When I was growing up I watched Doctor Who on PBS and his interactions with different characters, enemies, and TIMES. Their villains were somewhat corny, but nevertheless fun to watch and did improve as time went by. It went off the air in 1989 and all told, eight actors played the Doctor.
Now the BBC is reporting that they are Bringing Back The Doctor! I sure hope this really happens; science fiction on TV kinda sucks right now. I was pleased with the 1996 TV project between the Beeb and Fox which starred Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, and provides a solid basis for McGann’s return if the BBC goes with him. Better be careful, he has only four lives left after this one!
Now where’d I put that GOLD for killing those Cybermen? Either those guys or the dreaded Daleks will once again fill the airwaves with the sounds of EX-TER-MI-NATE! EX-TERRRRR-MIIIII-NAAAAATE!

Back in the late 1980s I remember reading Frederik Pohl’s book Chernobyl which raised the following: imagine if you will Caesar taking his dying breath over two millenia ago. He expels molecules of air which disperse into the atmosphere. We in turn breathe them in, even now.
The same thing happens whenever anyone dies, so Caesar, anyone who died from Chernobyl, and more importantly, all those who fell on 9/11 is a part of us. James Lileks relates the issue in discussing the war on terrorism.

I actually managed to watch the 90-minute debate between the major candidates. Here’s my opinion of them:
Cruz Bustamante (Democrat): Too meek, as if no one would notice if he kept his mouth shut.
Peter Camejo (Greens): Typical Left-Wing Liberal College Professor who would tax the hell out of the rich.
Arianna Huffington (So-called Independent): What a bitch she was. She kept trying to turn the election into a Bash Bush forum. Arianna also kept railing into Arnold and directly attacked him as a womanizer.
Tom McClintock (Republican): Didn’t mess around. He didn’t attack any of the candidates, and his knowledge of state budget practices could herald a future at the national level. But watch for him to be an integral part of a Republican administration if Arnold wins.
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Republican): He held his own and mixed it up with Arianna (more so) and Cruz (less so). That was the standard he was being held to and I think he met it. He had the best retort for Arianna’s attack on him (see above): “I have a perfect part for you in Terminator 4!”

So we’ll see how this all turns out real soon.

A series of essays on the Belmont Club blog provide the strongest indicators that we may be approaching a turning point in history.

THIS should be interesting. The Sunday Mirror in the UK is reporting that Saddam may be trying to cut a deal with the US: He’d leave Iraq and go to Belarus (a messed up former Soviet republic) in exchange for WMD locations and info on plundered money.
The US has apparently already arrested the person operating the radio relaying Saddam’s requests, and are now operating the radio directly, so we could eventually pinpoint his location. GET HIM! GET THAT SOB!
Stay tuned….

The current situation regarding what to do with Yasser Arafat (do we exile him or kill him?) brings to mind the adage coined by Douglas MacArthur: “Old Soldiers never die, they simply fade away.” Only problem is, Yasser Arafat is not a soldier, much less a statesman…he’s a terrorist! Always has been, always will be. Call a spade a spade.
Let me share with you an e-mail response I sent last December to a former friend who happens to be Palestinian and teaches University in the United Arab Emirates (gee, how come he isn’t strapping on explosives up on the front line?). Marwan decided to include me on his list for more BS propaganda…complete with photos…about the “cruelties of the Israeli occupiers.” I lost the original e-mail, but here’s my response to him:

