Leadership by Example

Mitch McConnell, leader of a Republican minority that is now even smaller, suggested Tuesday that Sen. Arlen Specter's defection endangered not just the party, but the entire country.

"I think the threat to the country presented by this defection really relates to the issue of whether or not in the United States of America our people want the majority to have whatever it wants without restraint, without a check or a balance," McConnell said Tuesday.

"I mean, look at what an unforgivably crappy job the Republicans did from 2001 to 2009," he continued. "We really stunk up the whole country. Whether it was turning the whole world against us or our inability to truck drinkable water into New Orleans, we were just the worst. Honestly, we sucked."

He then trailed off and eventually wandered away.

When Lincoln was born, people often crapped outside. I'm just saying.

You know, if you had a contest to see who's the most stupid person in the United States Congress, you'd probably have about a fifty way tie. It's hard to win when all those other people are also as stupid as a person can possibly get.

But even then, one person would stand out as even more stupid. Yes, I'm talking about Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachman who never met a fact she didn't get wrong. Who seems to have been educated by retarded wolves who only had access to Discovery Institute "science" books. A woman who apparently channels all her knowledge of the world from a 2500 year old Mesopotamian spirit who was washed out of how to be a human sacrifice school.

"I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence."

Translation: President Obama caused swine flu. And I know nothing about the 1970s. (hint: the outbreak was in 1976.)

What the hell is wrong with Minnesotans that they'd elect this nitwit?

The Daily Show rocks it again

Tonight's Daily Show on Comedy Central, covering the swine flu and the flight of a government 747 over NYC, was awesome. Possibly the best show since Cheney shot that guy in the face. Check out the repeat sometime on Tuesday if you missed it.

Good publicity for a different cause

There's a nice, short, surprisingly accurate article on the rise of Atheism in the United States in the New York Times. It's worth reading. Check it out here.

A gift from the past

My Grandfather was a collector, not of anything specific, just stuff. He loved going to flea markets and collecting little devices, nick-nacks and the assorted book or game. A long time ago he gave me three first-American-edition volumes of Winston Churchill's history of World War II. The books were a bit water-stained, but still readable. They've been on my bookshelf for years.

(As a quick sidenote, my Grandfather fought in Europe in WWII. He never discussed it with me and I understand he mentioned it only a few times, right before his death.)

If you ever check out the sidebar and have noted the current book I'm reading, you may have noticed that I started reading the books a few months ago. For the last fifteen years I've mostly read fantasy novels. Occasionally I'll read non-fiction (I've read a lot of Dawkins and Sagan lately) but only occasionally. So picking these books up was something of a change of pace for me.

From the start, I really enjoyed them. Churchill is a great writer with a wry sense of humor and a good perspective on the whole history of the war. I know a decent amount about World War II but much of the history was unknown to me. I didn't know that right after France collapsed, the British, after giving them options to join the British fleet or sail to neutral America, sank the French fleet at Oran so it wouldn't fall into German hands. Attacking your closest ally like that takes some serious steel.

The personalities of the various leaders is fascinating. Churchill's correspondence with Roosevelt seems almost too familiar, as if they were an old married couple. Stalin is a whiny, petulant figure unhappy that most of the German army was on his doorstep (his own fault) and that he couldn't get the British to attack France before they were ready. The knowledge that he will screw over the Allies and take Eastern Europe after the war makes it difficult to read some of the fawning correspondence sent to him by Churchill.

Churchill himself is amazing. He micromanages everything, from weapons production to military tactics, often sending his Generals and Admirals passive-aggressive telegrams asking them why they hadn't attacked already or taken a particular town. The almost casual way he can talk write about the loss of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians after a particular battle is rather shocking compared to the way modern Americans handle that kind of loss. It paints a vivid picture of the differences between that generation and today's.

As I came to the middle of the third volume, I discovered the greatest revelation. The story was in mid-1941 and I couldn't figure out how he was going to resolve four more years of the war in another 300 pages. With a sinking feeling I looked up the work. Of course, there are SIX volumes. Another 1800 pages or so.

I ordered the last three volumes on Amazon and have just started reading the sixth volume. It really is an illuminating, astounding work of history. The detail and the scope are vast and incredible. I can't overstate how fun it's been reading this masterpiece.

