Firefly

Just finished watching Firefly, Joss Whedon's short-lived TV series. Essentially, a western set in space. It was cancelled after 15 episodes. It's pretty much the best TV I've ever seen. And it was cancelled?

TV executives must be mentally deficient.

Thought modification: judging from what actually does broadcast these days, TV executives are mentally deficient.

American Idol. Lost. MTV Road Rules. That show about the white and black families switching lives. Desperate Housewives. CSI:Fill-In-The-Blank-With-Various-Cities. Some show about Tori Spelling living life. The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Additional thought modification: all TV executives in existence have the collected aggregate brain power of a lobotomized hamster.

Why, Yes! Let's Give It All Back!

Okay! The overwhelming logic of seeing all those Che Guevara shirts and flags in various states of array and disarray have finally gotten to me. Why, yes! Let's just give California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas back to Mexico.

Also, let's give Louisiana back to the French, as well as Florida to Spain. Alaska to Russia, naturliski. Next on the return-list: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, etc. They all get returned to England to enjoy socialized medicine (or the lack thereof) as well as listening to Prince Charles burble about global warming and organic carrots on the BBC.

Then, of course, Italy will have to returned to the Visigoths, as those fur-clad folk had Rome at one time or another. I think there might be a Goth living in Bavaria somewhere, making sausages. If he isn't willing to take over Italy, then there are plenty of Goths (of a sort) in the United States who might be willing to step in.

England? Back to the Picts. Brazil gets handed back to Portugal. Okinawa should surely be returned to the Okinawans - that's definitely a no-brainer. The majority of Mesopotamia (Iraq, Iran and Syria, as well as parts of Turkey) should be shuffled off on the Greeks, as they were the top-ouzos there for quite some time a long whiles back.

And as far as Israel goes? Hmm. Perhaps there's a descendant of the Philistines living in New York who might be persuaded to give up his Tribeca apartment in order to receive what's rightly supposed to be coming to him?

Of course, Mexico and most of South America should be foisted back onto Spain. Or should France get Mexico? They ruled it for a while under the auspices of Napoleon and Maximillian. France really should get something. And where are the Incas? Can someone find a Incan fellow? That would take care of Peru.

The Huns owned a great deal of the known world at one time. Someone needs to visit Mongolia and tell their descendants that. Tell them they're entitled! And bring some Che Guevara t-shirts with you to pass out. Long sleeve and woven of yak-hair to keep out the cold.

This just in. A small spacecraft full of Martians wearing Che Guevara t-shirts has just landed in Los Angeles. They have a deed to Earth that is dated 1032 BC. As there are no other land grants predating that, I guess we'll have to turn the Earth over to them.

The Meth of the Environmentalists

The LA Times recently wrote an article about the effect that No-Growthers and their beliefs have had on Santa Barbara County. In a nutshell, housing production has been severely limited in the past two decades in order to preserve the view, the environment, etc., with the net effect that housing prices have skyrocketed, poor people have been either forced out of the county or compelled to double up (or triple up) in rental units, while slowly turning the Santa Barbara demographic into rich geriatrics. Only 6% of those who live in Santa Barbara County would be able to afford a home there right now if faced with the choice to buy. Another side effect of this is that the poorer people in question (working in the county's service industries, agriculture, etc.) must commute from either Ventura County or San Luis Obispo County, thus choking the highways and producing more pollution.

No-Growthers value environment above people, but it's interesting to note that the policies they push actually promote pollution and road congestion.

In my own home county of Monterey, the No-Growthers are hard at work pushing the same policies that have crippled Santa Barbara. Hopefully, we who are sane will have better luck fighting them off here.

One interesting factoid is that about 5% of California has structure on it (structure = roads, buildings, homes, etc.). Roughly 95% of California is open space. If you don't believe me, take a night flight north from Los Angeles and look out the window. It's all pretty dark down there. You'd figure 95% of a state would be enough open space for anyone, but maybe it's an addiction...

