Vick

I agree with BIll Maher, a lifelong animal rights advocate, that I, myself, am not qualified to impartially impose a sentence on Michael Vick. I did read, however, that the judge that will sentence him has a Biscon Friche as a pet. One hopes he is informed that the fuckwad slimeballs that do dogfighting kidnap smaller dogs to use as "practice."

When the police made the initial investigation at Vick's home, the newspaper reported it was a drug investigation. One wonders if the person that knew what was going on at Vick's also knew that the police wouldn't put dogfighting on the priority list. Therefore, the informant told the police that it involved drugs, so they would then mobilze quickly - and, ergo, discovered a dogfighting operation.

Mexico has their shit together

While listening to coverage of Hurricane Dean on CNN International (my new favorite news channel), they mentioned that Mexico had busses evacuating the residents of towns along the Yucatan peninsula in Dean's path. Imagine that. Mexico having their shit together while we let the residents of New Orleans suffer.

Goin' to the chapel . . .

Well, well, well. It seems some young man happened to capture Jenna Bush's wild and crazy heart and they's gonna git hitched.
The lucky fella's name is Henry Hager and he is the son of the chairman of Virginia's Republican party. That's a surprise. Here's a picture of the cute couple. Doesn't he look like the mother of all Young Republican poster children?

Aw, shoot. I shouldn't be so cynical. After all, if I am in favor of anybody in love being able to marry, then I should be happy for Jenna and Henry. I am. I'll drink a Bombay and tonic to the young couple. Cheers!

2008 Olympics and home cookin'

Already on CNN International they are doing stories on how the Chinese expect to win the most medals at the 2008 games. Given that it is going to be in China, I would not be surprised if the home cookin', which is what we Southerners call the favorable calls due to home field advantage, sees this to be true. It is way to early to make predictions, but I think, given a level playing field, the U.S. should win handily.

For instance, the U.S. should rout the world in swimming. There was a rumor is that the Chinese held their best athletes back to save them for the Olympics. If they did hold them back, it was for fear that they would get beat anyway. But why deny an elite athlete the opportunity to compete against the best and see if they are truly the best swimmers?

However, in the subjective sports, the diving, the gymnastics, etc., the Chinese-leaning judges will give as many medals to the home team as they can.

Golf no longer an olympic sport. Never will football be an olympic sport. That's too bad.

LSU recruiting

One of the things that pains me to hear is the yearly bitching among the LSU faithful that we are not recruiting as well as other schools. First I digress. A booming internet industry has arisen within the last couple of years dealing with football recruiting. Prior to the internet age, there existed recruiting services whose primary job was to observe and subjectively rate high school football players, usually on a one-to five-star rating. These services existed in newsletter and magazine form and were only read by those in the football industry. With the advent of the internet, rabid college football fans everywhere had access to these previously inaccessable ratings, reports and news for the nominal fee of around twelve dollars a month. Suddenly, these rabid college football fans could see who their team was recruiting, who was interested in what college, and who committed (verbally) to what college. LSU fans could see, in real time, that we have, for instance, fourteen verbal committments, six of whom are "four stars" and eight are "three stars". This causes great consternation among the LSU faithful, who see that Georgia has four "five star" verbal commitments, Florida has four "five star commitments" and LSU has none. This, in the mindset of a LSU fan, means catastrophic failure in recruiting.

Now for the reality. The "star ratings" are as subjective as who you think the prettiest actress on television is. Sure there are a number of "five star" recruits that become all americans and stars of their teams. However, the number of three star, two star and other players who don't merit a "star" have gone on to become talented and fearsome college players. The message to LSU fans who fret over our recruiting is - chill out. These coaches know what they are doing and we'll be okay.

Klingons and BabelCon '07

On August 4, 2007, BabelCon '07 was held in Port Allen. I met four of my crewmates from the IKV Bayou Serpent: Commander Ri'par sutai-bortaS, Lieutenant Commander K'Allen vestai-bortaS, Lieutenant Ni'Vek and Lieutenant Torsha vestai-bortaS. We got into uniform, except for Torsha, who is expecting a new Klingon warrior in October. It was our privilege to meet Gowron at the airport. He knew nothing of this, and the look on his face when he rounded the corner to see four Klingons in full uniform was priceless. He was touched by this greeting. The next day at Babel Con, we mingled with the humans and got to meet Bob May, the original robot for Lost in Space, Lee Meriwether, Losira from TOS as well as Barnaby Jones' assistant, and Robert O'Reilly, of course. All were most gracious in giving autographs and taking pictures. They all gave presentations which were very interesting. Gowron told amusing stories of PIcard holding heavy cloaks for many takes, Gowron's Klingon teeth coming flying out and stories of his children. I was most honored to be included in this ship's mission, as well as to be privileged to meet these fine people. I bade farewell to my most honorable crew and wished them well until next time, which I home is soon.

All Things Klingon

Given the inordinate number of Star Wars posts, I only feel that it is proper to pay homage to my true calling, the Klingon Empire. Ever since the first original Star Trek episode "Errand of Mercy" with Kor, my heart has always been Klingon. This is even more true with the evolution of Klingons in Next Generation to an honorable and proud race. One of my favorite scenes is the in the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" where the crew is subject to an alternate timeline involving the Enterprise-C. The Enterprise-C goes through a time rift in its own time and appears in the time of the Enterprise-D, altering the Enterprise D's future, which now involves a war with the Klingons instead of an alliance. We learn that in the Enterprise C's time, they are supposed to be destroyed defending a Klingon outpost against a Romulan attack. This incident, which the Klingons viewed as most honorable, was a key in forging the Federation/Klingon alliance. This episode tells us how highly and how prized the Klingons view honor.

In looking for informtion on the upcoming science fiction convention, BabelCon '07, I discovered there is a Klingon ship and crew in Louisiana, the Imperial Klingon Vessel (IKV) Bayou Serpent. The commander is Ri'Par sutai-bortaS, who was kind enough to welcome me in the crew. I took a Klingon name, B'ehrmaq, and proceeded to cobble together a Klingon uniform. The goal was to be in full Klingon uniform for the BabelCon '07. I would have gone to the convention anyway, but one of the guests was going to be Robert O'Reilly, who played Gowron in TNG and DS9.

OK, I know this is turning into a "Star Wars" blog

When I was in the military, at least in the cavalry units, there is a position called the "regimental master gunner." This is the NCO who scored the highest at the range for the Bradley and M1 Abrams. The regimental commander naturally has the regimental master gunner on his tank crew. This is still true in the Star Wars universe. In The Empire Strikes Back, General Veers is the overall ground attack commander, but he also has his own AT-AT (walker). He also has the equivalent of the regimental master gunner on his crew. This is beacause his walker absolutely gives a beatdown to the rebels, laying waste to their position with very few wasted shots. His walker even shoots a speeder out of the sky. So, in the Star Wars futurew, here's to you, Mr. Regimental Master Gunner.