Miss Piggy is still sneezing.  She slept all afternoon downstairs and a few minutes ago woke up crying for  her mommy.  I’ve brought a carrier in so I can put her in it tomorrow.  She’s exploring it now.  I don't see any discharge from Piggy's nose or her eyes.  She is sneezing in sequence, which tells me we're probably dealing with allergies.

 

Is anyone worried about the dry Iams they’ve been using?  I’m about ready to just switch to Meow Mix for everyone.  Brunhilda ate a steady diet of it for 17.5 years, only eating other food about 6 months ago, when her health started failing.  Maybe that should be a lesson.

 

MY RANT FOR THE DAY

If any one person could be blamed for the GOP’s loss in November it is Tom Delay.  Yet he lacks the capacity and the maturity to own up to his own mistakes and the fact that he was a major contributor to that loss because of his own ethical impurities.  Instead, he blames the Dems for going on a witch-hunt against him.  Until our Republican   conservative “leaders” accept responsibility for their own imperfections, the 2006 loss is going to be repeated over and over until the GOP is a minor party that lacks the capacity for winning. 

 

EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW IN LIFE I LEARNED FROM STAR TREK!

Seek out new life and new civilizations

Non-interference is the prime directive

Keep your phaser set on stun

Humans are highly illogical

There is no such things as a Vulcan Death Grip

Live long and prosper

Having is not so pleasing as wanting; it is highly illogical, but often true

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations

Tribbles hate Klingons (and Klingons hate tribbles)

Enemies are often invisible- like Klingons they can be cloaked

Don’t put all your ranking officers in one shuttle craft

When your logic fails, trust a hunch

Insufficient data does not compute

If it can’t be fixed, just ask Scotty

Even on our own world, sometimes we are alien

When going out into the Universe, remember: “Boldly go where no one has gone before"

 Dave Marinaccio put it this way:   

Each person or each species, no matter how alien, has the right to live their lives as they wish. (As long as they’re not trying to take over the galaxy or eat you or something.)

Everyone has a role in life. Sulu is the navigator. Uhura is the communications specialist. Do your own job and the ship will function more smoothly.

Whatever you are doing, answer a distress call. The most important time to help someone is when they need it.

If you mess something up, it’s your responsibility to make things right again. (Say you disrupt history and cause the Nazis to win World War II. To correct matters, you have to let Joan Collins walk in front of a car even though you’re in love with her.)

The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play.

If you can keep your head in a crisis you’ve got a fighting chance.

The unknown is not to be feared. It is to be examined, understood and accepted.

Close friends become family and family is the true center of the universe.

End every episode with a smile.

And lastly, with time and patience you can even learn something from The Next Generation.

 Okay, what does all of this have to do with conservatives, Republicans and the price of Romulan Ale on Vulcan?  Quite a bit, actually.

 

Years ago I had the opportunity to interview Gene Roddenberry, aka The Great Bird of the Galaxy.  For those cretins and ignorant wretches who know nothing about Star Trek and science fiction and Americana, Gene Roddenberry is The Creator.  Star Trek is his brain child.  And, for those who may admire him but know little about his background, Roddenberry was a patriot.  He loved the United States.  He was a great fan of Jimmy Doolittle.  He was a WWII vet (B-17s) and a LA cop.  A recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, Roddenberry exemplified The Greatest Generation.  After the war he was a commercial airline pilot. The man had literally been there and done that.  While still a LA cop, he began writing scripts for such classics as Have Gun Will Travel and went on to author several classic Bonanza episodes, including one that featured his future wife, Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel), Deforest Kelly (Dr. Bones McCoy), and Jimmy Doohan (Mr. Scott).  He also was the head writer on a short lived series called The Lieutenant, a ground-breaking series because one of the regulars was a young Black actress named Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura).  For my ‘local readers’ Roddenberry was born at 1907 E. Yandell Street in El Paso.  After his death in 1990, Roddenberry’s ashes were carried aboard one of the shuttles and scattered into space. 

 

NOW PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY:  If not, bullets are going to fly.  Texans are a lot like drag queens.  They have an over the top, outrageous outlook on life that cannot be quenched.  Like GWB, they just don’t see the world the way the rest of us do.  I’ve come to discover it’s a Texas thing.  I have a friend from Texas who says because I am now living in Lincoln County (which was once a part of Texas) I can lay claim to some of this.  I truly envy Texans.  They have a state heritage none of us will ever possess.  Consequently, their take on life is a little, well, “Texan” – bigger and better. 

