Notions, Fancies and Ruminations

McCain's dirty little secret

2008-10-13T17:48:00.001-07:00

Sarah Palin is rather fond of suggesting that Barack Obama likes to "pal around with terrorists", but by her definition, isnt John McCain guilty of the same?

McCain has had a long history with the radio commentator and former terrorist/would be kidnapper and assassin G Gordon Liddy:
Read about him on Wikipedia

There is no question that Liddy's activities meet, if not exceed, the qualifications of a domestic terrorist. So why is John McCain not being held to the same standard?

Here is an interesting article about Liddy and McCain by Carl Berstein.

I wouldnt bring up this whole "Guilt by Association" issue myself, because I find it ridiculous in the first place, but if we are going to play this game, then it seems to me that McCain has some denouncing to do.

Rush Watch: Issue 1

2008-03-31T18:02:00.000-07:00

Hey, I can be like Rush!
Rush is found of playing back interviews and soundbites and interjecting his own “opinion”. Opinion is in quotes because the word “opinion” implies there is a previous conscious effort made to arrive at a conclusion. Mostly what he does is try to show how each new “event” provides more evidence for his hate-leaning ideology. Let us examine this recent episode centered around Barack Obama:

Originally aired 3-28-08:
RUSH: Yesterday on CNBC, Maria Bartiromo interviewed Barack Obama. It was scary, economically.

Trey: Was it? Was it really Rush? Was it terrifying? Did it cause you to rush out and look for property in Canada? Did you shake in your little shoes? Why not let your listeners make up their own minds? You have already told your listeners what you want them to take home from this message. Nicely done, but the propaganda patrol is already on Rushcon4 with this statement. “scary”…hmmph. You know what’s scary? Dick Cheney shooting you in the face. That’s scary.

Bartiromo says, "How do you plan to change the tax code when it comes to capital gains? How high will that 15% cap gains rate go?"

OBAMA: I think that we can have a capital gains rate that is higher than 15%. Uh, and if it -- if it -- you know, when I talk to people like Warren Buffett or others and I ask them, "You know, how much of a difference is it going to be if it's 20 or 25%?" they say, "Look, if it's within that range, then it's not going to distort, uh, I think economic decision making."

RUSH: Oh, my God. I'm sorry. Good God Almighty, is right. We are going to get hosed. The markets are going to get hosed. The economy is going to get hosed!

Trey: Explain how, or better yet, shift gears and say something that doesn’t apply. That’s what you’re good at:

Rush: Capital gains is not income! It's simply what people invest in, and if there is a return on it, the 15% cap gains rate is the equivalent of not punishing achievement from people who took a risk.

Trey: That’s what I suspected. No information was forthcoming on the “hosing”.
*sigh* No one said it was income, Rush. Who said that? How is 15% not punishing people? Zero would not be punishing people. Oh, and he conveniently neglects to include the fact of capitals gains loss deductions. Took a risk on what? This is an effort by Rush to link the Listener to the notion that he/she is a hard working American who deserves his/her money while the low down libbies only seek to steal it from them. Nice work. Maybe we should revert to what it was when Reagan was President. 28%. Ooops! Did I say that out loud? Oh, and the Capital Gains tax has been tied to the income tax rate for quite awhile Rush. His statements are simply nonsensical.

Rush: He's gotta ask Warren Buffett. No, he doesn't know. He's a liberal Democrat. He doesn't care here what the effect is going to be.

Trey: Of course he does. He lives in this country and has investments. He has made millions off the stale of his book. What sort of disconnect is that in Rush’s logic? I love the non-sense that neo-cons cry out against the limousine liberals in one breath, but then accuse them of wanting to take the money of the wealthy and give it out on street corners as handouts to the poor. Please.

Rush: Raising the rate to be "fair" and pander to the vast majority of people... Bartiromo is shocked as we are by this, but of course, she's a journalist. She can't really exhibit it. But she can't believe her ears here. Listen to this exchange.

Trey: *Sigh* Who is he “pandering” too by raising capital gains taxes? Economists I guess. I don’t know where Rush thinks the money to pay for Iraq and Bush’s insane spending bills is going to come from. He must operate under the notion that the government can just print money when it needs it. I guess the economy was covered on one of the days he skipped class at Jackrabbit Missouri Junior College to get high and play Bob Marley.
The reporter didn’t act SHOCKED to me. That is some serious spin. I love how he needs to tell the listeners how to feel and re-interpret an event. I guess Rush is a master at reading the subtle nuanced facial quirks of shocked reporters.

BARTIROMO: Let's hypothetically say that the cap gains tax goes from 15% to 25%. You're impacting a lot of people. A hundred million Americans own stocks today so it's not just the rich.

OBAMA: No, no, no, absolutely, and -- and -- and that's why I think that it may be, for example, that you could structure something in which, uh, people of certain incomes were exempted from, uh, this increase and it would stay at 15. The broader principle that I'm interested in is just making sure that we've got a tax code that is fair for all Americans.

RUSH: Folks, this is economic illiteracy. "A tax code that's fair for all Americans"? You're going to exempt some people from paying the cap gains tax? The people he's going to exempt don't pay it now. The people that he's going to exempt do not have investments.

Trey: What? This is outright fabrication and conjecture. The capital gains tax is structured as it is and comes with a lot of exemptions and deductions. How does Rush know who Obama plans to exempt? ESP? I haven’t read the plan yet have you? Economic illiteracy? This is rich, a college drop out junk-head calling a Harvard Law grad illiterate! What does that make “C’s get degrees” Bush-43?
I also love how he leaves all of Obama’s pauses in the transcripts as “uhs” to make him appear dimwitted. Parlor trick shenanigans.

Rush: They don't yet have the money to have investments and so he's going to... It's about "fairness." It's making sure that everybody's taxed... It's making sure "the rich" are taxed. This is just... One more.

Trey: Did you see any point in the above? I didn’t. He didn’t even finish his sentences. That’s because there is nothing of substance there and he disguises what would have been the ramblings of a loon with a pretense of indignation…as if he were too upset to continue. O’Reilly is a master of this. Limbaugh’s using hot button words like “fairness” in a vitriolic fashion to further pin the “dirty lib” label. So he condemns without ever actually saying anything.
People, you have to pay taxes and they aren’t going away. Get used to it and quit crying. If Bush hadn’t spent the government’s money like a mad fool on the war and on the insane Prescription Drug Act, we wouldn’t be in a position to have to raise taxes. If they suddenly did away with all your taxes, prices would go up to compensate. Give me a break. If you hate paying taxes, stay off my roads!

Bartiromo says, "Why raise taxes at all in an economic slowdown? Isn't that going to put further strain on people?"

OBAMA: Well, look, the -- there's no doubt that anything I do that is going to be premised on what the economic situation is when I take office. The thing you can be assured of is that I'm not going to be making these decisions based on ideology.

RUSH: Bull.

Trey: Conjecture and ESP. Black magic. No logical argument, just simple contradiction. That’s easier than making a logical argument.

OBAMA: I'm not a dogmatist.

RUSH: Bull!

Trey: Again. What is this contradiction even based on?

OBAMA: I know that some -- yuh, uh, my opponents to the right would like to paint me as this woolly-eyed, you know, uhhh, liberal or --

RUSH: You are!

Trey: I can do this too. Rush is a Nazi racist homophobe who thinks the Bible is the Constitution. See how easy? Doesn’t make it true…or does it?

OBAMA: -- wild-eyed. (nervous laugh)

BARTIROMO: You're not a liberal?

OBAMA: Uh, the, uh, but -- but -- My attitude is -- is that I -- I believe in the market.

RUSH: You don't!

Trey: He does! Shut up and listen. Or cant you hear because you went deaf from you Oxycontin addiction?

OBAMA: I believe in entrepreneurship.

RUSH: You don't!

Trey: He does. Read about him sometime. He has written a lot on the subject.

OBAMA: I believe in opportunity.

RUSH: You don't!

Trey: He does. Ask any of the inner city Chicagoans he’s helped get back on their feet. Oh, that would require you doing research though wouldn’t it? Its easier just to hate and contradict.

OBAMA: I believe in capitalism.

RUSH: You don't.

Trey: He does.

OBAMA: And I want to do what works, but what I want to make sure of is it works for all America, and not just a small sliver of America.

RUSH: That last comment just cancels out everything he said before it! That's socialism! "Make sure it works for all," and who of course going to do that? Why, our benevolent government and president, Barack Obama! Because we hate all the other instruments and elements and businesses in the free market. We've been conditioned to that. This is scary.

Trey: Doing what’s right for the majority is scary? What world are you from? No wonder you hide in your basement. I’ve got news for you armchair politicians and historians, our economy and culture are based on socialist ideologies co-mingled with free-market capitalism. Audit a course in economics sometime. It’s explained around week 6 of Econ 101 I believe. Rush is nice and comfy is his plush mansion working from home, but some of us use roads from time to time along with other benefits of society like libraries, police, fire departments, hospitals etc. There is no such thing as pure capitalism, so quit using “socialism” as a dirty word. YOU LIVE UNDER SOCIALIST PROGRAMS AND HAVE YOUR ENTIRE LIFE. How the hell do you think your precious wall around America is going to get built? Private contributions? Ah the glorious benefits of public education. Too bad Rush flunked out of Southeast Missouri State after two semesters. I heard that’s a tough school. ;)

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, it is apparent to me, and probably to many of you, that Barack Obama is clueless.

Trey: No, he’s a Columbia and Harvard Law School educated professor. You’re a flunkie junkie. Where TF is Southeast Missouri State? I guess they don’t use big words like Obama uses down “in the holler”.

Rush: I think he's vamping in his answers. I don't think he has the slightest idea about the capital gains tax; I don't think he understands how it works.

Trey: I think he does, but I know you don’t. “Vamping”!

Rush. I don't think he understands the basic elements of the US economy. How can he? He's been listening to Jeremiah Wright for 20 years.

Trey: That’s right, Rev. Wright taught Economics at Columbia. Who knew?

Rush: I don't mean that lightly. You laugh at it all you want,

Trey: You are too scary to laugh at no matter how laughable your statements are, ass-hat.

Rush: but I'm dead serious about it. Jeremiah Wright understands because he's figured out how to get the church to buy him a $1.6 million house with ten million left over to furnish the thing while telling everybody else to avoid middle classness.