I’m sorry that we have to disagree on this issue. I’m sorry that the Palestinians chose to dance in the streets of the West Bank and Gaza on 9/11. I’m sorry the Palestinians don’t realize that it isn’t the Israelis who are the problem…but the Arab countries themselves in launching four wars in a fifty-year period and losing them all, then leaving the Palestinians high and dry and living off United Nations handouts. I’m sorry to see the Palestinians still choose to rely on the failed leadership of an Egyptian-born thug named Yasser Arafat. Worst of all, I’m sorry that the Palestinians choose to deliberately target civilians with their homicidal bombers and then have the cajones to call themselves “freedom fighters”...there’s a big difference between that conduct of warfare and the standard conduct where rebels would target only the military, and occasionally hit innocent bystanders with much terrible regret.
Why can I say this? I lived in Asmara, Ethiopia 30 years ago (Asmara is now, of course, the capital of Eritrea) and saw and experienced for myself what civil war is all about, and how it affects the people who live there. I couldn’t go anywhere outside the city on good days, and had to stay on base on the bad days. It made me damn glad I was born American and I appreciate and value my freedom all the more!
I personally took these photos when my girlfriend and I visited New York City two weeks ago. Seeing it for myself only steeled my beliefs about terrorists, and it is this: We will come for you…no matter how long it takes.
I stand with Israel...and I’m not sorry to say it either.
I hope your family is doing OK though….

The photos I sent him were of Ground Zero and the Sphere (which survived the attack). But at least I was civil with the guy. Now you know where I stand.

Is the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) failing? In a word…maybe.
Iran is already playing the game with the IAEA to delay and stall while it completes its program which it says does not exist. And yesterday the foreign ministers of the UK, France, and Germany send a letter to the Mullahs asking them to come clean and prove to the world that they aren’t going to go nuclear. Iran’s reply? Something to the effect of “Well, North Korea pulled out, and lots of other countries have never entered the treaty in the first place.”
Oh great…they’re stomping their feet. “Well if they can do it we can too!”
JFK warned way back in 1960 (during his TV debate with Nixon) that by 1975, nearly 15 countries would have nuclear weapons capabilities if curbs were not put in place. This was the same year that France joined the club and even four years before China did. When you count Israel, India, Pakistan, then tack on North Korea and Iran because they’re trying real hard to get them, we’re starting to approach that number now.
After the NPT was entered into force in 1970, things seemed pretty stable for another twenty years, and then the Soviet Union fell. After that, countries which probably carried secret ambitions all along started to feel more emboldened to embark on their little adventures.
PREDICTION: North Korea will be stupid enough to test by the end of the year. And we can’t tell for sure how far along Iran is. God, I hope I’m wrong.

I sure don’t, especially with the entry of General Wesley Clark into the fray for the Democratic presidential nomination. She says she won’t run in 2004 and will serve out her Senate term for the people of New York State. BULL!
The express aim of her endorsement of Clark’s campaign is to make the rest of the field of Democratic candidates look really bad, then she comes in like a “knight in shining armor” to save the Democratic Party.
CONFESSION: I’m sorry that I voted for Clinton in 1992. I wish I hadn’t in hindsight. After all the stuff that went on for eight years just made me sick to my stomach…and I’m not even going to mention the debacle with Ms. Lewinsky. I certainly don’t trust Bill either.

Update (09/20/2003 at 0430 ET): Amritas echoes an interesting sentiment: “I’m hoping she falls off her horse.” Like Lead. CLUNK!

Welcome to an idea reborn.
A few years ago I used to publish my own comments on various happenings around the world, and I didn’t get any publicity for it. Now I can, thanks to the help of a few bloggers I’ve made an acquaintance with…like Saurus, Hud, and Amritas!
First of all…I am not necessarily a “lockstep” conservative as some of my liberal friends might think that I am. There will be times where my opinions will differ from the ones who currently hold the highest offices in the land of the USA. There will also be times when I’ll take note of what people write in to me about and I may comment on that. Doesn’t necessarily have to be about current events.
Because I ain’t rich, being a poor MBA student at the University of Phoenix dictates that I can’t get Movable Type just yet. So I will do my best to keep this blog as simple as possible, yet be elegant at the same time.
So feel free to contact me if you’d like to comment on anything I post here. If I discuss it at length here, I won’t post your e-mail address, but I would like at the very least to properly credit any comments.
Wish me luck. Here I go….