World Musings, Inc.

Don't ask, Don't Tell repealed, and thoughts on why disapproval of homosexuality is not bigotry

2010-12-19T18:07:00.001-05:00

I found this on a message board at one point and copied it to keep for future reading, because it makes good sense. People use the term "bigot" like a club to attack anyone who disagrees with them, but that usage isn't always correct. Read on...

Having a moral objection to a particular kind of action doesn't make someone a bigot. The term "bigot" is constantly used as a weapon with which to attack anyone and everyone who objects to the "gay rights" movement on moral grounds. But this terminology is misplaced and misleading.
Let's say that my next-door neighbor and his wife attend a monthly "swinging"/"wife-swapping" party. Let's also presuppose that both my neighbor and his wife truly want to be involved in these parties, and both of them feel strongly that this kind of action is enjoyable and emotionally fulfilling, and even good for their marriage.

Now let's say that I raise objections to my neighbor's action on moral grounds, because I am convinced (both for theological and philosophical reasons, not out of an unreasoning "homophobia") that marriage vows can only be truly honored, and love can only grow and flourish, if the relationship is such that neither the husband or wife seeks intimacy outside the marriage.

Certainly I am taking a stance against my neighbor's action, as well as the actions of his wife and everyone else involved in the swinging/wife-swapping parties they attend. But this does not in any way imply that I hate my neighbor, or that I am trying to deny his full human dignity. I am objecting to the activity that he and his wife engage in at the swinging parties, not because of hate or fear but because of a conviction that what they are doing is harmful to their marriage and to each of them personally.

The same is true if I say that I object to activity in which two men or two women touch each other in such a way as to arouse and stimulate each other. Making this claim does not make me a bigot, nor does it in any way mean that I hate those who engage in such activity, or that I wish anyone harm, either physically or in any other way.

Racism and objection to the "gay rights" movement are constantly compared as though they were fundamentally the same ("homophobia" is lumped together with racism and anti-Semitism); even the phrase "gay rights" implies this, because it invites comparison to the Civil Rights movement of the 60s.

But in truth this is a false comparison, a comparison made "obvious" by repetition rather than by true similarity. Racism means that I fail to recognize the full human dignity of another person because of his or her ethnicity or race; I view this person as somehow less than human, and perhaps even as something worthless that can be abused or destroyed with impunity. It was racism that motivated the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people during the 30s and 40s, and racism that motivates white supremacist groups such as the KKK.

But voicing a moral objection to some kind of action, provided that is done in a non-violent way and respectful way, is neither racism nor bigotry. One is not a bigot for objecting to "gay" or "lesbian" activity any more than one is a bigot for objecting to swinging/wife-swapping, or for objecting to polygamy (and here I mean polygamy in which everyone is of legal age and no woman has been forced to marry against her will). I object to all these kinds of action, not because I bear animosity towards those who are involved in these actions but because I believe that these kinds of actions are contrary to the good of the persons involved.

I'm anything but a perfect person; I've done many things in my life that are neither good nor loving. But making a statement about the moral wrong of some kind of action doesn't presuppose that the person making the statement is morally perfect; understanding why something is right isn't the same as actually doing the right thing (although ultimately the two must go together if the person's actions are to be consistent with his or her thoughts and words).

It's important to notice that everything I've said here is true regardless of whether a person's attraction to others of the same sex is (a) genetically/biologically determined, (b) the result of psychological factors stemming from one's life history, or (c) some combination thereof. The point is that what I'm denying is not the person's human dignity, but the moral goodness of his or her actions. Having a genetic predisposition for a certain kind of action does not necessarily mean that said action is morally legitimate. One could make the argument that all humans have a genetic inclination towards having sex with multiple others rather than just one other (insofar as this allows for a greater probability of successfully passing on one's genes), but that doesn't mean that being faithful to one's husband or wife is contrary to nature or that swinging/wife-swapping is morally right.

The point of my post is simply to indicate that it's unjust to throw around the term "bigot" in reference to any and everyone who objects to the "gay rights" movement and the claims that it makes about sexual morality and about sexual difference. Raising moral objections is not hatred, and using the term "bigot" prejudices the issue by painting all who raise objections as angry, dangerous people who want to inflict harm, either physically or psychologically. The best way to silence those who disagree with you is by depicting them as ignorant, dangerous wackos (which is easy to do when you can draw attention to fringe groups like the people who demonstrate at military funerals).

The Lame Duck Congress

2010-12-02T19:37:00.000-05:00

Is it just me, or should a Congress that the voters just fired even be in session, passing bills? What legitimacy can they possibly have?

Time to move the swearing in of the new Congress to mid-November? It's not the 1700's any more, and it doesn't take a few months for the new reps to get to Washington. We don't actually need two months for the old Congress to make mischief.

The 2010 Midterm Election in Perspective

2010-11-10T18:27:00.001-05:00

From Peter Wehner of Commentarymagazine.com:

In shifting through the fine analysis that emerged in the aftermath of last week’s midterm elections, a few data points are particularly noteworthy:

» Republicans picked up more House seats than in any election since 1938. Republicans now control the most House seats, and Democrats now have the smallest number of House seats, since 1946.

» Fifty incumbent Democratic congressmen were defeated, while only two incumbent House Republicans lost.

» Independents comprised 28 percent of the electorate and supported Republican congressional candidates by a margin of 56 to 38 percent. That represents a 36-point turnaround from the last midterm election, in 2006, when independents supported Democratic congressional candidates by 57 to 39 percent. In addition, independents trust Republicans to do a better job than Democrats by a margin of 23 points on jobs and employment, 23 points on the economy, 27 points on government spending, and 31 points on taxes.

» Voters support repealing/replacing ObamaCare by 51 to 42 percent. Democrats oppose repeal by 80 to 16 percent — but both independents (by 57 to 31 percent) and Republicans (by 87 to 7 percent) want to repeal and replace it.

» Sixty-five percent of voters said that the stimulus bill either hurt the economy or did no good — and those voters overwhelmingly favored the GOP.

» Fifty-four percent of those voting said they were dissatisfied with the performance of Barack Obama — and they broke 85-11 for the Republicans.» Republicans have captured the seats in at least 57 of the 83 Democratic-held districts in which Obama won less than 55 percent of the vote.

» Democrats hold a majority of the congressional delegation in only three states — Iowa, New Mexico, and Vermont — that don’t directly touch an ocean. Republicans similarly routed Democrats in gubernatorial races across the Midwest and the border states, from Ohio and Tennessee to Wisconsin and Iowa.

» Republicans picked up 680 seats in state legislatures, the most in the modern era. In the 1994 GOP wave, Republicans picked up 472 seats. The previous record was in the post-Watergate election of 1974, when Democrats picked up 628 seats. The GOP gained majorities in at least 19 state house chambers. They now have unified control — meaning both chambers — of 26 state legislatures. And across the country, Republicans now control 55 chambers, Democrats have 38, and two are tied. (The Nebraska legislature is unicameral.)

» Republicans have not enjoyed this much power in state capitals since the 1920s.

» Voters who identified as ideologically conservative accounted for 41 percent of the turnout, an increase from the 34 percent figure in 2008 and the highest level recorded for any election since 1976.

This was no ordinary midterm loss by the party in power, predicated on a bad economy. Sounds like a repudiation of Barack Obama and the Democrats to me.

review - Justice Society of America #44

2010-11-07T20:38:00.002-05:00

I found the art to be pretty good, but the writing wasn't what I had hoped for. I feel like I'm reading a book from the worst days of the 90s. Dark, brutal and bloody are not words I'd normally use to describe the adventures of the Justice Society, but that's what we got here. Which is not to say that we haven't seen violence in the book before, particularly in "The Next Age" opening arc, but this issue felt far more brutal to me. There was no charm and humor to counter-balance the darker elements of the storyline.

Some super-powered terrorist is being held in a CIA secret prison in Afghanistan. He escapes and slaughters everyone guarding him. He heads to America and attacks a city, so the Justice Society heads out to stop him. This nameless, motiveless, unknown plot device of a villain proceeds to trash the group with ease, bloodying everyone up and breaking Alan Scott's neck. In the end, after hours of fighting in which a good chunk of the city is destroyed, Lightning stops him by seriously electrocuting the guy, while Dr. Fate contains him.

Aside from the fact that Alan Scott/Green Lantern was declared the most powerful man on Earth just two issues ago, and here he's taken out in five seconds flat, didn't we just see a team member seriously wounded and near death in the last storyline? And Alan Scott himself has already been nearly killed back during the Johnny Sorrow storyline early in the run of the JSA title, making this feel like a retread idea.

A few more nitpicky points...

- Does it seem out of character that the polite, doesn't drink, smoke or cuss Jay Garrick flies into a rage and calls the villain a "bastard"? Sure he's shocked at what happened to Alan Scott, but that over the top rage just doesn't seem like the same Jay Garrick I've been reading for years. And this isn't the first time a team member's been mortally wounded. Heck, Alan got killed in the last story arc, and Jay didn't act like this.

- How exactly can Jay be drafted as mayor, without his consent, for a city he doesn't even live in? And in a state he's not a resident of? Monument Point is "outside of Washington DC", but according to JSA #15, Keystone City is in Ohio.

To summarize, it feels like several of the characters are out of character, most notably Jay Garrick. And Alan Scott goes from most powerful man on Earth to "taken out in five seconds to show how powerful the bad guy is". It's a rough beginning, and I hope things turn around for the better pretty fast.

2010 Midterm Elections

2010-11-07T20:30:00.002-05:00

Well, that was fairly impressive.

I've been to three tea party gatherings, spurred on by concern about the direction that President Obama has been taking the country. I think the level of spending has been frighteningly high, and the health care law not only too expensive, but sold dishonestly and passed in the ugliest way possible, after we all said "No".

So now the American people have said no, very loudly and very clearly, by handing the still disliked Republican Party their biggest wins since the 1940s. If we borrow Obama's car analogy that he's been fond of using for the past few months, the Democrats may have been in the driver's seat, but the people have put their foot down and slammed on the brakes.

Hallelujah. Gridlock would be vastly preferable to what's been going on for the past two years. I hope, I hope... I hope we actually get our tax rates extended where they are, that spending can be cut, and that healthcare is chipped away at until we can (hopefully) get a new president in 2012 and repeal the thing outright.

Tuesday was a great night. Awesome.

"But I didn't choose to be gay!"

2010-08-14T12:11:00.003-04:00

I often hear this from apologists for the gay lifestyle. "You tell me when you chose to be straight. I certainly never chose to be gay."

Really? So that first homosexual relationship or lesbian relationship just happened? It snuck up on you and suddenly you found yourself involved with someone of the same gender through no fault of your own?

At some point, the choice was made to act on those feelings or impulses. THAT's when the choice was made to be homosexual or not. Feelings in and of themselves don't determine who and what we are. I might feel the urge to run naked through a crowded football stadium, but that doesn't make me a streaker.

At some point, a choice is made. Don't pretend that it isn't.

Homosexuality a "civil right"

2010-08-14T12:04:00.002-04:00

Since when is a chosen pattern of behavior a civil right?

Homosexuality is often lumped in with gender and race. The proponents, who want to force society to accept their lifestyle, are attempting to claim the same moral high ground taken by those who fought for the rights of women and minorities.

The problem is this: race and gender are what someone IS. They are immutable, innate physical characteristics. Sexual behavior is just that, BEHAVIOR. It is a pattern of actions, of what someone DOES, rather than what they ARE.

That being the case, it seems we've opened up a whole new area for civil rights status to be applied. So when does adultery qualify for civil rights status? How about incest or bestiality? Practitioners of such lifestyles need to come out of the closet and proudly proclaim just who they are and stop tolerating treatment as second-class citizens!

Proposition 8 overturned

2010-08-05T21:23:00.004-04:00

The institution of marriage continues to be attacked by the elites in this country, and they pervert the Constitution to do it. Or rather they pre-determine an outcome and try to make that opinion sound like it's based on the Constitution and court precedent.

So here's the truth: marriage is what it is. One man and one woman, legally and morally committed for life. Marriage exists not only for the happiness of the individuals who are married, but in order to create a stable family unit to raise children safely and to pass on the values necessary to function in society. Marriage is the basic social unit of society.

And that's what marriage is. You can no more change it than you can say that 2 + 2 = 7 or that a green leaf is actually red. Marriage is what it is, and it's a social unit consisting of a man and a woman. Nothing else.

So what's been done here is not "equality" or "civil rights" for some oppressed minority. What's being done is the re-definition and watering down of marriage by the elitists, who of course are more enlightened and progressive than the rest of us peasants. The judge in this case has essentially said that 2 + 2 does equal 7, and all of you idiots out there who thought 2 + 2 = 4 are just bigots.

So now actual, traditional marriage is now "homophobic", according to this judge. Huh. Who would have thought? I just married my wife to stick it to those icky homosexuals, apparently.

More thoughts on this later.

The New Currency Is Obedience

2010-04-16T22:58:00.001-04:00

From HotAir.com...

The past two years have seen a profound change occur in the American system. Our basic currency is no longer the dollar. People like Jason Levin understand the nature of our new currency, which is obedience.

Obama Democrats worship central planning. They have repeatedly expressed the belief that only powerful, maternal government can be trusted to allocate the most essential resources, or manage vital industries. The free market is a playpen, filled with the stuff that isn’t serious enough to merit direct control by the Mother State. When a particular toy causes the children of the electorate to scream, it is quickly snatched out of the pen. The free market can’t even be trusted to deal with airline fees for carry-on luggage… which turned out to be a market response to previous government action. You are expected to sit quietly and swallow your tears if Mother State chooses to beat you over the head with one of your toys.

Central planning is useless if nobody follows the central plans. Where the free market is persuasive, organizing resources by responding to demand and exploiting opportunity, central planning is coercive. It must compel obedience to its designs, and compulsion is always necessary. If people were eager to follow those designs of their own free will, there would be no need for central planning in the first place.
Obedience to the just laws of a minimal government doesn’t replace the currency of freedom – it enhances its value, by creating an environment of trust and cooperation. Your time is made more valuable by the knowledge you are protected from murder, theft, and fraud. This broadens the options available to you in life.
When the economy falls under political control, the practical value of your freedom shrivels. Success becomes determined by the favor of the State, and the exercise of political power. For example, labor unions are rewarded for their loyalty to the Democrat Party, including proposed public bailouts of their unsustainable pension plans, and exclusive access to government contracts. Such transactions work both ways, as powerful constituencies trade votes for obedient service from politicians.
The Tea Party is the living incarnation of disobedience. It is driven by the words and deeds of people who refuse to submit. Its members demand the return of money and power appropriated by an out-of-control federal government. They won’t allow their lives to be sculpted by the knives and chisels of penalties and subsidies. They speak out against an ugly reality that President Obama’s supporters don’t like to confront: political control of the economy consists of directives, which require submission, which can only be assured through punishment. No matter how benevolent the stated goals of such a system might be, there is nothing benevolent about the methods it must use to attain them.

Brilliant, and exactly right.

An open letter to Steny Hoyer

2010-03-24T21:18:00.002-04:00

Courtesy of Roger Simon from Pajamas Media:

Dear Congressman Hoyer,

I have read your statement asking Republicans to condemn threats of violence that have been made toward Democratic representatives in the aftermath of the passage of the health care bill.

I am a registered Democrat, but since I have voted (mostly) Republican in recent years, let me assure you that I unequivocally condemn those threats and any possible acts of violence taken in response to the bill. That is not even remotely the way to settle such political disputes. Such things must be handled at the ballot box.

That said, and for similar reasons, I also unequivocally condemn the actions of the Democratic Party in running roughshod over the clear will of the American people. Every poll taken in proximity of the vote showed our citizenry in substantial opposition to the global health care reform being pushed through Congress by you, Speaker Pelosi and the administration.

And yet, in the grand tradition of totalitarian regimes everywhere, you employed “any means necessary” to make sure your ends were achieved, bribing and threatening your fellow Congressmen and women, etc. It is small wonder that our people are angry. It would be amazing if it were otherwise.

You have reaped a whirlwind by subverting a democracy. Now you must deal with it. The Democratic Party is no longer “progressive” or “liberal.” It is reactionary. And you and your cohorts have forever defined yourselves as reactionary politicians.

Violence is to be condemned, but so is the desecration of a great democracy.

Sincerely,

Roger L. Simon

I couldn't agree more.

2010-01-28T17:58:00.001-05:00

Last Stand of the Wreckers
Issue 1
Not bad at all. This is clearly a setup issue, but it’s a good one.

The first issue cuts back and forth between two major plot threads as characters are introduced and situations established. It begins with the fall of the Garrus-9 prison to the Decepticons, led by Overlord. I’m not very familiar with early 90s G1 characters, particularly European exclusives, so I’ve had to look up the various characters featured in the story to learn who they are. I’m sure Nick Roche will put his own spin on them, but I was still curious to learn who Skyquake was, or Kick-Off, or Ironfist. I always enjoy seeing obscure G1 characters get some page time and development, and this series will certainly do that.

That leads to the second plot, the introduction of the new additions to the Wreckers crew. Now I’ve never been a big fan of the Wreckers, but I’m willing to be won over. Kup and Springer’s commando group who take on near-suicidal missions has a rotating roster, and Springer expresses doubts about training new recruits who will likely end up dead. Given the severity of the violence under Overlord’s rule, I’d bet he’s right.

The violence is brutal under Overlord’s rule, as Autobots are hunted down for sport or corrupted as they try to survive. Kick-Off’s situation references his toy bio, as he’s trapped and forced to fight for his life, becoming just as ruthless as any Decepticon in the process. I did get a good laugh out of his “alt modes are for wimps” remark, since he’s an Action Master. Then of course, he rips off his opponent’s head, and the scene turns dark again.

I was surprised to see Verity turn up in the story. I’ve missed Simon Furman’s three human sidekicks, so it’s good to see Verity again, and her presence adds a much needed sense of scale to the characters and events. It’s amusing that she decided to stow away on Ultra Magnus’ ship and see the universe rather than go back to her old life on Earth. I hope she doesn’t suffer the same fate as poor Hunter.

I liked this issue quite a bit. The story is strong on continuity with earlier IDW stories, and gives us a glimpse of Megatron’s offensive that led to his victory in AHM, as well as showing us what’s going on elsewhere in the universe while the ongoing is focusing on Earth. It also shows us what life under Decepticon rule would be like, or at least what it would be like under a sadist like Overlord. It’s a good start to the series.

IDW's Deep Space Nine comic - Issue 1

2010-01-09T14:34:00.003-05:00

Out of all the modern Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine is my favorite. I hadn't been really tempted by IDW's Trek comics up to this point, though I've thought about trying them out, but a DS9 mini-series was enough to get me to finally bite the bullet. And it's not bad... not stellar, but a good stab at capturing the look and feel of the show. I'll try to avoid too many spoilers, but some are bound to creep in.

The story: obviously we're in the introductory chapter here. There's a rundown of what the station is, and a little of its history as two space travellers arrive and dock, and one fills the other in. It's a decent refresher on the basic premise of DS9. Being an opening chapter, the story sets up the problem and poses questions without really giving very many answers, but that's about what I'd expect at this point. This particular story sits between the third and fourth seasons, after Sisko was promoted to captain and Odo killed the Changeling on the Defiant, but before Worf joins the crew.

