Clash Of Titans: Savage Meets O'Reily

Walter Williams On The Role Of Government In A Free Society

One of the nation's foremost thinkers.

Most Eligible Bachelor Apparently Not All That Appealing

Defector Warns Russia Still A Mighty Adversary

Did UFO's Contact Dennis Kucinich

Peacemongers Strike Woman With Brick

SCFI.com Announces January 2008 Debut For Jericho

SCIF.com

Robosexuals The Next Perversion Demanding Recognition

In an episode of Futurama that delt primarily with downloading piracy, it was also suggested that in the future the prospect of human robot intimate relationships might be a bit of a moral problem.

Particulary humorous was the line in a health film endorsed by the Space Pope that all of cilization was an attempt to impress the opposite sex.

If allowed to go to far, this could very well become a problem because faced with the choice between a nagging wife and one that can be programmed to keep its mouth shut, who wouldn't be tempted if all other responses seemed the same?

And don't think this would be a male only temptation; what woman wouldn't want a man that could be programmed to hand over the remote or put the toliet seat down as demanded?

by Frederick Meekins

Who Really Owns Your Dog?

Those thinking of adopting a dog from an animal shelter should really think twice if they want the grief, as from this story about Ellen Degneres, it seems you may not be the one to ultimately decide what is in the pet's best interests.

Mexican Cannibal Has His Girlffriend Over For Dinner

Congress Implies Southerners Are Filthy & Diseased

Before going on a fact-finding mission to Talladega Motor Speedway, congressional staff were directed to get immunized against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, tetanus, diphtheria and influenza.

One must stop and ask would such a suggestion been made had the fans of NASCAR not been White Southerners but rather illegal aliens, the homless, and practicing homosexuals.

One is more likely to find these diseases epidemic among these more politically protected classes.

But since these are the ones more likely to rampage through the streets in violent protest or more likely to drag you into court if you don't applaud their particular lifestyles, nothing is dare said to warn the American people of the more likely source of these pandemics.

By Frederick Meekins

Church Of England Shills For Organ Harvesters

The ethics of organ donation aside, interesting how this borderline apostate ecclesiastical body takes a laizee faire attitude among its ranks when it comes to abortion and even sodomites in the pulpit but now like a bunch of salivating vampires and zombies foment the notion that even our very organs are no longer ours alone but belong to the COMMUNITY.

Where are the keep your laws off our bodies banshees now?

Libraries & Christianity

An excellent essay by Albert Mohler on the importance of libraries, both public and personal. in the life of the scholastically inclined believer.

On a related note, though probably little more than a tool for the Department of Homeland Security to keep tabs on what you read, here is a collection of books I have posted on an interesting website called Shelfari.com.

Is Jenna Bush Shacking Up?

From the account of Jenna Bush's marriage proposal, one almost has the impression that she is sleeping around, shacking up, and living in sin.

Was Charles Schultz Plagued By The Doldrum Of Creative Insight?

Simple minds apparently can't seem to grasp that this genius could have been happy yet sad all at the same time and seem intent on pinning him down to one emotional pole.

Mohler Advocates Breeding Oneself Into Poverty

Interesting how the rest of us are suppose to procreate ourselves into the poorhouse while Mohler enjoys a jet-set lifestyle and only two kids.

While his advice on debt is to be commended, I don't think he fully realizes just how expensive a bear minimum existence is these days.

Preview Of New Babylon DVD

Why Shouldn’t Hungerstrikers Be Allowed To Starve?

Often in the attempt to get their way, children threaten to hold their breath or refuse to eat until their parents agree to meet their demands. Usually, nothing much comes of it as most youngsters don’t have the will to resist the sway of their base appetites and most normally outgrow such juvenile displays as skills are acquired to navigate conflicts in a more rational manner or they learn to make peace with what they cannot change,

Of contrived social environments, among the most artificial and detached from reality is the college campus. Either as a result of having never matured as tends to be the case of many drawn to certain useless fields of study or the result of deliberate psychological regression on the part of academic faculty, a number of young adults often return to such behaviors during their college years.

Instead of employing the skills and knowledge they are sent to college to acquire such as communication and analysis that can be used to make the world a better place, some of those persuaded that they are so far beyond the rest of us along the continuum of enlightenment that they are not bound by the same set of expectations imposed upon the rest of us resort to behavior not all that much more advanced (and certainly less justifiable) then when they were toddlers.

Increasingly, protestors are coming to contend that it is not enough that they be given the opportunity to express their opinion as provisions have been made under the First Amendment so that they might be able to persuade the masses as to the correctness of their position. Rather, they contend it is the obligation of those of us on the other side of the political spectrum to not only listen to their ramblings and also to keep our own mouths shut if we happen to disagree.

To draw attention to the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act that would extend education handouts to illegal aliens, a group of largely Latino students went on a hungerstrike. In commenting on the foolish extremes to which some will go to coerce handouts from the American taxpayer, broadcast sage Michael Savage remarked, “Let them fast until they starve to death.”

For daring to say such, tolerancemongers have latched onto the remarks as an example as to why free speech needs to be abolished in favor of a system of regulations under the euphemism of “fairness” where nothing will make it onto the airwaves without first gaining the approval of leftwing subversives and moral degenerates. .

Recently in a column titled “Dark Ages Of Broadcasting Loom On The Horizon”, I warned that the conniption over the blather of Don Imus was merely the opening gambit in a stratagem where enthusiastic disagreement with the prevailing postmodernist orthodoxy will eventually be met with the same disapproval and censure as crude off-color comments. It would be easy to dismiss such a claim as an exaggeration since political speech is suppose to be protected by the First Amendment.

However, to a growing number of relativists, such legal niceties and moral courtesies apply only to those furthering the cause of the revolution. As such, one apparatchik from the San Jose Peace Center (a probable socialist front group) told the Mercury News in a 7/13/07 article titled “Student Protestors Want Talk-Show Host Savage Fired” that, “the airwaves should be reclaimed and the public shouldn’t be exposed to someone who spews hate speech.”

According to one shyster on the payroll of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle in a July 13, 2007 story titled “Immigrant Advocates Demand Radio Station Fire Host For Remarks”, Savage’s comments were as offensive as those made by Don Imus. In other words, Savage’s remarks are not even worthy of public consideration and debate.

However, upon closer reflection, Savage’s recommendation is the most rational policy to pursue in dealing with such malcontents and subversives. When dealing with hungerstrikers, they be allowed to starve to death? As free individuals, they themselves are the ones that have decided to deny themselves nutritional sustenance.

