Calm down!

Okay we can all, most of us, agree that Bush is not FDR or Lincoln. But we all need to stick together on the relief effort and not start the blame game right now. The high level of open and angry criticism of Bush and FEMA and Homeland Security by CNN, NPR, and almost every othere news organization world wide is right on the the mark, but un helpful. Millions of people are in trouble and we need to calm down and help out. Not bitch at Bush since that administration, when faced with such times, tends to react by closing itself off even further from reality. Pat Bush on the head and simply go around him.

Now my rant!

It is amazing how after 4 years of post 911 disaster planning we, as a nation, have fumbled so miserably, even after getting a weeks advance warning that we were going to be hit. How much more notice do we need? Listening to the leadership, both republican and democrat, makes me wonder of the endemic mental retardation of Governors and Presidents. When they trott out into TV all they do is act like CNN reporters telling us what we already know but offering no sage advice, or courageous crys for calm and unity. From the weepy and incoherent Governor of Louisianna to the incomprehensibly southern accented Governor of Mississippi, to the President who spends more time talking about pipe lines than people, I am left disgusted with the level of grotesque incompitence and criminal neglegance of men and women whos job it is to formulate policy for the first responders to march to. God save those over worked cops, nurses, doctors, GI's, and journalists who seem to be the only ones to actually give a damn. Maybe if the faces in those mobs of homless people were sunny white folks in polo shirts and knee-length shiffon skirts there would be a little more action? As usual in the richest nation in the world the poor are getting shafted again.
It is not only that we have too many cheifs and not enough indians, the cheifs we do have are all suffering from mercury poisoned minds, or is it cash-poisoned?

New Orleans Doe!

In another Homer-Simpson moment for mankind he is informed by mother nature that building a city with half a million citizens in a swamp that is lower than sea level and in an area prone to hurricanes was probably not a good idea. As the death toll and costs rise we cannot blame a big wind cloud or some brakish water. The wind is going to blow and the water is going to flow.

"Everyone said I was daft to build a castle in the swamp but I built it all the same. Just to show'em. And it sank into the swamp. So I built another castle and it sank into the swamp. Then I built a third, that burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up...."
-Michael Palin as the king of Swamp Castle MontyPython and the Holy Grail.

We are fleas on a very big dog and we have really no idea when the dog will decide to scratch us off.

Crude arguments

The conservative talking point about oil prices:
They are high because the US has not built a new refinery in 30 years and it is all the liberals fault.

The truth:
The raw materials in the manufacturing process for gasoline have increased 242% since 2000. That is a barrel of crude cost $28 in 2000 and now costs $68. The crude oil requirements for the world are 84.38 million barrels a day, while the production of crude is currently 84.12 million barrels per day. The United States is still far better off than most nations in that it generates almost half its required supply of crude oil.

Where the conservative talkers get it wrong, and it is debatable whether they get it wrong because they are misinformed or are hacks for the oil companies, is that they confuse the price at the pump with the price of crude. The conservative is correct in saying that refining more crude into gas would drive prices slightly lower. Currently, according the DOE, US refineries are NOT producing at maximum capacity. The DOE does not elucidate exactly why that is and admits as much saying "crude oil input to refineries is down 300,000 barrels per day compared to the same period a year ago. This while crude oil imports, over the same period, are up over 300,000 barrels per day." Refiners are stock piling crude oil. This is a big reason why prices continue to rise. This is also a reason why energy companies are racking up gigantic profits. I think there may be a good reason why refiners are stockpiling. If the raw material is increasing in wholesale cost, it would pay to buy more now and stockpile it betting that the price in the future will be even higher.

The only thing that will drive prices down is either increased production of crude, refinement of current stockpiles into gasoline, or increased price controls set down in DC. Either way the citizen will pay since increased price controls usually come in the form of a portion of his/her taxes going to artificially lower the pump price by paying Exxon, Chevron, etc. the difference. At any rate the arguments are academic since the rapid industrialization of the 3rd world, particularly in Asia is going to mean that there will be continued upward pressure on the prices of all natural resources not just light sweet crude.

The statistics contained herein come from the Energy Information Administration which is part of The Department of Energy, which is under the control of that hot~headed little green liberal George W. Bush

Don't make fake Quotes!

A blind "damns the torpedos!" attitude is as fateful to anti-Bushies as it is to those that like him. An excellent example is the fake quote bandied about by some liberals attributed either to Caesar or to Shakespeare's Caesar. No where in any known documents is the quote mentioned and certainly not in the play. I will not regurgitate it here. Suffice to say that it talks about beating war drums and the people giving up their liberty to a dictator..blah..blah...blah...

I actually heard a Democratic State Senator spount the quote today on Al Frankin and he should have caught it for what it was. Of course the quote sounds soooo good. It seems to fit Bush to a tee. But the problem with spouting stuff like that is that the enemy can volley right back that you are full of crap and that you eithe made it up or didn't check your facts. So you end up looking or sounding like a dufus.

If people want to quote shakespeare for anti-war remarks here is one from Henry V. And I have added the Act, and scene and dramtis~personae speaking. So you can check to see if I am making it up or not.


HENVY V Act 4 Scene 1

Williams: But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath
a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and
arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join
together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at
such a place;' some swearing, some crying for a
surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind
them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their
children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die
well that die in a battle; for how can they
charitably dispose of any thing, when blood is their
argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it
will be a black matter for the king that led them to
it; whom to disobey were against all proportion of
subjection.

Of course using this quote can get the enemy to retort with the retort used by Henry V against it. But you can volley back saying "Ah so you are now sticking up for a King?"

You can also say that in modern times we are the King and that it behooves us to make sure that we send the army to fight in a just cause based on facts, and truth not lies, misinformation and vague guesses.

Mid August Poll Crunch

Since so much stuff has been happening I am coming out with a mid-month review of the Presidents poll numbers. Here you go for your polling pleasure:

Approve: 43% (down 1%)
Disapprove: 52% (up 1%)
Duh I Dunno: 5% (holding steady)

What does this say about Bush? I suppose you could be cynical and say that dispite the disaster in Iraq, the trouble with Iran, the statospheric gas prices, etc, he is still garnering 43%. To the 43% he is the greatest President since Julius Caesar. To speak up for the guy I would say, "Who really cares what the people think? He is President, doesn't have to run for electioni again, has a friendly congress, so big deal about the polls."

If people are waiting for Bush to decide to be somebody other than the man he is they can forget it. I honestly don't think he cares if he leaves office with a 1% approval rating. He simply doesn't care what people think of him.

It isn't good to have a President who does not care what the people think of him. I do not want a President to govern by poll. That being said, I do want a President who has the ability to listen. We do not have an active listener in the White House. We have a man who sees himself as the leader, while posessing few qualities for that position.

Review of Battlefield Vietnam

"You gov-a-ment lie to you GIJOE. Poor GIJOE. You helicopters fall from the sky like borken birds." This is blaring away from psych warfare megaphones as I try to reclaim the city of Hui from the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) In this episode I am a soldier in the South Vietnamese army so I have a vietnamese general yelling at me on the radio.

In another episode I am crawling through the jungle and I get this idiot screaming in my radio, "We're getting wasted! Lets get the hell out of here!" So I change my direction and converge on the problem, only to find out that it is a couple of VC in a hijacked Jeep.

I like this game a lot. The theme song, if you can call it that, is Jefferson Airplanes "White Rabbit" an homage to Platoon, and music from CCR, homage to Forrest Gump. Of course during the actual actions you are not listening to music. But the graphics, the musical selection. It does an excellent job at making you feel like a conscript. The game play is pretty predictable and you get to respawn.

These games are not quite as interesting as the Medal of Honor series since the objective is really strategic in nature. I cannot single handedly take the city of Hui. There are all sort of SOB's on my side in jeeps, tanks, and half-tracks that help out. So you end up feeling like a cog in a big war machine. Probably more realistic.

Hundred Years War ala Plastic Knights 

Jeff and Cooper all stressed out 

My energy plan coopted by the Chinese...Darn!

Recently I pontificated about going all out with energy capture. One ideax I had was to turn buildings into power generators. Basically capturing energy that is litterally going through the roof.
Well the Chinese have decided to install total roof top solar collectors on 100,000 buildings in Shanghi. The cost is roughly 15 million US dollars. Once completed, in 2015, Shanghi will generate 430 million kilowatt hours of electrical power. That would cover the total current electrical requirements of that city with 130 million KWH to spare, thus making the city electrically selfsufficient.
Oh well maybe the Bushleague will come to the rescue by drinking the coolaid and getting out of the way of real progress.

The filling, and re-filling of a seemingly bottomless pit

I learn stuff and then have to relearn stuff all the time. I hear people spout off about things and so have to try and determine if they are right or not. For instance I was listening to a guy talk about how the English had the first professionally recruited European army. Something didn't quite fit here. I had to do some cobb-web sweeping in my head.
Actually the prize for the creation of the first professionally recruited, thus modern, army goes to Philip, Duke of Burgundy, in mid 15th century. The burgundians werre tired of having to rely on the wims of vassesls, and mercinaries to fight their wars. So the opted to recruite their army from the general population. The burgundian army was comprised of a true crossection of society, from lords to burgers to free peasents.
The army of Burgundy was another nail in the coffin of the purely feudal army. It was also an army under strict orders not to harm non-combatents. For instance if the army came to a town and had to camp there, a civil affairs unit was sent in to negotiate lodging and food that had to be paid for at market prices. Raping and piliaging non-combatents was punishable by fines, jail, torture, and even death. Swearing and verbal abuse was also not to be tolerated.
Of course it was an army in an age when Europe was a battlefield. Bad things happened to good people all the time. But the army of the Dukes of Burgundy was the model looked to by the kings of France, England, and the Empire.

