Reese Witherspoon

It has been a while, has it not?

Outfoxed

Firefox 3 debuted today at noon. I pictured a huge crowd of computer geeks lined up with itchy trigger fingers waiting like they were trying to impress their way into Club 54. I do not blame them. I used to be a big fan of Firefox myself. Way back when, it was head and shoulders above internet Explorer. I have written before about how difficult it is to convince me to switch to any new bit of technology, but IE’s constant crashes prompted me to have a go at a new browser.

Things were going swell until a few months ago when random web pages started causing firefox to crash about as often as the IE failures that made me switch browsers to begin with. It seemed to get worse with each subsequent update. I stuck with it anyway in spite of the browser losing much of its original shine.

I even downloaded Firefox 3 earlier and have taken it for a spin. I have yet to see a significant difference between three and two, but I can say I have not suffered a crash—yet. It remains to be seen why I had to download something brand new and whether that reason, should it ever become obvious to me, was worth it.. Stay tuned for further developments

Doctor Who Promotional Photo

The BBC has begun its big promotional push for the three part fourth season finale of Doctor Who. The big deal is all the companions from the revived series are returning for the finale. In this photo, we have Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman), Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), and the Doctor (David Tennant).

This is not 5the last promotional photo that will be released. The worst kept secret about the finale is that Sarah Jane Smith (Eizabeth Sladen) and Capt. Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) are returning as well. In fact, with the wide space to the right of the doctor, you can guess one of the two will probably be squeezed in there.

But why skip Mickey smith (Noel Clark)? Come on. he is returning, too, was a companion for a while, and is about to join Torchwood along with Agyeman. Surely he ought to be shown a little love?

PETA Calls Jessica Simpson Stupid

I am going to resist the urge to quip, “So do the rest of us,” because not only do I appreciate anyone PETA dislikes, but I do not want to jeopardize the slim chance that Simpson might show up at my front door naked one day.

PETA has called Simpson stupid because she has been seen out and about wearing a tee shirt with the slogan Real Girls Eat Meat. Get your minds out of the gutter, guys. There is only room down there for me. While it could just be Simpson declaring her love for steak, those close to Simpson say it is a less than subtle dig at Tony Romo’s ex, Carrie Underwood, who is not only a devoted animal rights activist, but has been voted World’s Sexiest Vegetarian. Who votes on that sort of thing is beyond me, but there you go.

PETA placed this this list on their web site in response. I post the link just to be thorough. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go make a ham sandwich. I suddenly have a hankering for meat.

Stan Winston (1946-2008)

Now this is awful. The special effects guru behind Aliens, Terminator, Monster Squad, Predator and Jurassic Park has passed on.

Winston was a legend in the field of practical special effects. you know, the good stuff involving models and make up long before computer animation took over and George Lucas went wild with CGI gophers. The kind of effects that made science fiction and horror movies i grew up watching much better than the ones being made today. An era has truly truly passed on forever with Winston's death.

Godspeed, Mr. Winston.

Billie Piper as a Call Girl

If anyone is curious what Billie Piper thought was a better career move than continuing to play Rose Tyler , look no further than tonight on Showtime. The premium cable channel has imported the eight episode first season of Dairy of a Call Girl from the BBC and begins airing them tonight. Just as heads up for all the perverts out there: she does not cavort about naked until the third episode, but there is plenty of lingerie and sex scattered about in the interim.

That is not even the best part. It is actually a bigger fantasy than Doctor Who. Piper plays Belle, an attractive university graduate with no history of being a victim of sexual abuse who earns $ 100,000 a year sleeping with wealthy clients. She does not even have a pimp, just a lady she shares her earnings with because she drums up the clients for Belle. I am not sure I buy all that , but let us ask an expert:Well, there you go. I stand corrected.

John McCain: Songbird?

