Space, the final frontier...

As you are well aware, Star Trek the new movie opened in May of this year. What you may not be aware of is the fact I am a big fan of Star Trek, though not obsessed with it like some people. I have done some things on my other site (http://davidlightfinger.com/wordpress/) referring to the political aspects of Star Trek in relation to the Obama fiasco.

I am also looking forward to playing Star Trek Online, the MMO game from Cryptic Studios. This game will allow you to play one of the myriad of races of the Star Trek universe and align yourself with either the Klingons or Federation in a conflict starting in 2409. This is 30 years after the movie Star Trek Nemesis.

Here is the issue: Star Trek Online is continuing the path set forth by Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. It is not in the JJ Abrams reboot of the series. This has people confused, up in arms, or thankful depending on who you talk to about it.

I'm in the thankful category.

Much of the confusion stems, though, from an error in perception that I personally thought was very clear in the movie, but obviously was not by all the head scratching. This surrounds the events being told in the Star Trek movie in flashbacks (if you can call them that) by Nero and by Prime Spock. In these flashbacks, it is stated Romulus was destroyed and that's what triggered Nero's insane revenge.

The timeline of the event is:
1) A star near Romulus starts to go supernova. The energy of the star threatens the time-space continuum.
2) Nero and Spock go to Vulcan, to get what is called in the movie 'red matter' which will basically cause a short term black hole to suck up the energy of the supernova. If they get back in time, Romulus won't be destroyed.
3) Even with new ambassador to Vulcan's help, Jean Luc Picard, the Vulcans hesitate to help the Romulans. Nero rushes back only to see Romulus destroyed.
4) Spock secures the red matter and loads it on the Jellyfish, a ship created by Geordi LaForge.
5) Nero and his crew go to a Romulan resource station and integrates the Borg tech being researched into their ship, making it the Narada pointy monster in the movie. He then proceeds to wipe out a Klingon fleet led by Worf sent to stop him, and then confronts Data and Picard with the Enterprise-E.
6) Spock arrives near where Romulus used to be and thinks he must sacrifice himself to stop the supernova. Thus, he uses the red matter to cause the black hole. Nero shows up, attacks Spock, and causes the time warp anomaly that starts the Star Trek movie.

Okay, now the question - how do I know all of this? It is in the comic book Star Trek: Countdown, which Cryptic Studios is calling canon for the Star Trek Online game. Now, the problem is only #6 of the above is shown in the in-movie flashback, specifically in Spock's mindmeld with young Kirk. #3 (Romulus's destruction) is shown in Nero's portion of the flashback. The rest is in the comic.

Now, second question, just where does the universes split timelines? It is in #6 above. At the point the Narada and Jellyfish are drawn into the anomaly created by the red matter, the timeline splits. The Narada appears first, and the movie starts. Romulus is destroyed in the Star Trek Online universe, the 'prime universe' containing all the old shows. Prime Spock is now in the alternate universe, the 'JJverse' as some call it.

Yes, unless you understand the theories of the multiverse from comic books, this can all be overwhelming. Another suggestion is to view the TNG episode called Parallels, where Worf starts jumping into different alternate timelines until they all converge at one location with hundreds of Enterprises. This is what is happening here.

Star Trek Online's timeline is now separate from the JJ Abrams movies. The movies, and any tie-ins, will be tightly controlled by CBS/Paramount. Cryptic Studios controls Star Trek Online's timeline (though licensed from CBS). They are integrating novels, comics, and other things that can be added fairly seamlessly.

So please, stop the whining on the STO forums about how this is all working out. People seeing the movie for the first time are now looking into all the franchises and a whole lot more fans are coming about because of this. I think this is a good thing in the long run. Star Trek, despite its flaws, is one of the most cerebral of all science fiction series and sometimes it tosses you for a loop, as above. In the end, though, you are richer for it.

Wow. Six months since I have posted a non-political rant here. Well, there is one coming shortly.

ESPN has an obsession with Brett Farve.

Last Monday night, during the Green Bay - Chicago game, Tony Kornheiser could just not stop talking about Farve, comparing Farve to BOTH Aaron Rodgers and Kyle Orton, wondering how Green Bay would have ended up if Farve would have stayed a Packer, etc.