Thanks, Grandpa.

Now I know why he seems familiar

So we watch Survivor every Thursday night. This season there's this blowhard Mr. Miyagi-wannabe who is called by his vocation, Coach. He's one of the "characters" on the show and seems mostly to exist to be supremely impressed at his own awesomeness.

Well, we're watching tonight and the episodes starts with him talking about another player being the Dragon and him being the Dragonslayer, yadda, yadda, and it hits me: Every single thing he says could be dialogue for The Office's Michael Scott. Everything. It's like he's the living embodiment of Michael Scott.

And that makes his presence much more tolerable.

Watch this and hear the voice of Michael Scott.

Oooh! Aaah!

Want to see some beautiful pictures from all around our planet?

Check out Boston's The Big Picture. Awesome and beautiful.

Torture

I've been meaning to post something about the torture memos and the Republican and right-wing media's apparent love of torture. (They may not like gay marriage but they apparently like torture enough to marry it.) They're not offended to find out that America tortures people, they're offended that the Administration told everyone that America tortures people. And to them torture is simultaneously a crucial weapon in our arsenal, no big deal, hideously effective when secret, and hideously ineffective when people know about it.

Make no mistake: the United States torturing prisoners places our own people in danger. There are Americans all over the world - tourists, soldiers, diplomats, business people - and many get captured or kidnapped each year. And when these people are tortured, our indignation, our horror means nothing because we've done the same thing. It may be that we tortured the guilty and they torture the innocent, but that doesn't matter to the rest of the world. We are as bad as them. We've given up our vaunted principles, the principles on which this country was founded, to fear.

Anyway, Bob Cesca posted a great analysis of the issue here. Check it out. It says pretty much everything I want to say.

Here's a bit:

But it's not just Bush administration officials they're defending here. Extrapolating what the torture superfans are suggesting, they appear to believe that in light of the threat of terrorism, any administration should be able to torture, including the current president. In other words: they're simultaneously accusing President Obama of being an oppressive and tyrannical "fascist," while also insisting that he should exercise the power to do whatever he wants in order to prevent another terrorist attack. Put yet another way: unchecked government power is awful, unless Sean Hannity is scared. Then it's excellent. Put a third way: WTF?
...
The reality is that the Bush torture methods were both horrifying and ineffective. The procedures we've read about in the OLC memos were clearly forms of torture as have been previously defined by America's own standards (you might recognize waterboarding from such famous torturers as the Khmer Rouge, Imperial Japan and North Korea), and by most accounts they're absolutely ineffective at acquiring decent information. And in fact, as McClatchy reported on Tuesday, the Bush administration used these torture techniques to gather intentionally false information about a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda.
...
And I'm still baffled how anyone in their right mind can possibly defend these torture policies in the face of overwhelming evidence condemning it. I mean, it's torture! Yet the right continues to chug from their bottomless mug of contradictions -- even Senator McCain, who endured unspeakable atrocities at the hands of the North Vietnamese, has fallen into this trap. Last year, in the heat of a presidential campaign, the senator voted in favor of allowing the CIA to continue to use the same techniques described in the OLC memos. Only now has he condemned the CIA's use of torture.

Tim Minchin Again

This guy is all kinds of awesome.



Thanks to Unreasonable Faith.

That is SO like him!

Don't you just hate that?

You've worked hard and trained for years to reach a life-changing goal and just at the moment when everything is going your way God decides to mess with you by forcing you to confirm that you believe in him. Being omniscient and all, you'd think such a test would be unnecessary, but that God, he's such a joker! He's like an insecure boyfriend who calls you in he middle of a job interview to confirm that you still love him.

And now that you've passed the test but lost out on your life-long goal, you can go forward in life knowing that future generations will only remember you as one of a dying breed of homophobes representing the last generation of bigots before gays achieve true equality.

And you can thank God for that!

It's Ministers. To the EXTREME!

If you've taken your anti-seizure medication, check out the intro page at the International Congress of Churches & Ministers.

It's like their website was designed by Michael Bay on speed while parasailing behind a jetboat being towed by the space shuttle.

If that doesn't convert you, nothing will.

Thanks to PZ.