There is a bulletin floating around MySpace that is a copy of this article. It is written by Jack McLamb, a Vietnam veteran who served nine years in special operations in Cambodia. In it, McLamb claims he has spoken to numerous former POWs over the years and they all say John McCain cooperated with the North Vietnamese from the very beginning in order to avoid torture. They further claim McCain made 32 propaganda recordings speaking out against American imperialism while in captivity. Those have been classified by the US government in order to protect the reputation of Sen. McCain and his famous admiral father and grandfather.

I obviously cannot quote you chapter and verse on McCain’s POWE experience or even accurately judge how one would behave under the circumstances of being held captive and tortured for nearly six years. It is not like the movies in which Rambo takes electric shock torture all night without even screaming and somehow you get the impression that is the norm for the heroic good guy. That certainly is not reality. Even the toughest break down. Even the toughest cannot take it at all. I do not believe there is a standard that every single person is expected to meet under those circumstances. It is a matter of personal strength.

There is no doubt in my mind McCain suffered as a POW. He bears the physical, mental, and emotional scars of his five and a half years as a prisoner. I do not see how even his detractors can deny it. Note how he barely moves his right up, much left ever lifts it high. That is a lingering condition from having his arms broken and never treated properly, so even the claim he received favorable medical care while held captive is suspect. I read his Faith of Our fathers six years ago with its vividly detailed accounts of his torture and the lingering mental scars it caused. While I fully accept Mark Twain’s axiom that any one who writes an autobiography is a notorious liar, one cannot make that stuff up. I urge you to reads it yourself if you are in doubt.

I am more apt to rely on the personal testimonies of McCain’s fellow POWs whom we can identify by name, like Bud day, a roommate of McCain’s in the Hanoi Hilton, who attests to his endurance, rather than anonymous POW accounts and classified propaganda. Let us get real here. If you spent years being tortured while not giving up any information to the enemy while the admiral’s son sang like a canary the entire time, would you care about his reputation as a senator? I doubt it. Early on, Pentagon officials showed an open contempt for Bill Clinton because he was a draft dodger. John Kerry was Swiftboated right out the gate and he served as a combat veteran. Surely if McCain were a collaborator, we would hear plenty of his fellow POWs speaking out loud and clear, but we are not.

If you do not want to vote for McCain, fine. He was not my first choice for the Republican nominee, either. But recognize this as an attack on him without merit. Do you trust anonymous sources you have never heard from before or a man who appears on your television newscast every night, scars and all, from his experience? I hope you do not have to take any time to think about that one before answering.

Doctor Who Music Video

Here is mi music video for the latest episode, "Midnight." At first, I did not think the episode was visually exciting enough to make a decent video. The action was more on a personal level drama. But I think it turned out quite well. better than I expected, at any rate. the video isset to "Under Pressure" by David Bowie and Queen.

Meet the Depressed

I have never been one to get misty eyed over celebrities, but Meet the Press was awfully empty this morning without Tim Russert.

Doctor Who--"Midnight"

Every season has a budget saving bottle episode. They are usually pretty awful, but a necessary evil considering the way BBC production works. Throw in they are often written by Russell T. Davies, and you usually have a recipe for disaster. At first glance, it is easy to chalk “Midnight” up as a loss, but I think that would be hasty. Admittedly, it was a lot of tedious setup in order to reach a too quick pay off hat was not all that satisfying. But for a brief bit there, the psychological drama and exploration of the darker aspects of human nature were a nice touch.

Of course, all that was basically RTD aping Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat. I guess if you are going to steal, steal from the best. But coming off a Steven Moffat two parter, RTD’s shortcomings as a writer are painfully evident. He really does write to suit his own fantasies and assumes we will all happily come along for the ride. He has been right for four seasons, so I cannot say much about it, no?
The Doctor decides, sans Donna, to take a four hour enclosed tram ride to some natural phenomenon on a planet called Midnight. He is with the stereotypical group of tourists, including a bickering couple, a loopy professor (played by David Troghhton, son of the Second Doctor, the late Patrick Troughton) a bratty teenager, a hostess trying to hold it all together, and an RTD trademark—a throwaway line revealing one of them to be a lesbian. I have no beef with character being gay, but why introduce that element for no reason whatsoever? The woman, Sky, was thepivotal character in the episode, but her sexual orientation added nothing to her role. I did not see the point.

