We Need a Strong National I.D.

First I am sorry that my weekday posts dropped off a bit over the end of last week and some of this week. My desktop computer had been throwing off issues and that consumed far more time than could be pleasantly endured. Things seem to be better now.

 

America is fairly special in the developed world in that as a major power it has no real form of national identification card or paper. The Social Security numbers, developed during the Great Depression, was never intended for that purpose and does that job particularly poorly. SSNs made people vulnerable to identity theft were fairly easy to forge, and their use as a default identification has imperiled millions. Until this year a person’s Medicare claim number was their SSN with an additional letter or letters tacked on to the front or the end as huge gaping security hole. (New Medicare ID numbers are rolling out now but it will take years for the industry to switch over.)

Our country needs a national identification system that secure, strong, and flexible. There is even at least one person running for congress advocating using public key encryption for a national ID card, not a bad idea at all.

There are a number of benefits that we would gain from a good national ID system.

1) It could Curtail Identity theft.

2016 saw 13 million people suffer some form of Identity theft with a cost to our economy of nearly 16 billion dollars.

2) It could curtail illegal immigration and illegal work practices.

Unauthorized border crossing are at a near all time low but even so it is in the public’s interest to keep all employment legal and by the regulations. Instead of focusing on the workers it would be a better use of the government’s resources to go after employers and executive skirting workplace laws and regulations.

3) It could help secure our elections.

In personal voting fraud is nearly non-existent but our national voting system is vulnerable to attack, as we have seen, and securing it can raise public confidence helping drive higher turn out and rob demagogues of one of their divisive tactics.

4) It could help better track ‘prohibited person’ and keep them from obtaining firearms.

A number of mass shootings and other maniacal events with guns have been perpetrated by persons who legally could not have purchased their weapons but we have a leaky system for tracking such people and a strong national ID could address that.

5) It could curtail Fraud and Waste

Government benefits, medical and otherwise, are prime targets for criminals seeking to bilk the public coffers. A strong national ID would make such fraud much easier to detect.

 

These benefits are only the ones off the top of my head. It is clear to me that a 21st century world power needs a 21st century system of identification.

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Sunday Night: Movie The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra

Last night I was in the mood for something playful, genre, and most of all not infused with important themes. Scanning my library of DVD and Blu-ray I quickly settled on The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

Released in 2001 Lost Skeletonis a love letter and satire of the terrible B-movies dealing with aliens, monsters, and scientist from the late 50s through the mid 60s. Shot of video with the color removed and without complex camera tracking movements the film recreates the feel of those productions striving to capture material that lay beyond the filmmaker’s budget and abilities. The dialogue is comically stiff, the acting more wooden than a lumberyard, and the characters exist only in a continuum of stereotypes. All of this combines for a hilarious satire made with love from people who like myself wasted far too many late night hours devouring any sort of SF or horror film.

Dr. Paul Armstrong, a scientist, and his clichéd wife Betty as come to a remote cabin searching for a fallen meteorite made of the rarest of radioactive elements, Atmospherium. Also in the dry parched mountains is Dr. Paul Fleming, an evil scientist who has come searching for the Lost Skeleton in hope of using its ill-defined abilities to become the most powerful man in the world, however to awaken the skeleton from its slumber he requires Atmospherium. Completing the triad of search characters are the space aliens Kro-Bar and his wife Lattice. Their ship was forced to land in these same mountains, their pet mutant has escaped, presenting a lethal danger to everyone on Earth, and the power source of the ship has been depleted. Of course their ship is powered by — you guessed it — Atmospherium. Rounding out the cast as secondary characters as Forest Range Brad, the Lost Skeletonhimself, the Mutant, and Animala played with seductive style wearing a body-suit, gloves, and slippers as an ‘animal’ costume. Hilarity ensures in a story that sets back male/female relations several decades. I think it is worth noting that this film fully passes the Internet’s famed Bechdel Test while never leaving the sexist tropes of the late 50s and early 60s.

I saw this movie in an art-house theater on its initial release and it was quite refreshing to find something this light, this fun, playing in the same venue where deep and serious foreign films often screened. The cast reunited for a sequel, naturally titled The Lost Skeleton Returns Again, and while the follow-up film plays well it is not quite as fresh as that first pure experience. For anyone who loved those bad, cheesy, Black and White genre movies this is something you should give a scan.

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We Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

There are those who think the recent increase in firings and chaos at the White House is a symptom of Trump feeling the heat from Mueller’s investigations. This may be the case. It is true that Mueller has been working his way up the food chain apparently flipping people and finding things that had been hidden. His team is reported to be among the best in the business as unraveling complex white crime cases and it should not be forgotten that Mueller was the man who brought down the ‘Teflon Don,’ so the pressure on the Administration must be intense. Still, this is taking place in a fantastically favorable environment.

A major news organization is dedicated to defending the administration, many of the ‘Never Trumpers’ writers from before the election have now climbed aboard defending the administration, the President’s approval rating floor remains in the high 30’s to low 40 despite the speed and intensity of the chaos. And yet we are told that the man at the center of it rages at staff, lashes out on social media, and generally reacts as a person in a siege who has no hope of relief.