Last night, Farve gets interviewed and makes yet another veiled reference to possibly retiring after the year, and suddenly, it is the number one story on ESPN for the rest of the night, including during the football game where Notre Dame stomped a mudhole into Hawaii.

Tomorrow, even though Greeny won't be on his usual morning show, all it is going to end up being is about the Jets vs the Dolphins. Lip service will be paid to Chad Pennington and the Dolphin success, but all the questions and comments will be phrased in a Jet-centric manner.

Brett Farve is past his prime, and has been for a few years now. He got a good season last year because he got a running game from Ryan Grant and the Green Bay defense did not get riddled with injuries. This year, Grant, his backup Brandon Jackson, and the Green Bay defense all had injury issues. Aaron Rodgers put up pro-bowl numbers yet every single game he plays, here's the Farve comparison. Meanwhile, over on the Jets, Farve has two decent running backs in Leon Washington and Thomas Jones, both of which made the pro bowl...and the Jets are losing.

Win or lose, we're going to be subjected to the Farve retirement saga yet again for the next year. I'm so disgusted by the coverage by ESPN on Farve that I am now hoping the Jets get clobbered by the Dolphins, putting them out of the playoffs so I don't have to listen to the glowing praise of an old, broken down quarterback who should have retired while he was ahead. I now want to go through the 'Oh, woe is me' schtick by Greeny because I am sick of his man-crush. It will be all the better if it is Pennington, the man the Jets dumped in order to get Farve, who has the last laugh.

For the record, I'm a Pittsburgh fan. Normally, the Dolphins, Jets, or Packers are not even in a consideration for a game - especially since I do not play fantasy football any longer. The team I used to loathe was the Cowboys (like many in the US), but ESPN has caused me to put the Jets on the top of that list now.

Thanks Kornheiser and Greeny.

In an effort to split things up (and to keep things sane), I'm looking into turning this blog into one more concerned with personal things, my work as a web design/administrator, and my hobbies.

My political rantings will be continuing in a blog tied to a domain name I completely own and control, and which will end up being tied to my new work with the #dontgo Movement (http://dontgomovement.com).

For those of you who don't know, I am the Northwest Region coordinator for #dontgo. In the next few weeks, you will be seeing a lot of exciting things coming from us. My region is geographically the largest. Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska all fall in my region. The good news in this is very good Republican governors (Sarah Palin in Alaska, Dave Heineman in Nebraska), but also the liberal hotspots of Seattle and Portland.

In this, if you are a conservative or libertarian blogger in the states mentioned, please contact me! One of the projects with #dontgo will need help from a multitude of bloggers at the grassroots level. The benefits from this are the increased traffic to your blogs, which is always wanted by those of you who get ad revenue.

Look, folks, I know my tirades against Obama and the Democrats can be rather venomous. However, spewing death threats, sending out malicious viruses and other such acts is stupid.

I keep saying Obama is the new Mussolini. Remember, Mussolini's economic plan worked up to the point where Italy got stupid and decided to carve out an empire from Ethiopia. Now, all indications that will happen exactly the same, though a tad bit more north (Darfur, Sudan is the northern border of Ethiopia). All indications are Obama's allies are going to try to smash opposition through oppression, but maybe Obama does have a clue. Perhaps he realizes he won, against those big meanie talk radio hosts, so there is no reason for a Fairness Doctrine as the Democrats don't have to run scared of the radio.

Okay, and maybe pigs will fly out of my rear tomorrow, too.

Still, I'm willing to wait on my complaints until AFTER Obama gets into office. Well, against him. Thankfully, the Republicans, as wishy washy as the Senate bunch is, has the votes to filibuster some of the worst things that may come down the pike.

In the meantime, I'm really looking into going to CPAC. Conservatives need to ditch the refuse that drug us into this mess and take back the Republican party from the spineless.

Jumpstarting a Movement

Many sites have been speculating about how the fiscal conservative movement, combined perhaps with help from libertarians, can reconfigure itself for the next election. As I stated on The Next Right blog in the comments concerning this, I believe a 'cloud'-like approach is how we should organize.

Here's the idea:

Set up a certain core of bloggers having specialties on the different aspects of government. For example, a conservative blogger for health care issues, a conservative blogger for environmental issues, etc. These would be true experts in the field in question, not just people like myself (though I could probably handle the high-tech or terrorism blogs).