When the tram breaks down under an attack by some creature, Sky is possessed by it. The passengers become paranoid as they are stranded with her and plot what to do. The great debate is whether to throw her out in order to save themselves. In desperation, they argue the issue, even deciding at one point the Doctor ought to go, too, since he is obviously in cahoots with the creature possessing Sky. After an apparent swircheroo in which the Doctor is nearly spaced by the passengers, the situation is resolved tragically by the hostess. Afterwards, no one can even remember her name.

The resolution was all a bit trite and predictable, especially down to the bit where no one can remember the name of the woman who sacrificed herself to save them all because they were too busy arguing over who should die for the sake of them all. We never found out anything about the creature. We never even see it, as it spoke only by possessing Sky. I am a cynic. I like exploring the darker aspects of human nature. It suits my worldview. But it was barely enough to salvage the episode considering how much of it was done on the cheap. It was the worst of the season, but I will be generous and not call it a complete dud. If nothing else, Rose showed up on a video screen silently begging for the doctor’s help. Surely that helped build excitement for next week’s first installment of the three part finale.

Rating: ** (out of 5)

Battlestar Galactica: Was That the Brooklyn Bridge?

Here is a comparison shot between the real Brooklyn Bridge and the final scene of last night's Battlestar Galactica, "Revelations." It certainly look like the Bridge to me. The Galactica appears to have landed on Earth at some point in the future after a nuclear war.

The above photo can be enlarged by clicking on it.

Battlestar Galactica--"Revelations"

I cannot describe to you how much I dislike the fact Sci Fi is attempting to eke out yet another season of BSG by splitting the current season in half, but I certainly do like the shocking cliffhanger they left us with to keep use coming back for more. There was a plan afoot for this to be the series finale should the writers strike cancel the remainder of the season. While I never expected a happy ending to a series this dark, that would have been a hard kick in the gut. As it is, I have to wonder what the real ending might be. Cast members who have commented on the script for the series have expressed a certain melancholy regarding the last scene. One has to wonder.

But that is 2009. In the here and now, we have D’Anna announcing to Adama there are only four of the final five Cylons in his fleet. She will hold the colonials aboard the BaseStar hostage until the four are handed over to her. D’Anna orders Adama to escort her to Galactica. Before they leave, Roslin quietly insists Adama destroy the BaseStar if he has to..

Tori is allowed to go to the BaseStar and tend to the cancer stricken Roslin. She reveals herself as one of the four Cylons and joins up with D’Anna, who begins making good on her threat to kill a hostage every fifteen minutes until the other three are handed over. The remaining three begin to hear the music again, this time from Starbuck’s Viper. Anders and Galen head to the hanger, but Tigh seeks out Adama to inform him of his true nature. Meanwhile, Lee sets in motion a rescue mission for the hostages and prepares to destroy the BaseStar altogether if need be.

Adama’s world is turned upside down by the news. It gets much worse when tigh insists he be killed to prevent D’Anna from getting all four of them. Baltar tries to convince d’Anna to stand down on the BaseStarwith little result. Anders and Tyrol realize Starbuck’s Viper has a homing beacon pointing the way to earth. As tensions escalate, Adama decides to follow the beacon and jump to Earth. The entire fleet celebrates as they believe their journey is over. But when they arrive, all is lost. Earth is in irradiated ruins after some sort of nuclear attack.

This was a really good episode. It was the culmination of many personal moments that have been running through the season. I thought the last act was rushed, particularly considering how much story had to be packed into it, but that ending was a shocker. Has Galactica arrived in Earth’s past or the future? Is it in fact earth at all? Either way, what happened there?

