Realmscapes

Realmscapes Soundtrack

POETRY & WATERCOLOUR
30 May 2008

Here is a cool thing that Mr E is doing over at his weblog. As I understand it, everyday for the next hundred days, he and a fellow faculty member (at Tunxis CC) are teaming up for a poetry/watercolour project. He is supplying the original poetry to her daily artwork.

When Ignorance is a Good Thing

Kas is in Germany right now to visit with her family; she met a bunch of her friends at a class reunion the other day, and it wasn't long before the questions about American culture came.

One part of the American way that is completely strange to them is when Kas told them of "Christian" tele-evangelists (and I'm generalising here with the quotes--Rev Billy Graham is not one evangelist I am speaking of). The whole concept that the Bible can be commercialised just didn't come into their circle of comprehension.

Man, I love that.

Europe may not be the most Christian continent on the planet right now, but at least it's all or nothing when it comes to Christianity. That a "pastor" can pick and choose the best parts of the Bible for a ministry intended to be nothing more than some kind of personal wellness scheme or financial success program, in the opinion of Kas's friends (most of whom do not have Christian faith as of this writing), is perverted.

I dare put forward that her unchurched friends are closer to God's heart in this than the "Christian" TV personas and their thousands of members who believe this. It is the same way with God: all or nothing.

The Bible is a complete document. The reason we have so many denominations in this world is because too many churches take it upon themselves to copyedit The Bible(?!!) "to better fit with the times". This is the same arrogance giving us "man-made global warming", same-sex "marraige", splits within the Anglican Union, Mormonism etc.

Rush: On the Supreme Court Decision to Grant Rights to Captured Terrorists

"The Supreme Court decision with Gitmo and habeas corpus, I'm outraged beyond anything I can think of. For them to confer our constitutional rights that we have fought for and died for on those barbarians is just beyond the pale. And these people could not possibly, these five liberal elitists, five lawyers cannot possibly have shown a greater disdain for the Constitution and still say they love America."
--Caller from Norwalk CT, 06/13/08

The Supreme Court ruled this morning that foreign terrorism suspects held at Club Gitmo have rights under the Constitution that challenge their detention in US civilian courts. It was a 5-4 ruling, Anthony Kennedy, the fifth vote, wrote the opinion, handed the Bush administration its third setback at the Supreme Court since 2004 over its treatment of prisoners who are being held indefinitely and without charges at Club Gitmo. "It was not immediately clear whether this ruling, unlike the first two, would lead to prompt hearings for the detainees, some of whom have been held more than 6 years. Roughly 270 men remain at the island prison, classified as enemy combatants and held on suspicion of terrorism or links to Al Qaida and the Taliban." As I said, a military lawyer for Bin Laden's ex-driver has sought dismissal of his case after the Supreme Court ruling this morning. Now, this is an abomination. This is just outrageous. Never before in the history of US warfare have we had to go out and Mirandize prisoners of war. That's what we're going to effectively have to do. We're going to have to read prisoners of war their rights just as we would a thief at the local convenience store. I'll tell you what this means. This means, don't capture 'em.

There is a reaction for every action, and what this means is don't capture 'em. And if you're going to rendition 'em -- and, by the way, that's something started by Bill Clinton in the mid-nineties, rendition is where you send these people to unknown locations where they are held captive by the leaders of those nations who are your allies. Of course, an eager beaver press will be eager to find out where these prisoners have been taken as long as there's a Republican president. What's going to happen now, if these guys, these 270 guys now have access to the US Constitution as though they are citizens, these clowns at Club Gitmo, now the American servicemen and women who captured them going to have to be brought home for trial to explain their actions? I mean, a lot of unanswered questions here, but Ed Morrissey writes at the Hot Air blog, he says in our 232-year history, when have we ever allowed this kind of access to enemy combatants not captured inside the United States itself? These people have been captured in the battlefield. These people have been captured in Afghanistan and in Iraq, certain parts of Pakistan, they're brought to Club Gitmo, and now they are having conferred upon them US constitutional rights.

