Politics: Like I know what I'm talking about.

California Tradition

In order to bring a fresh take on the traditional Overdue Budget Party that California throws for several months, Governor Schwarzenegger last week signed an executive order recommending that the state cut pay for all state workers down to the Federal minimum wage, and lay off thousands of part-time and temporary employees. One hopes that he remembers he’s a state worker as well, and that his own salary is adjusted accordingly.

State Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, has stated his intention to flat out refuse to implement any such executive order. He says that Schwarzenegger’s understanding of state law related to state workers’ pay is flawed. And even if Schwarzenegger is right, then the state simply won’t be able to implement the pay cut. The state’s payroll software was written twenty years ago, in COBOL, a language that nobody programs anymore, except for retirees and part time workers. It’s been patched together with duct tape over the years, and no one’s really touched it since Y2K. This is kind of funny. It means that the very people who would end up rewriting the payroll software to implement the pay cuts were themselves let go. Irony. Ur doin it rite.

Election News

Am I the only one who thinks John McCain’s campaign took a wrong turn on the way to nasty and ended up in downright surreal? The ad that called Obama a “celebrity” and compared him to Paris Hilton was, well, inspired, in its own back of the short bus kind of way. The best part of the ad, though, was Paris Hilton’s response. “I guess that means I’m running for President”. The real shocker, of course, was her coherent delivery of an energy plan which sort of makes sense (though I question whether limited offshore drilling will provide any short term relief). Here’s Hilton’s response, in case you haven’t seen it:

Response from the McCain camp:

“Sounds like Paris is taking the ‘All of the Above’ energy approach that John McCain has advocated — both alternatives and drilling. Perhaps the reality is that Paris has a more substantive energy plan than Barack Obama.”

This amuses me because the plan Hilton talks about is pretty much the same as Obama’s plan anyway. But that McCain’s team has chosen to view Hilton’s spot as a de facto endorsement only strengthens my notion that someone in there got their political science classes mixed up with their “Introduction to Surrealism” art class. It hasn’t quite got the Dada-ist feel that Mike Gravel’s ads did last year, but it’s bizarre nonetheless.

Or maybe I’m just too old for these newfangled politics.

I’ll leave Gravel to finish things off for you.

Expand the Boycott!

Apparently McDonald’s is under boycott for “supporting the gay agenda” by having representatives on the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. I support the right of people to boycott McDonald’s for this reason if they so choose, but, as usual, the forces behind the boycott are being hypocrites and inconsistent. Ed Brayton over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars has compiled a helpful list of companies and corporations that also “support the gay agenda” by having representatives on the NGLCC, or by offering domestic partnership benefits, or any other similar outrages.

These organizations, represented by their logos, are the ones who are actually founding members of the NGLCC (click on the thumbnail for the entire spread):

And these corporations are the lesser offenders, who simply have members on the NGLCC or support the “gay agenda” in other ways:

Again, click on the thumbnail for the full effect. And, of course, neither list is even close to being exhaustive.

As you can see, if you’re going to be consistent and really care about boycotting organizations that support the gay agenda, you have to go all out. It’s like obeying the Ten Commandments; you can’t just obey the ones you find convenient, you have to obey them all or there won’t be any point to any of them.

The best part of encouraging these folks to expand their boycott? Once they decide to be legitimate and consistent, then they’ll no longer be able to use the Internet, since Cisco routers pretty much dominate, and they won’t be able to use any computer with an Intel chip to do so anyway.

Two Rejections in One Day

The editor at Asimov’s Science Fiction rejected “Padma”, saying it was “…sweet and evocative, but… not right for me.” I find that an interesting comment. I’m not sure I would ever describe that story as “Sweet”. Still, kind words, so the story bounces off to another market like a cat I’m trying to shoo from my lap.

Meanwhile, Pseudopod rejected “Night of the Frozen Elf”. In this case the editor said, ” It was well
received by our submissions staff, but I’ve decided not to purchase it because I’m a humbug like that.” I hold no ill will because as an editor myself I understand that being in a humbug sort of mood can be the only reason a story gets rejected. “Night of the Frozen Elf” has also been sent off to a new market. I also sent the editor of Pseudopod a nice thank you note because I was told that it’s the polite thing to do.

So two rejections today. Not particularly great news, but at least they were nice rejections (believe me, I’ve gotten the other kind too). And I’ve got three active submissions right now, but that’s two short of my goal of having five active submissions at all times.

Local Con News

It looks like I may be able to get my con fix this year after all. On Friday and Saturday, September 26 and 27, there’s a local con called From the Land Beyond, which looks like it will be an awful lot of fun for a local con. It certainly won’t be to the scale of Dragon*Con or ComicCon, of course, but even so, got a pretty decent collection of guests.

From television, they’ve got Erin Gray, who played Colonel Deering in the 1980’s Buck Rogers in the 25th Century television series. Erin Gray Like every other male geek (and probably quite a few female geeks) who grew up in that decade, I had a huge crush on Erin Gray (of course it would never rival my crush on Kathy Coleman, but that’s a different story). Colonel Deering was sexy, tough, intelligent, and didn’t take crap from anyone. How could I not have a crush on her? I’ve run into her at Dragon*Con and a couple of other places over the years, and she’s just as good looking as she was way back when. I’ve never embarrassed myself in front of her like I did in front of Denise Crosby that one time, but I’ve come close.

They’ve also managed to get Richard Hatch to show up. Hatch, of course, played Apollo in the original Battlestar Galactica series, Richard Hatchand plays Tom Zarek in the new Battlestar Galactica. I’ve seen Hatch a few times over the past few years, and he’s struck me as not just a good actor and a great (and funny speaker), but also a genuinely classy guy to boot.

They’ve also got Michael Berryman, who manages to beat out Lance Henrickson for the title of ugliest character actor. He usually gets cast as mutants and other nasty critters (he was the lead mutant in the Hills Have Eyes movies), which is kind of a shame because I’ve seen him in other roles, and he’s quite talented. Michael Berryman Sadly, looks are everything in Hollywood, and I haven’t seen him in a role that showcases his talents since the season three X-Files episode called “Revelations”.

They’ve also got Scott Sigler attending. I just finished reading Sigler’s novel InfectedCover of Infected by Scott Sigler, which I really enjoyed and which I recommend to just about everyone. They’ve also got some local writers which I’ve never heard of, and that’s okay too. I’ve tried hunting down some of their books, but it’s been pretty difficult for some reason. I fantasize about being a celebrity author at one of these events myself someday, but it might be years and years until that happens, if ever.

Anyway, it’s called “From the Land Beyond”, and it’s being held on the 26th and 27th of September at the Scottish Rite Center in Sacramento, It’s only a couple of miles away from where I live, so I really have no excuse not to attend, do I?

I am a Bad Person

While my heart aches for the loved ones of the poor fellow who lost his life in a seemingly random and undeniably brutal attack, my first thought upon reading this article was, “There can be only one”. Though you’d think the immortals would be more subtle than to behead each other on a Greyhound bus.

(Of course, I mentioned this in another forum the other day, and got a number of virtual stares. “What? What does that mean?” These were people who should have known better. It’s better than when in the early 90’s, before Star Wars had its revival, I said to some kid, “May the Force be with you,” and he said, “What?” I’m too young to be this old.)