It's Time to Move!!!

I can't believe it, but it's time to move!

I'm not going to post here anymore. I have my own domain, and it has been dressed up and then some.

So, go here to see what I've done (well actually what Rachel of the WebDivas have done) to decorate the new place:

http://www.rightmom.net/

September 23, 2010 - UPDATE: Um, nevermind.

I had a pretty great website and it went pretty well for a while. Rachel, of WebDivas then screwed me by not not letting me Domain name renewed. (So I lost it to someone else.)

*Sigh* It seems we end up exactly where we started. Life is a circle, or if this were the intro to the Lion King, "The Circle of Life".

Best Sci Fi Movie/TV Quotes Ever!

I try from time to time to make my own lists of different things, but I always lose them. Unless it has "to do" on it, the easiest way for me to get rid of a piece of paper is to head it at the top with "Top 25......" Guaranteed gone within 24 hours.

As inspired by that insipid AFI program the other night (Top 100 Lines in Movies), I bring you my favorite quotes from: Sci Fi: Movies and TV:

In no particular order (that may come later):

• Revenge is a dish best served cold (Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan)
• I've got a bad feeling about this...... (Every Star Wars Movie)
• Fly this? (Star Wars III)
• Another Happy Landing (Star Wars III)
• I'm from Iowa, I just work in Space (Star Trek: )

More to come... as I said, this is an effort to organize thoughts a bit.

Buyouts In the Oil Patch, Maybe?

Well, rumors are rampant about possible mergers and buyouts in the oil patch.

Right now, Unocal is being bid on by two possible suitors: Chevron and Cnooc, Ltd. (China's 3rd largest oil company). The word on the street is whoever comes in 2nd place for Unocal, will end up going after Marathon Oil Co.

In short, that means MRO will be taken over by either the Communist Chinese or Evil Robotic Managerial Overlords (ERMO for short).

I'm thinking the communist might be better, marginally. I mean, they do let Yao Ming off his ankle leash from time to time to make commercials and stuff. They do seem to love money more than Carl Marx, although they like the control communism brings (your web usage will be VERY tightly monitored).

So I wish all of you at Marathon, Good Luck!

Well, this guy screwed his pooch

Martin Peretz, editor in chief of The New Republic, has just screwed up his life. He just wrote and published an editorial that praises President Bush. That's right, the Lefty just praised the evil President for putting appointments where his heart/mouth are and putting real diversity in the Executive Branch (like Condi Rice). He also mentioned that it wasn't just blacks getting the appointments, it was also for women and Latinos.

And if that wouldn't put him in the dog house long enough with his compadre's, he also took a few swipes at the U.N. (Darfur, Darfur anyone, Bueller?), and had good things to say about John Bolton. Namely, that he didn't trust what a CIA analyst had to say (he called it a sign of "wisdom").

To make sure he wouldn't get invited to anything anytime soon, he took a swipe at Hillary. Yes, as in the smartest women in the world and our future president, Hillary Clinton. He called her out for sitting on the Board of Directors of Walmart, and doing nothing while Walmart structured itself so it did not pay medical benefits to its labor force.

Poor guy.

I'm sure he'll manage.

A Replicator? Cool.......

This does have real promise.

Some physics geeks are finally working on something that's worthwhile, besides contemplating the molecular makeup of the lint in their belly button. They are working on a replicator, much like what was used on Star Trek.

I can already begin to think of the uses, begining with keeping me out of Walmart!

Cross Link and other news

I just posted on Lone Star Times on Terri Schiavo's autopsy. I didn't go into the report. Instead, I concentrated on the polarizing response this case has had.

As for a little site news, I am undergoing a site refurb. The Webdivas are taking care of it for me, and I am waiting patiently for the results (not!). I am even going to have my own Domain. (As Napoleon Dynamite would say: SWEET!)

I guess you have noticed that I haven't been posting as much lately. I've been trying to save up for the new site. Plus, I have been pretty busy with the new job and everything else.

To wrap up, sorry about the light posting, but get ready to move to my new home: www.rightmom.net!

I'll let you know when to head over to the new digs. I think you are going to love it!

Home Make-over: 23rd Century Style

Well, this had a lot of promise, until I got to the part that you had to live within 35 miles of 90028.

I'm no where close, even by Clinton standards.

The Jedi: Good or Bad?

One of the other bloggers on Lone Star Times, Owen Courrages , posted an article by Bob Hayes titled, The Battle Of Endor Demonstrates The Evil Nature Of The Rebellion. In it, he defends the Empire as not being as bad as it was portrayed, and that maybe the Rebellion was the wrong side to pull for.

Further down the article, he starts to enumerate why the Jedi might be a lot more evil than we give it credit for. Some of the things he mentions:

• Ignoring violations of the Jedi code is fine. Doesn't matter that you know your apprentice is nailing the Queen and has gotten her in the Jedi Family Way. Don't turn him in, or insist that he make things right by resigning his Jedi status and becoming an ordinary family man, or abandoning his family for his higher calling. No, let him continue to muddle down the path to blatantly obvious moral crisis and destruction. It's more convenient that way.
• Building clone armies of soul-deadened warriors is fine.
• Killing people for the crime of not wanting to be in your corrupt and failing state anymore is fine.
• overriding the free will of others is fine.

There's more, but I think you get the jist.

The last one is something I thought about earlier, but have not brought up.

