New Star Trek Movie Sure Will Suck
Apparently, the story will focus on the "original cast", but not with the original cast.
It will be about Kirk and Spock and their days together when they meet as young cadets at Starfleet Academy. (Obviously, Shatner and Nimoy — both 75 now — will not be playing the lead roles).
I mention this in passing, but blogger Lance Mannion seriously geeks out over this.
Greenwald #1
I’ve often quoted and linked to blogger and First Amendment lawyer Glenn Greenwald on this site, noting (several times) that his blog’s contribution to the NSA wiretapping story is inestimable.
Looks like Glenn is doing well in the regular media as well. His book — How Would A Patriot Act? — is ranked number #1 on Amazon. (It was ranked #50,925 yesterday).
Experts Agree
…well, most of them.
Global warming behind 2005 hurricanes
The record Atlantic hurricane season last year can be attributed to global warming, several top experts, including a leading U.S. government storm researcher, said on Monday.
"The hurricanes we are seeing are indeed a direct result of climate change and it’s no longer something we’ll see in the future, it’s happening now," said Greg Holland, a division director at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
Holland told a packed hall at the American Meteorological Society’s 27th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology that the wind and warmer water conditions that fuel storms that form in the Caribbean are "increasingly due to greenhouse gases. There seems to be no other conclusion you can logically draw."
His conclusion will be debated throughout the week-long conference, as other researchers present opposing papers that say changing wind and temperature conditions in the tropics are due to natural events, not the accumulation of carbon dioxide emissions clouding the Earth.
Many of the experts gathered in the coastal city of Monterey, California, are federal employees. The Bush administration contends global warming is an unproven theory.
Kind of makes you feel good that Bush is suspending environmental regulations, doesn’t it?
See, this is how it’ll work. Gas prices go up. In order to increase the flow of gas, President allows big gas companies do ignore environmental regulations. Global warming escalates. More hurricanes. More Katrinas. Gas prices go up.
And the circle goes ’round and ’round.
Quote Of The Day
"You know, I think that I… you’ll have to ask him or his office."
— Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), quoted by the New York Daily News, when asked why her husband has no visible wedding ring in his portrait recently unveiled for the National Portrait Gallery.
Mick Jagger To Headline In A New Sitcom?
Sounds bizarre, but it’s true. He signed a deal with ABC.
Now before you start kvetching, the idea doesn’t sound that bad. Jagger will be the focus of the sitcom, and it will be named after him (it is tentatively titled "Let’s Rob Mick Jagger"), but he won’t necessarily have a lot of on-screen time:
As [producer Rob] Burnett outlined the tale in a telephone interview, he and [his partner Jon] Beckerman "wondered if there was a way do a serialized comedy — something like a comedy version of ‘Lost’ or ’24.’ "
Hatched in numerous meetings, the concept centered on a janitor for a prominent New York building, to be played by the character actor Donal Logue. Down on his luck, the janitor sees a celebrity on television wallowing in his wealth during a tour of his new Manhattan penthouse. Enlisting a crew of similar ordinary but frustrated accomplices, the janitor conceives a plot to rob the big shot’s apartment, a story line that would unfold over a 24-episode television season.
Okay. Kudos for innovation. We’ll wait and see.
Get Ready To Hear The Phrase “Snow Job” A Lot
Yup. It’s official — breaking now.
Fox News bobblehead and occasional Rush Limbaugh substitute host Tony Snow has agreed to take Scotty McClellan’s position as White House spokesman. CNN has the full story.
I like this part:
GOP sources said that before agreeing to take the post Snow had sought and received assurances from Bolten and other senior White House officials that he would be an active participant in major policy debates and would have a significant say in hiring in the press and communications operations.
Yeah, right. You’re in for a big surprise, Tony, if you think they’re going to let you buck the system.
REACTIONS: Sully wonders how Snow is going to reconcile his new position with Snow’s recent attacks on Bush (i.e., huge deficit-running government spending).
Powerline is happy because Tony Snow reasds their blog.
And Media Matters scrutinizes Snow’s disregard for things like, oh, facts.
I thought this notion that Tony Snow might be made White House press secretary was, you know, a joke. A joke about Fox News being a GOP propaganda outlet, about Snow’s lack of ethics, etc. Apparently, no one was kidding. It’s honestly pretty surreal.
