An
excellent article on the opening episode of this season's
Battlestar Galactica.
One thing that remains resonant with me as Battlestar Galactica pushes buttons and explores both spiritual and political themes is that... when we lose our sense of humanity, we lose our ability to thrive and evolve as a species. The only way that the cylons have been able to evolve is to take on human form, and to surprisingly, begin to feel, think and believe things that they hadn't anticipated when starting this whole "birthing" experiment.
It's equally as thought-provoking to experience the "human" cylons presenting a whole new "face" of "the enemy" to the fleet/civilians, making it more difficult for humans to kill them without thinking about it first. The same conflict is more and more present as the human cyclons interact with the fleet/civilians. It's interesting that what seems to be de-programming "Sharon" is her capacity to feel emotions like love, trust and recently... loyalty to people that she was once programmed to destroy. It's really an eloquent way to explore these issues without being "preachy" or taking one particular side.
I love Galactica because it explores all of the gray areas in some very deep and profound political, social and spiritual issues. These issues are far too complex to be cut and dried, black and white. When we begin thinking in black and white terms, we may as well all be robots too. I'm always so thrilled when art and fiction remind us of these very resonant real-life things... it's why I loved
V for Vendetta, too... come to think of it, Galactica really has that same epic and profound scale as V for Vendetta... except on a weekly basis, which is great!
I'm really pleased that Galactica earned a Peabody Award, because it's been confounding and disappointing to see it passed by at the Emmy's and Golden Globes year after year. It's because Science Fiction has a "stigma" attached to it; it's been that way for years. Nobody on "the boards" of "esteemed Hollywood societies" want to give credit to Science Fiction as a relevant and award-worthy genre. I hope that maybe Galactica can tear down that stigma. I know that Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide have wanted it to take home some awards... maybe that will encourage the rest of the "industry" to take notice and give them the "official acclaim" that's been long overdue.
This season looks like it will be the darkest ever, and I cannot wait to see how life on New Caprica all unfolds.
SPOILER ALERT:What did you all think of the first episode? What do you think is going to happen with Starbuck now that she has a half-cylon daughter?
Labels: Battlestar, BattlestarGalactica, Galactica, political, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, ScienceFiction, social, TV, TVBlog, TVCommentary
[Contributed by Working Assets]
Americans were shocked to learn this past weekend that a United States Representative, Mark Foley (R-FL), had been sending sexually-explicit e-mails and instant messages to 15- and 16-year-old boys participating in the House Page (internship for high school students) program. Rep. Foley -- who, ironically, co-chaired the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus in the House -- has now resigned and checked himself into a clinic for rehabilitation of alcoholism.
But the members of the House leadership -- foremost among them Dennis Hastert -- were not shocked, because they already knew.
It's become quite clear in recent days that several other high-ranking members of the House of Representatives knew about Mr. Foley's despicable (and possibly illegal) behavior -- and took no steps to stop it. At least five prominent Representatives (Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-IL; Majority Leader John Boehner, R-OH; Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-NY; Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-LA; and Rep. John Shimkus, R-IL) have admitted that they knew of the initial set of inappropriate emails from Foley to a 16-year-old former House page.
Could it be that the House leadership cared more about protecting one of their own than protecting the safety of their teenage pages?
It has also been revealed that the FBI had copies of these email messages in July -- yet failed to act. Why? Was the Bush administration more concerned with protecting a powerful ally in Congress than with protecting children?
We need to get to the bottom of this matter immediately. The best disinfectant in a situation like this is sunshine -- and lots of it. Who knew what, and when? What laws (such as those prohibiting the solicitation of sexual acts from a minor) may have been broken, and who may have failed to report such cases to the appropriate authorities for prosecution? The American people have a right to know.
Congress rushed back into special session to intervene in the case of Terry Schiavo. They should interrupt their campaigning, return to Washington, and insist on an immediate full investigation and disclosure.
Call to action:
Click Here to Send an Email to Your Representative to return to Washington immediately for a special session of Congress to investigate the possible cover-up of Representative Mark Foley's sexual-predatory behavior.
The Los Angeles Times is now reporting that Rep. Foley's behavior was anything but secret on Capitol Hill.
You know... Oprah's main issue this year is to get laws put into place to truly bust and
seriously convict child predators. I would love to see her jump all over this Foley situation.... she is just
slightly influencial, after all.
Labels: activism, CyberActivism, Foley, GOP, petitions, political, political watch, politics, scandal
This week, the Senate is planning to quietly hold a vote that would pardon President Bush for breaking the law by illegally wiretapping innocent Americans.
The bill would let the administration off the hook for breaking the law and make it legal to wiretap Americans, in secret, without any oversight whenever they want to.
Democrats and some Republicans are holding strong against it, and if enough of us speak up we can stop it. Can you sign the petition opposing the Republican move to pardon President Bush for breaking the law?
[
Please Sign the Petition]
Please also re-post this news in your blogs, or forward via email to your contacts! -Thanks.
Labels: activism, Bush, CyberActivism, GOP, petitions, political, political watch, politics
** URGENT ALERT **Tell ABC to Cancel Their Inaccurate and Slanted Sept. 11th Program[
Click Here to Take Action]
On September 10th and 11th, ABC is planning to air a "docu-drama" called "Path to 9/11," which is being billed as "an objective telling of the events of 9/11." In fact, the film was written by an unabashed conservative who twists the facts to blame President Clinton.
Tell ABC to cancel this show.
[
Click Here to Take Action]
ABC's new six-hour film was apparently screened in advance ONLY to conservative bloggers and journalists -- and received extensive praise from none other than Rush Limbaugh. The film is apparently also riddled with factual errors and distortions; former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke has completely refuted one of the key scenes in the show.
It's simply stunning to think that as this fall's election approaches, a major television network would devote six hours of prime-time programming to air such a slanted and inaccurate program.
Tell ABC -- this type of inaccurate and slanted program does not belong on primetime television, and they should cancel this show.
[
Click Here to Take Action]
*** Want to increase your impact? Share this message with everyone you know who's interested in unbiased reporting on the tragic events of Sept. 11th, 2001. ***Labels: activism, Bush, CyberActivism, GOP, media, petitions, political, political watch, politics