After a late night 

Intelligent Designers

It really matters very little what creationists, intelligent designers, or biblical literalists say about science. Money talks and money goes into products that work. And products that work are built upon reality not mysticism. So The afore mentioned types can bitch all they want but scientific progress is not going to stop, it will not slow down, it will continue to increase human knowledge and mankinds ability to do good and evil. Most are arguing about things that have long since been settled. It is their fraith that needs to broaden. If their faith cannot expand to accept facts, then eventually they will either cave into paranoid fanaticism or simply give up and become aetheists.

Poll Crunch as of 8-2-05

Relying on 7 national polls here is the breakdown of President Bush's job approval rating:

Approve: 44% Down 1% since June
Disapprove: 51% Up 1% since June
Duh I dunno: 5% Holding steady

Interestingly we now have a split with one organizationi heading in the opposite direction for the first time since January. FOXNews is bucking the overwhelming trend by giving Bush a 47% to 44% rating, while it also has the highest level of uncertain respondents at 9%. Pew Research that has the largest sampling data gives the presdient 44% approval rating and a 48% dis rating.

The question that all these organizations ask is "Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?"

There is now breakdown of how the nation thinks Mr Bush is doing on specific issues. It is a general question. However things look particularly bleak for the President. These numbers have been returend after the London bombgings, the Clark nomination to the High Court, and before the Bolton recess appointment. That appointment alone will not improve the Presidents numbers. A Presidents ability to get things done in a Democratic republic is based on his ability to convince the other elected officials that he has the people behind his actions.

Interestingly in July of 2004 there was a Poll that asked people to rate Bill Clinton: He got a 66% approval rating. The same rating he left office with in 2001.

For those of you who may question the data here is where it comes from:
Poll-crunch data is derived from 7384 respondents to the following polling organizations with the responding numbers listed:

Zogby America: 1042
Gallup/CNN/USAToday: 1010
FoxNews: 900
Quinnipiac University: 920
Pew Research: 1502
Associated Press: 1000
NBC/WallStreetJournal: 1009

Review of The Island

This movie is my favorite movie of the summer. It is hands down the most exiting flick of the big blockbusters. It is both exiting, funny, mildly scary, and very well put together. It has its flaws but they are obvious and still do not detract from the excitment. You would think that this subject has been down already and it has but this film proves that if you have pretty good actors, and a decent script, you can pull off almost anything.

I won't give away the plot but here are some inconsistancies. #1: The citizens are not sexually active, yet there is a pregnant woman. #2: Investors have spent 120 billion on the facility but each product only costs $5 million and there are 2,500 of them. That is a pretty sucky return. But perhaps they want to make it up on volume.

Ewan McGregor proves he can act...again.

Overall it is a solid future-shock movie that holds true to its identity and does not blow vomit chunks as soooooo many other movies about this kind of stuff tend to do.

It gets an 8

The Atom Bomb

It has been 60 years since the atom bombs and so let us look at what the military leadership of WWII had to say about the dropping of the bombs....

General Dwight D. Eisenhower:
Here is what the Commanding General of Allied armies in Europe said recalling his being told of the determination to use the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. Secretary of War Stimson met with General Eisenhower to tell him of the decision to use the Atomic Bomb...

"During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of 'face'. The Secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude..."

Admiral William Leahy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:
"the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender." Moreover, Leahy continued, "in being the first to use it, we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children."

Admiral "Bull" Halsey:
"the first atomic bomb was an unnecessary experiment." The Japanese, he noted, had "put out a lot of peace feelers through Russia long before" the bomb was used.

General Douglas MacArthur: (as told by his aid Norman Cousins)
"MacArthur's views about the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were starkly different from what the general public supposed." He continues, "When I asked General MacArthur about the decision to drop the bomb, I was surprised to learn he had not even been consulted. What, I asked, would his advice have been? He replied that he saw no military justification for the dropping of the bomb. The war might have ended weeks earlier, he said, if the United States had agreed, as it later did anyway, to the retention of the institution of the emperor."

The Author: Me
It would be nice to believe in the pretended justification that American and Japanese lives were actually saved by the use of the bombs. However there is very little evidence of this. The Atomic bombs were warning signs, not to Japan, but to Soviet Russia. It is ironic that the scientists that asked Truman to demonstrate the bombs basically got what they wanted, albeit on live targets.

Happy 60th Birthday Fatman and Littleboy.

Birthday wish for 2006

Since I know that all of you really want to know what I want for next year. Here is the #1 item. I am sure, given the achievment of certain goals, you all can chip in for it.

I would like to replace the 95 Plymouth Voyager with a 2006 Saleen S7.
Go to www.saleen.com to check it out. Now the car is slightly out of my current price range. It has a 750HP V-8 and can go from 0-100 in 6.0 seconds. I am sure the gas milage is probably a bit poor but I am banking on the discovery of vast petroleum reserves in Dick Cheney's Ass. Now as I said it is a little spendy at $555,000 but if all of you save your change in glass jars, and then go to work as subcontractors in Iraq doing private security work in insurgent areas you might be able to buy this car for me while I wait in the US all safe and sound. Some of you may die, but it a price I am willing to pay.

Thanks for listening. XOXO

Uber Slob

Time to refute Marx

It is summer so I end up reading all sorts of stuff. Last week I read the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. You'd have to be a real uneducated, desperately oppressed worker in a 19th century sweat-shop to buy into this stuff. Marx gets high...er...marks for his accurate picture of the nasty face of capitalism. He also does a terrific job of illustrating how capitalism itself does a better job of destroying private property rights. Where he falls down is in his simple minded view of human motivations. He seems to think that all aspects of a human being can be molded by philosophy. This very flaw in Marx's thinking caused the USSR to fall far behind the west in modern biology and genetics, but that is a different story.
Basically I can refute 100% of the foundation of the Manifesto by saying that human beings, by and large, and like all animals, act out of self-interest 99% of the time. Oh they may throw themselves on the odd grenade now and then, but during the long boring days of life they usually act selfishly.
So in a communist state, where the STATE owns all the property, those in the government tend to get richer while the masses, who have no property rights anymore, and don't have time to manage the the government who is supposed to represent the people, tend to get poorer. Marxism is really Super Capitalism. The culminatioin of the consolidation of capital into the smallest number of hands and inforced by the STATE. Human nature cannot be molded by philosophy. It is the survival instinct at work.
According to Marx the STATE must control property, communication, and education. The more the STATE attempts to force adherence to the philosophy, through its over arching power, the more tyranical it becomes since the vast majority of the government is really beyond the reach of the average joe-communist. So the average joe is made a pawn again, ruled by unaccountable super-capitalists, and forced to accept propaganda for news and told to accept by-faith the STATE's actions as legit.
America's form of social organisation, though far from perfect, is still more able to keep what Jefferson called "a due degree of Liberty" since the power, both social and financial, is still scattered. Basically abosotule power, even in the hands of the people, still corupts.
The communist may try to retort by saying that it is in the worker's self interest to adhere to communistic life. I counter that the argument just made is false since the worker will never see himself as the STATE. Particularly as long as he is told where to work, where to live, and what to think by the STATE. Unless the STATE's agenda constantly matches the agendas of the worker. This will never happen. So the worker will set himself in opposition to the STATE, like capitalist workers in opposition to management, and clandestinely work to undermind it.
So you end up with a STATE that is corrupt and workers who pay the state lip service and increasingly are at odds with the corupt STATE. Since there is no real unifying power in such a society, other forces fall into the vacume and you end up with a nation that may look unified by is really a bunch of disaffected partisans ready for another revolution.

Sorry Karl.

More old time radio quality programing

I pinie for the good old days of old-time radio when America got to listen to healthy family radio like:

Crime Scene Photographer

Broadway Police Beat

Johnny Speed - Worldwide secret police

Dragnet

The Adventures of Philp Marlow - "The day was hot and sticky. To make things worse there was a Xylophone playing...etc...etc..."

Doe!

Many who are infavor of the war on Iraq say that it will solve the problem of islamic extremism in the long run. They argue that there was no US war in the mideast prior to 911 and look what they did to us then. They will also point out the US withdrawl from Somalia as an example of the US running away when attacked, thus emboldening the terrorists.

All this is a load of crap. For one thing the civil war in Somolia was between rival warlords and had really nothing to do with islamic extremism. And any Somali who was unlucky enough to get caught in that fight knows that the US inflicted 63 times as many kills than they recieved. That is to say the Rangers killed 63 Somali malitia for each US soldier killed. It was a slaughterfest. Nobody questions the American ability to kill thousands in a matter of hours, or minutes.

All actions like Somalia and Iraq I and II do is feed the islamic terror machine. The toughguys are correct in saying that the suicide bombers et al will not be persauded by talk and negotiations. So why hold up Iraq as a solution? It is a terrorist hot-house, nothing more. Iraq is currently a far graver threat to the US and the world than it was under Sadam.

1 It is a war zone
2 It is occupied by US troops
3 It is a hot house for terrorists
4 It provides a justification for violence against the US and its allies.
5 It validates Osama Bin Laden's claims about US aggression

I also say that even if Iraq had been a success, it would have made no fundemental difference in our war with Alqueada. Our enemy does not care if a democratic government takes hold in Iraq. They leadership of the enemy wants instability to grow in the West that is a goal. They want us completely out of the mideast. They wish the destruction of Isreal. They infact scincerely believe in the perfection of an Islamic state based on the litteral interpretation of the Koran. And they will continue to garner sympathy and support as long as we do litterally everything according to THEIR plan.