People, it may get a lot worse.

One aspect of the environment that I did not mention was a favorable congress. Both house are controlled by the President’s party and have run a successful campaign of interference on his behalf. With the coming elections later this year the Democratic Party may very well take control of the House and less likely but not as unlikely as historically viewed, they could even gain the Senate. (That is a very long shot and for the moment let’s assume the GOP retains the upper chamber.)

Not only would Trump lose the friendly interference from a GOP House, but the Democratic committees would undoubtedly launch intense investigation of their own, investigation backed by subpoena powers. Should the Muller investigation reveal unquestionable evidence of crimes by people close to Trump or Trump himself he will lose the support of the GOP elected members as they cut their losses to save themselves.

I think that 2019 is going to be a very dangerous year. It is the year we will see Trump faced with threats from all sides, court cases proceeding along that may force his depositions, and as it has throughout his life, all his money, all his bluster and all his bullying will not save him. Yet he will still retain command of the most powerful military on the planet, he will still have a Department of Justice that instructs it’s Federal Attorneys to seek the death penalty in drug cases whenever possible, and he will have proceeded along with the firing of ‘disloyal’ ‘deep state’ professionals.

We must go through this dangerous time.

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Speeding Along

It’s a little shocking to me just how quickly the revisions to my novel are proceeding. The first act has been corrected and locked, the second act has been turned over to my sweetie-wife for her excellent review and I started in on the third act this week.

Most people write in a three-act structure but lately I have been experimenting with a five-act format. I like how it breaks the story down into smaller elements and that the elements themselves have in general a better defined nature than establishment, conflict, resolution. So even after my third act is fixed that still leaves two more to complete.

I am also a bit surprised by how quickly the story is progressing. The nature of the plot and of the story, those are separate elements in my opinion, caused me a bit of a concern that it might begin rather slowly and beginnings are so terrible important. In fact when I wrote the first draft it originally had a prologue and it was the type that promised drama and action for later in the story but I have no awakened from my dread and I am cutting the prologue. It looks to me that the character and his troubles start at the opening scenes and the prologue was simply a mistake.

(Of course I still may be deluding myself, but that is what beta-readers are for.)

I have also received word that an editorial team at a comedic SF anthology likes my writing and have invited me to submit to their next anthology. That is very flattering and their submission window is still open. The question is can I compose something that is funny and within the tight but not impossible deadline? Comedy is very much outside of my skill set and my comfort zone and yet I am always advising fellow writers that they should attempt things outside of their comfort zone. I have a couple of ideas, but for me the forging of ideas into plot and story is the most challenging aspect of creation.

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Sunday Night Movie: The Last Starfighter

The mid 1980s, a period when Star Wars dominated studio thinking demanding escapist adventures, and every movie had to have a slew of pop songs imbedded in the soundtrack. Not at all bucking those themes The Last Starfighter did break startling new ground in the realm of visual effects. Utilizing the most advanced super-computers in the world, this movie presented the first feature film to present photo realistic, that phrase used generously, special effects for the big screen.
The story is simple; Alex Rogan is a teenager in a forgotten corner of California. He lives with him mothers and little brother in a tiny trailer park where Alex helps out with the repairs and maintenance while planning to go to college and have a life bigger then just being a super. The Starlight Star Bright trailer park is so devoid of excitement that the entire community turns out to witness Alex’s besting the arcade game Starfighter. Alex’s girlfriend Maggie is torn between hi dreams of a big life in the city, that nebulous unnamed metropolis presumably just over the parched mountains that surround the trailer park, and her fear of leaving home and the great unknown. Needless to say Alex somehow is pulled from the bland, boring existence and is drawn up into a galactic war with the fate of hundreds of worlds hanging on his particular gifts.
Even by the middle of the next decade the cutting edge SFX in The Last Starfighter were surpassed and not by the newest generation of super-computers but by banks of home computers. However one does not watch The Last Starfighter for its visual effects but rather for the charming, innocent, and a little naive story of Alex Rogan and his voyage into destiny. The cast had a number of 80’s up and comers, Lance Guest as Alex, Catherine Mary Stewart as Maggie, a blink and you’ll miss him appearance by Will Wheaton before not only Next Gen but before Stand by Me as well. In addition to the young cast member the films also boasted a pair of Hollywood veterans, Dan O’Hierlihy as Grig the gung-ho iguana and Robert Preston as Centauri an interstellar version of the same character he played in The Music Man.
The Last Starfighter never found the love that many genre films of the 80s acquired. The very dated special effect certainly hurt the film in terms of cable and broadcast airtime leaving this project as film with a small but devoted following. It would be interesting if instead of some studio launching a remake of the property if they simply replaced all the VFX with start of the art CGI and left the rest of the film untouched. IF they do such a thing or not The Last Starfighter remains a movie that I can always turn to in order to raise lowered spirits.

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Not a post

My schedule is scrambled so instead of my prattling enjoy to tremendously  talents Melody Gardot

 

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No Honest Critique…

… Can be wrong.