As a professional journalist, Tony Snow understands the importance of the relationship between government and those whose job it is to cover the government.
Yes, I’m sure having worked at Fox, he’s well aware of the special relationship between government and the media who “cover” the government.
American Idol Update: The Love Songs
Guess what? If you set your TIVO to record "American Idol", but a thunderstorm knocks out your cable box (unbeknownst to you), your TIVO won’t record "American Idol".
Yup. I missed it. I have no idea what happened. The entertainment section of the Chicago Tribune writes:
Love is fickle. Love songs are even fickler.
Just ask Kellie Pickler, who torched another song on "American Idol" on Tuesday night, despite the coaching of popera star Andrea Bocelli.
Judge Simon Cowell’s scathing review of her "Unchained Melody" was so long that producers were forced to cut him off. "It was so monotonous, so bland, there was no heart, no warmth from your vocal, you really were like a robot during that performance," he said as music started to play.
"I haven’t finished!" he snapped.
Taylor Hicks was equally flat and hesitant. But Elliott Yamin and Chris Daughtry drew midsong cheers from the audience. Yamin’s "A Song For You" moved judge Paula Abdul to tears. "You are this handsome, evolved performer," she said. "You are an American idol! You are!"
Now, going into last night, I would have said that Kellie and Elliot are the weakest. Based on the Trib review — which is all I have to go on — it looks like Kellie may be the next to go.
But I didn’t see it. So what did y’all think?
Feminism Is Dead!
The good news comes from Renew America columnist Nathan Tabor, who also happens to be running for NC State Senate in our district.
Let’s take a closer look.
After years of holding America a virtual hostage, old-fashioned radical feminism appears to be just about dead.
Hostage to what?
But don’t take my word for it.
We weren’t planning to.
No less a feminist authority than Maureen Dowd, the New York Times columnist who has never met a Bush — or Bush policy — that she’s actually liked…
Guess opposition to Bush makes her a "feminist", right?
…. has all but written feminism’s obituary in her book, Are Men Necessary?
A book which Nathan has no doubt read.
Dowd notes that feminism "lasted for a nanosecond, but the backlash has lasted forty years." I would take issue with that statement. Feminism has been thwarting America’s growth and vitality for years — but, finally, a number of women are rejecting it for the silliness it is.
Yup. Having all these damn women in the workplace is only slowing America down, people!
Dowd writes, "It’s the season of prim, stay-in-the-background First Lady Laura Bush, not assertive two-for-the-price-of-one First Lady Hillary. Where would you even lodge a feminist protest these days?"
Didn’t know you had to fill out forms, but okay.
The signs of the decay of feminism can be seen far beyond Pennsylvania Avenue.
Apparently, Nathan hasn’t read Phyllis Schlafly’s latest column: "Does Feminism Control The Bush Administration?" in which she writes: "We are more than five years into the Bush presidency, but it appears that Bill Clinton’s feminist policies are still in force."
In cities across the U.S., women are chucking the corporate world and embracing Barney’s world instead.
Where they belong, dammit!
Seriously, Nathan. Are you one of those emasculated paranoid men who think that "feminist" women are out to get you? Feminism, at least as we understand it, means being able to enter the corporate world or become Mommy. Or both. It isn’t one or the other — it’s about options.
And speaking of options and the supposed "death of feminism", what say you to the fact that women are outpacing men when it comes to law school applications? Does Barney teach at our major educational institutions now?
They have found fulfillment where their grandmothers did — in the home, raising their children, offering love and support to their husbands.
Nathan knows whereof he speaks. His lovely wife Jordon, for example, supports her husband by writing to websites, assuring the public that "Nathan is very straight…"
Many do not consider domestic work a drudgery — rather, they see it as a comforting alternative to the 24/7 career life.
Unlike Suzanne Tabor (pictured here), Nathan’s mom, the CFO of Physicians Pharmaceuticals.
But what has brought about this seismic shift in American life? Feminism may, in fact, be responsible. Young women have seen the fallout from feminism and, as a result, they want no part of it.
That fallout being . . . what? Nathan is being sooooo cagey.
Public opinion polls generally show that younger women flinch at the thought of being called "feminists."
Cite? Link? No, I didn’t think so. Guess we will have to take Nathan’s word for it after all.
