And I, For One, Welcome Our New Machine Overlords

No, I'm not updating this blog any more. Go here instead, puh-leaze.

Hey! It's Dead Che Day! Hooray!

It was forty years ago today
When they finally executed Che
His shirts have been the latest style
But the man was really very vile
So may I introduce to you
The beast you've known for all these years...
Che Guevara's bloated, stinking corpse!

Yes, forty years ago the planet became a better place as brutal, mass-murdering Stalinist t-shirt icon Ernesto "Spanky" Guevara was finally sent to hell. Despite being a failure as a revolutionary, Ernest had the good fortune of having a few pictures of him taken which made him seem to be a dashing figure, thereby guaranteeing that clueless teenagers and clueless Hollywood leftists would forever immortalize him (Now only $19.99 for this lovely Che shirt!).

The Cult of Che

The cult of Ernesto Che Guevara is an episode in the moral callousness of our time. Che was a totalitarian. He achieved nothing but disaster. Many of the early leaders of the Cuban Revolution favored a democratic or democratic-socialist direction for the new Cuba. But Che was a mainstay of the hardline pro-Soviet faction, and his faction won. Che presided over the Cuban Revolution's first firing squads. He founded Cuba's "labor camp" system—the system that was eventually employed to incarcerate gays, dissidents, and AIDS victims. To get himself killed, and to get a lot of other people killed, was central to Che's imagination. In the famous essay in which he issued his ringing call for "two, three, many Vietnams," he also spoke about martyrdom and managed to compose a number of chilling phrases: "Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become …"— and so on. He was killed in Bolivia in 1967, leading a guerrilla movement that had failed to enlist a single Bolivian peasant. And yet he succeeded in inspiring tens of thousands of middle class Latin-Americans to exit the universities and organize guerrilla insurgencies of their own. And these insurgencies likewise accomplished nothing, except to bring about the death of hundreds of thousands, and to set back the cause of Latin-American democracy—a tragedy on the hugest scale.

The fact that this man, responsible for so much suffering and death could become an icon says a lot about the sickness of our society.

At Least I Have Chicken

Yeah, Good Luck With That

"Ah Vir, I have heard political naivete this complete only once, from Lord Jhano in a speech he made before the Centarum. We voted to have him sterilized as a favor to future generations, then we remembered that he was married to the Lady Ahrnos so really, there was no need." - Londo Molarri, Babylon 5

Obama urges eliminating nuclear weapons

Democrat Barack Obama called for ridding the world of nuclear weapons Tuesday and offered his early opposition to the Iraq war as evidence of sound judgment that trumps his lack of Washington experience.

Obama argued that U.S. policy is still focused on the defunct Soviet Union instead of combatting the nuclear threat from rogue nations and terrorists. The United States shouldn't unilaterally disarm, he said, but it must work with other nations to phase out weapons and control atomic material.

"Here's what I'll say as president: 'America seeks a world in which there are no nuclear weapons,'" Obama said.

"The best way to keep America safe is not to threaten terrorists with nuclear weapons — it's to keep nuclear weapons and nuclear materials away from terrorists," the Illinois senator said. Aides said the process Obama envisions would take many years, not just a a single presidency.

Wow.

Just wow.

Let me spell it out to you, Barack:

IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.

Nuclear weapons are not going to go away. Ever. There are those for whom a nuclear weapon means power, influence, the ability to destroy their enemies with the push of a button. Y'see, Barack, there are bad people in the world. You can talk about "phasing out" nuclear weapons, but as long as there are maniacs like Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad trying to get them it's not even a remote possibility. Since you've shown no particular inclination for using force to stop those bad people from getting their hands on nasty weapons, well, they can safely ignore you. And let's not even discuss the odds of getting Russia and China to go along with this without cheating.

So we're left with this problem:

• Obama wants to get rid of nuclear weapons, but will not disarm unless everyone disarms.
• There is absolutely no chance that everyone everyone is going to disarm.
  
• Thus, nuclear weapons are not going to go away.
  

So why waste your time even talking about it? What you're proposing, Barack, is an impossibility. It may play well to the fringe nutcases of your party, but ordinary, everyday, non-fruitcake people are going to look at you and decide that you are dangerously naive. Once again, you're making Hillary Clinton look like the most mature, realistic Democrat running for office right now.