I'll give the writer credit: he's done his homework. The story hits a lot of the right beats. The station exterior and interiors look like the sets from the show. The characters are recognizable from their actions and dialogue, particularly Odo. We get his rule against phasers on the promenade, his suspicion and rivalry with Quark, Sisko's baseball, Kira's aggressiveness when confronted with a problem, etc. We even get a "Morn talks too much" gag. Sisko and Dax's long time friendship is evident.

The art: servicable, if not as photo-realistic when it comes to the characters as I'd like, but I suppose it's not really fair to expect that level of precision. Not on a monthly book. Some of the characters are drawn more consistently than others. Some of the layouts are slightly busy, but then the artist is trying to replicate the details of the show, so that's good. Kira looks like she was melted down and poured into her uniform, which is a bit over the top. But overall everything seems reasonably authentic when compared to the TV show, and that's the important thing.

Overall: There's one thing that really made me enjoy this issue, and that's because it succeeded in capturing the look and feel of the tv show, even if the likenesses aren't always strong. A good start, and I'm looking forward to reading the second issue.

2010-01-08T22:12:00.000-05:00

A great quote from one of Ronald Reagan's radio programs in the late 70s.

"Socialists ignore the side of man that is of the spirit. They can provide shelter, fill your belly with bacon and beans, treat you when you're ill, all the things that are guaranteed to a prisoner or a slave. They don't understand that we also dream." - Ronald Reagan

The chickens will come home to roost...

2010-01-01T11:37:00.003-05:00

Let's start out the year with quotes from another excellent column by Victor Davis Hanson, highlighting the utter ineffectiveness of Barack Obama and his administration during this past year.

As part of our efforts to break with the Bush anti-terrorism past, President Obama also vowed he would close the facility at Guantanamo Bay by Jan. 22, 2010 - another deadline that won't be met.

But as 2009 ended, we were reminded that radical Islamic terrorists still want to kill us for who we are, and what we represent, rather than any particular thing we do.

Maj. Nidal Hasan, nursed on radical Islamic doctrine, murdered 12 fellow soldiers and one civilian at Ford Hood, Texas. Five would-be terrorists with U.S. citizenship were arrested in Pakistan on their way to link up with Islamist militant groups. And Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was stopped in flight from Amsterdam before he could blow up an American passenger jet.

Note that all these recent terrorists were not poor, lived in the hospitable West - and cared little that the Obama administration has been critical of the U.S.'s prior war-on-terror policies.

So, while we assured the world in 2009 that we wouldn't be overzealous in our various efforts to stop terrorists, the terrorists proved they most certainly would be in theirs to kill us.

We were given a financial break on energy prices in 2009. The worldwide recession sent oil down to about $50 a barrel. But America did little during the year's reprieve to rush into production newly discovered domestic gas and oil fields, to tap existing finds in Alaska, or to license new nuclear plants.

By year's end, oil was creeping back up to $80. If the economic upswing continues, in 2010 it may near its old high of nearly $150 a barrel. Soon we will wish we had done something concrete in 2009 rather than offering more stale rhetoric about wind and solar power.

2010 is here!!

2010-01-01T01:05:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!

More McCarthy thoughts on AHM

2009-12-22T22:43:00.002-05:00

Again this was answered in the interview (and actually in just about every interview I've given) but AHM was always supposed to tie into main continuity. Always. It does tie in completely.

he might not have joined the Autobots if he hadn't run into Kup and his crew after all and I doubt it's what he was after, really.

Spot on.

I have one question. Can we confrim the status of the following as dead or alive? Dirge, Deluge, Turmoil? Or will this spoil #12?

MIA.

When Sunstreaker made the deal with Starscream, which from his point of view comes down to "the Autobots defeat Megatron, then leave the Earth to Starscream"... how did he expect the other Autobots to agree to that last part? (seeing as it was a solo act, the others would be under no obligation to honor that) Or was he so anxious to get rid of all the nastybad humans that he simply did not think that far?

A bit of both and in my mind I also think he was in such a state he really thought that, once he'd done it, the others would see it from this point of view.

"They might not see I'm right now but once I do this they'll see."

More McCarthy

2009-12-12T12:31:00.006-05:00

On basing Megatron on historical tyrants:

Well, apart from the similarities that you mention (which, whilst they may be broad, they're still deliberate and still similarities) there's vision, method and belief. His rise from obscurity was something I tied in with Hitler. His 'warrior king' mentality I tied in with Khan. His 'might makes right' vision belongs to Hitler, Khan, Alexander. His experimentation to create the 'super soldier' at the cost of his moralities I tied in with Hitler.

The biggest and most specific link to history, being one to communism/Nazism is a feature of my next series.

On story revelations:

Omega was deliberate. When Hotrod made his comment in #4(?) I knew full well that OS would come in 'out of the blue'. I can get why people don't like it, I love it. But again, it was a deliberate out of the blue.

As for Streaker, it depends on how you class 'out of the blue'. Almost ever time he appears there's deliberate subtext going on that, when you reread the issues after the reveal in #8 they should be glaringly obvious. Right back to #1 where there's a split in the room because of Mirage and Streaker is looking at Sideswipe in the way he does because he's finding him particularly annoying. Why is Streaker looking so down in #4? Why is he "going crazy just sitting here"? Why is he so eager to get out and away from the others?

I'll admit for first time readers it'll be a bit of a jump (evidence has shown not too much of one...and it's encouraged people to buy the previous trades) but for long time readers you have to take into account everything that happened before.

I've been criticised time and again for ignoring Simon's work but this particular story point, more than any other, was written with the knowledge that long time fans would be asking a lot of questions concerning Sunstreaker and would be expecting something from him considering what he'd gone through.

I really don't see Streaker as out of the blue at all.

On the 'old' Perceptor:

The way I see it is, the intellect and 'old Perceptor' is still in there, buried for the moment. He didn't refuse and the assumption can be made that Ratchet would be able to handle it fine. But for now Perceptor has 'gone walkabout'. Does that mean he's a 'dick'? Maybe. It's not unheard of for people to be 'dicks'. However I don't think we can be judgmental until we're all shot in the face and chest, take a walk in his shoes Wink

Again this plays into the knowledge that I'm writing for a shared universe. I made the changes to Perceptor in response to the themes I was dealing with. Could I have spent more time on Perceptor? For sure, I could have easily written a six issue mini series on that alone. However the series is dealing with 30+ characters each vying for screen time. I gave Perceptor the amount I thought he was due knowing full well someone else would take up the journey after me.

Could I have explained more? Maybe. However I wanted readers to meet me halfway, I hate works that spoon feed and I wanted the readers to think, argue and debate.

There's plenty of works out there where the audience continues to wonder what the writer meant with any particular character. I'm not saying that makes it 'right' but that I thoroughly enjoy any work that causes an audience to have to think beyond the page.

Might not work for everyone, I know, but that's my thought process.

On Sunstreaker's death:

If it facilitates story then do it. In this instance it was the path the character (I felt) had to take. I don't force my characters into situations or decisions that only serve 'plot' (and my feelings on 'plot' are a whole other subject) I try to follow them 'organically' to their conclusion. Sunstreaker was on a abusive downward spiral that, in his mind, only had one possible outcome. Could there have been another? Maybe. But not from his point of view. We can all find alternatives from our comfortable positions but for him that was the way 'out'. Right or wrong, it was his decision.

Deluge and Dirge:

He sent them ahead to check the area and keep the Bots in check. What if the Swarm were there? Well there's a reason those two were chosen.

And yes, Megs was planning on following them through. Nothing like some good old fashioned gloating.

They're out there, somewhere. Think Castaway meets Thelma and Louise...

on foreshadowing about Sunstreaker:

This is where I'll stop you to point out that readers did. I've seen it posted online and I've received mail from people that called it and called it well. Hell, Hutch made a joke, "quick! change it!" when it was called early by someone.

I know not everyone did but I'm not writing Murder She Wrote where we need to keep it oh so simple so those at home can solve the murder before Jessica does.

Let me quote you from earlier: "but the build-up still has to be there on first read through, so that when the dramatic reveal happens, even if the reader doesn't see it coming, he gets the sense that the clues were all there."

And now I'll make a point of readers responding to the reveal with "argh! of course!" reactions to 'answer'.

There's plenty of times I'll watch movies with friends that didn't notice something was 'up' with a certain character whilst it was obvious to me. Does that mean it was bad 'mechanics'? No.

There's a difference between foreshadowing and beating someone over the head, "Hey kids, don't tell anyone but does anyone think something is up with THAT guy? Shhh."

Did I play it close to the vest? Yes. Too close? Debatable. I don't think so.

Again, it's all on the page.

On not picking up every plot thread from Furman's work:

And the "almost" is the clincher here. Why didn't I focus on every single thread? Because AHM is set beyond what Simon did. Why didn't I answer every question posed by the jump? Because that would take a series in itself, one that Simon went on to write.

The clincher is that there were definitely signs to show this was in continuity (apart from us saying it time and again in interviews and being called liars for it), signs that should lead readers to know that what happened before is still in play and, indeed, what happened to Sunstreaker is still a factor.

I should also point out those points weren't 'dropped', I focused on what was relevant to AHM. The lack of phases? Considering what the story is about I think it's very clear why he's moved on from phased infiltration; the move to do so is even seen as bad choice by Starscream. The change in tactics is referenced and plays a major part in the story.

On Prime's sudden return:

Nothing was cut.

We're told the operation won't be easy and that Kup should prepare himself for the eventuality that Prime might not make it, yes. It's established Ratchet and Wheeljack are hard at work on fixing him but the real point of the scene is the low morale and how important Prime will be to the outcome.

Several scenes later, after he'd been undergoing repairs off camera, Prime makes his 'triumphant' return at the moment he's needed most, when the morale is at its lowest.

I hate to be pedantic but it's not just a few pages later, it's one page off the final page in the book. It's half the comic later.

On the inclusion of Dropshot:

Hasbro sent us the new line of toys and asked if there were any in there we thought we could include for them. From that I thought came up with the idea of slotting them in in the background.

Drift's function in the story:

To represent another facet of the war and also to play into the themes of forgiveness (or lack there of). Even the heroes of the story (well, some of them) don't accept him or his place in their ranks. Regardless of how often he proves his worth (which he risks a great deal and goes to great lengths in order to do) he still isn't accepted by all (the reason he was asked to stay outside after carrying Ironhide to safety).

on continuity with the rest of IDW:

And the winner is...

DecepticonsRule wrote:
And just my two cents, but self-contained does not = out of continuity. I think that's where some confusion is coming from. I think of self-contained as meaning you don't have to have read previous series to understand what's going on in AHM. Everything you need to know about AHM is explained within the pages of AHM which = self-contained. That doesn't mean AHM is not supposed to tie into the overall continuity. Shane and IDW have always said from day 1 that AHM was a continuation of the overall continuity. For me, I've had no problem following it as such.

more McCarthy comments

2009-12-12T12:21:00.002-05:00

http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?t=6022&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=105

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's relationship:

That was definitely a conscious decision. He'd been under Streaker's shadow for quite a long time and the events of AHM caused him to mature in his mindset considerably.

Alternatively it caused Sunstreaker to go the other way which had them in a position during AHM for the teacher to become the pupil as it were.

Both reacted differently to the situation (clearly Streaker had more going on though) but Sideswipe, initially, took the higher ground and realised they had to see the big picture due to what had happened.

Sadly Streaker had already fallen too far and, when he made the sacrifice on the bridge it forced Sideswipe to become somewhat bitter about their prospects and what their actions had brought about.

Sideswipe's connection to Streaker and his having almost become the conscience of this war factors into #12. Stay tuned...

On Cliffjumper:

Absolutely. I tend to see Cliffjumper as the weaponsmith of the Autobots. There's a reason he's the only Autobot with a gun in the original crew stranded on Cybertron. Take a closer look, he fashioned it out of spare parts. Face it, he's MacGyver.

That's also why he's chatting with Perceptor in one of the shots after the teams unite; the two gun guys are geeking out at what he'd built.

On Bombshell in Blaster's spotlight vs. his version:

The way I saw it was that the Bombshell we saw in the Spotlight was a prototype for the larger model we see later.

I think it's great and I think there should be more of it. Wherever possible I re-invented rather than reintroduced (Perceptor, Roadbuster, Blurr).

Who created the Insecticons?

That's open to any writer wanting to tackle that point. The current Insecticons were created by Megatron and Deluge, the previous ones? Hmmm...

[quote="Shane McCarthy"][quote="Mort"]Does that mean the praise Deluge gives out is directed at Megatron ('This was a stroke of genius [...] It's upsetting I didn't think of this myself' etc) or did I misunderstand you and the praise was for Soundwave's (or whoever else's) original creations?[/quote]

It was directed at Megs.

[quote="Mort"]Also, having had the time to listen to the interview now, I have found the relationship between Megatron & Starscream ambiguous all the way to #11, but you seem to be making it absolutely clear that Megatron is sincere in what he tells Starscream and Starscream is sincere in his change of heart. Would you just reconfirm that that's indeed what you meant for them and there are no additional layers to that conversation. [/quote]

I'm glad you found it ambiguous. People debating their motivations were exactly what I was hoping for. However, yes, to clear it up: Megatron is indeed sincere in what he tells Starscream (however he's also baiting him to 'trick' him into playing his hand) and Starscream's change of heart is...oh wait, #12 isn't out yet is it? Shhh then.

[quote="Mort"]And whilst on the subject, what was that final step that Megatron wanted Starscream to take to completely embrace the Decepticon ideal back in #3?[/quote]

To accept who he is and accept Megatron as leader...OR...to make his play for leadership and take Megatron out. That was basically Megatron saying "Sh*t or get off the pot."

[quote="Mort"]Regarding Kup as the traitor, I did think strongly it was him around the time of #6, particularly because of his speech to Prowl. Was any of it going to be part of his traitor persona had you gone down that route or was he going to be an entirely different personality altogether? The canvas must have been pretty blank after Nick's spotlight. Or did you never get that far at that stage?[/quote]

Let me be very, very clear on this (even though I have been but little things like this have a habit of running off to other boards and mutating into 'Shane changed his mind and blah blah!!', haha). My idea for having Kup as the traitor was something I threw out WELL before AHM #1 had gone to script. The Kup you see in AHM, all the way through, is a non traitor Kup.

As you say, I had a blank slate to play with and rebuilt him with 100% badass components, no shoddy workmanship there at all ;)

[quote="Mort"][PS: The cigar is brilliance - especially the scene where he picks it up in SL:Drift][/quote]

For all the cigar fans, it has two 'moments' in #12...other than that third moment where it takes on Megatron single handed and save the universe from evil and...stuff.[/quote]

Gleaned comments about All Hail Megatron by Shane McCarthy

2009-12-12T12:11:00.005-05:00

With links!

Drift's comment was a lead into the reveal of Hunter on the next page. Hunter is the 'other' person.

Kup as the traitor was thrown out the door before I started scripting #1.

Regarding changes to Perceptor:

For the reasons I stated in the interview.

He fell in SP: Drift, was rebuilt and then appears in AHM. Not sure what Nick's doing but it was my theory that when these guys get rebuilt it's their chance to either remain the same or take on a new 'form' (kind of like the Doctor).

For the reasons I chatted to Dave about Perceptor alters his appearance.

[quote="Shane McCarthy"]You mentioned you didn't even know about Revelation until AHM was well under way, but I saw what seemed like a pretty clear reference to it in #10, when they discuss Sixshot 'bringing back' space bridge technology. This would seem to be a reference to him being Shanghaied by Galvatron to be a space bridge guard. Or it could something to do with his appearance in Spotlight: Metroplex, which came about even later than Revelation.

I don't recall exactly where I was in AHM when I heard about REV but it was definitely before #10. The story of AHM was never altered but it was great being able to slip in and change small things to allow it to fit in with what Simon was writing along the way.

So the question is, how much of the story was changed along the way to reflect other stories? Was Bombshell originally just going to build the space bridge from scratch?

You know, I'm not sure about that one. Maybe? I'd need to check my notes. The story wasn't changed in any significant ways, it was really more of a case of cosmetic changes to allow it all to fit in with what was happening elsewhere as I was writing it. Sometimes it made for some frantic changes, haha, but it's all part of working in a shared universe.

Also, could we get some clarification about what happened to Rumble in #9? People seem to think he was shot with the Shockwave gun thingy, but it looked like an ordinary rocket launcher to me.

Rumble was shot in the face by the rocket launcher, not the iShockwave. He was downed, Soundwave got pissed off and lost control of the radio waves for a short moment. Rumble was never supposed to be dead, however he was supposed to be damaged.

I'm extremely specific in my scripts about how I see a shot and how I'd like it done. I try to give my artists the clearest picture of how I'm imagining it to look so they're never at a loss for what I'm asking for. After that it's up to them to either follow it to the letter or improve on what I'm asking for with their superior knowledge of visual storytelling. The way I see it is, if they can see a way to improve what I'm asking for then they should go ahead and do it, it's only going to help the story.

The cinematic feel you mention was a deliberate attempt of mine to start the series off with a 'blockbuster' feel and to then slowly start to move in deeper. Scenes like Megs walking past the office windows and so on were all very clear in my head from the beginning.

Pacing:

Six issues won't change how I pace anything. The flaw in your logic here is to assume I'd 'filled' out the twelve issues rather than do it as a packed, six issue actionfest.

The pacing was exactly as I intended it to be and how I approach storytelling. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but others have enjoyed that side of it a lot.

Apples and oranges.

The scale of Devastator and Omega Supreme:

All of this was discussed at length. As I've said before, nothing happened in AHM as an accident. All of it was debated and talked about.

I wanted the giants to be bigger and so did Guido. And yes, it was for effect (and yes we threw in the cues for mass displacement to happen when they transformed in #2).

Yes they're made up of smaller pieces but when someone can change from a cassette player into a giant robot or a tape into a giant jaguar (not a dog Wink ) then I hardly think it's absurd for Devastator to be larger than the sum of his parts.

Again, we're having fun here, let's have a good time.

Shane, on the off chance you have a minute to answer- was there at any point a chance where you could've pitched a different story to Hasbro/IDW?

Well, I'm guessing the moment I pitched it it could have been a different story. AHM was the one I thought of and pitched though so...

Or was it always this exact plot?

This was always where I wanted to go, yes.

Did you have vaguer details from the off, or was it always set in stone that, say, Sunstreaker was going to be the traitor etc?

I knew how I wanted to approach it. I knew the Cons would take over, I knew there would be a traitor in the Autobots, I knew Starscream would become dissatisfied with Megatron but in doing so would learn Megatron's 'true purpose' and thusly regain faith in his leader.

Some specific moments were always in my head; Dropshot, Octane, Cliffjumper waiting for the red light...

Others came to me later; Megatron Vs Devastator, Sunstreaker being the traitor etc.

Did you, eg, hope to have more time spent with the Autobots etc?

No, I think we spent enough time seeing those guys depressed as it was ;)

review - Transformers #2

2009-12-09T19:32:00.001-05:00

Nice. A definite improvement on the already good first issue. We’re moving away from the setup/establishment phase and into different stories as various characters choose the direction they want to go. I like where Costa is taking the characters.

With Prime gone, the Autobots have to choose a new leader. In a military unit, I’d have expected the second in command to step up and take the job, but I guess that’s not the way things work in the Autobot military. About half the group want to remain on Earth, while the other half, who follow Hot Rod’s example, want to blow the joint and go anywhere but Earth. Problem is, the only way they can leave is if Omega Supreme takes them, and he won’t go without Prime.

