Bush also said that he regretted appearing in front of a “Mission Impossible” sign in 2003 during an address about the Iraq war. Of course, the sign actually said “Mission Accomplished.” Maybe “Mission Impossible” would have been more appropriate.
Brandon's Mom: Where are you going with those fireworks?
Brandon: Well, the Protector got super-accelerated coming out of the black hole, and it, like, nailed the atmosphere at Mach 15, which, you guys know, is pretty unstable, obviously, so we're gonna help Laredo guide it on the vox ultra-frequency carrier and use Roman candles for visual confirmation.
It's all there: phasers, communicators, the bridge of the Enterprise, a transporter, a Borg cube, even a Tribble.
On Friday, the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose will open "Star Trek: The Exhibition," billed as the largest-ever exhibit of sets, costumes, original props and priceless museum pieces from the five TV series and 11 movies that make up the "Star Trek" canon. And the show — making its only Bay Area stop here — covers the full "Star Trek" universe, from the original 1966 television series to this past summer's box-office hit.
[snip]
While many of the more than 200 pieces in the exhibit are real — including filming models of USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, the Borg cube and costumes from the original TV show — the sets are replicas, carefully built to the original specifications by scenic designers who worked on the films and TV shows.
"If you can touch it or sit in it, it's a replica," said Allyson Lazar, the show's collections manager. "If you can't, it's the real deal, and that includes all the costumes. The Kirk and Spock uniforms were worn by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, and they're actually in pretty good shape — just a little color fading, which is to be expected." But the replicated sets should provide a bit of a kick for "Star Trek" fans.
You can sit in Captain Kirk's command chair on the bridge of the original NCC-1701. ("It's definitely everyone's favorite photo op," said Lazar.) Along a corridor, you can peek into Captain Jean-Luc Picard's ready room (among the details, a bottle of Chateau Picard, made from the Picard family's vineyards). One room is dominated by a full-scale model of the Guardian of Forever — the time portal from "The City on the Edge of Forever," one of the original series' most famous episodes.
In the transporter room, you can step onto the platform — and watch yourself be "energized" on a video screen.
[snip]
"And over the years, what had seemed like science fiction way back then, has become science fact. It takes the imagineer to imagine, 'What if?' — the seemingly impossible. ... It takes the researchers, the scientists, inventors to make that 'What if' a reality."
Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- A Goldman Sachs International adviser defended compensation in the finance industry as his company plans a near-record year for pay, saying the spending will help boost the economy.
“We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all,” Brian Griffiths, who was a special adviser to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, said yesterday at a panel discussion at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The panel’s discussion topic was, “What is the place of morality in the marketplace?”
Yeah, right ...
My life, if I bothered to check, must be generously uplifted, by Goldman Sachs sucking up the bailout money, and then turning around and dishing out million-dollar bonuses.
Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach is quite the Christian apologist for wealthy people; he wrote a book called Morality and the Marketplace and has thought long and hard about how to reconcile the teachings of Jesus Christ with the relentless drive to acquire money. He's done pretty well with it. But wasn't there something about camels, and heaven, and rich men? And if Jesus wants Goldman Sachs employees to get multi-million-dollar taxpayer-financed bonuses, why are the Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel launching a shareholder movement to get Goldman to reign in its compensation packages? We guess that, for the fabulously wealthy who go for the whole heaven/hell thing, it makes sense to enjoy as many Amber Lounge after-parties as you can squeeze in while you're in this world, because the one that awaits doesn't really have much to offer.
Back in April, we couldn't resist the sight, of ABC's Jake Tapper, in his role as water carrier for the Bush Grindhouse, and NeoNitwits, standing up, proudly, for torture, when we wrote "Jake Tapper Liked His Shit Sandwich".
Apparently, that tasted so good, he's hitting the line for seconds, as fearless (or feckless) Jake is head-butting the Obama Whitehouse, proudly hauling the buckets for Faux News, in the newly launched war against that "Fair and Balanced" (or "Fairly Unbalanced) network.
At Tuesday's White House briefing Tapper seemed completely baffled, and quite insulted, by the White House's claim that Fox News is not a real news organization. Tapper demanded WH spokesman Robert Gibbs back up the claim [emphasis added]:
Tapper: It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations “not a news organization” and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one –
(Crosstalk)
Gibbs: Jake, we render, we render an opinion based on some of their coverage and the fairness that, the fairness of that coverage.