Ironically, these very same radicals have no problem with women who decide to have their unborn children hacked to pieces all in the name of the principle of having control over one’s own body. Then why are they getting all flustered about one individual endorsing the ultimate outcome of those deciding to make certain decisions regarding what they plan to do with their bodies. After all, unlike abortion, the only person harmed through self-imposed starvation is the person refusing to eat.

Though any hint of silencing those we disagree with is a political outrage an affront to the First Amendment and the greater truth that this statutory provision that the right to speak one’s mind is granted by God and by no human government, almost as disturbing is the assumption of those supporting the activists that the demands of the hungerstrikers should automatically be appeased. For in condemning Dr. Savage’s comments, one is saying one must do whatever is necessary to prevent hungerstrikers from starving themselves to death, and since it would be wrong to force nutrition on someone as the abortion and homosexual rights rackets have pounded into our heads relentlessly the impropriety of forcing a moral decision upon someone else’s body..

Just to what extent must society acquiesce to the demands of those threatening to starve themselves? For example, if a gaggle of Klansmen (or Klookies as they were referred to in Fletch Lives) threatened to go on a hungerstrike unless Separate but Equal was reenshrined as the law of the land, does that mean those opposing their foolish demands are hateful and insensitive and thus unworthy of the Freedom of Speech?

Others condemned Savage for likening the hungerstrikers to terrorists. But when you look at it, such a classification is not that far off target.

Though the September 11th attack brought terrorism to the forefront of the public’s attention, it also created the impression that in order to qualify for such a designation that the act in question had to involve massive loss of life and a catastrophic destruction of property. For since then, it seems officials simply refuse to apply the label to incidents smaller in scale such as when a lunatic shot up an Israeli ticket counter at an LA airport on July 4, 2002.

It use to be taught and accepted that terrorism was the use or threat of violence to achieve political ends. Though the only ones threatened with actual bodily harm are the hungerstrikers themselves, if those threatening to do themselves harm think we have some kind of ethical obligation to meet their demands, how is this all that different than what the terrorists expect if liberals claim their is no distinction between the harm inflicted upon the innocent and the harm fanatics might inflict upon themselves?

As a strategy, few tactics are as asinine as starving oneself. For only the most spineless are going to make a fuss and go out of their way to save an adversary willing to do themselves in.

by Frederick Meekins

Islamists & Marxist Clergy Declare Jihad Against Columbus Day

Junkfood Ban Inspires Young Techno-Savy Entreprenuers

Sea Serpents Reported In Chinese Lake

Tony Almeida Returns To 24 Which To Become More Like JAG

Why not make it a crossover with Harm and Mac as the lawyers.

Is Lutheran Polemicist Falling For The Early Marriage Racket?

Issues Etc.

Despite their inherent stuffiness, one does not usually have to worry about conservative Lutherans such as those in the Missouri Synod falling for too many of the fads constantly popping up in the contemporary Protestant world.

Though conducted in the form of an open discussion, one gets the impression that the idea gaining momentum in the church probably thanks to Albert Mohler constantly beating this drum (one wonders if for no other reason to spread the misery) that the truly devout wed at an early age may be seeping into the propaganda organs of this denomination such as Issues Etc, a prominent LMS radio program..

Rather than counseling single Christians to wed earlier or later, shouldn’t both parents and clergy counsel those in their spiritual circle of influence to marry wiser?

For some, this may mean wedding early if they are so blessed; for some, this may mean waiting beyond that which is the accepted social norm.

Proverbs 21:9 says “[It is] better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.” Replacing the word “woman” with “man” is no less valid as the essential meaning of this verse is that you are better off alone and miserable than married and miserable.

Relatedly, why should a Christian that has kept themselves from physical temptation have to settle for a secondhand partner that's already been around the block a few times if that is not what they want?

Often the hyperpious couch their support of early matrimony in terms of those postponing marriage are simply greedy.

But I ask, how can any young person seeking to earn their own way in life afford property tax bills pushing the $4000 per year mark in large part to pay for welfare programs to feed the offspring of those unable to keep their pants on or to buy a house nearly $400,000 that is less than 1000 square feet? Furthermore, why should they also have to settle for rundown apartments with a dozen people (none of which can speak a lick of English) piled in next door or running an unlicensed apothecary if you get my meaning?

If one wants to advocate a Biblical position on this matter, other than warning about the natural urge for carnal relations outside marriage that any healthy person has to deal with, one pretty much has to step aside and mind one’s own business as the Bible I read seems to admit that marriage is both perhaps life’s greatest joy and yet its biggest pain in the rear.

by Frederick Meekins

Homeschooler Insinuates Nancy Drew A Strumpet, But Pirates OK Role Models

As usual, the Swansonites start off with good intentions but end up way off the mark some point in the show.

For example, in the 9/20/07 broadcast about media in the home, a number of good points are brought up about how music often has a greater impact on the formation of a child’s morals than parents these days.

However, things go a bit astray around the five minute mark when the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew are bashed as subversive and undermining of good character because these depict life as an engaging adventure rather than as grueling labor.

I think Swanson might have enjoyed the socialist realism of the Stalinist era where most heroes were depicted as laborers undertaking grueling toil for the good of the COMMUNITY.

Ironically, though there seems to be little difference between Nancy Drew and Paris Hilton in the eyes of this theonomist broadcaster, he then turns around and interviews Patch the Pirate.

Though Patch the Pirate is used to introduce numerous children to Christian values, if fundamentalists are going to make such a big deal over Harry Potter and now even the Hardy Boys, where is this highly vaunted sense of separation when it comes to “touching no unclean thing” when it comes to buccaneers and picaroons?

For even though one must admit that pirates have an inherent coolness and appeal to them in how they are depicted in literature and media, weren’t they essentially the carjackers and terrorists of the Age of Sail?

Thus, if Harry Potter is out of bounds because, according to Scripture, there is no such thing as a good witch despite the snippets of redeemable content dropped here and there in Rowlings questionable spiritual brew, than how can there be such a thing as a good pirate to those that wish to extend this stridency to the world of the imagination as well?

By Frederick Meekins

Diversity Visa Program Undermines America's Racial Balance

CNSNews

Will Rose Tyler Return To Doctor Who

SyFyportal.com

Some Speech More Equal Than Others At Columbia University?

I wonder if the young skulls full of mush, as Rush Limbaugh use to call srudents, will greet the president of Iran with the reception as they did the Minute-Man project at Columbia Univeristy.