Open space is the meth of the environmentals.

The Fictions of Grandpa Harry: Off to the Local Mosque

I'm not sure what Grandma would think about it all, as she was a fairly tolerant sort - declaring that margarine was almost as good as butter in her estimation, and that hippies could always be trusted if you kept an eye on them - but Grandpa Harry seems serious about becoming a Muslim.

"If it's good for Cat Stevens," he said the other day, plumping a bag of groceries down on the kitchen table, "then it's good enough for me."

"Er, I didn't realize he had such an influence on you."

"Built my first whiskey still coz of that feller. Bottled it and called it Moonshadow Moonshine. Why, I put your dad through college with the extra money. I've a soft spot for old Cat. They call him Sufi-something or another these days."

Grandpa waxed on about the benefits of moonshining and subsequent tax avoidance while he unloaded his groceries. A case of Sam Adams, bacon, and an extra large slab of cheddar cheese.

"Nothing like a wedge of cheese," he said, sawing off a hunk. He stuffed it in his mouth. "Alright. I'm off to the mosque for evening prayers and some feller is gonna give a talk about Wasabism, though I don't know why they're talking about that new-fangled Japanese cuisine in a mosque. It beats all. Pancakes and bacon for dinner?"

"You're doing what?"

But the front door had already slammed shut.

As I was saying, Grandpa Harry seems fairly serious about it all. Anyway, the bacon might bring him back around. I'll let you know how it goes.

The Politics of Expediency

Mr. Schwarzenegger, our governor here in California, seems to have no principles other than expediency. He employs whatever means will serve to bring him to his desired end. First he says he's going to balance the budget by fiscal conservatism. Now, after getting stymied by the Democrats in that goal, he has decided to raise money by floating new bonds - ie., new taxes and debt to be borne on the shoulders of the future. Classic fiscal irresponsibility, particularly when the state budget could be fixed in other ways, such as slashing waste and bloat.

If you're going to behave like a Democrat, why don't you just call yourself a Democrat, Mr. Governor?

Why are Democrats so addicted to taxing the heck out of people and then spending it on creating bigger and bigger bureaucracies that essentially do nothing? Does such behavior excite them? Are they thrilled by turning the concept of waste into a governmental industry? Do they secretly admire the long, grey halls of Soviet Russia and all those faceless bureaucrats who hurried up and down those corridors, day after day, accomplishing nothing at great cost?

Speaking of desired ends, I hope that Schwarzenegger's time in office will end soon and not be renewed by re-election.

Skiing at Sierra Summit

We went yesterday. However, due to my recent illness and subsequent loss of all muscle, I spent the day entertaining the little Finn down by the lodge while my wife skiied. Her face now resembles a tomato.

Lesson? Either use sunscreen or ski at night.

On the way up to the mountains, we passed through Madera county and parts nearby. Lovely country. Rolling hills. Lots of contented cows. We had to idle along at one point, as several horsemen where chivvying along a large herd of cattle straight down the middle of the road. The cattle were in no hurry. Perhaps they had premonitions of filet mignon dancing in their heads?

One surprising item was a large casino out in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, it is run by an Indian tribe, as that's the only way casinos get run in California. Chief Luigi Two-Feathers and his brothers Mario, Gino and Vinnie.

Illegal Immigration...

Doesn't "illegal" mean: against the law? What part of that is difficult to understand?

If we turn a blind eye to illegal immigration, doesn't that mean, among other things, that the hourly wage of unskilled labor will be forced down even farther? Perhaps that's part of the problem...

At any rate, if something is illegal, it's illegal.

And by the way, California is part of the USA. It is not part of Mexico, however wonderful and well-meaning that country is. It will not be returned to Mexico, just as we shall not be returning Louisiana to France or Alaska to Russia. Neither shall we be returning the original thirteen colonies to England. England has enough trouble with dental care, let alone assuming jurisdiction over our eastern states (though, it might be nice to give them Massachusetts).