We get to see a few other Decepticons who are still on Earth, with Scrapper and Swindle among them. They attack the Autobots on sight, and the Autobots return fire, but ultimately the battle ends when Hot Rod and Swindle decide that with the war over, there’s no reason to fight. They all just want to leave Earth and go home, or whatever the equivalent is with Cybertron out of the picture. Plot wise, this could be a very interesting direction to go. I’ve often wondered just how certain militant Transformers could possibly adjust to peacetime, and if Costa actually takes some time to explore that type of situation, then I’m all for it. We’ve never really seen the Transformers post-war. There’s a lot of potential here.

Continuity looks good to me, though I’m sure the nitpickers will find plenty of faults somewhere. They always do. Cybertron is still uninhabitable so it’s not an option as a place to settle, Omega Supreme is still on Earth, Scavenger wants revenge on Omega Supreme (presumably after the events of AHM #12), Ultra Magnus still considers himself the enforcer of the Tyrest Accords… though with the war over, should the accords still apply? Prowl gives a bit of a justification for his defense of Breakdown last issue. And so on. A number of little details like that jumped out at me during my initial reading of the issue. I get so tired of reading “AHM isn’t in continuity” complaints, so I hope we don’t go through that all over again with the ongoing. It seems very apparent to me that attempts are being made to very visibly remain true to all that’s come before this story, so I have to applaud Costa for that.

And in the end, who gets voted leader of the group remaining on Earth? In any other continuity, it wouldn’t be believable, but here it’s entirely possible that Bumblebee is known and trusted to the point that he’d win such a contest. Hey, the US elected a senator with a paper thin record and no executive experience to the Presidency last November, so why wouldn't the Autobots elect a spy to be their leader? The Autobots at least know Bumblebee and know what he’s capable of, so he’s not entirely a shot in the dark. That being the case, it’s yet another interesting twist to throw at the reader. It’s not just a cliffhanger, it’s potentially a major bit of development for the character of Bumblebee, and that’s always welcome.

I have to end with Spike, the major who knows there are good and bad Transformers out there but doesn’t care. The guy who expects a counterattack after the capture of Prowl, and yet leaves his troops to deal with it on their own while he’s picking up chicks with his alien car. The guy who looks like he is indeed going to suffer some consequences for his irresponsible actions.

Making the main human character in a Transformers comic the very opposite of likable and heroic is an unusual choice. This is not good old familiar Spike; this is a jerk who I really don’t like. He’s also potentially far more interesting and has plenty of room for growth, if Costa chooses to take the character somewhere.

In the end, this issue leaves me wanting to know what happens next. That’s the type of feeling I’d like to have after just about any issue that I read. I’m calling it a success.

review - Megatron: Origin

2009-11-30T22:41:00.002-05:00

If any of IDW’s Transformers fiction had to be described as having the look and feel of a comic published by Dreamwave, it would have to be the “Megatron: Origin” mini-series. Written by Eric Holmes and drawn by Alex Milne, the story is visually dense, with a narrative consisting of what feel like vignettes in Megatron’s early life rather than a deliberately paced, flowing narrative. The series is crammed with visual cameos by familiar characters, and action sequences are not always drawn in a way that conveys the events depicted in a clear manner.

The plot takes an interesting tack right off the bat by portraying the government that rules Cybertron as a corrupt one. When a senator attempts to shut down an Energon mine, the miners resist, and one particularly vocal miner is attacked and killed by the Senator’s Autobot bodyguards. And here’s where Megatron enters the picture. He fights back during the ensuing riot, and kills a guard with his bare hands, causing him to freak out at the having taken a life. Shot down by the guards quelling the riot, he later awakens in the prison shuttle, captures it, and goes underground in the city of Kaon.

Personally, I find the very idea of a young, essentially innocent Megatron a fascinating depiction of the character, because it’s so different than the present-day Decepticon leader. The idea that he’s appalled at having killed someone is just so off the wall, and yet it makes sense. Most world tyrants don’t start out as killers, and some of them probably start out with good intentions. On the other hand, I’m not sure how I feel about portraying the Autobots as corrupt murderers. I despise the trend of tearing down fictional heroes and casting them as morally equivalent to the villains. Not that I want everything to be black and white morally, but the Autobots in this story are every bit as bad as the Decepticons will later be. So why would we root for them? What makes them any better than the Decepticons? I suppose it could be argued that not all Autobots are as bad as those in the Senate and the brutal guards who put down the prison riot, but still, the story paints them in a very bad light.

Moving on, Megatron begins to participate in the illegal underground gladiatorial games in Kaon. The story never specifies just why he makes this choice, and the reader is left to infer that it’s a matter of survival in the corrupt Kaon. Over time he becomes quite numb to taking lives, and eventually revels in it as he grows to be quite proficient in the ring. This is shown to be how he begins to recruit his army, particularly with Soundwave’s help. And this too makes sense, since the Decepticon army is largely composed of thugs and killers and psychopaths. Megatron draws from the criminal elements on Cybertron and rallies them to his cause as his reputation grows. It’s a believable route for the character to take.

Ultimately, by the time the Autobots move in to arrest Megatron and break up the gladiatorial movement, it’s too late to stop it. Picture a small group of police going up against a gang of heavily armed terrorists, and you’ve got the picture here. We finally get a good look at Sentinel Prime, and he’s beaten to within an inch of his life by Megatron.

Now, when summarized like this, the story makes good sense. However, the narrative of the four-issue mini-series jumps around in Megatron’s early life. Character choices are not always explained, and one event doesn’t always follow the previous event in step-by-step fashion. That’s not to say that the story doesn’t make sense, but we aren’t given all the thought behind Megatron’s choices, or his philosophy, and it’s a wasted opportunity to get inside the character’s head. We see what lead to his rebellion and rise to power, but only bits and pieces with no narrative or motive to connect them. We don’t really get to know Megatron. We get to know facts about his rise to power, but not him.

The art is very detailed and fairly good, all things considered. Characters look more or less on model and are recognizable. My problem with the art lies with the sequential and action storytelling. It’s necessary to read most issues two or three times to work out just what is going on in some scenes. The fight between Sentinel Prime and Megatron is a good example of this, as it is difficult to tell who is getting trashed at any given moment. Sometimes the colors are a bit too shadowy and muted to really make the characters distinct from one another. And then there’s “character cameo syndrome” where characters pop up in crowd scenes and the appearance conflicts with fiction set at a later time, or characters from another continuity turn up in crowd scenes. This makes for fun Easter eggs until whiny fanboys start complaining that so and so’s appearance in story x makes the story crap because said character was seen in a crowd in Megatron Origin.

So what’s the bottom line? I think overall the story has some good ideas and Megatron’s rise to power is sound enough in concept. In practice, the story feels like it rushes through some important moments, and it turns the Autobots into corrupt and ineffective police in order to give Megatron a sympathetic origin. With some clearer art and a couple more issues to allow the story to breathe and unfold a little more naturally, the series would have been considerably improved. This isn’t IDW’s best effort, but it’s not terrible. It’s not worth knocking yourself out to collect either.

The Transformers - review of first issue

2009-11-18T17:41:00.001-05:00

Issue #1

Where to begin? Just about half the book has been made available online in the past few weeks, including the death of Ironhide, so there’s very little that’s unexpected in this first issue. Even the ending is one of those “I saw it coming” type twists. Not that it isn’t effective, and where the story goes from here is hard to predict, so in that sense it’s successful as a cliffhanger. But I wonder if IDW let too much of the story out before the issue itself was available, reducing anticipation and limiting the surprise factor. Enough pieces of the puzzle were made available that it became possible to guess how the rest of the issue would play out, and indeed it wasn’t all that different from what I had imagined would happen.

After a brief summary of events, the issue begins at a point two years after the finale of “All Hail Megatron”, which leaves time for much of the destruction caused by the Decepticons in that story to be cleaned up and repaired. For reasons that are still not entirely clear, the Autobots have not only remained in hiding on Earth during that time, but have built up their forces. The humans don’t want them, and have developed very effective weaponry to combat any Transformer they find, Autobot or Decepticon. Prime apparently believes that the Autobot presence is necessary in case the Decepticons return, a point of view with which Hot Rod disagrees vehemently. Given what happens during the story, I’d have to agree with Hot Rod’s point of view. There’s no real reason for the Autobots to be on Earth at this point. Meaning that everything that happens during this issue was unnecessary, rendering Prime’s poor judgment doubly tragic.

One of the things I don’t care for is the return of the old doubtful Optimus Prime, who is unsure of himself and his decisions. This characterization hearkens back to the old Marvel comics days where Prime constantly questioned his decisions and seemed at times unwilling to take decisive action. It may be that Hot Rod’s accusations hit home, and that the death of Ironhide hits really hard, but I’ve always preferred to see Prime portrayed as a confident leader, one who could realistically and believably inspire his troops. However, his decision to resign and to surrender to the humans is very interesting, and potentially very unwise given what happened to Sunstreaker at the hands of the Machination, and given how the humans have clearly been reverse-engineering Transformer technology for their own defense. Prime could turn out to be the latest resource in the human war against Transformers.

But resigning may well have been exactly the right thing to do. Clearly while Prime badly underestimates his human opponents, Spike has the measure of his. He’s either aware or gambles that the threat of death to Breakdown would draw out any hidden Transformers in the area. Spike outmaneuvers Prime and captures Prowl, who is then used as bait to draw in a rescue team. And incidentally, I’ve defended Prowl’s laudable respect for life that leads him to defend even a Decepticon, but as the logical tactician of the group he really should have seen this coming. His response is not typical of Prowl at all, and I may be forced to concede that it is indeed a case of bad characterization. However, the reveal that Streetwise was there with him is a nice surprise.

The art is excellent, as I’ve come to expect from Don Figeroa. There has been a lot of complaining about the new style, particularly the faces, but I’ve decided that I prefer the new look even to Don’s work from Dreamwave and earlier IDW stories. I really like the detail he’s put into the faces and joints of the robots. The colors are bright and almost cartoony in some cases, which is quite a contrast with the tone of the story itself.

So what’s the bottom line? Prime and Prowl mess up, Ironhide is killed during the rescue attempt, and Prime resigns as leader and surrenders to the humans. One would be hard pressed to argue that the pace of this issue is decompressed in any way. A lot happens and happens quickly, and that may be just what the series needs. I don’t entirely agree with the portrayal of some of the characters, or agree that they should even be where they are, but despite that the story successfully depicts a group of Autobots who don’t really know what to do now that the war is over and they are on the losing end. In searching for a purpose, they end up making things worse for themselves. I’m curious to see where things go from here. I can’t say I’m 100% enthused about the new direction, but I did enjoy it and I am interested in the story, so that’s enough to keep me reading.

Why I oppose Obamacare, part 1

2009-11-13T20:29:00.011-05:00

I am absolutely against the health care "reform" bills going through Congress right now. We're looking at a massive expansion of government power and taxation that will put the private insurance companies out of business and leave all of us with nowhere to go except rationed public care. This is a terrible plan that's being forced on us, and about as far from genuine reform as one can get.

So, reasons to be against Obamacare, one at a time:

1. The Cost
With our federal deficit already at record levels, this bill would spend even more money that we don't have. According to this and other articles, "the legislation is estimated to cost $1.2 trillion in the first 10 years".

Where will the money to pay for this come from, particularly when we're in a recession? Does anyone seriously believe it won't add to the deficit, as Nancy Pelosi and President Obama have claimed? I don't. Find me a federal program that didn't end up costing many, many times more than the authors of the bill originally claimed. You can't do it.

The money will come from two sources: cuts to Medicare, and higher taxes and fees. The taxes will supposedly be levied only on "the rich", but the country can only go to that particular well so often. The truth of the matter is, the cost will be passed on to us in the middle class, as it always is. We'll be paying for this trillion dollar government program.

2. Taxes

Just for starters, how about a 69% increase in capital gains taxes?

House Democrats are funding their new entitlement with a 5.4% surtax on incomes above $500,000 for individuals and above $1 million for joint filers. The surcharge is intended to snag the greatest number of taxpayers to raise some $460.5 billion, and so the House has written it to apply to modified adjusted gross income. That means it includes both capital gains and dividends.

That surtax takes effect on January 1, 2011, or the day the Bush tax rates of 2001 and 2003 expire. Today’s capital gains tax rate of 15% would bounce back to 20% because of the Bush repeal and then to 25.4% with the surtax. That’s a 69% increase, overnight. The last time investors were hit with anything comparable was 1986, when the capital gains rate jumped to 28% from 20%, a 40% increase, as part of the Reagan tax reform that lowered incometax rates.

There's more. Much more.

Employer Mandate Excise Tax (Page 275): If an employer does not pay 72.5 percent of a single employee’s health premium (65 percent of a family employee), the employer must pay an excise tax equal to 8 percent of average wages. Small employers (measured by payroll size) have smaller payroll tax rates of 0 percent (<$500,000), 2 percent ($500,000-$585,000), 4 percent ($585,000-$670,000), and 6 percent ($670,000-$750,000).

Individual Mandate Surtax (Page 296): If an individual fails to obtain qualifying coverage, he must pay an income surtax equal to the lesser of 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) or the average premium. MAGI adds back in the foreign earned income exclusion and municipal bond interest.

Medicine Cabinet Tax (Page 324): Non-prescription medications would no longer be able to be purchased from health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs), or health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). Insulin excepted.

Cap on FSAs (Page 325): FSAs would face an annual cap of $2500 (currently uncapped).

Increased Additional Tax on Non-Qualified HSA Distributions (Page 326): Non-qualified distributions from HSAs would face an additional tax of 20 percent (current law is 10 percent). This disadvantages HSAs relative to other tax-free accounts (e.g. IRAs, 401(k)s, 529 plans, etc.)

Denial of Tax Deduction for Employer Health Plans Coordinating with Medicare Part D (Page 327): This would further erode private sector participation in delivery of Medicare services.

Surtax on Individuals and Small Businesses (Page 336): Imposes an income surtax of 5.4 percent on MAGI over $500,000 ($1 million married filing jointly). MAGI adds back in the itemized deduction for margin loan interest. This would raise the top marginal tax rate in 2011 from 39.6 percent under current law to 45 percent—a new effective top rate.

Excise Tax on Medical Devices (Page 339): Imposes a new excise tax on medical device manufacturers equal to 2.5 percent of the wholesale price. It excludes retail sales and unspecified medical devices sold to the general public.

Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting (Page 344): Requires that 1099-MISC forms be issued to corporations as well as persons for trade or business payments. Current law limits to just persons for small business compliance complexity reasons. Also expands reporting to exchanges of property.

Delay in Worldwide Allocation of Interest (Page 345): Delays for nine years the worldwide allocation of interest, a corporate tax relief provision from the American Jobs Creation Act

Limitation on Tax Treaty Benefits for Certain Payments (Page 346): Increases taxes on U.S. employers with overseas operations looking to avoid double taxation of earnings.

Codification of the “Economic Substance Doctrine” (Page 349): Empowers the IRS to disallow a perfectly legal tax deduction or other tax relief merely because the IRS deems that the motive of the taxpayer was not primarily business-related.

Application of “More Likely Than Not” Rule (Page 357): Publicly-traded partnerships and corporations with annual gross receipts in excess of $100 million have raised standards on penalties. If there is a tax underpayment by these taxpayers, they must be able to prove that the estimated tax paid would have more likely than not been sufficient to cover final tax liability.

Even if you're a big government, soak the rich kind of person, can you possibly justify this level of new taxation and penalties in the midst of a recession? Can we afford to have business hit this hard when they're already struggling?

Oh, and just today, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid(D) announced a possible Medicare payroll tax increase. One more cost for businesses.

Part 2 to follow soon.

An odd mix, isn't it?

2009-11-13T20:24:00.001-05:00

The blog, I mean. I switch back and forth between comic reviews, Doctor Who and political topics. It's a strange mix. But all of the above interest me at the moment. I like to review the various comics I read, and I like to comment on the insane people running our government right now.

I always figure that after a day of immersing myself in the news that my hobbies should be my outlet, my bit of escapism to let my mind rest from serious issues. I like entertainment that's about as far from reality as one can get, hence Doctor Who and Transformers.

So yeah, odd mix. But I enjoy it, and it's my blog, so it works for me.

Transformers Continuum review

2009-11-11T21:23:00.002-05:00

Given that IDW is about to start a new ongoing monthly Transformers series, and given that they’ve published a good number of Transformers comics in the past four years, it makes sense to offer readers a book like Continuum. This one-shot comic does two things. It sums up “the story so far…” including events from the various mini-series and spotlights, as well as All Hail Megatron. It also contains a list of all the various mini-series and spotlights in chronological order according, so the new reader (or long time reader for that matter) can accurately place any given story within the fictional history of the Transformers since IDW took over the property.

The book itself is comprised of art from all the various series combined with summaries of events. The art is recycled, but there’s nothing wrong with that given the context of the book as a “historical document” and story summary. The copy itself is new, and it’s here that the book starts to stumble a bit, given that some of the ‘facts’ presented within the summaries conflict with what was seen in the actual comics.

I haven't read every comic published by IDW, but I've read enough to know when some facts have been changed or left out, and it's puzzling. It's not just one or two things, but multiple contradictions with past stories, such as saying that the final battle with Thunderwing took place on Nebulon, when it was actually on Cybertron. There's no mention of Jimmy Pink at all, just Hunter and Verity (though Jimmy makes a cameo in one panel, unidentified). Skywatch and the Machination are confused to the point that the Machination is never even mentioned, and Skywatch is blamed for the kidnapping of Hunter and Sunstreaker. The Autobots are said to believe that both are dead. The book is riddled with errors like this, and it's hard to understand.

I want to be kind here, but I have to be blunt: either author Andy Schmidt made a ton of mistakes while doing his research, or else we're getting some blantant history revisionism here. Either way, I don't really care for the end result.

In short, I appreciate what’s been attempted with Continuum. IDW have built up a lot of continuity and story in a few short years, and it’s bound to be daunting to the new reader. This brief summary of major story points and characters is a good idea, which will hopefully draw in some new readers. On the other hand, it’s a disappointment to the long-time reader like myself when so much of what's in Continuum is wrong. It doesn’t jibe with what’s already been published. IDW gets credit for a good idea, but it looks like they botched the execution. I hate to say that, but sadly it's the case.

All Hail Megatron volume 2 TPB

2009-11-09T19:43:00.001-05:00

Volume 2 trade paperback, originally issues 7-12

“All Hail Megatron” volume 2 collects the second half of the series into a single book. Like the first collection, this greatly improves the pacing of the story by avoiding a month’s break between chapters. The book collects covers in the back along with a few character sketches. I’m very quickly becoming a fan of the trade paperback format, though I doubt it will lead me to abandon monthly books. Without the monthly books succeeding, there won’t be any trade paperbacks.

It’s difficult to review these comics without falling back on the “this happens and then that happens” type of plot summary. There’s not much point in a recap like that, since someone could simply read the wiki summary or the books themselves if they want to know what happened. Some discussion of events is inevitable, but I’m going to try and stick with broader ideas and themes.