Seems to me that John Kerry protestor was tazed for considerably less disruption.

Afrosupremacists Want Blacks Acquitted For Attempted Murder Of White Teen

While hanging nooses isn't nice, how can it even compare to actually attempting to murder someone?

Would Rev. Jackson and his rabblerousers want a group of Whites let off the hook that attempted to kill a Black kid even if other Blacks had provoked the Whites?

Swansonites Urge Gender Segregation In The Classroom

Though there are a number of helpful observations in this broadcast of Generations Radio such as how many of the regulations in private schools are not so much about building character as about building dutiful statist minions, Rev. Swanson once again takes things too far in claiming that the genders should be segregated in a classroom setting since they are by nature a distraction to one another and inhibit learning.

I, on the other hand, posit that isn't learning to keep this distraction in check one of the most important lessons on has to learn in order to eventually function in society?

For example, if a young man does not learn how to do this in his teenage years, isn't he going to be an unproductive wreck in the workplace or is it that once this idiosyncrasy of the theonomist right is implemented that the next big rallying cry will be that females must be barred from the workplace since they are a distraction in the office as well.

One hates to raise the Taliban metaphor as it is often overdone, but when you hear this kind of stuff you are almost prone to wonder when are they going to start calling for burqas and the painting over of windows.

I also find it highly ironic that these very same people calling for the elimination of mixed education are the very same ones that insinuate you are some kind of pervert or deviant if you are not married by the age of 22.

If not in school, where are you suppose to meet anyone? Knowing these people, probably through practices bordering on arranged marriages.

by Frederick Meekins

Women As Wrapped Up In Looks As Men

Settles once and for all one of the biggest lies of all time the crock that women don't care about looks.

New Futurama's Announced

Barry Manilow Comes Out Of His Hatemonger Closet

Pastor Claims Clergy Has Right To Leech Off Congregation

Around the 55 minute mark of the 9/17/07 sermon by the Pastor of Arlington in the suburbs of Baltimore, Md, it is argued that congregants have an obligation to feed and board missionaries.

Frankly, is motel 6 not good enough anymore.

This guilt trip is layed on in part to convince members to house missionaries during a mission's conference.

Unless one wants to reembrace certain aspects of Roman Catholicism, Christian workers are no more important than the rest of us.

In his homily, he goes on about the need of six familes to step forward to house them.

But with two pastors on staff, a Christian school attached to the church, and who knows how many deascons, I find it interesting how the burden is farmed out on us common folks viewed little better as stupid hicks the rest of the time.

by Frederick Meekins

Meteorite Strike Brings Sickness To Peruvian Village

Americans Asking Critical Questions To Be Tasered While Illegals To Be Sparred Shocks

Something sinister is afoot in the land when law enforcement is permitted to zap someone for merely asking inconvenient questions, one of which was what law did the victim actually break, while a new policy is being put into place in the U.S. prison system where jailers may taser incarcerated Americans with impunity while they are to refrain from doing so to detained illegal aliens in a move to placate Hispanosupremacists.

Law and order types will argue that the kid at the John Kerry speech got what was coming to him.

If so, I then ask how come at campuses across the country are radicals allowed to heckle Conservative speakers with impunity such as the time Dan Flynn of Accuracy In Academia was hooted down when discussing the Mumia Abu-Jamal case or whenever the Minute Men gather at a university to rationally discuss border security?

And perhaps most interesting of all, do note how police did not move in until the valiant questioner mustered the courage to ask about Illuminati recruiter the Skull and Bones Society.

by Frederick Meekins

What's Going On At The Mohler Housefhold

Has been my experience that those with the most miserable marriages are the ones that push marriage the most on single adults.

As such, as much as he gripes about the trend of people wedding later in life, makes you wonder how things must be in the Albert Mohler household as he once again rehashes this theme.

Girl Gets One Way Ticket To Myspace Palestinian Lover

Wonder how long until he losers his charm and becomes a wifebeater?

Jericho To Examine NWO Style Dictatorship

Giuliani Prostitutes Himself For North American Union

A Version Of Flash Gordon Worth Watching

Contrary to the lazy-man's version of Flash Gordon now on the Sci-Fi channel that utilizes a whitetrash version of the Stargate to teleport between worlds, this one proves a rocketship is an integral part of the Flash Gordon mystique.

They Don’t Cast Space Tyrants Like They Use To

As a narrative form driven considerably by adversarial conflict, in science fiction a good story must have a villain just as interesting (sometimes even more so) than the primary hero or protagonist. As one of the archetypes from which much popular “space opera” is derived, Flash Gordon did much to perfect this template in the form of villains such as Ming the Merciless.

Part of the appeal of such characters in these contexts is that neither hero nor villain usually allow pressures short of overwhelming force influence the types of things either believed should be stood up for even if it happened to be their own lust for power or megalomania. However, had the original Flash Gordon been saddled with the same politically correct sensitivities as those weighing down the creativity of writers and producers of today, it is doubtful the character would have achieved name recognition as an icon of popular culture nearly on par with Superman and if he had been a real interplanetary swashbuckler our planet would have been laid to waste by Mongo long ago.

Though the series did not premiere until 8/10/07, considerably prior to that airdate publicists and producers had already fanned out across the Internet wringing their hands in an almost Phil Donahue-I-feel-so-guilty-to-be-an-American manner as to why it was necessary to alter the appearance of Ming the Merciless. For you see, in most interpretations, Ming is depicted with a Fu Manchu mustache and the flowing robes of an oriental despot.

Since the 1980’s or there abouts, Ming has become decreasingly Asian in his appearance to the point in a 1996 version of Flash Gordon he was no longer humanoid at all but rather reptilian. The reason often given is the need to avoid racial stereotyping (I wonder that the herpetological and animals rights lobbies have to say about lizards being depicted in such a light then).

Interestingly, this concern is only invoked when it benefits minorities. For example, in publicity shots on the SciFi.com website, rather than flowing robes or even a cape, the Emperor of Mongo is rather depicted in a more militaristic looking ensemble.

Furthermore, not only are all but the visually impaired able to ascertain that the actor portraying the role is blond but in the accompanying text, which is longer for Ming than any of the other characters as it goes on and on apologizing how Ming looked previously throughout comic book and cinematic history, closes by pointing out that the actor playing the part is blond.