Tapper: But that’s a pretty sweeping declaration that they are “not a news organization.” How are they any different from, say –
Gibbs: ABC -
Tapper: ABC. MSNBC. Univision. I mean how are they any different?
Gibbs: You and I should watch sometime around 9 o’clock tonight. Or 5 o’clock this afternoon.
Tapper: I’m not talking about their opinion programming or issues you have with certain reports. I’m talking about saying thousands of individuals who work for a media organization, do not work for a “news organization” -- why is that appropriate for the White House to say?
Gibbs: That’s our opinion.
Boehlert added "But Tapper is stumped. He can't figure out how Fox News is different from ABC News. (Psst Jake, I wouldn't say that too loudly around David Westin.)" Holy Cow!
I'm surprised that Tapper wasn't wearing a diver's wet suit, to be carrying that much water for the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds over that at Faux News.
But now, once again, Jake Tapper is a hero to the right-wing blogs. Because he knows that it is the objective reporters job to always object, to everything. If the President says the ocean is quite large, it is heroic reporting to demand that his spokesman acknowledge that outer space is even bigger.
Maybe we need to call in Denzel Washington, to explain, "like he was a four-year-old", to Tapper, the difference between ABC News and Faux News.
We're still in light posting mode, making the final preparations for the return-to-home by The Aunt(away, now, for 27-days, between the hospital and rehab).
However, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to heap praise on The Yes Men.
The oilmen listened to the lecture with attention, and then lit "commemorative candles" supposedly made of Vivoleum obtained from the flesh of an "Exxon janitor" who died as a result of cleaning up a toxic spill. The audience only reacted when the janitor, in a video tribute, announced that he wished to be transformed into candles after his death, and all became crystal-clear.
Yesterday, they showed-up the Ignorant Dolts at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a bigger group of Neanderthals you'd be hard-pressed to find.
The Chamber of Commerce stunned DC on Monday by calling a last-minute press conference to announce a dramatic about-face in its climate policy—it would not only stop opposing the Kerry-Boxer climate bill but would work with them to make it better. But the whole thing turned out to be a hoax mounted by the Yes Men, a notorious band of anti-corporate pranksters.
Reporters received a press release early Monday stating that the Chamber would be "throwing its weight behind strong climate legislation" at an event at the National Press Club in downtown Washington, DC. But when I and others showed up, we were met by a fellow dressed in a suit looking like a typical corporate PR man. This wasn't Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue. And I recognized him as Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum. (I've written about the group previously.) He soon was telling reporters, "We at the Chamber have tried to keep climate science from interfering with business. But without a stable climate, there will be no business."
Think Progress was on it, also, and has a video of the confrontation.
What better song to raise a glass to the Merry Pranksters?
No Garlic Fans, no great insights coming with the title (we'll let your divine who may be today's "Mystical Man"), just putting down a music marker, as we have been burning on all-cylinders here on the homefront.
The Aunt that we care for will be discharged from her short-term rehab stint on Wednesday, and we've been full-bore on getting some things down in anticipation of that.
We should also say that the next few days could be light posted, as well.
Sooooo ...
We have a great piece of music that captures that anticipation (or, as the YouTube poster offers, "An appropriate song for watching the world go by on a rainy day"), courtesy of Young-Holt Unlimited. "Mystical Man" by Young-Holt Unlimited
We meant to post this yesterday, but got sidetracked by things on the homefront (and, the possible start of an infection to the sinuses, which have been doing a non-stop tango for the past few days).
Once again, you would think cleavage was the single, largest, most dastardly problem facing this country.
Apparently, Ms. Little Bloggette threw a hissy fit, in 140 characters or less, vowing to blow up her computer and never Twit (or was it be a twit) again.
Ahh, but the Little Arizona Princess wasn't quite finished.
After showing the sexually-repressed PartyofNoicans her cleavage, she, apparently, threw on some clothes, and banged out a "I Am Not A Slut" tirade over on her perch on The Daily Beast.
It must be beastly, to be Meghan McCain and have everyone thinking you are a slut.
Worse, perhaps, to bring up the "S" word yourself, if it wasn't specifically put out there.