But so much of the story hinges on the actions of one character and what’s happened to him that I have to focus on his story at first. That character is, of course, Sunstreaker. As the story reveals early in volume 2, it was he who was both directly and indirectly responsible for the Decepticons winning the war. For all the talk of “All Hail Megatron” ignoring or contradicting some of what came before it, so much of what happens in the story does so because Sunstreaker was captured along with Hunter O’Nion and forcibly converted into a Headmaster by Scorponok and the Machination. Sunstreaker was tortured, humiliated and taken apart to be used as a weapon against his fellow Autobots. For an individual as proud and vain as he was, it was a deeply disturbing experience. And though his body was restored, the events continued to haunt him, causing him to turn his back on Hunter.

Enter Bombshell, created by Megatron to take advantage of the captured Hunter and the Headmaster components integrated into the human. Had Sunstreaker not abandoned him, it’s possible that Hunter would not have been captured and used against the Autobots. Had Sunstreaker been able to heal and come to terms with his experiences, he might not have made the stupid mistake of trusting Starscream. The Autobots’ entire defense network is compromised thanks to Hunter’s unique nature, and the Autobot group under Prime is defeated thanks to Sunstreaker’s desire to lash out and gain revenge on humanity for what one small group of them did to him. Had Sunstreaker been able to stand firm on principle, much of what happened would not have happened, and the Decepticons would not have won. It’s little wonder that Sunstreaker is essentially driven to suicide by Insecticon, telling Ironhide that he wants to die. Watching Ironhide beat up Mirage when he was the guilty party seems to have been the final straw.

What brought down the Autobots? It can essentially be boiled down to one individual who chose revenge over a higher moral principle and couldn’t rise above the admittedly terrible events he had lived through. It’s been made clear that the Autobots in IDW’s continuity are not the noble characters that we’ve seen in the past, and that there isn’t a lot of difference between them and the Decepticons when it comes to the way the two groups fight the war. The Autobots are willing to endure “acceptable losses” for the purpose of fighting the greater war. Even Optimus Prime has been shown as less than concerned with individual life up to this point. All of that begins to change as the Autobots debate whether or not they are worthy of surviving at all, and Optimus Prime begins to “grow a conscience” as Megatron later terms it. It very much seems that the break from the war and the enforced period of inactivity has caused at least some of the Autobots to rethink who they are and what methods they should be employing. Had Prime or any of the other Autobots thought Hunter worthy of protection, they might have been able to prevent what happened, so in that sense they all share the blame with Sunstreaker. It’s good to see Prime beginning to grow beyond that at the end of the story, and his leadership is certain to influence the others under his command.

It goes without saying that the lack of concern for individual life is a flaw that most, if not all Decepticons share. This is most apparent in their treatment of humanity as they kill tens of thousands in their assault on New York and other areas around the Earth. But it’s also apparent with the creation of the Swarm. Megatron knew beforehand that the experiment designed to produce a genius like Bombshell was likely to produce thousands of failures before any success was achieved, and yet he proceeded anyway, much to Thundercracker’s displeasure. “Our own kind!” he shouts at Megatron, before walking away in disgust. This lack of regard for even fellow Decepticon life leads the Decepticons to turn on each other far more easily than the Autobots do, which is why Ironhide’s attack on Mirage is so shocking. We expect fratricidal behavior from Decepticons, but not from Autobots. It’s realistic but at the same time disappointing to see that under the right circumstances, even a stalwart like Ironhide can crack.

The contrast with fellow Decepticons’ behavior is also why Thundercracker’s anger at the treatment of the failed Insecticon experiments stands out, since he appears to be the only one to aspire to a higher standard of treatment when it comes to the others who follow the same cause that he follows. The fact that even Megatron as leader and standard-bearer cannot live up to Thundercracker’s ideals is a great disappointment to him, setting up his actions in the middle and end of the story as he quickly grows dissatisfied with the casual slaughter of humans and as he prevents the mass destruction of many more with the nuclear bomb. “All Hail Megatron” presents the reader with possibly the best use of Thundercracker we’ve seen, as he goes from being the other half of the “Thundercracker and Skywarp” pair to an idealistic individual who is perfectly willing to commit immoral actions, but only up to a point and for certain reasons. He’s still a villain, but a villain with standards, which makes him far more interesting than he’s been in the past. The potential was always there, and it’s good to finally see it tapped.

The other major plot thread running through the story, which comes to a head in volume 2, concerns the plans and actions of the post-war, victorious Megatron. Having finally obtained the long-sought victory over the Autobots, Megatron rather suddenly finds himself faced with having to tame the monster he’s created in the form of the Decepticon army. As that army had formed and as the war had dragged on, Megatron had led them more and more in the direction of doing anything to win. In theory, all Decepticons should have been much more like Thundercracker in terms of outlook, rather than brutal, bloodthirsty murdering thugs. Megatron is fully aware that without a common enemy in the form of the Autobots that they will turn on him and each other at some point, and he rightly knows that Starscream will be the leader of that coup attempt, as usual. The attack on Earth is a delaying action for the most part, giving his army something to keep them occupied while he waits for the inevitable uprising, so he can cull the Decepticons who don’t meet his ideals. Interestingly, he spends no small amount of time trying to convince Starscream to live up to his supposed higher ideals, and even telling him that he will one day succeed in taking leadership from Megatron. Starscream, interestingly, claims to act because of what he sees as the failed leadership of Megatron, who was able to win the war but had no clear plan for victory after that.

That leads to the themes of leadership and focus that pervade the story, and the contrast between Optimus Prime and Megatron. For most of the story, the Autobots are falling apart despite the capable presence of Prowl and Jazz, and later Kup. It’s only when Optimus Prime is finally repaired and among them again that the Autobots rally. He is able to inspire and motivate them even in the most hopeless of situations. Megatron on the other hand had offered the Decepticons a philosophy to aspire to, but in the end it turns out to be hollow, and Megatron has to lead as he always has, by being powerful enough to fend off all challengers to his position. He simply is incapable of inspiring his followers in the same way that Optimus Prime does. Megatron needs an enemy to focus his troops against, to force them to band together against the common foe. When that foe is the clearly inferior humanity, it’s not enough. The hollowness of the Decepticon cause is readily apparent for all with the intelligence to see it, like Thundercracker. The Autobots recognize their flaws and begin the process to change, led by Prime’s example. The Decepticons fragment and turn on each other as their flaws are exposed, and the one guy who tries to live up to his ideals is punished for it.

The basic story and premise are good, but as detailed above, what makes this story so strong are the underlying moral and philosophical dilemmas. Taken together with volume 1, “All Hail Megatron” is one of the stronger Transformers stories I’ve read. It has something to say, and it makes very good use of the characters, including some whose potential has never really been exploited before. It’s well worth a read.

So, the health care 'reform' bill passed the House...

2009-11-08T21:34:00.002-05:00

... but will it pass the Senate? Especially a bill that passed with such a close margin? Several pundits I've read say no, the bill is dead in its current form. Let's hope so.

Even if not, where do we go from here?
- The bill could die in the Senate
- Something could pass in the Senate, and not get out of reconciliation in a form that would attract enough votes
- if something did get out, the President would certainly sign it

If things go that far, there are going to be legal challenges on the constitutionality of the new law, in particular the purchase mandates. If the public really is as against this bill as they seem to be, the Democrats will hopefully pay a price in the midterms next fall, and a Republican majority could repeal the law.

The fight's not over. Not by a long shot. I feel like I did after Obama got elected. My first thought was "Ok, time to fight this."

Robert Gibbs is clueless

2009-11-07T09:58:00.005-05:00

From this article about today's healthcare debate:

"And a summer of angry town hall confrontations and tea party demonstrations, the White House says, is poisoning the debate on the issues.

"Imagine five years ago somebody comparing health care reform to 9/11," Gibbs said. "Imagine just a few years ago, had somebody walked around with images of Hitler.""

Uh... they did. Guess he missed all the "Bushitler" signs.

They're killing Ironhide? In the first issue?

2009-11-05T21:58:00.005-05:00

This bites. Big time. So much for being enthusiastic about the series. Now I'm just hoping the rest of the stories justify killing off one of my favorite characters.

I doubt it.

All Hail Megatron TPB vol. 1

2009-11-03T17:37:00.002-05:00

originally issues 1-6

“All Hail Megatron” begins with a simple premise, as detailed in the forward by author Shane McCarthy. The Decepticons have finally won the war. There’s no one to stop them from running rampant throughout the galaxy and doing whatever they want. It’s like the old cartoon episode “Megatron’s Master Plan” part 2, only without the sanitized nature of the old cartoon that made sure that no one died and nothing was permanently destroyed. AHM contains plenty of destruction and death, though a lot of it still happens off panel or is implied rather than shown, so it’s no R-rated bloodbath.

The story remains in continuity with Simon Furman’s earlier storylines, and yet it consciously goes back to long-standing character groupings and reverts many characters to their original G1 designs. It’s a “back to basics” appeal to nostalgia, apparently in an attempt to halt the downward slope of comic sales throughout the “-ation” series of stories. The Transformers alter appearance and alternate mode often enough that the change is not implausible, but it is certainly jarring to have read three years of comics that were trying to bring Transformers into the present day, only to go all the way back to the 80s with many of the designs. A few characters retain their IDW designs, and a few adopt the Classics/Universe designs, so it’s not all retro. But it’s clear that the overall approach came from a mindset that believed that IDW’s problems stemmed from straying too far from what the nostalgia crowd wanted. I don’t agree with that, but that’s obviously what dictated the approach.

So the story presents the reader with more familiar and traditional character designs and character groupings. Starscream, Soundwave and the rest of the usual cast of characters surround Megatron. Many of the Autobots are who we would expect to find together from the 84-85 cast, such as Ironhide, Prowl and Jazz. The Constructicons and Insecticons are thrown into the mix for the first time as well. That’s fine, and I can accept that the characters have gathered together as they have and altered their forms as well, given that a year has passed since “Devastation”. The Decepticons have set a wide ranging attack in motion both on Earth and elsewhere in the galaxy, and according to Megatron have broken the back of the Autobot “resistance” as he terms it. They openly reveal themselves and attack New York, killing thousands and trashing the city. They cut it off from the outside and establish it as a base of operations from which they attack other areas around the Earth. But in an interesting turn of events, they find victory less than satisfactory. The forces of Earth are not a challenge to the Decepticons, who slaughter them en masse without much of an effort. Cracks begin to show in the unity of the Decepticons, and Starscream openly asks Megatron “What’s next?”

The Autobots are trapped on Cybertron, and Optimus Prime is near-death with Ratchet trying to keep him alive and repair him. Many of the Autobots are in an obviously damaged state, with missing limbs and holes in their armor. Morale is terrible, and there is a traitor in the mix who sold them out to the Decepticons. Jazz and Prowl keep the secret of the loss of the Matrix from the rest of the Autobots. Like the Decepticons, the Autobots are slowly going stir-crazy, though in their case apart from low morale it’s simply because there is nothing to do and nowhere to go. Cybertron is not a hospitable environment, though in keeping with the end of Stormbringer the environment is recovering from the damage that the planet had taken. The Autobots are able to survive unprotected on the surface when a year ago the Technobots had all sorts of problems.

The plot unfolds very deliberately and naturally. We don’t see all the destruction and attempts to fight back in a single issue. Rather, it is ongoing throughout three or four chapters. The characters gradually go downhill rather than take sudden left turns, which feels much more natural. Ironhide takes a swing at Prowl, setting up his eventual beatdown of Mirage as his frustrations grow. Starscream abandons the battle and banters with Megatron about what’s next now that they’ve won. I’ve read numerous complaints about the slow pace of the story from those who read it month to month, but in compiled form everything feels just about right.

Characterization is the key to this story’s success. I doubt we’ve ever seen the Decepticons interacting in quite the same way that they interact here, and the same is true of the Autobots. They react to the situations they’re placed in according to their individual temperaments and beliefs, meaning that the characters drive the plot as much as they’re carried along by it. Some characters are changed beyond recognition, like Perceptor. The story takes a few risks with the characters and they pay off. The characters that get lines and express opinions become more three-dimensional as a result. We get characters just standing around “chewing the fat” as well as discussing the overall situation.

The human side of the story works better than I expected it to. I held off for a long time on buying the trade paperback because it seemed like there was a lot of human-centered story there that I just wasn’t interested in. But those portions of the plot are quite gripping at times as the military are rapidly outmaneuvered and beaten by the Decepticons, and General Witwicky takes hit after hit to his plans and morale. Yes, the Witwickys are introduced as a military family, with Spike apparently a commando or black ops type of soldier. There’s no sign of Hunter, Jimmy or Verity, though I know Hunter turns up later on and plays a key role in the story.

The art is strong, as is to be expected from Guido Guidi, who’s been drawing these characters for some time now. Many of the characters are very reminiscent of the old cartoon, but that’s probably deliberate as well.

It’s only the first half of the story, but I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit, and that’s the bottom line, isn’t it? It may not mesh perfectly with all of Furman’s stories, but it does work with them and build on them in most areas, while at the same time going off in its own direction and trying to appeal to nostalgia. “All Hail Megatron” is a solid effort at a direction change for IDW and a good story that uses the characters well.

Rush Limbaugh on Fox News Sunday

2009-11-01T14:51:00.001-05:00

See the video of the entire interview here.

He might as well have said it...

2009-10-30T22:49:00.002-04:00

Original image and article found here, on the excellent Newsbusters site. Well worth a daily visit!

new ongoing Transformers comic

2009-10-28T21:44:00.003-04:00

This is what I'm looking forward to next month... and it's drawn by Don Figeroa, one of my favorite artists. He has a very detailed style, but at the same time it's very clean and readable and easy to follow. I'm not familiar with the writer of the new series, but I'm willing to give him a chance and see how he does.

All Falling Down...

2009-10-28T19:52:00.000-04:00

I've become a big fan of Victor Davis Hanson's commentary over the last few months. Mr. Hanson, to quote his homepage, is "the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a professor of Classics Emeritus at California State University, Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. He is also the Wayne & Marcia Buske Distinguished Fellow in History, Hillsdale College, where he teaches each fall semester courses in military history and classical culture."

Mr. Davis' latest column can be found at Pajamas Media, and it is an excellent summation of the problems our nation is facing thanks to the overspending by both the Bush administration and Congress, and now the Obama administration and Congress.

A few quotes that jumped out at me follow, but the entire column is well worth reading.

When Obama talks of a trillion here for health care, a trillion there for cap-and-trade, it has a chilling effect. Does he include the cost of interest? Where will the money came from? Who will pay the interest? Has he ever experienced the wages of such borrowing in his own life? Did he cut back and save for his college or law school tuition, with part-time jobs? Did he ever run a business and see how hard it was to be $200 ahead at day’s end?

What destroys individuals, ruins families, and fells nations is debt—or rather the inability to service debt, and the cultural ramifications that follow. When farming, I used to see the futility in haggling over diesel prices, trying to buy fertilizer in bulk, or using used vineyard wire—when each day we were paying hundreds in dollars in interest on a “cut-rate” 14% crop loan.

The difference between the 5th century BC and late 4th century BC at Athens is debt–and not caused just by military expenditures or war; the claims on Athenian entitlements grew by the 350s, even as forced liturgies on the productive classes increased, even as the treasury emptied. At Rome by the mid-3rd century AD the state was essentially bribing its own citizens to behave by expanding the bread and circuses dole, while tax avoidance became an art form, while the Roman state tried everything from price controls to inflating the coinage to meet services and pay public debts.

Integral to public debt are two eternal truths: a public demands of the state ever more subsidies, and those who pay for them shrink in number as they seek to avoid the increased burden.

Why the pessimism? I think there are a few truths that transcend politics and remain eternal. In life as a general rule, debt has to be paid back, and with greater pain and anger than it was to borrow it. Bullies do not respect magnanimity, but tragically interpret it as weakness to be exploited rather than to be admired.

My Doctor Who "Top 200" episode rankings

2009-10-26T21:34:00.000-04:00

Doctor Who magazine ran the top 200 episodes this month, culled from fan surveys. Needless to say, my results are somewhat different, though until I sat down and organized the stories from favorite to least favorite, I'm not sure I could have told you just exactly what order everything was in.

Top 200 Doctor Who

1. Warrior’s Gate
2. Inferno
3. The Deadly Assassin
4. Horror of Fang Rock
5. The Caves of Androzani
6. The Ark in Space
7. The Power of the Daleks
8. Genesis of the Daleks
9. The Seeds of Doom
10. The Talons of Weng-Chiang

11. The Web of Fear
12. Terror of the Zygons
13. Pyramids of Mars
14. Planet of Evil
15. Fury From the Deep
16. The Aztecs
17. Marco Polo
18. The Crusades
19. The Massacre
20. The Daleks

21. An Unearthly Child
22. The Reign of Terror
23. The Dalek Master Plan
24. The Robots of Death
25. The Sea Devils
26. The Evil of the Daleks
27. The Time Warrior
28. Full Circle
29. City of Death
30. The Mind Robber

31. Tomb of the Cybermen
32. Earthshock
33. Carnival of Monsters
34. The Green Death
35. Invasion of the Dinosaurs
36. The Ambassadors of Death
37. The Silurians
38. The Dalek Invasion of Earth
39. The Time Meddler
40. The Three Doctors

41. The Invasion
42. The War Games
43. Day of the Daleks
44. The Face of Evil
45. The Five Doctors
46. The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances
47. State of Decay
48. Logopolis
49. The Leisure Hive
50. The Ribos Operation

51. The Visitation
52. The Sunmakers
53. The Androids of Tara
54. Death to the Daleks
55. Enlightenment
56. The Horns of Nimon
57. The Mind of Evil
58. Terror of the Autons
59. The Hand of Fear
60. The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit

61. Robot
62. Spearhead from Space
63. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
64. Dalek
65. Doctor Who (the TV movie)
66. The Brain of Morbius
67. The Masque of Mandragora
68. The Sontaran Experiment
69. The Ice Warriors
70. Blink

71. The Girl in the Fireplace
72. Father’s Day
73. Mark of the Rani
74. Vengeance on Varos
75. The Trial of a Time Lord
76. The Two Doctors
77. Mawdryn Undead
78. Attack of the Cybermen
79. The Highlanders
80. The Gunfighters

81. Warriors of the Deep
82. Bad Wolf / Journey’s End
83. The End of the World
84. Frontios
85. Castrovalva
86. The Keeper of Traken
87. The Armageddon Factor
88. The Pirate Planet
89. The Stones of Blood
90. The Smugglers

91. The Tenth Planet
92. The Curse of Peladon
93. The Claws of Axos
94. The Invasion of Time
95. The Faceless Ones
96. The Romans
97. The War Machines
98. The Next Doctor
99. Planet of the Daleks
100. The Macra Terror

101. Planet of Giants
102. Survival
103. The Curse of Fenric
104. Planet of the Dead
105. Planet of Fire
106. Partners in Crime
107. The Unquiet Dead
108. The Christmas Invasion
109. Human Nature / The Family of Blood
110. Smith and Jones

111. Shada
112. The Creature from the Pit
113. Nightmare of Eden
114. The Monster of Peladon
115. The Abominable Snowmen
116. Planet of the Ood
117. Turn Left
118. The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky
119. Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks
120. The Power of Kroll

121. Destiny of the Daleks
122. Frontier in Space
123. Colony in Space
124. School Reunion
125. Ghost Light
126. The Awakening
127. The Seeds of Death
128. The Krotons
129. The Doctor’s Daughter
130. Underworld

131. Revenge of the Cybermen
132. Midnight
133. Utopia / The Sound of Drums / The Last of the Time Lords
134. The Myth Makers
135. The Rescue
136. Arc of Infinity
137. Snakedance
138. Galaxy Four
139. The Savages
140. The Moonbase

141. The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End
142. The Fires of Pompeii
143. Tooth and Claw
144. The Keys of Marinus
145. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
146. Meglos
147. The Enemy of the World
148. The Celestial Toymaker
149. The Web Planet
150. Army of Ghosts / Doomsday

151. 42
152. Remembrance of the Daleks
153. Gridlock
154. The Long Game
155. Four to Doomsday
156. The Time Monster
157. The Ark
158. The Space Museum
159. The King’s Demons
160. The Mutants

161. Rose
162. Resurrection of the Daleks
163. The Invisible Enemy
164. The Android Invasion
165. The Sensorites
166. The Edge of Destruction
167. The Chase
168. The Underwater Menace
169. The Space Pirates
170. Image of the Fendahl

171. The Dominators
172. Fear Her
173. The Idiot’s Lantern
174. Timelash
175. Paradise Towers
176. Black Orchid
177. Terminus
178. The Wheel in Space
179. Mission to the Unknown

180. The Daemons
181. The Twin Dilemma
182. Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel
183. The Unicorn and the Wasp
184. The Shakespeare Code
185. Aliens of London / World War 3
186. Battlefield
187. Delta and the Bannermen
188. Revelation of the Daleks
189. Silver Nemesis
190. The Runaway Bride

191. The Lazarus Experiment
192. New Earth
193. Boom Town
194. Time-Flight
195. Time and the Rani
196. Kinda
197. The Happiness Patrol
198. Dragonfire
199. Voyage of the Damned
200. Love and Monsters

Review: Transformers Spotlight - Revelation

2009-10-26T20:42:00.000-04:00

As far as I know, “Revelation” was originally slated to be the next six-part mini-series following “Devastation”, until falling sales forced IDW to rethink their plans for the Transformers comics. But loose story threads were hanging out there that had to be resolved, and so thankfully long-time readers got the answers in four Spotlight comics, namely Cyclonus, Hardhead, Doubledealer and Sideswipe, now collected together as a trade paperback. These four spotlights vary in the amount of focus actually given to the title character, which was probably inevitable given the need to focus more on plot than character, even within the character-focuses “Spotlight” format.