Trey: This has to do with Obama how? Oh, lets not get into Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell’s palacial mansions. I don’t hear his congregation complaining. Oh, how did you earn your money again Rush??? Hmmm? Spewing hate, that’s how. That’s the pot calling the kettle black. Since you’re an unapologetic racist, Im sure you use another word though.

Rush: But he vamps, gets a question, says whatever he thinks he has to say, whatever sounds good.

Trey: Because saying things that sound awkward and illogical is an under appreciated and little-used campaign tactic. Hey, he can pronounce “nuclear” too. He vamps! Oh my God!

Rush: Let's go to The View.

Trey: Why not, you didn’t make sense in the last segment, lets have more fun. I don’t watch the view, but I guess Rush must have a crush on Whoopie or he thinks the View is real news...which is probably the case.

Rush: He was on The View today. The Arousal Gap is back. The View gals are just swooning over Obama today, telling him he's sexy like Brad Pitt.

Trey: Jeez, jealous much? Arousal Gap? Ewww…..

Rush: Joy Behar said, "I have to say just one other thing bad before we go to the serious stuff. I understand that you're related to Brad Pitt in some way. How are you related to Brad Pitt?"

OBAMA: I guess we're ninth cousins something removed or something.

BEHAR: Isn't that fascinating stuff?

OBAMA: I think he got the better-looking side of the gene pool --

BEHAR: Not necessarily.

WALTERS: I was saying just before you came on, maybe we shouldn't say this, but we thought you were very sexy looking.

OBAMA: Oh -- (cheers and applause)

RUSH: I told you, the Arousal Gap is back. That was Barbara Walters on The View today. Barbara Walters then said, "Look, if Reverend Wright's still there, would you then have left the church or have said, 'I just can't have anything to do with him?'"

OBAMA: Had the reverend not retired and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying there at the church.

RUSH: For all its flaws. I don't believe any of this. He put the guy on his campaign. He was an advisor to his campaign.

Trey: So without proof your tactic is to just call someone a liar and it makes it true? Yes for all its flaws. Don’t pull out the patriot pin again, you bitch about America more than anyone in history.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck, "The person who you chose time and time again to be your spiritual advisor, when he says and characterizes the USA as you said wrongly, US of KKKA, that the chickens are coming home to roost after 9/11, suggesting that we got what we deserved, you chose him again to marry you, to baptize your children, you named a book after one of his speeches. For 20 years, would you think that somehow suggested it was a lack of judgment in the man? You had no idea, you never heard about these sermons?"

OBAMA: What you've been seeing is a snippet of a man. Imagine if somebody compiled the five stupidest things you'd ever said and put them in a 30-second loop that was played every day for two weeks --

HASSELBECK: But some of these are sold on the DVD at the church.

OBAMA: Well, I understand, but I don't buy -- I don't purchase all the DVDs, and I didn't read all the church bulletins. It's not to excuse it. There were some things, as I said, that I disagreed with him on. But I didn't see some of the things that were said that I would have taken offense to.

Trey: What everyone is completely missing here is that A) Obama is correct. Those are 5 sermons out of over a 1000 he has given do not represent everything about the man and B) People bought those DVDs. So you have a rather large congregation of people that also chose not the leave the church after hearing these sermons. You had better stop to wonder why things like this are being said. Oh, and nothing compares to these lunatics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church
But I don’t hear boo about them. I dont hear anyone talking about Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson claiming the ACLU is responsible for 9/11 or Ted Haggard hiring a gay male prostitute to do crystal meth with, or Orel Roberts bilking his congregation out of millions because he saw an 800 ft Jesus, or Jimmy Swiggart and his prostitute scandal, or the Bakkers bilking their congregation out of millions of dollars, or the children the priests have molested over hundreds of years...should I go on?

RUSH: Wait a minute, he just gave a speech where he said he did, didn't he? This is a carnival barker. You know, this is a carny. This is a guy who will say whatever he thinks the people at the group at the time want to hear, without regard for what he said the day before, the hour before, the week before. Here is what Obama's talking about. How many of you out there have said five things this racist, this hateful, and this stupid?

Trey: Most of you if you are honest with yourself. Ive been in your living rooms filled with white men. Don’t piss on my head and tell me it’s raining. Ive heard some of the most vile and disgusting racist remarks come out of people’s mouths just “hanging out with the guys” and even at family holiday gatherings. Do people mean those things? Some do, some dont. Let he who is without sin..that is what we should remember here.
Does Obama say things that people want to hear? Well, no fucking duh brainiac. He’s running for President. I guess he should tell people that if McCain is elected, the terrorists will set off a nuclear bomb in America. That’s what Cheney said about John Kerry.

WRIGHT: Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people! Hillary ain't never been called a nigger. Bill did us just like he did Monica Lewinsky, he was riding dirty. In white America, US of KKKA, black men turning on black men. I am sick of Negroes who just do not get it. Not God bless America, God (bleep) America, it's in the Bible, for killing innocent people, God (bleep) America. And now we are indignant because of stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back into our own front yards! America's chickens are coming home to roost.

RUSH: Yeah, well, this is five things here we're going to loop and play 'em over and over again, and I didn't buy all the DVDs. He's insulting our intelligence if he thinks these are the only things that this guy has been saying. Elisabeth Hasselbeck said to Barack Obama, "Do you have a relationship with Reverend Wright now?"

Trey: I don’t agree with what he says, but I understand where he is coming from. Oh, and if he said other things you’d be playing them, not alluding to them. Quit making up things to throw into the fire.

OBAMA: I talked to him after this -- this episode. He had come back from a cruise, and, you know, I think he's -- he's saddened by what's happened.

RUSH: Bull!

Trey: Again Rush’s omniscience.

OBAMA: And I told him, look, you know, I -- I feel badly that he has been characterized just in this one way, and people haven't seen this broader aspect of him. But he was my pastor. You know, one of the things that I think people overstate is this notion of mentor or spiritual advisor --

RUSH: You said it!

Trey: That response doesn’t make sense given Obama’s previous statement. Rush tries to paint Obama as contradicting himself when he didn’t. Typical. Not a “lie” but a distortion of the truth.
OBAMA: He was a pastor in the sense that he's somebody where you go to church, you talk to him about my faith in Jesus.

RUSH: Look, Barack, we have it. It's in the record. You are talking to Jeremiah Wright and you said to him, "You and I know, I have to throw you under the bus, bro, at some point. Your sermons are way out there. I'm going to have to. You know this day is coming." They talked about it. This was a strategeric plan. We're screwed. It doesn't matter. None of this matters because we're just screwed.

Trey: Who’s screwed? What? This rant doesn’t even make sense. People, think for yourselves. Relying on ignorant disk-jockeys to tell you what news events “really mean” is a sure fire to repeat something dumb and ignorant in front of an educated audience. Don’t be surprised when people contradict you and take offense. You’re better off looking for spiritual messages hidden inside episodes of Gilligan’s Island. Seriously. You voted twice for Bush, now look what mess we are in. Are you going to listen to ignorant, uneducated drug addicts or will you turn to real news? I hope you think carefully about this.

An open letter to Governor Strickland:

2008-02-21T12:55:00.001-08:00

Governor Strickland,

I have always been a supporter of yours and I will continue to support you even after this election. Thank you for the good work you have done so far as our Governor.

However, I would like to respectfully request that you change your decision to support Senator Hillary Clinton in the upcoming Presidential Primary.

An honest assessment of Senator Clinton’s reputation and standing amongst the American people clearly shows undeniable tarnish. As some candidates have a natural leadership quality that cannot quite be categorized or easily summarized, Senator Clinton appears to have the unique ability to generate irritation, anger and confrontation. I think it is quite likely that a new Clinton White House would create a “circled wagon” mentality in Congress. There are those who are adamant that no new Clinton policy be put into effect. The self-imposed Congressional gridlock will be a graveyard for any new bills brought into it. To make matters worse, she appears to have alienated a number of key Democratic leaders in her bid to become President. Is this reputation fair or justified? Possibly not, that would be a long and in depth discussion. However, it is the reality of the situation. Those are the cards we have to play.

Regardless of what our personal inclinations toward the Clinton’s are, you cannot fail to see the polarizing effect they have on politicians and voters. I cannot see how anything will “get done” in Washington with her reputation, particularly in light of what seems to be a scorched earth policy being taken by her campaign (tearing down her opponents on both sides). We do not need another “Grenade-Thrower” in the White House. We do not need to waste any more time “sending a message” to Republicans, President Bush and/or any other individual we deem as being “not on our side”. If we give up on our message and philosophy because they will not be enacted without compromise, what have we really accomplished? We need a leader who can listen to all sides of an argument and forge the best possible solution. We need to begin the process of coming together, creating consensus and moving forward.

I believe Senator Barack Obama represents our best chance at taking those tentative first steps towards a new era in politics.

Senator Barack Obama instills in me (and others) a sense of real hope. For the first time since Bill Clinton’s first Presidential campaign, I feel excited and enthusiastic about a candidate. I have volunteered for the first time in years and have leant him my financial support. That feeling and those actions are “real”. That is to say, he has already instigated “change” by changing my viewpoint intellectually and emotionally. He is not just a man of empty words or “rhetoric”. It so happens that I agree with his policies almost across the board, but I feel like I would support him anyway. I would be proud to have him as our new “Ambassador to the World”.

Senator Obama not only has that “it factor” that makes people want to follow him, he has excellent ideas for moving this country forward. These ideas would also be open for debate and discussion, unlike the original Clinton Health Plan. Policies in which others get a voice are policies that, though may take longer to enact, do get enacted and do get support and funding. Senator Obama is also capable of explaining his position to others in common terms that all can understand and relate to. I see a future in which all members of Congress rise and applaud at the State of the Union Address, not half or a quarter. . Does this seem over-reaching or ambitious? Perhaps idealistic? Maybe and quite possibly, but now I have the HOPE that it can happen. Hope is a powerful instrument of change. All in all, Senator Obama is a “complete package”.

Do I think Senator Clinton would do harm to this country? Not overtly, no. But I do believe that very little will be accomplished. This election is too important. This time in our country’s history is important. We are at war in two countries and our economy is in recession. Ohio itself has been hurting for years. We need change. We need leadership. We need a new philosophy and we need it now. “Politics as usual,” is the wrong tenet at the wrong time.

This, of course, is all in “my humble opinion”, but I truly hope you will take the time to re-assess your position on this election and give Senator Obama your consideration.

Thank you for your time.

Comments from the World on the Virgina Tech incident.

2007-04-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

Lets see what our friends across the globe are saying about us...

