Best dog ever.

Our dear dog Cleo died today, she was 10. We are all going to miss her terribly. She was good. Always good.

Joining the Great Bird.

Well, what a week. Forrest J. Ackerman, Bettie Page, and now Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. She has been an integral piece of Star Trek since the very beginning. Most people remember her as Nurse Chapel on the Classic show, or later fans remember her as Lwaxana Troi on Next Generation. She was of course the voice of the Enterprise's computer in several incarnations of Trek (to include the new film currently in post-production).

To me though she will always be Number One, the unintentionally mysterious first officer of the Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike. See, when Gene Roddenberry developed the first pilot for Trek, he included a female first officer, referred to in the episode only in grand naval tradition as "Number One." We never hear her real name. We never find out why she is stoic while even the young Spock is smiling. She never shows up or is mentioned again (unless you read Peter David novels regarding Morgan Lefler). She's the consummate Starfleet Officer, holding her own when Captain Pike disappears, and deciding at one point the answer is to use the biggest goddamn gun she can find to negotiate with the Talosians. The idea of such a character in 1965 was so radical, the network made Gene Roddenberry drop the character. So, in real life he married her, put a blonde wig on her, and cast her as Nurse Chapel when the show was finally picked up. I, however, still miss Number One.

Bye Majel- say hi to Gene, DeForrest, and James for me.

Ding Dong...

The New Rulers of Babylon hanged the Old Ruler of Babylon. There are two things that disturb me about this. Before I get into that though, let me state that if anyone does deserve capital punishment, it would be this Dick...tator. His crimes were horrendous, and a far better excuse for the South Canadian Empire to invade than weapons of mass delusion. Few are higher on my list (except Celine Dion of course).

But what disturbs me? First, that the official state executioners, according to the single fastest intelligence service on the planet (See En En), decided to invoke the name of (name not changed to protect the guilty) Muqtada Al Sadr. That takes this firmly out of the range of state execution and into sectarian assassination. This will do nothing but make the Former Dick...tator a martyr to the Sunnis, both in Babylon and without. That will not bring stability to the region in any way.

Secondly, how See En En has decided to become Snuff News. See En En is showing execution video. I would expect that low level pseudo-journalism from Faux News (and got it by the way, since they proudly announced they were seeking such videos- the website featured one of the worst pics of Saddam ever with bright red capital letters proclaiming "HANGED!" Way to be fair and balanced assholes). I expect more from See En En though. This cheap sensationalism sickens me and shows the same disregard for human life that those who are dancing in celebration show- the same lack of regard for human life that made the Dick...tator the monster he was. Ending human life is sometimes necessary. Celebrating death is an affront to God and Man.

The Death Penalty

Sowing what you reap. Seems like a simple concept, doesn’t it? You kill someone, you get killed. One of the fundamentals of our society; the eye for an eye concept. I was behind it for a long time. The equation seems clear, you break the social contract and present a threat to that society, we no longer have the obligation to care for you, so you must be removed.

Then, one of the rottenest sons of bitches in American history, a fine example of why we have the death penalty in the first place, didn’t get a fair trial. That bastard Timothy McVeigh was sitting on death row and the Federal Court that tried him admitted that they withheld evidence about a possible second bomber (John Doe Number 2) from McVeigh’s defense. Look, no one thinks any of that would exonerate this monster, but in the interest of fairness, let us delay that execution until the defense team can analyze these 3000 withheld pages, and then we’ll burn him at the stake. We’ll do this because we are interested in making up for our mistakes- we are not the oppressive government people like McVeigh claim.

Only we didn’t. We went ahead and executed Timothy McVeigh, delaying not an hour, despite the fact we the State were wrong. We did not allow a fair assessment of the evidence under our own laws.

That steps out of the range of execution, and becomes murder. Worse yet, it help validate people like McVeigh who claim our government is out of control. The Bastard didn’t argue, because he knew this would make him a martyr to his like minded ilk. It sickens me that we gave him such ammunition, we gave him validation, and I can only hope we didn’t create a dozen more such monsters. It would seem, the Federal Government has lost its moral superiority, and therefore is not longer justified in issuing the death penalty.

Furthermore, let’s take a look at the quality of juries these days. Our same responsibility-shirking citizenry sleeps in the juror box, and falls to the same legal chicanery one sees on television. Look at your neighbors- how many of them are you willing to trust with your life?

As forensic science progresses, we find more and more people on death row (or already off death row if you know what I mean) who are proven innocent after years of imprisonment. I find myself coming to a certain conclusion. The system is no longer competent enough to wield the power of life and death.

At the very least, it is incumbent upon us as the citizenry and the Government to place the highest standards of evidence upon cases that may result in the death penalty, perhaps reserving this punishment only for those cases where there is confession. There must also be a strict adherence to whatever rules we decide to apply here- we cannot be arbitrary with life. The system must work, or when it does not, those who are responsible for the failure must be held accountable. There will never be a perfect system, but this can only be ameliorated by taking responsibility when mistakes are made and working as a body to set the consequences in balance.

If we can claim we are responsible enough to kill as a State, then we must wield that power with the utmost caution; remember, the same Bible that we like to quote Eye for and Eye from also states that any court that sentences more than one man in 7 years to death is bloodthirsty.

And I really don’t want us to validate the monsters.

Oh yeah, that guy...

Holy guacamole, where have I been? Well, frankly right this minute I am in one of the six most beautiful places in the world, Garmisch, Germany. Being here in paradise for a month or so you can certainly understand how I could blow off my blogging duties and instead stroll along the Bavarian Alps and drink coffee in a sidewalk cafe with the rest of the Eurotrash. Alas, I must soon return home, but I have the advantage of the beloved Jennifer, and the Dan-spawn to entertain and keep me there, and that is the number one paradise for me anyway (it's also where my guitars and GI Joes are).

I'm finding some peace again, having lost much more than I thought during my time in Babylon. Of course the first step is admitting you have a problem, and the second is finding out how to express it (other than moping and anger). Much better now, though no happier with the crapstorm we are leaving in our wake there.

Speaking of storms, my thoughts and prayers go to those in New Orleans. May we all learn humility from the fact that the old aphorism that civilized society collapses after three days without a proper meal is actually a bit optimistic. Among people just trying to survive in a situation exacerbated by bureaucratic masturbation, some decided to revert lower than savage and do things like shoot at rescue workers and helicopters, and mutilate corpses in relief points. I am waiting for the stories of heroism- I know they are there. We are an amazing species to be so capable of full spectrum reactions to catastrophe. Everything from subhuman tribalism to selfless life-risking; what a race we human are.

Still grieving my Dad of course, but not fixating. I miss him, mostly when I want to tell him what movie I saw or what book I just read. He passed before he got to see a good Batman movie- may the angels and ministers of grace buy him a balcony ticket.

I was using the bathroom the other day when a woman walked in thinking that I was in the wrong room- I was in fact correct, but was struck by the fact that it was really a trivial matter, and started thinking about the male/female segregation we practice as Americans- there's no way around it, it's segregation based on old fashioned social mores passed to us by our puritanical ancestors. I wonder if there will ever be true gender equality in America so long as we don't share bathrooms?

I will do my best to get here more often, I beg forgiveness- meanwhile, give some cash to the Red Cross and groups like Doctors Without Borders. They're good folk.


ps- sorry to have turned on word verification for comments; please forgive me the extra step, but someone spammed me. Don't I see enough commercials without them coming to my blog? Aren't I the one doing the advertising here?