The hybrid warned in Ravor Starbuck was going to lead the surviving humans into the apocalypse. Perhaps this is what it meant. At the end of last season, Starbuck said she had been to Earth and gave no indication anything was wrong with it, much less that it was a lifeless husk. I am curiousasto the explanation for that. Was she taken to Earth at a different time period, a different Earth, or did something happen in the interim that both humans and Cylons are going to have to deal with?

Or maybe this is what the hybrid meant when it said all of this has happened before and all of this will happen again. Perhaps he was speaking of Earth being attacked and refugees escaping in search of a new home the same as Caprica and Galactica. It is all one big cycle. I do not know. There were a lot of questions answered here, but so many more asked. I am excited for2009. .

Rating: ***** (out of 5)

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is the value of a video clip of the last seven minutes of "Revelations?"

Caturday

Julian Bleach as Davros

I take back my previous criticism about his make up job in the last photo. Now that I have a better look, I think Davros' new appearance is awesome.

Tim Russert (1950-2008)

NBC’s Washington bureau chief and longtime host of Meet the Press, Tim Russert, has died. Russert collapsed in his office earlier today after taping a segment for this Sunday’s show. I am currently watching MSNBC’s coverage. His colleagues are barely holding it together on the air. They are saying repeatedly he had no enemies in Washington, only friends. Judging by their grieving demeanors, I believe it.

I watch Meet the Press on a fairly regular basis depending upon who the guests were and what topics were circulating in the current news cycle. I generally liked his interview show on MSNBC more. I rarely agreed with him personally, as he let his liberal beliefs shine through quite often, but he also asked the toughest questions on television this side of the lateed Bradley and it did not matter if you were on the left or right. It is amazing how he always managed to end on a high note with whoever he was grilling.

I gather, when it came right down to it, Russert was a good guy. Like me, he went to law school where he developed a keen interest in politics, but soon decided journalism was a better career choice. I can relate to that. I cannot imagine working for Daniel Moynihan or Mario Cuomo or rooting for the Buffalo Bills, but I can appreciate a man honestly follows his passions. Heck, I thought he was going to keel over a half dozen times during the democratic primaries when Clinton refused to drop out in favor of Obama.

Godspped, Mr. Russert.

Battlestar Galactica Final Season Expanded

After tonight's midseason finale, there will be twelve hours remaining in the fourth season rather than the ten previously announced. There is also a ninety percentchance a television movie, in addition to Caprica, may be filmed. Both the expanded season and movie would appear sometime in 2009. Not bad for a season almost cut in half by the writers strike, no?

While I am on the subject, several cast members commented on the scrip for the series finale while attending a special screening of tonight's episode, "Revelations." They described the ending as a sad kick in the gut. take that for what you will, but considering how dark BSG has been from the beginning, I much expected a happyending anyway.

you mayread the entirearticle here.

UPDATE: The final word is eleven hours for the remaining fourth season. the series finale has been extended from two to three hours.

Left Turn at Gitmo

There is definitely mixed emotions around the blogosphere over yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling granting habeas right to Gitmo detainees. The right is upset because of the difficulties the decision will cause those actually fight the terrorists on the front line. The left is thrilled the Bush Administrations disregard for domestic and international law and human rights has been rebuked. I can see both sides of the argument. I guess I still have a lot of lawyer in me.

Justice Scalia was correct in declaring the ruling will cost American lives. Many guilty detainees are going to go free along with the innocent. Those that are guilty are going to go right back to plotting against Americans in this lovely little jihad thing that have going. As much sympathy as the detainees have inspired by various human rights groups, they are the lowest of the low. They are murderers, thieves, and rapists in their home countries in their own countries before they found “redemption” in radical Islam. But that is what law is all about—giving a fair shake to the least deserving. No wonder the world hates lawyers.