When in doubt, smile and nod

So I get on the elevator with a guy I’ve seen around work and we do the awkward “look in different directions” dance, alternating between the elevator door and the floor indicators. He says something I don’t quite hear as he’s getting ready to get off on his floor. My mind puts everything together and my best guess is that he said the weather was nice this morning.

I say “Can’t complain,” as he walks out, mentally high-fiving myself, just one second before I realize that he what he really said was that Metro was a mess this morning. Epic fail.

Now he thinks I’m a freak, because who can’t complain about the Metro?

Equal Time

In response to the Daily Show, my friend Joe has posted a video to YouTube explaining his argument. I don't agree with his concerns, but I think it's fair to air them.



Feel free to discuss in the comments.

And I had such hopes for him . . .

As promised, here is the "More to Follow".

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Tea Party Tyranny
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

The clip is last night's Daily Show. John Oliver visited the Morristown, NJ, Teabaggery Party and did the usual hilarious patter with the nutjobs, er, I mean patriots.

The (balding?) (baldish?), okay, bald dude with the beard and the "Spread Your Own Wealth Around" sign is someone I know! He's Joseph, a frequent commenter here and one of my friends. I am now two degrees separated from Jon Stewart!

Of course I'm now considering whether I should increase the number of degrees I am separated from Joseph. :-)

For the Record

United States Senators for the State of New Jersey
Senator Frank Lautenberg (D - NJ)
Senator Robert Menendez (D - NJ)

United States Representative for the 11th District of New Jersey, including Morristown
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (R)

More to follow.

Talent in the strangest places

Everyone's probably already seen this by now, but if you haven't, check it out now.

Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent

Really incredible. When she comes out on stage, the skepticism is palpable. The reactions of everyone in the hall once she starts performing are absolutely wonderful. This will be a movie for sure.

Edited to add: Actually, I'm not sure it can be a movie. It's so well crafted by the producers and so incredibly realized by the actual events, any recreation of it will seem hollow. What an unbelievable testimony of the human experience.

Storm by Tim Minchin

This is pretty awesome. It's nine minutes long but brilliant.

There is some "language" if you're sensitive to that.




Thanks to Unreasonable Faith for posting it.

You want the truth? Read this book

Just thought I'd pass along a pitch made by The Bad Astronomer. It's a quote from Why Evolution is True by biologist Jerry Coyne (from pages 222-223 of the book):

Every day, hundreds of observations and experiments pour into the hopper of the scientific literature… and every fact that has something to do with evolution confirms its truth. Every fossil that we find, every DNA molecule that we sequence, every organ system that we dissect supports the idea that species evolved from common ancestors. Despite innumerable possible explanations that could prove evolution untrue, we don’t have a single one. We don’t find mammals in Precambrian rocks, humans in the same layers as dinosaurs, or any other fossils out of evolutionary order. DNA sequencing supports the evolutionary relationships of species originally deduced from the fossil record. And, as natural selection predicts, we find no species with adaptations that benefit only a different species. We do find dead genes and vestigial organs, incomprehensible under the idea of special creation. Despite a million chances to be wrong, evolution always comes up right. That is as close as we can get to a scientific fact.

Exactly right. If you truly are a "seeker of truth" then you have to stick your head pretty far into the ground to ignore this. Read the book.

Don't let the door hit your state's huge ass on the way out

The almighty dollar is all that matters to some people. Illegitimate war, loss of civil liberties, torture, secret prisons, none of that is enough to get them off their couches. But even imaginary tax increases get them into the streets to protect the rich.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry fired up an anti-tax "tea party" with his stance against the federal government and for states' rights.

Perry told the Austin crowd Wednesday that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principals. He says the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation and spending.

Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union. However, Perry says he sees no reason why Texas should make such a move.

Now don't be so hasty. After all, you should "Remember the Alamo" and all that. Maybe you should give serious thought to secession. After all, every time a tax dollar is spent on a road rather than an aircraft carrier, Baby Jesus cries.

My friend, Dan

Eight years ago today one of my best friends died.

Dan and I started in the same shop at work on the same day. He was twelve years older than me and had already had a career as a professor, while I was direct out of law school. But we shared a love of movies (he turned me on to laserdiscs and then we both became early-adopters of DVD), had similar senses of humor and enjoyed getting away from work. Dan and I went to lunch with another work friend, Marc, twice a week for years. Dan and I, and sometimes Marc, went to a lot of movies together and ate a lot of meals together.

