I rarely have an occasion to blog about non-politics here recently, but then, thanks to the Omaha World Herald, that changed today.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100924/NEWS01/100929831

This is the column from Robert Nelson, of the Omaha World Herald. The UFL has put a franchise here in Omaha called the Nighthawks. Now, Mr. Nelson wonders the meaning of the name.

Mr. Nelson proves just how much of an idiot he is with this post. Anyone in the area knows Bellevue, just south of Omaha, is the home of Offutt Air Force Base, and also of the United States Space Command. Anyone who is familiar with the Air Force knows the stealth fighter used by them is called the Nighthawk.

Thus, the team's name is the Omaha Nighthawks.

DUH!

The logo of the Nighthawks is the stealth fighter flying through the 'O' for Omaha. It's a great logo. Also, considering who we have on the team (Jeff Garcia as quarterback, Robert Ferguson as a receiver, Ahman Green as running back, and Maurice Clarett as either running back or wide receiver as he tries to resurrect his career), it points to an explosive offense.

Mr. Nelson, however, is completely ignorant of the fact, or else is trying to be witty and failing at it miserably. It just shows the quality of the only full newspaper in Omaha has degenerated along with the rest of the mainstream media over the years.

A Little Prediction or Two

I have a couple of predictions to make here, so I can then come back with an 'I told ya so' comment.

1) Marco Rubio and Charles Djou will win their elections.
2) Any chance of offshore oil explorations by the current administration are now null. However, it will turn out to be sabotage that caused the spill.
3) The Super Bowl matchup will be the Dallas Cowboys vs the New York Jets
4) The World Series matchup will be St Louis Cardinals vs the Tampa Bay Rays
5) Chelsea will win the Premier League by 1 point over Manchester United
6) Though I'm rooting for the USA first, Italy second, and Germany third, it will be Argentina that wins the World Cup - Messi is just too damn good.
7) After November, there will be far too many candidates running for President on the Republican side. Because my proposed change as to how to do the primaries was ignored, Republicans will end up with a less than ideal candidate vs Obama, giving him a chance to be reelected.

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.