Haig was wildly wrong, of course (the next in line after Vice President is the Speaker of the House, followed by the President pro tempore of the Senate and then the Secretary of State) but it was merely a colorful moment in a life of decorated military service to his country, followed by assisting three presidents and even having a try for the office himself.
The sad news broke this morning that Alexander Haig has passed away at the age of 85.
Thoughts and prayers going out to his family.
But all the same, on this day we celebrate a quarter-century since the release of Brazil: thought by many to be not only Terry Gilliam's masterpiece, but also a film that was extremely far ahead of its time in so many ways...
In case you've never seen it before, this movie has nothing to do with the country of Brazil (apart from the theme song ""Aquarela do Brasil"). Set "Somewhere in the 20th Century", Brazil is the tale of Sam Lowry (played by Jonathan Pryce), an employee in the lower tier of a government so overly-bureaucritized that it's been called everything from satirical to prophetic. Lowry seeks escape from the tedium of his existence in wild daydreams of rescuing a beautiful maiden. And then his fantasies begin to intersect with waking life after a paperwork snafu at the Ministry of Information sets in motion a series of chaotic events that leads him to the very real Jill (Kim Greist). Also thrown into the mix is Archibald "Harry" Tuttle, a renegade heating and air conditioning repairman (played by Robert De Niro, in what has been praised as one of the finest roles of his career).
One could spend way too much time writing about Brazil and its many themes. Gilliam's desire to convey desperation to escape from modern life (along with Time Bandits and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Gilliam considers Brazil to be part of his "Trilogy of the Imagination"), government power run amok, people too fixated on materialism and vanity ("Consumers for Christ"? There's gads of commentary in just those three words), the list goes on.
It's a very difficult movie to describe, if you haven't watched it yet. Twenty-five years later and Brazil has not only gotten better with age, it's now more relevant than most films in recent memory. And indeed, it's one of the rare films that seems to get better with each new viewing.
So happy twenty-fifth anniversary to Brazil! And no offense meant, but here's to praying that the next twenty-five years don't bring this movie any closer to reality.
I have significantly more substantiation for my report than you had when you allowed your biggest-paying client to accuse First Christian Church in Kernersville of child pornography without challenging him on it, or when you personally claimed on live television that the same church was "full of perverts".
sincerely,
Chris Knight
What I'd love to know is: how does a public school system - any public system mind ya - have enough money in these dire economic times to give a laptop computer to each and every student?
According to a lawsuit filed in federal court, administrators of the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania could and were using the built-in webcams on laptops given to students of Harriton High School to watch them in the privacy of the students' homes (and obviously without knowledge or consent of the students or their parents). The revelation about the webcams came to light when Harriton High School Assistant Principal Lindy Matsko told student Blake J. Robbins that Robbins was "was engaged in improper behavior in his home" and showed him a photograph taken from Robbins' laptop webcam. Robbins' father confronted Matkso and received confirmation: school officials can remotely access the webcams even if the students aren't using the computers at all.
Lower Merion administrators claim it's an anti-theft security feature. But "Occasionally a green light would go on on your computer which would kind of give you the feeling that somebody’s watching you," Harriton High School student Drew Scheier told an NBC affiliate in Philadelphia.
Let's see due process run its course on this folks. And if it is determined in a court of law that Lower Merion officials and faculty were spying on students with the webcams, then the whole sorry lot of 'em need to be dragged out into the street and hung from the nearest telephone poles by their circular reproductive units. With piano wire.
(And here's the full text of the lawsuit, if you are so interested.)
About a week or so ago a friend brought up the Duke lacrosse case during a conversation, talking about how those players were innocent but even so the notoriety of the case would always hang over them. And he didn't shy away from expressing his disgust about how Crystal Mangum got away unpunished. "Don't worry," I told him. "I saw it happen with O.J. Simpson and too many others. Maybe in ways we'll never even see, she'll get hers eventually."
Nothing else needs to be said...
This thing looks scary. Sorta intimidating like the Voight-Kampff machine from Blade Runner. But set your faces to stunned y'all: the CubeStormer can solve any Rubik's cube puzzle on its own in twelve seconds or less, and sometimes even in less than five seconds!
Check it out...
What's been holding me back? Guess for one thing, I've been trying to wait patiently on God to show me what He wants of me. I've been striving to trust in Him rather than trust in myself. And it so happens that maybe that patience has begun to pay off, as some considerable opportunity has arisen and the more I think and pray about it, the more I'm feeling led to follow it however far away it might be.
The other thing that's been keeping me here are the people that I love and care about the most.
In spite of how rough the past good many years have been, I can't help but feel like the luckiest guy on this Earth, for all of the people that God has blessed my life with. He has given me the best friends that I can possibly imagine. And I am extremely thankful to have a family that is so... well... unique! And I like to think that wherever I am preparing to go to, that I will be taking with me all the good things that they have shown me.
But it's going to be hard, to be that far away from the people that I love so much. The people who have given me so much more encouragement, inspiration, and wisdom than I could possibly convey how grateful I am for having them in my life.