It would be better to fight them with as little fanfare as possible. Basically swatting the flys as they come by. It would be far less costly, just as effective, and would endanger fewer citizens of the world, the US included. Treat them as criminals and the scum that they are. To do more is to elevate them to the status of world players and that also feeds into their megalomania. Currently our actions are empowering to the enemy. By raising them to the level of prime threat to the superpower we give them a legitimacy that they do not deserve.

The desire to appear tough, while also attempting to glean political capital, has converted these people into a super-power. And this effect, brought on by 9/11, could not have been more sought after by Bin Laden and his cohorts. It was the prize to be handed to them by the likes of Bush and his John Wayne wannabees.

Liberal Radio

The conventional wisdom, a term refering to incorrect wisdom, states that liberal talk radio doesn't work. Conservatives like to beat up on Air America after that networks early flounderings.

One year ago Air America was indeed floundering, with mismanagement and bad cashflow. Little is ever said about FOXNEWS losing $142 million in its first year, and that it continued to loose money for the next several years.

Air America started out with less than 10 stations nationwide. Today they have 67 in every major market in America. At the current growth rate, Air America, in two years will surpass 300 stations.

Now if this was the only dog and pony show out there even those numbers would be sad. However AA is only the largest liberal network. It is not the only game in town.

Ed Shultz, a former conservative talker, is heard on over 100 stations and also in the top 10 radio markets. There are also dozens of other liberal and progessive talkers outthere with small audiences but who are also gaining.

The fast is that progressive and liberal specific talk has as broad a reach as conservative talk.

I am not tring to stick up for all that is said on these stations. They are as spun as the rightwing crapmeisters.

How to talk to a conservative if you must...

You know how to tell the difference between a liberal and a conservative?

The conservative is the one who always has to appologize for their past. A liberal never has to do that. For instance if you are a conservative here is a partial list of positions your kind has held in the past:

Sorry for opposing the Continental Congress and their idea to seperate themselves from Britain

Sorry for not wanting to vote for a Constitution that contain the bill of rights

Sorry for making it a crime to critcize the President in the Alien Sedition Act.

Sorry for wanting only white men who owned 1000 acres of land to have the ability to vote.

Sorry for supporting states rights to adhere to the policy of slavery.

Sorry for being carpet baggers, stealing poor southerners land then blaming the black people for it.

Sorry for supporting the idea that a black person is only 75% equal to a white man.

Sorry for standing in the way of the creation of the National Parks system.

Sorry for standing in the way of anti-trust regulations

Sorry for opposing a woman's right to vote

Sorry for opposing childlabor laws

Sorry for opposing workers right to organize

Sorry for opposing the 40 hour work week

Sorry for opposing unemployment compensation

Sorry for opposing the Social Security Act

Sorry for persecuting Jews and Catholics and saying that Hitler might be a better trading partner than England.

Sorry for supporting Jim Crowe laws in the South

Sorry for trying to get rid of all the Jews in the FBI

Sorry for all that

Hey can we have your vote!?

War of the Worlds: Review

While navigating a course past all the truely original movies, such as Bewtiched, Star Wars, Herby the lovebug, King Kong, The Bad News Bears, Willy Wonka, and The Longest Yard, I plopped myself down to see yet another original movie.

The movie had this really bad soft focus crap going on, particularly in the begining. I think this was to subdue to CGI vs live action parts. The film did no homage to the original movie which is a classic, a great SCI-FI film, and more interesting and terryfying than this movie. The remake is boring. It strips out all of the good parts of the first film and leave nothing but a bug-eyed Cruise, his screaming kids, and that is about it. It is really thin.

I really hate these remakes or sequals. You already know what is going to happen. All the loud Dolby Digital, and silly special effects can't hide the end. War of the Worlds is aptly named. It is the most recent view of the battle between filmakers who want to make films that have not yet been done to death, and studios that cannot gamble on anytyhing but a tried and true formula.

If this continues I see the extermination of hollywood-based American cinema. Like the overblown spectaculars Cleopatra, these films are condeming modern cinema. More than likely things will contract and we may get back to something more akin to Hollywood of the late 60's and early 70's. Not creating the same pictures but a new breed of films going in different directions than the current corpratocracy can create.

I am not looking to Asia with any more hope than looking at Hollywood. Asia has been cranking out formula pictures for at least as long as Hollywood. How man variations on Crouching Tiger can we watch? I am sick of seeing movies that contain thousands of people and gigantic battle scenes. They get boring. Narnia may be a good story but the noise from all the block-busting, superflous cinema will probably relegate it to near instant DVDhood.

General Westmorland is dead

Not to complain about the dead but...
In his summing up what happened in Vietnam he stated that we failed to fullfill out obligation to South Vietnam. Well that is bunk. Tell that to the 58,000 men who were obliged to get killed defending South Vietnam. Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of men who were obliged to get wounded and crippled defending South Vietnam. Tell that to the American taxpayers who spent hundreds of millions of dollars defending South Vietnam.
It was a stupid waste of American life to fight that stupid waste of a stupid war. And the men who propagated that stupid waste of men, treasure, and honor, I am sure are going to have a sore time explaining to GOD what the hell they were trying to pull.

Review of Cleopatra

Watching this movie is like eating a huge Domino's pizza. When you are finished you feel like you have consumed a giant cardboard slop pile. Filling your arteries with gunk, your gullet with bland clay.
This movie is terrible. It is an epic disaster like the Titanic, not the movie but the real thing. All the characters are sniveling little brats who want to be gods and kings and queens. The spend the whole movie whining. It is also a T&A film peopled by muscle men in little pants and cleavage women in little dresses. The only three character worth anything are Caesar, Octavian, and Rufius (Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall, and Martin Landau) They are the glue that is disolved by the tiny-panted Marc Anthony, and big bossomed Cleopatra.
Here is the basic plot as told by the master story tellers of this epic slop fest:
Blah-blah-blah the end.
This movie gets a 1.

The ugliness factor and faux Christianity

One thing that the media seems to ignore in their dumping Christians together into a single pot is that there are big differences between some sects of that faith. While the mostly Protestant republicans court Catholics they need to understand that from Romes point of view they have fallen away from the "true" faith. And from the Protestant's point of view Catholics have fallen away from the "true" faith; whatever that is.

Some churches actively preach against what they refer to as Unionism, or actively worshiping with members of another sect. They believe that they are going to heaven and they don't want to associate with the people who are going to hell. To them Unionism or Universalism is a bad thing. This springs, I think, from a point of view that all that is needed to understand mans relationship with a God is already setdown and that further development is not required. History has proven this "concrete-christianity" totally wrong in almost every way. Faith has continuously morphed from age to age and will continue to do so. The plethera of Biblical translaions and versions alone are a testament to this fact. Many Christians detest the Jeffersonian bible since he edited out the miracles. Yet they gladdly read the Protestant bible that Luther edited himself, changing afew bits here and there, and dropping 7 whole books, to fit his own philosophy and concept of what the Bible should contain.

Today we read of a Presbyterian based national adoption agency that actively discrimanates against Catholic couples seeking to adopt. Catholics need not apply. Of course the core faith should be a unifying factor, but men like to split themselves into little "holier than thou" clicks. Most Christians I know don't really care much about differences in faiths. Still the movers and shakers, no pun intended, in Catholic and Protestant circles still adhere to a culture of division. If, for instance, Protestants look to the new Pope to be accepting of their brand of Christianity they will be very dissapointed. Likewise Catholics should not be surprised to be descrimanated against by Protestant adoption agencies.

And herein resides the best example of why a government must never attempt to mingle matters of faith with politics. Since there is no true faith, at least none that man can agree on. It has been and will continue to be eternally elusive and mercurial. Faith, like art, is in the eye of the beholder.
There is no common Christian heritage of America. The heritage is one of scapgoating, and persecution. And the persecution of Christian faith has not come from any secular humanists but from fellow Christians. For Anglicans persecuted the Puritans, who persecuted the Quakers and Catholics, who persecuted the Methodists, who intern persecuted the Catholics, and they all persecuted the persecuted the Mormons and lets not even go into the persecution of the Jews. Roman Catholics alone have spent at least 150 years being kept out of political life. In attaining the nations highest office, Catholics have faired only slightly better than African Americans. And in the height of ridiculous irony, John Kerry was accused of being not Catholic enough by Protestant pundits on the right.

Catholics in America are still better seen than heard. They are a convinient prop to be dragged out as an overt symbol of ancient faith, to be paraded around at election time, like some relic to raise funds for a cathedral. Then swept back under the Protestant dominated carpet to await the next election cycle.

There is just a ton of inconsistancy regarding the current leadership and religion. The Protestant right has given Catholics a pass on the massive sexabuse scandle. Blaming liberals for causing poor morals in priests; what a load of crap. While the Catholics give the Protestants a pass on their open support of capital punishment and the war in Iraq. To the non-religious, particularly the youth, this is destructive of future faith since it portrays religion as nothing worthy of persuit. It comes accross as a sham, a come on, and big fat political power-tool. So, like in Europe, a larger and larger segment of the population will withdraw from the low-brow antics of Churchmen while the faith declines here too. And the shame of it will not be on liberals but on the sheisters that have converted faith into a dull-minded weapong to hold onto power while it evaporates all around us.

Poll Crunch for Mid July

As of the 14th of July, a week after the bombings in London and the G-8 meetings and amid Rovegate, here is how the Big P is fairing:

Approval: 46%
Disapproval: 49%
Duh I'dunno: %5

Statistically there is no real change. However an ominous sign for Mr. Bush is that FOX News polling, usually bullish on Bush, is now at even money. Back in March FOX News had Bush with a 52-39 rating. Now it is 47-47. Gallup and Pew Reaserch gives Dubya good numbers and an improving rating. But when added all up he is still laying a big goose egg that ain't golden. There are more signs that Congress is going its own way on policy matters too. They are looking ahead to elections in 2006 and will be more and more reluctant to join in Administration hijinx that are not proving to be popular.