This is something I say quite often at the writers group that I attend and I fully believe that. Of course one of the key aspects is that it must be an honest critique, but that is neither here nor there for today’s essay. What does it mean when a critique or interpretation seems so very at odds with a common view of the work?

For example that was an on-line dust up some time back over the SF/Horror film They Live. Quite a few Alt-Right types were very adamant that the aliens in the movie were a metaphor for a world wide Jewish conspiracy and that the story in fact validated the alt-right and other anti-Semites terrible worldview. John Carpenter, who wrote the screenplay and directed the film, insisted that the metaphor was for capitalism, conservatism, and specifically Ronald Reagan’s brand of political thought. In the on-line postings we have clear authorial intent but presuming the Alt-Right and other are not lying, how can I suggest that their interpretation is correct?

The key to understanding this is that communication is never as simple as one agent creates a message and transmits it to another agent who then receives that intended message. The process is more like the sending agent encodes a message, transmits it, the receiver decodes the message and then looks to understand it, that encoding/decoding transformation it critical in how a message is interpreted.

In the case of They Live, Carpenter used alien to encode his metaphor but in the decoding process everyone uses their own set of symbols and lived experiences, including everything that they have been taught or believe to be true, as a lens to color the transmission. For the Alt-Right types that can include the anti-Semitic garbage in their own operating system, hence they decoded a message that was anti-capitalist and anti-conservative into a narrative palatable to their own prejudices. Their critique and analysis, if honest, is correct for them but only because their decoding process seriously distorts reality.

So when there is an interpretation of a work that is significantly out of step with both authorial intent, when it is know, and the general interpretation that outliers conclusions says much more about the filters and lens of the critiquing agency than it does about the work itself.

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The Need Argument

Often when there is a debate about prohibiting, restricting, or permitting an object or service someone will make what I call the ‘need argument.’ It is very simple, they will point out that the person against the new restriction doesn’t really need whatever it is that the proponent is calling to ban or restrict.

It is an insidious tactic that has as its base assumption that the person proposing the restriction has already determined the ‘need’ and found it wanting. I reject the need argument nearly categorically. It is an argument designed to trap the person debating for access into a box where they must attempt to meet an ill-defined criteria held by the proponent or surrender and since the criteria is not something mutually agreed to but is instead always defined by the proponent it is something that cannot be met.

The call comes over and over, it comes in taxations, ‘they don’t need that money,’ it comes in healthcare ‘they don’t need that transition,’ it comes in legalities ‘they don’t need that marriage,’ it comes in the arts and entertainment, ‘they don’t need that filth or that violent game.’

It does not matter where it raises its head the ‘need argument’ is always an attempt to impose the concept, I don’t want that thing so you do not get it either.

If you are going to push for prohibitions or confiscations get a better argument, and there are always better arguments.

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Movie Review: Annihilation

On Saturday after a trying cold and flu season I finally managed to find the time to get out to the theaters and catch Alex Garland’s latest film Annihilation. Based on the novel with the same name Annihilation was written and directed by Garland who also gave us the fascinating SF film Ex Machina. (Garland also penned the scripts for 28 Days Later, and Dredd.) I have not read the originally novel, though I understand significant changes were made in the adaptation process, and so I will not be commenting on the quality of the adaptation.

Annihilation is about an event called the Shimmer that originated with the impact of an extra-terrestrial object. The Shimmer is centered on a lighthouse and since the object’s impact has been expanding, consuming more territory within its borders. All devices and teams sent into the Shimmer lose communication and none have returned, leaving the zone a mystery. The lead character is Lena, a biologist who is pulled into the secret of the Shimmer when her husband mysteriously returns. In order to try to determine what has happened to her husband, Lena volunteers to accompany the next team being sent into the zone. This team, unlike all the others, is comprised entirely of women and represents a number of disciplines and skills. Inside the zone the women are confronted with a bizarre and difficult to understand environment as things living in the effect take on radically new forms. Cut off from communication and help, frayed by their own psychological issues, the team pushes deeper in the Shimmer towards the lighthouse and hopefully the answers to the mystery.

The cast of Annihilation is top shelf, Natalie Portman plays the lead Lena and she is supported by Gina Rodriguez, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tessa Thompson with Oscar Isaac playing Lena’s husband Kane. All of these actors are skilled and have played in some of the biggest films of the last decade. Tessa Thompson took people by storm with her portrayal of Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok. Her character here is very removed from the boisterous on top of things Valkyrie demonstrating a range that I think we have only begun to experience.

Annihilation is never going to be a mass-market success. Unlike many films this one requires active interpretation. Ex Machina left its ending open to audience interpretation but Annihilation the entire final act is more akin to something one might see in an art house film. It is more accessible than say a David Lynch movie this is not a movie that spells out for you what it means or what precisely has transpired. As such this is not a movie for everyone. I enjoyed it, I am glad I saw it in the theater, but it is unlikely to find a home in my library. More than most films you mileage may vary and if it works for you or not will depend greatly on your personal tastes.

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