They may have been raised in the broken homes spawned by the nation’s divorce culture, and they don’t want their own children to suffer the fate that they did.
Feminism is to blame for the decline of marriage? We thought it was boys kissing boys.
In essence, they suffered parental loss early in their lives because their mothers were rarely home long enough to be a nurturing force.
And fathers — well, they’re not supposed to be a nurturing force. Everybody knows that!!
Instead of tugging on their mothers’ apron strings, they were left to tug on the telephone cord that connected them to their working mothers’ offices. They felt a distance from their mothers that no amount of therapy could adequately address.
And that’s why there’s a high divorce rate. Gotcha.
In one noteworthy case, a poll commissioned by Faye Wattleton, former head of the pro-abortion Planned Parenthood, showed the generation gap which feminism caused. Wattleton asked women whether keeping abortion legal was a major concern, and they said "no."
Okay. No link again, but we know Nathan is lying here. So we did some research.
Sure enough, he is lying. Out of his ass.
In Wattleton’s study, 3,000 women were given a list of 12 concerns for women, and asked to say which ones should be a top priority for the women’s movement (so, it wasn’t a yes/no inquiry).
Here are the results, directly lifted from Part One of the Report (PDF format):
Now, there are a few things to note about this.
The #1 top priority (tied) is "Equal Pay for Equal Work". That’s an odd priority if women have supposedly "found fulfillment where their grandmothers did — in the home, raising their children, offering love and support to their husbands".
The same could be said for other high-ranked priorities, like "child care", "taking time off from work to care for family members", "increasing the number of women who study math, science, and technology", and "getting more women elected into political office".
So women are now preferring to stay home? Not according to the one study that you cite, Nathan.
Secondly, half of the women in the study still thought that "keeping abortion legal" should be a "top priority". Hardly the rejection of abortion that Nathan claims.
Yes, keeping abortion legal is a lower priority than other issues, and according to the study, 25% of the women thought it shouldn’t be a priority at all.
But why? Was it, as Nathan argues, is a rejection of feminism?
Nope. Wattleton herself explained to CNN:
[W]omen in the poll told us that they did not believe that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade, or legal abortion. So, perhaps this is a reflection of women wanting to be more conservative about this issue and more thoughtful about it, but also not fearing that it will be overturned.
So there it is Nathan. Women aren’t concerned about abortion rights …because they already have abortion rights. That’s why it is ranked low compared to things women don’t have, like "equal pay for equal work".
Now that that’s settled . . . remember earlier when Nathan claimed — without citation — that "younger women flinch at the thought of being called ‘feminists’"?
That’s addressed in the Wattleton poll, too:
So when Nathan says that women flinch at the word "feminist", he means that that 64% of them regard the word as "positive".
But wait. Nathan said that "younger women" flinch at the word "feminist". Uh, okay…
So 72% of younger women find the moniker "feminist" to be positive, more than middle-aged or older women.
Ah, Nathan. You should be a politician. You’ve got your lies down so pat. So unabashedly false.
But let’s return to Nathan’s column.
Years of Planned Parenthood’s preaching about the alleged necessity of abortion-on-demand have failed to convince the younger generation, who realize that sisters, brothers, cousins, friends, and potential mates are missing because they were aborted by their misguided mothers. Younger women tend not to see abortion as a right — but rather as a profound wrong.
Oh, Nathan, Nathan, Nathan.
South Dakota’s recent decision to ban virtually all abortions demonstrates that radical feminism’s clarion call to kill the unborn is no longer being heeded. The U.S. Supreme Court — which has its share of pro-feminist holdovers — may still claim that abortion should be the law of the land, but elected representatives in South Dakota have proven that it doesn’t have to be.
They’ve proven nothing. All they’ve proven is that it is possible to pass laws which violate the Constitution.
Recent national public opinion polls also show quite clearly that Americans support legal abortion in only rare circumstances — in fact, most people believe it should be banned in 99 percent of all cases.
Oh, Nathan, Nathan, Nathan.
Feminist icon Molly Yard, who was marching for abortion well into her golden years, must be turning over in her grave.
Wow. Nathan Tabor, talking smack about recently deceased women. How manly. How virile.
