Update: Battlestar Galactica

A couple of years back, I wrote about the best show of the 2000s (IMHO). In that post, I had said that thanks to the DVD, you can see the show whenever you want.

Now, you also have the option of seeing it on Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant Video, and iTunes, although it's been on iTunes for a few years.

Since then, there have been some new releases from the Battlestar franchise. In Fall of 2009, The Plan, which told the story of the genocide of the 12 colonies from the Cylon point of view, was released on DVD. It was a great movie that showed how incredibly rich the BSG universe is, and how many great stories there are.

In 2010, Caprica premiered on the SyFy channel. A prequel set 58 years before the 2004 series, it was intended to show the life of the colonists before and during the creation of the Cylons. However, the ratings were abysmal despite the solid story telling a,d plot and it was cancelled after its first season.

Last year, SyFy commissioned a new show called Blood and Chrome. This show was going to follow the early career of Bill Adama, the erstwhile Commander and later Admiral of the fleet of ships trying to find Earth.

Although the trailer looks incredible, the network chose not to pick it up as a series, although there are rumors they're going to show the pilot after all. I will say this for the SyFy Network. If anyone knows how to screw up and kill a show better than them, I have yet to see it.

Anyway, look for BSG and Caprica on streaming video services...

Winter's end

So... here we are on the verge of another Spring/ Summer. The Red Sox are in training camp, flowers are beginning to bloom, and the street sweepers are making their first rounds to clean up all the sand and salt from the snow (although admittedly, they have an easier task this year).

For me, it's a melancholy time of year. I know many of you will read this and go away thinking I'm out of whatever mind God gave me. But I'm a winter person thorugh and theough. I love the cold and the dark. And the snow? Can't get enough of it.

But, this winter (2011-2012) left a lot to be desired. We had one storm in October. I think we had one more storm after that in which we got a whopping 4". Other than that, nada. Zip. Zilch. We didn't even come close to the 60" or so we average each year.

But no matter. Now that Spring is upon us, we can look forward to at least 6 months of long days, mosquitoes, humidity, and let's see... Oh yeah... the occasional thunderstorm. Not to mention that by the middle of July, there is absolutely nothing going on until Labor Day.

Let's face the facts: the fall and the winter rock! When the NFL begins traiing camp, my whole attitude turns around because I know it won't be long before we're turning up the heat, watching the game every Sunday, and getting ready for Thanksgivng and Christmas.

It's at this time of the year that I am at my best. Everything is more fun, and I am looking forward to putting up the tree and watching Christmas movies and shows.

In my mind, I'd rather have it cold and snowy and have a lot to do , than be swatting mosquitoes and sweating.

Wouldn't you?

The Company Men

I just watched this simple, yet powerful movie that stars Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, and Maria Bello among others. In essence, it's a movie about corporate downsizing and the impact that mass firings have on the folks who are let go.

I won't spoil the movie, because I think everyone should see it. But I am going to describe one part of the film because of the powerful impact it had on me.

There is a scene where the characters played by Jones and Affleck are walking through an abandoned shipyard, following the suicide and subsequent funeral of Phil, one of their recently fired colleagues. Jones' character provides a narration:

"We used to build things, right here. In this spot there was a frigate. Back there, a guided missile cruiser. It was before we got lost in paperwork. Phil used to work right here. He was skinny as a rail and absolutely fearless. He would hang upside down in a boatswain's chair 70 feet above the factory floor welding seams. 2000 men worked 3 shifts a day. They could see the work the did in the ships they built, and they could provide for their families. Maybe put the kids through college or get a second car..."

I was profoundly affected by this scene. During the Second World War, America manufactured the tools to defeat fascism and nazism at a rate of 125% of its capacity. Now? Those days are gone. We don't build things in America anymore, because the markets don't like companies that have high labor costs. The market wants to see profits and profits are reduced when we ship labor overseas to places where folks will work for pennies on the dollar of what Americans work for.

And they are glad to do it, because there are no labor rights or regulations. The governments of those country rule with an iron fist and hat means cheap labor.

I'm no economist, so I don't know how to solve the problem, but I do know this: once upon a time, a product that said "Made in U.S.A." meant it was reliable and made with quality.

Kennedy Space Center

"For most of human history, a voyage to the moon was considered a journey of the addle brained or fool hardy. But then man went aloft on mechanical wings....."