Often, we have it so beaten into our heads that we aren’t even to think about race or physical characteristics that I was condemned up one side and down the other for criticizing a version of the Honeymooners featuring Black actors, which most other Americans didn’t think highly of either as the film was probably out no more than two weeks. And if we are to swallow the line that Ming’s evil does not depend on his appearance, then why is hair color being pointed out to us at all?

Furthermore, if we are to be told that a traditional portrayal of Ming the Merciless in inappropriate for fear of stereotyping Asians, couldn’t a pale blond in a moderately looking fascist uniforms lead to prejudice against Germans? But then again, since Germans are part of the White race, their sensibilities don’t count for much anyway.

To what extent should the anti-stereotyping mania be taken anyway? If we cannot enjoy a traditional Ming the Merciless for fear of propagating negative stereotypes about Asians, conversely, aren’t we hindering the imaginative expansion of the minds of minority children by casting the male lead as the typical statuesque blond most have come to expect to play Flash Gordon.

Why not a Black man, or better yet, how about a short, dumpy Jew? Wouldn’t watch Flash Gordon otherwise you say? Then why should we be entertained by a Ming that doesn’t even look like a Ming?

This fear of portraying a beloved character in a certain way could get ridiculously if fans do not speak up about it. For example, 50 or 100 years from now should Star Wars ever be remade, will disability advocates get all up in arms (if they happen to have any) that Vader’s characteristic wheezing is an offense against those on respirators? Likewise, retirees will claim that Palpatine’s gnarled and hunched appearance casts those of an advanced age in a bad light. Fans of the Borg from Star Trek will demand their moment of equity by claiming that the portrayal of what has become one of science fiction’s most nightmarish species does not depict absolutist collectivism and the elimination of individuality (concepts all the rage these days from leftwing secularist utopians all the way to certain Evangelical churches) in a balanced light.

And what about Hans Zarkhov? Though he is one of the protagonists of the series, in this interpretation it seems producers are playing up who could be categorized as the bumbling, nerdish aspects of his personality. If one is going to make all these self-congratulatory overtures towards the Asian community, then isn’t it just as wrong to disrespect the shows core base of fans who often fall into the “geek” demographic?

In the classic 1979 Filmation animated version of Flash Gordon, Zarkhov was not written as such. There, though hardly the man of action compared to Flash Gordon, he was depicted as a highly competent though slightly plumpish scientist around middle age.

Though concern about Ming is carefully packaged in terms of racism, a charge these days that even the most advanced deflector shields could protect not against, one must step back and wonder is that is really the underlying concern or if the offense goes to a much deeper level. For the write up on Ming in fact contains a glaring example of racism if one just happens to know where to look.

In elaborating the history of the character, mention is made of the 1980’s animated series “Defenders Of The Earth” where a number of King Feature’s Syndicate heroes joined forces to battle Ming as their primary foe. Mentioned as members of this team of adventurers are Flash Gordon, The Phantom, and Mandrake the Magician.

Those that remember the series will point out that a character named Lothar is conspicuously absent from the roster. For those with no idea who I am talking about, Lothar started his comics career as Mandrake’s Black man-servant but by the time of his appearance on Defenders of the Earth had, shall we say, risen in stature to that as an equal to these other crime fighters as the team’s strongman and primary gadget guy (hence his stanza in the memorable theme song, though hardly as memorable as Mandrake‘s, “His strength is a legend. His skills conqueror all. On with his power, we never will fall. Lothar.” If ever thing is to be second guess as an example of overt or institutional racism, then why not the continued perception of this character as a mere sidekick no more important than Batman’s Robin, Captain America’s Bucky or Superman’s dog Krypto?

Villains such as Ming were initially given their particular appearances as a reflection of the so-called “Yellow Peril” at that time in light of the fear of the threat posed by Asian powers, particularly Japan. Seems the more things change, the more they stay the same as nearly 70 years later we are frankly still facing similar dangers from that part of the world as one of the primary threats arrayed against us. Anyone thinking differently needs only need to be reminded of the swarms of illegal aliens (many from Asia) flooding the country, Islamic terrorists, the Red Chinese Army, and North Korean weapons of mass destruction.

However, unlike the 1930’s and 40’s, today our creative minds do not want to awaken us to the threat of annihilation by foreign empires constantly growing stronger while our nations grows considerably weaker. Rather, we are to be kept ignorant until its too late through either forced silence or by brainwashing the youth of America into thinking these despotic regimes are just as good and often even better than our own United States.

Casual observers will quip, “What are you complaining about? Ming still appears to be a rather loathsome individual.” True enough for the moment.

But what about in the next version of Flash Gordon produced 30 or 40 years hence from now if there is still a United States or even widespread advanced civilization or technology at that point in light of the threat posed by nuclear and electromagnetic pulse weapons. With the downward slide of ethics and morality, there will probably come a point where it will be considered an outrage on par with what spewed forth from the lips of Don Imus to categorize tyrants and despots as villains at all.

Rather, such characters are merely acting in accord with the social parameters acceptable within their particular culture. After all, who is Flash Gordon to impose Earth standards on the planet Mongo anyway?

Over the course of 10 seasons and in the movie prior to that, the producers of Stargate have been able to depict a variety of interstellar warlords such as Ra, Apophos, and Eu in the customary raiment of an Eastern despot and there have been no bias related crimes as a result. If the producers of Flash Gordon want to keep on insisting otherwise, fans of Battlestar Galactica just might say such statements are full of felgarcarb.

By Frederick Meekins

Swansonites Admonish Christian Men Must Work Themselves To Death

An old slur classifies a Puritan as someone worried that somewhere someone might be having a good time.

Whether such a classification is historically accurate might make for a matter of academic debate, however, it does certainly seem to apply to the good people at Generations Radio.

In the 8/31/07 broadcast, it is lamented about the declining numbers of older men in the workforce and that a life of leisure after decades of toil is somehow tawdy and sinful.

While Rev. Swanson might be energized by the kind of work that he does, I think it is about time some of these Christian leaders realize that most of us paying their salaries usually have day jobs that are not all that fulfilling and are in fact simply the drudgery we must endure to put food on the table.

Furthermore, if we carry this analogy to its conclusion that because a gentleman of a certain age reposes himself from standard gainful employment that he has by definition surrendered to a life of sloth, does it then follow that stay-at-home wives and mothers are sluggards as well?

For just because someone is not in the traditional workplace does not mean the individual is being idle as many of today's elderly do any number of things.

Firstly, since people are living longer, theoretically someone in their 50's or 60's may have to dedicate an extraordinary amount of time to settling the final affairs of their parents.