How sad is that?

(Link via Little Green Footballs)

It's a Small World After All

"Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas..."

Today is the 36th anniversary of the opening of Walt Disney World here in central Florida, an event that turned this little cow-town of Orlando into a much, much larger cow-town. With rides. In 1971 WDW consisted of a few hotels, a monorail, golf courses, and the Magic Kingdom. Personally, I've always loved the place, overpriced churros and all. Back in 1970 my parents took me to the Preview Center, which showed what guests could expect when the park opened (presumably not mentioning the churros). My dad was excited, but financially the family wasn't able to swing a vacation there until the late 1970s. Since I moved to Orlando I've kept an annual pass about half the years I've been here.

Rides have come and gone over the years... Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is long-gone, replaced with a saccharine Winnie the Pooh ride. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has been replaced with... well, nothing. They filled in the lagoon and put yet another character meeting spot in its place where parents can take photos of screaming toddlers with six-foot-tall rodents, and more recently a Winnie the Pooh themed play area. As much as I miss the old rides, I understand that the only way to remain competitive is to constantly update, and it's not too bad as many of the classics (like the good old Haunted Mansion) are still there, often little changed. The Magic Kingdom is like a slice of old America, a less cynical time. The rides and attractions there have an endurance that is missing from almost every other non-Disney theme park... does anyone think people four decades from now will have nostalgic feelings for the Shrek 4-D ride at Universal? Of course not. Most won't even know it was ever there, it having been gutted decades ago and replaced by the next flavor-of-the-month ride based on a different, more recent film franchise. But the doom buggies will still be winding their way through the Haunted Mansion.

(For a fun look at the Disney World of the past, check out Widen Your World. I still miss the crappy hamburgers at the Adventureland Veranda. They put pineapple slices and teriyaki sauce on them, in what passed in the '70s for exotic theme-park food.)

We'll Provide the Bread, You Provide the Circuses

The slide into the nanny state continues, and the leading Democrat has a nifty idea: pay people $5000 for every baby they crank out.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that every child born in the United States should get a $5,000 "baby bond" from the government to help pay for future costs of college or buying a home.

Clinton, her party's front-runner in the 2008 race, made the suggestion during a forum hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus.

"I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so that when that young person turns 18 if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that downpayment on their first home," she said.

The New York senator did not offer any estimate of the total cost of such a program or how she would pay for it. Approximately 4 million babies are born each year in the United States.

Does it matter how much it will cost? Money is no object when it comes from other people.

The more I watch what's going on in this Presidential campaign the more depressed I become. We're still more than a year away from November 2008 and the Democrats are falling all over themselves proposing new government spending on a scale that would have made Franklin Roosevelt's head melt like one of the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. On the positive side, we should be able to tap a new, unlimited power source: the Founding Fathers spinning in their graves should provide enough energy to light up the Eastern seaboard.

Understand something: Lady Macbeth's primary goal here is simply get herself elected. However, giving people government money serves another, more long-term purpose... as people become dependent on the government it becomes far easier to manipulate them. "Don't vote for that guy! HE'LL TAKE AWAY YOUR BENEFITS!" We saw this during the Social Security battle a few years ago. Bush's modest idea to let people invest a few frikkin' percent of their SS taxes was savaged as an attempt to destroy Social Security. It will be the same if Hillary's scheme here passes, or if (when) we get socialized health care in this country. "Don't vote for that guy, HE'LL CUT YOUR MEDICAL BENEFITS!" Bind people to the government dole and they'll do anything you want to keep the supply of money coming in. It's essentially a scheme for permanent power.

In the meantime, Americans continue to pay far more attention to Britney's latest crash or OJ's latest felony than they do to the fact that they're being manipulated. In 2008, half the voters in this country will choose a candidate who promises to take away their troubles, while the other half will vote for a candidate who promises to take away almost all their troubles.

But... But... It Was a GUN FREE ZONE!!!

How is this possible? This school was a gun free zone, which means there should have been no possibility that a gun would be brought to school. No possibility whatsoever!

(CBS 5 / AP) OROVILLE A student gunman held an Oroville high school drama class hostage Friday, firing several shots into the ceiling and holding three of the students for more than an hour before a police hostage negotiator persuaded him to surrender peacefully, authorities said. No one was hurt.

