I'll Be Back in Four Years, Heck, It Ain't All That Far

Hillary's name has been put back in the nomination process.

This can only mean great news for "Operation Chaos".

As we've all noticed by now, a significant percentage (no reliable numbers, here) of Hill's voters have either defected to McCain, or kept on pushing their candidate's candidacy. The DemMcCains aren't going to vote for Obama because Hillary had presented herself as a viable moderate in the primaries (although if she'd won, she would have turned a sharp left faster than Speed Racer). Obama didn't, and so they know he's too far left for them. They haven't forgotten.

However, Hilldog's current supporters are a new species. They've continued to push for her name on the convention vote, simply because they want her to win. Not anyone but Obama, only Hilldog. Just Hilldog. This has to be a cult of personality or else it doesn't make any logical sense. The superdelegates and delegates aren't voting for Clinton, they're voting for Obama to show the Reepublicans that the Dems are "unified", whatever that means, even if they're voting against their own preferences.

But imagine if they didn't...

Imagine that the superdelegates decided that Obama would lead the Democratic party to defeat. They overtook the regular delegates, who voted just as they did in the primaries. Chaos ensued. Pelosi would clamor, "Well, it was just for show, it was just for show," and the Obama supporters would riot, now seeing as their savior wouldn't get to decrease the sealevel. When things settled down a bit both inside and outside of the convention, Democratic leaders would make the case that Obama was the real nominee and a vote wasn't needed, anyway. Hilldog's supporters, having smelled victory, would yell and scream and protest along with Tent State University. The convention would be in shambles, and the Republicans (Ron Paul's convention included) would shake their heads and sigh. So much for the "great uniter".

And Rush Limbaugh's show would have record ratings.

Why the Huffington Post is a Terrible Place

OK, so I'm a little steamed at the moment. I'm sure everyone's heard of the Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney's shocking death? No? Well, let The Huffington Post clear that up for you.

HuffPost's article isn't what I'm mad about. In fact, I think they did a great job covering the tragedy, with multiple sources and unbiased (so far) reporting. Read this.

"Police said they don't know a motive. However, they said that moments after the shooting he pointed a handgun at the building manager at the nearby the Arkansas Baptist headquarters. He told the manager "I lost my job," said Dan Jordan, a Baptist convention official."

Karen Ray, executive director of the Republican Party of Arkansas, sent her workers home early "out of an abundance of caution."
"Our hearts go out to everyone at the Democratic headquarters. What a tragedy," Ray said.

So now that we've cleared up that there wasn't a clear motive, that the shooter threatened Baptists, and that Republicans (surprisingly) mourn the loss, just as much as the Democrats.

SO WHY ON EARTH WOULD THE FIRST INSTINCT OF HUFFPOST READERS BE TO BLAME REPUBLICANS ON THIS GUY'S DEATH!?

Yes, that's right. After the somber article (my thoughts are with Gwatney's family and associates), there's a comment board. The comments go like this:

levibatgirl: Another member of the right wing base out of his mind. Aren't they all?

LCDTV: just another crazy violent republican. that is who they are.

bored2tears: This comes how many days after McCain's plans to label Obama a "job killer?"

GooeyButter: When you started arousing hatred and exploiting the worst in people in order to get elected, you're left with this kind of world that we have today. God curse the Republicans.

KOisGOD: I've got Savage on the way home. Expect him to be all giddy about this. Hannity will couch his joy, but he'll just warn his audience that this is what happens when LIBERALS, push America into a corner.

jazzman: There are plenty of nutcases feeding on a steady diet of Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, Savage, Malkin, Beck and others who some day are bound to go off. With these hate merchants screaming over the airwaves 24/7, I wouldn't be surprised if this kind of thing repeats itself several times.

TXfemmom:I know that conservatives are despicable people. They demonize liberals and have advocated killing them, listen to Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.

Now, here's the explanation they come up with for their logic:

coyote4: We know the s hooter was at the Arkansas B aptist headquarters.We know he said that he lost his job.And we know that he t argeted and m urdered a liberal.

*Sigh*. It's the HuffPost's readers that make it such a terrible place. Well, some of the editorials and articles are nonsense, but that by itself wouldn't really provoke anyone. At least some of the readers here aren't insane:

creationwaits: The amount of pure hatred for conservatives in these comments is terrible. We don't know what this guy's motives were, and what little info we do have suggests that it may not have been politically motivated. And still so many commenters are already sure that this is really Limbaugh's fault, or the fault of all those bitter people Obama talked about, or have even worse things to say. It's despicable. If this fellow does turn out to be not a conservative, I hope everyone who is already so sure that it will be takes a good look at their own hearts.

