state of North Carolina.

It's not just a parliament of whores. It's a system-wide corruption.

So when the hell are we the people gonna stop falling for the "shuck and jive" of these bastitches and whip them all out of where they should have never been allowed in the first place?

Or to paraphrase that Nazi agent from Raiders of the Lost Ark: "Shoot them. Shoot them all!"

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Concept footage/semi-teaser thingy for TRON LEGACY

This afternoon Disney finally made an official release of that concept footage for Tron Legacy, next year's sequel to the 1982 movie about a parallel reality that exists within the realm of computers. This is the same footage that Disney showed at Comic-Con last year, but with the new Tron Legacy logo...

Click here to zap back down onto the game grid.

And you might wanna also take a looksee at Flynn Lives, a Tron Legacy teaser website about what has happened to Kevin Flynn (the character that Jeff Bridges played in Tron and will reprise again in the sequel). It hints that in the years since Flynn took over ENCOM he has become a "Bill Gates meets Howard Hughes"-type of person.

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Wanna meet the proprietor of THE KNIGHT SHIFT in person?!

I'm planning on being at HyperMind in Burlington, North Carolina tomorrow for most of the day, doing videography for their big Monsterpocalypse store-wide event but also gonna finally play this game for the first time ever. Here's the promo video that I made for it (which is also in the Top Ten for the Monsterpocapalooza contest!)...

Anyhoo, the festivities start at 9 a.m. at HyperMind, located at 3396 South Church Street in Burlington, North Carolina. It's a family-run store with great atmosphere and good people always stopping by to play Monsterpocalypse, Magic: The Gathering, Star Wars Miniatures, Dungeons & Dragons and just about everything else :-)

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Gary Oldman sez: Third Batman movie shoots next year!

Awesome news coming out of Comic-Con in San Diego: Gary Oldman - who plays James Gordon in Christopher Nolan's Batman movies - was asked during a panel about his upcoming movie The Book of Eli about when the next Batman film would begin filming. Oldman's reply was surprisingly open (read that as: he was encouraged to let it slip by The Powers That Be): "We start shooting next year, so we are at least two years away. But you didn't hear it from me!"

So that potentially puts the next chapter of the definitive Batman film saga with a release date of 2011.

Until then, I guess we just keep watching The Dark Knight: a film so overwhelmingly good that I couldn't bring myself to write a review of it. But if that movie was any indication, I suspect that the next installment is going to ramp up the "escalation" and start bringing in a lot more freak villains to Gotham City... and ironically, Gotham will come to realize that it has no other choice but to turn to Batman for help.

However the story goes: We're getting more Batman movie people!! That's always a good thing (unless Joel Schumacher is making the movie...)

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Missing: Michael Jackson's nose

For the first time ever, it is not a joke.

Michael Jackson's prosthetic nose has disappeared. It was discovered gone as the late performer's body lay in a Los Angeles morgue. In its place was "a small, dark hole surrounded by bits of cartilage": what remained of Jackson's decades of plastic surgery.

But the good news is that a security camera at the morgue caught this image of two individuals who are suspected of heisting Jackson's nose...

(Okay, that's actually a still from Woody Allen's 1973 classic comedy film Sleeper, which was the first thing that came to mind after I read this story :-)

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Fifty years ago today: The "Kitchen Debate" between Nixon and Krushchev

On July 24th, 1959, one of the more unusual events of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union took place. At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, visiting U.S. Vice-President (and future President) Richard Nixon accompanied Russian Premier Nikia Krushchev on a tour of a model "typical" American house, complete with all the modern conveniences of the late Fifties. It was meant to be a goodwill gesture on the part of both countries... but soon devolved (or escalated) into a rambunctious argument between Nixon and Krushchev about the pros and cons of their respective countries' systems of capitalism and communism. The impromptu discussion reached its climax in the kitchen of the model house, where Nixon enthusiastically pointed out American household appliances such as an automatic dishwasher.

And so it was that the "Kitchen Debate" received its more-or-less formal moniker.

Here's a newsreel clip of the event...

Fifty years ago, our country's leadership was arguing against government-run industry. A half-century later, and our "leaders" seem hellbent on running as much industry as they possibly can.

Kinda makes you pine for a simpler time, don't it?

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The dumbest thing Obama has done as President thus far...

...and Obama is doing plenty of dumb things since taking office just six months ago.

I'm talking about how President Obama brought up the arrest of his friend and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. during his press conference last night, denouncing the police involved in the matter as acting "stupidly".

Here's what was wrong with that: in doing so, Obama has now compromised his moral authority as President of the United States... and particularly when it is seen that he did so on behalf of his own personal and private interests. Obama has also - and in a more egregious fashion than any President in perhaps living memory - used his public office to level an accusation beyond the scope afforded him by the Constitution. And in doing that, Obama has now involved the Presidency in what should have remained a matter for the local community.