But aside from the less than favorable outcomes of detainee trials, we are going to have to fight the war differently now. The problem is now they are fighting a war and the US is conducting a criminal investigation. I am only half joking when I say now soldiers may haveto read Miranda rights to a captured terrorists on the battlefield or even consult with a JAG as to whether it is worthwhile to capture him at all. Maybe that makes as better people in principle, but when bullets start flying, who the heck cares about that?

My presidential pick, John McCain, wants to shut down Gitmo to avoid any further moral debates over their status. I am fine with that, I suppose. I do not care about the human rights issue the left are so concerned with, mind you. I know full well any future prisoners taken in the war on terror will be handed over to allied countries for a lot more brutal treatment than water boarding, sleep dprivation, and listening to Britney Spears CDs all day long. One way or another, this all out war is going to be fought on the dirtiest, but necessary levels.

Do I like the idea? No. But I never considered the ruins of the World Trade Center a crime scene. It was the first “battle” in a long, brutal war. Whether they were irregular fighters or not, the detainees should have been given POW status, tried, and punished. The death penalty would have applied under international law, to boot. If it is war, fight it like one so we can keep sheltered old justices from tying our hands over making the wrong the Bush Administration’s wrong call years ago.

Friday the 13th

Since it is Friday the 13th (knock on wood, if you feel the need)today's celebrity photo ought to be on the creepy side. I never like to be straightforward and predictable about such things, so here is a photo of Yvonne DeCarlo, the classic beauty who eventually became Lilly Munster.

Try to have a safe day, but please remember me while you do. The reason our cat is named Boo is because she is black as night. she crosses my path every single day, usually with a feline snicker. you know how cats are.

It Ain't the Battle of Skarro

The title of the twelfth episode of the fourth season of Doctor Who has been kept secret from the beginning, but was long rumored to be titled "The Battle of Skarro." skarro, as you may or may not recall, assuming how old a Whovian you are, was the home planet of Davros and the Daleks.

Well, that is not happening. The real title has been revealed as "The Stolen Earth." according to the synopsis, virtually everyone who has been associated with the doctor since the series was revived in 2005 with take part in battling Davros as he leads a new Dalek army in an invasion of Earth. Virtually all means Donna, Rose, Mickey, the rest of the Tyler clan, Martha Jones, Sarah Jane Smith, K9, Capt. Jack Harkness and presumably the rest of Torchwood. There have been some rumors of Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones showing up.

This is a legitimate announcement from BBC sources and contradicts other rumors leaked by "insider" sources, so other tidbits about the finale previously thought to be true may be incorrect. Which suits me fine. I would rather not see former Prime Minister Harriet Jones as a Dalek on some petty pursuit of revenger (there are enough Joneses to keep up with as it is) or those spider creatures return.

SCOTUS: Gitmo Detainees Have Habeas Rights

I presume they were supposed to be read their Miranda rights, too,, before being taken from the battlefields of Afghanistan. It is difficult to do that when you are being shot at, but I suppose life appointed justices never have to worry about such things.

I have not read the entire seventy (?!) page opinion yet, so I cannot comment on whether the legal arguments lead logically to the ruling. But I do understand the heart of the problem was the Bush Administration’s cowboy diplomacy in the matter of redefining the status of the detainees in order to avoid judicial review in the first place. The Geneva Convention itself allows for the summary execution of illegal combatants to begin with. But if Bush had labeled them POWs, they could have been tried, convicted, and legitimately sentenced to the death penalty all within the legitimacy of international law.

Now we have scandals over torture, the circus that will be civilian trials assuming other countries do not take all the prisoners themselves, and some guilty detainees walking free along with innocent ones. Americans are going to be put in danger with this ruling, but it is still largely the Bush Administration’s fault.

Here those frequent “thud” sounds? It is ACLU lawyers colliding with each other at airports trying to buy tickets to Gitmo to drum up business.