Australia
"Eleven years ago we took action to limit the availability of guns, and we showed a national resolve that the gun culture that is such a negative in the United States would never become a negative in our country."
—Australian Prime Minister John Howard, expressing sympathy for the victims' families and referring to the 1996 shooting spree by a man with a semi-automatic rifle who killed 35 people in Port Arthur, on the island of Tasmania. Australia banned most types of semi-automatic weapons after the incident.

So banning certain types of firearms reduces gun violence? Explain how. I love the disconnect from logic here of the belief that the elimination of guns leads to a mystical pacification of individuals with mental disorders. It also almost seems like people are saying that one death is understandable, but multiple killings from semi-automatic weapons is a horror. A single loss of life is a terrible thing. If you follow your own road of logic to its conclusion, outlaw ALL firearms. Don’t act like you’ve actually gone out and done something noble and good because you’ve kept some deluded suicidal maniac from taking out a small town and kept his death-toll in the single digits.

Asia
"We cannot but worry that [Cho's] shocking atrocity would implant a dark image [of] Koreans in to the brains of Americans and world citizens."
—Editorial in Manhwa Ilbo, Seoul, South Korea

I hope not, but its typical of Americans to look around for an ethnic group to hate, so I would be on the lookout for this as well. Looks like it’s your lucky day, middle-easterners! Breathe easy and wear those turbans with pride…oh..unless Cho turns out to be muslim. Then I’d hide. Bubba gonna find you. He got a terrible anger.

"Why can people bring guns to campus? How is it possible that so many innocent people could be killed? How could it happen?"
—Sugiyarti, an Indonesian woman who learned late Tuesday that her 34-year-old stepson, Partahi Lumbantoruan, was among those killed. The family had sold property and a car to finance his civil engineering studies.

I feel a great deal of sympathy for anyone who loses a child. People around the world believe in the ideal that is the American Culture. They expect their children to be safe here. I know that I feel we are one of the safest countries in the world. How can any atrocity happen? I do not have that answer.

"It's not a question of an Indian professor getting killed in the firing. This is related to the American gun laws. We can't do anything about it. It is something which has happened in the United States. They have got to change the law."
—K. Subrahmanyam, a former member of India's National Security Council. India has some 80,000 students in the U.S. One of the Virginia Tech victims was G.V. Loganathan, a 51-year-old lecturer at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who came from Chennia, India.

First of all, anyone from India commenting negatively on the American culture should be ignored outright. Why don’t you go home and pass around some sandwiches in Bombay and keep your thoughts to yourself. India and Pakistan are poised to bomb each other back into the stone age with nuclear weapons and you want to lecture us on handguns? Malnutrition and AIDS kill more people in India than guns kill Americans. Plus you have a sharp and steady rise in religious related violence. Look in the mirror Subrahmanyan.

Its not the law, by the way, it’s the CONSTITUTION that would have to be changed. Keep your hands off my Constitution.

"[The shootings] underscore that fact that in the U.S., a tragedy caused by guns can happen anywhere.... We hope that this will not trigger race-related problems for Asians.... We like to see the U.S. government, Congress and the people strengthen gun-control laws."
—An editorial in the Japanese paper Asahi Shimbun calling for tougher gun controls in the United States

I agree. The only slight modification I would make is that the gun control laws are actually on the books now, they just are not enforced. Maybe if people would quit flying airplanes into our buildings we could get around to doing something about the criminal element in our society.

Europe
"Why, we ask, do Americans continue to tolerate gun laws and a culture that seems to condemn thousands of innocents to death every year, when presumably, tougher restrictions, such as those in force in European countries, could at least reduce the number?"
—The Times of London, in an editorial delving into the American psyche and the gun laws across the nation

Everything about this statement is ignorant. Id say there is a mental deficiency due to too much bangers and mash. We here in America are not in the habit of amending our Constitution based upon “presumptions”. Which European countries are we talking about exactly anyway? The ones formerly occupied by the Soviet Union, those formerly occupied by Germany, or Germany where until recently you could be arrested and tortured for looking at someone the wrong way? Explain please.

America = apples; Europe = Oranges.

Oh, by the way, gun violence in America is going down…Ill repeat that several times below as well…so we don’t need your help or advice Clive, Basil or whatever you name is.

"It is a delusion … to imagine that controls on their own will stop the rise of gun crime, and the killing that results … what is needed is a wholesale shift in the national culture—and that will take rather longer than an arms ban."
—Mangus Linklater, The Times of London columnist

Mangus is the MAN! And this is the point I agree with. Our culture needs to change to address the issue of violence and alienation. I don’t read a lot about disaffected guns leaping up off the shelves on their own kill people.

Serial killers generally don’t use firearms. Timothy McVeigh didn’t use a gun. Al Quaeda didn’t use guns on 911 (box cutters for crying out loud!). I see guns being used by battered wives to defend themselves, but a single drunk man can terrorize a household with his backhand, a belt and a bad temper. And yes, disgruntled boyfriends and husbands have shot their estranged wives and girlfriends, Im aware of that. But don’t think for a moment that eliminating guns would eliminate the problem. Address the cause, not the tools. That’s like saying if for some reason, painting offended you, you would outlaw paintbrushes. Doesn’t stop anything.

"There's only one real ‘freedom' in America—the freedom to kill one another… if guns weren't so readily available in the ‘land of the free,' this tragedy might never have happened."
—London's Daily Mail columnist Russell Miller

You’re a stupid piece of biohazard. I’d punch you in the face but your pansy-ass would sue me and Id end up in jail and paying for your kid’s education. I wish I had the freedom to kick the ignorance out of you, but I don’t. Look, any disgruntled kid with a gas can and a pack of matches can wreck unimaginable terror on a society. Guys like “Russell” always make me think they are trying to impress art-school pseudo intellectual womyn with their ultra-leftist drivel. Grow a pair and maybe you’ll get lucky with a real woman you dumb cockney fuck. "might never have happened?" At least have the courage to make a definative statement. Qualification= "probably a lot of bull-shite"

"There is such a high murder rate in the United States that even if you excluded the deaths caused there by the use of guns, their homicide rate would still be higher than ours. In other words, even if there were not a single gun in America, there would still be more murders and manslaughters than in Britain. Bringing gun control to America would not stop it being a country where a lot of people get killed."
—James Bartholomew, political commentator at the Daily Express in London

Sad, but true - somewhat. What the world tends to forget is our unique multicultural situation and the trend towards the disintegration of our inner-cities (where the overwhelming majority of the murders occur) that has been occurring since the 70s. What is widely overlooked is that most of America is safer than anywhere else in the world. This includes both crime rates and murder rates. Do the reading for yourself. Step into Washington DC, New York, Las Angeles, and yes…there are places you just don’t want to go! Just try to get yourself murdered in Maine though.

"[T]he response of many who wish America ill will have been gratuitous schadenfreude. They see a people who live by the gun also dying by it, be they Marines in Anbar province or students in Virginia…. How can American soldiers disarm Iraqi families of their weapons in Baghdad yet claim the right to arm themselves to the teeth back home?"
—The Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins

Interesting take on the situation. To my own spin on it: its interesting to me that we will criminalize a soldier who says he “cant kill” then demonize a civilian killer. Not that Im coming down on the side of the killer, but there is a disconnect there. Also, if you order the bombing of a bunch of brown people in another country, you are “making the world a safer place” and considered by some to be a hero. Ask an Iraqi who has lost a child to an American bomb what he thinks about Virginia Tech.

"In a country where ‘the right to bear arms' is written into the Constitution and where there are an estimated 192 million firearms, the problem isn't simply one of a particular interest group. After the tragedy, voices rose up to deplore the fact that professors and students are not authorized to arm themselves, since one of them could have neutralized the killer. With that kind of reasoning, America is not close to overcoming its violence."
—Excerpts from an editorial headlined "Tragédie Américaine," in France's Le Monde newspaper

I still love how it’s America America America when the kid was South Korean and presumably raised with South Korean mores. Anyway…what does a surrender-monkey like you know about defending himself? Maybe a little more American culture would have kept you from positioning your defensive cannons in such a way that they couldn’t be used when the Germans walked right around them. But what do I know? We have heroes that actually fought the enemy. Charles de Gaulle? How did that hiding in a basement treat ya? He’s only slightly more a man than your other great hero Joan of Arc and only because we think he may have actually had testicles. (inconclusive). I guess when you are in a situation where when you think of war you look to be saved by a 13 year old girl, American culture would likely confuse you.

"What is, for us, an archaism remains, for many Americans, a fundamental right, a right to remain armed, which is becoming more and more costly. That is the difference between us and them"
—Pierre Rousselin, from Paris's Le Figaro

Gun violence continues to decline in the US or by “more costly” do you refer to the effect inflation has on gun prices? What’s this “us and them” talk? Try that the next time someone invades you. I bet you wish you had guns when the Gestapo was rounding up your family. All of this “disarmament” talk only works in a culturally homogenous society with a well-established army.

"In France, we say everything ends in song. In the land of John Wayne, Charlton Heston and George Bush, a great partisan of the NRA, everything, individual anger, heartbreak, neighborhood disputes, quarrels between dealers or depression, ends in shootouts. That is why students die on campuses, without anyone, starting with Hillary Clinton, thinking to do anything much about it."
—Laurent Joffrin, writing in the French newspaper Libération

Huh? WTF? Sober up and get back to me.

"In Virginia at the age of 13, you can buy a revolver at a supermarket."
—From the Italian newspaper il Messaggero, in an article headlined Pistole Facili (Easy Guns). Italian newspapers carried extensive comments from Marina Cogo and Giancarlo Bordonaro, two 23-year-old Virginia Tech students from Milan. Cogo is returning home, vowing not to return.

Are you stoned? Let’s not clutter the debate with a lot of nonsense. Where TF are you shopping anyway? Besides, if I was from Milan, I doubt I would go back either. That’s like Paris Hilton saying she would never go back to Motel Six.

Africa
"This is a shocking event that highlights serious malfunction in many societies. We hope the necessary lessons will be learned in such tragedies that are now becoming a common occurrence in the western world."
—South Africa's deputy minister of foreign affairs, Aziz Pahad

Me too. Except that “common occurrence” line. Gun ownership and gun violence is going down in the United States.