Dan was overweight but had really started working on it in the months before he died. He hired an exercise coach, actually did the exercise, and was taking cholesterol medicine. On Saturday, April 14, during a pickup basketball game with people he didn't know, his heart gave out. I found out when I got to work on Monday. Given the Jewish tradition of a quick funeral, several of us were in Long Island the next day for the funeral. My mom flew out at a moment's notice to watch the kids.

It amazes me that Dan never experienced 9/11, which would have FREAKED HIM OUT, never saw any of the Lord of the Rings movies, never owned an HDTV which he would have loved. I still see movies and think about how Dan would have reacted. And I still smile when there's some subtle, dry joke in a movie and I just know Dan would have laughed.

Marc and I still go out to eat twice a week and often talk about Dan. He was a good guy and I miss him.

Another Good Gaming Article

My friend Joe alerted me to a pretty good article about gaming in Wired Magazine. The article focuses on the groundbreaking, Settlers of Catan, but also discusses the broader phenomenon of Euro Games.

Monopoly Killer: Perfect German Board Game Redefines Genre

Because of this enthusiasm, board game design has become high art—and big business—in Germany. Any game aficionado will tell you that the best-designed titles in the world come from this country. In fact, the phrase German-style game is now shorthand for a breed of tight, well-designed games that resemble Monopoly the way a Porsche 911 resembles a Chevy Cobalt.

...

Instead of direct conflict, German-style games tend to let players win without having to undercut or destroy their friends. This keeps the game fun, even for those who eventually fall behind. Designed with busy parents in mind, German games also tend to be fast, requiring anywhere from 15 minutes to a little more than an hour to complete. They are balanced, preventing one person from running away with the game while the others painfully play out their eventual defeat. And the best ones stay fresh and interesting game after game.

The article gets all the facts right and is really quite an excellent introduction into "German-style games", a.k.a. Euros. The one problem . . . it's only about 15 years too late. I know that Euros are just now coming into wider acceptance in the United States and it's still a niche market, but I can't help but be amused that this article is discussing events that happened in the early nineties and they've only now noticed.

Settlers of Catan was indeed a genre defining game but at this point, for Euro game fans, it's almost become dated. It's still a great game and I will play occasionally, but it's flaws have had fifteen years to reveal themselves and the market has matured considerably. Still, the article is publicity for our hobby and so I'm happy to see it.

Happy Easter!

"In ancient Anglo-Saxon myth, Ostara is the personification of the rising sun. In that capacity she is associated with the spring and is considered to be a fertility goddess. She is the friend of all children and to amuse then she changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit brought forth brightly colored eggs, which the goddess gave to the children as gifts. From her name and rites the festival of Easter is derived." Encycolopedia Mythica

In other words, Paganism. As usual, the holidays we celebrate have a much more complex, convoluted and interesting origin that most people think.

Interesting reading:

What Do a Rabbit, Colored Eggs and Candy Have to Do With Jesus? The History of Easter Revealed

Eostre

Godchecker.com

Ancient Sumerian Origins of the Easter Story

Until puberty, they'll just cuddle

This type of thing is so easy to criticize and so universally condemned that it's almost not worth the effort to mention it here. Here in the United States we're engaged in "culture wars" over whether the United States will exist in the early 20th or 21st century. In most of the Muslim countries it seems to be more a question of whether they'll exist in the 13th or 19th centuries.

A Saudi mother is expected to appeal a judge's ruling after he once again refused to let her 8-year-old daughter divorce a 47-year-old man, a relative said.

Sheikh Habib Al-Habib made the ruling Saturday in the Saudi city of Onaiza. Late last year, he rejected a petition to annul the marriage.

The case, which has drawn criticism from local and international rights groups, came to light in December when Al-Habib declined to annul the marriage on a legal technicality. His dismissal of the mother's petition sparked outrage and made headlines around the world.

...

The girl's husband pledged not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty, according to al-Jutaili, who added that the girl's father arranged the marriage to settle his debts with the man, who is considered "a close friend."