Maggie Grace

She sure fell off the map after after Anna-Lucia popped a cap in her tush on Lost. She is to purrty to not be a bigger star than she is.

More on Torchwood Season Three

Here is some new, confirmed information about the third season/series from the official Torchwood Magazine:

Torchwood executive producer Julie Gardner has confirmed that a third series of Torchwood will start filming in August. The new series will comprise one continuous story told over five one-hour episodes on BBC1, with episodes by Russell T. Davies and other as yet unnamed writers. Though our new issue had just gone to press just before the new series was announced, we got straight on the phone to Julie, who told us:

“As you know, plans for a third series have been underway for a long time, and we now have a new producer and a new director in place, as well as brand new scripts all ready to go. It’s the longest and most ambitious story we have ever made, so be prepared for some shocks and surprises! Life at Torchwood is never quiet or easy, and the whole of Captain Jack's world is about to be turned upside down!”

I am not too thrilled to hear RTD is writing an episode, but I imagine his participation means the five episode arc will be the culmination of his plan arc from the beginning. It was mentioned last season a Torchwood team from Scotland had gone missing. The Doctor Who third season finale hinted Jack Harkness will eventually become the Face of Boe. Either or both plot elements may appear in this "epic" adventure. It is going to have to be memorable with only five episodes shown over a five night period.

Were you disappointed by the second season finale of Torchwood? Guess who else was? That is right--Hitler.
Old Adolf has a point about Mickey being a poor substitute of Tosh. I would rather see that Scottish doctor Martha is engaged to join up instead. He did get get enough screen time in "Last of the Time Lords," but I bet he would be great.

David Tennant's Hamlet Backlash

David Tennant will spend next's year's Doctor Who hiatus portraying Hamlet in the royal Shakespeare company production that will hit the West end. Doctor Who fans are notall that thrilled, but someone else higher up has been even more vocal about Tennant's taking on the role.

Sir Jonathan Miller, the theater director, has hit out at London theater producers for succumbing to "an obsession with celebrity" when casting West End plays, citing Tennant , who is to play Hamlet in a forthcoming Royal Shakespeare Company production, and Jude Law, as examples. Miller's criticisms come after two of his productions for the National Theatre, where he is an associate director, failed to get runs in London. According to him, this was because the cast had no famous names.

you mean theater goers want to see plays starring famous name, big talent actors? i never would have guessed.

Smile, Jessica--You've Been Caught!

When you have a good blog theme rolling, you might as well keep going with it. There appears to be no shortage of hypocrisy to write about. If you need any further proof Jessica simpson's star, such that it ever did shine, is fading, look no further than her being featured on the cover of Dear Doctor Dentistry & Oral Health. Yes, indeed. is that the biggest selling magazine these days that has any interest in her? that is not exactlty People or even Us Weekly.

In the feature article, simpson describes her experience with Operation: Smile, a charity group that promotes dental care and repairs oral deformities among children in third world countries. Simpson took a trip to Africa on behalf of the organization in 2005. How was it?

“My experience in Kenya with Operation Smile was incredible. To witness the truly miraculous transformations in the lives of so many desperate needy children was both powerful and personally rewarding.”

Sounds like she really blessed by seeing the good work she was helping raise funds and awreness of, right? Well, no.

[A] source who was involved in planning the original trip was surprised to see references of any kind resurface. “She went on a wildlife tour at one point instead of visiting the hospitals she’d committed to seeing. The press was so, so bad,” said the source. “She backed out of PSAs that were supposed to run afterwards. I guess the lesson is that she and Joe (Simpson) really never cease to amaze.”

Poppa Joe is going to sentence her to thirty-nine lashes with a wet noodle for that public relations blunder. It looks like Jessica is not above a little lying and scheming herself. Whoda thunk it?

Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night

I debated for days whether I wanted to talk about this news story at all. I have made no secret I regret my decision to go to the Regent University School of Law. But I did, and if my health had in any feasible way allowed me to practice law, I would have done so as an overt alumni of Regent. I was then and am now a firm believer that the biggest problem with Christianity is the Christians, so I had no problem representing the idea behind the school. Indeed, I had good experiences with many faculty members, including the subject of the above indictment.

I am being careful not to name names here. The last thing I want is for someone to Goggle their way here and say that I am engaging in character assassination. Heaven knows, I have been honest about my feelings towards the narrow minded and spiritually dead attitudes of many classmates and not an insignificant number of faculty, but I not named names and I do not want to start impugning people now.

In fact, I liked said person a lot. He was my professor for two semesters and assistant dean of student affairs for at least my 3L year. As student affairs dean, he was literally a life saving nursemaid for sheltered kids farther away from mommy and daddy than they had ever been before. You went to him for everything from financial aide snafus to needing a library book you could not find to locating the Norfolk Krispy Kreme. He was one of the first to contact me after my mother died and the first to contact me after my colon ruptured. It was so soon after, I was still so dazed from morphine, he had to talk to my sister instead.

So, I am not reveling in the accusations. I am not gloating that my skepticism about the character of many attached to that school is suspect. I am not even going to argue it is evidence of such, as I have already seen some of conservative Christianity already have in recent days. I know the animosity Virginia has for the Pat Robertson and Jerry falwell ministries that have been established and, right or wrong, even innocent until proven guilty, he is going to face the brunt of the animosity.

Me? I am just saddened. As much as I have critiqued Regent, I accepted the place for what it was trying to do: be a place to train Christian leaders. I also accepted their were a great number of decent people who genuinely believed that is what they were doing and the world is better off for it. I have already said I would have happily practiced law as a Regent graduate, chalking up the negative experiences as a trial by fire. It would not be the first time I have had one of those. But this does not do much to help alleviate my cynicism about people in general, particularly those who espouse a strong moral ideal and by all outward appearances, strictly live by it. I have just suffered another, unexpected hit to my Regent experience.I could have done without it.

Christina Applegate

Because Kelly Bundy has a lot ofclass these days.

Pamela Anderson Donates Leather to PETA

Pamela Anderson, the voluptuous former Baywatch babe, is desperate to earn some legitimacy now that she has firmly entered her forties. Yes, forties. We are all getting old. There was a time, pre-Governator, when she even speculated on a future run for governor of California. As a Canadian born citizen, she could not set her sights on the White House, but I know I had a hearty laugh and I assume you did, too. Anderson had to fall back on the last refuge of the celebrity scrambling to justify her existence—activism.

Anderson has chosen animal rights as her outrage de jour. In the past, she has railed against wearing fur, using animals in movies and television filming, and forcing animals to perform in circuses in spite of the fact she has taken her kids to the circus on a number of occasions. I might cut her some slack and chalk that up as a learning experience. Who knows when such people hear the voice instructing them to go save France?

Ah, but wait. Anderson has been a ardent supporter of PETA. She has recently donated her 2000 Dodge Viper to be auctioned off for the cause of animal rights. Her Dodge Viper, with its leather seats, leather interior, and leather covered steering wheel. Leather, as in cows, which are animals. I am curious at what point this fact may register on her. Or PETA, for that matter. Will they pass up the opportunity to sell the car since it violates their general principles?

The Obama Bounce

Barack Obama has gotten he inevitable bounce from finally securing the Democratic Party’s nomination. I am surprised it was so low. The latest Gallup poll, Obama is up 48%-42% over John McCain. Generally since it became known Obama was going to defeat Hillary Clinton, Obama had been running an average of 4% higher than McCain, still within the margin of error. A 2% bounce has to be disappointing.

At least for now. I imagine Obama will build up a double digit lead soon as the high emotions of Clinton supporters subside and they rally around him. While some Clinton supporters have said they would switch to McCain, I suspect in the long run, that number will be insignificant. Obama has a charisma that seems to easily win people over. I suspect Clinton will soon be as old a news story as Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, to boot.