Second, retirement from traidtional employment frees up more time for other activiities such as activism and writiing For even though I might one day retire as early as possible, I plan to keep blogging until I drop, go blind, or get sent to a reducation facility.

Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, if the man who retires in his 50's or 60's is married, doesn't that decision free up more time to tend to the needs of his wife who by that age is often an emotional wreck anyway?

by Frederick Meekins

Flash Gordon On The Brink Of Cancellation

D. James Kennedy Passes

He will be truly missed. Unlike many other TV ministries, you never got the impression he was out to swindle you or anything.

Chupacabra Captured?

Vick Plays Jesus Card

Study Claims Male Shack-Ups Do More Housework

Maybe they should also highlight studies where unmarried men living with a woman also constitute the greatest percentage of domestic abusers.

Shazam To Be Ridiculed In New Movie

Beethoven Butchered By Quack

D. James Kennedy Retires

Black Malcontents Claim King Tut "Too White" In Museum Display

Mohler Comments On Family Breakdown For The Most Part On Track

Albert Mohler is for the most part to be commended for his comments about the failure of the church to speak out against the rise in illegitimacy.

However, in the same broadcast he goes a little too far in saying a couple should not be able to get a divorce until the church says they can get a divorce.

Using the first example of tackling a disturbing social trend, namely the explosion of out of wedlock births, by speaking out against the practice from the pulpit, shouldn't that rather also be the approach taken to curb the divorce rate also?

Dr. Mohler suggests those getting divorced without church sancition should be subject to ecclesiastical discipline. If so, shouldn't similar sanctions be imposed deciding to set up house without pastorial imprimatur as well?

by Frederick Meekins

Eco-Nuts Turn Against Assateague Ponies

Diaper Free Movement Lets Infants Poop All Over The Place

The Wit Of One Of The Greatest Simpsons' Characters

Toe-Tapping Good Time

While it is nearly impossible to determine if Sen. Larry Craig had lewd intentions when arrested in a men's room, frankly those loving liberty should be concerned about the flimsiness of the standard that can be invoked by law enforcement to justify ruining reputations.

Unless this NRA supporter blatantly caressed another man's holstered sidearm if you get my meaning, how can it be conclusively be proven what his intentions were.

From the sound of it, the cop should be arrested also as from the text it reads he reciprocated in what could be considered a bizarre mating ritual by moving his own foot up and down.

From the story, we also learn that if we are not comfortable with others peeking into the stall while we releave ourselves, now we are the perverts.

Those not caring one way or the other thinking the Senator was up to no good and got what he deserved might like to know that such ridiculously lowered standards of probable cause are in place elsewhere to pull as many Americans into the criminal justice system.

Carry on your person or vehicle a rudimentary tool kit? Often on COPS, that is enough to get you booked for "burglary tools".

Put your medicines in a plastic baggie rather than the perscription bottle. That's enough to get a drug charge slapped against you.

by Frederick Meekins

See Heathen Mobs Besiege Michael Savage

Rough crowd, but unbridled exposure of the tolerance of those that would take over American and destroy our freedoms in the name of diversity.

Border Patrol Claims Not Its Responsibility To Patrol Border

Student Suspended For Drawing Gun

This is merely what boys like to draw. Would it be preferable if they doodled frilly dresses?

Census Bureau Pimps Turn The American People Into Information Whores

With all the fuss made over the 300 millionth American, the U.S. Census Bureau enjoyed an unaccustomed moment in the limelight as the work done by this government agency is seldom considered glamorous enough to warrant much coverage in the media.

Article One, Section Two of the U.S. Constitution authorizes an enumeration of the population to be taken every ten years. The only purpose for this tabulation authorized by the Constitution is to figure our how to divvy up the House of Representatives.

But while the Founding Fathers instituted the census as a tool to safeguard the liberties of the Republic by making sure each person is properly represented numerically in the national legislature, as with many of the other institutions devised by these innovative political thinkers, this one is also being used to undermine the very nature of freedom itself.

One of the foremost aspects of freedom is the ability to withhold from those in power information regarding one’s private affairs that is not necessary to the fulfillment of legitimate government functions. However, as the state seeks to concentrate power in order to become the dominate social institution over individual human lives with the hopes of surpassing the influence of church, family, and even the self, those administering these bureaucratic constructs have come to believe that collecting reams of data regarding every possible fact of your existence is necessary to carry out its constantly expanding functions.

Throughout much of Western history, free peoples have often exhibited a natural and understandable hesitation regarding (extraneous) tabulations on the part of government operatives. Therefore, as the data the Census Bureau seeks to collect becomes increasingly intrusive, more and more those charged with collecting this information turn to other names and euphemisms designed to get the American people to lower their guard to a practice they had initially been bred to be leery of.

Replacing the so-called “Census Long Form”, the American Community Survey is simply the same pill sent out more periodically to get the people of the United States to swallow it more easily. In much the same was as a summons to jury duty, the introductory epistle and instruction pamphlet accompanying the survey begins by going on pleasantly about the survey, thanks you for your cooperation, and almost tacks on as an afterthought that you are required to comply by law.

Those of a cavalier pioneering spirit might feel led to resist divulging their secrets to these federally sanctioned peeping Toms (and God bless them for such courage); however, as the Borg --- the futuristic outcome depicted on Star Trek that awaits mankind if this continual march towards collectivism is not halted ---- might say, “Resistance is futile” as the free citizen may be assessed a fine of up to $1000 for each question not answered correctly. Some might say such is the price one might have to pay for liberty as some others have been called upon to give their lives in freedom’s name.

Not to sound flippant, but if such an end came quickly, those befalling such a demise might be better off that someone facing the full wrath of the U.S. Census Bureau. For at a fine of $1000 for every question not answered correctly, that could theoretically be a penalty of $42,000 for each person living at a targeted residence failing to comply.

Advocates of the busybody school of government will respond that not a single person has ever been fined for failing to relent to Census Bureau interrogations. Maybe not yet, but as with nuclear weapons, the threat always looms overhead; and like a nation of inferior military status before an atomic-wielding power, do you want to be the one to tick off the petty magistrate drunken on the authority the government is allowing the official to exercise? Such a strategy could be used to obtain the property of some patriotic individual reluctant to reveal to yet another agency yet more about private matters and possessions.

And speaking of ways through which to swindle the good property holders of the United States out of the dwellings, plots, acreage, and structures they so cherish as a free people, the questions asked by the American Community Survey could be used to do just that.