Yeah, I'll just bet this 47 year old guy will wait until puberty. And then, when she's eleven or twelve years old, consummating the marriage will be perfectly appropriate.

Way to go guy. Score!

Um, I remember something about Britney Spears getting divorced, so I should be able to prevent that from happening.

I have often thought about what a mediocre time-traveller I'd be. My knowledge of history, while doubtless greater than the average human, is still sketchy on dates and specifics. My knowledge of science and technology is also above average, but still not up to snuff for raising up older civilizations. I mean, Doc Brown could turn 19th century technology into an ice-maker, but I'm sure I couldn't do it.

How humiliating would it be to arrive in the past with the goal of improving things, only to discover you don't actually know how to make penicillin or create electricity? Epic fail.

Fortunately, this bit of brilliance from Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics, available in shirt form at TopatoCo, will save your bacon and make you the master of any historical time period you wish to improve. It will also make you unbelievably rich and more famous than Newton, Einstein, and Cochrane of Alpha Centauri all rolled together. (Click on image to embiggen).

This idea is so brilliant, I may have to go back in time and take credit for it.

Thanks to Gizmodo for the tip.

Witness

I ride the bus to the Metro to get to work.  There’s a nice woman who takes the same bus and we talk a bit every morning about the weather, the bus and, uh, well that’s pretty much it.  This morning she wished me a “Happy Good Friday,” and I said “Happy Good Friday to you too.”  She then asked me if I observed the holiday, obviously seeking to discover if I’m a Christian.  I told her I didn’t and she said, “Well, then I guess it’s just a regular Friday for you.”  I replied, “Yes, but it’s still Friday and that’s always good.”

I thought she breached the subject in a very straight-forward, friendly, way.  When I replied in the negative she didn’t recoil in horror or go on about it.  Not many people come across my lack o’ faith in day to day encounters so it was a relief to me that it came up and wasn’t a negative experience.

For the past couple of months I’ve been wearing my Scarlet “A” pin prominently on my jacket collar.  At times it’s made me a little bit nervous as I’m always imagining that people know what it means and that they’re going to confront me.  I’m sure, though, that the odds of that happening are pretty remote and if I continue to have such friendly encounters, I’m sure I’ll feel more comfortable.  Even if I don’t, wearing the pin openly is meant to stand for something.  Positive experience or not, I will not mislead or obfuscate if the topic of religion arises and will continue to declare my lack of faith if confronted.  After all, people need to be educated and if I don’t stand up for my lack of belief, how can I expect anything to change?

 

He also hasn't gone to Disney World. I am so offended!

Just a quick note.

The President of the United States was not elected to go to Church. His churchgoing habits are personal and all the whiney-boots whinging about his lack of attendance since he took office should shut the heck up and mind their own business.

That is all.

Vermont is number 4!

Way to go Vermont!

Vermont legalizes gay marriage

It's the first time a state legislature has voted for full equality. Well done.

Damn straight

"One of the great strengths of the United States is ... we have a very large Christian population -- we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."
-- President Barack Obama, April 6, 2009.

A rare treat

Wow. Someone wrote a really good article about boardgaming on Long Island. The article not only mentions a bunch of Eurogames, but discusses how to play a couple.

It is so rare that a major publication (in this case, the New York Times!) deals with hobby gaming, much less does a good job of it that I thought I should share this.

Masters of the (Tabletop) Universe

Here's just a bit:

It is true that the boardgamers on their own will tackle video games, but for the most part they care less about nanosecond-swift reflexes than they do about strategic thinking. They relish shoving pieces around a board, picking cards, striking deals, studying their opponents’ mortified faces as they are demolished. Meet-up groups like theirs exist here and there throughout the country.

They don’t play grand old staples like Monopoly or Life, games they dismiss as glaringly short on brain-consumption and too heavily reliant on dice throws or wheel spinning. Instead, they find sybaritic pleasure in possibilities most people have never heard of, especially the relatively recent influx of so-called designer or Eurogames, many of German origin: Settlers of Catan, Tikal, the Da Vinci Game, Hammer of the Scots, Yspahan, Zombietown, hundreds more.

Edited to add: By the way, the Da Vinci Game sucks. Apparently they said they played Vinci and the writer misheard.

Thanks for all your help. Now beat it.

