Practice what you preach? Not Obama!

Senator Barack Obama has lived the American dream that has taken him from nothing to a hairs breadth from White House. But a dark secret looms only a few miles from where the Messianic Democratic presidential candidate studied at Harvard; his Kenyan aunt and uncle, immigrants living in less than modest circumstances in Boston. Zeituni Onyango, an aunt of Obama's, affectionately described in Dreams From My Father, lives in a disabled-access flat on a rundown public housing estate in South Boston!

Another relative thought to be Obama's long-lost "Uncle Omar" also from his book was beaten by armed robbers while working in a corner shop in the Dorchester area of the city. He was later evicted from his one-bedroom apartment for failing to pay $2k in bills, according to the Boston Housing Court.

The press has repeatedly theatricised Obama's odyssey, but they have not revealed the other side of his family's experience. Just across town from where Obama made history as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, some of his closest blood relatives have confronted the harshness of immigrant life in America.

So why does Obama want to spread the American tax-payers weatlh around, but not his own to assist his own family? Hmmmm....?

Source: FoxNews / TimesOnline

Barack Hussein Marx?

I saw an interesting interview with Joe Biden earlier. The interviewer quoted Karl Marx and asked what Biden thought of Obama's Marxist ideals. Rather than answer he asked the interviewer: "Are you joking? Is this a joke? Or is that a real question?" The interview came to an abrupt end and the Florida station received notice from the Obama campaign that it now off limits for interviews, information and co-operation.

However Biden's theatrical drama-queen like response belies Obama's own beliefs. Obama himself acknowledges that he gravitated to socialists and even Marxists while attending college. Later in life, he continued to associate with Marxists- even choosing to launch his political career in the living room of a self-described Marxist, the terrorist William Ayers. "To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully," the Democratic presidential candidate wrote in his memoir, Dreams From My Father. "The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists."

Obama's obsession with leftism continued when he attended Columbia University. He lived on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and often ventured to the East Village for what he called "the socialist conferences I sometimes attended at Cooper Union." After graduation in 1983, Obama went to work for what he described as "a Ralph Nader offshoot" in Harlem. Also he has been the subject of criticism for choosing Rev. Jeremiah Wright, an anti-American firebrand, as his pastor. Wright is a purveyor of black liberation theology, which analysts have identified as being based in part on Marxist ideals.

You wont find anyone saying "Obama is a Marxist" however, that would be insane, no Obama is more a socialist at least according to McCain after the Democrat told Joe The Plumber that he wanted to "spread the wealth around." Bizarrely Joe Biden, recently completely contradicted Obama, saying: "He is not spreading the wealth around," when answering a question from a TV anchor who asked: "How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?"

A 2001 radio interview has now surfaced in which Obama lamented the Supreme Court's inability to enact "redistribution of wealth" -- a key tenet of socialism. Obama has managed to cultivate the image of a political moderate in spite of his consistently liberal voting record. In 2006, he published a second memoir, The Audacity of Hope, that leaves little doubt about his adherence to the extreme left. "The arguments of liberals are more often grounded in reason and fact," Obama wrote. "Much of what I absorbed from the sixties was filtered through my mother, who to the end of her life would proudly proclaim herself an unreconstructed liberal."

I finish with a quote from Sarah Palin: "Now is not the time to experiment with socialism".

Less than a week to go folks...


Source: Fox News, CNN

Osprey Faring Well in Iraq

After a troubled history, the V-22 Osprey has been ferrying troops and equipment across Iraq for just over a year without a major incident. Critics say the Osprey, which was designed to replace transport helicopters, lacks firepower for defense in heavy combat. But pilots say the Osprey makes up for that in speed, which one of them says can take the plane "like a bat out of hell" to altitudes safe from small-arms fire.

Since arriving at Asad Air Base in western Iraq, 12 Ospreys have been ferrying troops and equipment at forward operating bases. One even took Barack Obama around during his tour of the country earlier this year.