For example, it is not enough for the American Community Survey to ask how many reside at a particular residence. Now they ask how many acres the dwelling in question sits on, how many rooms are in each house, does the domicile have hot and cold piped water, does the residence have a flush toilet (no doubt the next time this abomination is put into your mailbox you’ll be asked how many toilet tissue squares you use per wipe as well), how many automobiles are kept at the residence, and how much utility bills were the previous month.

If you think all the American Community Survey asks is about what kind of dwelling you live in, you are sadly mistaken. The document gets even more personal.

For once the document finishes asking you about your living arrangements, it proceeds to get even more personal by snooping into your occupational background. For it not only asks you where you work and how much you make but also what time you leave for work, how many people ride to work with you, and how long it takes you to get there.

It’s a wonder they don’t ask how many times a week you have to take a bowel movement while at work. It wouldn’t be any nosier than the other questions asked.

Those thinking that last suggestion was so outrageous that it doesn’t even bear mentioning might change their tune once they learn what else is on the drawing board. For though they have not yet been incorporated into the American Community Survey, state governments --- Washington in particular --- are busy conditioning their residents into accepting the next level of administrative intrusion into their lives.

According to a Seattle Times article titled “State To Check On Residents Health”, health officials there plan to fan out across the state to gather medical dossiers on selected residents as part of the Washington Adult Health Survey, an effort funded in part by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As part of the survey, health department operatives will show up on the doorsteps of the targeted to ask them questions about what medications they are on, diet, alcohol and tobacco use, and any dental problems they might have. After all, it’s always been a tradition for a prospective master (in this case the state) to examine the teeth of its prospective beasts of burden; but in this case, it is of you, the slave, rather than a horse.

Why don’t they go ahead and ask if you and the Mrs also had a pleasant romp in the boudoir the night before while they are at it?

And don’t think you’ll be able to get these lab-coated snoops off your back by just telling them the sweet nothings you think they’ll want to hear. For not only will the subjects be required to answer questions but they will also be subject to a battery of tests such a blood pressure, height, weight, and waist size but also have blood drawn to assess cholesterol and sugar levels (no doubt to determine if you are eating a government approved diet).

Perhaps even more interesting still is that hair samples are to be taken from fecund women between the ages of 25-44 and men and women over 60, it is claimed, to test for mercury. However, what better way to start laying the foundations for a DNA identification database.

By starting with women of childbearing age and grandparents, one is well on the way to covering a sizeable percentage of the population. Sort of reminds me of how on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine it was told that the Cardassians authorities extracted the back molars from each of the citizens living under that particular police state for identification purposes.

As with the propaganda accompanying the American Community Survey materials, those of the Washington Adult Health Survey extol the virtues of compliance (even promising a $45.00 gift card for those that comply). Yet very little is said about what will be done to those leery about lurid minions of the state poking around for information about some of their most private affairs.

In a March 5, 2006 Argusleader.com article titled “Census Bureau Gets Personal: Latest Survey Asks About Daily Routine, Stocks, Health”, Census officials claim they promise confidentiality for those answering the survey. But that is something that the Bureau cannot guarantee.

According to a Sept. 22, 2006 ABCNews.com story titled “Census Bureau Loses Hundreds Of Laptops”, nearly 300 computers containing personal information have been stolen or lost. Will representatives of the Census Bureau be the ones to spend hours on the phone for you trying to get your identity and good name back should this data fall into the wrong hands?

Officials urge compliance with the American Community Survey on the grounds that the information will in no way be used to penalize individuals. Try telling that to Japanese Americans who, according to Kerby Anderson in “Moral Dilemmas: Biblical Perspectives On Contemporary Issues” were rounded up for the Internment thanks in part from information gathered off of Census Bureau punch cards (183).

While a quaint notion these officials would try to quell fears of individual punishment, this deception is designed to lull the discernment of those whose morality is rooted in loftier assumptions. For you see, in the dawning collectivist era, one is not judged by the actions one has actually committed as an individual but rather upon what one might do as part of the group or COMMUNITY.

Certainly, the government might not punish you directly or specifically as a result of how you answer a particular question on the American Community Survey. However, if a certain number in a given locality answer a question in a manner deemed to be out of accord with the preferences of social planners, you can bet the government is going to enact measures that will penalize you in the long run even if these agencies do not admit to doing as such.

For example, too many people from a certain neighborhood drive the family car to work? Federal, state, and local planners could sneak in new gas or road development fees to discourage motorists. Other proposals might not even address matters so specifically linked to particular behaviors but rather to forced targeted economic or demographic groups our of designated areas.

For example, your neighborhood a little “too White” for those elites who themselves live in gated communities where we common dregs of humanity can’t get access to without being accosted by an armed sentry in a guard booth? If so, armed with reams of American Community Survey data, planners can drone on about the need to “diversify” a particular locality through the introduction of public or subsidized housing.

Conversely and just as much an outrage, do you find yourself living in a neighborhood where, though it might not be the fanciest town around, but the people --- irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds --- love and care for their homes? Armed with American Community Survey statistics regarding the number of rooms, nature of the toilet facilities, property tax amounts and monthly mortgage costs, conniving developers could manipulate the numbers to make the neighborhood sound blighted even though there might not be as much a single crooked shingle in the entire town. In light of the Kelo decision, that is pretty much the thrust of what is needed to get the ball rolling to get your house snatched from you.

As to whether or not one decides to comply with the American Community Survey is ultimately up to them. For short of receiving a biometric identification mark as part of the process as depicted in the Christian movie “Years Of The Beast”, the Bible is itself pretty much of a mixed opinion on the matter.

On the one hand, King David was chastised by God for implementing such a measure. The obedience of Joseph and Mary in reference to such a decree, on the other hand, was what led to the Messiah being born in Bethlehem as prophesized. Only the leading of the Spirit of God can lead you in what to do regarding this unsettling intrusion into your private affairs.

by Frederick Meekins

Mohler Condemns Those Reluctant To Reproduce

In his broadcast examining declining fertility rates, Albert Mohler condemns as narsacisitc those reluctant to reproduce on the grounds that social conditions are no more darker than at other times in the nation's history.

Though one caller skirted around the issue, no one had the nerve to come out and state the obvious that it is because the nation is becoming darker in terms of unbridled immigration that many who might otherwise want a family are reluctant to have children if in the future the country overall more resembles a Third World slum than what we now think of as the United States of America.

Some will no doubt fuss and fume that such a statement is inherently racist.

And even though all people are created equal, the way in which they choose to live is not.

