Oh, crap, I am going to get political again, despite my better judgment. Please forgive me as I present my perspective in front of you folks. And to my Canadian fans, I do beg your forgiveness as well as you indulge me in American politics.
Late last night on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 I learned that Congress, and the Democratic party majority have been openly talking about using a parliamentary procedure called “reconciliation” to force health care reform through the Senate and become law.
Nominally in the United States Senate it requires a vote of Sixty members in order to pass a bill and present to the President. Reconciliation was introduce to permit a simple majority (51% of the votes present) to pass budgetary measures. This way no single senator could hold up vital legislation in indefinite debate.
This is not the first time a party in power has threatened to use a parliamentary procedure tog et something done, nor is it something that was proposed eons ago. In 2005 President Bush had numerous Appointees held up in debate by then minority democrats, using the filibuster to prevent judges from being appointed. It was Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) who suggested changing the senate rules to permit a simple majority for the “advise and consent” of the senate for approval of judicial nominees.
Democrats argued that they were holding up Bush appointees the same way that republicans held up Clinton appointees, often for the same spot. Thus the whole exercise became a whining match between two groups of kindergardners. It was only through the wisdom of Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) along with a dozen other like minded senators that this disastrous turn of events was prevented.
Now with the Democratic Party in power history is set to repeat itself, with ramifications much more immediate and obvious then forcing through judicial nominees. What is worse is that the Democratic Party leaders are doing this in response to dissent from within their own ranks, as opposed to partisan bickering. How soon it is that people forget history, and what it is like to have a gun pointed to you head.
My personal problem with the use of the Reconciliation tactic, or as it became known in 2005 the “nuclear option”, is that it makes partisan politics all the more likely to occur. Although one can argue, usually with success, that the slippery slope is not a legitimate debate tactic, the fact is that politics and the laws that are made from them are an exercise in precedent. If one group can justify the use of a parliamentary tactic for X purpose, then the other group can use it for Y purpose. So far it looks like mere threatening of Reconciliation is now going to be an accepted tactic in Congress. If it is actually used however, then American politics will be forever changed until the two major parties have permanently split into smaller groups.
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.” George Washington’s Farwell Address September 17, 1796
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Insensitivty Training
One of the things I hate is people trying to control language. for some reason people seem to think the First Amendment of the Constitution has the caveat "unless, of course, it offends a person's sensibilities."
The latest example of such is the "Think B4 You Speak" campaign. Do not get me wrong, I know that this campaign was created with the best of intentions, but trying to control language, and therefore thought goes against the very foundation of the United States and its origins. Simply put, people will always say things you do not like, and by extention, things you hate.
the solution is not to try and change people, but rather to change yourself. I am not saying that, in this particular case, gay people need to not be gay. that is like asking the sun to not be a giant fusion furnace, or for housefly's to walk from A to B. I am saying that people need to insulate their sensitivities to what they do not like. As a kid who got picked on and bullied A LOT growing up, I know it works. if you never want to be offended, you might as well not leave the house. that is not much of a way to live, but like abstinence preventing STDs it is garunteed to work.
What makes this campaign even worse for me is the silly tactics they use. right on the front page of their website you can see three examples of what someone COULD say about Jocks, Cheerleaders, and Gamers. that kind of passive aggressive stance takes something that could have been a clever "oh snap!" moment, and turns it into an image of a kid sitting on his bed crying and saying these things to his/her pillow.
I hate to quote the 2007 Film Transformers, but here is a great bit of dialogue to counter such things if a jock gives you crap.
Trent DeMarco: So, what are you guys doing here?
Sam Witwicky: We're here to climb this tree.
Trent DeMarco: I can see, it looks...it looks fun. You know, I thought I recognized you. You tried out for the football team last year, right?
Sam Witwicky: Oh, no, no, that...That wasn't like a real try-out. I was researching a book I was writing.
Trent DeMarco: Oh, yeah?
Sam Witwicky: Yeah!
Trent DeMarco: Yeah? What's it about? Sucking at sports?
Sam Witwicky: No, it's about the link between brain damage and football. No, it's a good book, your friends will love it. You know, it's got mazes in it, you know, little coloring areas, sections, pop-up pictures...it's a lot of fun.
A comedian named David Naster refers to such a tactic as a Humor Hand Grenade. the use of wit in an appropriate situation can stop a situation from getting unpleasant, or in this case, shut a bully down where all they can do is walk away grumbling under their breath. I would suggest that anyone who feels oppressed form "that's so gay." Try this before whining to a special interest group.
The latest example of such is the "Think B4 You Speak" campaign. Do not get me wrong, I know that this campaign was created with the best of intentions, but trying to control language, and therefore thought goes against the very foundation of the United States and its origins. Simply put, people will always say things you do not like, and by extention, things you hate.
the solution is not to try and change people, but rather to change yourself. I am not saying that, in this particular case, gay people need to not be gay. that is like asking the sun to not be a giant fusion furnace, or for housefly's to walk from A to B. I am saying that people need to insulate their sensitivities to what they do not like. As a kid who got picked on and bullied A LOT growing up, I know it works. if you never want to be offended, you might as well not leave the house. that is not much of a way to live, but like abstinence preventing STDs it is garunteed to work.