But on only a handful of occasions has the aircraft faced any serious enemy fire. Military officials say this is partly a result of the changing nature of the war in Iraq as well as the advantages the high-flying Osprey has over the Vietnam-era Sea Knight helicopters they will eventually replace. The Osprey also avoids day flights into Baghdad or other tasks that entail excessive risk. "It's not the same World War II tactics that we used to deal with, or even Vietnam tactics," said Maj. Paul Kopacz, who led two Ospreys on a recent mission to Fallujah. "We have not been battle-tested because we aren't going guns blazing into hot zones. Our nation is now too sensitive to the loss of soldiers to let that happen."

The V-22 has won wide support from the Marines flying the machine in Iraq since September 2007, even among those with long experience as pilots of the CH-46 Sea Knight. "I used to fly the CH-46 and we couldn't do nearly what we do now in terms of weight, cargo, distance or speed," said Lt. Col. Christopher Seymour. He and the other pilots at Asad say they've noticed the Osprey's advantages most. It can travel twice as fast and three times farther than the Sea Knight, is equipped with radar, lasers and a missile defense system, and soars at altitudes far above its 39-year-old predecessor.

Maj. Andreas Lavato conceded that the Osprey's lack of firepower - it has only a 7.62 mm machine gun at its rear, one fewer weapon than the Sea Knight - caused skepticism initially. But he insisted that speed and elevation were more important, as the Ospreys are largely avoiding descents into "hot zones" or violent areas unprepared by aircraft more geared for attack. "Nobody sees us and you have to see something to shoot it," Lavato said. "If I'm coming into a situation I can just leave and get from 0 to 200 knots in about 10 seconds. I'm just gone."

Maj. Kopacz said people can hear a helicopter from 10 miles away. "You can't hear us until two miles away," he said, "and we're coming fast."

Source: Military.com / AP

Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans Trailer

A wew trailer for the third Underworld movie has been unveiled. In this installment of the franchise we go back in time to the Dark Ages (remember that really cool bit in the last movie?) for a prequel to investigate the origins of the ancient feud between the vampires known as Death Dealers and their slaves, the Lycans. Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans sees Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen reprise their roles as Viktor and Lucien. While we are sadly deprived of Kate Bekinsale in a skin-tight leather suit this time, we are graced with Rhona Doomsday Mitra in chain mail.

Stargate Universe unveils it's look

SCIFI.com obtained the first concept art for the upcoming Stargate Universe, which reveals the new look and feel of this latest spinoff of the Stargate franchise.

The images show some of the new Ancient vessel, the Destiny that will figure prominently in the show which centers on a simple reconnaissance mission after unlocking the mystery of the Stargate's ninth chevron. The mission turns into a never-ending quest as a new crew of Stargate explorers gates onto the Destiny and discover that the ship is unable to return to Earth, and they must now fend for themselves aboard and will travel to the far reaches of the universe, encountering new races, enemies and adventures and countless planets with foliage like that found in British Columbia :)

SCI FI Channel plans to begin production of the show in early 2009 and debut it next summer with a two-hour premiere.

More pictures here.

Source: Scifi

Star Wars: The Old Republic

A press release came in from Lucasarts during the week....

OCTOBER 21, SAN FRANCISCO — LucasArts and BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced the development of Star Wars®: The Old Republic™, a story-driven massively multiplayer online PC game set in the timeframe of the Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™ franchise. Star Wars: The Old Republic, being developed and published by BioWare and LucasArts, represents an innovative approach to interactive entertainment, featuring immersive storytelling, dynamic combat and intelligent companion characters.

In Star Wars: The Old Republic, players will explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy. Players can choose to play as Jedi, Sith, or a variety of other classic Star Wars roles, defining their personal story and determining their path down the light or dark side of the Force. Along the way, players will befriend courageous companions who will fight at their side or possibly betray them, based on the players’ actions. Players can also choose to team up with friends to battle enemies and overcome incredible challenges using dynamic Star Wars combat.

