Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Eminent Domain for Souter

So last week David Souter and a handful of other misguided Supreme Court justices, four others to be exact, voted to allow any municipality the power to swipe land from citizens in the name of economic development for said municipality. Well, somebody with more than half a brain, and a terrific sense of irony, has fought back against Souter. How you may ask? Well by proposing a hotel and museum in New Hampshire. Where exactly? On Justice Souter's property. How's that for a kick in the pants for making a stupid decision? The revenge factor in this one is priceless.

Here's mud in your eye, Justice

Terrorist Diet

If everyone ate this well, our country wouldn't have fat people. If this is torture, then call me an insurgent:

2 Weeks of Terrorist Meals at Guantanamo Bay

Semi-Military Correspondent

Today the New York Times presented the world with a wholly deplorable article by Lucian Truscott IV basically comparing the resignation rate of West Point officers now with that of the Vietnam Era. The entire article is an exercise in reading Truscott's recent resume in order to prove his point. I read it twice and the New York Times should leave military writing to those who can actually boast of being in the military, rather than Lucian. For a better perspective on this, here's an article I found at West Point's Association of Graduates web site:

"No one better personifies the changes at West Point than Lucian Truscott IV, enfant terrible of the Class of 1969. His first novel, Dress Gray, in which a maverick cadet, Ry Slaight, takes on a villainous commandant in trying to discover the murderer of a gay cadet, was banned at West Point; 20 years later, he does book signings here. Truscott is the son of a West Pointer, grandson of the man who commanded the Allied landing at Anzio, and a descendant of Thomas Jefferson. (He'll be buried with his family at Monticello.) He was a refractory cadet who accumulated demerits the way kids collect baseball cards. His writing career began as a sophomore, with a letter to the Village Voice that read, "Abbie Hoffman's an idiot" He graduated 658th in his class and was drummed out of the Army after one year."

To put his class rank in perspective, my father graduated in 1968 33rd in his class. That makes him pretty smart. Oh and he served with the 173d Airborne in Vietnam, somewhere closer to Cambodia than John F. Kerry ever served.

Saturday, June 11, 2005

Revenge of the Crap

Being something of a Star Wars fan, it's only natural that I had some interest in seeing the third prequel, Revenge of the Sith. However, the moment I left the theatre I realized that George Lucas has become a parody of himself. While Revenge was quite visual, the dialogue was forced, the film moved like it was being pushed and overall it sucked. I'm sure there are uberdorks out there opining about how this was the best of them all, but they're just blowing smoke up your posterior. The entire story seemed like the script was written while watching episodes 4-6. The best part about it is seeing "spoiler alerts." How the hell could there be spoiler alerts? Everybody already knows the story! Oh did you not already know that Annekin becomes DarthVader? Or that Luke and Leia are the children of Annekin and Padmi? Well sorry to ruin it for you. While I'm at it, if you've ever seen Frankenstein, or Young Frankenstein for that matter, then don't bother watching the last 20-25 minutes. With the exception of the special effects, whatever creativity George Lucas once had has gone down the toilet. It's a good thing the AFI awarded Lucas a lifetime achievement award, because his recent contributions have diminished his standing. I mean seriously, Jar Jar Binks? A 5 year old could come up with more compelling characters.