"[The shootings are a] shocking reminder of the violence that lies so relatively close to the surface of not only American society, but also that of our own.... The Virginia Tech atrocity cannot be seen in isolation. Like in this country, shootings at schools, colleges and workplaces take place in the United States with appalling regularity. So routine have they become that, again like in this country, it is only the multiple shootings that attract headlines."
—Editorial from South Africa's Daily News newspaper

Define “appalling regularity”. What if I said that students in China were being run over by tanks with “appalling regularity.” I like how violence, civil-war and AIDs-ridden Africans feel like they can comment on us. How’d that Apartheid work out for you? Yeah, thought so.
I think Id pick America and our culture over Darfur. Huh? Whats that? I thought so. It just got quiet in here….

Israel
"[This] frays U.S. nerves at a time when violence has become an unwelcome guest in more and more American homes."
—From Israel's Jerusalem Post

From a country where citizens serve a mandatory stint in the Army and are equipped with gas-masks. Haven’t had a lot of suicide bombers in my grocery. How bout yours? We are the only thing that stands between you and complete annihilation by your enemies. Id keep you mouth shut.

Iraq
"It is a big loss for the American people and I think that this is a message from Allah to them to stop and think of what is happening in Iraq. Thousands of Iraqis lost their sons or fathers and all of this was because of the so-called American democracy being exported to Third World countries."
—Haifa Salim, a 34-year-old Baghdad housewife

Agreed. Well…not so much the “message from Allah” part, but I agree with the sentiment.

"I feel sorry that there are innocent civilians getting killed for no reason. We in Iraq have tasted this curse and we know how difficult it is to lose a loved one. [But] at other times, especially when I'm emotional, I think, 'Let the American people get a taste of what they brought us, death and tragedies and blood everywhere.'
—Khalid Mohammed, a 33-year-old civil engineer in Baghdad

Well put. Keep in mind too that Baghdad is under martial law and people die every day from violence and mostly from suicide bombs. You see, in countries where they have NOTHING, people can still find a way to kill each other. Violence is a kind of natural disaster. I think its one that we can do something about if we can try to come together as a nation and people, but you can just start writing laws and hoping it goes away. Its like trying to legislate away a flood. Instead, lets start building dams against violence and diverting waterways that lead to bloodshed. In other words, lets deal with the issue in a logical way.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

2007-04-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

Finally finished this beast after about 4 months of work! Granted I had several other books going at the same time, but closing the cover on this one felt like quite an accomplishment. This should loosen up my reading schedule a bit!

Quite a lot has been said about this novel already, the first by Susannah Clarke. You can read a synopsis and other’s thoughts about this tome on Amazon, I won’t try to summarize them here.

I knew what people were saying about before I decided to tackle it myself. Having scored the hardcover for five dollars at Half-Price books went a long way towards getting me to read it I think! Knowing that so many people found it ponderous and boring, I didn’t go into it with very high expectations. I ended up taking it with me on vacation as I thought that would be the perfect time to attempt a “novel”. With work taking up most of active neurons, I tend to find my daily reading to be a bit more of the “escapist” variety. And contrary to popular belief I never had a problem carrying this around with me and onto an airplane. For crying out loud people if a “book” is too much for you to carry around then maybe you should put it down and get outside for some fresh air. I’ve never heard people bad-mouth a book because it was “too heavy” before. Jeesh!

Personally, once I started Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell, I had trouble putting it down.
It’s not a novel for everyone however, that’s for sure. The characters are not terribly sympathetic, and to make matters worse, Ms. Clarke starts the novel out with Mr. Norrell, one of the least sympathetic protagonists in the book. (sometimes you just want to smack him) In addition, there isn’t a lot of “action” in this book, nor a lot of delving in the psyches of any of the characters. It is what it is, and that is basically a sort of historical novel on the return of magic to England.

It must have been the mood I was in at the time I read it. To me it was fascinating. I love her imagination and her ability to re-write the history of this time period to include her story. Perhaps one needs to be primed with exposure to truly academic tomes of dusty history to appreciate the liveliness of her work, it’s hard for me to say. I do know that many readers will find the book a bit dry.

One of the chief complaints about the book is the use of footnotes in the text. Many feel that it slows and already plodding narrative down to a crawl. To me the footnotes filled in a lot of the more esoteric historical points that were missing from the main storyline. It was here that we learn a lot about individual magicians and their associations with the denizens of Faerie.

To summarize, this book is an excellent example of “it’s the journey, not the destination.” If you find that you are not enjoying the narrative, and wish only to move ahead towards the resolution of the plot, than this novel will not be for you. If you wish to spend an hour or so in an alternate world in which magic is real and the creatures of Faerie wait in dark shadows to prey upon the inhabitants of Christendom, then this may be something you would enjoy. I would advise going in with low expectations and aware of the fact that not a lot is going to “happen” as it were…

The real story behind Lost.

2007-03-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrH4iiw-owM

Yes, this is very close to what I think is the real driving force behind the production decisions concerning Lost. What was once one of the best shows on TV has become the epitome of everything that is wrong in "Hollywood".

Im having trouble imagining what sort of ending they have planned that is going live up to the expectations of a five year wait.

If you happen to be a reader of Entertainment Weekly, then you'll have been treated to the slobbering love fest that exists between Stephen King and the creators of Lost over the past two years or so. Its not surprising to me really that JJ Abrams is adapting the Dark Tower series. One writer/producer who cant end a story working with an author who cant end a story.

2007-03-12T20:03:00.001-07:00

You are The Devil

Well, ok, YOU are not the Devil, I am...apparently. I took this test after following a link from Boggleboy's deviantart website. The link is also below if you'd like to try. I dont put much of any value into it, but it's amusing.

Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession

The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.

Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major arcana, the Devil is not really "Satan" at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires. This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Thanks Ann

2007-03-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

Well, Ive been trying for a few days now to log into Ann Coulter's official website, but I have had no success so far. I dont know if the site is being overwhelmed or what, but for whatever reason I cant get it to load up on my computer.
I wanted to find her email address or possibly a forum or blog on her website so I could attempt to contact her. You see, I have something very important to tell her. I guess I might as well do it here.

Thanks Ann.

Thanks for helping to further denigrate the conservative viewpoint in America.

I wasnt sure that the Right was capable of taking any more beatings than it already has, what with Bush's dismal record as Commander-in-Chief, the senseless war in Iraq, the resurgence of violence in Afghanistan and now the whole 'Scooter' Libby verdict and possible pardon (which will seal Bush's ignominy). You really had your work cut out for you, but you managed didnt you?

If, God forbid, it happens, the new "President Clinton" should shake your hand. After all, its people like you and fiascos like the one you've created with John Edwards that could possibly propel her to the White House.

What is it with you anyway? Why is there a faction of the right wing that is so overwhelmingly obsessed with homosexuality?

See here and here for some brief discussions on Karl Rove portraying John McCain as the "fag-candidate" in 2000. Karl looks a bit, shall we say, "eunuchy". Are you sure he's producing enough testosterone? He looks to me like the Zodiac killer suspect who was fired for sexually abusing children.

Seriously, why is the issue always on your minds?

Is it because of people like the Rev. Ted Haggard? Does he whisper in your ears and talk about the "abomination" that is the gay community? Is it the shameful secrets you hide in your own closets? I love how much you hold up your church attendence as some measure of respectability. Why is that exactly? As far as I can tell, religious denomination has no relationship to your likelihood of committing vile acts.

Or is it your own political leadership? With so many juicy little pages running around, your congressmen must find it hard to concentrate. You're probably right, we should outlaw and castigate anyone who commits this sin. Is that a mortal or venal sin? Please advise.

Ah, but I digress. The real issue here is the next election. The more you run your mouth, the better you make Hillary Clinton look. Im somewhat worried that Edwards and Obama are going to split the moderate democrat vote and leave Clinton with enough far left numbers to win the primary. Its too early to tell, but these are the things we have to think about now in order to have someone reasonable in the White House.

It appears that your far right cronies are already putting McCain out to pasture. Poor guy. He's said everything he was supposed to say for the last six years and you wont even give him a chance.

So, now is the time in this speech where I have to become somewhat ungentlemanly. I know that people like you tend to judge people harshly for using foul language so maybe you wont want to read further. It's funny too how your kind can talk about bombing little brown foreign children with a smile, but if I curse a little you somehow feel like you can take the moral highground...funny huh? but anyway...

Ann, keep you god damned mouth shut you deranged effin psycho.

If you care anything at all for the conservative cause, disa-freaking-pear until after the election.
WE DONT NEED YOUR HELP.

Of course I say that as a moderate on both sides of the fence. But you have to ask yourself Ann, do you want a Clinton back in the White House? Because that's the road you are heading down.

You know, I bet Ann spilled absinthe on her server. That's why I cant access her site! It would explain a lot of other things as well..

I love you Dr. Laura!

2007-03-05T13:59:00.000-08:00

I first received the "open letter to Dr. Laura" several years ago and I thought it was genius. I've sent it around a couple of times since then and still get a kick out of it today. In the interests of posterity I post it again here.

BTW, you cannot convince me that Ann Coulter isnt working secretly to get Hillary Clinton elected. I mean, CMON!

Dear Dr. Laura,
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

A. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

B. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

C. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

D. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

E. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

F. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an Abomination (Lev 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

G. Lev 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

H. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev 19:27. How should they die?

I. I know from Lev 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

J. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev 24:10-16) Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help.
Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

-Your devoted disciple and adoring fan.

These are the Biblical verses refered to above, in two different translations: the King James Version [KJV], and New International Version [NIV]

Lev 18:22 [KJV] Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. [NIV] Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

Lev 1:9 [KJV] But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. [NIV] He is to wash the inner parts and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.

Exodus 21:7 [KJV] And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. [NIV] If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do.

Lev 15:19-24 [KJV] And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. 20 And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. 21 And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. 22 And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. 23 And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even. 24 And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. [NIV] When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. 20 Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. 21 Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. 22 Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening. 23 Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening. 24 If a man lies with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.

Lev 25:44 [KJV] Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. [NIV] Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves.

Exodus 35:2 [KJV] Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. [NIV] For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death.

Lev 11:10 [KJV] And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you [NIV] But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales --- whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water --- you are to detest.

Lev 21:20 [KJV] Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken [NIV] or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.

Lev 19:27 [KJV] Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. [NIV] Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.

Lev 11:6-8 [KJV] And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. 7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. 8 Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you. [NIV] The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a split hoof; it is unclean for you. 7 And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divied, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcases; they are unclean for you.

Lev 19:19 [KJV] Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. [NIV] Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.

