Bailey Salinger vs. Inara and Supergirl

The original miniseries V was broadcast when I was 12, and it’s probably my fondest memory of television in the 1980s. So I had mixed feelings about ABC’s new “re-imagining” of the series. But after seeing last night’s premiere . . . I loved it.

The new V begins much as the old one did: with the sudden appearance of gigantic flying saucers over the major cities of Earth. The underside of each mothership is a giant Jumbotron, which broadcasts the image of the Visitors’ high commander, Anna (Morena Baccarin), delivering a message of peace. The Visitors have travelled a long way and are asking for supplies of water and a mineral they require to sustain them. In return, they will provide new technology and medical services.

The arrival of the “V’s” is not universally welcomed. In New York City, FBI agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) is investigating a terrorist sleeper cell that somehow appears to be connected to them. Meanwhile, her teenage son Tyler becomes infatuated with Lisa (Laura Vandervoort) who is organizing the New York chapter of the V’s “Peace Ambassador Program” for the local youth. The Vatican quickly pronounced the V’s to be part of God’s plan - a little two hastily for Father Jack Landry, who breaks ranks to preach that they really ought to earn humanity’s trust. Meanwhile, newscaster Chad Decker (Scott Wolf), apparently the one journalist to not bombard Anna with skeptical questions, is granted an exclusive one-on-one interview with her.

Original series creator Kenneth Johnson is writing for the new series, so it treats its source matter with respect. The characters are different, but the situation is basically the same: the Visitors come to earth and gain humanity’s trust, but all is not what it seems. One significant difference is our outlook on “ultimate evil” in the post-9/11 era. Gone are the Visitors’ militaristic uniforms and crypto-fascist insignias, replaced with fashionable business attire. The V’s are like an al-Qaeda sleeper cell. The cast was well selected, particularly Baccarin as Anna, who appropriately projects both serenity and menace.

The major problem with remaking such a landmark television program, though, is that the element of surprise is lost. Everyone knows the secret of the Visitors: they’re FREAKIN REPTILES IN DISGUISE WHO WANT TO EAT US. (Sorry for spoiling the surprise if you’re under 25.) But Vis off to a good start, and I’m looking forward to future installments. The thrill of seeing the lizards back on TV is almost the same as seeing Doctor Who again, four years ago.

And now . . . this – Oct. 18/09

Oh, brother:

Barack Obama – African American Bible Cover – Prayer Changes Things

This bible organizer is perfect for sporting your bible or favorite book.

Cover Reads: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14

[Source]

You know, I’m all for celebrating a legitimate accomplishment - a black President was a long time coming in the United States - but, sheesh.

I’d be tempted to get a copy of The Audacity of Hope and slap a dust cover from a Bible on it. But I have the feeling that the satire would be wasted on many . . .

Ransom “elated” by Nobel Peace Prize loss

U.S. President Barack Obama is humbled by his Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him by the Norwegian Nobel committee “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between people.”

[Full Story]

Past winners of the Nobel Peace Prize include:

• Anwar el-Sadat (1978), who started the Yom Kippur War
• Yasser Arafat (1994), Palestinian terrorist
• Jimmy Carter (2002), for failing to find a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict
• Al Gore (2007), for environmentalism having nothing to do with peace

Ransom shares his No-Bel with the following:

• Mahatma Gandhi, seminal non-violent leader of the Indian independence movement
• Pope John Paul II, pacifist and anti-Communist
• Corazon Aquino, who restored democracy to the Philippines
• Vaclav Havel, Czech post-Communist democratic reformer

Pro-choice fascism strikes again; or, a lecture you can’t refuse

Pro-choice activism is now officially the new kindergarten.

On Tuesday night, pro-choice activists at McGill University unveiled their new campaign for abortion rights in Canada. It goes something like this:

Old McDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O

And on this farm he had a cow, E-I-E-I-O

With a moo-moo here and a moo-moo there

Old McDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O

See for yourself:

Yes, this is exactly as irritating as it sounds, so I’m not going to post subsequent installations. In part 2, the videographer notes that he’s filming fascism in progress, as the “protesters” move from bad songs to bad jokes, then actually have the temerity to start complaining that they did not give permission to be filmed. (It apparently never occurs to them that no one was filming them outside.) The videographer does not give in - there are close to 20 installments, if you have the stomach for it.

There is, of course, not even a token attempt to reason with Jojo Ruba - who, despite their false assertions that he had no right to be there, was as usual an invited guest of a campus club at a sanctioned event. The purpose was to run out Jojo’s clock, nothing more.

Arguably the most iconic scene of the novel and movie The Godfather occurs when Corleone family lawyer Tom Hagen flies to Hollywood to reason with studio owner Jack Woltz, to persuade him to cast Don Corleone’s godson, singer Johnny Fontane, in a movie. Woltz refuses; he has a personal grudge over a girl that Fontane seduced away from him. The next morning, he wakes up and finds himself sharing his bed with the severed head of his prize race-horse.