Barnes & Noble Search Engine

Top results for a search for "god biography" at Barnes&Noble.com
1. God: A Biography (by Jack Miles)
2. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (by Senator Barack Obama)
3. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (by Senator Barack Obama)

I don't know how books are listed on a estore search engine, but in the case of B&N I have a strong feeling it is nothing to do with best-selling statitistics or objective relevancy.

Terrorist = Criminal?

This Supreme Court ruling on terrorists now being classified as "criminals" with the same Constitutional rights as you and me is O.U.T.R.A.G.E.O.U.S.

Islamofascists are not reformable criminals. These are sane individuals who operate on the military battlefield. As long as they engage in terrorism on a field of war against the United States, they are military enemies of the United States. They are prisoners of war.

Men and Boys

“We’ve been getting stomped around the last 10 years and it isn’t going to happen anymore. I had to let them know early and let them know right away,” is the "wisdom" bestowed on baseball by Rays pitcher, James Shields, the day after sparking the bench-clearing ball when he plunked Coco Crisp.

And that's pretty much been the Tampa Bay attitude since the beginning of Spring Training, when the Rays went after The Evil Empire to establish their apparent theme for 2008. Up until this season, I was impressed by Manager Joe Maddon's steady leadership on a team that got very little attention. Not this season; either he's going along with his players destructive attitude, or he's spearheading it.

High schoolers believe they can earn respect by brawling with rivals in the parking lot and corridors, Mr Manager. Men earn theirs stoically and without fanfare. The Rays do not have the depth of the Sox, or the blank checks of the Bombers; this may be only season where the Rays can take the East by storm before returning to earth for awhile (like the Rockies have, or the Pirates did). Why throw it away for short-term pride?

If you haven't realised this now, perhaps you will come to remember it when you're sitting through a drubbing of your bullpen in Texas or LAofaA. I hope you will not have to reflect on it in October while staring at a schedule result sheet that shows a season lost following June 5th.

'6+5' = B(ad)

This '6+5' rule that FIFA has voted to implement is ridiculous, arrogant, and communist. If enacted, it will impact domestic leagues worldwide, and will restrict the number of foreign players in a club's starting lineup to five. The move is primarily aimed at the Eurpoean leagues (most especially England's Premier League), who are being accused of soaking up the non-Euro talent (specifically those from Africa and South America), thus upsetting "the football karma".

The end result is to restore national identity to domestic leagues, and prevent them from harvesting talent from poorer continents so as those poorer continents can theoretically become less poor. What absolute stinking Bantha Poodoo.This rule isn't about fairness or national identity, or it shouldn't be--that's what the World Cup and regional Federation Cups are for.

At the heart of it are two things:

1) FIFA doesn't approve of the free market--aka "capitalism" (remember that FIFA is run by irritable liberals--just contrast the FIFA motto, "For the Good of the Game" with the communist ideology, "For the Good of the State");

and 2) the dirty secret may be that European crusties are waxing nostalgic for "the good ol' days" when European soccer (played by European players) dominated the World (who do these Africans and South Americans think they are?!)--sans English football (which has always been at odds with FIFA). I find it interesting that this rule almost exclusively is aimed the English Premier League (EPL), who are currently benefiting across the board from record heights of popularity. That means they are successful, and liberals hate any success, especially by such a powerful capitalist nation.

But all the politics and dumbness aside, the real losers of this would be the players--especially those from poor countries who dream of playing for Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga, and (of course) the EPL, in hope of improving their way of life. To us Americans, this means that players are having their Creator-given right to the "pursuit of happiness" threatened by a bunch of crotchety old liberal men.

The saving grace for now is that the agreed-on proposal violates dozens of economic and employment laws on every major continent, not the least being those of the European Union and the United States. So uh, yeah... good luck with that FIFA.