Cyclonus: Quite a bit is revealed about the title character. In this continuity, Cyclonus was one of the crew of the first Ark who went into the Dead Universe with Nova Prime. He is on a specific mission in the normal universe, but takes time to pay a visit to Cybertron where he laments the destruction of Cybertron’s ‘perfection’. Much of Cyclonus’ inner dialogue reveals him to be someone who believes strongly in the superiority of Cybertronian life, which ties in with Nova Prime’s goal to remake the universe in its image. His desire for revenge draws attention to himself, leading Ultra Magnus and Hound’s group to the nega-core, and the reason that Thunderwing was taken is finally revealed.

Hardhead: The events of Nightbeat’s spotlight are finally resolved, all because Nightbeat himself figures out that his memories have been tampered with. This particular story could have worked just as well without Hardhead in it, making it a case of fitting his character into the plot rather than vice versa, but the narrative still works well. I find it very interesting that micromasters are apparently the inhabitants of Gorlam Prime who have been modified to take on Cybertronian bodies, and the fact that they were originally humanoid in size explains the small size of the Micromasters. Nice idea.

Hardhead himself is a character I’ve never paid much attention to, and I imagine his use in IDW’s comics has given him more development than he’s had in any other TF continuity. I like the guy and his stoic, no-nonsense approach to life. He realizes he’s a grunt who is given dirty jobs because he’s tough and capable, and that sooner or later his number will be up.

Doubledealer: Here’s another relatively undeveloped character, and one I’m mainly familiar with due to the toy, which my brother had when we were kids. Not exactly a triple changer, but a figure with a robot mode and two alt-modes, a truck and a bird. This particular story was set up back in Hot Rod’s spotlight, and the events of that story are finally resolved. It’s interesting mainly to watch Doubledealer try to play his con-game on Hot Rod, who in a nice bit of logic not usually associated with the character, has worked it all out. This chapter fits the least comfortably into the Revelation storyline since the events with Hot Rod and Doubledealer only play only a small role. The main story is really the attack on Thunderwing and the creation of the Autobot pretenders so they can enter the dead universe.

Sideswipe: This particular spotlight really isn’t about Sideswipe, even if he does get some focus in a few key scenes. All the dead universe plotlines are tied up here, and all those plot threads set up earlier on with the first Ark, Nova Prime, etc. are explained and resolved. For once, the character of Nemesis Prime actually makes sense, given what happened to Nova. Optimus gets to prove that he is indeed the noblest of the Primes, despite his doubts back in his own spotlight.

So, having read all the “–ation” storylines, or most of them anyway, how does Simon Furman’s grand storyline look? Unfortunately it was the victim of pacing, being too slow at the beginning for most readers, and wrapping up too quickly in “Revelation” and “Maximum Dinobots”. But there’s a lot to appreciate about his ideas, including the use of characters from all across the G1 era, rather than just the 84-85 years. The threats on multiple fronts, including the war, the Dead Universe characters and the Machination all allowed for layers to the plot that kept things interesting. There’s a definite ‘galaxy-spanning’ feel to the story, with groups of Transformers scattered on many planets. It doesn’t feel like there’s just a small war on Earth and Cybertron, with nothing happening anywhere else. I think the storylines have been well worth my time to read and enjoy, and I think the payoff for all the ‘slow burn’ stories early on was worth the wait. All of this was probably more interesting to me than All Hail Megatron in the long run, though I enjoyed that story as well.

Comic reviews? What happened to politics?

2009-10-25T22:33:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I decided that this blog had sat idle long enough. I'd rather add some variety and post comic and tv reviews than just stick to politics, which just irritate me too much to write about at the moment. Which is not to say that I won't get political again...

Yeah. That picture pretty much sums it up.

Onwards and upwards.

All Hail Megatron #14 review

2009-10-25T17:01:00.001-04:00

Story 1 is about Sunstreaker, and his experiences during the Furman-written run of comics. I'm assuming a lot of what happened to him took place during "Devastation", which I missed entirely. I remember that he was captured at the start of Escalation and was apparently going to be turned into a Headmaster. The title of the story is "Replay" so I assume we're watching Sunstreaker relive his most recent memories, from winning a battle before being transferred to Earth, to being disassembled by the group who were developing the Headmasters, to what is either a memory or a fantasy about being restored and made whole. The last two pages show him lying in a pile of scrap at the bottom of a chasm beneath a broken bridge.

Here's where coming in late to a story does me no favors, since I don't really know what happened. I assume he died fighting, or else is in very bad shape and is expiring as we watch, and this story is the equivalent of his life flashing before his eyes. Either way, it's a grim storyline for a character I'd rather have seen more of. I get the feeling we won't be seeing Sunstreaker again any time soon.

Story 2 is about Galvatron, and shows him recruiting Cyclonus and Scourge, and creating the sweeps as his own private army. I guess these three characters are bound to be associated with each other from now on, ever since the 86 animated movie. At least Galvatron and Megatron are two different characters in this continuity, and that's a good thing.

Not as good as issue 15, but interesting all the same.

All Hail Megatron #13 review

2009-10-25T17:00:00.001-04:00

Continuing my hopping around in the AHM storyline, I picked up issue #13 today. And once again, I found it a very enjoyable set of stories, based around two of my favorite G1 characters.

Ironhide - This particular story reminds us that Ironhide's been around a long time, and seen some ugly things. And at the beginning of the story it's finally gotten to be too much, thanks to his beatdown of Mirage. He and Optimus Prime sit down, have a drink or three and discuss their friendship from where it started to where it is now. That's a nice angle for the writer to take, because Optimus Prime doesn't have that many friends. He's in charge, and by necessity has to be somewhat distant from those under his command. Ironhide's one of the exceptions, and it's good to see that demonstrated, both via the conversation between the two and via flashback.

I've been a fan of Don Figeroa's art for several years now, and despite a poor first impression of his new style a few months ago when I first saw the art preview from the ongoing series, I find here that I like the new art quite a bit more than I thought I would. Don's art has always been detailed and expressive, and that trend continues here. The Transformers' eyes resemble the movie designs, but a lot of the new art is just altered facial styles and added layers of detail. It works for me.

Starscream - I've always had a disagreement with Starscream's portrayal as an incompetent coward. It doesn't match his original bio, and it doesn't make sense that he'd rise to be Megatron's lieutenant if he wasn't capable of doing the job. I think the "whiny coward" is a relic of the old cartoon, and one that needs to be disposed of. This issue does a good job of portraying Starscream as ambitious and egotistical, but not so much that it overwhelms his good sense. He knows that even with Megatron out of the way that his position isn't assured. Razorclaw is sure to challenge him, and there's always the possibility that Megatron will recover as well. When Shrapnel offers to finish him off, Starscream is unwilling to do that because he knows those loyal to Megatron will take revenge.

And then there's the Matrix, something Decepticons apparently can't use, and which Starscream sees no value in having, since it sits there and looks pretty and nothing else. But he's quick to figure out that the reputation may be enough to solidify his hold on the leadership based on Shrapnel's reaction. In the end, his body language suggests that he knows he's stepped in it, and that his lie is bound to come back and haunt him. I'd like to see some follow-up to this. I'd enjoy reading a plot where Starscream finally got what he always wanted and found that he hated it.

I didn't care for this artistic style as much. It got the job done and illustrated the story, but it's just not to my liking.

Overall, the second best issue of the "coda" issues.

All Hail Megatron volume 2 TPB

2009-10-25T16:57:00.000-04:00

I take it from reading the discussion that the story didn't work for some of you. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and perhaps having six issues in one volume improves the pacing and ties things together more effectively. I can't say, having not read individual issues. I enjoyed the story very much.

The volume begins with the creation of the Insecticons and the Swarm, and I was happy to see some art by EJ Su, whose art I liked quite a bit in Infiltration and Escalation. Thundercracker is not happy about the experiments used to create the Insecticons and the way the cast-offs are treated. "Our own kind!" he keeps insisting. It's little scenes are reactions like this that make him and others more than just background filler characters. And there are other similar scenes here and there.

The Autobots are on the run, and the way in which they were defeated and sent to Cybertron is explained by Jazz to Kup in a flashback. Devastator is the ace in the hole that he was back in the early G1 days, when he was the only combiner. It's odd that Megatron doesn't just have the Autobots all killed rather than sending them to Cybertron to be eaten by the Swarm though. I'm not sure I buy that, unless he thought they might be needed later. It's an odd choice. Regardless, Prime manages to close the portal, leaving the Autobots alive but trapped. So they're on the run, leaderless and pursued by crazy mutant Insecticons.

It's a rough scene when Ironhide beats up Mirage, convinced that he's the traitor and unwilling to hear him out. Sunstreaker, the actual traitor, stands there and watches, and it's clear this later plays into his decision to confess and end it all, as his consicence gets the better of him. As an aside, it's nice to see the Universe versions of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe used in the story, and also Mirage I believe. I'm not sure if there were others, though I did see Dropshot and Tankor/Octane near the end, which was a nice touch. Sunstreaker's apparent death is the end of a downward spiral for a proud Autobot who was violated badly by humans and who couldn't get past that. His agreement with Starscream sealed the deal, since the dire situation the Autobots find themselves trapped in can be laid directly at his feet. I'm not convinced that he's dead, since he survived the explosion and the fall as shown in issue #14, even if he is in bad shape, but that's neither here nor there. Death is meaningless in comics.

Starscream goes around gathering support for a coup, fully aware that Megatron knows what he's up to. I find the portrayal of Starscream very interesting here. He's ambitious as always, but he also genuinely seems disenchanted with Megatron's leadership and lack of goals, and he seems genuinely to believe in the Decepticon cause rather than simply being out for power. Megatron tells him at one point that he sees Starscream ultimately succeeding in wresting leadership from him one day, and that's enough to rally Starscream behind Megatron against the Autobots. And he refuses to use the opportunity to simply kill Megatron when he's helpless and take his place, saying that leadership must be earned. This seems to be a Starscream that isn't stupid, but recognizes that he's got to have the respect of the troops in order to lead them, and killing an already helpless Megatron isn't likely to get him that respect.

Omega Supreme is one of my favorite figures and characters, so having him show up and save the day was great. His explanation of how he survived the attack sent to finish him off ("I am Omega Supreme") says it all.

One of the themes of this series is the way in which various characters pay for deals with the other side. Sunstreaker is the obvious example, but Thundercracker strays from prevailing dogma and gets shot in the head by Skywarp. Drift is rejected by Thundercracker as a traitor. Ironhide beats Mirage badly because he believes Mirage is a traitor. Both sides are so locked into their causes and beliefs that there's no room for compromise. And considering how long they've been fighting, it's not surprising. But it makes one wonder how peace would ever be possible, assuming the war was ever decisively won by either side. The overall theme of this story seems to explore this idea to some extent, as the Decepticons stagnate without a challenging enemy to fight, and the Autobots fall apart without Prime to rally them, though they are in a terminal situation admittedly.

There's a lot more, but I won't regurgitate the entire plot. Suffice it to say, I'm sorry I missed the issues the first time around. I like the ideas behind the story, and the way in which the characters were used. I'm glad I've been drawn back into reading the comics. Looks like I've missed out on some good stuff.

Review - Maximum Dinobots TPB

2009-10-22T20:38:00.001-04:00

Maximum Dinobots - Trade Paperback

I started reading the Transformer comics by IDW when they first began publishing, and for various reasons I dropped out about the time that Devastation began. So it’s been enjoyable to go back and fill in the gaps and catch up on a year and a half of missed stories. “Maximum Dinobots” fills in a lot of those gaps. The slow burn really does pay off quite well when that payoff is finally reached. “Maximum Dinobots” deals with story threads from not only the main series, but also Spotlights Shockwave, Ultra Magnus, Soundwave and Grimlock.

After a flashback to the “glory days” of the Dynobot team, the story starts out with Grimlock on his own, trying to get their spacecraft functioning again. He sends for help and then is located by Scorponok, who has been after him since the events of Spotlight: Grimlock, briefly summarized here. The story follows this conflict between Grimlock and Scorponok, mixed with Sunstreaker and Hunter’s search for Sunstreaker’s original head. Hot Rod and Shockwave are thrown into the mix, along with Soundwave, Ravage and Laserbeak. Given all the characters and loose ends, it should be apparent that the plot is very busy, and thick with characters, and yet it works and works well.

Grimlock also gets some character development, finally. He lost his speech impediment in the IDW series (though we get two “me, Grimlocks” in his internal dialogue as in-jokes) but retained his traditional belligerent attitude. Grimlock is and has been a character who acted based on his own beliefs and goals, while not always taking into account what those around him want, and it comes back to haunt him here. The Dinobots come into conflict with Grimlock, and Swoop briefly abandons the group, before they pull together against the headmaster attack. But it’s Sludge’s near-death that really seems to get through to Grimlock. At the end of the story, he takes responsibility for going awol with the rest of the Dynobot unit, and has seemingly begun to rethink the way he’s lived his life up to this point. He submits to imprisonment by Ultra Magnus without protest, which is something I can’t imagine Grimlock doing in the past.

I loved Shockwave’s part in the story. With a bomb implanted in his chest by Skywatch and with full knowledge that it will be detonated within a certain time if not shut off, he goes to free Soundwave and essentially does as much harm to Skywatch as he can. In one story, Skywatch loses all of their controlled Transformers and is left with nothing except a damaged reputation, just in time for Spike to help run the group in the ongoing series. I loved Shockwave’s exchange with the guy who sent him to stop Grimlock. “Do you know how much damage I could do in 24 hours?” Ha. He’s not too impressed with the humans.

Scorponok’s real head turns up, and is key to defeating his plans. I remember Magnus taking a shot at him in the Ultra Magnus spotlight, and it was nice to finally see that incident and its implications revealed. Sunstreaker gets his head back and goes in for repair, the whole experience having left him very scarred and damaged, leading to his actions in All Hail Megatron. Scorponok, Shockwave and Grimlock are arrested by Ultra Magnus, and Soundwave is free to rejoin Megatron, having been freed by Shockwave from his alt mode imprisonment. All very satisfactory.

About the only unsatisfactory thing about the story is how incompetent Scorponok is. From constantly underestimating the Dynobots, to sending Hot Rod out to be shot rather than doing it himself, the whole situation goes out of his control because Scorponok is way too overconfident. Or rather, the human in the headmaster unit is too overconfident. He did very well in setting up the whole situation with the Machinations and the headmasters, but blew it big time by throwing caution to the wind and openly trying to expose and destroy Skywatch.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed the story. It’s great to see so many of the storylines set up back when I was first reading regularly finally get tied up, though I doubt the original plan was to do so in only five issues. After lots of slow, steady buildup, it all comes to a head in five short issues. And for the most part, the story is successful and interesting, and the characters are used well. “Maximum Dinobots” is well worth reading.

Voyager season six episode reviews

2009-02-13T18:54:00.000-05:00

I generally just post about political events, but how about some reviews of Star Trek Voyager episodes for a change of pace.

The Voyager Consipracy
An episode that makes fun of conspiracy nuts! I love it!

The narrative rides on a clever premise. Seven of Nine has altered her Borg alcove to allow her to assimilate enormous amounts of data while she’s regenerating. The trouble is, it’s too much information for her brain to handle, despite her Borg hardware, and she starts to go a little loopy trying to make sense of all the information. This isn’t apparent at first, as she is correctly able to diagnose a problem with the ship using some pretty disparate bits of information. But then Seven takes the fact that an alien the ship is assisting is using technology similar to the Caretaker’s from Voyager’s first episode, and she starts to spin some pretty wild conspiracy theories about Starfleet deliberately establishing a military presence in the Delta quadrant. They’re doing it in collaboration with the Cardassians, no less! She delivers this bit of information to Chakotay and actually has him wondering if there’s validity to the theory. Jeri Ryan approaches Seven’s impartation of information as though it’s verbal assault, following one stardate and events that took place on that date with another in rapid fire fashion. She then tries the same thing with Janeway, but tries to convince her that the whole stranding of Voyager was a Maquis plot.

The whole thing comes across as great fun, because it’s so absurd and the twisting of facts is so obvious to the viewer. But people do this all the time in the real world. Look at the ‘9/11 was an inside job’ conspiracy theorists for a prime example of taking lots of facts, combining them with assumptions, and producing a nutty theory. Of course, in the real world, there’s no malfunction of Borg technology to excuse the lunacy. The Doctor is able to work out what’s gone wrong with Seven of Nine and ultimately help her recover, after one of Voyager’s standard cliches, the “unauthorized shuttle launch” that’s always too late to be stopped, as Seven decides that she was the ultimate target of the consipracy and runs for her life.

Failing to stop the shuttle launch is a cliché that made me downgrade the episode a bit, but it’s not the only weakness. I find it hard to believe that Janeway and Chakotay would so easily believe Seven’s wild theories, but apparently they are convinced enough to investigate what she had to say, and to briefly distrust each other. That’s weak characterization of the captain and first officer.