In the past, Jojo and like-minded pro-life advocates have been able to air their views, whether via lecture or debate, without being drowned out. But as more and more pro-choicers find themselves on the losing end of effective arguments for life, they have abandoned any semblance of reason (Choose Life McGill tried to find a debating opponent for Jojo, but were unable) and gone instead for more direct action: what free-speech advocate Nat Hentoff has termed the “mob veto.”

The debates were reasonable. Singing “Old MacDonald” to shut a public speaker up is the horse head in the bed. And we’re going to see a lot more of it. Fortunately it will have the unintended consequence of showing how intellectal fascism has taken over the next generation of pro-choicers. This is what our universities are grooming, people.

And now . . . this – Oct. 7/09

Remember the dude last July who was nabbed for stealing over 125 manhole covers in Ottawa for their scrap value? The saga continues:

An arrest warrant has been issued for a man convicted of stealing manhole covers from Ottawa streets after he failed to show up at court for his sentencing.

[Full Story]

If there is any such thing as poetic justice, it’s not his fault. Maybe he just fell into an open manhole.

Unintentionally ironic Pro-Choice Quote of the Day

One of the few bits of vapid pro-choice pontification that randomly appears on Twitter’s #prolife hashtag:

When you force someone to do something, that is not choice. Prolife don’t care if women choose life- they will force her anyway.

Meanwhile, Jojo Ruba’s talk “Echoes of the Holocaust” is scheduled to begin as planned at McGill University in a little over half an hour, despite the official “censure” of the student blackshirts. I wonder if his audience will be free to exercise their choice to hear Jojo speak? Or will the SSMU force the closure of the event, as their counterparts at St. Mary’s did in February?

Pro-choice rhetoric: emptier than a vacuum chamber in geosynchronous orbit.

Is mob rule on the menu at McGill?

Remember last February, when Jojo Ruba’s talk “Echoes of the Holocaust” was shut down by spineless officials at St. Mary’s University after a handful of student fascists shouted him down for the better part of an hour?

It is starting to look like the pro-abortion damage-control apparatus is gearing up for Jojo’s upcoming talk at McGill University in Montreal, where the pro-life club Choose Life McGill will be hosting Jojo on October 6.

The Student Society of McGill University (SSMU) has recently granted Choose Life provisional club status. Basically, they are on a three-month probation during which they must hold a certain number of events and prove they are an active club, as a prerequisite to full club status being granted. This was not, naturally, well taken by the campus womyn:

Women’s Studies student Andrew Thorne, watching from the gallery, claimed Choose Life was a structurally violent group and opposed its legitimization through SSMU.

“Pro-life is inherently violent against women and against human rights,” he said of the ideological mandate of the group.

[Full Story]

During the debates over campus pro-life clubs at Carleton three years ago, we saw the same rhetorical tactic. It is irrelevant whether any actual violence takes place or can be attributed to the activities of “pro-life”; all the womyn have to say is that opposition to abortion on demand is “inherently violent against women.” (As I’ve asked before: if talking about abortion is inherently violent, what does that make an actual abortion?)

Choose Life McGill has already held one event: the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, in which a number of women told the story of their negative experiences with abortion. Predictably, this has already been denounced as “scare tactics” by the campus feministas, who were apparently freaked out by being forced to see graphic images of women holding an “I Regret My Abortion” sign. (Time to break out the smelling salts again.) And there were protestors on site as well:

“I am deeply disturbed…that someone might walk to class and encounter signs that target a difficult decision that they had to make…. Whether they are made to feel ashamed for a minute or for the rest of the year, it’s not okay,” they said.

Arts Senator Sarah Woolf (U2 Political Science and Women’s Studies) student participated in the pro-choice protest and agreed that Choose Life’s activities, including hosting SNMAC, are offensive.

“As a woman on campus, their activities are offensive to me. Within the context of their current activities, I don’t want them on campus,” Woolf said.

[Full Story]

We can’t have the poor dears be made to feel uncomfortable, can we? It’s ironic that the campus blackshirts should accuse Choose Life of being “manipulative”, while at the same time attempting to shame them off campus with manipulative emotional blackmail.

But never mind emotional blackmail: how about the normal kind? Last night, a motion - co-authored by the aforementioned Sarah Woolf - censuring Choose Life for scheduling Jojo’s talk was passed by the SSMU Council. Should they go ahead, apparently their eligibility for funding will be revoked. ProWomanProLife has the full text of the motion, including:

Whereas this event violates tenets of social justice, anti-oppression, and respect. . . .

Be it further resolved that the SSMU demand that the Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson intervene in order to cancel the event regardless of any inconvenience this will cause Jose “Jojo” Ruba or the Choose Life Club.

Yep, you have to love the way the campus blackshirts think: in the name of fighting “oppression,” call upon the power of the university administration to ausrotten an ideologically impure lecture and public assembly.

Tuesday night, assuming it goes forward, is going to be interesting.