 

Gene Roddenberry was a Texan.  He believed in things larger than life and larger than himself.  He dreamed larger than life and, unlike 99.9% of us, turned his dreams into reality.  His reality was a universe where might was used for right and good always triumphed over evil.  It was a universe where firepower and the military were  used when necessary, always on the side of freedom and democracy.  During the height of the Cold War Roddenberry’s universe was so inviting,  a number of individuals were assimilated (it’s a Star Trek word) into it.  These people, often without a job and jokingly living in their parents basement doing nothing but watching Star Trek and playing video games as they tinkered with strange electronic gadgets later known as “PC’s” or personal computers in the garage found comfort in this universe.  A few, such as Bill Gates grew up, but for the most part until the last decade or so “Trekkies” were hopeless, hapless, usually harmless individuals who just couldn’t quite get their act together.

 

Eventually Trekkies literally worshipped at the altar of Roddenberry, seeing him as their ‘leader’ The Great Bird of the Galaxy.  They did what he told them to do.  They followed his every word, much the same way as certain conservatives do the rantings and conversations of Rush or Hannity.  But, unlike the latter, Roddenberry realized he was responsible for the mindset of these people.  He took his ‘leadership’ role very seriously.  In a two hour interview with him, Roddenberry explained his philosophy to me.  A student of psychology, Roddenberry could have manipulated his position with these people into, literally, a political force.  He could have used them to promote any agenda he wanted.  But he did not. 

 

Fully aware of the emotional instability of these people, Roddenberry did his best to promote a ‘healthy’ way of thinking.  He gave them hope and he gave them a future.  He went out of his way to be optimistic and try to stress looking outside of one’s self for the better good of humanity.  In doing so, he created a very special bond and relationship with his people.  They adored him and he in turn, adored them.  Never would he even consider doing anything that would harm them in any way.  And, eventually most of the original ‘crop’ of Trekkies grew up, found good jobs, moved away from home, took a bath, established relationships with the opposite gender, married and are raising a whole new generation of little Trekkies. 

 

Gene Roddenberry was everything a Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity should be but are not.  Our conservative talk show hosts, writers, and pundits delight in the money their fan base spends on them.  They have the same type of loyal following as did Roddenberry.   And basically, after separating the casual listener (such as myself) you are left with a bunch of conservative ‘trekkies’.  They are people who can’t quite get it together politically.  They are hungering for leadership, looking for someone to tell them what to do.

 

Instead of shouldering their responsibilities and working for the greater good for the Republican party, our intrepid conservative celebrities delight in the disorder they create.  They have power and know how to use and abuse it.  They belittle.  They ridicule.  They pretend to exercise social commentary when what they are doing is nothing but the assassination of some good individuals and political leaders who truly do not deserve such treatment.  Republicans who do not fall, lock-step into their own special little agendas are ridiculed as RINOs (Republicans in name only).  They incite hatred.  They do not force their dedicated band of syncopates to look for something better in life.  All they do is lead these people on, pandering about a great, mythical conservative leader, giving release to irrational hatred of anyone who isn’t the perfect conservative

If men like Rush Limbaugh had the emotional maturity to step outside of themselves and work for the greater good of the Republican Party, they could have tremendous influence in actual change and turning our government around, into something extraordinary.  Instead, they think only of themselves and a conservative reality that is never going to happen.  It cannot.  You see, their ideals of Conservativism have so far gone beyond the dreams and aspirations of Ronald Reagan I doubt he would even recognize it today.  I also doubt he would be very thrilled with these people.

 

IMMIGRATION 

The finest commentary I’ve seen to date about immigration comes from Geraldo. 

Last night I dozed through his FOX show.  One thing I did pick up is as follows:

Why do Cubans who reach US soil get a break but Mexicans who do the same thing are deported?  The only possible answer is racism.  Finally, someone “Gets It”.

 

“…Led by candidates like Arizona's J.D. Hayworth, the party essentially adopted the position of the Minutemen and similar radical groups, which promulgated a wildly exaggerated portrayal of a tidal wave of brown people overwhelming our southern border, running loose to rape, steal and murder on the streets of our cities. It is no accident that various hate groups have declared common cause with the Minutemen. Similarly, it is no accident that these various activist anti-immigration groups scarcely mention our long, undefended border with Canada….”

 Fascinating tale of a CIA agent’s meddling in the affairs of another nation. 

 

CONSERVATIVES GONE BAD

Is it just me, or does Rohrabacher need a little reality check.  Someone needs to tell him he is ONLY a Congressman and not another POTUS. 