You can read the rest of the press release here but suffice to say this is big news even if it was one of the worst secrets in gaming history. The news may effectively kill any possibility of a KOTOR3 but knowing that the franchise will continue on in some form is gratifying, even if I can't be a part of it - I've never been much of an online gamer, favouring the narrative and character development of a single-player RPG. But I wish those that pursue it the best of luck.

I have collected a host of links here that will tell you all you need to know about the new Star Wars MMO.

http://www.swtor.com/ [Official Site]
Star Wars: The Old Republic story details from IGN
Screenshots from Gamespy

Source: Lucasarts, Gamespy, IGN

Taken: A promotional movie from the French Tourist Board

When you watch Taken, you're seeing one of the greatest negative advertisements for Paris you'll ever witness; And obviously I'm OK with that. But you must stare at disbelief throughout knowing (if you bothered to read the opening credits) that this was written by Frenchmen Luc Besson and directed by Pierre Morel, the team that created District B13 - which come to think of it wasn't a glowing interpretation of near future Paris as I recall?

The plot is exceedingly simple but it works - Ex-CIA Secret Agent Bryan (Liam Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace Neeson)'s daughter Kim (Maggie Lost Grace) is kidnapped while on a trip to Paris and is sold in the slave trade. Bryan goes to Paris in search of Kim and kills almost everyone he meets, usually loud and always brutally. This is because everyone in Paris is evil, is somehow involved and must pay. Not since the Charles Bronson Death Wish movies have I seen a one-man-army simply walk in, kill people and walk out. Even Jack Bauer has paused in silent contemplation before killing someone in revenge, but not Bryan. It's a one man war on Paris. And I loved every moment of it.

The only bad thing I could really say about this film (and it stole a star from it's rating) was Maggie Grace's acting. The character Kim is 17 for Lucas' sake, Grace was 24 when filming. Even the most spoilt rotten 17YO Daddy's Girls don't act like they're 12. So why did she play Kim as a 12 year old, constantly messing and grinning like an idiot and running everywhere in a giggling frenzy? Very distracting from the rest of the movie but thankfully for only the first 20 minutes or so. There is a certain satisfaction believing that after the movie ends the character is severely emotionally traumatised after her ordeal and will need years of counselling thus giving her parents a much needed break.

Final Verdict: I was surprised how much I enjoyed a simple little film created by Frenchies, but then Neeson is always good on screen. Thank Lucas they didn't give him stupid one-liners. He's more Bourne than Bond here. Now stay away from Paris.

Colonel Creedon Rating: ****

Colin Powell Endorses Obama

General Colin Powell (USA Ret.), former US Secretary of State, the man who delivered to the United Nations the U.S. case for the ongoing war against Iraq, announced on Sunday that he is going to vote for Barack Obama for president.

I have always respected General Powell who has held very important positions for the 3 most recent Republican presidents. He was Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor, George H.W. Bush's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and George W. Bush's Secretary of State. He was nicknamed, "the reluctant warrior" as he rarely advocated military intervention as the first solution to an international crisis, and instead usually prescribed diplomacy and containment. But when military action was necessary such as the operations he oversaw; his use of overwhelming force was justified. Amongst almost 30 crises during his command, he oversaw the invasion of Panama to remove General Manuel Noriega from power and Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. However he was not on board 100% for the current war in Iraq and regrets acting on incomplete intelligence concerning WMDs. He has been critical of the war in Iraq since his resignation as Secretary of State in 2004, despite repeatedly saying he supported the decision to go in, said he is more concerned with the future than the past. "We now see that things are a lot better in Iraq. Maybe if we had put a surge in in the beginning, it would've been a lot better," he said.