The above quote is from the opening narration of episodes one and twelve of the excellent HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. The 1998 epic recounted the first 15 years of The United States' manned spacecraft programs, with most of the focus on the awe inspiring moon landing.

As an aspiring pilot who was grounded because of a genetic defect that causes me to mix up colors (sort of like a color type of dyslexia), I have been interested in the space program and flying ever since I saw an F-4 streak over my Grandma's house in 1971. She lived on an approachway to a Naval Air Station in Massachusetts that doesn't exist anymore.

I was in Florida recently for a three week training assignment. While there, I went to the Kennedy Space Center and saw up close the things I only had seen on T.V. For most of my life, I must confess that I never understood how somebody could be moved to tears by a song or a piece of art. The former I attribute to being somewhat ignorant of classical music, and the latter I suspect is related to my aforementioned color perception problems.

But last weekend, I walked into the Kennedy Space Center for the first time. I turned left after clearing the Visitor's Center and walked into the Rocket Garden.

For the first time in my life, I was moved to tears. I am a 47 year old former marine. I don't think I'm very tough, but I've always been stoic and cool headed. Not a lot gets to me. In my line of work as a federal investigator, emotional detachment is your best friend. The colder you are, the more precise. But this.... It was unlike anything I've ever felt.

I won't attempt to describe it in words, except to say that it was the best tourist thing I've ever done. I took a tour of the facility called "Cape Canaveral Then and Now." It was a journey back in time through the early years when computers that filled rooms had less than 100KB of memory and most of the heavy calculations were done by geniuses with slide rules.

Where we go from here is entirely up to us. Someone once said that Americans have short attention spans. He cynically observed that if you give us a job, a color T.V., and an occasional space shot, we're content. Whoever said that must not be from here. As a historian, I submit that the so-called short attention was mis-perceived. I think that it is in fact restlessness and the desire to explore. It's something we need to renew as the world moves ever faster. Humans are inquisitive and have a need to discover the unknown. Rather than ignore that need because of economic concerns, we should not only embrace it, but placate it by continuing to reach out.

Federal Contractors

As a federal employee, you probably think that my view on contractors is dim and that I don't think any of the work should be contracted out. You're wrong. Contracting out work has resulted in some amazing accomplishments. Before we get into the advantages, we should discuss the necessities: There are small and large businesses that specialize in particular areas. Said businesses provide specialized products and services that we all rely on. There are a myriad of goods AND services that contractors provide to the government, so it would be impossible to provide a list. Let's just say that the government couldn't possibly survive without contractors providing support.

This leads to some of the amazing achievements that have been realized because of contracting. If it wasn't for contracting, nuclear power would never have become a reality. The sound barrier may not have been broken. The helicopter wouldn't have developed as fast as it did, nor would the airplane. And the list goes on. If it wasn't for contractors like Bethlehem shipbuilding, it is unlikely the 16" guns that were mounted on WW II battleships would have been developed in time to play an important part in winning the war. The M-1 Garand, once called the "greatest battle implement ever devised" by George S. Patton, was developed by a government employee (John Garand). It was manufactured by a then-government owned facility (Springfield Armory). But that is a very rare exception to the fact that most of the innovation in the military came from contractors. The most well-remembered example is John Browning. Designer of several automatic weapons for the U.S., his .50 caliber machine gun has been in service with the U.S. military for over 50 years, and his 1911 .45 caliber pistol is still fielded by military and police almost 100 years since it's initial production

But the biggest achievement was space flight. Sure, the Soviets were the pioneers of unmanned satellites and orbiting humans. But NASA's achievements in the 1960s were the results of concerted efforts between contractors and the government. North American built the Command and Service module; Grumman built the Lunar module; Boeing, North American, and Douglas all built the stages that made up the Saturn V. Not to mention the too-long-to-list roster of other contractors that made space exploration a reality.

Does the government do some things better than contractors? Indeed. We enforce the laws, deliver the mail, and guard the nation. And quite frankly, it takes sworn personnel to accomplish that. I would advocate against privatizing those functions that are necessary to ensure a safe, secure nation where freedom is not a privilege but a basic human right.

 But I am also smart enough to know that accomplishing this mission cannot be done without the support of expert contractors who share this desire. I submit that there is a definitive, crucial need for contractors. Without them, our government couldn't function.

