Welcome back, huh?

I go away for a week or two on vacation (incredible - more on that soon!). And when I return, what do I find?

Obama has announced his choice for Supreme Court Justice; Sonia Sotomayor. A fair, unbiased choice it is, too *cough, cough* (both female AND hispanic - double score, Political Correctness!). And I quote from the lady herself:

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

For those of you who have no issue with that statement, let me rephrase it and see how you feel about this:

"I would hope that a wise white male with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman who hasn't lived that life."

Would that strike you as a good candidate for the Supreme Court?

The trouble with Health Care...

Okay, everyone is jumping on board the new Health Care for Every American train. Somehow, if we just put the government in charge, they'll fix everything (that they broke), and we'll end up with free health care for everybody, and we'll be happy healthy people singing kumbayah beside unicorns farting rainbows.

First off, show me one thing the government has taken over from private business that has shown improvement. One.

Second of all, repeat after me: "there ain't no thing as a free lunch!"

Okay, so you say I don't know what I'm talking about. Europeans and Canadians have Universal Health Care, and it's better than Viagra and a set of blonde twins! Well, I'll save the facts about that for another post (hint; it ain't as good as you think it is), and refer you to someone who indisputable knows what he's talking about: Dr. David McKalip.

He has posted a transcript of his testimony before the Pennsylvania House Health Care Policy Task Force.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

While in my first practice at San Francisco General Hospital, I saw the many shortcomings of a government run hospital. Even with dedicated professional health care staff, the constant budget shortfalls, debt and politically motivated regulatory burdens drained the hospital there. Patients waited weeks to go to rehabilitation units while patients in private systems went in days. Repeat patients never took responsibility for their own health — always assuming that the public system would be there for them. I went to San Francisco a young liberal and left two years later a disillusioned doctor.

and

Many utopian dreamers are motivated by the best of intentions and envision that the best way to achieve high quality health care is to create a system by which the government will control all health care spending and ensure that it is equitable, efficient and proper. They are basing their approach on an economic philosophy that has failed many times in history — one of collectivism and central economic planning. Many of those advocating such a system believe that if an elite group of all knowing and benevolent planners control spending, that nothing but good will result. Unfortunately this had never been the case as evidenced by the fall of the Berlin Wall, the lack of property and individual rights in societies under dictators, and recent examples of failing government-run school systems in America with a never-ending supply of money.

Those advocating single payer systems don't understand that what made America great was not centrally planned economies.

He goes on to destroy pretty much every myth concerning the beauty of single payer systems (there really aren't any, if you look closely), and the horrors of free enterprise managing health care (there are many horrors, but every one is lesser than the result of centrally planned efforts).

For every one of you that thinks Universal Health Care is good, but don't want to argue with me cause I'm just an ignorant musician, read this article. Then see how you feel.

To Boldly Go where 10 previous movies never dared...

Okay, I hate to say it, but...

Best. Trek. Ever.

Go see it. Go see it now. Then, go see it again.

Was it flawless? No. Did it have plot loopholes and convenient encounters? Yes.

So did Wrath of Khan.

I never thought that Star Trek II would ever be surpassed. I didn't expect this one to; as long as it was better than Star Treks Five through Ten, I was going to be ecstatic.

Casting? Brilliant. Writing? Superb. Acting? Top notch. Special Effects? Perfect.

And several times - silence in space.

The whole movie, I kept thinking that I couldn't wait to get it on Blu-Ray and watch it over and over again.

What are you doing reading this? Go. Go see it. Go see it now.

Live Long and Prosper, J.J. Abrams.

While we're smoking out here...

There are very few actors/directors I admire more than Leonard Nimoy. And there are very few authors I admire more than J.R.R. Tolkien.

With that said, whenever I see this, it just freaks me out. I mean, just totally weirds me out. I feel like I'm on a bad acid trip. What the hell was he thinking? What was with the dancers? WHAT THE HELL IS THIS WHOLE THING ABOUT???? AAAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

And I think it's going to be a long, long time...

And so it starts...

Actually, it didn't start here. But it's starting to become apparent. The government is beginning to become more blatant in its excesses - civil, not just fiscal. If you can watch this and still believe that we live in a free country... If you can watch this and believe we do not live in a police state... I do not know what to say to you.



As Anthony Gregory at the Campaign for Liberty put it,

The Act's defenders denied it was ever abused (although the first man imprisoned under it was an innocent man punished despite his judge not thinking he deserved the sentence). Now the Act is being turned against ordinary Americans, and even teenage homeschoolers:

This latest outrage just demonstrates why government can never be trusted with any powers that compromise its constitutional limits. Even if you somehow trust the administration currently in power, that can change every four or eight years.

To Boldly Go...

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

A Thing of Sheer Beauty, it is...