(Incidentally, Bill Cosby has now weighed in and said Obama's remarks last night "shocked" him: "If I'm the president of the United States, I don't care how much pressure people want to put on it about race, I'm keeping my mouth shut.")

I have thought for some time that Obama has been neither wise or inspiring. His comments last night only solidify that sentiment in my mind...

...but then, it's been twenty years or so since we did have a President that was wise and inspiring, so why should I be expecting any different?

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Latest stories of law enforcement gone bonkers

As I shouldn't have to state every time I post something about this: I do believe that most of those who choose to serve in law enforcement are doing so honorably. But I also must point out that a virtue like trust does not come automatically with a badge and a uniform. Trust must be earned and kept. And it is inherent to a free and peaceable society that all citizens be vigilant in the upholding of liberty.

So it is that The Knight Shift now presents more of the sadly seemingly-escalating chronicles of cops gone screwy.

The first comes from Philadelphia, where police officer Alberto Lopez Sr. publicly bullied civilian Agnes Lawless in a convenience store because Lawless was involved in a minor fender-bender with Lopez's son a short time earlier. At one point Lopez shoved his service pistol into Lawless's face. Here is the footage from the Lukoil's security camera...

The next story comes from Wyoming, where Franklin Joseph Ryle Jr., formerly of that state's Highway Patrol, plead guilty in federal court to charges of depriving a man of his constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizures by kidnapping him. Earlier this year and while on duty as a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper, Ryle "stopped a Wal-Mart truck with the intent to murder its driver and stage an accident with the truck that would either injure Ryle or kill his wife, allowing him to seek a monetary settlement from Wal-Mart."

And rounding out this report, Washington D.C. chief of police Cathy Lanier is blasting iPhone users as "cowardly". What has Lanier so honked-off is Trapster: a new iPhone app that tells you when you are approaching a red-light camera, speed trap and other safe-driving revenue-enhancing schemes. I say: things like the red-light cameras are a cowardly tactic on the part of government agencies... and if citizens want to strike back at them, more power to them!

(I wonder how many iPhone users have bought Trapster all because of Cathy Lanier making such a fuss about it? Bet that app's creator is now enjoying some profit on account of the free publicity! :-)

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DNA not the same throughout body, study finds

For all these years it's been assumed that every cell of an organism shared the same DNA. The differentiation between cells only arising from the synthesis and properties of the associated proteins that were expressed by the DNA... but otherwise, a cell is the same as every other cell in the body.

Funny how quickly old assumptions can easily get tossed aside, ain't it?

Now comes word that DNA is NOT the same throughout all cells of an organism... or throughout a human organism anyway. That's the finding of a study in Montreal regarding the genetic causes of abdominal aortic aneurysms.

It's both a fascinating read and a rather scary one, when you begin to consider all the medicine that has been based on the notion that our genes are uniform throughout our cells. And then, you have to wonder what the implications are regarding something like DNA evidence in a court case. Technically, I don't think it will matter much... but just wait and see how long it takes before a legal challenge comes up in a paternity suit or murder trial on grounds that all genetic testing is now suspect.

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It's Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger!

Last night I started on the Watchmen Director's Cut DVD (review coming soon) and I was thinking then: Jackie Earle Haley might do all right as Freddy Krueger in the upcoming remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Now comes the first photo of Haley in the trademark hat, sweater and glove...

Can't see much of the face 'cuz it's swathed in shadow, but just going by this one pic it looks like Haley is channeling Freddy in all the right ways (though that may not necessarily be the healthiest of things to channel).

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HyperMind's video for the Monsterpocalypse contest makes the Top Ten!

Two weeks ago I let y'all know about a promotional video that I worked on for HyperMind, that groovy game store in Burlington. The video was for HyperMind's big Monsterpocalypse day this coming Saturday, and was also an entry in that game's Monsterpocapalooza mega-event going on this summer.

Well, the votes have been tallied and our lil' video has made it into the Top Ten! There wound up being about 22 entries altogether. We are very thankful to be in one of the top spots, and we wish to thank everyone who voted for us!

Here it is again if you haven't seen it yet...

Again, thank you to all who watched and rated our video. The final winner will be announced on July 31st... and we'll be keeping our fingers crossed 'til then! :-)

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BBC releases first look at Matt Smith in full DOCTOR WHO garb

Production has now begun on next year's season of Doctor Who (following the hiatus it took during 2009) and the BBC has published the first photo of Matt Smith in full costume. Smith will be the next actor to take on the iconic role of the Doctor (taking over from David Tennant).

So what does the Eleventh Doctor look like? Here he is (along with new companion Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan)...