Politically Powell is a Republican but moderate and has supported both liberal and centrist issues if he believes in them. In the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election Powell campaigned for Sen. McCain and later Gov Bush. In 2007, Powell donated the maximum to John McCain's campaign and earlier this year, Powell's name was mentioned as a possible running mate of McCain but Powell told CNN that "I will vote for the candidate I think can do the best job in America—whether that candidate is a Republican or Democrat or an independent."

Even from understanding this statement and noting his past actions even up to last year, Powell said the next individual to serve as president of the United States will have to reach out to the world community, and he believes Obama has both style and substance to be successful in that role "I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming into, onto the world stage and the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama."

However, Powell said with two weeks left until the election, he will not campaign for the Democratic presidential candidate. He said that part of the reason he is supporting him is because he did not like the negative tone of John McCain's campaign, which has noted the links between Obama and domestic terrorist William Ayers.

John McCain responded to the news of Powell's endorsement by saying he still admires and respects his old friend. "Well, I have always admired and respected General Powell. We are longtime friends. This doesn't come as a surprise. But I am also very pleased to have the endorsement of four former secretaries of state ... and I am proud to have the endorsement of well over 200 retired army generals and admirals," McCain said, noting the support offered by Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger and Alexander Haig.

Picture: General Colin Powell, (Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff ) and Major (Sel.) "Whopper" Creedon, (Department of Defense Office of Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict) during the Persian Gulf War, Welcome Home Parade, New York City June 10, 1991.

Source: Fox News, CNN, Some info from Wikipedia

2IGTV Episode 61

In this exciting episode: We have our final quick discussion on the US Presidential debate, reveal National Treasure 3, a remake of V, an I Am Legend prequel and George Lucas' Red Tails.

We tell you who could be the director of Thor, make fun of Steven Segal and his crazy ideas, speculate on the future of The Sarah Connor Chronicles and dissect some of the popular shows on TV at the current time.

We also have a winner for our Episode 60 Competition - find out who it is now!

Download here.
Discuss this episode in our forums.

THE FINAL DEBATE: McCain's gloves come off - but is it enough?

The battle was on Wednesday night and there was strikes from both sides opposite CBS' Bob Schieffer moderating the round table debate.

It started when Obama once again voiced the yawn-we-heard-it-before opinion that McCain was just more of the same as President Bush. This time before having to rebut Obama's fabricated nonsense for the last time he let fly with "I'm not President Bush, if you wanted to run against President Bush you should have run 4 years ago." YEAH!! This is the McCain I know, this is the McCain I want and he was there Wednesday.

McCain recharged his campaign with a volley of allegations directed at Obama's honesty, judgment and empathy for tax-burdened Americans. McCain also stomped on Obama for giving Democratic Georgia Rep. John Lewis a free pass after Lewis over the weekend suggested McCain was fostering a climate of intolerance similar to that stoked by segregationist George Wallace. "That to me was so hurtful, and Senator Obama, you didn't repudiate those remarks," McCain said, calling segregation the "worst chapter in American history."

McCain also briefly touched on the 'reformed' terrorist Bill Ayers question and also on ACORN an organisation that was raided by the feds recently over peculiarities with voter registration. McCain demanded that voters need to know "the full extent" of Obama's ties to them.

The maverick also called out Obama for going back on a pledge to take public financing in the general election campaign and accept spending limits. "You didn't tell the American people the truth," he charged.

Obama leveled a few accusations of his own, although quite lame against McCain's relentless onslaught. A major one being: "One hundred percent, John, of your ads, 100 percent of them have been negative," Obama claimed. "It's not true," McCain retorted. "It absolutely is true," said Obama (how childish can you get?). But because I knew it wasn't true I went to Factcheck.org which laughed at Obama's ridiculous claim -

"Obama incorrectly claimed all of McCain’s ads had been “negative.” That was true for one recent week, but not over the entire campaign. In fact, in the week after the Republican National Convention, 77 percent of Obama’s ads were negative, according to the advertising project, while 56 percent of McCain’s were negative."