Mac’sMind has interesting insight into the DOJ firings.

 

TERROR

The great school bus caper.

CounterTerror Blog

BlogLizards

Captain’s Quarters on KSM and company 

Hedgehog has the best roundup on the trial.  

Captain’s Quarters on the American financing of Jihad. How long are qe going to put up with this dodo? 

  

PATRIOTS

I’ve not mentioned “A Gathering of Eagles”.  Everyone else is.  Someone does need to give those motorcycle patriots a pat on the back.  Granted I’ve been dealing with another bout of that bug I had last weekend, but it looks to me like they were able to check-mate the anti-war idiots.  Evidently 30,000 good guys showed up. 

Captain’s Quarters

Malkin’s coverage is incredible. 

Gathering of Eagles

Right Wing Nut House

Wizbang

Flopping Aces

Flap

Blogs for Bush

Gates of Vienna

Hot Air

The Jawa

 

IRAQ

Blog Lizard on ‘the real Iraqi’ civil war.  Personally, to me it is no honor among thieves.

Read Iraq the Model about Iran wearing out it’s welcome. 

Flopping Aces on Media Bias in Iraq. 

StrataSphere on the same study.    Blogs for Bush

Powerline has a very powerful letter from one of our heroes in Iraq.

 

ISLAM

Atlas Shrugs on the downfall of the Christian world.

Why do Europeans need a Declaration of Independence?

“…After the death last Sunday of Rinie Mulder, a 54-year old indigenous Dutchman who was shot by a police officer, non-immigrant citizens went on a rampage in Utrecht. Apparently Mulder intervened when Muslim youths harassed a pregnant native Dutch woman. Locals claim the police has failed to protect them for years. They say the authorities are afraid of the immigrants and tolerate their criminal behavior….”

 

From the Brussels Journal 

 

“…Although the EU warns against "Islamophobia," those who live in the real world know that there has been an explosion of violent infidelophobia in Western Europe staged by Muslim immigrants. This wave of violence especially targets Jews, but the attacks against Christians that are going on in the Middle East are increasingly spreading to Europe as well. In more and more cities across the continent, non-Muslims are being harassed, robbed, mugged, raped, stabbed and even killed by Muslims. Native Europeans are slowly becoming second-rate citizens in their own countries.

 

This violence by Muslims is usually labelled simply as "crime," but I believe it should more accurately be called Jihad. Those who know early Islamic history, as described in books such as The Truth About Muhammad by Robert Spencer, know that looting and stealing the property of non-Muslims has been part and parcel of Jihad from the very beginning. In fact, so much of the behavior of Muhammad himself and the early Muslims could be deemed criminal that it is difficult to know exactly where crime ends and Jihad begins. In the city of Oslo, for instance, it is documented that some of the criminal Muslim gangs also have close ties to radical religious groups at home and abroad. As Dutch Arabist Hans Jansen points out, the Koran is seen by some Muslims as a God-given "hunting licence," granting them the right to assault and even murder non-Muslims. It is hardly accidental that while Muslims make up about 10% of the population in France, they make up an estimated 70% of French prison inmates.

 

In the city of Antwerp, Belgium, Marij Uijt den Bogaard from 2003 to 2006 worked as a civil servant in the immigrant borough of Berchem. She noted how radical Islamist groups began to take over the immigrant neighbourhoods, but was fired when she warned against this danger in her reports to the authorities:

 

"Many victims of burglaries in houses and cars, of steaming and other forms of violence, can testify that aggression by Muslims is not directed against brothers and sisters, but against whoever is a kafir, a non-believer. Young Muslims justify their behaviour towards women who do not wear the headscarf, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, by referring to the Salafist teaching which says that these women are whores and should be treated as such. They told me this. I wrote it down in my reports, but the authorities refuse to hear it…."

PRIMARIES 2008

Memorandum  and the continuing hypocrisy that is algore. GOP Progress on the algore mining biz.

The Left’s takedown of Giuliani and revisionist history of 9/11. 

Is it right to even discuss McCain’s age and health questions?

Rudy in NYC 

 McCain on the road.

Rudy on St. Patrick’s Day.

McCain’s qualifications and on the job training.  It is a very good snippy remark.

The McCain turnout in Iowa and NH

A wonderfully snarky post about Hillary.  

Southern Baptists have denounced Giuliani.  What would they have done with people like Washington, FDR, Sam Adams, Abe Lincoln, etc?