Lev 24:10-16 [KJV] And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp; 11 And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) 12 And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them. 13 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. 16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death. [NIV] Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. 11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the name of the LORD with a curse; so they brough him to Moses. (His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) 12 They put him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them. 13 Then the LORD said to Moses: 14 Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. 15 Say to the Israelites: If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; 16 anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

Lev 20:14 [KJV] And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you. [NIV] If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you.

Dejection 2008: Episode One

2007-02-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

Yippee! We are over a year and a half away from the election and the Clinton campaign has already started using its typical playground tactics of pulling pigtails then smirking and saying “who me?” when the victims point the finger.

In case you missed it, the big three of Dreamworks SKG, Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen, held a 1.3 million dollar Hollywood fundraising event for presidential hopeful, Barack Obama on Tuesday, February 20. In and of itself, this is something of a slap to the Clinton campaign as Hollywood, and Geffen in particular were former FOBs (friends of Bill). I imagine having these entertainment and fundraising powerhouses come out in favor of another candidate was a bitter pill for Her Majesty to swallow.

To make matters worse, David Geffen, the G is SKG and the mogul behind Geffen records, had the following to say in Maureen Dowd’s NYT column on Wednesday: “Everybody in politics lies. But they (the Clintons) do it with such ease, it's troubling”. He went on to say: “Obama is inspirational and he's not from the Bush royal family or the Clinton royal family," and added that Hillary is an "incredibly polarizing figure" who would not be able to bring the country together and other further the divide between red and blue.

The Clinton campaign immediately retaliated, calling for Obama to apologize to the Clintons and foreswear from using personal attacks on the campaign trail. Hillary’s communication director Howard Wolfson said: “If Senator Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics, he should immediately denounce these remarks, remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money” Effectively, he's calling Obama a hypocrite.

Hillary herself took a smirky, smarmy, “I’m intellectually superior that thou” approach and claimed to a crowd of supporters that she was “above” using such back alley dirty tactics and mud slinging and only wanted to “talk about the issues and what is important to America.”

Barack, a man seemingly possessed with common sense and a bit of wisdom, logically responded:
“It's not clear to me why I'd be apologizing for someone else's remark.”

Ooh! I’m already starting to swoon over this guy. He's dreamy!

All I’ve heard since Bush took the White House is how they (the Bush administration) can’t abide criticism and work to silence opposition (and they do, I may return to the subject of Scooter Libby someday, cmon dude, you know you did it, just fess up) but Hillary seems to believe that her opponent should have some sort of magical-Obama power over American voters and should be able to render them mute with a wave of his hand. What does Obama have to do with what Geffen thinks? Isnt Geffen an American citizen with the right to say what he thinks? Now if Geffen was in support of cat-rape, child-tossing and the beating of the elderly, then yeah, maybe he should return the money (because Im strongly anti cat-rape). But Geffen calling the Clinton’s liars? Please! If anything we should chide him for stating the obvious. "oooh! You figure that out all by yourself Davey???"

Did you catch this one? In April of 1995, while she was First Lady (lady my ass), Hillary had a chance to meet Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Hillary then proceeded to tell reporters that she had been named after the famous mountain climber because her mother had read an article about him while she was pregnant and liked the name.

Ahem…I’ll save you the trouble of looking it up…Hillary was born in 1947 and Sir Edmund reached the peak in 1953.

Does lying come easy to the Clinton’s? You bet!

I don’t know about you, but when Bill wagged that finger at me on television, looked me straight in the eye and said “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”. I think I vomited in my mouth a little bit. Don’t you every wag that dirty Lewinsky-stained finger at me and act like you are my moral and intellectual superior! How jaded do you have to be to incorporate cigars into your…ah, but I digress.

Lets get back to Hillary. Remember her Senate race fundraising scandal? Peter Paul is a lawyer, entrepreneur and former partner of Stan Lee (much to Lee's chagrin). He is an all around sleeze bag who’s been convicted of fraud and drug related offenses (including trafficking). Well, guess who’s his buddy? That’s right. Paul raised over 1 million dollars for her Senate campaign, but when news of Paul’s background leaked out to the press, Hillary did the “right thing” and returned the $2000 contribution Paul made to her campaign. Somehow, Hillary reported that Stan Lee donated $250000 to her campaign, which her fervently denies, while the actually fundraiser only donated 2k? C’Mon!
Im not even going to get into Whitewater. "oh we cant find those files, oh wait, they were in this closet the whole time"

What bothers me about this latest Obama/Clinton tangle is that the Clinton campaign is back to its old tricks and daring us to call them out. They continually make incursions into the neutral zone to get the other side to flinch and respond. When they finally do, the FOH’s and FOB’s start howling and pointing fingers and accusing the other side of resorting to bad behavior.
(I wasn’t sure if I was going for a football or Star Trek analogy there so I just gave up on it)

If you are thinking about voting Clinton, spend some time looking at the Presidential pardons Bill gave out like Halloween candy to his billionaire crony buddies before he left office. You KNOW what a Clinton in the White House means. A vote for Hillary is not a vote for change, but a return to politics as usual and more campaign contributors with plots in Arlington National Cemetary.

The argument that “its time for a woman in the White House” makes me nauseous. Im all for a woman President, just not HER! ANYONE but her. Don’t be fooled either. Their campaign strategy is to make this about her being a woman. I’m already hearing story after story about “Is America ready for a woman in the White House? Lets see how far we have come with the next election.” People, a vote against Hillary is not a vote against woman. No more so than a vote for someone other than Obama is a vote against African Americans. We need to elect the best person possible. The last time we voted for someone “different” in order to make a “change”, look who we got. A guy who had to have his daddy get him every job he ever had and failed at everything he ever tried to do. If you want Pat Robertson as president, then go ahead and vote for Hillary in 2008. The backlash in 2012 will be monumental. Personally I blame Clinton and his trailer park antics for a madman loser like Bush getting elected. (I may talk about that in depth at later date)

Just think about things before supporting any candidate. Spend as much time with this decision as you would choosing a quarterback for your fantasy football team. Actually…spend more time! Think about what the candidates are saying and why they are saying it. Don’t let them get away with their typical two-faced re-interpretation of events

I'm not sure Ill be voting Obama. I like him and like what he stand for, but he's just so inexperienced that it makes me nervous. And if I can say that about him, where does that leave Hillary? Ill continue to follow the campaigns and save judgement for the end. At the moment, Edwards is actually looking pretty good. Ill discuss McCain at a later date.

Oh by the way, his birth name is William Jefferson Davis Clinton. He was not named for Thomas Jefferson, but the president of the Confederate states. How’s that for rewriting history?

GenCon Madness

2007-02-14T09:12:00.000-08:00

A lot of people have said a lot of things about the housing/hotel reservation process for GenCon Indy 2007, but I thought I would share my own experience, just to show perhaps another perspective on the situation.

This will be the first year I attend the massive gaming convention held in Indianapolis. I’m really not much of a live-action gamer these days. Most of my pursuits of this manner are of the computer gaming variety. However, my old gaming group attended en masse last year and it sounded like it wasn’t too bad. Most all are returning this year so I thought, “what the hell, it’ll be a good chance to hang out, play some games, drink some beer…”

I want to pause a minute just to add that my most frightening nightmare is a room of shoulder-to-shoulder men ages 14-45, mostly unwashed, donned in “aren’t-I-cool” t-shirts (you know what I mean), attempting to outdo each other in their knowledge of obscure sub-culture trivia. Dude, if you quote some throw-away dialogue from Blake’s 7 to me, don’t expect me to act like I know what the hell you’re talking about or show you any measure of respect. You females better stop smiling too. We ALL know EVERY line from every Monty Python movie, please stop quoting the Holy Grail. (Flying Circus quotes are still ok…but strangely enough, not the Spam song). Oh, and Kes was NOT the coolest Star Trek character ever and Kirk can kick Picard’s French ass any day. Whew, I think my blood pressure just dropped a few points, guess that had been bottled up for some time…..

At any rate, in terms of registration and hotel reservations, I was pretty much told what to do by the group of people I was going to hang out with at GenCon. I trusted them and their information and to be honest, I didn’t feel like scouring the GenCon website for registration information. I meant to register or "buy the badge" or whatever on Sunday, but I forgot. It happens. Mrs. Greyjoy wanted to go shopping so we spent most of the day driving around town. By the time we got home I was tired and it was almost time for the Grammies. I was pretty pumped up about the Police reunion so I was a tad distracted. Finally, I recalled there was something I was supposed to do about 6am the next morning. I jumped on the computer while still wet from the shower and “bought the badge”. To be honest, this wasn’t the most clear-cut process in the world either. But I figured it out with my oversized brain and succeeded where many of you other lesser beings would fail. When I finished, lo and behold, there was a link asking me if I wanted to continue on and reserve a hotel room. Nervously, but with a certain sort of curious titillation, I followed the link. I found out I was able to reserve a room, so I did so and, quite pleased with myself went on my merry way. Although I had been told by a gaming buddy that room reservations didn’t start until 12 that day, I figured my buddy got it wrong or the time had been changed or I had misunderstood...whatever.

At any rate I emailed my group and told them they could reserve their rooms early. That’s when I first learned about the "glitch" (or THE Glitch as it has now entered into sub-culture lore). One of my buddies, who will be a vendor at GenCon, emailed me and let me know my reservation was probably invalid. “Invalid!?” I thought. “As invalid as your reputed heterosexuality.” and with that I began calling and emailing people in the frenetic fashion that only a solid middle-level, cubicle bound, bureaucratic administrator can muster. Well, as it turns out it was a darn good thing I mentioned it to my buddies AND that I had some friends "in the know". Apparently the “Glitch” allowed people to start registering at 12 midnight and not 12 noon as they attended. (Lets be honest here, this isn’t a glitch but more evidence that Americans have too much lead in their diets, not altogether unlike the “conversion error” that led to the loss of the 125 million dollar NASA orbiter, in other words, someone frocked it up). When it was discovered that some people had registered early, there was an outcry of “unfair!” from the gaming community, and the admins of GenCon decided, in the interests of “fairness” to wipe clean all reservations that had occurred, then restart the process at 2pm. This is the moment I began to get grumpy. Now, I didn’t receive official notification about the cancellation until 2:40! Now, explain to me how it’s "fair" that people weren’t notified until well after registration resumed that their original reservations were cancelled. This part is what really makes me laugh. This was tacked to the bottom of my confirmation email:

“A kind note about calling the hotel "just to be sure": Please do not call your hotel "to be sure" until after August 8, 2007. Please understand that processing your reservations from the Housing Bureau into the Hotel system will take a few days. Rest assured that if you have received a confirmation number already from the Housing Bureau, the hotel will honor your booking. Thank you for your consideration.”