Couldn't the kid read the signs?

Don't Tase Me, Bro!

Bloody Peasant!

The Eyes of a Psychopath

Anime I'm Watching: Ergo Proxy

When it comes to anime, I'm what you might call a "casual fan" (if I can use such a contradiction). I tend to pick up series based on whim and recommendation, watch most them in their English dubbed versions (HERETIC! HEATHEN!), and have pretty specific criteria for shows I like:

• The series must have a compelling story and not be an endless battle-of-the-week or monster-of-the-week.
• The heroes must be likable and interesting, and the villains suitably nasty but also interesting. There's nothing worse than a boring villain.
  
• Characters must grow and change during the series. When I started watching Neon Genesis Evangellion I took an instant dislike to the character of Shinji (who is almost a textbook definition of "whiny little bastard"), but was willing to continue watching because I assumed he'd get better. That is, until a friend told me "no, he's pretty much like that through the entire series." Oh, well, never mind. I stopped watching and never looked back, and from what I've since heard I made the right decision.
  
• The series must end at some point, whether it be 13 episodes, a season, or a couple of seasons, and the ending must be satisfying and FINAL. The ending should not be a meaningless mindfuck full of unexplained events and deep symbolism... far too many anime series end in such a way, as if the series creators throw up their hands and say "hell, we don't know what's going on either."
  
• The ending should have an emotional kick to it... characters should live, characters should die, but only if it makes sense in the story.
  
• It should be well-written, with clever lines and humor that is actually funny (as opposed to humor that is supposed to be funny but really isn't).
  
• It must be clear within the first few episodes that the creators are going somewhere with the plot and have an idea how things are going to work out. I enjoy series that drop subtle hints early on that pay off in the end (American science fiction examples of this would be series like Babylon 5 and Heroes).
  

Lately I've been buying two series as they come out: Ergo Proxy and Kurau Phantom Memory. Both have been enjoyable for different reasons, but I'll write about Kurau in the future. Right now let's concentrate on Ergo Proxy. I'm going to try to avoid spoilers but some are inevitable, so stop reading now if that sort of thing bothers you.

Ergo Proxy takes place an indeterminate time in the future on a devastated Earth, with humanity reduced to a few (very few) domed cities amidst a wasteland of dust and ash. The city of Romdo is just such a place, and inside the inhabitants enjoy a peaceful paradise where all their needs are taken care of. Each Romdo citizen has an android assistant called an AutoReiv which serves as companion, assistant, and network computer; the AutoReivs are intelligent but not truly self-aware. They do have a "Turning Application" which causes them to interact like a living person with others, but it can be shut off when it becomes annoying.The city is ruled by an old man called the Representative who speaks through four AutoReivs (which resemble Michelangelo's sculptures).

Things generally don't change much in Romdo... the citizens are born in artificial wombs, educated for their tasks, and encouraged to consume. Nobody questions anything.

However, recently AutoReivs have started becoming infected with a virus called Cogito that causes them to become self-aware... to possibly gain souls and the ability to make decisions for themselves. In some this causes violent reactions against humans and has resulted in a series of murders. In response, the city has created the AutoReiv Control Division to hunt down and eliminate the infected.

Vincent Law is a refugee from the destroyed city of Mosk who works for this unit. His only goal is to become a "fellow citizen"... meek and compliant, Vincent is a bit of a whiner and is tends to simply accept whatever life throws at him. He has a crush on Re-l Mayer which borders on stalking. He is accused of treason and escapes from the dome into the outside world.

Re-l (pronounced "ree-el") Mayer is the granddaughter of the Representative who works for the Citizen intelligence Bureau. She is haughty and cold, and entirely too curious for her own good. Charged with investigating a series of Cogito murders she discovers a superhuman being called a "proxy" and is attacked by another one. Her search for the truth causes her to seek out Vincent Law outside Romdo.

Pino is a Cogito-infected AuroReiv which resembles a small girl (both in design and personality). Designed to serve as a substitute child for a couple which has not yet been granted a child, Pino escapes with Vincent rather than be hunted down. She is generally friendly and happy, not caring too much about the deep psychological dramas of the characters.

