The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

Ok, I'm not the biggest GWB fan, and facny myself a realist with libertarian leanings when it comes to politics but this seems just too ironic to not comment on. I grew up in a solidly "red" state (small town in Kansas) and now live in one of the bluest cities in the country (San Francisco) so have seen both ends of the spectrum. But this quote from John Dean is just too much as my grandmother would say:

"Had the Senate or House, or both, censured or somehow warned Richard Nixon, the tragedy of Watergate might have been prevented," Dean told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Hopefully the Senate will not sit by while even more serious abuses unfold before it."

I just don't buy it, anyone who has read anything about Nixon knows he made some significant contributions to the U.S. relations with China and though my knowledge of California political history is incomplete he made some strides in that state.

But further study of Nixon as a man shows a deeply flawed individual (as we all are) but Nixon's flaws were fairly specific (at least his public one's) the man was paranoid and always was, going back to his childhood, he always felt he wasn't good enough and that everyone was out to "get him" in the current vernacular he was most likely paranoid throughout his life, I'm not a psychologist so won't venture to diagnose but saying "if the senate had warned Nixon, Watergate wouldn't have happened" is just DUMB!

No one found Serenity

Vodkapundit states the sad truth, Serenity is a boxoffice flop.

Sexist, I'll give you sexist!

How in the world can you claim the Republican response to the Miers nomination sexist? Is their anyone out there that didn't think Bush would nominate a woman to replace a woman? What a terrible attempt at spin control. Sadly, with no real Democratic resistance, this looks more and more like it will fly right by without a problem. Got to love that principled, loyal opposition we've come to love the Democrats for!!

As promised, sexist!

Who?

Geroge Will cuts loose on the latest Bush crony.

"...there is no reason to believe that Miers' nomination resulted from the president's careful consultation with people capable of such judgments. If 100 such people had been asked to list 100 individuals who have given evidence of the reflectiveness and excellence requisite in a justice, Miers' name probably would not have appeared in any of the 10,000 places on those lists."

UPDATES: Ouch and Ouch!

"With friends like Harry Ried, the Miers nomination needs a lot of (conservative) enemies. Indeed, excluding Kmiec, there isn't a respectable conservative legal scholar supporting her nomination. That has to hurt. "

I'm sure the movie was good...

We just didn't get to see it! Sucks too because we were probably only 20 or 30 back when they announced the theater was full. Certainly not the fault of Joss, but it would have been nice if the Universal rep had bothered to show up like they said they would. One shouldn't expect much in the way of substance from a marketer!

Reviews will have to wait until this weekend...

SciFi Girl Seek's Serenity

This converted SciFi geek is beside herself...just a few hours to the advance screening of Serenity...yep you heard it right and real live grown female who LOVES SciFi, thanks to Farscape, Stargate SG-1 and now Joss Whedon's Serenity, the much anticipated continuation of the criminally cancelled Fox Show "Firefly". The husband and I are lucky enough to have a chance to see an advance screening tonight...stay tuned for our reviews.

Yes Virginia...good writing and strong female characters are possible in SciFi...skin tight leather not withstanding:)

UPDATE: Nothing wrong with skin tight leather! How could you forget BattleStar Fracking Galactica?

Academentia: Why capitalism can teach the Ivory tower a thing or two

Victor Davis Hanson once again hits the nail on the head with this essay on academia (via Instapundit), while he focuses on three specific university leaders, the themes are relevant to higher education as a whole...

There is enormous intellectual arrogance on the campus these days, manifested in condescension towards the average taxpaying citizen. We sense such haughtiness when for the last 30 years the rate of tuition increases has exceeded inflation, without either much worry or accountability from university administrators. They assume that the public has no business questioning whether tenure, release time, research perks, top-heavy administration, and therapeutic programs constitute a wise use of education funds.

Read the whole thing.

Maybe that's why many working adults and even "traditional" college students are opting for "proprietary" or "for-profit" university educations offered by such institutions as University of Phoenix or Devry, especially in technology fields. Could this be where all the guys are? Probably not as a closer look of the DOE report shows both "for-profit" and more traditional universities are included in the stats.

Or maybe they opted for "distance education" options offered by a traditional university but delivered in a very non-traditional way, for an additional cost compared to traditional on-campus courses at the same institution. Maybe that's where all the guys are that aren't lounging on campus? Higher education will continue to flounder if they don't wake up to the current market realities.

Let them eat Beignets!

The state's representatives have come up with a request for $250 billion in federal reconstruction funds for Louisiana alone -- more than $50,000 per person in the state. This money would come on top of payouts from businesses, national charities and insurers. And it would come on top of the $62.3 billion that Congress has already appropriated for emergency relief.

Read it all here.

Serenity

Serenity Lives... theBillyblog, not so much

First, my contractual obligation:

Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

http://www.serenitymovie.com

No posts for 6 months, sorry, got bored with it, saw a lot of people doing a better job than me and I just got tired of pointing out everyone else's great idea's. However, here's a great idea, why not go see Joss Whedon's new movie Serenity this weekend, and I'm not just saying that becuase I got free tickets to Wednesday night's blogger screening here in San Francisco. Actually the wife and I had already made plans with some freinds to see it this weekend, but I found out Friday (via Instapundit, of course) that Grace Hill media was making this offer. Regardless of the free tickets, in the blog world it's all about word-of-mouth, so if the movie is any good, I think we can make at least as much an impact as a couple of professional couch potato's!

Exclusive (or maybe not) blogger movie still's to follow!