I wonder how many making such grandiose proclaimations of universal brotherhood would live in neigherborhoods with two and three families to an average size house, where parking on the street is nearly nonexistent as a result, where non-English music now pierces the night on a regular basis, and empty beer cans flow into the street or haven't already moved out of such areas.

For some reason, I don't think Rev. Mohler sees many of these realities cloistered on his picturesque seminary campus or recording studio.

Others will respond, well all that needs to happen is for the native Caucasian population to have as many offspring as their rabidly breeding foreign counterparts.

But that said, I wonder if these rapidly expanding demographic segments would be as eager to increase the size of their households if they had to do so without the benefit of government, ecclesiastical, or philanthropic handouts like the rest of us.

by Frederick Meekins

Watching The Simpsons Grows Your Brain

It has always been my contention that, at its best, the Simpsons has always been a thinking person's series.

"At 88 Miles An Hour, Your Gonna See Some Serious....": Time Travel One Step Closer To Reality

Apostates & Heretics Urge Linguistic Surrender To Islam

Christians in Arab countries might refer to God as "Allah", but frankly I don't really care since this country speaks English and here refer to the deity as "God."

If you don't like it, take your headtowel and go back to your filthy sandpile.

Years ago, I remeber watching a moving scene filmed during World War II where Roosevelt and Churchill aboard an aircraft carrier led the service personnnel gathered on the flight deck in a rendition of "Onward Christian Soldiers".

Should those giving their lives for our freedom hear of plans to surrender now before the battle for souls has hardly begun, such patriots would no doubt be spinning in their graves.

by Frederick Meekins

Give The Sky The Finger: Satellites Track Your Every Move

The Heathen Rage Against Michael Savage

Foreign Aid Hinders African Poor

Textbook Watchdog Norma Gabler Passes

A true patriot and Christan that will be missed.

World Council Of Churches' Spokesman Urges Surreder To Islam

In saying that one cannot say that one's way is the only way, does this apostate have the backbone to say that one cannot say that one's way is not the only the way is the only way?

Whore Of Babylon Condemns Evangelism

Sodomites Emasculate Lutheran Ministry

Overweight To Be Charged Higher Insurance Fees

I wonder if the same will be levied against the domestic partners of known sodomites.

Ground Hog Takes Over Museum

I know it would be a hard thing to do and would make anyone cry, but if they really wanted the creature gone, wouldn't they just have it shot?

Christians In A Huff Over The Simpsons But Have No Problem With Boozing

UFO Symposium Held In Denver

UFO Barbecue

Boulder Considers Surrender To Immigrant Invaders

New Flash Gordon Stinks

This show has to have been one of the biggest disappointments on TV that I can remember.

Flash didn't even have a spaceship.

Instead he traveled back and forth to Mongo through a hole in space.

There is already a show that employs such a plot device: its called Stargate.

If producers want this show to last, they are going to need to show viewers more of Mongo's dictatorship and less of earth as that segment was about the only one worth watching.

What Did They Think Would Happen?: Woman Molested At Playboy Slumber Party

New York Principal Puts Voodoo Curse On School

Robertson Lackey Claims It Sinful Not To Vote For Gulliani

Multiculturalists Defend Rights Of Aborigines To Abuse Children

Bauer Femininzed

24 reaches out to environmental extremists as attempts to downplay reputation for patriotism and giving terrorists what they deserve.

Walking To Market Bad For The Environment

Harry Potter & The Emerging Church

An interesting VCY America broadcast.

Flash Gordon's Greatest Foe?

Flash Gordon has faced a number of coloful enemies throughout the decades, but one has to wonder if his greatest may end up being the U.S. legal system.

Though it probably hasn't been noticed by the average viewer, but I couldn't help but noticing that the lighting bolt insignia of the new Sci-Fi channel series is almost indentical to that of DC Comics' Flash character, no doubt causing enthusiasits everyowhere to explain yet again to unitiated friends and family that these beloved characters are entirely different.

Hyperpious Discombobulated Over The Simpsons

Collapsed Bridge Linked To NAFTA Superhighway

What better way to control movement than to let bridges collapse?

Those living near the bridge are automatically confined to their isolated communities and the remainder of the nation becomes reluctant to traverse what they are repeatedly told is a decaying infrastructure.

As a result according to this WorldNetDaily article, public-private partnerships will be heralded as a solution.

However, these will largely be a new system of toll roads that will be too expensive for the average motorist to use if they will even be allowed to use them at all as in some discussions of the so-called NAFTA Superhighway it was been hypothesized that the use of this transportation corridor will be restricted by the Department of Homeland Security.

Already news features are springing up asking what the American people what more they will be willing to pay to shore up transportation safety. How about simply better allocating the taxes already extorted from our pockets to pay for these services everybody can use rather than as payouts to illegals and other deviants that can't keep their libidos in check?

At this time, it is too early to speculate as to the technical cause of this tragedy. However, as a tool of propaganda, the government could not ask for a better opportunity to fall into its lap.

By Frederick Meekins

Those Deliberately Playing In Traffic Should Get Run Over

Commonsense teaches that, if one deliberately with aforethought puts oneself into oncoming traffic, one is going to get run over. As such, that is what you deserve.

To some, such a sentiment brings to mind elderly grandmothers crossing the street and young children absentmindedly chasing after an errant ball. However, that is not what I am referring to.

Those I am referring to are protestors and self-appointed revolutionaries thinking that they are so important and much more better than you that they somehow have the right to literally bring your life to a screeching halt to compel you to listen to their juvenile tantrums by impeding the flow of oncoming traffic

Two incidents in recent months hint that this tactic may become more prevalent in the future as leftists ratchet up their propensity towards mayhem and violence in an attempt to intimidate the American people into acquiescing to their socialistic demands.

In the first incident, students at American University laid down in front of the limousine of presidential advisor Karl Rove in protest of him speaking at the campus chapter of the Young Republicans. Had the driver decided to role over these delinquents, he should have been given a medal.

Rove’s status as either a political genius or a crooked scumbag is not the issue here. Given that the leftist bilge probably pretty much owns the rest of the campus anyway, shouldn’t these students in the Young Republican Club, who probably rank among the best mannered and dressed at the school in comparison to the slovenly hippies wallowing all over the blacktop, been able to invite whomever they wanted to to address their association without incident?

Seems these vassals of political correctness represent the greater threat to freedom of thought.