As Rush would say, "I don't make this up, folks."

Atheists Complain About Spore

According to over 9000 publications, Will Wright (creator of The Sims) has recieved numerous complaints about his new game, Spore.

A little about Spore, in general:
It's a "massively single-player online game" that simulates life on a planet, starting from the microorganism all the way to a civilization that colonizes other planets. The concept of evolution, which some Christians have a problem with (particularly since the well-intentioned yet misguided young-Earth creationists still ridicule our most-likely origin as "Darwinism" and attempt to scold and disrespect everyone who acknowledges the postulate) is the entire game.

Now, wouldn't Wright expect complaints from the religious side?

Well, he did, apparently. But he got zip. Perhaps because the religious are increasingly taking the stance of the Pope, in that evolution is the "how", not the "why". However the case, there is one group that Wright couldn't have forseen complaining about the game.

"Militant atheists".

They don't have issues with the evolutionary process. Not the gameplay, the graphics, the fun-factor. What secular complaint could they possibly have fathomed?

Well, it's not a secular complaint. They're complaining that religion is featured in the "civilization" stage of the game. That's right, just because imaginary societies are capable of developing religious beliefs once they are evolved enough, these militant atheists are barraging Wright with hate-mail and complaints. Why should they take issue with this, considering every civilization ever developed has had a component of religion?

It's simply a matter of political correctness.

Atheists are sensitive to the mention of religion; after all, there lies a history of persecution amongst atheistic views. And perhaps we, the religious, do have some fault in that history. But to keep religion out of games, just (from what I can tell) out of spite for religion itself? That's censorship. This could have gone the exact opposite way, the anti-evolution creationists attempting to censor the game out of spite for a scientific process.

As I recall, the issue of the censorship of religion had to do when it was intertwined with the state. Our secular constitutional republic. Yet this game is being developed by Maxis, a private, citizen-comprised company. Well, perhaps Wright and Co. are, ooh, evangelical theocratists who need to be stopped. Well, that's not true either. Wright is an atheist himself, and he's worked with people both religious and not to develop the game. Apparently, he's gone to great lengths to not offend Christians with the portrayal of religion in the game. Somehow, he's done the opposite.

For instance, your role as the creator is never clearly defined.

This isn't the first time that atheists have complained about religion in video games. They complained when "Captain Bible in Dome of Darkness" came out back in 1994, and they complained again when "The Bible Game" came out for the PS2 more recently.

As for me, I'll be buying Spore when it comes out on the 7th. Hopefully the "militant atheists" will too. I'd hate for them to miss out on all the fun.


EDIT: I realize that this doesn't apply to all atheists, I don't mean to generalize. I'm specifically talking about those "militant atheists" that Will Wright himself referred to.

Everybody Agrees With Me

Today, I was told by a proud Democrat that "America" doesn't agree with me on the issues, campaign, or ideology/philosophy.

Let me just remind you that about 33% of Americans are conservative and a majority of independents (the largest political identification in America) lean right. Only 19% are liberal.

I smell smoke. Expect an actual blog later.

One Nation, Under Construction

So, my excellent left-leaning friend D-man has just told me about a project. It's called the One Nation Project, a budding anti-polarization initiative that's meant to (at first) bring college campuses together. Seeing as I'll be heading off to the University of Denver with him this year, it's something I'll have to consider.

And frankly, I consider it a worthwhile approach.

From what I've heard (though I haven't heard the core of it, yet), it started at the University of Michigan and has grown by leaps and bounds. A gathering of liberals and conservatives put on a forum, which above all conveys respect and understanding for different political ideologies. He's already invited me to participate, though I was a bit wary at first.

It's possible for us libs and cons to cooperate, after all, we do agree on about 90% of things. I think I mentioned the comparison before in "Introduction".

I encourage my audience to look into the cause, just as I'm doing, right now. Do it. For great justice. I don't fear the polarization, the in-your-faceness of campus politics. In fact, in any other life, I'd be the one perpetuating it. But if this is really an opportunity to unite for what we agree upon (which, again, is more than we may realize), then I'm all for it.

And no, this doesn't mean that I'm voting for the Obamamessiah. His hollow rhetoric of "unity" and "new politics" has long disproven itself and grown stale.

Liberalism is the Easiest Political Ideology Ever

A very smart man once said "If you're not a liberal by the age of 20, you don't have a heart. If you're not a conservative by the age of 40, you don't have a brain."