Ha! Apparently not.

Just to add more fuel to the fire, it also turns out that the registration site is blocked at my workplace! Luckily the guy I was going share a room with was home and did it for us. And yes...I should have checked beforehand, but it never occurred to me. From postings on the GenCon forums, many other’s were also blocked from the site at work. Now, how is this “fair?”

What really started to get me angry were forum posts that were sort of accusing people who got in early of either duplicity or stupidity. Here is one post:

I got home at 12:10, fired up the laptop and tried to get in. Of course, that's when I find out it's been moved to 2pm. Then I go to the message boards and find out it's because a group of people took advantage of a glitch in the system??? *grrrrr*
Everyone's known for weeks, if not months that registration was at 12pm eastern. *shrug* Moving it to 2pm sucks for a good number of people who tried to take care of things over their lunch hours. I feel for everyone, I really do. But anyone who registered 12 hours in advance has no room to complain, since they knew it was a glitch in the system.”

This is only a sample, believe me there were plenty more. I can say with complete honesty that I wasn’t trying to "exploit" or “take advantage” of anyone or anything. I just wanted to register and go to Indy to hang out with friends and play games. I have to imagine most of the 200 or so people who got in early didn’t have any mischievous intent or thought they were "getting over" on the system. In fact, there was another thread on the forum that showed that many of those early birds simply read “12:00” and assumed “midnight”. As for railing against those who were angry and complained out their (our) registrations being cancelled…well…all I can tell you is that life isn’t fair. If you need mommy to cut the cake in equal portions for everyone so that your little sister doesn’t get two crumbs more than you, well then, fine. Vote for Hilary and let the fairness reign supreme. What you are missing is the fact that a registration is a legal contract that bind two parties into upholding their respective ends. Here’s another little angry gem:

“That kind of stuff happens, and I'm not really mad about it. Because, seriously, there is no debate here. This has been posted and confirmed for how long that the housing goes live at NOON today not midnight last night.
So those saying they'll be 'pissed off' because their reservation is wiped out when they already KNOW that midnight was not the correct time, is just absolutely ignorant. Sorry to put it so bluntly, but I am always amazed at people who don't think rules apply to them. They think 'rules' are just there for someone else's enjoyment I guess. Like people who decide to cut in line at amuzement parks. What, do you have some bonus perk on life that the rest of us don't? Do you have some 'free ticket to ride' that only you get to have?
Sorry folks, but to think anything other than the registrations getting wpied and done properly, and AS stated in the beginning, is just plain stupid. And to hear the people trying to justify why a computer mistake should mean they should get some complimentary registration before the rest of the world is comical at best.
Could we maybe use just a BIT of common sense? Wow. And here I thought gamers at least had some good mental skills. Funny how people can let you down on a daily basis!

Wow, that’s some deep rooted anger. My being upset doesn’t really have as much to do with the fact that I didn’t get a registration, it’s really more about the whiney, cry-baby “lets play fair” attitude that resulted in a decision that blanked over 200 people’s registrations. People, I might add, who did nothing wrong. Dudes and dudettes, I don’t “live” for this kind of stuff. I don’t spend hours upon hours on the GenCon forums and websites. I just wanted to go to have fun. I really don’t care about you, what Yu-gi-oh card you stole from your little brother, how many times you saw Star Wars or who you think the next captain of the Enterprise should be. If this is so much of a disaster in terms of organization that I have to reserve my room within 30 minutes of registration being open or get left out in the cold…well…this will be my last year.

As for what to do next year, I don’t know what to tell you really. I would suggest that the organizers look outside of their organization (organization! Ha! See how I made a funny?) at other examples and ask for help in designing their registration scheme. Of course, I realize this is somewhat unique in that they seem to use their own system for managing reservations, but I can say that Ive gone to the Neuroscience conference for the last 4 years and not ever had a problem (30-32k attendees). If I do this or anything else like it again, I will gladly pay full price to reserve the room ahead of time. If I had to summarize this experience, I guess I would classify it as just a tad bit...well...unprofessional. Maybe that’s harsh. "In need of some polishing" might be better, but in light of the language used in the posts above….well…..

Bill O’Reilly Watch: Episode One

2006-10-14T04:57:00.000-07:00

I’ve been tuning into the O’Reilly Factor lately. Why? I dont know why, I guess Im curious to examine in detail where we are in terms of treatment for hypertension. I have to tell you, this guy doesnt just raise my blood pressure, he scares the bejesus out of me. If there are people out there who believe half of the garbage this divisive, hate-monger is spewing, then America is in deep trouble. Not only does he look you right in the eye and lie, but he also distorts what few facts he chooses to incorporate into his info-tainment broadcast. "No spin zone" my back-end. C'Mon!
Lets just begin by dissecting his talking points from October the 13th. The words in bold are Bill's

A new FOX News poll out today says 50 percent of Americans will vote Democrat, 41 percent Republican, in the congressional elections next month. President Bush's approval rating is 40 percent, 56 percent disapprove. So the smart money believes that Democrats will make solid gains in the upcoming vote, but here is something interesting.
If the Dems win the House, Nancy Pelosi will become speaker. However, according to the FOX poll, 43 percent of Americans have never heard of Congresswoman Pelosi. They know nothing about her. So the country is facing a possible big change, and almost half of us have no idea what the change might be.

So? Round up 100 people in each of the “red states” and see if they know the name of the current Speaker of the House. Want to put some money on it??? Oh wait, they may know it now because Dennis Hastert knew about Mark Foley’s predilection for young boys and didn’t do anything about it. Big change? You mean we might have an official who doesnt condone the molestation of boys? Lets pray: please Jesus dont let this happen. Internet predators need our forgiveness, not condemnation...Amen. (this is continued below)

Nancy Pelosi is a committed secular progressive who embraces San Francisco values. Those are: a massive federal government that dispenses entitlements paid for primarily by affluent Americans. That is called income redistribution, or the shorthand: "tax the rich." San Francisco values also seek to exclude spirituality from the public square but embrace displays like the Bay City's gay pride parade, where Christianity is often mocked and demeaned.

Wha???? I’m having trouble finding out what a secular progressive is outside of the “OReilly Factor", but O’Reilly spews the word out with a lot of vitriol. I think it’s a new buzzword for “liberal” meant to be used with disdain and scorn. Not a lot different than Mel Gibson uses the word “jew”. Be careful when people start making up new terms in attempts to classify people, it’s an attempt to dehumanize the opponent and create a culture of "us vs them". It’s a debate topic used by lazy sub-intellectuals to move their sheep from one side of the field to another with little or no mental power required. We are well beyond McCarthy’s communist scare as it is…the next step will be to build “re-education camps” run by that crazy Christian-camp lady. Oh, and “San Francisco Values” are apparently when you believe homosexuals have the right to exist. Why can’t they have a parade for crying out loud. What does it matter to you?
Define entitlements Bill. Im sure we agree that some are not needed, but dont lump all of our social programs into one basket to toss out with the garbage. We NEED some of those programs. (If you're cheeing me on at this point, dont. I actually happen to be fed up with the Democratic policy of writing in new laws and government assistance programs so they can tell the constituents they've "saved children's lives" at election time. Give me a break)

This one bears reprinting in case you missed it the first time: where Christianity is often mocked and demeaned.

…..just give that a moment will you……

....let it really sink in.....

You mean to tell me…..

....that there are groups out there…..

....organized groups….(rolls eyes)….

who get together at gay pride parades….to MOCK Christianity??? (palm slaps forehead). Where do you get this stuff from? Do you think people spend their time figuring out how to best demean Christianity? Are there anti-bible study groups? C'Mon!

You know what he really means don’t you? That the church groups who come out from Texas to protest the San Francisco and New York gay pride parades are “talked back to” when they threaten homosexual attendees with an eternity of brimstone (and on a more serious note, physical threats are often made against the lives of those attending these lawful gatherings.)
Anyone who hauls their children across the country to set them in front of a gay pride parade wearing a placard stating "you gays will burn in hell" should be arrested and medicated. They deserve to mocked Bill. C'Mon!

On the subject of taxes, we need to start "gettin-real". People, we are going to have to raise taxes. GET OVER IT NOW. (I could say “Read My Lips” but that would just be too ironic wouldn’t it?) The war in Iraq is running into the Trillions of dollars and will put us into an unrecoverable state of debt. This is not a wacky Clinton campaign theory. It is reality. Taxes are going to be raised by someone, probably the next administration. That's life.
Do you know what the really sad thing is? No matter what political beliefs you have about government run healthcare (and Im essentially opposed to it), the cost of this war would have paid for complete coverage for every American citizen twice over.

Now, I'm not saying Congresswoman Pelosi is on board with that,

Isn’t that exactly what he is saying? Did I miss something?

but I am saying her district wants to ban military recruiting while setting up city-wide pot shops,

Who is running on a campaign of establishing city-wide pot shops? Why haven’t I heard about this? And quit waving the flag on the subject of military recruiting. Both sides are wrong on this one. Recruiting practices need to be completely dismantled and rebuilt to rectify the gross deceptions the institution currently employs; but stopping them from speaking at high schools is wrong also. You begin to impinge on freedom of speech issues. If the kids want to join, they are going to join. Guess you should have raised them differently if you didnt want them to join.

and that San Francisco is now perhaps the most far-left city the United States has ever seen.

Oh, you THINK? My god when did that happen? I turn my back for one second and San Francisco goes left on me! The next thing you know the queer-virus will leak over into Texas and a Dallas Cowboy is going to be coming out of the closet. (Troy Aikmen is gay you know, if you cant put the pieces together, you’re not smart enough to bag groceries).

On the other side, 44 percent of Americans have never heard of Speaker Dennis Hastert. And those who have overwhelming believe he was not proactive in the Foley scandal.

Didn’t I just talk about this? That’s the same percentage of people who hadn’t heard of the woman who ISN’T the Speaker of the House. Are you brain-dead?

Define “proactive” Bill. You mean he didn’t download porn? Covering up the scandal, which he did, isn’t necessarily “proactive”. This is an example of sophistry being used to mislead. He isn’t “wrong” but Bill is far from “right” (hee hee, pun intended!)

Add to that the Iraq mess. More than 60 percent of Americans believe the war is not going well. And you have a very difficult choice this November: Should Americans vote for San Francisco values or for perceived failure overseas?