Outcome from July's expedition

Well we are done with the first of two expeditions to Yale. Our recent campout had weatehr that was probably a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. It could have been warmer, but on the whole it wasn't bad. We are definitely out of practice at the art of setting up a clean camp quickly. The martial speed, and precision left a lot to be desired. We forgot lots of essentials, such as cooking implements, and the proper amount of tent stakes. Jeff ended up getting some cooking utensils up at courgar store, and others we borrowed from the lone fir motel. Wood turned into one of the largest expenses. We probablhy spent 30 bucks on wood. I will bring a load of wood in August to save money on that. The boat used up about 1.5 tanks of gas ($55.5)
One thing that went by the wayside was our use of a supply tent. This concept is brilliant and required. Using a supply tent not only keeps the camp uncluttered by coolers and bags of food, but also secures our items from theft.
On the last night campsite 42 was piliaged by foodseekers. Nobody messed with our stuff; perhaps becuase we were lucky or perhpas because our stuff didn't look that good. Anyhow in August we will definitely revert to using a supply tent. And all valuables should either be carried on the boat or locked in cars.
Overall we had a blast of a time. Trudy and Jessica left wanting to do it again. And I left wanting to do it again. Jeff, Mike, and I fell into the groove pretty quickly. We did enough tubing to make my neck muscles sore but not enough to leave me in a wheelchair. We jumped off the bridge in the appropriate pythonesque manner, as did Jessica and her freind Megan. Jeff, Mike, Elizabeth and I went tubing too and I found that actually tubing was less scary than watching somelse tube. Also girth is good. The little girls tened to fly off the tubes when they ran into each other while those of us more suitably endowed simply bumped and bumbped again. Jeff was able to dislodge me by driving me throuh a particularly nasty bit of boat swell.
Oh yes, one last thing, after Jeff left we decided to go out on the boat one last time. I had to use all means at my disposal to budge the boat. The lake level fell about 10 inches in one night and the boat was almost stranded. We will be at #42 and there is no easy way to moore the boat infront of that site. So I think we should trailer the boat when we are done, or come up with some way to securely anchor the boat off shore. Any ideas?

For August: August 20-21-22-returning on 23

Get big grille ( I will get)
Get big skillet
Bring enough trash bags
Bring 10 tent stakes for green tent
Bring washrack for drying dishes

Gluttens for punishment

What we sow we reap. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit. He that lives by the sword will be destroyed by it.

Using tactics that terrorize people to get your point accross, whether that is blowing up trains, destroying skyscrappers, or invading nations and killing civilians, only causes more destruction to fall upon the perpetrator.

Who paid Bin Laden and his fighters while they honed their skills in Afgahnistan? We did.

Who gave Bush the pretext to invade Iraq? Osama Bin Laden did.

Who is creating a breading ground of terrorists? We are.

Who is causing destruction and mayhem to fall upon their allies? Jihadists are.

As hard as it is for humans to get, we all reap what we sow. People that use violence to solve their problems can't win. All they can do is bring more violence on themselves and the people unlucky enough to surround them.

Happy Birthday!

229 years ago, the most literate bunch of citizens in the world decided that they did not need to have George around anymore. So the selected another George to lead their pathetic, under supplied, under trained, and non-military, army against the most powerful army in the world. In the begining they got the hell kicked out of them. They lost every engagement. 50% of the country didn't even want to be seperated from England. The British army however began to note that the insurgents did not play by the book.
The insurgents would attack convoys of British supplies moving between towns. They would snipe soldiers off horses. They would, in short, fight dirty. Some British soldiers would even get scalped by the insurgent fighters.
The British kept adding more and more troops. They occupied all the major cities, but the countryside was out of control.
While the british soldiers were the best, their commanders were hauty, snobs, who thought themselves invicible. Particularly Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne. He wrote his wife often of the privations of war, while traveling with thirty wagon-loads of personal effects and keeping several mistresses.
Burgoyne decided to invade New England from Canada. At first his troops proved quite sucessful. Then his supply lines were attacked and burned. Then the insurgents started to destroy the infrastructure. They chopped down trees to block the roads and flooded farm land to his front so his troops had no place to forage. Still the insurgents were continously pushed back and out faught by the better trained British troops.
Yet in the end, due to continued sniping, sabotage, and privation, Burgoyne and his grand plan was stopped. He finally through his forces, who were demoralized from sloging through bogs, clearing timber from roads, and dodging terror tactics, at the rebels holding Bernis Heights at the Second battle of Saratogo and was defeated. For his disasterous campaign he was recalled from America, he served as Commander in Cheif of Ireland, grew even more wealthy and was given a state funeral, with hero's honors in Westerminster Abbey. His men, who had sufferd and faught so well in a distant land, were kept starving in America, under the command of numerous lords, for another 3 years until they were surrounded and forced to surrender enmasse at Yorktown. Their leader that day was Lord Charles, Earl Cornwallis, who returned to England to a heros welcome. He spent the rest of his career putting down other rebellions with more success, having learned his lesson in America. Needless to say many of the British soldiers who had suffered in America were shipped to other areas of the Empire to suffer and die in those lands. They never got to Westminster Abbey.

Wierdness from the 70's

Remember the fad of buying those little bottles of cinnimon oil that you would put toothpicks in to get that extra special hot taste? Well at least we weren't doing crack.

The Broken Record

We are in danger and our intel is bad so we create a new intelligence agency.
We are in danger and our intel is bad so we create a new intelligence agency.
We are in danger and our intel is bad so we create a new intelligence agency.
We are in danger and our intel is bad so we create a new intelligence agency.
We are in danger and our intel is bad so we create a new intelligence agency.
We are in danger and our intel is bad so we create a new intelligence agency.
We are in danger and our intel is bad so we create a new intelligence agency.
We are in danger and our intel is bad so we create a new intelligence agency.

Freedom Tower

Some people may already know this but it was news to me. The scrapped that 1700 foot high corn-curl in favor of a more symetrical design. It is still 1776 feet high. The renderings look pretty. The tower is okay but the other building with their slanted roofs look pathetic. Who educated the slant-heads that designed those buildings?

Another non-leadership event

Our troops are in the the thick of it. The enemy is hardened and determined. We have done things right and we have done things wrong. War, as general Sherman said, is all hell. Hard times test a nations resolve. Yet we have faced and overcome darker hours in our past. When, after declaring that the war would end by Christmas, our lines were shattered by 160,000 german troops in the dead of winter of '44 we dug in and came through. Again when Pusan was surrounded by 300,000 Chinese and our supply lines were cut off, we counterattacked in forzen Korea and won the day. Time and again we have faced desperate hours, the blood of honorable soldiers consecrating battlefields, and we did not flinch, put our shoulders to the wind and advanced to victory. No American wishes a brother, son, or father to go to war. No American wishes to forever live in conflict....etc...etc...

This is what I would have said if I were President. Instead of the dip-shit who is currently in the White House. This took me all of 5 minutes to think up. Basically while I was writting it right now. Instead we were fed a bland brown slop of rehased crap that everyone can forget by the time their head hits the pillow.

Stay the course, 911, its worth the carnage, stay the course, 911. King Kong!

I won't bother going over Bushes talk. Instead I want to talk about the King Kong preview I have seen. There is this big ape living on an island and this filmaker wants to make a movie there, and he makes the movie there, and this girl gets taken by the ape, and they go to New York, and the monkey breaks stuff, and then climbs the empire state building, and then gets killed. Boy-oh-boy I am really excited to see this totally original movie, based on a totally original story that has never been done before, ever, never ever done before. WOW!

Poll Crunch for end of June 2005

Well here we go again....

The big P's approval vs disapproval ratings are as follows:

Approval: 45%
Disapproval: 50%
Duh I'duno: 5%

Even the FOX/News Poll only gives him a 48% approval rating. But on that same poll 43% disaprove. So the conservatives can spin it that he is more approved of than disapproved of; at least by FOX/News viewers. However another telling number is that 9% of FOX viewers expressed uncertainty whether Bush is doing a good job.

He is going to give us a pep-talk on Thursday. The problems that face our nation right now have little to do with social security or stem cell bans. Gas prices are soaring. GI's keep getting blown to bits. China wants to buy Unical oil. Our actions in Iraq seemed to have helped get a religious hardliner elected President of Iran. And did I mention gas prices? Bush and his supporters do not seem to get it.

There are big time issues that need addressing and going on TV and saying that he feels pain when our men die, but we need to stay the course, isn't going to fly in the long run. Furthermore envoking 911 is also beginning to where pretty thin. I will make a prediction. Bush will say all of the above, and spell out all the obviouis reasons for not having a timetable. I actually agree with him on that point. He will say that we need to stay to justify all the blood and misery suffered by our guys and the Iraqi people. Clearly his team feels it is vital that he show himself. He will get a bounce in the polls after Thursday. Unfortunately Bush is not in charge in Iraq. The insurgents are in charge. We are on the defensive and because of the dogmatic crew in command of our forces we are blind to what might happen.

Other numbers that are really begining to have an impact on the President and his supporters are:

1,742
13,074
26,000

It is difficult to spin 1700+ dead bodies into anything amounting to political capital for the President. The other huge problem that will keep the President in the dumps, is that 260 thousand families have men and women either in Iraq or in the states getting ready to rotate back in. There are 13+ thousand families all across America dealing with shot up kids in coma's, wheelchairs, with no legs, and or arms. Thenb there are another 12 thousand that were treated for non-copmbat illness and injuries, not to mention al lthe others that have the ordeal of having to detox from frontline combat duty.

