Thursday, May 28, 2009

Today's Headlines should read "The Certain Death of Liberty has Arrived"

I am clipping links to some of today's news stories to illustrate the death of liberty.

First, the war on Christianity continues with a San Diego County trying to stop private Bible studies in a private home. Witch Hunt anyone?

http://www.10news.com/news/19562217/detail.html


Next, Nancy Pelosi has declared that "every aspect of our lives must be subjected to inventory." Hitler tried the same thing.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hLcZ2jQ4mu4rd7XlB3hetiVn1qbAD98F32AG0


Third, the American government now owns 72.5% of General Motors with the United Auto Workers Union owning another 17.5%. Marx would be so proud.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/GM-makes-new-bondholder-offer-rb-15370745.html?.v=8


Fourth, and most Hitleresque of all; Obama is targeting and shutting down car dealers who disagree with him politically -- whether profitable or not.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Furor-grows-over-partisan-car-dealer-closings-46261447.html

If these stories do not boil your blood with terror or anger then nothing will. Today's headlines prove that liberty is in its final days.

And I didn't even include anything about the Sotomayer appointment to the Supreme Court which is obviously based on race, gender, and politics rather than merit or qualifications. Seriously, this woman has been reversed 60% of the time in her decisions. That alone should disqualify her. Does anyone seriously think that the most qualified person in the country to sit on the Supreme Court is a Hispanic woman?

Sorry, Martin Luther King Jr., your dream is long dead.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Star Trek Movie

Spoiler alert! Do not read this unless you have seen the new Star Trek movie.

I hate time travel. Until now.

Let me explain why.

Most time travel movies change the movie history or real history. Usually, time travel saves the day and everything goes to exactly as it was before or better. I can't think of any time travel movie where things were worse at the end of the movie.

But Star Trek did something that has not only never been done before, but could not have ever been done before. First, Star Trek completely wiped out its own legacy. Everything that happened in the numerous movies and television series (except Enterprise) was wiped out. But even that is not enough to reduce my hatred of time travel. Indeed, wiping out its own history is really just a marketing tactic, though brilliantly done.

The reason Star Trek was revolutionary and why I enjoyed the time travel aspect of this movie is because we now get to live an alternate future. No other movie can do that. We grew up with Star Trek and lived with it through more than 30 years. We know the characters and the stories because we lived them too. We know who dies, how they die, and when they die. We explored the universe with Kirk, Picard, Janeway (boo) and we experienced Star Trek for 30 plus years. It is as much a part of our lives as anything else in our culture. But now all of that is gone.

The true brilliance of purging its own history though is that we get to re-live those decades all over again and things may not (probably will not) ever be the same. Will Kirk ever have trouble with tribbles? Will Kirk ever know, need, or use the Corbomite maneuver? Will Picard ever meet Q? Will Janeway ever stop crying? Only time will tell. Maybe that stuff happens differently now or never at all. The point is we get to wonder as though we are or were actual participants in those events and in the time travel that purged those events. We are Spock -- sort of.

The bottom line is that new Star Trek movie was incredible in its use of time travel. Only Star Trek could wipe out OUR decades of experiences and OUR decades of knowledge and allow us to re-live a different history. No other film could even try to do that.

This movie brilliantly reinvented Star Trek and paved the way for another 30 years of Star Trek. Star Trek will live long and prosper.