For those of you who, like me, think nothing of regularly cruising websites like "Den of Geek," you are probably familiar with Mightygodking.com. If, however, you actually have a life... If you did not spend your formative years with comic books (I didn't, actually), TV shows (again, I really didn't) and SciFi/Fantasy books (I... um... um... moving on!)... If you did things in your youth like - have friends, and a social life, well... You might not know about Mightygodking.

Well, I'm not going to tell you about all his mighty and wondrous posts. Because you probably wouldn't get them, having no geeky background to place them against. But he just wrote a column which purports to be a conversation between himself and his friend (referred to as "Flapjacks").

It's about the new GI Joe movie, and it is hilarious and brilliant and rather cringe-inducing that I knew a great deal of what he was talking about.

That trailer made the old cartoon look downright realistic. And the cartoon had, among other things: a talking parrot, approximately forty billion laser beams color-coded by side, a tribe of shapechangers, an alien race living beneath the earth, an army of robots that would make Cylons jealous, a vampire youth machine, Atlanteans, a giant blob which the Joes killed by throwing apples at it, a trip to a parallel universe where some of the team found their own bodies, sea serpents, Cobra trying to steal Alaska because of some technicality regarding a seal, giant energy-sucking cubes of dark matter, a bio-dome in the Antarctic, a device that vaporized all of the world’s money, ghost warriors, a magic conch shell that hypnotized men but not women, time-traveling to ancient Greece, the Baroness disguising herself as a chunky fat guy not once but four separate times, Destro attempting to take over the world with giant vegetables, Cobra shrinking its entire army to miniscule size and hiding in toys given away to needy children, the Egyptian god Set, Cobra setting up its own television channel and trying to take over the world with propaganda, dinosaur stampedes, an evil clone of the talking parrot, subliminal messages in rock songs, a crime telethon, and Sgt. Slaughter.

Here it is: There are no ideas, just marketing plans of your childhood

You ain't my bitch...

Have you ever wanted to hear the President of the United States saying "You ain't my bitch, nigga - buy yo own damn fries!"?

I never knew I wanted to until I heard it. It's from an audiobook version of his "Dreams from My Father" narrated by Da Man himself.

Check it out here, or here.

*sigh* My day is complete. Blam!

Political Correctness defined

This is attributed to a Texas A&M student, but I was unable to verify that without actual work and research beyond Google. However, it's an outstanding quote, whoever wrote it.

Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Jon Stewart, you are officially...

Bill Whittle's Bitch.

In an on air debate with Cliff Mays, Jon Stewart made the assertion that Harry Truman was a war criminal for dropping the bomb on Japan. This is something I've been hearing more and more in the last two years or so.

Now, in all fairness, Jon Stewart made an apology a few days later:

And I may have mentioned during the discussion we were having that Harry Truman was a war criminal. And right after saying it, I thought to myself that was dumb. And it was dumb. Stupid in fact. So I shouldn’t have said that, and I did. So I say right now, no, I don’t believe that to be the case. The atomic bomb, a very complicated decision in the context of a horrific war, and I walk that back because it was in my estimation a stupid thing to say.

Still, maybe he should watch this video, just in case he decides to say something stupid again.

I'm actually considering subscribing to Pajamas TV just to support the dissemination of excellent videos like this.

Now, I don't agree with everything Bill Whittle says; his unwavering support for John McCain is hard for me to grasp. He also seems to think that the Republican party stands for freedom and limited government (equally hard for me to fathom). Still, he produces thought provoking material like this other video about media bias, and this blog entry about America's growing attitude of entitlement.

Definitely worth checking out.

Addicting. Just too addicting.

Okay, this is waayyyyyy too much fun.

Write your own music, and rest assured - it's gonna sound great!

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night!

So, Justice Souter is resigning.

It's hard to pinpoint the saddest/most amusing aspect of this whole circus. For one, there's Obama's list of qualifications:

"I will seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity. I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't just about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook,"

Hmmm... Anything about the Constitution in there? No? What a surprise. Oh, it goes without saying, you object? So there was a question about needing a sharp mind? And a record of excellence and integrity? Yeah, Obama didn't mention the Constitution for one very good reason - he doesn't give a shit. And if he did, he'd be using the Constitution to wipe himself off afterwards.

Anyway, then it comes to the gender and ethnicity of the next justice. Will it be the most qualified person? Well, possibly, but that's completely secondary to the most important qualification - that it be a woman or a minority (double score if it's both!)

It turns out racism and sexism is okay. But only if you're using it against white men. What a shocker. I may go cry now.

Michael Bay Directs... BREAKFAST!!!

Props to Cracked.com for this send-up of Michael Bay's directing style.

Breakfast As Directed by Michael Bay -- powered by Cracked.com