All of the above Amemrica would tolerate if there had been a reason for so much destruction. Yet there are no tangible reasons. Iraqi freedom? Americans are too damn pragmatic for such nonsense. It's not that we wish them ill or back in a dictatorship, it is just that we have trouble letting 1700 men die for it. Especially when there is no evidence that Iraq posed any threat to us at all.

I won't bother with gas prices, the falling dollar, the gigantic budget problem, or the continued dribbling away of good jobs. 2nd terms are a bitch.

Iraq a giant happy land - by Niccolo M.

Some people, mostly who dislike Bush, refer to him and particualarly the men behind him as Machiavellian. I take offense at this. If, by invoking my name, you wish to draw the conclusion that this Administration is following my advice set down in The Prince, you will fail. For if Bush were to be contained within the margins of my little book, he would be an example of a failed prince. For though he is unaffraid of using his power, he useses it in ways that gain him little and cost his state much.
In my book The Prince, published in 1532, I say the following regarding garrisoning troops in conquered lands. "Maintaining armed men there, in place of colonies, one spends much more, having to consume on the garrison all the income from the state, so that the gain becomes a loss. And many more of the citizens are exasperated , because the whole state is injured by the continued movements of so many armed men. They all become aquainted with hardship and all become hostile toward you. The enemies, though you have beaten them in their own lands, remain and are resuppllied to do you injury. Garrisoning large armies to control conqured lands are as useless as colonies are useful."

The REAL Social Security Crisis

If you are a parent you have watched your kids about to do something really stupid that might get them hurt or hurt others. You fly to them in an attempt to alter their course to disaster.

This is how I feel about the Republicans continued monkeying around with Social Security. Now they have lame idea of using the existing Surplus in social security funds to put into private accounts invested in US treasury bills.

This is completely silly. 1: SS money is already covered by the government. The US Government is constitutionally liable to pay what is owed to recipiants. SS funds are just another general obligation. DUH! So why bother converting the general obligation debt of SS funds to the general obligation debt of treasury bills?

I think it has to be to get the public used to the idea of private accounts. They want to chip away at it. We should all rise up and kick the lot of these trouble maker SOB's out of there before the get themselves hurt.

Splashing around

Yesterday we were up on Yale lake. We lucked out and found another persons handywork. A toe rope tied up to a tree that overhung a little lagoon. My response to seeing it, and Jeff's response to seeing it, was "looks old, I don't think we should try it."
My daughter Jessica's response was, SPLASH. After she did it I wanted to try it too. But first I had to get into the water. I think that the older you get the warmer the water has to be. By the time I am 60 the lake will have to have gas powered heaters in it. This is not because of the lack of physical fitness, but mainly because as I get older I get more chicken-shit.
Well to make a long story short. I get into the cool dark green water. Evergreens rustle in a gentle breeze. The conifers are drapped with haning mosses. There is the babbling of a creek. Schools of fish float beneath me. All is good. After a near cardiac arrest I get used to the water. Both my daughters are in the drink with me. Trudy is bobbing up and down in her life vest. Jessica is looking like a Sports Illustrated model.
I float over to the shore and climb up like a flabby version of the creature from the black lagoon. I get ahold of the rope.
My brain makes a mental calculation of weight ratios, tensil strength ancient toe ropes, desire to fly through the air, and the probable feeling of my head getting wet.
I fly out and crash into the water with the grace of a 40 year old man who spends way too much time sitting infront of a computer.
The next day....
There is a searing pain that runs from somewhere deep beneath my ribs down to my groin. My liver has been torn, by inards are mangled, I try to sit up and feel like shit. After a few hours everything seems to be fine. I go on a bike ride. (So that people do not worry I will say that the afore mentioned description of pain is exagerated. The description of said pain is a literary device to denote my lack of fitness to swing into the water. And my subsequent comeupance.)
We seem to live in a ying and yang universe where there has to be some kind of rebalancing of things. If you have too much fun you will have to pay for it. Yet who is responsible for balancing things is a bit of a hack. The universe seems to pay more attention to making sure you pay for having fun, while it tends to fall down on the job in attempting to give you extra happy times after a spell of bad luck. ( This last paragraph is also a very broad generalization. The actual state of afairs may be far less balanced.)

From the Universe: (The universe makes no claim, either inherrent or implied, that anyone in it will have a nice time. Furthermore the Universe is not responsible for lost or stolen chances to have fun. You exist in the universe at your own risk. Lastly some aspects of this universe may not be suitable for younger children, and some may find its contents objectionable.)

We live in a spectacular age!

Go To:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20050610a.html
Then down load the hires image. How many humans, in the last 4 million years of evolution, got to see the sun set on another planet? We do lots of stupid things but in other ways we ROCK! I like the sunset image. In a great many Martian photos there is little to relate to. But a Martian sunset is something that I can relate to. I have seen that same star set countless times on Earth.
There are also tons of other cool images at JPL. Enjoy.

Scary stuff just keeps on coming...sorry

Another adendum to the two previous posts:

To illustrate the divide between the two camps (no pun intended) in our society, here are two examples of right-wing hate speech that is not only tolerated by the networks but is also openly applauded by Bush's supporters.

Bill O'Reilly, speaking about his, now defunct, law suit against Al Frankin, said that Frankin would some day get a knock on the door and his life would change forever. O'reilly's words are chilling since Frankin comes from a long line of jews that are used to getting woken up in the night by a knock on the door.

Michael (Weiner) Savage. An insipid panderer to the gutter of America, resplendent in his black leather, reminiscent of Heinrich Himmler, loves to spout venom such as calling for all those who oppose the right to be "put in camps"

I myself have been accused as being a self loathing lefty. I would say that I, in no way, loath myself. I save me disdain for evil, lying, sacks of shit, like the two men mentioned above, while feeling sorry for the terrified masses of misinformed, lie-digesting, frady-cats that follow them.

More different views of the world

Some people think that the continuing problems the US has with our treatment of detainees are, depeding on how their brains are wired, either overblown or damning.
The Vice President saying that it is okay to practice dehumanising mistreatment of prisoners is okay because they are "bad people" is Osama argument too. Yet millions of Americans do not have a problem with that. They argue that in order to fight and win our war on terrorism we have to be very tough on the bad guys.
The other view is that we cannot claim the moral high ground if we are willing to sink to the lowest levels of persecution of people who are defenseless. And a detainee, though he may be an enemy, is defenseless while incarcerated.
I think we need have a national discussion about what America is. In my opinion why should we bother defending a country that practices barbarism. How can we complain about the mistreatment of people around the world when we do the same thing? The other side would say "That argument does not apply to us. We are the good guys and we need to do whatever it takes to defeat the bad guys."
I am sorry to say that is also the argument used by Hitler, Stalin, and Sadam Husain.
If we decide that we can do litterally anything to win, then we can build gas chambers to kill all the detainees. We can round up anyone who speaks out against our right to defend ourselves by any means, and kill them. We can shutdown TV networks, and newspapers.
I think that if a nation gives in to the temptation to use "any means necessary" the death warrent it is signing is it's own. All nations and governments who have held to that belief have been destroyed.

Very different views of the world

George Will had a great column a few weeks ago called the strangness of everything. Sometimes I like George and sometimes I don't. This particular column was great. It basically talked about how amazing the universe is and how improbable we are. Then, in the middle of a really good column, he says the magic words "people with an exess of certitude".

A week latter I was reading the letters to Newsweek and most all the letters regarding Wills column were pretty positive. However certain religious people felt that the remark was directed at them and they felt assualted by it.

I am troubled by how many people who claim to follow Christ get so easily offended by talk like that. From my point of view it is as if they don't really put much faith in God. They speak constantly of being undersiege, or made war on. They appear to be storing up the grapes of wrath. I think the majority of Christians do not feel so affraid all the time. But the Christians who support men like Bush do, like Osama Bin Laden, or James Dobbson, feel threatened by the world. Their shallow understanding of nature of life the universe and everything, keeps them reactionary, condoning of violence, and blinded to their own hypocracy. I also think it is of absolutely no use in discussing this with them. They are wired differently than the rest of us.

My reading of Wills comments goes like this:
There are many people with an excess of certitude. There are those that think they are right because Gods says so. There are those that think they are right because they themselves says so. There are right wingers who think they are certain because of the dogma they follow and there are those on the left that think they are right because of the dogma they follow. Certitude is a dangerous thing no matter the leanings of the person feeling certain.

The other reading of Wills comments:
Why is he attacking my faith!?!?!?!?!?!?!

In my philosophy of religion class, low those many years ago in college, there were two people who were always arguing with each other. One man was an atheist, the other woman was a devout Christian. She would quote scripture to him, and he woud quote his own scripture back at her. We got a kick out of it. But the two really didn't see eye to eye. I think they both were the same kind of person. In truth the atheist was as devout a man as the Christian woman. For even an atheist has to have faith, even if it is in the non existance of God.

I think the really great theologians were always grappling with the nature of God and what they, as human beings, were bound or not bound to do. Certainly the billions of pages of Christian literature, the thousands of varying demoninations, and the wide scope of thinking are not a sign of a close religion.

The people that have minds wired like the man who wrote in all upset are really people who can't accept that other people have right to say and think what they want. There is only one road to salvatioin and any diviation is a road to hell.

On the other hand the other type of person believes there are many roads to salvation

Review of The Last Detail

One of the more obscure movies that I find a perfect 10 is The Last Detail. This kind of movie could not be made today without a ton of war stuff and overacting. It was released in 1973. I think this movie and the French Connection are my too favorite early 70's films. Both are cinematic masterpieces. It took me ten years to see it all the way through. I always had to be somewhere before it ended. A couple of years ago I actually saw the theatrical version, way better than the TV edit, and it kicks ass. The film has a totally simple story told to perfection and acted to perfection by all the players.
I highly recommend it. I watched it again today and it reminded me that I sould let you know about its overt coolness.
The Last Detail should be in anyones 70's DVD collection.