People like Uncle Wayne...
John Wayne Roberts was one of the first people that I can remember knowing about. Guess it has to do with how close Mom's family has always been, and how she and Wayne pretty much grew up together. And also how Uncle Wayne's daughter and I were the closest in age to each other among everyone in the extended Roberts clan.
But I also think that it has to do with the fact that Uncle Wayne seemed to be everywhere. He was definitely the "go-to guy" in the family, for good reason. His talents ran the gamut from accounting, to managing, to cooking (and I even vaguely remember him working as a meat slicer at a local grocery store). Whenever anyone had a problem, Uncle Wayne was the ever reliable fount of intellect and experience that could be drawn from.
Uncle Wayne was the first person in the entire family to own a personal computer... and a modem! Think it ran at 300 baud blazing speed, or something. Guess you could say that he was a real technophile. Uncle Wayne was also the one who first got my grandmother hooked up with cable television: for all the movies that it brought into her living room that she enjoyed watching, I will always be grateful for his doing that for her.
Uncle Wayne was a man who followed Christ. And he walked the walk as best as anyone has that I've ever known. There was a quality about him that spoke volumes of his grace-filled life. In his younger years Uncle Wayne went on a number of mission trips, including one to build a church in Haiti. He was an active member of his congregation. But it was his day to day demeanor that was his greatest testimony. Uncle Wayne was a kind, gentle and humble man who saw each person as worth loving. Uncle Wayne fought many hard battles over the course of his life... but he never complained about them. I've no doubt that it was because he was too busy praying for those who were fighting even harder battles than he.
We didn't know that he was fighting one last struggle. He kept it quietly to himself. The last time I saw him was a month ago, and if anyone had told me that he was in such ill health, I would never have believed it. Uncle Wayne was doing even then what I had always seen him do most: being there for others.
Two weeks ago, Uncle Wayne passed away.
He leaves behind his wonderful wife Deborah and two daughters, Heather and Meggan. And many people - both family and friends - who loved him so very much.
And I cannot but thank God for putting Uncle Wayne into my life, because I am a far better person for having him as not only an uncle, but a mentor and close friend.
The last time that I saw him, I shared with Uncle Wayne about the opportunity that had been put before me. He counseled me to go for it. I told him that I didn't want to leave behind people like my family. People like him. Uncle Wayne reminded me not to be afraid, because the Lord has directed us and would be with me no matter what.
It's the strangest thing, but as saddened as I've been about losing Uncle Wayne, I've found it hard to shed a tear for his passing. Maybe it's because I know more than ever before that this world isn't all there is. And that the Lord was with Uncle Wayne and that he is in a far better place now.
This isn't goodbye. Not at all. This is just "so long" for now.
And now it's time to remember Uncle Wayne in the best way that I know how: to share the best things that he gave me with others in the scope of the larger world.
When you think about it, there's not many better memorials to those that we love than that!
Assuming that we could ever figure out how to travel faster than the speed of light, there may not be a heck of a lot that we could do with it. That's what Professor William Edelstein of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (dude sounds like a polymath for having a good head about medicine and high-energy physics) has determined.
The problem is hydrogen, which exists in interstellar space on average of two atoms per cubic centimeter. Which ain't a whole lot. But if a spacecraft were to accelerate toward lightspeed those scarce atoms would start bombarding the ship like a hail of bullets...
As the spaceship reached 99.999998 per cent of the speed of light, "hydrogen atoms would seem to reach a staggering 7 teraelectron volts", which for the crew "would be like standing in front of the Large Hadron Collider beam".Kinda makes you have whole new appreciation for them forward shields on the U.S.S. Enterprise, aye? :-)This is a very bad thing, because humans in the path of this ray would receive a dose of ionising radiation of 10,000 sieverts, and as Bones McCoy would doubtless confirm, the lethal dose is 6 sieverts.
The result? Death in one second.
The spacecraft's structure would do little to mitigate the effects of the killer hydrogen. Edelstein "calculates that a 10-centimetre-thick layer of aluminium would absorb less than 1 per cent of the energy", and the intense doses of radiation would damage the ship's structure and fry its electronics.
Edelstein grimly concluded: "Hydrogen atoms are unavoidable space mines."
Words fail.
Oh yeah, by the way, ten thousand TSA agents will now have access to classified information.
What the hell is happening to our country?
I thought last week's episode, "What Kate Does", better than many have given it credit for. Tonight's episode of Lost, "The Substitute", was all-around solid and oughtta placate darn near everybody. 'Twas great to see the dynamic between Sawyer and Locke again (even though Sawyer knew pretty much immediately that it wasn't the real Locke). I think that tonight's show also answered many questions about the lists and the numbers (even though we still don't know what the numbers are supposed to mean).
One thing that's starting to bug me though is the deal about the "flashsideways". We're three episodes into the final season and we barely know anything about what's going on with them. Hope this starts to get addressed soon.
I'll give "The Substitute" an 8.5 out of 10. And I might even resolve that higher the more I think about it.