Ummmm…err….which is the one that doesn’t cost trillions of dollars and American lives? I’ll take that one!

Perceived? PERCEIVED? You have to be kidding me. C'Mon!

Now, at this point, the FOX News poll indicates that many folks feel change is necessary, and that's good news for the Democrats. Remember, not every Dem is a hyper-partisan S.P. like Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean. But any increase in their power is troubling if you are a traditionalist.

Troubling? Why? What the hell is a “traditionalist?” A tradition of what? What’s troubling is a nation in debt, that the U.S. is in an unwinnable conflict we cant extricate ourselves from, being unable to defend ourselves because our military is over-stretched, and our civil liberties being taken away from us on a daily basis. Oh, by the way, the hunt for Osama has been over for two years. Did you know that?

Talking Points believes the left is more energized right now, and therefore the Dems

There he goes again.

have a big advantage. The illegal immigration mess, big spending by the Bush administration, Foley — all have angered conservatives and many indicate they'll stay home on Election Day.
So that's the current picture. It could change, but with Iran and North Korea doing everything they can to make Mr. Bush look weak,

um...thats PRESIDENT BUSH you flag-waving, war-loving, bible thumper. Respect the position if not the man, that's what I was taught.

the GOP is really up against it. We may indeed be saying "hello" to San Francisco values.

And that's The Memo.

Just a thought I had: What would you think of someone who shot someone by accident while hunting. Isn’t that the definition of a moron? Im picturing a lot of tobacco-spit-stained camouflaged overalls.

Oh, just in case you were wondering, I blame Bill Clinton for this. Enough people hated him so much that we ended up electing a coke-snorting, silver spoon-having, ass-smacking, good ol boy who gets foreign policy advice from speaking to Jesus in the oval office. Just vote Hilary into office and you’ll see just how bad things can really get.

now THAT'S the memo.

MODERATES UNITE!

2006-10-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, this blog thingy here is devoid of emoticons as far as I can tell, so I want to test out some downloaded from elsewhere.

Oh, by the way, check out this wine: Alice White, Lexia. Ill be doing a full write up on it soon, but if you like Rieslings or fruity wines youll love this. Its cheap, smooth & clean with a nice fruity, refreshing taste.
Yeah, I dont know what "Lexia" is either, but it must be some kind of grape. Ill find out .... gotta love that Google.

A Shadow In Summer - a review

2006-10-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham.

This was another book I picked up because it was recommended by my favorite author, George R.R. Martin. Once again, George didn’t steer me wrong.

A Shadow in Summer (aSiS) is book one of The Long Price Quartet. The remaining three novels are forthcoming (great, another series! I think I promised myself after the Robert Jordan fiasco that I wouldn’t start a series again until all the books were out, but that cursed GRRM ruined that pledge now didn’t he?).
Although this is his first novel, he has quite a few published short stories. His experience prepared him well for this endeavor.

As first novels go, this one is a phenomenal accomplishment. To be honest, the prospect of writing out my thoughts and opinions of a work that was so wonderfully crafted leaves me feeling a tad unprepared and reticent to begin. Because I wish to promote this novel as best I can, Ill continue and leave it up to you to see through my awkward style to glean the truth beneath. I’m know myself well enough to know that I have neither the patience or skill to summarize the details of other’s works very well, so what I prefer to write are my impressions and overall feelings.

To begin with, categorizing the novel as “fantasy” is a bit of a disservice to it. I intend absolutely no disrespect to the genre, but aSiS could easily be classified and shelved in the “literature” section of your bookstore. No, I’m not talking about Terry Goodkind’s definition of fantasy and literature either, which is an entire subject in and of itself. Here I am speaking about the crafting of the characters, the realism of the story, the universal nature of the struggles with which the protagonists wrestle, the advanced degree of skill Abraham shows in his prose and the character driven nature of the story.

At its heart, aSiS is about the characters. I find in most “fantasy novels” the story is centered around great wars against evil, creatively crafted worlds and races, unique “magic systems”, or simply the adventures of a band of heroes setting out to travel the world to accomplish some goal ( and usually being chased by something ). There are no evil sorcerers named Darkmore Blackheart, or immortal beings of pure good named Galandifal Silverheart nor much of any of the usual trappings that are typical of the genre. Instead, Abraham has created a unique but realistic world in which his characters wander. There is a magic system in place, and in fact the nature of magic in aSiS is central to the story, but its nature is subtle, complex and to be honest, quite original and beautiful. The characters suffer and struggle because of influences they cannot control and circumstances that arise because of the nature of power and politics in this world, but they do so in a manner so realistic they seem to leap off the page. You can really see the sweat on a character’s brow, the white of clenched knuckles, the light in the eyes from a smile or the pleasant look they get when savoring food or beverage well prepared.

Like GRRM, Abraham’s characters are not beings of pure good or pure evil, they are each different shades of grey. Each carries within him or herself an interpretation of surrounding, ongoing events that is utilized to make decisions that are the best possible for each individual’s goals or ideals. Some are motivated by love, others by duty and a sense of nationalism, while yet another is motivated by self-discovery. There is even an interesting contrast between two characters, one motivated by greed while the other is propelled by a sense of doing what’s “right”. The reader can see each character clearly and each is unique, just like life.

The world is magnificent also. Although the story takes place almost entirely in one city, you get hints and suggestions as to a wide variety of flavors that we might get to sample in later novels. The main city, Saraykhet, is seasoned heavily with elements of an oriental feudal society. As you read, you feel truly transported to another time and place as you share the sensations and experiences of the characters as they go about their lives in this magnificent fantastical capital city. I can still recall the time I spent at the Poet’s house by the pond, drinking late at night with Maati and Itani at a teahouse or in the brothel in which so many of the novel’s most poignant scenes take place. This novel is a truly unique experience for the reader. To be honest, its one you should discover for yourself and not have it spoiled by me or any other reviewer’s summary.

So, do I recommend this book to you? Yes, tentatively. Why such a caveat? Because this novel is not for everyone. You will find no great swordsmen fighting duels here, nor withered necromancers hurling spells from a dark tower. There are no orcs, trollocs, trolls, ogres, goblins or any similar such beings pushed around the story as pawns for some great evil presence. No gods, demi-gods or nigh-immortal beings show up at any point to wreck havoc with the protagonists. No, this is a real story about people, decisions, consequences and emotions. Dragonlance and Steven Erikson fans need not apply. There is simply not enough “action” for most fantasy readers.

Readers that will enjoy this work are those who yearn for something real, yet new, Something written by someone with an amazing talent for prose and whose writing style doesn’t take you “out of the moment” due to awkwardness, inexperience or poor editing.

My final verdict? Overall score: solid A. Recommendation, one thumb up. Hopefully that makes sense to you, its to keep you from coming back and crying to me that it was boring. I’m talking to you Goodkind!

The Lies of Locke Lamora

2006-09-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

The Lies of Locke Lamora is the debut fantasy/adventure novel of Scott Lynch and is the first of a seven book cycle.
After finishing this novel, I give it a hearty 2 thumbs up and would recommend it to almost any reader of fantasy.

To be honest, I was a bit skeptical at first of all the hype surrounding this book. When I first became aware of it, on a forum dedicated to the discussion of George RR Martin’s works, many people were calling this work “genius” and “greatest of all time”. Superlatives such as this often lose their edge and veracity over time, so I began reading it with the expectation that I would probably notice every little mistake of comment and be overly critical (as I often tend to be). To be honest, I still haven't gotten over the shock of just how bad Steven Erikson's series is after hearing so many outstanding reviews of his work (something called the Marzipan Books of the Swollen or some such nonsense). The word "Genius" is getting bandied about a bit too liberally for my tastes these days. So, that is the mindset I was coming from when I began reading Lynch.

So, is the book really that good?

When I had read about 1/3 of the book, I had some doubts as to the overall quality and whether or not I would even get to page 100! Lynch lays out the story in the beginning with some odd chronological leaps hither and thither that are just a bit too cutesy for the good of the story. Not only does he tell the main story in the "present" but there are flashbacks to a time when the chief protagonist, Locke Lamora, was a child learning to make his way in the world. There are also flashbacks within both the present and past storylines, however, making for periods of awkward plot progression. In fact, one entire chapter is rendered irrelevant due to fact the reader already knows the outcome from the proceeding chapter which takes place chronologically after the chapter that follows it. Confusing aint it? There are also some freshman errors in comma placement and sentence structure that the editor should have picked up. Im also distressed that a learned man would use the term “two-tenths” instead of “one-fifth”, but I suppose that’s my little pet peeve. The characters kept me interested enough to continue reading and I journeyed onward (buoyed also by George RR Martin's recommendation). By the time I got halfway through the tome I was hooked.

Lynch settles down into a simple present and past layout that makes the prose read easier and the plot progress faster. I also stopped noticing any internal inconsistencies or editing problems, although I do not know why the first half should differ so much from the second. From there on out, the story is a real page turner. I had trouble putting the book down at times, wanting to see what happened next. There was actually a time I was late to work because I wanted to finish a chapter and couldnt put the book down. I dont want to give a lot away, because there are some twists that need to be experienced. This is not a typical "good guys always win" type of fantasy either, so be prepared to have things turn out perhaps not quite as you would have liked them to.

At times there is just a tad bit too much "power comparison" between characters and groups. By that I mean, Lynch sets up one character, lets say "element A" as being the "one you do not want to even look funny at" but then needs to up the ante with the next one that comes along. So "element B" becomes the one that "element A" is even frightened of crossing! After several levels of this go by you begin to wonder why anyone was worried about "A" to begin with! Lynch does this several times and it does standout as a Freshman error. Hopefully he'll learn the value of "showing" instead of "telling" and issues like this will be resolved.

This book has something for everyone, humor, action, good character development, sympathetic protagonists, believable antagonists etc. There are a few more negatives I could point out, but the positives really outweigh them in this case. One of the characters, Jean Tannen, is a real standout and one of my favorite characters in the genre. Locke's not bad either!

This is not a big-world, sprawling adventure like Jordan's Wheel of Time series or Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, but is a really fun adventure/crime tale in a fantasy world.

In summary, imagine Joss Whedon’s Firefly crossed with Robert Asprin’s Thieves Guild and Steven Brust’s Taltos series. Two thumbs up and 4.75 out of five stars!!!

The shocking truth about William Shatner!