Stars:
Jack Nicholson
Randy Quaid
Otis Young

Cascadia envisioned

Cascadia discription:
Land Mass
The new nation of Cascadia runs from the boarder of Alaska to California and from the crest of the Cascade mountains to the Pacific Ocean. There were attempts to bring the eastern regions of the former states of Washington, and Oregon into the fold but to no avail. Some parts of Norther California would like to join but the large number of federal troops now stationed there is a big disincentive.

Capital:
Carved out of Washington, now the Cascadian state of Washington, is the District of Cascadia. Currently a contruction zone, the town of Centralia will eventually house the national legislature. For now Cascadia is experimenting with the first decentralised national government. The Statehouses in Salem, Olympia, and Victoria all all working hard at national unity.

GDP: $434 Billion (in current US dollars)
This is based on the current GDP figures from the 3 states. The creation of the new nation has crippled Canada and been an economic non-event to the US. To put things in perspective the attack on the WTC cost the US nearly as much as the loss of Washington and Oregon. However the loss of Microsoft and its subordinate companies has had national security overtones.

Population: 11 Million

More to come...

Who are these people?

Bishop Ularic:
He was the bishop of Merica. He stabbed king Cenwulf in the back in 797 and about 50 years latter was canonized a saint.

Praen of Kent
Was a one time alley of King Offa of Mercia. He accidently killed the queen mother of East Anglia and later had his eyes put out and hands cut off by King Offa.

Bartstedt
Was the cheif elderman to Offa.

Ecgfryth
Was Offa's inept son. He survived his father by a few months before being done away with by elderman Lofgar

Father Pietrocinii
An Italian priest who was part of a papel delegation to England. He stayed on and ended up being bishop of Grantham.

Brother Iritus
Chronicler of the court at Oakham

King Ceolwulf II
Former bishop of Lincoln. He ended up being defeated by Beornulf and going into exile.

Beornulf
Hunted down and defeated at Norwich by King Wiglaf. Was executed by being crushed to death.

Aethelred
Prince to King Burhred, he was the architect that designed and built the foritifcations at Oakham and helped on the Cathedral of St. Ularics.

Almost none of these people really existed. They were star wars figures dressed up to look medieval in John Pitman's back yard.

Early June Poll Crunch

Normally these numbers come out latter in the month but the Crunching is getting larger and better. I now use 9 national polls to crunch what the nation thinks about the big P. With 7782 people responding this sampling is 7 times larger than any single poll out there.

President Bush's Job approval ratings:

Approve: 45.71%
Disapprove: 48.85%
Unsure: 5.44%

In comparrison here are low approvals for past Presidents: (gallop polling)
Clinton after impeachment: 73% (the all time high for that President)
Nixon before resignation: 48% (29% upon resignation)
Regan after Iran-Contra: 47% (52% total term average)
Kennedy after Bay of Pigs: 65% (70% total term average)
Eisenhower after Powers shoot-down : 69% (65% total term average)
Carter after Iran Hostages taken: 47%

Poll Crucnh numbers from:
Gallop/Time/CNN/USAtody/PewResearch/Zogbby/CBS/Quinnipiac/NBC

Speaking to Christians and Muslims

We are a pathetic lot, humanity. WE argue, and indeed are willing to kill one another over differences contained in a cup full of water, while awash in a sea of commonality. We do all manner of cruelty to each other while hautily claiming to walk as an equal to God. Oh we bow low to the Deity, but in our harts we walk as kings, all knowing of the flaws of our enemies, while oblivious to the fallen nature of ourselves.
We reap hatred for that is all we bother to sow. Mercy, the mercy granted to us by the Divine, we covet for ourselves while dispensing war, murder, and vengance upon our brothrs.
And when, in due course we reap all that and more, what then? Do we, in vain, call out to God for mercy? The mercy we, with closed minds and harts, withold from our brothers? The mercy we shine upon ourselves alone?
Is God so closed that he cannot love a man unless some ritual be done? There is no God but God. As Chritians and Muslims and Jews we agree on this. There is no God but God. Yet we act the part of Gods when inflicting violence on our brothers and sisters in the name of a greater good that never seems to manifest itself.
To rot in hell is our reward. Killing and hating, and breading viciousness generation after generation. And still we call upon our merciful God. Oh that God is merciful for we all, Muslim and Christian, Jew and gentile, need that mercy for the unforgivable crimes we, in the name of God the merciful, have inflicted upon fellow believers.
God have mercy upon us. For if we wait for mercy to flow from our fellow believrs we will be waiting in vain. There is no God but God.
Peace be with you, Salam Al A'kum.

To be fair to J.B. Hood and what to do about Bush

To be fair to the old boy I would have to say that John Bell Hood was an excellent brigade commander. When ordered to make a suicidal attack, such as the one ordered by Lee at Gettysburg, upon Little Round Top, Hood carried it out to the letter. He was a vicious warrior. These same qualities that made him a great brigadier made him a lousy army general. Great leaders in war tend to be tinkerers, thinkers, and methodical calculators.
For instanced Patton may, at first glance, appear to be like Hood. Though Patton possessed the audacity of Hood, he also possessed the military creativity of Stonewall Jackson and William Sherman. Pattons brilliance led to ARCENT. His ability, unlike Bush, Rumsfeld, or Hood, to take a desperate situation and creatively unify, tactical close air support, airial recon, mechanized infantry, and the average foot soldier, gave him complete control of the battlefield he was on.
Today we have other challenges in the world. We need leadership that is far more creative than what we currently have. World politics requires enormous care, tinkering, brain power and the desire to preserve mankind. Clearly we are lacking that at the current time. We are being led by people who consider themselve conservative Republicans instead of Americans. Their blind adherence to a failed policy, coupled with lies, misinformation, and the resultant deaths, is a direct threat to the national security of the United States.

Go to www.Downingstreetmemo.com and take action. Or go and get a latte and watch more people get killed.

More Bushleague stuff

"He was essentially a man of emotion rather than of intellect. He was never a reasoning and analytical man who carefully weighed all possible factors in a given problem or situation. Rather he was much inclined to be impetuous in his decisions, trust in his intuition and his blind optimism to see him through."

This is the descriptioin of Major General John Bell Hood. His "Bushlike" qualities allowed him to attack Major General George H. Thomas. Thomas was known as "old slow trott". He was a quite man. Before the war he was a teacher at West Point. He litterally wrote the book on cavelry tactics.

Hood is the civilwar personafication of Bush. He was self confident, aggressive, hated to wait, and once he had made up his mind that was that. He also felt the best thing to do was attack. He used his rich friends to rise in power. Then at the appointed our he led his army forward.

Though known as "old slow trott" before the war. By the time Thomas met Hood in battle he was known alternately as "The Rock of Chicamauga" or "The sledge of Nashville" In a single battle that some historians rank as one of the most perfect in world history, up there with Napolean's Australitz, George Thomas completely destroyed the entire western confederate army commanded by Hood. By the time the battle of Franklin was over there was no confederate army left.

Again I say just because you put on a tunic, raise a sword, and charge into battle does not make you a good leader.

Clarification of the Star Wars review

Upon reading the review I am not sure if I liked the movie or not. Well I definitely DO like the movie. I people want King Lear or Macbeth they should go to Ashland. Star Wars is not high drama but kid-fun. Episode III is not very kid friendly. But then again look what had to happen to poor Skywalker. Were their great characters you want to love? No not really. I liked it anyway. The emperor was what tied the early films to these films. In this episode he is the best character, in deed the centeral character around which all the others rotate like tiny inept planets. Anyhow I want to see the movie again. My criticism of the films flaws still stands but they do not get in the way of my liking the whol series.

Award for Stupid Journalists, acting stupid, and looking stupider

Today, while American toops are heavily engaged with insurgents in Iraq, the the hard hitting CNN.com staff is hard at work on these top stories:

Underwood the new "Idol"
Jail for driver who decapitated friend
Jackson defense rests
Runaway Bride indicted
Woman Jailed after calling 911 about pizza man

and

Intoxicated Dad had child drive

Meanwhile those slothful BBC reporters are talking about silly stuff like:

Fresh Darfur aid sought
US stops North Korea MIA work
Abbas set for White House Talks
FBI records detail Koran claim
Amnesty International accuses US of torture

It is really a bad sign when you have to get news out of Britain about the goings on in your own country.

FM people

I was thinking last night about how different people react to the same situation. Some people are calm while others fly off the handle. Some people seem to simply move from one crisis to another. To listen to them it is almost mind numbing. Others seem to have crisis infrequently. I think it is because some people are high frequency people and others are low frequency. The amplitude of emotion may be the same, but the frequency is different. Today there seems to be a lot of people who are in the high frequency catagory.

Poll Crunch for May 25th, 2005

Gallop: 47% 1,006 responding
AP: 47% 1,000 responding
Time: 46% 1,011 responding
Pew: 43% 1,502 responding
NBC: 47% 1,005 responding

Scott Poll Crunch:
46% of America likes the job GWB is doing.
49% of America doesn't like the job GWB is doing
3% are in too loopy, or possibly too sane, to care.

That is down .6% from April.

Of course you Liberals out there should not take this to hart. You have no agenda to speak of nor do you have any real hutzpah to over turn this one legged prostitute. As maddening as it is to watch the Bush Administration hobble about braking stuff, it is more maddening to see the so called intelligent folks continuing to mutter and splutter about Ohio or Florida.

American politics suck. At least for now.