Federal Pay Freeze

Okay. I'm a Democrat. I get it. We all have to accept that the budget situation and the deficit are becoming very critical. After years of unchecked spending during the Bush administration and a refusal to raise taxes, President Obama inherited the largest federal debt in history. Compounding matters, he also walked into an economy that was in almost as bad a shape as the one Franklin Delano Roosevelt inherited in 1933. Had the President paid more attention to the economy and jobs, he wouldn't have lost the House in the mid-terms. Now, he has to do the politically savvy thing and make sure that the incoming majority understands that he shares their concerns insofar as federal spending is concerned.

The most public way to do that is to address the salaries of his own employees (of which I am one). Ergo, he decided to freeze all civilian pay for the next two years as well as the locality adjustment for 2011. Of course, there are plenty of uninformed people out there that are cheering this move, as they truly believe that a government can run on auto-pilot. They don't understand what the rest of the planet has understood since the days of the Roman Republic: it takes a civil service comprised of educated profesionals to run a government. The Chinese understood this so well that they started conducting civil service writtne examinations in the 6th century.

So it ticks me off to hear someone with a high school education point a finger at me and say that I am underworked and overpaid. Suppose I told you that I busted my butt for 8 years in college and law school? What if I told you that I worked overnight at the Post Office for all 8 of those years? And then did an UNPAID internship in a federal agency my last semester of law school? Would you say I'm worht the base salary I make of just over $50,000.00? Because I live in Boston, I get a locality adjustment that adds $12,000.00 to my base salary. And without getting too specific about where I work, let's just say that when your boss screws you over on pay and overtime, I'm the first person you call.

But the REAL problem with the freeze is that it doesn't address the fundamental problem of the debt and the deficit. The plain fact is that when Bill clinton left office, there was a budget surplus, and the national debt was being reduced so fast, that the national debt clock had to be unplugged, because it couldn't keep up. So the obvious question is why you would freeze the pay of a group that is likely to spend and contribute to the economic recovery with their disposable income?

This isn't to insinuate that the freeze won't help, but it's far from the solutions needed to turn around the economy. What really needs to happen are some very unpopular measures. First, the President needs to remind the American people that the debt was run up during the previous administration. The cost of the war and the largest increase in federal personnel in the history of the civil service took place when the Republicans had the House and the Senate and the White House. That is a fact that everyone is forgetting.

Second, real cost cutting has to take place, and not just in the civil service. This move will undoubtedly reduce the work force: if you are at retirement age and you were holding off so that your retirement may increase slightly over the next 2 years, you now have no incentive to stick around. So this measure will accomplish the goals the President wants to accomplish. Unfortunately, those moves are for the most part symbolic measures that won't accomplish real savings.

Third, the President needs to make people understand that the Republicans have zero interest in bipartisanship. They are only interested in taking the White House back. He needs to make sure the American people know that the bad guys are on the other side of the aisle.

Federal Pay raises

I am getting so sick and tired of the knock that federal employees take from our private sector counterparts, that I decided it was time to sound off about it. Every year, USA today publishes a "survey" that says that the private sector is paid nearly 50% less than the federal workforce. Disregarding the flawed research for a minute, if the average salary of a private sector employee in a comparable federal occupation was really that much lower, Congress would have taken action long ago. Why? Because the federal government employs 2 million people, which is less than 1% of the population of the United States.

Of that 2 million, nearly y 70% posses a college degree, and the majority of those possess a masters or a law degree. There are also Medical Doctors and PhDs, as well as registered nurses. So it stands to reason that yes, those professionals would earn more money than a line worker or a convenience store clerk. And this is where the USA Today survey is flawed. If the USA Today had actually bothered to compare things like level of education, salaries for CEOs, CFOs, and other highly placed executives, Professors with tenure, lawyers, doctors, etc... the disparity disappears.

But hey, if they did that, they wouldn't sell papers. And we can't have that, can we?

Abolish the minimum wage?

