To the Nth degree

Congratulations, upright Americans! We got another racist!

Well, he did most of the work outing himself. But one of our number was there, camera-phone rolling, and nailed his sick ass.

If we could just get everyone camera-phones with the Access Hollywood hotline number on speed-dial, we'd be able to wipe this festering sore from the face of our fair nation in no time.

Imagine what we could accomplish with just those tools. Imagine the power we could wield. Kinda makes me giddy (in a righteous way, naturally).

Every commuter who sidles away from a minority on the subway, we'll be there to call them on it. Every conflict where bad words are thrown about, we'll be there to silence them. Every golf course community that too many whites choose to live in, we'll be there to protest. Everywhere there's a suspicious correlation between wealth, power, and skin color...

What?

Oh, yeah. Those do seem kinda tough.

Sure, it might all be coincidences. And those tricky market forces. Not even economists have those things figured out. They could be to blame. And you're right about this ruthless critical examination; we ought to be careful where we poke that thing around. Never know what it'll turn up, especially if we turn it on ourselves.

Yeah, racism is just too hard. Let's stick to racists.

It's only a matter of time before some other minor celebrity opens his fat mouth. And we'll be there.

Requiescat in parfait

The trouble with trifles

As with any green-blooded American, my early life was to a great degree shaped by the original Star Trek. I had the classic Trek lunch box that was just a little too vintage to take to school. I've made the hegira to Vasquez Rocks to see the location of essentially every non-soundstage alien world. (That no away team ever ran into Lorne Greene and Michael Landon still annoys me.)

So it's been a blast to discover that a local station known for resurrecting series from syndication's suspended animation is showing Kirk and Co.--just when I should be going to bed, but those are the sacrifices one must make for nostalgia.

Yet something is just a little off. No, not the hammy acting. I'm well aware of - indeed, a big connoisseur of - Shatneriana. (Though nowhere near as deep into it as these guys.) And not the fact that Klingons look like pissed-off Beatniks back then. Too easy.

It's the special effects. They actually look...uh, good.

Take last night's offering, the infamous "Tribble" episode. I don't remember the Enterprise ever being seen from so many angles. Or moving so smoothly. And did the phasers always light up so cool? Am I going senile???

I have the feeling whoever is in charge of the legacy, under the guise of restoring the original, has succumbed to the Lucasian temptation to use 21st-century sfx technology to spruce up 20th-century kitsch. Would Desilu have sprung for CGI if it had been around in 1968? For a TV show?

That would be - say it with me, you pointy-eared freaks - illogical.

Sympathy for the Donald

I ask you:

How could you be angry at that face?
That sublime way with words?
That human fellow-feeling?

How? I can't.

I'm not worried about him, though.
He's gonna be just fine.
There's a nice, cozy, warm place all ready for him.

Lesser evils or lessen evils?

Don't mind me. I'm still basking in the afterglow one works up by doing one's civic duty yesterday. Or maybe it's a hangover from a late night's eavesdropping on the machinations of Cook County politics.

Either way, my brain feels numb.

That numbness could've been induced by the unending list of circuit court judges I had to approve on our elephantine ballot. (And me without my hit list.) But no, I think it comes from seeing so many third party candidates in so many state and local races.

Sure, it's nice to discover the notable presence of viable female and minority candidates nationwide. 'Bout time. Yet I'm more intrigued by (and hopeful because of) the strong presence, if not strong showing, of third parties. As far as trends or lessons of the '06 campaign go, this one is way under-reported.

Granted, none of these outsiders came close to the 10% of the IL Green governor-dude or the 15% of my favorite Jewish cowboy in TX. And at least one independent - the incumbent formerly known as Joe Lieberman - was a turncoat who will mostly end up running with the new majority. (All this talk about a center returning to US politics, but look what a prominent independent-minded Democrat had to do to stay in office.)

Nevertheless, anytime the electorate choose a "democratic socialist" and a Minnesota Muslim to join Lieberman and Co. on the Hill, there's hope.

Fancy that: a representative democracy where "None of the Above" is just about a viable option, where we can finally settle for the least of many evils. Can instant run-offs be far behind? Or, Heaven forbid, the death of the electoral college?? Stay tuned.