My Inner Author

This is still not finalized I think.... As my friends know, I am a huge fan of the science fiction genre. For me it all began with Star Trek, despite William Shatner’s overly dramatic Captain Kirk. By the time Star Wars debuted in 1978, I had been hooked. To me the real power of Science Fiction is the ability of the writer to craft his or her story in whatever “world” or “universe” they want. Not all fiction writers can take advantage of such a powerful tool. Your average legal drama today requires a setting in today’s society (or a well documented past one) where there are certain rules in place. For example, you can’t have a story today where you can probe the suspect’s memories for the truth with a machine. You can’t have a chase scene that spans a continent. You have to use a judge, a jury, and follow the norms of today. In SciFi, the author can have all sorts of possibilities. Want a chase scene across galaxies? Sure. Want a truly invisible stalker? Alright. Time Travel? Okay. But

This will not be one of my usual blogs. I just had a thought about something and decided to jot it down quickly before it got washed away by an afternoon of college football. Why are we Conservative, Tea Party types so upset over the Health Care debate and runaway spending? There are many reasons, but here is one very large one to consider. Why are people inside Washington so clueless? Do you know George Bush (41) had no idea about bar code scanners in checkout lines at grocery and other retail stores? He had absolutely no idea such a thing existed. Do you think Bill Clinton ever had to run out at 9pm to get Chelsea some cold medicine because they had run out of Nyquil? Has Nancy Pelosi ever had to check a bag through when she has flown on an airplane? When was the last time "W" went to the grocery store and saw the prices of food? Do you really think Harry Reid pumps his own gas? When was the last time Barrack Obama actually bought a car at a dealership? Think about nearly a

Recently, I had the interesting experience of watching the political debates of the day mushroom into epic verbal battles here on the pages of Facebook. I know for many, this is why they stay far away from the political discussions altogether. Very few desire confrontation in general, and certainly not over something like Health Care Reform, the Nobel Peace Prize or government spending. I don’t welcome a war of words. However, I am not willing to sit on the sidelines and allow others to censor my thoughts or my voice. Somewhere there is a happy medium. This past week, I had a “Facebook friend” who decided to throw down over the role of government. Facebook friend? We attended the same high school, where we were never really friends, but one of my other friends knew them, so I accepted their Facebook request when they invited. I guess I thought I might expand my circle. I don’t know. Well, I did learn from this: I will never accept any future invites for people I did not “friend" w