It seemed to me that there was some animosity toward the Jedi by the general populace, especially shown in Episode II. Why would this be if the Jedi were so pure and wonderful? By the time you get to Episode IV, you see several instances of the Jedi and The Force being referred to as an old and pitiful religion. (Darth Vader almost takes out one of the command staff on the Death Star for such a snide comment.) Why?

I believe this is so for many reasons, chief among them that the Jedi were not seen often, but they were "mysterious" and if you had any dealing with them, it was probably not a happy contact (much like our contact with police today). Look at how the club patrons in Episode II kept watching Anakin and Obi Wan. They were not exactly welcoming. (Not to even mention some of the drivers that cussed out Obi Wan during the chase scene right before....But that could be attributed to "road rage".)

I think one of the main reasons would be the concern of the Jedi to be able to "read" your thoughts or emotions or be able to use a Jedi Mind suggestion. Frankly, if I knew a whole class of people could get a little personal with my thoughts, I would be a bit freaked out by the thought of them being nearby.

This brought to mind (pardon the pun) the similar dilemma in Babylon 5. In the B5 universe, the Telepaths were also identified at childhood and were made to join the Psy Corp or take drugs to suppress the telepathic ability. This was donebecausee the ordinary citizen was very leary of telepaths running around in the general population. It is interesting to note that even in the B5 universe, this brought a great deal of conflict (the Telepath War) and division.

So, what are the similarities and contrasts? Discuss amongst yourselves........

Lone Star Times Cross Post.......

Amore well thought out post on Star Wars: Another Take on the Sith.......

Final Sith Thoughts: And the Moral of the Story is.......

I know, all of you are getting bored with this. Sorry.

I got to see it again. I went with my brother. Actually, that was pretty special. We saw Star Wars: A New Hope together the first time back in the summer of '77. I was 15 and he was 7. (Note: Neither one of us knew what this was about. Our dad took us in Oklahoma City. There wasn't an extra seat to spare. When the now famous scroll started its trek across the screen, there was some giggling and laughter. By the time the smaller ship got swallowed up by the bigger ship, you could have heard a pin drop. At the end of the movie, I swear some people actually stood and clapped. It was so awesome! Our dad does not like Sci Fi stuff. I think the only reason he took us is because he promised to bring us to a movie and it was the only one that was not Rated "R'. There were not many kid's films in the 70's. The ones that were around were very hokey. But I digress a bit, sorry.)

For us to see the last Star Wars together kind of pulls it all together and puts us back where we began, much like this movie weaves the whole entire saga of 6 episodes.

This is a true legend/fairy tail/myth. Can you imagine any of the main characters going home and putting up dishes? Or washing clothes? Or mopping floors? Or shopping for groceries? Of course not! Characters of tales never inhabit the real world of the mundane the rest of us occupy.

These are the things I liked:

• The element that struck me this time is how much I enjoyed the opening 30 minutes. This was Star Wars in its prime. Two heroes trying to save the day and did so with wit and pluck and super natural powers(via the Force). It was sooooo enjoyable. It will be sooooo missed.
• I loved seeing the scene Padme tells Anakin she is pregnant.That worked so well. Anakin had about a dozen reactions, and then said it was the happiest day of his life. That was his high water mark. He was returning home a hero and a father-to-be. After that moment, his life went downhill fast; very bittersweet.
• Seeing the babies, Luke and Leia, delivered to their new homes(without any dialogue), while listening to the John Williams music break into the score we know so well from A New Hope.

VERY GOOD STUFF!

A lot of people are trying to tie this movie and it's principles to current events, which is not un-common. We see in things we want to see. Something this large and grand must have some nugget of truth to it somewhere.

Well, here is mine:

Gifted people tend to think the rules are
for everyone else,
but themselves

That's right. How many times did Anakin say he "wanted to be a Jedi" or be the "most powerful Jedi" or "that isn't the Jedi way", all at the same time he was secretly married to Padme, which was against the Jedi code? He had career aspirations for a place he could never inhabit.

How many times have you witnessed at work or school that the "favorite" or the "smartest" got to get away with breaking rules that no one else could? That's what happened here.

In life, those that are the favorite, probably never pay for their flaunting of rules like Anakin did (Unfortunately for the rest of the galaxy, they paid for Anakin's flaunting of these rules.)

You will hear and read a lot about how if only Anakin had learned to "let go" and not be attached to his mother or Padme, things probably would have been different. That is true; but it was the failure of those around him to make him adhere to the rules that allowed him to keep these attachments. The Jedi enabled him to continue as he wished, not as he should have done. Because of that, the whole galaxy fell apart.

Thankfully, the whole galaxy does not pay for our mistakes; just those that love us.

Trying to pull it all together now!

Where I am I trying to go with this? I guess one of the questions I see is can someone do the wrong thing for the right reasons? Anakin went to the dark side to save Padme. Was that the right thing to do?

When Luke is given the same choice (go to the dark side and save your friends), he declines it. In the end, he not only saves his friends, but his father also.

The example I think of the most is General Rommel of Germany. He was a devout Catholic, and plotted to kill Hitler. For that, Hitler gave him the following choice: commit suicide or face a court martial followed by the death penalty. If you choose suicide, you will be regaled as a hero of the state, given a state funeral and your remaining family will be well taken care of. If you don't commit suicide, you will be tried as traitor, your family will suffer in the concentration camps and the state will kill you. Rommel committed suicide. I've often wondered how God regarded that choice. Did he see it as State Execution by own hand?