What makes this campaign even worse for me is the silly tactics they use. right on the front page of their website you can see three examples of what someone COULD say about Jocks, Cheerleaders, and Gamers. that kind of passive aggressive stance takes something that could have been a clever "oh snap!" moment, and turns it into an image of a kid sitting on his bed crying and saying these things to his/her pillow.
I hate to quote the 2007 Film Transformers, but here is a great bit of dialogue to counter such things if a jock gives you crap.
Trent DeMarco: So, what are you guys doing here?
Sam Witwicky: We're here to climb this tree.
Trent DeMarco: I can see, it looks...it looks fun. You know, I thought I recognized you. You tried out for the football team last year, right?
Sam Witwicky: Oh, no, no, that...That wasn't like a real try-out. I was researching a book I was writing.
Trent DeMarco: Oh, yeah?
Sam Witwicky: Yeah!
Trent DeMarco: Yeah? What's it about? Sucking at sports?
Sam Witwicky: No, it's about the link between brain damage and football. No, it's a good book, your friends will love it. You know, it's got mazes in it, you know, little coloring areas, sections, pop-up pictures...it's a lot of fun.
A comedian named David Naster refers to such a tactic as a Humor Hand Grenade. the use of wit in an appropriate situation can stop a situation from getting unpleasant, or in this case, shut a bully down where all they can do is walk away grumbling under their breath. I would suggest that anyone who feels oppressed form "that's so gay." Try this before whining to a special interest group.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Giant Effing Robots Pt 3
So it all starts when you paint one miniature.
as trite as it may seem that is the honest to gods truth. in my case the one miniature was a Mech called a Goshawk. I painted it to be a character for a Role Playing game that went tits up in its infancy. the concept was simple, a navy gray with racing stripes.
I loved the design so much I made more like them, and it just sort of blew up. next thing I knew I had twenty Battlemechs with this look, and planned to do more. then I realized that these were just funny painted machines, with no history in the universe. My Creation amounted to nearly nothing. so I sat down in front of my computer.
it took nearly twenty days of research. I did not want a single charismatic "leader" that everyone else flocked to. so I settled on a small group of friends, all who had vast experience, and had thier own friends and crew that flocked to them. then came the question. how could I have a handfull of people who were in thier fifties, but keep them young. that is what puzzled me the most. it was not enough for them to ACT young, I wanted these main characters to LOOK young. the best example I have is in the Wolverine movie, how Logan commented owning an original WWI era motorcycle to a man that looked old enough to be his father.
it was a relativly new book that gave me the answer I craved. miners who lived in the asteroid belts around Earth genetically enhance themselves for long life. normally the group is insular, but I took a liberty to present five (six originally but I had one killed off) people who left the belts for the sake of adventure. all of them were in fact 50-70 years old, but they looked thirty years younger, creating the dichotomy between age and experience that I wanted. As a result the lioness combat team was born. I already wrote one story for them (as completly infeasable as it would be in the battletech universes canon) and am working on a second. they are a little fan fictionish, but if people are interested they can be found at
http://www.solarisseven.com/index.php?board=13.0
look for "Tales of the Lioness Combat Team"
as trite as it may seem that is the honest to gods truth. in my case the one miniature was a Mech called a Goshawk. I painted it to be a character for a Role Playing game that went tits up in its infancy. the concept was simple, a navy gray with racing stripes.
I loved the design so much I made more like them, and it just sort of blew up. next thing I knew I had twenty Battlemechs with this look, and planned to do more. then I realized that these were just funny painted machines, with no history in the universe. My Creation amounted to nearly nothing. so I sat down in front of my computer.
it took nearly twenty days of research. I did not want a single charismatic "leader" that everyone else flocked to. so I settled on a small group of friends, all who had vast experience, and had thier own friends and crew that flocked to them. then came the question. how could I have a handfull of people who were in thier fifties, but keep them young. that is what puzzled me the most. it was not enough for them to ACT young, I wanted these main characters to LOOK young. the best example I have is in the Wolverine movie, how Logan commented owning an original WWI era motorcycle to a man that looked old enough to be his father.
it was a relativly new book that gave me the answer I craved. miners who lived in the asteroid belts around Earth genetically enhance themselves for long life. normally the group is insular, but I took a liberty to present five (six originally but I had one killed off) people who left the belts for the sake of adventure. all of them were in fact 50-70 years old, but they looked thirty years younger, creating the dichotomy between age and experience that I wanted. As a result the lioness combat team was born. I already wrote one story for them (as completly infeasable as it would be in the battletech universes canon) and am working on a second. they are a little fan fictionish, but if people are interested they can be found at
http://www.solarisseven.com/index.php?board=13.0
look for "Tales of the Lioness Combat Team"
Monday, August 3, 2009
Giant Effing Robots pt 2
Battletech is a lot like other Table Top Games. you have pieces, they represent your party, and they go out and do stuff. unlike other miniatures based war games however having the proper miniature is not a requisite (such games are called WYSWYG, or What You See is What You Get). This makes the miniatures side of the Battletech universe a true hobby instead of a requirement.
My first foray into the Miniatures hobby was a new and exciting ordeal. I had used a Gorilla Glue tube salvaged from my parents garage to build the miniature, and painted it with an enamel taken from a model car painting kit. I did not prime the miniature at all. it was my work though, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
in hindsight it was an unmitigated disaster. the paint was sloppy in places, and as age showed on the miniature, bare metal was showing though, and the glue crusted over so easily I had to file it away and reglue it
over the course of my nearly decade long miniatures painting career, I learned about Primers, Dry brushing, the use of colored washes, Highlights (which I do not do, preferring to let natural light do the work for me.) Lacquers and varnishes. all culminate into a massive collection of over 200 pieces of lead free pewter. you also discover the damnedest tools to use. My miniatures painting and preparation studio includes the following.
- A tackle box full of small tubes and pots of paint.
- Brushes ranging in size from a full house paint brush to a 30 hair fine detail brush
- seven Xacto knives and one surgeons scalpel
- a one gallon jug full of pine sol
- a glass plate that was part of a microwave
- an infinite supply of paper towels
- a Dremmel tool
- a Toothbrush
- Files both metal worker and jeweler quality
- a Coffee Grinder- so that I can turn sand into a finer powder
- Safety Glasses, never underestimate the importance of them
- a Jet Lighter
- a large bucket of sand- right out of the local school sand box
- a Workshop Vise
- a small hand Drill, and wire's of varrying gauge
- a Lamp with magnifier
- a portable photo studio suited for taking pictures of small objects
- a Digital Camera
- stiff metal wire brushes of various sizes to scrape paint off a mini if i want to try again.
Most of the time I paint either in a generic "Tank like" coloration, or I paint a piece in the colors of one of Battletechs many fictitious nations. it is only recently that I have been going into the nameless void that was creating my own color scheme. you would be amazed how much planning goes into such an affair. I started out with just four mechs, and tried several variations. none satisfied me. it was a pure accident of discovering I had used a paint suited for airbrushing that I found the coloration I wanted. then the pinstripe highlights came naturally.
Creating your own paint scheme has its consequences though. You suddenly have this group, it starts small, and then you find the need to have a story behind it. My group, which started as six battlemechs, exploded to a reinforced battalion very quickly. and thus started what I called the Lioness Combat Team. I will tell you about writing them in the next entry
My first foray into the Miniatures hobby was a new and exciting ordeal. I had used a Gorilla Glue tube salvaged from my parents garage to build the miniature, and painted it with an enamel taken from a model car painting kit. I did not prime the miniature at all. it was my work though, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
in hindsight it was an unmitigated disaster. the paint was sloppy in places, and as age showed on the miniature, bare metal was showing though, and the glue crusted over so easily I had to file it away and reglue it
over the course of my nearly decade long miniatures painting career, I learned about Primers, Dry brushing, the use of colored washes, Highlights (which I do not do, preferring to let natural light do the work for me.) Lacquers and varnishes. all culminate into a massive collection of over 200 pieces of lead free pewter. you also discover the damnedest tools to use. My miniatures painting and preparation studio includes the following.
- A tackle box full of small tubes and pots of paint.
- Brushes ranging in size from a full house paint brush to a 30 hair fine detail brush
- seven Xacto knives and one surgeons scalpel
- a one gallon jug full of pine sol
- a glass plate that was part of a microwave
- an infinite supply of paper towels
- a Dremmel tool
- a Toothbrush
- Files both metal worker and jeweler quality
- a Coffee Grinder- so that I can turn sand into a finer powder
- Safety Glasses, never underestimate the importance of them
- a Jet Lighter
- a large bucket of sand- right out of the local school sand box
- a Workshop Vise
- a small hand Drill, and wire's of varrying gauge
- a Lamp with magnifier
- a portable photo studio suited for taking pictures of small objects
- a Digital Camera
- stiff metal wire brushes of various sizes to scrape paint off a mini if i want to try again.
Most of the time I paint either in a generic "Tank like" coloration, or I paint a piece in the colors of one of Battletechs many fictitious nations. it is only recently that I have been going into the nameless void that was creating my own color scheme. you would be amazed how much planning goes into such an affair. I started out with just four mechs, and tried several variations. none satisfied me. it was a pure accident of discovering I had used a paint suited for airbrushing that I found the coloration I wanted. then the pinstripe highlights came naturally.
Creating your own paint scheme has its consequences though. You suddenly have this group, it starts small, and then you find the need to have a story behind it. My group, which started as six battlemechs, exploded to a reinforced battalion very quickly. and thus started what I called the Lioness Combat Team. I will tell you about writing them in the next entry
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