Young women simply don’t relate to Eleanor Smeal, Gloria Steinem, and the other "founding mothers" of the modern feminist movement. They see such women as out-of-touch, angry, and unfulfilled. They admire women who can keep a household together under trying circumstances.
Nathan, from his vantage point in Kernersville, North Carolina, has his finger on the pulse of young women today.
They may have iPods and Blackberries, but they still believe in the value of hearth and home.
Why would a child-raising, stay-at-home, apron-string wearing Mom need an executive powertoy like a Blackberry?
And they definitely believe that men are necessary.
Nathan knows it, too. Every night when Nathan comes home from a hard day of demagoguery, Jordon looks deep into his eyes and sighs, "Nathan, you’re just so . . . necessary."
More On The Bush Approval Drop
The graphics tell it all.
Only four states (Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska and Utah) give Bush a higher-than-50% approval rating, compared with thirty-one states at the time of his re-election:
Okay, the graphics don’t tell it all. But this does.
Bush, Former Oil Man, Orders Probe Into Gas Gouging
Up next: Fox Orders Investigation Into Henhouse Slayings
UPDATE:
President Clinton proposed to use the strategic oil reserves to offset high gas prices. This is what then-governor Bush said:
"The Strategic Reserve is an insurance policy meant for a sudden disruption of our energy supply or for war. Strategic Reserve should not be used as an attempt to drive down oil prices right before an election. It should not be used for short-term political gain at the cost of long-term national security."
Bush orders the Department of Energy to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Oil Reserve “in order to get more fuel on the market and help reduce gas prices.
ANOTHER RELATED UPDATE:
Elizabeth Dole makes a funny:
"Democrats have decided to play partisan politics with gas prices in a flailing attempt to distract from the growing economy."
Joe in DC at AMERICAblog responds:
"To Dole and the GOP, pointing out the pain being caused to American families by skyrocketing gas prices is partisan politics. Because to them, everything is politics. To American families, $3.00 a gallon (and rising fast) is a very harsh reality—that’s something the GOP has really been missing."
32%
Further proof that rearranging the deck chairs won’t stop the Titanic from sinking.
Only two modern presidents have had lower ratings: Jimmy Carter fell into the high 20’s, and Nixon, just before he resigned, was in the low 20’s.
Clinton, by the way, never went below 43%. That was his lowest approval rating, and it happened briefly and early in his presidency (1993).
In Clinton’s second term, he never went below 50% in any poll. By comparison — since his re-inauguration in January 2005, Bush has never been above 50%, in any poll (even Fox News).
Bubba’s World
S. Carolina legislature considering a bill to make sale of sex toys a felony.
I can’t get my head wrapped around this one. Talk about a victimless crime. Look, even if you are a member of the "moral" "majority", is this an issue that really needs addressing? You’ve got gay marriages, prostitution, etc. — so much to choose from. What exactly is the societal harm in sex toys?
Note that the proposed law doesn’t make it a crime to possess sex toys — only to sell them.
Fortunately, the bill was drafted by a lone state legislator, Representative "I-Have-Nothing-Better-To-Do-Than-Obsess-Over-Other-Peoples’-Sex-Lives" Davenport. He wasn’t even able to find a willing co-sponsor for the bill.
The Internet Freedom Fight
The cool thing about the Internet is that nobody owns it. Sure, you may have to pay for access to the Internet, and once on it, you may pay for various servies — but the Internet itself exists within its own realm, with little regulation and virtually no ownership by government or private corporations. It’s a totally egalitarian world. This has been known as "Network Neutrality", one of the guiding concepts of the Internet since its inception.
Think about that for a second, while I tell you how that may change.
Congress is planning to turn over control of the Internet to a handful of telecommunications companies (AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner, etc.). Up to now, these companies provided the portals onto the Internet, but — by law — they couldn’t censor or regulate what you see or do. But, if they telecoms get their way, they will be able to do that. Want to visit certain sites? You may have to pay AT&T to do it. They may also create "premium lanes" where faster services are given to themselves and "customers" willing to pay premium prices. They may force you to use their browsers, rather than browsers of your choice. And so on.
The bottom line is this: The Internet, as we now know it, may be a vast wasteland of mindless everything (including this blog), but it’s everybody’s vast wasteland of mindless everything. That can change. Read more and get active.
UPDATE: From SaveTheInternet.com, here’s what may happen if "net neutrality" is gutted: