There’s a lot of chatter about Star Trek lately. And that’s fine; more power to them.
That said, let’s make sure we know what sci-fi franchise is on town and, more importantly, why it is the superior piece of the genre.
Monthly Archives: May 2009
Special Tools Required For Last Call To Hubble : NPR
Yes, tools amaze me. I’m a gear geek and these one-of-a-kind Hubble fix-it tools are pretty damn cool in my book.
The Volokh Conspiracy – When and Why did the Federation Turn Socialist? – A Question I Hope Will be Answered in the New Star Trek Movie:
I knew some conservatives were batsh!t crazy about labelling everything they don’t agree with socialism, but this attack on Star Trek is pretty out there. Seriously, read this idiot and his commenting hack followers.
God forbid such a world with no hunger or want or racism/sexism/etc. exists. Oh, the tyranny of no large corporations to poison our waters, abuse our citizenry, or corrupt our leaders! Seriously folks, if the GOP is against THIS kind of world view, I really think anyone who still votes for these clowns deserves all the misery they get.
I honestly DO actually agree with the premise however. The Federation probably is a socialist collective, but in more the Scandinavian sense than in the mutation the Soviets tried. I really don’t know why you would be against health care and child care and free education. I really don’t know where the evil is in talking to people you don’t agree with. I mean, the worst that can happen is that you – gasp! – learn something from another point of view. Which, as I understand it, is against everything in the Republican platform.
Look, let’s let these folks be honest with themselves. Stop charging them taxes. All taxes. That way, you can pull them over EVERY DAY for not driving a car with tags. Oh, and charge them for the time wasted by the police officer. If their house is on fire, put it out for the sake of the community, but charge them, what?, half a million? If a burglar is in their house, don’t send a cop until the $50,000 fee has cleared the bank. Their children can’t go outside as they are unregistered and haven’t had their shots. They can’t shop at a store because they won’t pay sales tax.
If they COULD go overseas, they have no consulate to run to in times of trouble. Hell, they wouldn’t even have a passport as they wouldn’t properly be American citizens. Actually, by the rules their PATRIOT Act loving officials put into place, they couldn’t even leave the country.
And eventually, they couldn’t even vote.
I say we do this. Let them live the courage of their convictions. Since they refuse to pay taxes they wouldn’t even be able to hold jobs. Or keep a home. They’d be even more of a drag on society than the illegal aliens they use as handy scapegoats. At least THEY pay taxes and do so without bitching about it. Even when they’ll never see the benefits of pitching into Social Security.
That said, I don’t want to see my few Republican family members showing up at my doorstep. Your “rugged individual” ass WILL be taken to the nearest nursery or Lowe’s the next morning and you WILL be roofing, tiling, planting, or whatnot to earn your keep.
In-N-Out: Can perfection survive? – Los Angeles Times
Some potentially disturbing news from the Double-Double front.
Where the hell is Kevin Bacon when you need him?
In Findlay, OH a guy is getting banned from his high school graduation for going to the prom.
It isn’t *his* prom, but his girlfriend’s. She goes to public school; he’s been attending an apparently reactionary nitwit parochial school run by jackasses who loath music and dancing.
Seeing as he’s been going since kindergarten, this seems a tad bit extreme. Then again, that might be the point. If you consort with extremists, don’t be surprised when they freak out and punish you for doing something normal and rational.
You might not get to wear your cap and gown because of this, but hopefully a life lesson about zealots will be more useful as you go through life.
Disappearing Automotive Features- Yahoo! Autos Article Page
Wow, some of these dying car options make me feel a bit old.
Then again, the total discrediting of floor mounted dimmers is just insulting. I loved those!
Why does Star Wars still take over the minds of small boys? – By Emily Bazelon – Slate Magazine
There are a couple things I’d like Gabriel to pick up on. Love (and anguish) of baseball as a Cubs fan is one of them. And it wouldn’t hurt if he liked Star Wars too. Here’s an article that concerns the latter.
Henninger: Should the GOP Forget Reagan? – WSJ.com
One of the best parts of watching the GOP eat itself is it’s veneration for Reagan. In this op-ed, it is stated that Republicans should return to the financial legacy of Reagan. You know, the one where we bankrupted our nation, quadrupled the national debt and shot our economy in the gut in order to kill the Soviets. Yeah, brilliant strategy, idiots.
The author disparages the work of President Obama and compares what he is doing to what happened in postwar Japan. You know, the postwar Japan that quickly modernized and became an economic juggernaut because of careful government investment. The Japan that bought up a large part of Manhattan because they literally were running out of ways to spend the massive profits they were earning.
The Japan that beat our asses so bad that Chrysler is a bankrupted half-Italian auto company and GM is on it’s way to something similar. But my Acura runs just fine, thank you.
Yeah, that was a HORRIBLE business model.
Besides, aside from the stupid assertions of said article, I’d already say the GOP is well past doing anything but give lip service to the Gipper. As bad as the Reagan years were, and they truly DID suck for a lot of people, he looks like a freaking saint next to the people who have claimed his mantle of authority.
Reagan apparently had once gone after and prosecuted a Texas sheriff for – drumroll – waterboarding prisoners. Apparently this was even before we signed international treaties that stated the practice was illegal.
But now? Nah, the GOP falls all over itself trying to torture any Muslim it can find.
As for racism, Jack Kemp recently passed and while I did not like the guy’s policies, he seemed like a decent human being. You can’t really say that about your average John Boehner or GOP Southern Senator at Random. That said, his public letter to his grandkids on the election of Obama would have gotten him driven out of the party by the likes of Limbaugh, et al had he still been an active political figure.
Don’t believe me? Then how about Limbaugh trying to drive Colin Powell out of the GOP for endorsing the president? You know, because he only did it because Obama is black?
Meanwhile, the GOP’s idea of a good guy to help pick the next Supreme Court Justice is Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III of Alabama. Aside from his Junior Confederate General name, he’s also got ties to white supremacists.
Or how about the cast of bigots and racists from the GOP that are against the Hate Crimes Bill?
Or that the major challenge to “moderate” John McCain in Arizona come from the head of the racist Minuteman Militia, Chris Simcox?
These aren’t minor coincidences. This is the hardcore racist agenda behind today’s GOP. Watch the election rally video of McCain’s appearances and particularly the racist Palinite mobs.
THAT is the GOP. And as much disdain as I had for Reagan, I’m pretty damn sure he wouldn’t have put up with that crap.
Forget Reagan? Oh, hell, the party did that a LONG time ago.
TEXAPLEX
My sister-in-law sent me this and within a few minutes it made me want to vomit.
Basically, the link takes you to a link that shows you that if you only count the part of Texas that has cities and universities you’d have a region with a really strong economy. Well sure, if you exclude poor western ranchers, the economically depressed border region that counts on trade (and a lack of drug violence and flu epidemics). Not to mention depressed East Texas and the entire Gulf region.
Come to think of it, my sister-in-law is conveniently leaving out her mother, who lives in still-hurricane battered Galveston. Nice.
Like any state with a few big cities, you can probably make up some stats to make you look fantastic. I imagine North Carolina’s tech zone looks pretty good by itself, or just San Francisco-San Jose, or maybe just Seattle, maybe Miami just looks good if you leave out the rest of Florida.
I honestly don’t know, but having lived in Illinois I’ve seen this whole “if we didn’t have to carry Chicago” or “if Downstate didn’t exist” argument all the time.
As for Texaplex? I imagine the place would be an infrastructure nightmare if not for the sales and property taxes paid by the rest of the state they refuse to admit exists.
Just for chuckles, I’ve seen this idiocy along to the guys at FiveThirtyEight to see if they want to prove/disprove the theory. I hope they take to it as I’m pretty sure this is a BS argument.
Republican Hero: Sheriff Joe Arpaio
Joe Arpaio has it all to be a GOP hero. He’s hard on crime. He treats his criminals in ways that would get you imprisoned if you treated animals that way. He demeans common small time crime offenders.
Oh yeah, he’s also a raging anti-immigrant racist. Arizona seems to breed these guys like weeds.
One other thing. Some of his co-workers think he’s a disgrace to the badge.
You won’t catch me arguing against that.
Overstepping his bounds, going out of his way to punish offenders, dragging his policies into politics, he’s an all-around dirtbag. Heck, I think we *should* be tougher on criminals, I just don’t think we need to treat them like livestock.