2006-09-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for this America? Is the world ready? Here it comes: William Shatner is not that bad of an actor!

Yes, you heard it here first. A revelation that may bring the world of entertainment to its knees. So shocking the rumor of it caused Nicole Ritchie to flee to the sanctuary of a Denny’s for comfort food.

Why the need for this sudden declaration of support for the much maligned former Captain of the Enterprise?

I’ve been reading more and more commentary concerning the franchise of Star Trek as a whole. In particular, on a number of different Sci-Fi related forums and websites there have been questions posed along the lines of: "What version is the definitive Trek", “Who is your favorite character” and conversely "Who is the most annoying character?".
More and more the answers to the first and last questions are becoming: The Next Generation and "Kirk". (I think he places second to Wesley Crusher, but that’s hardly a comfort to me.)

Now, lets address the first notion: Star Trek: the Next Generation is the definitive version of the Trek franchise.
I don’t necessarily have a problem with this. I disagree, but I know for many people STTNG was the series that brought them into the world of Trek initially. Many people watched this show that had never been exposed to or even interested in the adventures of Kirk and Spock and the valiant crew of the Enterprise. I even know a select few that watched it simply for Patrick Stewart (wink).

The notion that the Next Generation is preferred version of Star Trek is particularly true for a generation who look back upon the original series having already been exposed to the quality of special effects found in Star Wars and later offerings. The original series must appear to movie-goes of the Lucas-Spielberg era to be corn-ball and banal. As such, I sincerely doubt that anything I could say or write will every really gain any converts over to the side of the original. There is a conversation that could be had about overlooking special effects for the sake of the story, ala Doctor Who and Blake’s 7, but we’ll leave that for the time being.

As I said, this feeling is understandable. What I do have a problem with is the lack of respect individuals seem to have for the first series.

Point One: Without Kirk and his five year mission, tribbles, the doomsday machine, Sulu wielding a rapier, a bearded Spock etc…you never would have had your Next Generation and your Deanna Troi, Wesley Crusher, that blonde security woman who died and no one remembers (what the hell was her name?), a Klingon who constantly was put on his back by aliens..etc. Not to mention all the later offerings of Nelix, Quark…well…you get my point.
It was the deep love people had for the original show, sustained for well over a decade through movies, fiction, conventions, artwork and models that generated enough interest for the powers that be to bring the show back from the dead. How many other shows can say the same? Can you really look me straight in the face and tell me there is nothing worthy about the original series? There are some hackneyed moments (Abraham Lincoln) and some out and out poor episodes (Spock’s Brain), but overall the show had many wonderful episodes, plus lets not forget the multi-cultural cast, quite unique for its time.

Point number two: Shatner’s acting ability. Well, I can see where people have cause for concern here. I sometimes still shudder and watch some old original episode scenes through lidded eyes, but there is another viewpoint also. Bashing his acting ability has been done so many times it has simply entered into the realm of pop culture mythos. I think many are just repeating jokes Jay Leno did 20 years ago and acting like they are speaking from an unassailable position, particularly younger viewers.

Shatner does not do emotion very well, except maybe anger and irritation and he is prone to overacting. However I do think he does a quite good job at playing a confident starship captain. Recently I re-watched “Balance of Terror” and recalled just how great a piece of science fiction this episode is. Shatner is great as Kirk in these types of situations. “City on the Edge of Forever”, "A Private Little War" and "Return of the Archons were other great eps in which I think Shatner did quite well. These are just to name a few. It’s a shame these are looked over because he didn’t do as well of a performance in other eps.

I also think he does well in humorous roles such as he plays on Boston Legal. He’s quite funny actually. He’s been on Howard Stern several times and carries himself very well comedically.
He won an emmy and was nominated for at least one more. Plus he’s never really been away from the camera. TJ Hooker, the ST movies, Boston legal, movie appearances. He’s making money! The worst you can say about him is that he’s entertaining.

Certainly he’ll never do Shakespeare alongside Patrick Stewart, but I hardly think it’s a fair comparison. He does just a good a job as Jonathan Frakes ever did in my opinion. (Remember Young Doctors in Love?)

I watched the original series as a very young child. Back then, it instilled in me a very real sense of excitement and adventure. It captured my imagination like no other offering at that time. It pains me to see a new generation of science fiction fans maligning the works that came before their time. Sure there's a lot to criticize, but there is a lot to enjoy also. Keep in mind the original series spawned all the spinoffs you hold so dear.

So, put those prejudices away, put The Trouble With Tribbles into the DVD player, kick back with a beer and enjoy! Get off the Shat's Back !

New energy source?

2006-08-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

While walking past a construction site this morning, listening to the sounds of an old generator churning and moaning, belching thick oily smoke into the morning air, I began runinating upon the nature of the finite supply of fossil fuels that we use to generate electricity. Its an important topic. There is only so much available and we use it constantly. Our society is dependent upon it.

Then I began to wonder, can Baby Boomers be rendered to serve as a new fuel source?

I dont know about the science aspect of this theory or anything, but cant we do something like...say...compress them at a high temperature and somehow get crude oil as an end-product? I mean, I saw an old episode of Superman (with George Reeves, the only real Superman) and he took a piece of coal once and compressed it in the palm of his super-strength endowed hand to make a diamond (it was perfectly cut too, Im not sure how he managed that, but damn, he is Superman after all!). Cant we adapt that technology in some way to aid us in our quest for new fuel sources? There sure are a lot of baby boomers, and a lot of them are old fossils. They should be put to some sort of beneficial use.

Im visualizing here a giant trash compactor, with a diving board or something poised at the top of the mammoth machine, stretched out over a gaping maw of empty space and tempered steel. A line of worthless boomers stand waiting for their turn to step out on the platform and dive in, finally contributing something to the nation besides Viagra and Rogaine ads. With a clench of gears and a hiss of steam (my machine is old-school, boiler powered!) giant steel doors grudgingly creep towards each other from either side. Not entirely unlike the Star Wars "trash compactor" scene, without the lame Lucas humor. Slowly and efficiently the boomers are liquifided by pressure and heat applied externally to the unit. Some sort of scientifico-chemical magic is appied and viola! Oil!

Baby boomers stifle progress...

You know, its because of the baby boomers that a major societal change did not occur. To be honest, thats what really kind of irks me about these people. As more and more households shifted over time from a nuclear family (the Cleavers) to two working parents, single parents or just single individuals free from the stigma of the solitary life, shouldnt our institutions have changed their 9 to 5 mentality? Seriously, how much business do you do other than your job between the hours of 9 to 5. If your scoffing at this notion right now, you may want to shift gears before your next review....personal calls at the workplace are still frowned upon.
So, it seems logical to me that a change towards catering to the needs of the working class should have evolved, but it didnt happen. Did it?

Why I hate contractors...

I cant get a contractor out to my house after 5 o'clock or on the weekends without having to pay double the labor charge. Its also very very difficult for me to get to the dentist or the doctor or work with financial institutions. We are no longer a country that has someone at home during the day to take care of these things, but our small and large businesses havent changed the way they do business.
I just had a contractor ask me today, if he could come out tomorrow morning to finish up work he started 3 weeks ago (I hadnt even heard from him since then!). Im mean, I actually have to work dude. I cant just come and go as I please. What makes him think Im going to just not show up tomorrow because he has blessed me with the gift of his attention?

Why is the US still like this?

Too much Oprah

I have come to believe its because there is a very large generation of people that are now retired or retiring and sit at home most of the day watching Oprah. You know how many boomers there are? Lots I tell ya! More than I would want to count, thats for sure. Guess what? A lot of them dont work any more. They have all day to do whatever they need to do, even though they still choose to clutter up the grocery at 6pm when I have to go. The rest of us are stuck with taking days off work or fighting the crowds on weekends to get our personal errands done. Plus they get paid with our tax dollars (social security...think we'll see any of that action?) to mill around town driving 15 in a 35!

This is my theory at least, or maybe its a hypothesis at this point. Im never sure with these things. Its not based upon facts or anything. But it sounds like a damned fine hypothesis right?

I still hate contractors.

Ha! And just try to get a contractor out and actually work between 9 to 5. Youre lucky if they show up at all the day they are supposed to begin work. Im also tired of hearing "uh, my wifes father is really sick and I cant come back next week." Know how many contractors Ive had whose wive's fathers suddenly climbed up onto their death bed in the middle of a job? Too many for it to be coincidence thats for sure. Im also curious as to how I can get a part from New Zealand to Ohio overnight and they cant seem to get parts in quicker than 3 weeks. Thats a noggin scratcher that one is.
More on the subject of contractors later.

Sexy Katie = Ratings!!!

Oh, you may be wondering why I have pictures of Katie Couric up there. CBS actually digitally altered her press photograph to make her look thinner. Can you believe that? Guess what people? You will most likely gain weight as you age. Get used to it. Your hair will fall out, your need for viagra will increase and your eggs will finally drop no more. Most of you are not pretty to begin with and should have been converted into fuel long ago. Katie was attractive. Too bad she doesnt have any skills or talent to fall back on in her old age. You wanna get viewers using sexy appeal? Imagine Jessica Alba on the evening news. Hell, she can read a teleprompter just as well as K.C. I imagine, and the cleavage is better.
I dont think Katie could be converted into a lot of fuel, she's kind of little. Maybe she could power my chainsaw for a week or so, but that would be pushing it.

Anyway, I think all these people with all this time on their hands should be put to work. The boomers should either be washing my car or sloshing around in my gas tank. I dont care which really.

Beginning

2006-08-29T14:16:00.000-07:00

Greetings all. This is just a simple hello to test the capablities of the blog site.

Has anyone else grown tired of the complex word verification schemes for websites like this? Its getting so I can barely tell what the heck it is Im supposed to type to prove Im a human.

Well, thats about half a cent of wisdom. Way over what I usually accomplish in a day. ;)

(what! no easy emoticons!? Im aghast!)

The website update is going slowly. As mentioned on the page, its a laborious process. Im not a real master of the software Im using and I cant take advantage of all the features. As such, Ill have to create and load each page individually and check links thereafter. The end results should be quite striking, and Im eager to get to a point where I can reveal it, then be in a position to do updates here and there as needed.

Currently Im reading the Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Its quite good. Not quite the end all be all of fantasy like some seem to make it out to be, but its worth a read certainly. I feel there's a strong Quentin Tarantino influence at work. See if you agree.

Well, at this time my gin glass is empty save for a few wonderfully flavored cubes of ice. Time to close up shop for the night.