Found in Translation

by KMR

Some time ago, I wrote a journal entry of the fact that my story is 'lost in translation'. Due to the fact that english is my second language, it never seemed to matter how often I rewrote my story... it was never good enough. Things were getting better - but simply never 'right'.

A story is a story, and it can be told in many means. As a book, by the spoken word, and it can be a comic... After the last years of listening, my husband sat down and wrote the first part of my story as a comic-script, in hope it would sell easier than the book.

Almost two and a half years ago, I met Kat online and asked her, if she wanted to make my story into a comic. ... I don't remember why she agreed at the time. That was January 06. Now, we have May 08, and Kat has become my penciller and my story - seemingly found in translation - is going to be available to the public worldwide...

Please check out our website www.grailquestbooks.com for details. New things will be uploaded over the next weeks, so keep looking!

Quote for 2008, On Memorial Day

The Golden Age of RE--

We've had the Classic Age and the Golden Age... we've been at the height of the Blockbuster Age for nearly 30 years now. And thanks to Batman Begins we officially enter the Age of Rehash/Redo/Rerun/Remake/Reboot... take your pick.

Take a look at the film slate (over the past and) for the next few years--you'll see many familiar faces: Fun With Dick & Jane. Mr & Mrs Smith. Sleuth. The Incredible Hulk. Clash of the Titans. RoboCop. Highlander. Street Fighter. The Punisher. Hellraiser. Race to Witch Mountain. The Pink Panther. Halloween. Friday the 13th. The Wolf Man. The A-Team. A Christmas Carol. The Musketeer. The Dukes of Hazzard. I Am Legend. King Kong.

And these are the films that will be available when there isn't a sequel/triquel/quadquel on the screen.

It's not that a few of the above were not good candidates, it's that it is becoming very apparent that there is a waning of creativty going on. It's one thing if a film is remade because the first attempt bombed e.g. Lee's The Incredible Hulk. Damme's Street Fighter. Lundgren's The Punisher. But RoboCop? Clash of the Titans? Highlander? These are Classic films with a solid following of fans who deserve more than just a cliche "darker more realistic" story with visual effects update. RoboCop doesn't need a remake, it just needs a real sequel... Clash of the Titans doesn't need to be redone, not when there are a plethora of other Greek legends that haven't even been done ONCE... And Highlander doesn't need a reboot, it just needs writers who understand that Immortals are mere footnotes to History who fight there battles on the threshold of our awareness...

Hollywood still hasn't learned that what made The Golden Age of Cinema "Golden" was the understanding that EVERY film was a story of characters told by the Actors and Actresses. Everything else was so much garnish.

Rush: Thoughts on Commencement

[Once] long ago, I prepared a commencement address way back when I was still in Kansas City, what I would say to students if they were graduating high school. I've thought about it and I've updated it since. Ten to 15 minutes is tough, but the first thing that I would say is the world does not revolve around you, yet, and you are not the future leaders of this country, yet, just because you've graduated. Now it's up to you to decide what to do with the education that you have. And I would launch into a spirited celebration of the American capitalist system.

I would tell 'em how much of a head start they have over quite a few other people because of their education. Their education was for a purpose. It was to get them into the free market and engage in capitalism and secure the growth of this country because, like their parents, they someday are going to be worried about the future for their kids and they're not going to improve the future of their kids by joining protest marches or wearing ribbons or putting bumper stickers on the backs of their cars. They're going to have to go out, roll up the sleeves, and start working and become productive and further the capitalistic engine of the United States of America. That's how growth is created. I'd probably just continue with that theme. I'd spend some time inspiring them and teaching them a little bit about America to counteract what I thought they had been taught in their classrooms over the course of these past four years or five, depending on how long they've been there. But it would be optimistic, it would be upbeat, it would be positive: You live in the greatest country in the world, and you're gonna hear every day how we're the worst, you're going to hear how we're responsible for global warming and we're destroying the world.