One hopes those opposed to cracking the heads of those that get out of line and infringe upon the rights and mobility of the nonparticpants of such demonstration will be as vocal when those going beyond the bounds of propriety resort to violence in the attempt to appropriate for themselves sole use of accommodations to which such they at best deserve secondary usage.

In San Francisco, the movement known as Critical Mass regularly commanders the roadways in order to flout in the face of motorists how morally superior cyclists are to those preferring modes of transportation propelled by the internal combustion engine. Most have no doubt been conditioned by leftist institutions such as academia and the mainstream media to think of such activists as peace loving and harmless.

However, according to an April 4, 2007 story titled “Minivan’s Rude Introduction To Critical Smash”, one family won’t feel so lighthearted and magnanimous if the subject of Critical Mass comes up in the course of a conversation. For as the Ferrando family was coming to town to celebrate the birthday of one of its members, their minivan inadvertently rolled into the midst of a Critical Mass ride.

As such beatniks are wont to do, instead of adhering to the message of docility and accommodation they seek to impose the remainder of us, like the jungle heathen they admire as a culture superior to our own, these radical bicyclists descended in attack formation on the hapless family. In a display of tolerance and understanding no doubt, riders surrounded the minivan and began pummeling the vehicle with fists.

According to the report, one rider even hefted his bike through the air and smashed the wear window of the van even through there were children inside. Yet in a bastion of sodomy such as San Francisco where natural family and affections are so despised such a domestic arrangement is more likely to make one a target of such violence rather than protected from it. After having been set upon by such savages, some in the mob wanted the family in the minivan arrested rather than the perpetrators.

Had things gone as they should have as soon as the unfortunate incident unfolded, the driver should have floored the accelerator and taken out as many as necessary that were impeding the family’s path to safety. Frankly, it would make a good scene for next season’s 24 if Jack Bauer could hop out of a van in a similar scene and put down these fanatical pedal pushers like they ought to be when they so blatantly get out of line.

Those conditioned to bow at the filthy feet of the environmentalists will drone on about the need for motorized vehicles to share the road with bicycles. However, since these protestors do not follow proper procedures by failing to file a permit to demonstrate, they have no right to block the flow of traffic.

As the inherently slower and less powerful vehicles, by default the bicyclists should be compelled to move to the side of the road. This human debris are usually the type to drone on incessantly about the impropriety of blocking access to abortion clinics. Then why are city officials doing next to nothing to stop the infringement of a human right more fundamental than shiskabobbing the unborn, namely unimpeded travel?

Those deluded by Critical Mass will probably liken these riders to the Tinnamen Square protestors in 1989 standing down the barrel of a Red Chinese tank. However, things are not quite at the point yet in this country where those wanting to bring about social change cannot avail themselves of other means of getting their message across. The thing of it is, what they have to say probably isn’t worth considering all that much in the first place.

by Frederick Meekins

Gary Coleman Flies Into Rampage

Apart from the humor of the headline, is kind of disturbing you can be arrested for a hissy fit where from the sound of it you don't even lay a hand on somebody.

Had he claimed he was impeding traffic as a statement against global warming, he'd probably now be having the ACLU and Al Gore running to his defense.

And I suppose as a result in the grand name of public safety this will be enough to abridge his Second Amendment rights as is the case in a growing number of jurisdictions.

New Zealand Outlaws Ridicule Of Parliament

Edmund Burke is credited with saying that, in order to love one's country, one's country must be lovely.

Likewise, if a country's legislators wanted to be respected, shouldn't they be respectable?

Will There Be Riots If Vick Found Guilty?

From the way NAACP is turning the Vick dog fighting allegations into a racial issue, the observent must ask will there be riots if the NFL star is found guilty just as mobs were at the ready had the O.J. verdict gone in a politically incorrect manner.

Muslims Taking Over Public Schools

And while Muslims are being given foot baths and prayer rooms, can you imagine the hell that break loose if a public school set aside a chapel for Christian students?

Apostate heretic Barry Lynn, who can't look upon a cross in a public place for fear of writhing before it like a vampire, is eager to assume a place of docility before his Islamist overlords by claiming the law is murky about bestowing favortism upon these foreign belief systems.

Police Permitted To Beat Senior Asking About Curfew

The Church Lagging Behind In The Apologetic War

Simpsons One Of TV's Most Religion-Friendly Shows

Is Man Fleeing Police Responsible For Sloppy Piloting?

Redheads Despised In The United Kingdom

Guess the European propensity towards mediocrity now extends to physical appearance as now the socialists have declared war against the firey individuality inherent to redheads. Most unfortunate.

New York City Conspires To Ban Citizen Photographers

A Review Of “Dark Lord: The Rise Of Darth Vader” by James Luceno

“Dark Lord: The Rise Of Darth Vader” by James Luceno follows the exploits of the legendary Sith Lord as he hunts down a band of Jedi escaping the fate of their brethren as a result of a regiment of clonetroopers that refuse to implement order 66.

Towards the end of “Return Of The Jedi”, Darth Vader turns on the Emperor and hefts the villain to his fate at the bottom of some kind energy reactor. However, from “Dark Lord: The Rise Of Darth Vader“, readers learn that this was not necessarily the result of a sudden change of heart upon seeing Palpatine hurl lightening from his fingertips at little Luke.

Rather, it slowly unfolds throughout the novel that the relationship Vader has with the Emperor is not that of a worshipful underling but instead that of a resentful sycophant wanting what his superior possesses.

“Star Wars” fans will enjoy seeing the unfolding development of familiar characters rising to prominence in the years between the two trilogies such as Chewbacca, Grand Moff Tarkin, R2D2 and C-3P0. Also of interest to devoted Star Wars fans will be the prominence given to Kashyyyk and the Wookies in the novel’s climax.

Though “Star Wars” is known more for its faced paced action than its more cerebral counterpart “Star Trek“, “Dark Lord” is not without profound reflective moments relevant to the chaotic times in which we live.

In an exchange with Bail Organa of Alderan, Vader muses, “Harmony is the ideal of the New Order, Senator, not dissension.” And in another insightful passage, the text reads, “The ideals of democracy hadn’t been stamped out by Palpatine ... the citizens of countless worlds and star systems, grown weary of the old system, had allowed democracy to die (319).”

Were Darth Vader an actual historical figure, few good people would care what reasons he might invoke to justify his atrocities. However, as a fictional character, the saga of Anakin Skywalker serves as sympathetic warning of how small bad choices have a way of accumulating in such a manner as to ruin the lives of not only those making them but the lives of those around such individuals as well.

by Frederick Meekins