More than a passing thought had crossed my mind to do it again starting tomorrow. But my friends aren't too keen on the idea. The Knight Shift, it seems, has become "too valuable a source of information".
(I'll let the merits of that argument be an exercise for the reader.)
I'm still considering doing something this Lenten season, however. I'm open to suggestions. What could I give up for the next forty days?
No, I'm not a drinker. And I haven't done drugs since... nevermind :-P
Saint Valentine was a Christian who was imprisoned, brutally tortured and finally beheaded on orders from Emperor Claudius II of Rome on February 14th, 270 A.D. Here it is this time: "Adam and Eve" are going to turn out to be Sawyer and Juliet.
Go back and watch this past week's episode "What Kate Does" again. Trust me it is not a "filler" episode like too many are saying it is. After going through it for a third time I can't help but think that there are some huge chunks of Lost mythos - that we have been hungering for - that were laid bare at last.
Here's a hint to help you along: you also need to go back to "Not In Portland", which was the first Juliet-centric episode. 'Cuz the two episodes kinda, sorta go hand in hand.
If y'all are seeing the same thing that I am, feel free to post a comment :-)
Here's a clip, beginning with a comparison to the "Republican Revolution" of 1994...
Spurred mostly by the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, a host of young, energetic freshman Republicans marched into Washington, D.C., determined to return a burgeoning and out-of-control federal leviathan to the constitutional precepts of limited government. I'm talking about then-freshman House members such as Helen Chenoweth, Steve Largent, Bob Barr, Joe Scarborough, Sonny Bono, John Shadegg, J.C. Watts, etc. These young conservatives went to Washington, D.C., determined to reduce the growth and size of the federal government.My gut feeling is that we're going to be watching the Tea Party wax brilliantly throughout 2010 and it's going to no doubt be a factor in winning a bunch of seats in Congress for the GOP. And then come this time in 2011 the Tea Party will be a fast-fading memory: its purpose as a ready-made vehicle for the Republicans fulfilled. That's if the Tea Party continues to make the mistake of hitching its wagon to "stars" like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and the like. The Tea Party is supposed to be a movement about an idea: that government must be limited by the Constitution in deed as well as in word. That's a different thing than being led around by ideologists who have proven well enough that they have not this country's best interests in mind.The vehicle used to transport these young conservatives from grassroots activism to US House and Senate seats was the highly touted "Contract with America" (CWA), which was orchestrated by House Speaker-to-be, Newt Gingrich. The CWA included a promise to the American people that if they would give the GOP a majority in Congress, they would eliminate up to 5 federal departments--such as the Departments of Energy and Education--and many federal agencies.
Obviously, not only did the GOP-controlled Congress not eliminate a single federal department or agency--or even shrink the size of the federal government at all--it expanded the size and scope of the federal government at every level. And there is one reason for it: Big Government neocons posing as champions of conservatism co-opted and destroyed the Conservative Revolution of 1994.
If one wants to put names to these treasonous wretches (and I do), I'm talking about charlatans such as Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott. Anyone who thinks that Newt Gingrich is a real conservative or that he will do anything to reduce the size and scope of the federal government needs to speak with any of those Republican members of the freshman class of 1994. (Sadly, too, some of the members of that great freshman class went on to become Big Government toadies themselves. Such is the power of that Putrid Province by the Potomac.)
The Tea Parties of 2010 remind me very much of the Conservative Revolution of 1994. And if the Tea Party Nation is not very careful, they will succumb to the same fate. The signs of a silent takeover of the movement are already appearing.
On a related note, my good friend Danny de Garcia II out of the Big Island of Hawaii has in the past 12 hours started up what he calls a "conservative splinter" faction of the Tea Party...
The Coffee Party is born! Here's the official (well as official as a political party less than half a day old) description of the Coffee Party...
The TEA Party has been hijacked by big government, pro-globalist, pro-finance oligarch, pro-war, pro-police state, anti-liberty candidates and spokespeople who are interested only in putting the American people BACK TO SLEEP with their tranquilizing chamomile tea of propaganda.I love it! :-) And if you want to join the Coffee Party too, here's the Coffee Party's page on Facebook. I was member #6 ("I am not a number, I am a free man!!") 'Twould be great if this thing cracked double or even triple digits by the end of the weekend! :-)We on the other hand are awake, we realize that the TEA Party movement began with a distrust of big government, a desire to repeal the USA Patriot Act, to end the Federal Reserve, to stop the illegal wars and to return America to a land of the people, by the people and for the people. Americans drink coffee more than their British cousins because after the Boston Tea Party, they learned to live without Tea. Well, it's time to switch from the tainted TEA and get a dose of reality.
The TEA Party was fathered by men like Ron Paul who believed in a return to the Bill of Rights and Constitution, not phonies who want to expand the powers of the state. Now, "TEA Party" candidates are opposing Ron Paul and others and replacing the message with a false revival that promotes totalitarianism. As any REAL conservative knows, our question is not one of left or right, but up or down - up to liberty, or down to the ash heap of liberty. Join the Coffee Party!
Look it up if you've never read Tolkien :-)