Star Wars at Livermore

Watching those big assed ships in Star Wars pummeling away at each other makes you wonder if such lasers will come to be. The answer is probably way sooner than you think. Lawerence Livermore labs is building a complex that will house the most powerful laser ever built. The heat generated by this laser will reach 180 million degrees Fahrenheit. The way it works is that if focuses the beams of 192 lasers at a single point. Into that spot they will put a tiny hydrogen fuel pellet. They hope to create a laser-triggered fusion reaction. For some reason the Death Star comes to mind.
Meanwhile people in Kansas are still arguing about evolution. What a big wide wonderful world it is.

Review of SW Revenge of the Sith

The final review is in:

It took several days to digest this monster. It is a behemoth of a film. It is the most action packed, and elephantine, of all the Star Wars movies. It is not a movie I would wish to see in IMAX. It was the best of the three prequels. The writing for this film was much better than the other two films and the acting was much better too.
I still think that Hayden Christiansen was not the right actor for the part. He is too boyish, his voice is too highschoolish, and he had no personality. At least not until #3. Finally he has been reanimated, or animated, or something like that. Natilie Portman got the raw end of the deal for this film. There was lots of sedintary scenes of ther waiting. And her death scene, like almost all Star Wars death scenes, is short and anticlimactic. However everyone was more lifelike in this film. Even Mace Windu was less monastically robotic. One huge problem that Lucas has had is that everyone knows how the story has to end. Finally they got it right. Finally they used that glaring problem as a strength and told the story in such a way that brought shivers to the spine. The fight seen between Dukoo, and Skywallker, infront of Palpatine, gave me the creeps. The Emperor steals the show, as well as the Republic.

The problems I had with this film, and the others, was that the background conflict is a nonsensical bunch of crap that nobody really cares about. This is a biiiiiiiiig problem for me. I think that you could still have Palpatine behind the conflict yet make it more understandable. It would only add to the drama. The war in these movies makes Vietnam look clear.
Without a clearly defined conflict for the Clone Wars the battle scenes lose their dramatic effect since you can't care about either side, other that caring for the side Kenobi is on at the time. The addition of a weezing droid general was confusing; how many bad guys do we need?

The problems of this film did not get in the way of it being a good film. I think they could have taken this film, expanded on certain areas, and made Episode II and III out of it. However I am not in a complaining mood. The visuals of this film are spectacular. They are so well done that they cease being visual effects and are simply the Star Wars universe. What a spectacular universe it is. It is a visual triumph. The film also adequately lights the fires of Episode 7 and if people do not think there will be an episode 7 they do not come from Earth, or understand entertainment capitalism.

Big sprawling epics have a couple of drawbacks. In trying to be big and sprawling and epic, personalities often get lost, and reality is often removed as an obsticle to story telling. There are many faults with these films and the main one, beyond casting, and dialogue, etc, is trying to tell too big of a story in too few films. This about The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As big and epic as they appeared, there was a very simple plot, and few characters.

Star Wars morphed from a simple story about "a boy a girl and a universe" into the decline, fall, and eventual rebirth of an entire galactic civilization done in two parts with the end set before the beginning. Holy shit that was a tall order to fill.

It gets a 10 as it crowns the totality of the Star Wars universe.

People who think depression is a mark of the creative spirit can eat my shorts

I listened to a Dr. talk about recent research into depression and the effects of it on the body. Terry Gross, playing the devils advocate, asked him if the elimanation of depression would some how stifle the creative spirit. What a monsterous thing to say. I would not wish depression on the darkest demon in Hell. I have been lucky enough to have a creative career and I can attest to the fact that depression does not help the creative process. It is a hammer blow upon it. It destroys your energy, saps you desire, reduces your ability to concentrate, and removes joy from work. It is a horrible myth that depressions makes better writers or painters. And even if it did I would rather be uncreative than exist with a giant hole in my hart.

What we need to do

There is no script to life. I have seen no end credits roll after loved ones pass away. There is no seminal moment where all is tied together, explained, made clear. Thre is no first second and third acts. Good people can stumble and make a mess of their lives as surely as bad people can walk between the raindrops and attain glory. All is vanity and a chase after wind. Rising and resting, eating, and laughing, crying, and singing all is vanity and a chase after wind. For no mater your words, be they noble, or mere mumblings, can save you from the end that life meters out to you. So if all is vanity and a chase after wind, what is worth doing? Being a friend, being merciful, and celebrating love, any love. Everyitng else is a waste of time.

Along time ago in a galaxy far, far, away...

Back when Jimmy Carter was President, a gallon of gas cost 64 cents, a average house would sell for $25,000, and the average joe made less than $10,0000 a year, I went with my best friend John Pitman, my brother Mike, and our mutual friends Chris and John Cuevas, to see Star Wars. I had no idea, while riding in the backseat in Mr. Cuevas' car, what I was in for and what it would do to my life and the world.
28 years later I have my ticket in my wallet for the last (yeah right) of the Star Wars films. I only saw the original film in the theater 6 times. I think I saw Empire Strikes back 4 times and Return of the Jedi 4 times. Phantom Menace I saw once in the theater and that was the same for Attack of the Clowns, I mean clones.
As a guy who had his whole adolecense taken over by Star Wars I chuckle as I walk thrugh Toys'R US seeing all the little kids oggling the Star Wars toys. I see their parents and they look as if they too might not have been born when the original came out.
I get all picky about what I like and don't like about the films. The truth is that no Star Wars film will do to me what that first film did. It was the first, and I was twelve. No matter the wating in lines, the masks, the remember-whens, the speaking of Star Wars lines, I can't be twelve again. And no generation will ever see Star Wars the way mine did. The current film, for good or bad, comes into a world chock full of technology, special effects, shock and awe, and videogame cgi wizardry.
In no small way Star Wars helped design this technological terror we have constructed. Movies are products of culture. But when they are imaginative they can be the creators of culture. Now we have to decide whether we should follow Obi-wan or Darth.

May the Force be with us!

Most Delicious Grilled Cheese Sandwich in the World

If you are peckish and wish to partake in the best grilled cheese sandwich in the known world, then go to The Lunch Box on 7th and Hawthorne and ask for the version with tomato and basil.

A note to religious hypocrites

When you are praying the Lords Prayer you come to a part that says, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..."

Most people think that they are simply asking God to forgive us our wrongs. While acknowledging that we try to forgive others. However what we are really asking God to do is to judge us the same way we judge others. If we go around looking down our noses at our fellow human beings, and saying that this person or that is not up to par, and then we go home and ask God to cast our own petty judgement upon us, we are litterally asking for trouble.

What does Christ say about judgement? "If you wish to avoid Gods judgment do not pass judgement on others. For the judgement you pass on others will be the judgement passed upon you, and how you measure others will be the measure taken of you."

If you are not inclined to be merciful toward others. Then do not be surprised if God is not merciful toward you. We all reap what we have sown. War brings more war, famine brings more famine, hatred breeds hatres. Peace breeds peace, understanding leads to enlightenment, and mercy leads to freindship and that leads to love.

Review of Kingdom of Heaven

Don't read this unless you have seen the movie.

I liked the movie. It was an exiting story with good writing, excellent acting, and farily realistic. I give it an 8. What makes this movie good is it's adherence to a kind of reality that does not ask for much suspension of disbelief. Of course it is historical fiction.

The cast of characters:
Balian count of Ibelin: A great guy, altruistic
Guy D'Lusignan: A nasty guy
Sybilla: Sister of king Baldwin IV: Sexy and unpredictable engaged to La-scumbag d'Lusignan
King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem: Suffering from leperosy, a great guy, noble and wise
Saladin: A great guy, noble and wise

Hollywood has this medieval stereotype that it can't seem to shake. Instead of illustrating the subtle complexities of feudal obligations, tribal animosity, and the intense ritualism of all aspects of life, we are fed a predigested goop that resembles the middleages as about as much as a box of animal crakers resembles the serengeti. The medieval world, if ever portrayed for what it was, would make for a far more interesting movie. Religion was taken with deadly seriousness by most Christians and Muslims. Hollywood tends to make all religion either cartoonishly righteous or cartoonishly evil. It was an age where many Christian knights had more incommon with Osama Bin Laden than Christ. Hollywood has trouble handling that level of religious extremism; it makes Dr Dobbson seem aetheistic. In the middleages you could have a knight as good as Balian, who was worldly and wise, and also brandishing an intense religious extemism and capacity to back that extemism up with terrible violence. The will of God was not an abstraction in the 12th century. The only place you would be likely to find anything approaching modern religion would be in the Monastaries or Universities, with men like Aquinas, or Abelard, over even Bernard of Clairveux.

I am also kind of tired of the cliche' about paupers rising to lords. That kind of thing did not happen. And the truth behind Balian, that I will talk about in a moment, would not have made for a bad movie. Yet the cliche' hangs on; like dinning while wearing armor and brandishing weapons. That would have been a severe no-no and breach of courtly manners. Dispite all this I liked the movie very much and would see it again.

The real story:
Balian of Ibelin was not a blacksmith. Balian and his brother Baldwin ran Ibelin from 1177 until 1187. Baldwin gave Ibelin to Balian so he (Baldwin) could be lord of Ramala. Balian supported King Raymond of Tripoli as Regent of Jerusalem while Baldwin IV was still a child and unable to rule, so Balien was older than King Baldwin. He was a foe of Guy d'Lusignan. Balian did defend Jerusalem before Saladin took the city on the 4th of July 1187. He negotiated the surrender of the city. However he did not leave the Holy Land. He continued fighting Saladin until October of 1187. Then he left to Tripoli. He supported Guy d'Lusignan in Lusignan's bid to maintain his kingship of Cyprus. Balian then became an advisor to Henry II of Champagne, another king of Jerusalem (who sort of ruled in absentia). In 1192 Balian helped negotiate peace between Richard I and Saladin ending the 3rd Crusade. He died in 1193.