These are interconnected to one another through a conservative portal. This overall arcing site would tie everything together. Now, theoretically, this would be the RNC website, but if the elitist snobs currently in charge are not removed, the site will have to be elsewhere.

In addition, resources need to be provided for campaigns. Anyone who is a conservative (defined, btw, via a questionnaire), and running for elective office would be allowed to have a small site. This site would allow connections for donations via a service like Slatecard among other resources. These sites would be designed by someone with web experience, though content could be maintained by the various campaigns or via RSS feeds from campaign websites.

Again, resources will also have to be non-electronic in this situation. We cannot let non-conservatives run unopposed, especially in national and high state offices. Yes, this means fielding and providing support to primary opponents of RINOs. No one should be complacent in their office.

We have to be willing to spend the money to make this movement work. We have a lot of disjointed pieces out there, from the talk show hosts, to sites like The New Right, to sites like Free Republic, to candidates like John Culberson, etc. Web 2.0 constructs like Digg, Twitter, Facebook and the like exist, but they are underutilized.

Lastly, we need to move to a next generation of leadership for the fiscal conservative movement. John McCain is going to lose this election more because he looks old than due to principles. Many in our party qualify, but the only way to get them into leadership is to remove the old guard Ford Republicans from their lofty perches. Positions need to be by merit, not by seniority.

We have a good start with all of this, but I don't know if we'll be able to drag McCain over the finish line. In the future, we have people like Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Eric Cantor, and others, and they give us a great potential. Win or lose, we must put things into motion or else that potential will be lost.

Duck Tales

Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points for today concerned Obama, and whether he is a socialist or not. O'Reilly seems to think he's not, but he ended his commentary with "If it quacks like a duck, it may not be a duck."

Let's look closer at this, using the 'duck' analogy:

• Obama got his 'wings' underneath him by working as a community organizer with the group ACORN, whose charter is a mirror image of socialist policies.
• Obama got his 'feet wet' in politics at the home of William Ayres, an avowed Marxist and former terrorist. Obama also endorsed Ayres book, with his picture and dedication inside on original publication.
• Obama 'groomed his feathers' amongst a group called the New Party, a group of Socialists based in Chicago. Obama has denied being a member, but Chicago newspapers at the time disagree with that assessment, calling him a member of the group.
• Obama has been 'flapping his beak' about redistribution of wealth, using terms almost identical to that of Karl Marx.
• Obama is going to cause middle America to fund most of the 'bill' he's trying to impose on corporations, either through job losses or higher prices.

So, Mr. O'Reilly, I think there is more than a 'quack' to prove Obama is a socialist.

I saw this posted on the infamous 4chan.org boards. What's so sad is it is quite true, despite the Obamadrones trying to shoot it down.

Notice to All Employees

As of November 5, 2008, when President Obama is officially elected into office, our company will install a few new
policies which are in keeping with his new, inspiring issues of change and fairness:

1. All salespeople will be pooling their sales and bonuses into a common pool that will be divided equally between all of you. This will serve to give those of you who are underachieving a 'fair shake.'

2. All low level workers will be pooling their wages, including overtime, into a common pool, dividing it equally
amongst yourselves. This will help those who are 'too busy for overtime' to reap the rewards from those who have more
spare time and can work extra hours.

3. All top management will now be referred to as 'the government.' We will not participate in this 'pooling'
experience because the law doesn't apply to us.

4. The 'government' will give eloquent speeches to all employees every week, encouraging it's workers to continue to work hard 'for the good of all.'

5. The employees will be thrilled with these new policies because it's 'good to spread the wealth.' Those of you who have underachieved will finally get an opportunity; those of you who have worked hard and had success will feel more
'patriotic.'

6. The last few people who were hired should clean out their desks. Don't feel bad, though, because President Obama will give you free healthcare, free handouts, free oil for heating your home, free food stamps, and he'll let you stay in your home for as long as you want even if you can't pay your mortgage. If you appeal directly to our democratic congress,
you might even get a free flat screen TV and a coupon for free haircuts (shouldn't all Americans be entitled to nice looking
hair?) !!!

If for any reason you are not happy with the new policies, you may want to rethink your vote on November 4th.