This, of course, implies that young conservatives, like me, are heartless. But the truth is that we're much more thoughtful if we've got brains (no duh). The quote in general conveys that it takes years of experience to realize that the world doesn't work that way, that we're to help the world in other ways than Barack's Global Poverty Act.

Now, hold the phone.

The Global Poverty Act, now, that doesn't sound so bad. Sure, it might cost everyone a little more than they're willing to spare, but it's for the good of the world, the redistribution of wealth is. The reality of the Global Poverty Act is far from rainbows and sunshine for the whole world. Let's take a look at the most disturbing asset of the Act, a tax on the U.S. for the United Nations, approx. $827-$847 billion dollars over the course of 13 years. Now, as of 2006, there were about 117 million taxpayers in the United States. That number has obviously become a little larger since then. But if we take the total amount, say "$847 billion", divide it by 13 (years), we get $65153846153.90 per year. Today, the top 1% pay about 39% of taxes, so that's about $25410000000 that they have to pay up. Per year. Now, the taxpayers in the 2nd to 49th% of this country pays about 58% of all taxes. If we take that remaining sum of $37789230769, 57330000 taxpayers must bear the burden. On average, this will cost $659 a YEAR for virtually half of the country's taxpayers. Granted, it may be divided so that the richer of that 49% may have to pay, say, two-thirds of it. Well, that's $439.4 a year for them, and the rest to the so-called "middle class".

Now, the funny thing is, this is just a middleman tax. Yes, that's right. A tax for the UN's hard work. Perhaps if the UN was a less-corrupt, more efficient power, I'd be less skeptical of those dollars actually being put to good use. Meanwhile, I don't have $220 that I'd like to fork over. This pretty much validates every one of McCain's ads where he says Hussein wants to "raise taxes".

How did this Obamanation even get on Congress's floor? Sneaky tactics, quietly being signed by 80-odd Dems and some naive Republicans.

Meanwhile, that bottom-half of the taxpayers, who fits in that category? Oh yeah, the "artiste" libs that live in places like Boulder and Manitou, selling "artistic expression" while chanting socialist cries for things they won't have to pay for. You know the type.

Which leads me to my next point: liberalism is, indeed, the easiest political ideology ever devised. You don't have to do anything; just don't regulate social behavior and let government grow, to solve any problem. You see a contradiction, there? When the government grows, we can't do what we want. We can't spend all our money, we can't defend ourselves. "With the power to tax comes the power to destroy." Remember that, Obama.

Since they lack the "brains", it makes sense that the 20-somethings and under would gravitate to liberalism; on the outside, it actually appears quite apt at solving problems simply by raising spending or taxation. But we must remember that it's easy to become dependent on that government. Much easier than, say, taking responsibility for yourself.

Set Phasers To Fun (yeah, I stole that line)

Star Trek Online, otherwise known as the greatest game that will ever rule God's green Earth, is finally making progress.

Why is this important?

Well, let's start with a little history. OK, a lot of history. In 2006, a band of rebels and doppelgangers called Perpetual Entertainment (a tiny, tiny company) decided to take on a massive, just massive Star Trek MMO. Now, we're talking full-scale starships and infinite boundaries of our galaxy, here. The game would start players out at Starfleet Academy, making them work individually and as a team to eventually become captains of their own ships, perhaps (wink wink) even Admirals. A beta was soon developed, and for some strange reason the game was put on indefinite hold. This disappointed long-time followers of the game, since Perpetual had a goal of releasing it in '07.

But, lo and behold, they came back with a vengeance in '07. With a Teddy Roosevelt attitude, they pushed onward to give us loads and loads of concept art and technical jargon. All was well. The game was expected in '08.

And then...

Everything just went down the john. Perpetual was bought out by a non-gaming company, who then attempted to redesign the game to make it more "casual". Realizing this was a stupid move and not what gamers (like me) wanted, many employees left. To make matters worse, Perpetual was sued for an enormous sum of money by Kohnke (Kohkne?) Communications, for "not paying them enough for 'services'" (sneaky things like convincing journalists to give Perpetual's other game a high rating). So, the San Fransicko company shut down. STO was dead, murdered, crushed, obliterated.

But then, like Neelix in "Mortal Coil" (I despise that episode), STO was raised from the dead. Hallelujah, and I mean that in the most serious way possible. And faster than you could say "stupid Star Trek reference", Cryptic Studios of City of Heroes/Villians fame takes over. Now, from what I've seen and heard, the game is pretty fantastic. But Cryptic is working on many other projects at the same time. Only time will tell if they give it the love and nurturing it deserves.

The webcast comes out tomorrow, so I'm excited.

Beam me up. Now.