We are not anything but the world's solutions. We are not the problem in the United States of America. I would try to instill in them a pride for being Americans, something that would swell their chests. I would take them through this country and various things that they should be proud of and can be proud of, because it's necessary, because they're going to be bombarded daily, in news, coworkers and so forth, with people whining and moaning and complaining it can't get done, America is evil, and basically my objective would be optimistic inspiration. I would hope -- this is a little bit of a stretch -- but I would hope that immediately after the graduation they would eschew the party and head right to a job interview. They wouldn't do it of course, and I want them to go to the party, but love for the country, appreciation for it, understanding their role in it, and someday they are going to be responsible for its greatness, but that has to be earned. It doesn't just come to you because you're an American.

   -Rush Limbaugh

Rush: On the Great Depression

Folks, it's time for a little history lesson. Now, we're going to get to the phones here in just a second. Please be patient. But I want to do a little history lesson, because also, while in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, yesterday, Barack Obama said this: "I don't think that we're necessarily going in the direction of the Depression," in response to a question during a visit to a suit-making factory. He said, "There are some similarities, though, to the Great Depression, to what happened back in the late twenties and the early thirties and what's been happening now, and the biggest similarity is how we've been dealing with Wall Street and what's happening in the financial markets. As your president, my job is to regulate what happens in the financial markets to make sure that people aren't taking these kinds of risks and that we're having full disclosure." Now, I have a question. How in the world is the Democrat Party about to have this degree of an uneducated man run for president of the United States? How in the world do you graduate from the best university in the world and not know more than this about the Great Depression?

For a presidential candidate to assess the current US economy, as showing similarities to the Great Depression and what happened in the late twenties and the early thirties, is mind-blowing. I do not know how you come out of Harvard not knowing anything more than this about the Great Depression. And then, he said the US housing crisis resulted from a lack of regulation and mortgage lenders, investment banks who ended up with worthless assets. Do you know what we're learning about this subprime business? We are learning that quite a few of these people who are abandoning their homes never lived in them, they were speculators, got caught in a flip. All this talk about people walking away, there's a term now, walk-away mortgages, people walking away because ostensibly they can't afford them. They're walking away because they know they're going to be made whole. They're walking away because they don't have to pay for them. They never lived in these houses, they were flipping them, they were speculating.

But back to the Great Depression. Okay, "Obama Compares Housing Crisis to Great Depression," that is the headline for Reuters. "Obama Compares Housing Crisis to Great Depression." I'm wondering how many of you know what caused the Great Depression and what ended it, and after it started, what it was that exacerbated it. Now, I was trying to figure out last night -- you gotta remember here, I am steaming when I left here yesterday, you can ask Snerdley, I walked outta here, you know, we go out, get in the cars, usually tell each other, "Good show." I didn't say a word. I got in the car and sped off. Snerdley stayed here to play with the new computer. I got home, I was stewing. I take it very poorly when I do what I think is a subpar broadcast, and yesterday was, in terms of mood. Content may have been okay, but anybody can show up on the radio and be mad. That doesn't take much. My mood is better today. Can't you tell? Of course my mood is better today. So I got to thinking, what in the world could Barack Obama have been taught about the Great Depression if he compares today's economy and the housing crisis to it?

Quote for 2008, On War

"War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend..."

  Faramir, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Rush: The Left & American Oil Exports from Anti-American Countries

All right, here's Ariel Cohen, and this was published Sunday in the New York Post on the op-ed page. "Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., is Senior Research Fellow in International Energy Security at The Heritage Foundation and the author of The Real World, a weekly column published in The Middle East Times." It begins this way: "As you go deeper into debt filling up your tank with $4 gas this weekend, look on the bright side -- you're helping to fund countries that hate you. From Russia to Iran to Venezuela, America's adversaries are splurging on oil windfalls, while programs directed against Uncle Sam and his allies are funded by petroleum revenues. Big bucks are allowing the oil sultans and dictators to intimidate US allies, buy politicians and academics, and purchase election outcomes. Oil prices are going up partly because of supply and speculation -- but also because these countries can decide to punish the US or limit our influence, particularly when they disagree with policies toward Iraq and Israel.