On the whole the movie had the right flavor. I wish there had been a little explanation as to why certain groups of crusaders were at odds with other groups of cursaders. For instance you have all these groups of knights with certain heraldic devices on their tunics. Balian is wearing a tunic with the Maltese cross. The templars were done up well with white tunics and red crosses. The warriors in black tunics were the Knights Hospitallers. And those in blue were the Knights of Jerusalem. Most Jerusalem bibles still use the Heraldic Jerusalem crusader cross on the cover. I wish that Guy d'Lusignan had not been such a cardboard cut out bad guy. He had reasons to want the crown and to subdue Saladin. They were not noble reasons, or even ethical ones. But it would have made him a more nasty villain. What he and others wanted was to capture Damascus, a wealthier city than Jerusalem. He was already Count of Lusignan in France, King of Cypruss, and head of the army of Jerusalem. He wanted more power. The Lusignans and the Angivens hated each other, there was no love lost between he and Richard I.

Now lets make a movie about Richards mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Sex, scandel, violence! yummy!

Bush the American Dauphin.

In 1415 the Dauphin, Prince and Heir to the throne of France, along with his courtiers, and business associates, completely ignored the warnings of Constable d'Albert. D'Albert was the medieval French equivalent of the Army Chief of Staff. He told the Dauphin to be very careful how he attacked the terrorist army that was then rampaging through the western French countryside.
The Prince, was confident of the honorable knights that were about him. He had canon. he had Genoese crossbowmen, rabble to him, but carriers of the most technologicaly advanced weapons of the age. And last but not least he had the largest army of men-at-arms in all of Europe.
The terrorists were a beaten foe. They had invaded and stormed but one small French port, Harfleur. This had taken them months. And in that time they had their ranks decimated by hunger, disease, and the wounds of war. Now all indications were that they simply wanted to escape destruction. The Dauphin thought little of his adversary, the young king Henry of England.
D'Albert had already been ammassing troops and provisions of war. Unlike the over lusty Prince, d'Albert was wary of the English. He respected them, particularly the English archers, mere commoners.
Finally in October the French, after much bikering, set out to squash the English. They had an army that numbered 25,000 containing 90% of the French nobililty loyal to the French King. Contstable d'Albert was in command but the Dauphin was there too, and he was Prince. In actuality the Dauphin ran the kingdom, since his father was ill with severe depression.
The English terrorists were tired and were indeed wanting to go home. The French had continuosly barred their way to Calais along the river Somme. Frocing them deep into hostile territory. After finally crossing the river the decrepit army reached the town of Agincourt.
To there horror a force of 25,000 French troops sat arrayed against them. Henry, not having time for honor, or another useless mumbo jumbo, was in a tight spot and used his head instead of his hart.
Showing consumate generalship he moved his small "band of brothers", 1500 knights and 3500 archers, into a narrow gap between two forrests. This move ruined the any possibility for the French to out flank the English. He moved his archers into two wings bordering the forrest, creating a killing zone infront of his knights. All were dismounted. He had the archers carve 8 foot long stakes to protect themselves from the French caverly. Then, in the face of certain destruction ordered his army to advance toward the French. He was determined to give the French no ability to use their strengths. He wanted his enemy to fight on his terms not theirs.
d'Albert had given orders for a dismounted advance with the corssbowmen behind. The dismounted knights were in batallions and the crossbowmen could easily fire over them or between them. Caverly was to be used, in the typical medieval way, as a massed shock force to punch a whole in the enmy line.
To d'Albert's consternation the Dauphin, the Duke of Orlean, and other nobility charged with their mounted men-at-arms through the crossbowmen, passed the dismounted knights, and straight into hell.
The first wave of attack was destroyed in short order by volley after volley of arrows. The french ignored the threatening archers since the archers were simple commoners and would provide no ransom. They wanted the english nobles as hostages. So the archers were free to kill the lot of the French chargers. Orlean was captured, the Dauphin was captured, and the sensible d'Albert was killed, along with 15,000 other nobles. The second charge was no better coordinated and resulted in disaster. There was not a third charge. However the French remained on the feild long enough for Henry to order the slaughter of 5,000 prisoners. He simply did not have the ability to hold them and fight off a third attack.
The English lost somewhere between 100 and 500 men.

Now Mr. Bush is our Dauphin. He has been consistently out generaled in Iraq by a bunch of poor fanatics that posess nothing but cunning, a will to fight, an ability to adapt, and complete ruthlessness. They have arrayed their forces in a way that makes our larger numbers, and technology, impotent. They have forced us onto the defensive, and forced us to fight on their terms. And instead of realising this and altering our overall tactics we simply order the next adavnce into hell.

It was very telling when Bush was talking in Russia about how we appeased Stalin. Roosevelt, like Henry V, was in a tight spot, and used what he had to perfection. His decision at Yalta saved millions of lives in eastern Europe, and hundres of thousands of American and Russian lives. Russia could not hold onto eastern Europe and within 50 years of Yalta not only was eastern Europe free, but the Soviet Union was no more.

Generalship is not simply putting on a tunic, raising a sword, and charging into battle. Many fools have done that.

Self revelation is a bitch

We all are at different phases of our lives. Some phases are full of happy times and laughs. Other phases suck. I am currently in one of the phases that have a suction equivalent to space. I find that my brain, that could handle all sorts of things while not in this nasty phase of life, falls down on the job repeatedly while in said phase.
Example 1: While on vacation, a very happy event, some signals get crossed and instead of shurgging and going forward, I flip out. I yell at my Brother, who has done nothing worthy of such wrath.
Example 2: While on same vacation, a very happy event, I end up swating my daughter at a resturante. For no other reason than she is being devilish with food items. Not that there is any reason to do such a pathetic thing.
On both occasions the event is followed almost imediately by a staggering sense of "what the F(#*$ing hell am I doing!"
What makes matters worse. As if they can get worse. Is that I am trying to track this nonsense. Writing it down, documenting what can lead to it.
And it isn't as though my brain says "okay the coast is clear, freak out!" Oh no. I get to do this infront of people I care about. Thus allowing them to share and enjoy the moment. I look like, and infact have acted, like a complete ass.
Situational depression sucks. I can see why people withdraw from the world while in depressive times. Its like the world is nothing but a huge china shop with really narrow isles and I am walking down one with a huge Mexican sombraro and a hoop skirt from Gone With The Wind. I can even understand why people go the extra mile and end their lives rather than continuing through the china shop. However that is not going to be my fate.
This phase will pass, in time, to be replaced by other phases, some good and some not so good. I hope that in the final analysis (pun intended) I can learn from this phase and apply it to the rest of my life to come.

Vancouver BC

All cities have problems. Big cities have big problems. Yet if an alien and was allowed to view , Portland Oregon, Seattle Washington, and Vancouver British Columbia, the alien would probably say that Vancouver BC was the wealthiest city. I don't want to sound like a "grass is always greener" person, but it does infact appear noticably greener north of the boarder. When entering Vancouver from the US I sort of felt like coming to the new world from the old. New America versus Old America, to steal a Bush administration phrase. Of course this is not an accurate assesment. Canada has a population of 32,000,000. The United States has a population of 295,000,000.
The USA has a GDP of $ 13,000,000,000,000 while Canada has a GDP of 1,023,000,000,000. So why the disparity? Why should a nation that is one tenth the size of the US in population and has less than a 10th the GDP, come out looking so well? The answer, to a certain extent, can be found in what Canada has to spend its money on versus what the USA has to spend its money on.
As a red blooded American I get to support 10 active, Aircraft Carrier battle groups. A 600 ship navy. An airforce with thousands of aircraft. An army with 1.5 million soldiers on active duty on hundreds of military bases all over the world. I need, for some reason I am not quite sure of, be able to fight two hemespheric wars at the same time. Never mind that such wars are highly unlikely in this world of interdependant economies. I send billions a year to Exxon and Arco to subsidize oil prices. I spend billions on defense contracts. I spend billions on all sorts of stuff that countries like Canada just don't worry about. So while nations like Canada can spend the vast majority of their tax income on people, the US has to split its tax income between arms and people.
Would I like to live in another country that did not spend sooooooo much money on arms and war fighting? No I would like to live in America that did not spend sooooo much money on arms and war fighting.

Review of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy

Simon Jones, Mark Wing-Davey, and Jeffery McGiven were just too good.

The Hitchikers radio series had almost asmuch effect on me as the Star Wars series of movies. I have two sets of the show on tape. I have read all the books; that actually came after the radio series.

You create a perfect thing and then you want to try and recreate that perfect thing using a different medium and things can go wrong.

The stuff that bugged me the most was:
The movies live action sets looked like DR Who rejects. The visual effects were awsome. The art direction sucked in this film there was no cohessive structure and seperation from location to locatioin.

The sound engineering on this film was the worst. Take actors that are mumbling and rushing their lines and compile it with bad engineering and you get and whole lot of "watermelon cantelope" And in a movie where the dialogue makes the picture what it is, that isn't good.

I like to beat up on ol'Dubya just like the other 49.99999% of America and 99% of the world, but Zaphod was just too much Dubya and not enough Beebelbrox. Zaphod is not a moron. He has moronic tendancies but is also a shrewd character and the hippest being in the Universe.

Stuff I liked the most:
The narrator of "The Book" was done well. Slarty Bartfast was great!

All in all I was not amused by it since it seemed to me to be a rippoff of the original without it being a retelling. I was in a funk upon leaving the theater.

It gets a 5

Enough angryman crap.

Look not to Haberblab to spout off about the American Nazis. I know the whole "If I don't speak out now. who will speak for me later" bit but I am tired of it. So no more of that crap.