J.J. Abrams is moving quickly on the Star Trek prequel. The film is intended to re-start the series with the early adventures of Kirk and crew; hopes are high that it will rescue the franchise from the poor performances of Enterprise and Star Trek: Nemesis.

The budget has been upped to $150+ million, more than double that of Nemesis. I'm sure a large portion of that has been spent attracting an all-star cast:

Kirk - Chris Pine* (never heard of him)
Spock - Zachary Quinto (of Heroes fame)
McCoy - Karl Urban (Bourne Supremacy, Chronicles of Riddick)
Uhura - Zoe Saldana (Pirates of the Caribbean, hot)
Scotty - Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz)
Sulu - John Cho (never heard of him)
Chekov - Anton Yelchin (never heard of him)

I am a huge fan of Star Trek. I grew up watching the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. If you were to ask me which fictional "monster" scared me the most, I would honestly say it's the Borg. The Best of Both Worlds remains to this day one of the finest two hours of television of all time (ranked 45th Most Memorable Moment by TV Guide).

I can't say that I felt much loss or upset when Enterprise tanked; I never saw it when it was on the air. But it'd be nice to see Star Trek back on the big screen.

*Chris Pine hasn't had an official announcement yet; it's coming soon.

MORE: A helpful fellow emailed this Casting Comparison from IGN which has pictures of the new and old Enterprise crew. Note, however, that this was put together a few days ago before the Pine and Urban rumors were confirmed.

Also, for completeness I should have mentioned that Eric Bana will be the villain.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:40 PM | Comments (94)
Post contains 309 words, total size 2 kb.

In one of Yon's recent dispatchs there's one paragraph that is perhaps the most telling I've read in the past year of reading Iraq news..

We also recently completed work on a soccer field that is used nightly by the young people here. Much to our surprise, on the opening night, each team had “1-4 CAV” printed on the back of their soccer jerseys. It is not uncommon for us to see guys with these jerseys on walking down the street. A second soccer field will open shortly.

• The insurgency has lost ALL influence in that neighborhood or the kids would dare not do it
• The kids parents are comfortable with the idea
• The Americans aren't considered the "occupier" anymore, they're like a favored sports team

This is as significant an event as when Yon noted over a year ago that the number of dimes being dropped had gone up like 10X and the number of tips being received forced a change in tactics to the "cascade" style raid to handle the volume. It was then that I knew the insurgency was broken.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 09:46 PM | Comments (29)
Post contains 237 words, total size 2 kb.

Lynne Cheney, doing research for a book, has discovered that her husband is distantly related to Barack Obama. They're eighth cousins.

Obama, whose mother was white, did not immediately comment on the revelation. But his campaign made light of the tie, without confirming it. "Obviously, Dick Cheney is the black sheep of the family," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:34 PM | Comments (62)
Post contains 89 words, total size 1 kb.

...are crapped out onto the streets of Paris. The authorities are just now thinking it might be a good idea for people to pick up their dog's poo rather than leaving it on the street.

...he city's prolific pooches deposit 16 tons of "canine dejections" on the streets every day. City Hall is urging pet-owners to do the once-unthinkable: pick it up. It's a battle for nothing less than the city's soles....

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:23 PM | Comments (24)
Post contains 88 words, total size 1 kb.

Once again, local authorities in Louisiana have made a mess so Democrats blame the federal government for not stepping in. The House Judiciary Committee has decided that they're the right group of people to sort out the Jena mess.

Democratic Rep. Jon Conyers was the ringmaster for this particular circus. And it was a carefully orchestrated circus, with all the hooting and hollering in just the right places.

"Shame on you," Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said to Justice Department officials, directing most of her fury at Donald Washington, the U.S. attorney for Louisiana's western district — and the first black person to hold that position.

"As a parent, I'm on the verge of tears," Jackson Lee said.

"Why didn't you intervene?" she asked repeatedly, raising her voice and jabbing her finger in the air as some in the audience began to applaud.

Committee chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., called for quiet before Washington spoke.

"I was also offended, I too am an African-American," Washington told the panel. "I did intervene, I did engage the district attorney. At the end of the day, there are only certain things that the United States attorney can do."

Following that exchange, Conyers pointed out he had invited the local district attorney, Reed Walters, to testify, but he declined. At that, some in the audience yelled out, "subpoena him!"

Democrats think that every problem is a federal one. Does anyone think that the House Judiciary Committee is going to solve the issue of perceived unfairness in the Jena prosecutions? Of course not. They're going to increase race tensions and make it more likely that whites and blacks in Jena distrust and hate each other.