Introducing Grail Quest Books

So it happened kind of by accident. Kas and I have always wanted our own book publishing company, but we didn't expect to have one as of last week. And based on comic books no less (comics were the one entertainment medium I was convinced I'd never be involved in, and for several good reasons).

But here we are: Grail Quest Books. We expect to have the first issue (of a limited series) out this Summer; it is the adaptation of Kas's "prologue" to her self-published book (itself in the middle of a rewrite). Some of you have already seen the artwork for the comic. The art team that we assembled for it is a blessing of incredible talent, and we hope this project will give all three of them the attention they fully deserve.

The King in the Dark Tower

Mr King has stated that he will not apologize for his remarks regarding student literacy (in this case a lack thereof) and their future--specifically a future that allegedly, almost exclusively, includes a weapon and a pair of BDUs. I strongly disagree with his remarks, but I do not want him to apologize in any manner or form. I am tired of the constant need for apology that plagues today's culture. I am delighted to have his word-ed views on the subject of our Armed Forces--and all those of liberalism--be on display.

The comments themselves are nothing we haven't heard before from a "kum ba yah" leftist, as is most of the comments he made in his follow-up interview: the war is bogus, the war is taking away precious [enter your favorite government subsidy here] funding, the U.S. military is little more than a better equipped 18th-century version of itself, conservatives are mindless ditto-heads. The last point is rather humorous, given that everything he stated are nothing more than the same old talking points spewed by liberal pundits all over cable news since the war began. So on that premise: at the very least, it's a pot-and-kettle conversation.

I would love to rail on the liberal ignorance and arrogance of all of the above points, but Mr King is most concerned about the war's affect on education. What is ironic is that after all the millions of dollars this country spends on education, liberals such as Mr King crow that our education system is failing. This is a refreshing assessment given that the education system in this country is (and has been) run by leftists. Remember that Mr King believes that conservatives are brain washed by the new media? No doubt that our kids can spout reams of "intelligence" concerning Christian imperialism, Franklin D Roosevelt, economic unfairness, and man-made global warming; but ask your children what they have been taught concerning Muslim sectarianism, Ronald Reagan, capitalism, and intelligent design. Whom is brain washing whom?

Mr King is right about the failures of Big Education to equip our young people with the full range of knowledge that will turn them into thinkers, not robots. He is also correct that there are few options for those who come out of school with a limited education. But he is wrong that one of those options is the U.S. Armed Forces. The military requires recruits to pass aptitude tests; someone without a working mind or with a lower-than-average literacy will not pass the rigorous education system of the U.S. military's tech schools.

Mr King is also wrong that Big Education is failing to make our kids literate. You see, if our kids do not come out of public high school and college being able to recite the liberal mantras, then they are "failures"; when children cannot read it is the state's fault, not a lack of personal responsibility; if students come out of graduation eager to serve their country with honor, then those men and women are to be "supported" in what all too often sounds more like pity.

In all cases, the obvious recourse (to a liberal) is to assess Big Education to figure out what could possibly have gone wrong, to blame conservatives (duh), and finally, to pour more funding into public education in hopes of doing a better job "educating" the masses.

Not being a fan of double-talk myself, I am happy to answer Mr King's questions: I am for the war in Iraq; I am for the greater War on Terrorism. I am not for investing more funds into a public education system rife with liberal agendas and biases.

I am amused that the moment you challenge what a liberal means by "I support the troops", you are somehow challenging their patriotism. Maybe we are just curious. After all, since Mr King has been all over the world, I would be interested to know when the last time was that he drove himself a few miles down the street of his "National Guard town" to show his "support" by hosting a private book signing for our local soldiers and airmen. Then again, to be fair, perhaps he doesn't because he expects there will be no books to sign.