Currently, two candidates for the U.S. Senate are advocating the abolition of the federally mandated minimum wage. Why? They argue that there is no need for the government to set a minimum wage for the unskilled workers of the country. They are both advancing flawed laogic to prove their resepective theories.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was passed by President Frankiln Delano Roosevelt because there was a need to get more workers into the work force. One of the most important components of The Act, was to ensure that non-exempt workers were paid time and a half for all hours worked over 40 in a given week. Thus, an employer would be less likely to have one person do 90 hours of work in a week, and subsequently hire an additional employee to get the job done. This produced two important benefits:

First, it put more people to work, which in turn reduces the amount of people seeking government assistance.

Second, and more important, it provides more people with disposable income to spend on products and services from small businesses, which in turn allow those businesses to expand and employ more workers with more disposable income. In short, it enhances consumer spending opportunities and the quality of life for many.

So my question then is what do Miler and Raese have against the working class? Are they truly of the notion that the minimum wage is an evil thing? Or are they just dead set against anyone earning money?

Battlestar Galactica

SPOILER ALERT

I just realized that I never posted any thoughts on what was my favorite show of the last decade. So, with apologies for being late, here is the low down on one of the best shows ever...

I want to start off by admitting I was a latecomer to the show. I was never a fan of the original, which was a late 70s cheesefest featuring military pilots with disco haircuts and Lorne Greene as sort of a futuristic Moses, attempting to lead his people to the promised land. Because of that, I shrugged when the mini-series was advertised in late 2003. Boy was I wrong. I caught the Battlestar bug in the summer of 2007. I was on summer break from my second year of law school, and it was one of those rainy summer days in New England, where the temperature was 15 degrees below normal. I was working overnights and weekends at the Post Office, and it was a Thursday, one of my days off. I stopped at the video store, looking for a way to kill a few hours.

Perusing the T.V. section, I saw the DVD for the mini-series. Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell were on the cover, so I figured I'd gamble the four bucks. By the end of the weekend, I had seen all of the available DVDs, and was waiting for the sesaon 2.5 release, so I would be caught up in time for season 3.

The show was a very direct reflection of our society after 9/11. Indeed, as Executive Producer David Eick surmised after the show concluded it's run in 2009, "If we had tried to do this in 1995, when the economy was good, and there was no 'War on Terror', this would have been a completely different show."

The story starts off with a look at the 12 colonies of man, shortly before a genocidal attack by the Cylons. Cylons, we are told, are artificial life forms that were created to make life easier on the 12 colonies. 52 years prior to the events of the show, the Cylons revolted and a 12 year war was fought between them and their human creators. After the war, the Cylons left the 12 colonies. They evolved. And they are coming home for revenge. After a massive nuclear strike against the colonies, most of humanity is wipeed out, and the last 50,000 humans are on a journey aboard 70 ships looking for the fabled colony of Earth.

Along the way there is political intrigue and espionage, sabotage, and a wholesale change in the values that once made the colonies great. And in Season 3, everything you thought you knew about the war on terror is turned inside out.

To tell more would be to give too much away, but thankfully, in the age of the DVD, you can see the entire series from beginning to end. I highly recommend it. It was tightly written and shot very well. The acting is unparalleled for episodic television, and the direction was superb.

All in all, the best T.V. show of the last 10 years.

Obama a Muslim? No. But if he is...

... So what? I have become so sick and tired of the racist, yes I said it, RACIST scumbags on the far right who continually beat this dead horse about the President's racial background. He has been in office over a year and a half, and contrary to what the fear mongers would have you believe, Islam has not taken over the government. But more important is the question Colin Powell asked when he endorsed Obama's candidacy in 2008: Is there something wrong with a young Muslim boy or girl wanting to grow up and become President of the United States?

America is the most racially and ethnically diverse country in the world. The Europeans can chastise us all they want about being intolerant, but how many European leaders are from an ethnic minority? Our diversity is what made us as great as we are. We have a history of people making contributions and sacrifices that advanced us socially and militarily.

Mr. Powell in his endorsement told a story of a young soldier who gave his life in the Iraq war. The boy's gravestone bore the star and crescent of Islam. His name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. I attached his picture for all to view and I say this to all of you racist pigs: you should be ashamed of yourselves. You should be ashamed because Mr. Khan was not the first Muslim to give his life for this country and he will most certainly not be the last.

By the way, the woman in the picture is his mother. Would any of you right wing a-holes care to express your views on Islam to her? I'm betting not because all of you are a bunch of cowards. And most of you don't have the GUTS to go down to the recruiting office and go do what Mr. Khan did so selflessly.