The main plot of the series follows the journey of Vincent, Re-l, and Pino as they journey to the ruins of Mosk to find the truth behind the proxies. As they travel across the blasted wasteland they discover other remnants of humanity but few humans and quite a few proxies.

Ergo Proxy has several themes: identity (as implied by the title and much of the terminology of the show), loneliness and isolation, and memory. Approximately every third or fourth episode is a mindfuck episode... you don't know what-the-hell-is-going-on at the start:Vincent is a contestant on a game show, or Pino awakes in an amusement park. However, the mindfuck episode is always explained at the end and doesn't leave the viewer wondering what-the-hell-is-going-on after it's over. The series delves deep into the psychology of its characters but never to the point of excess (cough*Evangellion*cough), and characters grow and change in sometimes unexpected ways.

So what's the final verdict? That remains to be seen. The final disc doesn't come out until next week, so I won't know if the ending is a satisfying one until then. It's been an interesting journey so far, though.

The Grand 9/11 Conspiracy, Explained

If someone had told me that six years after September 11th, 2001, there would be people who deny that al Qaeda attacked the United States and who, instead, insist that a sinister conspiracy is behind the attacks, a conspiracy originating within our own government (with the often-assumed assistance of Mossad), I would have...

I would have completely believed them. People like this have always existed. Today's truthers are no different than Kennedy conspiracy whackjobs, moon-landing deniers, holocaust deniers, and UFO kooks. The goal is to twist reality to fit their own beliefs, regardless of what actually happened. In this case, hatred of the Bush administration is combined with an unwillingness to accept that there really are religious fanatics in other countries who want to murder Americans, which is combined with a paranoid mindset, resulting in convoluted conspiracy theories which have about as much to do with the real world as your average Star Trek convention.

Regarding September 11th, the truther theories are continually morph and change, and no two truthers will ever give you the same theory.

Let's look at what would be involved in your average 9/11 conspiracy, if the government REALLY was behind it:

1. Funding is arranged from secret sources.
2. Hundreds of willing accomplices must be carefully screened and approached... if even ONE person gets a hint of what is being proposed and suffers an attack of conscience, the whole scheme could be exposed. Any who may tip off others or talk must be silenced before they can send an e-mail or phone a reporter.
   
3. The attacks must be coordinated between everyone involved while still remaining a complete secret.
4. The World Trade Center (and WTC7) must be wired with explosives without anyone noticing.
5. Airplanes must be hijacked, the passengers quietly offloaded (depending on which conspiracy theory one believes) and executed.
6. The planes must be wired for remote control (although this may have been done beforehand).
7. The planes must be crashed into the towers.
8. A cruise missile must be launched at the Pentagon, despite the fact that the evil cabal was willing to use airplanes in the other crashes.
9. Another plane must be crashed into the fields in Pennsylvania.
10. The explosives in the towers must be set off, causing the towers to collapse.
11. The collapse must be predictable enough to damage WTC7, since it has previously been wired.
    
12. Several hours later the explosives in WTC7 must be set off.
13. al Qaeda must be blamed.
14. Afghanistan must be invaded, despite the fact that there is no oil there.
15. This will allow the cabal to set up the invasion of Iraq, which DOES have oil, which can then be stolen.
16. Any who discover the truth must be allowed to continue to speak out, and make money on DVDs and lectures, despite the willingness of the sinister cabal to kill thousands upon thousands in their mad scheme.
    

It's all so SIMPLE!!!

Emperor Palpatine couldn't come up with a scheme as convoluted as the average truther theory.

This from a government that can't manage to keep troop movements secret, keep track of its equipment, or balance a budget. Here's an easy way to refute every truther argument: the government sucks at everything. The level of competence required to pull off 9/11, keep it a secret, frame the Arabs, and thusly start a war is staggering. The scheme involves hundreds, if not thousands, of people, millions of dollars, and complete secrecy. And for what? Truthers can't even agree on the goals of the conspiracy.

The REAL truth, that a bunch of 7th century religious fanatics exploited that very same governmental incompetence to go undetected, hijacked planes, and crashed them into buildings is much simpler. In fact, it makes use of the universal truth stated above (I'll repeat: the government sucks at everything) in order to succeed. It's simple, it's easy to explain, and everyone who isn't a paranoid whackjob can agree on it.

Of course, the truth is the last thing a truther wants to hear.