On the positive side, in a series that’s often far too devoid of continuity, this episode is a breath of fresh air. Events from Voyager’s first episode are referenced, and indeed, we get to see clips from that episode. Characters discuss those events with Seven. Other episodes are mentioned, and Kes is name-checked as well, for the first time in a long time. This episode feels like part of a continuing series, rather than an episode that’s disconnected from the overall Voyager story arc. Voyager needed more stories like this.

At the end of the episode, Voyager makes some progress towards home in this episode via a “subspace catapault”, which gives them several hundred light years of progress in a few hours, and shaves three more years off the trip. It’s a happy ending to a fun episode. And the alien of the week is actually friendly and helpful for once, rather than simply being belligerent for the same of being belligerent.

Individual story rating: 7.5 out of 10
Voyager uniqueness rating: the idea behind the story could be adapted for other series with major changes, but by and large this is a story specifically tailored for Voyager and its characters.

Pathfinder
Pathfinder is an excellent story with one major flaw, which I’ll get to shortly. The episode updates the audience on events back on Earth, as Starfleet makes continual efforts to contact Voyager from halfway across the galaxy. And rather than populate the episode with all new characters, the story uses Reginald Barclay from TNG as the protagonist. Barclay is the engineer who was so socially inept and shy that he would retreat into the holodeck and live out a fantasy life where he was a success and a ladies’ man. As the story begins, he’s in some trouble, and is paid a visit by TNG regular, Deanna Troi, who had become friends with Barclay.

In addition to these two familiar characters, the episode also introduces Barclay’s supervisor, a decent guy who suffers Barclay’s quirks in the same way that LaForge did back in the original TNG episode. And the guest characters are rounded out by the presence of Admiral Paris, father to Tom Paris.

The plot concerns Barclay’s plan to contact Voyager via an artificially created wormhole and other technobabble that I won’t repeat here, based on where Starfleet has calculated the ship to be since they last made contact back in season four. This is where the story’s only major flaw comes into play. Voyager has gained nearly 30,000 light years since they contacted Starfleet in “Message in a Bottle” and “Hunters”, so Starfleet would be looking for them in the wrong place. The attempt to contact Voyager is ultimately successful, but it should not have been. On the other hand, to have the episode end in failure would have basically made the whole thing pointless, so it comes down to ending the story with a significant advance in Voyager’s quest to get home, or adhering to logic and continuity and rendering the episode meaningless. The writers could have avoided this by planning ahead and dropping another contact somewhere earlier in the season, but strict intro-series continuity is always fast and loose with Voyager. It’s one of my biggest gripes with an otherwise enjoyable series.

Barclay is well written, and his character’s history is put to good use as a basis for his obsession to contact Voyager. The crew of the Enterprise had become his surrogate family, and since being transferred to Earth, he’s become lonely and withdrawn. He’s drifted back towards his holo addiction and become obsessed with Voyager and her crew, which he has re-created in the holodeck as a ‘diagnostic tool’. He’s even named his cat Neelix. He gets very worked up when talking about how lonely the crew must be, stranded in the Delta quandrant, and it’s obvious he’s telling us more about himself than Voyager. In the end, he breaks protocol and disobeys orders to try out his theory for contacting Voyager. Had he failed, his career would have been over, but his success mitigates his misdeeds, and Janeway has her first two-way conversation with Starfleet in five and a half years.

In the end, the continuity flaw is annoying, but sadly par for the course. Otherwise, this is a very strong episode that uses Voyager’s unique situation to produce some good drama. We needed more episodes that did what this episode did.

Individual story rating: 9 out of 10
Voyager uniqueness rating: this story is tailored to specifically advance Voyager’s overall storyline

Fair Haven
Fair Haven is a quite a letdown after the excellence of Pathfinder. The town of Fair Haven is the latest holodeck getaway for the Voyager crew. Yes, it’s a holodeck episode. With a whole galaxy of ‘real’ things to explore, we have to endure another episode of the crew play-acting.

To be fair, the ship is stuck in place in this episode. The arbitrary spatial danger of the week is, in essence, a thunderstorm in space, which has collapsed Voyager’s warp field. They can’t outrun it, so Janeway makes the decision to batten down the hatches and ride out the storm. Since they can’t go anywhere, the captain initiates an open door policy for holodeck usage and lets the village simulation run 24 hours a day. It acts like artificial shore leave, I suppose. There’s nothing terribly offensive about the idea and story, but neither is there anything compelling about it. We’re watching the crew relax, which doesn’t have a lot of entertainment value. Or at least, not enough to carry an entire episode.

The ethical problem in the story comes about when Janeway finds herself attracted to one of the holodeck characters. In the Star Trek world, the holodeck simulates real people to the point that we’ve seen several characters fall for one. Way back in TNG season 1, Riker makes out with a lady in a jazz club and has enough feelings for her that he still remembers her and she becomes a plot point in season 4. Harry Kim falls for a hologram in season 3 of Voyager, though in his case there was an alien hacked into the computer and interacting with him. In both cases, characters treat a simulated human as though they were real. Janeway does much the same thing here, and the story uses that attraction to explore just how lonely she is after five years of being “the captain”, with no intimate contact with anyone. Everyone on the ship is her subordinate, not her equal, and therefore relationships are off limits. She’s closer to Chakotay than anyone else, but she really has no one to open up to or be vulnerable to. It’s the old ‘loneliness of command’ storyline applied to Janeway. This is a very valid character issue to explore, and the episode tries to do so in an interesting manner. This small community of 150 humans have no one but themselves for companionship, and given the capabilities of the holodeck, Janeway’s dilemma makes sense. In the context of the series, her actions are no more unbelievable than someone getting addicted to internet porn as a substitute for an actual physical relationship, for example.

So she develops romantic feelings for one of the holograms, who is the bartender in the village. She later feels regret for it and berates herself for allowing herself to have feelings for someone who isn’t even real. Oddly enough, she discusses it with the Doctor, who is himself a sentient hologram and therefore not quite the same as the more limited simulations on the holodeck. He’s not likely to be sympathetic to her point of view, and indeed he isn’t, trying instead to sell her on the benefits of a “relationship” that’s not real, since she can’t have a real relationship in her situation.

There’s a good, strong exploration of Janeway’s situation buried somewhere in this episode, but I’m just not sure the story that surrounds it really serves the character well. Janeway’s dilemma is the only meat in an otherwise very, very lean story, and I can’t help but feel that the story would have benefitted from less of the superfluous space danger and filler with the village’s inhabitants, and more development of Janeway’s “relationship”.

The bottom line: the story has something to say about the captain and her solitude, but can’t quite figure out how to get its message across in a compelling way. The end result is a lot of harmless fluff that is hardly compelling.

Individual story rating: 4 out of 10
Voyager uniqueness rating: some elements unique to Voyager’s situation, but could generally work for TNG or DS9 just as easily

Blink of an Eye, Virtuoso,

Memorial
Memorial feels like an old-school Voyager episode. It focuses on characters other than Seven of Nine for once, and it sets up a situation where our main characters have supposedly taken part in something that we, the viewers, know they would never do, namely a massacre of civilians during some type of forced resettlement by an alien military. The episode reminds me of Projections or Coda, where events are occurring that cannot have taken place as we see them onscreen, and so the point of the episode is to unravel the mystery behind the mind games. Sometimes this approach works, and sometimes it’s unsuccessful. Memorial is a definite success.

Chakotay, Paris, Neelix and Kim all return from a long-term away mission and begin to experience memories of being involved in the massacre. Voyager investigates by retracing their flight path, which causes other members of the crew to remember the same events, including Janeway. They locate the planet where the massacre took place, only to discover that the events they “remember” happened three centuries ago, and that memories have been implanted in their minds via the episode’s titular memorial, a stone monument. The memorial monument in question does more than just describe events, it forces visitors to the planet to experience them via implanted memories, ensuring that the massacre is never forgotten.

It’s a strong concept, and the acting by all the regulars really sells it. Maybe this material was something they could really get their minds around and believe in, and that contributes to solid, emotionally believable performances. The characters feel more real in this episode, rather than looking like pawns for the plot. Janeway’s final solution, to repair the memorial despite the trauma it’s caused the crew, is a decision that most of the crew don’t seem to agree with. And I tend to side with them rather than Janeway. At some point, history is just that: history, and however well-intentioned the memorial was, forcing innocent passers-by to live horrible events they had nothing to do with is cruel. But Janeway’s the captain, so she gets her way.

Individual story rating: 8 out of 10
Voyager uniqueness rating: could easily be used in any of the other Star Trek series and lose nothing

Tsunkatse
Who ever thought I’d see the Rock in a Star Trek episode?

Tsunkatse is Star Trek’s take on boxing, or pro-wrestling, or any such similar sporting event. It’s not a deep episode, but it has some entertainment value. I suppose. At least, if you like choreographed fights between Jeri Ryan and the Rock, which shows off the rather impressive physique that both sport in this episode. But then, that was probably the point.

Tsunkatse is a sport that’s enjoyed by the denizens of half a dozen planets in the region of space that Voyager’s passing through. Some of the crew take an interest in it at first, believing it to be akin to a martial arts tournament. That changes when Seven of Nine and Tuvok are kidnapped, and Seven is forced to compete in the matches, and the crew learn that not everyone in the sport fight willingly. But since the sport is so profitable, no one in the local governments are willing to do anything other than turn a blind eye to the occasional alien forced to fight for his or her life.

Voyager tracks down the source of the fights, which take place on a traveling spacecraft and are transmitted to all the local planets. It’s pay per view. Despite the fact that Voyager is outgunned and generally outclassed by the ship hosting the Tsunkatse matches, they manage to do enough damage to the ship to enable them to rescue first Tuvok, and then Seven, along with her opponent in a deathmatch. I note that this happens while Janeway’s away from the ship and Chakotay’s in command. Looks like he’s better at space combat than she is.

The ethical core of the episode boils down to this: will Seven take a life in the arena to save her own? Or Tuvok’s? It’s nothing we haven’t seen before in Star Trek, including the original series episode “Arena” where Kirk refuses to kill the helpless Gorn. Couple that with the overuse of Seven of Nine episodes where she “explores her humanity” and learns lessons about being human, and the content is not anything new or novel. But the episode does entertain on a surface level as a ‘crew members in jeopordy’ plot, and the pairing of Seven of Nine with Tuvok offers some interaction that we haven’t seen much of before. And DS9 fans get a nod with the presence of both J.G. Hertzler and Jeffrey Combs as characters in this story.

One final comment. The presence of a Hirogen in this story is another case of the writers ignoring Voyager’s progress, as they so often do. Voyager has traveled nearly 20,000 light years since we last saw the Hirogen, and yet they find a Hirogen ship for our friend to travel back home on far too easily. Like the Malon in Juggernaut, and the Ankari in Equinox II, the writers simply don’t seem to pay any attention to how far Voyager has traveled and how unlikely it is that races like the Malon and Hirogen would be spread out over that many light years. At least with the Hirogen, we know that they are a culture that travels far and wide on their hunts, so the mistake is less egregious here. But it still challenges the willing suspension of disbelief, not to mention simple logic.

Individual story rating: 6.5 out of 10
Voyager uniqueness rating: substitute Klingon for Hirogen, and it could easily be used in any of the other Star Trek series and lose nothing

Obama's in over his head. Very much so.

2009-02-10T21:30:00.000-05:00

I don't think Obama has a clue what he's doing. I'm sure he doesn't. 900 Billion dollars on pet projects for Democrats, and that's supposed to jumpstart the economy? If government spending made a strong economy, we'd have the best in the world.

That last $700 billion didn't do much, did it? So of course, we keep throwing money at the problem. Typical Democrat "solution" to everything.

The Mum Media

2008-03-13T17:04:00.000-04:00

How long did it take the networks to identify Spitzer's party affiliation? Good grief.

Democrat Hypocrisy

2008-03-12T21:32:00.001-04:00

Time for another political cartoon.

Fred Thompson for President

2008-01-17T01:50:00.000-05:00

Vote for this guy. Here's hoping he'll make it past South Carolina. He's got my vote.

Can't Sleep

2008-01-17T01:49:00.003-05:00

So I updated my seldom-updated blog. It's not that I don't have opinions, I'm just too lazy to type them in most of the time.

The Republican Debate

2007-11-29T19:48:00.001-05:00

I thought the debate was half decent in spite of itself. The questions were by and large chosen based on CNN's stereotypical view of what Republicans are. And of course, at least four of the 'ordinary citizens' were nothing of the kind, but were actually affilliated with or supporters of Democratic campaigns. Makes you wonder how many of the others were plants by the DNC or CNN.

I liked Thompson and Duncan Hunter, find too much to disagree with when it comes to McCain and Giuliani, and don't really trust Romney, though all of the above have their good points. Ron Paul is clueless on several important issues, and Huckabee comes across as a bit too slick. Sort of like Bill Clinton in a more subtle way. The debate last night, for all it's shortcomings, did a good job of drawing out and contrasting the candidates, so it served a purpose.

If it wouldn't validate the Democrats smears, I'd say the Republicans should do to CNN what the Democrats have done to Fox, and boycott the network. But I'd hate to give any backhanded credibility to the Democrats attempts to paint Fox News as a political rather than a news network. And in any case, CNN's smear attempts are pretty transparent this time around. Maybe it's best to let the network keep digging itself into a hole.

First out of the gate

2007-11-10T15:57:00.000-05:00

Fred Thompson has put a proposal on the table to deal with the Social Security mess. It sounds like a good plan so far.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119466143891488863.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_leftbox">

"The Republican candidate laid out a detailed, four-page proposal calling for the creation of voluntary personal retirement accounts and a change in the formula for future retirees that would result in lower Social Security benefits.

It is a risky move for the former actor and lawmaker from Tennessee. He is the only presidential candidate so far to make Social Security an anchor of his campaign. Although all of the presidential candidates have spoken, when asked, about the need to fix the Social Security system, none has offered such a detailed plan nor talked so eagerly and often about the issue.

They all recall President Bush's failed effort in 2005 as a lesson in the political pitfalls and substantive complexities of trying to change the program. He twice campaigned on letting workers carve private accounts from Social Security revenues. But even fellow Republicans wouldn't go along, in large part because of the borrowing his plan would require for a nation already in deep debt.

By the government's calculations, Social Security won't be collecting enough revenues to pay full benefits to recipients starting about 2041.

"I've been concerned about this for some time," Mr. Thompson told reporters Friday. "Basically, [my plan] will assist Americans in saving more for themselves during their working years and not having to depend on the government for their entire retirement."

The Thompson campaign said its proposal wouldn't affect Social Security benefits received by current retirees or those nearing retirement. To pay for his private-account program, the government, which is likely to be running deficits for the foreseeable future, would have to borrow more money.

Mr. Thompson is proposing cutting future Social Security benefits for workers under age 57 by calculating their initial monthly benefit using a formula that indexes to prices rather than wages."

Sounds like a variation on the 401K plan. And it sounds like a solid idea. It's far better to prepare for one's retirement now than to wait and hope the government will be able to do so later. Of course, given the beating George Bush took for a similar idea, who knows what the odds are that this will get through Congress? Just about everyone up there pays lip service to fixing the system, but are afraid to actually do anything.

I don't want my taxes doubled to pay for Social Security down the road. Nor do I want 20 million illegals given amnesty so they can help prop up the system. I think it's time to face the truth that the government can't provide for us in our old age, and that we'd better prepare for that ourselves.

Where is the news from Iraq?

2007-11-09T17:24:00.000-05:00

Seriously... we must be winning, because the major media is ignoring Iraq as much as they can. The daily IED casualty counts have stopped, the daily troop deathwatch has become scarce, and the doom and gloom predictions have also become few and far between.

Where are the news stores about our military victories?

President Clinton? Not again!

2007-10-29T19:46:00.000-04:00

I hope Hillary is NOT elected. What a disaster for the country THAT would be.

Might as well go on record now: I don't think she's electable. Not at this point. Too many people don't like her. Now I'm well aware that a major attempt to make her seem nice and friendly and likeable is underway and will intensify over the next year, and some people will fall for it. But not enough, I fervently hope.

If the Republican party has the sense to nominate a good solid conservative and be proud about it, they can beat her. Time will tell if they have the sense to do that or not. Hopefully their time in the woodshed has been beneficial.

Do we need a two-year presidential race?

2007-10-23T20:37:00.000-04:00

The short answer is NO. Absolutely not.

The long answer: we don't and here's why.

1) Too much money spent on the race. Look at the millions that have been raised and will be spent by the candidates on both sides. Should it take that much to run for president? No, it shouldn't, but the current length of the campaign ensures that only mega-bucks will keep someone in for long. Though there are exceptions. Ask Mike Huckabee.

2) Burnout. Candidates get tired, people get tired of them... we have presidential fatigue before the candidate is even elected.

3) Way too much focus on the future occupant of the White House instead of on the here and now. That ought to be self-explanatory. Everybody's looking for "the next fix" instead of dealing with issues and the leaders that we have at the moment.

4) It feels as if we're stuck in a constant election cycle. We finish one election, and we're already looking ahead to who will win the next one. No one's ever content to sit and work.

I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons, but I'll stop there for now. I think there should be no campaigning until the actual year of the election, and no primaries should be held before May or June of the election year.

Too quiet around here

2007-10-21T11:34:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted anything here. Not that there hasn't been a ton going on to rant about, but I guess I've been more interested in taking it easy and enjoying my hobbies lately.

Or perhaps there's just so much craziness going on that it's overwhelming.

Transformers Mosaic

2007-09-17T17:25:00.000-04:00

If you like the Transformers, go and check out this project, which I am participating in.

http://transformers-mosaic.deviantart.com

It's a series of one-page comics by the fans, for the fans, as they say. Well worth a read. Maybe even some involvement, if you have some skill at writing or drawing.

Courts and the Democratic agenda

2007-07-27T23:18:00.000-04:00

We all know that Democrats and liberals have used the courts for years to push their views on the public. They're fully aware that they don't win elections by honestly pushing socialism, massive tax increases, rights for criminals, et. al, so they've slowly pushed those ideas through using the courts.

And now they're having hissy fits because the Supreme Court has chipped away at some of their precious left-wing dogma.

[quote]New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a powerful member of the Democratic leadership, said Friday the Senate should not confirm another U.S. Supreme Court nominee under President Bush “except in extraordinary circumstances.”

“We should reverse the presumption of confirmation,” Schumer told the American Constitution Society convention in Washington. “The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito.”

Schumer’s assertion comes as Democrats and liberal advocacy groups are increasingly complaining that the Supreme Court with Bush’s nominees – Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito – has moved quicker than expected to overturn legal precedents.

Senators were too quick to accept the nominees’ word that they would respect legal precedents, and “too easily impressed with the charm of Roberts and the erudition of Alito,” Schumer said.

“There is no doubt that we were hoodwinked,” said Schumer, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.[/quote]

What a liar. The whole point the hearings as far as Schumer and the other Democrats were concerned was to find a reason not to confirm Bush's appointees. Alito and Roberts didn't give them that reason. So now it's "we were tricked! Waaah!"

I can't stand liars like Schumer. He knows full well that a left-leaning Supreme Court is the liberal's best friend in this country. Without that, they have major problems.

How about something non-political?

2007-07-06T18:46:00.000-04:00

My Transformers movie review

I’m no movie critic. I know what I like, and if I find a movie enjoyable, I’m not going to pick it apart to find the flaws. I’m going to sing its praises and try to convince as many people as I can that they should go see it as well. To that end, I have to say that “Transformers” is awesome. From the opening moments of the movie where Peter Cullen reprises his role as Optimus Prime from 20 years ago, I was hooked. Giant shape-changing robots slugging it out is absolutely my idea of great entertainment.

The movie opens with Optimus Prime spelling out the backstory for the film. “In the beginning was the cube...”. The “cube” is the Allspark, the object which gives life to the Transformers, and in this movie, the object over which they are waging their war. It’s the “macguffin” that drives the plot, and of course, it’s come to Earth after drifting through the cosmos for millenia. After the introduction, the expectation of the audience to see the giant robots is sated by a quick action sequence where the Decepticon Blackout attacks and destroys a US military base in Qatar, from which only a few survivors escape, including two of our protagonists. The group is pursued through the desert by Scorponok, who burrows under the sand and bursts out to attack, and curiously is never seen to transform. The special effects are excellent, and the sight of a lone Decepticon trashing an entire military base on his own (admittedly in a sneak attack) confirms everything we fans have known about these guys for years. They’re dangerous and scary, and not to be taken lightly. In fact, all the Decepticons in this movie are impressively ruthless and deadly, as they should be.

If that’s the B plot, then the main storyline is the one involving Sam Witwicky and Bumblebee. Shia LeBouf is not an actor I’ve seen in anything else, but I was impressed with him here. He really does carry much of the movie with his acting, and despite the fact that one of my major complaints is that we should have had less humans and more Transformers, I find that Shia’s character Sam Witwicky doesn’t wear out his welcome. He’s very sympathetic and entertaining to watch, and his friendship with Bumblebee, particularly later in the film, is well-played. I initially found the idea of making Bumblebee mute to be irritating, but I’ve changed my mind. It serves to distance him a bit at first, as well as forcing the filmmakers to let his actions and body language speak for him, and that approach works surprisingly well. It keeps him distant and alien, something which is lost when the other Transformers start speaking and the robots become essentially human, at least in character. Not that I’d want them mute by any means, but the tone of the film undoubtedly changes when they appear and introduce themselves. This slow buildup to the robot reveal actually works quite well, which again surprised me, given that I’d be happy with two straight hours of wall to wall Transformer action.

The two storylines are loosely connected, and the movie cuts back and forth between them regularly. It takes a surprisingly long time for the Transformers to appear en masse, leaving them to be almost supporting characters in their own film. Since this is an introductory film in many ways, that’s more acceptable than it would be in a hypothetical sequel, but it’s noticeable all the same. The Decepticons get short shrift in this regard, with Blackout and Scorponok featuring early on, leaving Barricade and Frenzy to pretty much represent the Decepticons during the middle of the film. Many of the others don’t appear until near the end, including Starscream and Megatron, surprisingly. Several of the characters show up only to be finished off rather quickly, including Brawl (named Devastator in the subtitles) and Bonecrusher, who makes the mistake of tackling Optimus Prime. And while the fate of several characters is decisive, Scorponok and Barricade are not accounted for at the end (at least, not to my knowledge) and Starscream is clearly shown escaping Earth’s atmosphere.

The Autobots fare better, though there are only five of them. Of those five, Optimus and Bumblebee get the most screen time, leaving Ratchet, Ironhide and Jazz as secondary characters, allbeit all with some good character moments. Jazz is the only Autobot fatality, torn in two by Megatron, who seems absolutely unstoppable. All of the others survive. And without a doubt, if any of them had to get the most dialogue, I’m glad it was Optimus. My inner 13 year old was cheering every time he spoke. Bringing back Peter Cullen gave the film the stamp of authenticity for this Transformer fan, and I’m grateful he was given the job. I’m glad to hear he’ll be back if a sequel is made. I’m disappointed Frank Welker didn’t get to reprise Megatron opposite Cullen, but such is life. Hugo Weaving certainly did a good job with the part, and he deserves credit for that.

The CGI robots are outstanding. The movie designs were another thing that I was iffy about when they first appeared, but they work very well. The computer models are very complex, and it seems as though every little piece of these guys shifts and turns when they transform. It had to have taken a whale of an designer to create the movie Transformers, and some dedicated animators to make them move. And they blend almost seamlessly into their environment, be it desert sand, back yard or downtown LA (or wherever the city was meant to be). The transformations are always one of those “oh yeah!” moments, particularly when the bot in question is driving at a high rate of speed, or flying through the air. The sequence where Starscream is flying among a squad of F22s, transforms and shoots some of them down, and then returns to plane mode, all while in midair flying amongst skyscrapers, is particularly worthy of note. The bots move with relatively fluid motions, and interact well with the environment. Prime in particular runs along the freeway leaving broken pavement behind, hangs under a bridge over a helicopter at one point, and descends between two buildings, leaving showers of brick and masonry falling on his way down.

The movie had its flaws of course. Some of the humor was in poor taste, particularly the “were you masturbating” scene, and the instance when Bumblebee leaks oil all over the sector seven leader as though he were urinating on him. The audience laughed at both, but crude humor doesn’t appeal to me, and the movie could have done without it. I also found the whole subplot with Anthony Anderson’s computer hacker character a waste of time. It added some laughs, but did little or nothing to advance the plot and probably ought to have been cut altogether, in my view.

Several occurances are never explained, such as the bots the Allspark creates near the end of the movie like the steering wheel Transformer or the Mountain Dew machine bot. Are they still wandering around the city? Why are all the bots created by the Allspark evil? What happened to Scorponok and Barricade? And there were other things I wondered about that just aren’t coming to mind right now.

The bottom line: far better than I had hoped for, “Transformers” does a pretty good job of bringing back the robots in disguise as a live action movie. It doesn’t have the spirit of the old cartoon or comic, but as a modern adaption, it’s not half bad. I really enjoyed it, and despite the flaws, I’d give it a “A”. A good effort, and hopefully one which will spawn some sequels which will go on to give us more robots and less humans. Time will tell. Go see it!

Here they go again

2007-06-13T18:09:00.000-04:00

First we had lost the war. Now the surge has failed, if you listen to Democrats. This pronouncement comes despite the fact that the military has said it will be at least September before they can make preliminary assessments. September is three months away.

op US congressional Democrats bluntly told President George W. Bush Wednesday that his Iraq troop "surge" policy was a failure.

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi challenged the president over Iraq by sending him a letter, ahead of a White House meeting later on Wednesday.

"As many had forseen, the escalation has failed to produce the intended results," the two leaders wrote.

"The increase in US forces has had little impact in curbing the violence or fostering political reconciliation.

"It has not enhanced Americas national security. The unsettling reality is that instances of violence against Iraqis remain high and attacks on US forces have increased.

"In fact, the last two months of the war were the deadliest to date for US troops.

The letter appeared to preview a fresh showdown over Iraq between anti-war Democrats and the president, just a few weeks after Bush forced his foes to strip troop withdrawal timelines from a 100 billion dollar emergency war budget.

It also came a few days after the US military mourned its 3,500th soldier killed in action in Iraq.

Pelosi and Reid told Bush in the letter that they planned to send him new legislation to "limit the US mission in Iraq, begin the phased redeployment of US forces, and bring the war to a responsible end."

On Tuesday, Reid said that Senate Democrats would attach troop withdrawal deadlines to a Defense Department Authorization bill, due to be debated within weeks.

Anyone who can't see that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are trying to force a loss in Iraq simply has blinders on. They're just far too eager to proclaim the whole thing a lost cause.

And of course, unless they're just complete idiots, they know Bush will simply veto any timelines and restrictions they attempt to place on him. This is the 'death by a thousand bills' approach. Keep sending doomed bill after doomed bill until Bush gives up. It's not the action of a responsible leader, but then the Democrats are not leading. They're still playing opposition party to Bush's agenda.

Harry Reid's favorable rating way down

2007-06-12T20:09:00.000-04:00

Someone recently told me that I had a Pelosi fixation. It's actually Harry Reid that earns more scorn from me. I'm therefore pleased to see that this lying fraud's approval numbers from the public are considerably lower than George Bush's numbers. Apparently even Democrats don't like him.

Saturday, June 09, 2007
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is now viewed favorably by 19% of American voters and unfavorably by 45%. Just 3% have a Very Favorable opinion while 22% hold a Very Unfavorable views.

Reid has been very visible over the past week in the furor over immigration reform. The effort to pass a bill that was more popular in Congress than among voters may have hurt public perceptions of the Democratic leader. His ratings are down from a month ago when 26% had a favorable opinion of the Democratic Senator. Reid’s highest ratings were 30% favorable in February.

Each week, Rasmussen Reports updates favorability ratings for a number of political figures and others in the news.

Couldn't happen to a nicer fellow. Now if only his constituents will vote him out of office just like South Dakota voted Tom Daschle out a few years ago. We can only hope.

Good riddance to the "immigration" bill

2007-06-08T20:06:00.000-04:00

If you've listened to talk radio for five minutes during the past two weeks, or even read some of the mainstream news reports, you can't have missed the anger in Republican circles over this debacle of an immigration bill. We expect Republicans to show more sense than they've shown, particularly after losing the election this past November. But they haven't learned their lesson yet, or at least some of them haven't.

And despite generally being a supporter of President Bush, I have to strongly disagree with him on immigration reform.

The more I learn about this bill, the worse it looks. And it may come back. Take a look at some of the provisions:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/6/8/101354.shtml?s=lh

-Allows illegal immigrants who were in the country as of Jan. 1, 2007, to come forward, pay fees and fines, pass a background check and receive an indefinitely renewable four-year Z visa to live and work legally in the U.S.

-Allows Z visa holders to get on a path to citizenship after an approximately eight-year green card backlog is cleared if they pay fines, hold down jobs and learn English. Heads of households would have to return to their home countries to apply.

-Creates a new temporary worker program that would allow up to 200,000 guest-workers per year to enter on two-year Y visas that could be renewed twice, provided they returned to their home countries for a year between each stint. Sunsets the program after five years.

-Prevents the Y and Z visa programs from taking effect until security and enforcement triggers are met, including adding 20,000 border agents, 370 miles of fencing, 300 miles of vehicle barriers, and a new worker verification system to prevent the hiring of illegal workers.

-Creates a new employment-based point system for new immigrants to qualify for green cards based on their education and skill level, and eliminates or limits visa preferences for family members of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.

-Includes a special, less burdensome path to legal status for undocumented agricultural workers and high school graduates who came to the U.S. illegally with their parents.

Here's the bottom line: this bill is not about fixing our illegal immigration problem. It's about legalizing twenty million government dependents who will vote Democrat, and who will provide cheap labor for big business. This isn't a case of either Democrats or Republicans singly giving in to lobbyists. This is bipartisan wrecking of the country.

I've been more involved with letting my voice be heard on this bill than on anything so far. I called and e-mailed both my state senators to express my opposition to the bill. I e-mailed Mitch McConnell to express my hope that he would oppose the bill. I went to a town meeting held by my local representative to get my point of view across.

The bottom line is this: once the bill is signed, all bets are off. Given that the government has had no desire to enforce immigration law for the past twenty years, I have no reason to believe that new laws will be enforced either. Once these illegals are made legal, there will be no incentive to penalize them or send them home. It will never happen. To be even more plain, the government cannot be trusted to enforce the laws that they have written.

Immigration doesn't need to be dealt with in one massive comprehensive boondoggle of a bill. It needs to be done one step at a time. First things first: seal up the border. Second, revamp the system so it's not so difficult for those who want to legally come here to do so. Third, take away all incentive and then penalize employers who hire illegals. Those who are just here for money will leave on their own sooner or later, and those who want to assimilate and become Americans can do so. Finally, make English the national language. Make it the glue that helps to create our common culture.

RIP Immigration bill. Good riddance. Let's keep it dead. Sorry President Bush. Sorry John McCain and Lindsey Grahamnesty. You're wrong on this one.

Senators rebukes Joe Wilson

2007-06-02T11:08:00.000-04:00

The whole question of Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson and the 'sixteen words' in Bush's state of the union speech about Nigeria have come up again and again. Since we've discussed them here from time to time, and people are still of the impression that Bush made it all up, when I saw this article, I thought it was worth posting. I'm still looking to see if CNN or Reuters publishes anything, but it wouldn't surprise me if they ignore this completely. Having used the Valerie Plame non-scandal to attack Bush for years, they're not likely to be interested in the truth.

http://www.inboxrobot.com/news/senate-select-committee-intelligence

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1843217/posts

[quote]In a rare rebuke of a public official by name, the [B]Senate Select Intelligence Committee has issued a scathing report blasting former Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV[/B].

The report claims [B]Wilson mislead the public and the intelligence committee about his trip to Niger in 2002[/B] on behalf of the CIA to investigate claims that Iraq was seeking to purchase uranium in Africa.

Best know as the husband of former CIA officer Valerie Plame, Ambassador Wilson was catapulted to the limelight after he published an Op-Ed in The New York Times on July 6, 2003, that accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence on Iraq to make the case for war.

In his New York Times article, Wilson said that in February 2002 he was asked by the Central Intelligence Agency to travel to Niger to investigate "a particular intelligence report" that documented the sale of uranium to Iraq by the Niger government.

The CIA wanted him to "check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president's office," after Vice President Dick Cheney had raised questions about the purported uranium deals, he wrote.

Once he arrived in Niger's capital, Niamey, Wilson says he met with U.S. Ambassador Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, then "spent the next eight days drinking sweet mint tea" and meeting with former government officials and others involved in the uranium business. "It did not take long to conclude that it was highly doubtful that any such transaction had ever taken place."

And that is what he reported back to the CIA and to the State Department African Affairs Bureau, Wilson wrote. [B]But according to the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation, released last Friday, much of what Wilson wrote in the article, and has said since, about the trip "is not true."[/B]

Wilson wrote to the committee in July 2004 when they released an exhaustive investigation into the Niger uranium story that included the finding that he had been sent to Niger at the suggestion of his wife. Wilson claimed that was "not true."

At the time, the Committee did not release the full text of the e-mail sent by Valerie Plame on Wilson to her superior that recommended him for the job, "thinking it was unnecessary in light of the other evidence" they had made public.

But now, "considering the controversy surrounding this document," the Senate committee decided to make the full text available to the public. The Valerie Plame e-mail shows without any doubt that she recommended her husband for the mission in Niger.

After recounting an earlier fact-finding mission he had carried out in Niger for the Agency, as well as his good contacts "with both the [prime minister] and the former minister of mines," she concluded by saying that her husband "may be in a position to assist. Therefore, request your thoughts on what, if anything to pursue here."

In sworn testimony before the House committee on Oversight and Government Reform in March of this year, however, Plame denied categorically that she had suggested her husband's name. "I did not recommend him. I did not suggest him," she said.

It was Valerie Plame's recommendation for the mission that caught the eye of Vice President Dick Cheney when Wilson's Op-Ed first appeared and ultimately led to the Special Counsel investigation into how her name — supposed classified — was "leaked" to the press.

[B]The committee found that internal intelligence community notes of meetings in which Valerie Plame participated "did not mark her name with a (C) as would be required to indicate that her association with the CIA was classified," as both Plame and her husband have said. These aren't the only instance where Wilson's account did not square with the facts, the senators found[/B].

Wilson has said in his book and in numerous public appearances that reports he reviewed from the U.S. ambassador to Niger, Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, "indicated that there was nothing to the Niger-Iraq uranium story . . . This too is untrue," the committee found. On the contrary, Owens-Kirkpatrick wrote a cable to the State Department which said that the initial CIA reporting of a Niger-Iraq uranium deal "provides sufficient details to warrant another hard look at Niger's uranium sales."

Although Nigerien officials insisted in meetings with the Americans that no uranium would be sold to rogue nations, "we should not dismiss out of hand the possibility that some scheme could be, or has been, underway to supply Iraq with yellowcake from here," she wrote.

Perhaps the most damning conclusion of the Senate report has been known for nearly three years, but has remained classified until now. [B]In the initial July 2004 report, the Senate committee reported that the intelligence community "used or cleared the Niger-Iraq uranium intelligence fifteen times before the President's State of the Union address and four times after, saying in several papers that Iraq was ‘vigorously pursuing uranium from Africa.[/B]'"

Despite that finding, Democrats led by Michigan Sen. Carl Levin blasted President Bush for the "16 words" in the January 2003 speech that described Iraq's efforts to acquire uranium from Africa, calling them an effort to "cherry-pick" intelligence and to "mislead" the country and the world in a "rush to war."

In fact, the U.S. intelligence community continued to believe in the veracity of the Niger uranium story for many months after the speech, and didn't call back its original reporting until June 2003 — well after the liberation of Iraq.[/quote]

My view of global warming

2007-05-31T17:34:00.001-04:00

First off, I'm a skeptic. While I'm willing to believe that the average temperature is rising, I don't believe the cause is due to mankind's industrial activity. I think it's very arrogant to assign ourselves that much power over nature.

There are two possibilities.

1) The natural cycle of warming and cooling of the Earth's climate that in the past produced the ice ages. There were no humans around back then to make the Earth freeze, nor presumably to make it warm up again. Somehow it did all of that unaided. I think we may well be seeing more of that now.

2) The sun is causing warming. Considering that Mars is also warming, and apparently Neptune is now getting warmer as well, there's one common denominator between all three planets, which is of course our sun.

Now I have no problem with a reasoned debate on the issue. What we have now is far from a reasoned debate. What we have is hysteria, where the people who believe that global warming is man-made are trying their best to shut down any dissent and to force us to do all sorts of irrational things to curb this supposed problem. I don't like scaremongering or bullying, and I think they would do well to moderate their tone and try to engage skeptics like myself rather than talk down to us or try to intimidate us.

I have other climate questions:

1) What is the optimum climate for the planet?

2) How do we know the current climate is the best?

3) How do we know that warming won't have benefits?

4) Why do we trust computer models that predict 50 years out when five or ten day forecasts are tenuous at best?

5) If the Earth can cool off enough to produce ice ages on its own and then warm back up over thousands of years, is it conceivable that we're in the midst of such a climate shift now?

6) When it comes to cutting carbon emissions, why exempt China?

I'm extremely wary of this global warming movement, which is more a religion than a science, judging by the reactions of those involved in promoting it. It's going to take a lot to convince me that they're right.

Tight Leash

2007-05-23T17:14:00.001-04:00

I haven't created any political cartoons for awhile. Time to change that.

My senator defends the Republican suicide bill

2007-05-20T22:05:00.000-04:00

Otherwise known as "immigration reform". Or more accurately, amnesty and cheap citizenship for sale. One of my state senators, Lindsey Graham, was booed when he defended it. I'm glad to hear it. Anything which gives illegals a chance to remain here is amnesty, no matter the pricetag.

http://www.thestate.com/154/v-print/story/69054.html

How can Graham be so right on the Iraq war, and so wrong on immigration? For that matter, how can President Bush be in exactly the same camp, right on Iraq but dead wrong on immigration? Do they simply think all of these illegals will vote Republican if we make them legal? Or do they honestly think that this is the right thing to do, as astounding as that is?

If Ted Kennedy thinks it's a good bill, it's bad. That's about all you need to know right there.

On the plus side, supporting this may sink McCain's campaign. I was astounded at his statement at the last Presidential debate that one of his qualifications for President was that he reached out to the other side. The fact that he does is precisely why I've mistrusted him for so long. Add his adamant support for this amnesty, and a good many Republican voters are going to write him off, which is probably a good thing.

Jerry Falwell has died

2007-05-16T17:33:00.000-04:00

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a lot about the man other than what comes through the mass media, and I distrust that. I've read the quotes, and seen the leftists dancing a jig on his grave, and it makes me think that he must have preached the bible pretty well, or they wouldn't hate him so much.

Harry Reid: we've lost the war

2007-04-19T17:31:00.000-04:00

What a vile man.

Harry Reid declares Iraq war lost

His point of view is almost understandable, assuming you think Harry Reid is a reasonable person. But I don't think he is. I've said before, and I'll say again that I think what's in his mind is next year's elections, and a lost Republican war would suit the Democrat party very well.

In any case, he never seems to realize just how much propoganda use the enemy will make out of his statement. I'm all for him expressing his views behind the scenes, but for one of the leaders of one of the two major political parties in the United States to come out, IN WARTIME, and declare that we've already lost is an amazing display of thoughtlessness and incompetence.

Nevada: vote this man out at the earliest opportunity. He's gone beyond being an embarassment to being a danger.

The Travesty that is the Democrat leadership

2007-04-17T20:52:00.000-04:00

The image in the following article is a joke. Or would be, if things weren't so serious.
Democrats Support the Troops?

Support? By playing games with their funding? Trying to intrude on the commander-in-chief's constitutional powers?

According to Harry Reid, "the American people voted for change in Iraq." While true, I wonder if he ever thought that the course change they wanted was one of victory rather than treading water, waiting for the Iraqis to come around? Reid is imposing his own anti-war biases on us by insisting that the only course change must be "redeployment" out of Iraq.

What he really means is that the troops need to leave at the height of primary season next year, so that the Democrats will have an issue to bash the Republicans with. The lives of our troops, a loss in Iraq and America's future safety are something Reid and other Democrats are perfectly willing to subordinate to their own political power.

They ought to be ashamed. Sadly, Democrats have no shame.

Clarification, or don't post when Harry Reid has ticked you off

2007-04-08T19:55:00.000-04:00

Just to clarify my post of April 5, it's not all Democrats who disgust me. It's the leadership mainly. I listed a lot of names, and I could add Howard Dean to that list, or Terry McAuliffe, one of the most genuinely unpleasant people I've ever seen. So why do these men disgust me?

It's because they have no moral character. These men want to drag America into their version of some socialist, big-government nanny state, where the all-powerful federal government controls everything. They want to toss morality overboard and replace it with their own, where all sorts of immoral behavior from homosexuality to abortion is accepted as right and proper, while actual moral choices such as being free to express religious views in a public forum are suppressed.

The do this incrementally, and they fight dirty. I can't help but notice that they have spent nearly every waking moment since they took over in January conducting "oversight" of the Bush administration. By which I mean they've been conducting witch hunts, looking for any excuse whatsoever to call for someone's resignation. They've invented the scandal with the fired US attorneys, and put on this facade of righteous indignation. Speaking of which, add Pat Leahy to my list of disgusting Democrats.

By far the worse thing they've done is treat Iraq war funding as a political football. They want to end the war by next year, not out of principle, but because they want a lost war and a chaotic Iraq as a campaign issue for the 2008 presidential election. In short, they are willing for American service men and women to die, and for Iraqis to be slaughtered, and for Al Queda and Iran to be emboldened, all so they can gain the Presidency back in 2008.

That's why they disgust me. They are vile, immoral opportunists. I hope the public can see this and deal with them properly on election day.

Pelosi in Syria

2007-04-08T17:40:00.000-04:00

Isn't it nice when our elected Democrat leaders cannot confine their attempts to destroy President Bush to the domestic political landscape, but have to go overseas as well? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has apparently decided that she's now Secretary of State. She's also decided that meeting with Basher Assad is a good idea. This is the man who is the head of state in Syria, a nation that supports a number of terrorist organizations. He's also implicated in a high-profile political assassination as well.

So the speaker of the house goes to visit him, and in effect endorses his presidency, and all that goes with it. And she can't see why this was a bad idea?

Democrats disgust me

2007-04-05T21:35:00.000-04:00

Should I name names? Harry Reid. Nancy Pelosi. Dick Durbin. Jack Murtha. Arrogant, lying hypocrites, every one of them, who think that they run the show now. They're ready to end the war in Iraq and force us to lose. They're ready to cut the funding or else give it and tie the commander-in-chief's hands in the process.

They pretend that it's just a case of oversight, or of fulfilling the election results, but it's nothing but an escalation of their six-year attempt to destroy George Bush.

Then of course there are the stubborn fools who insist that we've lost the war and that Iraq is tied up in a civil war and that running away is the solution.

Post-election burnout

2007-01-27T08:49:00.000-05:00

I always seem to get it. After the election is over, I'm done with politics for awhile, or at least have nothing to say about them. Time to start ranting again. :)

Best wishes, Senator Johnson

2006-12-14T17:58:00.000-05:00

Senator Tim Johnson is in critical condition as I write this. He had a hemorrhage in his brain and had to be given emergency brain surgery.

The news has been filled with vultures all saying the same thing: "Control of the Senate is at stake!" With all due respect, is that really as important as the man's life and health?

I vote Republican. I'm a Christian, and a conservative, and I think it would be a very good thing if the Senate were not in Democrat hands. But this is not the way I want it to happen. Not by taking advantage of a man's illness.

So get well, Senator Johnson. Your wife and family need you. Let's just hope your party doesn't do too much damage while they're in charge the next two years.

The Six Year Itch

2006-11-22T20:52:00.000-05:00

We saw an ugly election result a few weeks ago. What can I say? I called it wrong.

The Six Year Itch has struck again. When you go back and look at off-year elections in a President's sixth year in office, there is almost always a loss. Sometimes a huge loss. Clinton was a bit of an exception, in that his loss occurred in 1994, his second year in office. Let's look at a few numbers.

1874, Grant's sixth year in office. Lost 8 in the Senate, 96 in the house.
1894, Clevland re-elected, defacto sixth year. Lost 5 in the Senate, 116 in the House.
1906, Teddy Roosevelt's sixth year, bucked the trend a bit. Gained 3 in the Senate, lost 28 in the House.
1918, Wilson, lost 6 in the Senate, lost 19 in the House.
1938, the great FDR, lost 6 in the Senate, 71 in the House.
1950, Truman, lost 6 in the Senate, 59 in the House.
1958, Eisenhower, lost 13 in the Senate, 48 in the House.
1966, Johnson, lost 4 in the Senate, 47 in the House.
1974, Nixon, lost 5 in the Senate, 48 in the House.
1986, the great Ronald Reagan even lost seats, 8 in the Senate and 5 in the House.
1994, Clinton bucked the trend with early losses, losing 9 in the Senate, 54 in the House.
2006, Bush, loses 6 in the Senate, 28 in the House.

Bush's losses are just about average.

I sense a historical trend here, not a massive upset. I feel more cheerful now.

I do hope that with the Republican spanking we'll see a return to a more conservative party. I won't hold my breath on that, but I'll be hopeful.

That was ugly...

2006-11-08T20:04:00.000-05:00

All I can say is... ouch.

Ok, I can say more than that. The Republicans got hammered. From what I can tell it was a combination of scandals and the war in Iraq. Which leaves us the unpleasant reality of a Democrat controlled House of Representatives, and possibly the senate as well.

Time for the Democrats to put up or shut up. For six years they've done nothing and offered nothing except second guessing and wild criticism of President Bush. They have yet to produce a plan for Iraq, and most of their actions in the War on Terror seem designed to help our enemies and make it harder for us to gather intelligence. I'm pretty concerned about just how much damage they'll cause in the next two years.

Let's hope it doesn't happen. Let's hope they tinker around with social issues and try to raise taxes and open twenty investigations into the Bush administration and behave in the obnoxious way that Democrats in power generally do. Couple that with a decent conservative Republican candidate in two years and we'll take back the government and put the grown-ups back in charge, rather than the juveniles who are about to start running the show.

Time to Vote - watch out for those crying wolf - again

2006-11-06T19:41:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the big day. I'll be going to the polls. Not bright and early... I have to be at work the same time the polls open, but you can be sure I'll be there after I leave work for the day.

This will be an election to watch. The liberal mainstream media has been salivating over the possibility that the Democrats will regain control of either one or both Houses of Congress. They've not only been drooling with anticipation, they've actively been trying to make it happen. From skewed poll methodologies to the Foley scandal to the constant feed of nothing but negative from Iraq, they've tried to chip away at Republican support, and suppress evangelical turnout.

It gets worse. The premptive strikes against the integrity of our system started early this year. Stories about "the problems" with electronic voting began back during the summer, and continue. Just in case the results are not to their liking, they can say "we told you so... take a look back at story x from August! We knew this would happen!!"

Our system is slowly being undermined. Not by non-existent fraud by the Bush administration and boogeyman-in-chief Karl Rove, but by the "cry wolf" media and their buddies in the Democratic Party. By hook or by crook they are determined to win or take the country down with them. The grand irony of all this is that the Democrat party, the party that perfected stealing elections and registering the dead and the illegal immigrants to vote for them are the very party that protest their innocence.

Every time they accuse the Republicans of wrongdoing, you can be sure they are the guilty party, ascribing their actions to someone else. EVERY TIME.

Go out and vote. Don't be talked into not voting by the mainstream media. Ignore the polls that have been weighted with more Democrat than Republicans to obtain skewed results. Go out and vote, and then accept the results. The next election is always two years away, and contrary to what the delusional on the left claim, martial law has not been declared.

Which is a bigger win for the Islamofascists?

2006-11-04T21:10:00.000-05:00

Is it better for them if the Republicans win and we stay in Iraq, or is it better if the Democrats win and force us out?

It does seem like an easy and obvious question, doesn't it? Of course it's better for them if we leave. We'd stop killing so many of their foot soldiers, and they'd have an enormous propganda victory which they could use for recruiting.

Right now, it's "Come to Iraq and become a martyr by helping us drive out the United States and the Zionists!"

If we leave, it'll be "We beat the United States. We can beat anyone. You go fight in Great Britain. You go to France. You go to Japan. We cannot be beaten. They have no stomach for a fight."

It's all common sense, and yet if you listen to some, they'll try and tell you that the United States' presence in Iraq is just what the insurgency wants. Think about that carefully. Certainly our presence there is a recruitment tool, but is it really what they want? Even if they want a war against the west, which they so plainly do, don't you think they'd rather fight it over here rather than in their country? Don't you think the slogan "we beat America" would be far more effective than "come to Iraq and die"?

Common sense says yes. We'd better not leave Iraq until the job is done. It's suicidal to leave and hope the problem solves itself.

Mr. Arrogance is back

2006-10-31T20:26:00.000-05:00

John Kerry, Vietnam war "hero" flubbed an attempt at a cheap shot towards President Bush yesterday. It sounded for all the world as if he were smearing the troops in Iraq. Here's the quote:

"You know, education -- if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well.

"If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

That's what he gets for trying to look like he has a sense of humor. He ends up putting his foot in his mouth again, and makes everyone mad. He compounded the error by coming out with both guns blazing in a rather amusing press conference. Having learned the wrong lesson from 2004, he's convinced that if he'd fought back against the Swift Boat Vets he'd have won the election, so he's fighting back and making himself look like a jerk. Which he undoubtedly is.

I personally am delighted that Kerry's attempt at a cheap shot at Bush has come back to bite him in the rear. He really is one of the most arrogant men in politics today.

Having said that, had he come out and been somewhat good humored about it, the brouhaha would have fallen flat. But when he came out today in that press conference and tried to preach about how bad the Republicans are, and how he would never attack the servicemen, I kept having flashbacks to that 'army of Genghis Khan' comment and others like it in the 71 hearings.

No senator Kerry, those of us who think you'd attack the troops are not crazy, because you've done it before.

I think Kerry will be the topic of conversation for a few days now rather than Iraq or the economy. It's helpful to my side quite honestly. Kerry is a big, arrogant, elitist left wing Democrat, and the Democratic party does not like to trot those guys out right now.

Election predictions

2006-10-29T15:24:00.000-05:00

It's anyone's guess as to how things will turn out a week from Tuesday. I have my own idea about how the house and senate will look on November 8.

I think the Republicans will hold both. I think the margin by which they control both houses will narrow. I can't say by how much of course.

The mass media orgy of polls predicting doom and disaster for Republicans have made me suspicious because of the fact that there are so many of them, and the results are so eagerly reported by the left-wing press. The polls are the equivalent of "the lady doth protest too much". The endless barrage of numbers showing massive Democrat leads and upsets is clearly little more than wishful thinking on the part of pollsters, who weight their polls with too many Democratic participants so they can get the numbers they want. All of the numbers are designed to create a sense of fait accompli, and make those of us on the right think that the election is all but over so we won't bother to vote.

I can't say how such an approach affects most voters. I can say that in my case, it doesn't change my mind. I'd vote for the candidate I favor if I was the only one to do so.

There's little doubt that the war in Iraq has hurt the popularity of President Bush, and the Republicans in Congress. But with a good economy, lower gas prices and low unemployment, there's no real solid reason for people in general to be as angry at the party in power as the press would have us believe.

The attempt to depress the vote on the right has taken other forms besides loaded polls. The Mark Foley scandal was meant to drive away Christian voters. It's interesting to me that Foley resigned right away, and yet the story dominated the news for at least a week. It's all anyone wanted to talk about. North Korea was setting off a nuke, but ABC wanted to play up the latest dirty instant messages. They fired the gun too soon though. The Foley story has played itself out already. No one cares any more.

I don't think there's a "throw the bums out" landslide in the mold of 1994 approaching. We'll see if I'm right or not. I'm ready to head to the voting booth myself. I won't be staying home.

How many constitutional rights should terrorists be given?

2006-10-19T21:08:00.000-04:00

This is a valid question. Depending on who you listen to, they ought to have the same rights as citizens of the United States.

How much do we as US citizens value our rights and privileges? Are they something that we can freely confer on anyone? Do those rights and privilges come at a price?

Yes, no and yes.

It makes me angry when Democrats and others believe that Al Queda prisoners captured on the battlefield or elsewhere should have their day in American courts. That they should be able to see the evidence against them like any American citizen, and be given the same due process granted to citizens. That's an insane position to take.

These men are not citizens. They do not live, work and care for the United States. They fulfill none of the responsibilities of citizenship. In fact, they are actively trying to destroy this country and kill our citizens. The idea that we should protect them astonishes me. It angers me. Should we not be protecting the people of this country instead? Why extend the privileges of citizenship that so many have fought and given their lives for to terrorists who want to commit mass murder?

I suppose there are some answers. Some people think the United States is at fault, and that the captured Al Queda are victims. That's the delusional approach.

Some believe that it's simply justice to treat them as one would treat a citizen of the United States. Citizenship is cheap then, isn't it? We freely give away to murderers what many have paid a steep price for. That's the numbing effect that moral equivocation has on common sense.

Some people just hate Bush, and if he's for harsh interrogation, they're against it. That's the mindless rage of the hateful.

The last option is somewhat reasonable. Some people honestly believe that by denying captured Al Queda members due process in a civlian court that the slippery slope towards being able to hold anyone for any reason has begun. While there may well be some merit in that, my response would simply be to remain vigilant. We have to extract information from these prisoners somehow, and we have to have a method of trying and convicting them that keeps classified information and intelligence secret. A normal courtroom is not sufficient. If those who feel that rights are being eroded have a better option, it ought to be put forth for consideration.

As for me, I'll continue to side with the citizens of the US. I don't hold any sympathy for those in CIA prisons or at Guantanamo Bay. I don't have a lot of regard for those who do sympathize. When, God forbid, the next 9/11 happens, we may all wish that the naysayers had been ignored.

Harry Reid's crooked land deals... ignored.

2006-10-16T20:18:00.000-04:00

Senate minority leader Harry Reid, the soft spoken and morally pompous Senator from Nevada has been making money off of land he no longer owns.

He sold it to a partner. He claimed on his Senate ethics committee report that he still owned it. He's been very contrite and offered to amend his report, which is very magnanimous of him, to be sure. I'll offer to change my story that next time I'm caught in a lie too.

Is the media obsessed with his lies? No. Not at all. They're still harping about Foley, who resigned weeks ago.

A scandal that can hurt Republicans is worthy of weeks of coverage. If it hurts a Democrat, it needs to be buried and forgotten as quickly as possible. Typical.

650,000 dead in Iraq? Not likely.

2006-10-16T20:17:00.000-04:00

A report was released today (not politically timed, according to the authors... hah) claiming that over 650,000 have died since we invaded Iraq in 2003.

Never mind the fact that no one else, include United States and Iraqi governments, as well as several independent groups disagree, putting the number of dead at around 40,000. This new figure was gleefully jumped on by CNN and other media outlets, as well as Bush-haters in general. Check their blogs if you don't believe me.

Why would anyone be happy that over ten times more people are dead than most of us previously believed? Because it's ammo to attack George Bush, the devil himself. The famous compassion that we conservatives know nothing about rears its head again. Bush killed 650,000 in his illegal war for oil! Hooray! Let's impeach him.

It's sickening behavior.

Of course, I don't know the actual number of dead. I do know that with a few exceptions, America and Great Britain do not intentionally kill civilians. We don't lace cars with explosives and detonate them in crowded markets. We don't strap bombs under shirts and kill soldiers eating lunch or Iraqi police brigades. And we certainly don't behead young men on videotape with dull knives and then post it on the internet.

Our enemies do that. But somehow, we're the bad guys. That's the twisted morality of the left for you.

The media obsession with Mark Foley

2006-10-10T21:09:00.000-04:00

Why?

Aren't there more important things going on in the world? North Korea has a nuke test. Iran says Israel must be wiped off the map and is also pursuing nukes. Iraq is getting more violent by the day, or so it seems.

And yet, with the election three and a half weeks away, the media is obsessed over Mark Foley and his sexual indiscretions with underage pages. Hmmmm...

Think they're rooting for the Democrats to win? Yep. Think they're trying to make it happen?

Absolutely.

The Mark Foley attack machine

2006-10-04T20:56:00.000-04:00

Like many of you, I've been listening and reading about the continuing developments in the newest scandal to hit Washington in October right before a major election. Yet another one of these Congressional dimwits seemed to believe that his actions would never see the light of day. But they have, and the accompanying media frenzy is probably the nail in the Republican's coffin.

A few weeks ago, I didn't agree with the doom and gloom predictions that the Republicans would lose the House and the Senate. It didn't make sense that people were that angry with them, quite honestly. But with this made-to-order scandal involving a member of Congress and a young page, we may have raised the disgust levels just enough for the Democrats to benefit.

Think about the results if they win one or both houses of Congress. Tax cuts repealed. Possible impeachment proceedings. Funding cuts or votes to shut down key programs like the NSA wiretap or the interrogations of high-value Al Queda captives. The Democrats have been obsessed for six years with stopping anything President Bush has tried to do, and if they become the majority party rather than the opposition, they'll be dangerous.

Let's just hope that I'm wrong, and the voters are as ho-hum about this sex scandal as they were about Bill Clinton's dalliances with Monica Lewinsky. We'll see in about four weeks.

Jumping on the bandwagon

2006-10-02T22:49:00.000-04:00

Hello.

Well, this is an experiment. Or perhaps I'm just jumping on the bandwagon, and feel like posting my thoughts and reactions to things as they happen.

We'll see.

Welcome. I suppose I'll update sporadically.