Click here for a terrible story about how bureaucracy is keeping a heroic Iraqi translator, who has saved the lives of American soldiers, from coming to America. Why? Because he stole Uday Hussein's car.

An Iraqi translator who has earned commendations for risking his life repeatedly to save the lives of many American soldiers in combat has been denied a visa to live in the United States because of nonviolent actions he took to overthrow Saddam Hussein — at the same time the U.S. government was calling for regime change in Iraq.
. . .
Jasim said his stepbrother, in fact, was captured in the fall of 2007 and was tortured to death in an effort to get to him. The U.S. Army officer who received and processed the report on the murder, Major Leslie Parks, told FOXNews.com that Jasim's stepbrother was tortured with an electric drill through his eyes.

He stole Uday's car sometime in the 199o's in order to get eavesdropping equipment and documents out of the car in support of efforts to overthrow Sadaam Hussein. And now the State Department won't issue him a visa because of that theft. And they've told him he has to wait three years to reapply.

Now that word's out, I'll bet he's on American soil within a month.

Way to go Iowa!

Iowa has joined the 21st century, one of only three states to have done so!

The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that a state ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.

"We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective," the justices wrote.

This is not only a cool surprise, but it will be at least two years before any of the bigots can respond with a ballot initiative. And during that time, gays will have the legal right to wed in Iowa. Awesome.

This is a civil rights issue, not a religious issue. If the state recognizes heterosexual couples, it is discrimination not to recognize homosexual couples. That's all there is to it.

The Top 5 Things I Hated about the BSG Series Finale

The list below contains SPOILERS. If you have not seen the Series Finale of Battlestar Galactica or if you haven’t seen a single episode but might watch the series one day (or be forced to watch by your daughter and spouse), do not read beyond this point. Seriously.

CAROL - DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER

Even with the above spoiler warning, I’m going to be less specific than I’d like to be. People who have seen the Finale will understand what I’m talking about.

BSG’s creator, Ron Moore, began his career writing for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Getting his foot in the door through a spec script, he was easily my favorite writer for the show. Once TNG ended, he moved to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and was there until that show ended. In its last season, DS9 devoted the last ten episodes to wrapping up a multi-season story arc about the Federation-Dominion war. The war was handled beautifully and the stories told during that period are some of the best Trek ever created.

The first nine of the last ten episodes were fantastic. Really, really, good. But in the last episode, they flubbed an easy lay up. It wasn’t horribly bad; it had all the elements of a great story, but the story-telling was muddled. The episode was a disappointment. Sound familiar?

Here we go . . .

#5 - The resolution of the Baltar storyline. What happened to the Baltar Cult? What was the whole point of the Cult in the first place? What about Baltar’s redemption or sacrifice? Where did that go? Firing a gun in a corridor is hardly a significant act of contrition and redemption.

#4 - The final shot fired in the war. It was so lame I didn't even understand it when I saw it; someone else had to point it out to me. A dead hand falls onto a missile launcher just as the Raptor is pointed in the right direction? Really? W-T-F?

#3 - The vision of the Opera House. The long-awaited resolution of the vision shared by several characters comes down to three people running through corridors and ending up in the C&C seconds before Roslyn and Athena? That’s it? What a huge letdown. I really expected that vision would tie into the last shot in the entire series. Nope.

#2 - Humans already on the planet? The inclusion of homo-sapiens completely confuses the whole resolution of the show. Eliminate them and we understand exactly how the Colonists fared. With the humans on the planet, it’s not at all clear what happens afterwards. And I won’t even go into the stupidity of the whole “spreading out to give the best chance of survival” idea.

And the thing I hated most about the BSG Finale is . . .

#1 - Deus Ex Machina TO THE EXTREME! The Galactica producers support Intelligent Design? God did it? No real explanation for Starbuck, Head-Baltar and Head-Caprica or the song? What a complete and utter letdown.

There were some things I really liked in the episode, especially the Adama/Roslyn storyline and I think the final battle was well done. But boy did they miss the boat on a lot of things.

BSG has earned its place as one of the best shows of all time. It was a success in almost every way. A bad finale doesn’t erase all that had gone before. While the end was certainly a huge disappointment, the series as a whole was riveting and compelling and I can still heartily recommend it.