Jackson Lee's poisonous attack on USA Washington makes the racism problem even worse. Not only is she encouraging the smoldering resentment of Louisiana blacks against Louisiana government, she's also teaching them to hate the federal government. Ms. Jackson Lee's counting on the fact that if she tells black men and women that they are second-class citizens enough times, they'll actually start to believe her.

Of course, race-pushers like Jackson Lee of Texas cannot make a buck on the problems in Louisiana unless it becomes a federal issue. So helpful Democrats like Conyers are only too happy to facilitate a little race hate. Louisiana's race problem is far from ended; Congressional hearings haven't changed that a bit. And that's just what Jackson Lee, tears and all, wants.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:20 PM | Comments (19)
Post contains 425 words, total size 3 kb.

Some Dems Join Reps in the House and suggest you goddamn knuckleheads?!? "oh well, perhaps now isn't the best time".

I don't think it'll help you really. Those who smelled your bullshit ain't gonna warm up to you waving roses over it. Those who wanted you to press your bullshit, they'll be pissed off that you backed away like the cowards you are.

In sum: you fucked up.

You did it youuuuuuuuuu're waaaaaayaaay!

Nice strategery.

UPDATE FROM COOPS: I split when the cops started nosin in.

Around noon-ish.

I can't handle that shit right now.

I'm sure he's fine. Pretty sure.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 07:18 PM | Comments (15)
Post contains 123 words, total size 1 kb.

Well, gravediggers for sure

As violence falls in Iraq, cemetery workers feel the pinch

A drop in violence around Iraq has cut burials in the huge Wadi al Salam cemetery here by at least one-third in the past six months, and that's cut the pay of thousands of workers who make their living digging graves, washing corpses or selling burial shrouds.

The media really are beyond parody at this point.

H/t- MilBlogs

Posted by: DrewM. at 06:35 PM | Comments (21)
Post contains 82 words, total size 1 kb.

Well, gravediggers for sure

As violence falls in Iraq, cemetery workers feel the pinch

A drop in violence around Iraq has cut burials in the huge Wadi al Salam cemetery here by at least one-third in the past six months, and that's cut the pay of thousands of workers who make their living digging graves, washing corpses or selling burial shrouds.

The media really are beyond parody at this point.

H/t- MilBlogs

Posted by: DrewM at 06:35 PM | Comments (22)
Post contains 92 words, total size 1 kb.

Hi. This is "Coops," a friend of Ace's, and I'm typing this in my blackberry just to let you know the bad news, but that everything's okay. Earlier today Ace was walking his dog in the vicinity of an irregular-alcohol discount center and was beset, from what I can tell from his bloody gurglings, by a mad band of angry lefties.

I didn't know he had a dog but apparently he did. What's become of the dog? I have no idea. Perhaps it escaped, or perhaps it too was savagely beaten.

I think we are tetering on the edge of a civil war. I cannot believe that a man can no longer walk his dog in safety past a store specializing in the sale of alcohol rejected by the FDA as containing dangerous levels of methyl alcohol as well as a trace levels of bovine urine.

Please take this time to make wildly uninformed speculations about his assailants as well as to mutter darkly about the coming re-education camps for liberals and various vengeances you might seek. Ace is incoherent and stinks badly of shoddy vodka and cow piss but I think we should all take what few delirious words he mumbles as a jumping off point for fever dreams of political violence.

Ace would have wanted it that way.

Courage. I will update as I learn more.

Update: I think he just said "Al Franken." Al Franken must have been the ringleader of the gang that beat him, and so he should be beaten himself mercilessly in response!

Go to it!

I should note, just for the sake of accuracy, that he may not have said "Al Franken." That's what it sounded like, sort of, but he was mumbling. He might have said "Get off of my sac," maybe because I had just driven my elbow into his groin to see if there would be a response.

But I'm pretty sure he said "Go assault Al Franken." It just seems to make more sense in context.

Posted by: Ace at 02:08 PM | Comments (139)
Post contains 361 words, total size 2 kb.

A lot of people have responded to this, but Flopping Aces seems to have the most complete rebuttal.

All seem to be on reserve, or retired, with the exception of one guy who seems to be a contractor for the DoD.

The Washington Post can't find any soldiers willing to write about Iraq positively? Perhaps some who've been there since 2005? The latest of the Captains of Surrender served in 2006, and he's the only one who served in Iraq at that year.

Thanks to CJ.

Posted by: Ace at 01:10 PM | Comments (19)
Post contains 98 words, total size 1 kb.