Heck, that's darn near how I dress on a regular basis! I mean, nice shirt along with rugged pants and sturdy boots... except I don't usually wear a bow tie :-P

Next season's Doctor Who will be the first with new showrunner Steven Moffat at the helm. If that name doesn't ring a bell, I probably only have to mention that he wrote the previous episodes "The Girl in the Fireplace" and the "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" two-parter and that should be enough to make you swoon with eager anticipation.

Can't wait to see the Doctor's newest adventures in time and space when they begin again next spring!

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"That's one small step for a man..."

"...one giant leap for mankind."

(And before anybody gives me grief over it, in the past few years audio analysis has determined that Armstrong did indeed say "step for a man" :-)

Forty years ago today, on July 20th, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, with the assistance of a few hundred thousand of their good friends back on Earth, fulfilled an ages-old dream when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Armstrong was the first man to stretch his legs on the lunar surface, while Aldrin has the distinction of being the first person to "drain the main vein" on another world.

I didn't know until this past year that before they began their "extra-vehicular activity" (in layman's terms: they went outside the spaceship), that Aldrin also took communion on the Moon. At the time he was an elder of Webster Presbyterian Church and asked that a communion kit be prepared for his mission. The chalice he used on the lunar surface is now kept by the church.

Now, wanna see something really cool? Just in time for the fortieth anniversary, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken this image of the Apollo 11 landing site! You can clearly see the Eagle lunar module's descent stage, just as Armstrong and Aldrin left it forty years ago. The LRO has found four more Apollo landing sites thus far. Future photos will be even more detailed.

Forty years ago today came the greatest technological triumph of human history. It did not come cheap, and it was not without sacrifice. And it seems that somewhere along the way, we've lost that same spirit which once upon a time, did put a man on the moon.

But I like to believe that it's there still... and can be found again.

Here's a toast to the people of Apollo 11. May what they accomplished ever serve to inspire us all.

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Cultist Johnny Robertson reacts to this blog (Plus: Facebook is laughing!)

It started several months ago, when I began cryptically referring to what I called "Evil Incarnate(tm)" on my Facebook updates. It wasn't long before many friends started asking "Hey Chris, what are you talking about?!" (or words to that effect).

So that's how it came to be that quite a few people on Facebook are now watching - and laughing at - local cult leader Johnny Robertson. I'd dare say that quite a considerable amount of WGSR's bandwidth is now being used by people from Florida to New Hampshire to Oregon who are tuning in via streaming video just to giggle at this loon and his cronies. And now we've started doing a live "running commentary" over Facebook where we poke holes and point out the lies in Robertson's mad rantings, along with generally making fun of him and his followers.

So one friend further west pointed out something a few minutes ago: that Robertson is crowing this evening about how supposedly he got some ministry in this area to change their website... but Robertson "ain't said nothin'" about how this very blog has caused him to shut up about something!

And... it's true.

Since The Knight Shift first revealed a number of weeks ago that the "Church of Christ" cult has been run out of the town of Reidsville, Robertson has not once on his broadcasts mentioned any "Reidsville meeting"! And neither has Robertson spoken any further about any meeting of the group taking place in Ruffin... which Robertson claimed on the July 5th broadcast had been going on for "more than a year". All that the cult currently has going on is the "Martinsville Church of Christ" and the "Eden Church of Christ".

Some are beginning to wonder if it has that much left, but I'm gonna withhold comment on that for now.

(Actually, I'm on top of a bunch of stuff that I'm withholding for the time being...)

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ROCK BAND will allow indie artists to add own songs (and make $$$ from it!)

Are you an independent musician looking to promote your work? Might wanna check this out: you'll soon be able to add your own original music to the popular music game Rock Band! Indie artists and bands will use Microsoft's XNA Creator's Club to mesh the song's MIDI file to the format used by the game. The work will then be submitted to other Creator's Club programmers for critique and then must meet final approval by Harmonix and MTV Games. After they go live the songs will sell between 50 cents and 3 dollars, with the artists getting 30% of the cut! Not a bad business model at all, and there's the potential for some great publicity for indie musicians.

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Today's FOXTROT takes on Comic-Con

One of these days, Lord willing, I will go to Comic-Con. Just to say that I attended at least once. In the meantime, today's Foxtrot strip suggests what might be a way to simulate the experience...

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Walter Cronkite has passed away

As I got older I came to see how in some ways, he obviously did let the sense of power get the better of him. I'm not going to not acknowledge that.

But I'm choosing not to dwell on that tonight. None of us are perfect. And there were fewer people that more defined television news coverage or came to be an icon of modern America than did Walter Cronkite.

"The most trusted man in America" passed away at age 92 this evening. Ironically on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, which even more solidified his reputation as both a calm newsman and a giddy spectator alongside history in the making... something that happened many times over his long career.

Thoughts and prayers going out to his family.

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