But geez!

Republican General Hospital

And now, please join us for another episode of . . . Republican General Hospital.


Sally the Receptionist was finishing up the last of her paperwork when the double doors of the Emergency Room burst open. It had been a slow day, but the brief respite now ended as several occupied gurneys smashed through the door, ambulance attendants in tow.

“Great,” Sally thought, “This will be exciting.” She immediately felt bad about the thought.

Waiting Doctors surged forward. Alerted to the incoming wounded and ready to assist, they began conducting triage. A bus had overturned on the freeway and now a half-dozen victims on their gurneys crowded the lavishly furnished ER.

“This one’s in shock,” shouted Doctor Malcomb Whitmore. “I need a 5% rate cut, stat.”

An older gentleman who radiated competence and warmth, Doctor Nigel Vandersmoot, Jr. stood over another gurney while its occupant, a young black woman, watched him work.

“Now tell me, young lady”, said the Doctor. “Where does it hurt?”

The young woman pointed to her side, bruised and bloodied.

“This one is okay for the time being. Low priority.” He moved on.

At another gurney, Doctor Georgiana Collington argued with a well-groomed and distinguished older gentleman.

“I assure you, this 35% solution will do the trick,” Doctor Kuffington said.

“I just need a bit more, for a rainy day, you know.” replied the gentleman. “Without more, I don’t know if I’ll have the will to go on. And so many are counting on me.”

“Oh, very well,” said Doctor Collington, the reproof in her voice betrayed by the smile on her face. “22% it is.”

The old gentleman smiled and laid back on the gurney.

“We got a bleeder over here!”

Some feet away, Doctor Thorton Winthorp III was wrestling with a middle-aged man, writhing in pain.

“I need 34% capital gains tax relief, stat!”

Nurses rushed over.

“It isn’t working!” Doctor Winthorp yelled.

“Try estate tax relief!” shouted Doctor Collington.

“No,” cried Doctor Malcomb. “Try a new business tax credit!”

The writhing suddenly stopped. The man lay dead on the gurney.

“I tried everything. None of it worked. He was beyond help.”

The nurses dispersed as Doctor Winthorp took a moment and then moved to the next patient.

Sally watched the Doctors working from patient to patient, a fascinating ballet choreographed by long years of working together. Over the years, the team had been highly successful. Sure, the survival rate of the ER was only 12%, but the hospital had two new wings and a cancer center donated by former patients. Sally was proud to be associated with the group.

A door opened behind her and one of the janitors, Julio, approached.

“Hello, Miss. I was called about a broken toilet in the restroom? I’m here to apply a 15% tax cut.”

“Can you also have a go at the radiator? It’s been rattling. I’m thinking a sales tax rebate will do it.”

“Sure,” said Julio.

“Very good,” returned Sally. “That should fix the problem. Tax cuts fix everything here at Republican General Hospital.”

That’s all for this episode of Republican General Hospital. Please join us for our next gut-wrenching episode.

Will the Doctors be able to incentivize the rest of the patients?
Will Julio be able to fix the toilet and radiator with a series of well-timed tax cuts?
Will Sally and Doctor Malcomb be able to hide their feelings for each other in the face of threatened tax hikes by the liberal, Democratic Congress?

Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Today's winner is . . .

The breadth and depth of the Republican party in pure craziness is staggering. It's like their selection of people to run as Republicans for Congress is done solely through the classifieds in the Weekly World News.

Today's featured whackjob is actually a former winner, Michelle Bachmann.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) appeared on Glenn Beck's TV show yesterday, to talk up her proposed constitutional amendment to stop the Obama administration from replacing the dollar with a global currency . . .

Bachmann's proposed constitutional amendment states: "The President may not enter into a treaty or other international agreement that would provide for the United States to adopt as legal tender in the United States a currency issued by an entity other than the United States."

Yes, she's actually trying to get people to believe that the President is trying to get rid of dollars in favor of a foreign currency. Perhaps the Euro. Or the Yen. Maybe Shrute Bucks.

I'm torn between utter disbelief and contempt of her disingenuous nonsense, and happy that by focusing on whackjob issues like this, she can't affect any real issues. Either way, she's demonstrated once again that she's batsh*t crazy and for this, she earns my kudos.