McCain will get a convention bounce just like Bob Dole’s in 1996, but will it make much difference? About the only advantage I see McCain having beyond his experience, which voters do not seem to care much about this time around, is he is a known quantity. There cannot be that many skeletons in his closet we do not already know about. Obama is still relatively unknown and probably not ready for big league campaigning. Gaffes might make a bigger difference in 2008 than they have in quite a while.

The Face of Davros?

while I do not believe it is much of a spoiler to reveal Davros is in the Doctor Who fourth season finale, revealing his physical appearance certainly would be. here is an allegedly leaked photo of Julian Bleach a the creator of the murderous Daleks.

the photo is awfully grainy, so it may not give us the best impression, but I am thus far disappointed. While the inhabitants of Skarro were human looking, Davros was not. it was inexplicable, but fans came to accept and embrace it. Here he looks like an ordinary, scarred and crippled old man. i had hoped with the higher quality production values of the revived series, Davros would be more impressive.

Perhaps he will be. there may be more to it. knowing the BBC, this might even be a misdirection. then again, knowing Russell T. Davies, he might have unilaterally decided an alien looking Davros was a dumb idea to begin with and "corrected" the error. Bring on Steven Moffat, says I.Here is a photo of the old Davros for comparison.

Big Brown, Big Frown

Big Brown came up short in his bid to be the first triple Crown winner in thirty years Saturday at the Belmont. Since Big Brown’s surprising last place finish, I have heard knowledgeable horsemen say when a favored horse lags so badly, there is an obvious health problem. Big Brown has checked out as fine by veterinarians. Two other points about big Brown have come to light, neither of which have seemingly not raised too many eyebrows in the world of horse racing, but have elsewhere.

The first is that Big Brown has been injected with steroids in the past. Steroids do build muscle in horses, but experts say it only serves to build up a horse’s energy. In fact, building up too much muscle can put a detrimental burden on a hore’s already slender ankle joints and lead to a breakdown. Assuch, steroid use in horse racing in banned in ten states. Officials have announced their will be an across the board ban by next year. It is still legal to use steroids for thoroughbreds in New York, but for the Belmont, Big brown was not given his monthly injection. So, was big Brown in some sort of withdrawal or was he running normally compared to his chemically enhanced runs before?

Second, jockey Kent Devereaux made a statemont in the post race interview to theeffect of he knew something was wrong with the horse, so he pulled him up because the horse was—and I quote—“too valuable to risk.” Now, I am not a PETA guy and I have argued before I do not think horse racing is animal cruelty, but such statement are what makes people believe it is. There is a lot of money involved in horse racing and anyone who invests millions into a champion horse is concerned about his investment, but anyone associated with the animal ought to state his concern is for the animal, not its cash value.

So here is the question: if the horse’s monetary value is more important than the horse’s well being, is a jockey obligated to run a horse ragged, even if there is a problem, if he has achance to run in the money? I am asking this because at the point Devereaux realized Big Brown was not going to win the race, he evidently pulled back to keep Big brown from suffering an injury like Eight Belle’s, which caused that horse to be euthanized. By making a comment that his rationale for to preserve Big Brown’s value, he made it seem as though later winnings and future stud fees were a deciding factor in how hard to push the horse to win.

Do horsemen commonly think this way? If so, it sounds as though one could make a good argument that, in a sport heavily dependent on gambling revenue, they are coming dangerously close to rigging races. Either one is pushing a race passed its limit to place in the money or holding one back because the jockey has a gut feeling something is “wrong” with the horse and all we eventually wind up with is his word on it. I am still not confident I would label it animal cruelty, but there is something shady the main concern being money.

I am curiouys now about the ethics of it all and am going to look around for more while the press is still hot on the story. If I find some interesting stuff, I will compile them into another post. The sport fascinates me. I would like to understand more the ethics of it all.