The candidates discussed the economy at length which was once again the primary focus of the debate. As there was no new economic plans unveiled and as most of the US is wearing blinkers and only seeing the economy issues, as opposed to Obama's dangerous associations or McCain's superior experience in National Security during this time of war, it can be argued that while McCain made Obama his bitch as far as the actual debate went, Obama still comes out on top because of the economic focus.

Watch out for some crazy shit over the next three weeks folks....

Star Trek Pictures Explode Online

Ok when I said "November will be the month..." earlier. I meant TODAY!!!!

Left to right: Anton Chekov Yelchin, Chris Kirk Pine, Simon Scotty Pegg, Karl Bones Urban, John Sulu Cho and Zoe Uhura Saldana.

Go to io9.com for more stills released to different entertainment websites in the past 24hours including the Enterprose Bridge, a very angry Zachary Spock Quinto and Eric Nero Bana!!

Source: Bruce Russell, io9

New Star Trek Heroes grace Entertainment Weekly

Zachary Quinto as Spock and Chris Pine as James T. Kirk will grace the cover of the Oct 24th Entertainment Weekly magazine in the US.

November will be the month that the incredibly effective veil of secrecy will be lifted on next May's Star Trek movie.

There will soon be a new full theatrical trailer with actual footage from the film according to a source speaking with TrekMovie. It is expected that the exterior of the Enterprise will be shown, as well as the Enterprise bridge.

Source: ISEB, Trekmovie

Cheadle to replace Howard as Iron Man 2's Rhodey

I got sent a link to the same news story today from two loyal readers at opposite ends of the political spectrum - one on the side of good; supporting freedom, liberty, justice, democracy and patriotism - the other supporting almost pure evil and yearning for unchecked socialism to gain a foothold in the western world. And in the crazy world of this blog - the good guy's A LAWYER!!!

One thing they do agree on however (and by not actually saying it, they're both crying out for it) it that I've not as yet properly begun the hype for what will undoubtedly be the greatest sequel in cinematic history*. Well I'll now correct that oversight, Let the hype begin:

IRON MAN 2

Happy? Good.

Jon Favreau had been doing some interviews and chats of late, which I have been in the process of getting ready to publish, but I feel it's more necessary for to me to focus in the election at the moment especially since I discovered that I could have influence and my voice actually carries weight (or so I'm told). But one piece of news I can now share with you emerged today:

Apparently Terrence Howard, who played Lt.Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes in Iron Man will not be returning for the sequel. Apparently the actor was holding out for a little more money than Marvel were prepared to dish out. Now normally I'd side with the actor or director against the big scary corporation, but in this case I think Marvel were probably right to axe him. Howard is a good actor, and his performance as Rhodey was good but not great like the other performances in the movie and I think partly because he's probably a little too... effeminate in his speech to convincingly play be a movie-hard-ass Air Force officer if you know what I mean? They said it was the money Howard was asking for, and when you take this quote from an interview a while back you'll see something more: “you know if they do a 2 I know they'll do a 3, and this is just speculation on my behalf, and if they do a 3 then they'll spin-off into War Machine 'cause War Machine seems to have its own little following. Which, you know, galvanizes my own personal interest in it, I've never really signed on to be a sidekick.” In other words: "I'm shit-hot and I deserve to be the star." Marvel laughed and bid him goodbye.

Unconfirmed reports at this time show that stepping in to replace Howard as Rhodey is another Oscar-Nominated actor, Don Cheadle.

[Right: Artist's impression of Cheadle as Rhodey]

I'll admit not to seeing too many of this guy's movies either, but I do remember him as Washburn in Hamburger Hill and Agent Roberts in Swordfish (no I have not soiled my eyes with the Ocean's trilogy, but he's in those too). I think Cheadle could pull Rhodey off a little better than Howard from what I've seen, so just like The Dark Knight replacing Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhall - Iron Man 2 has "upgraded" it's cast as well.

A lot more soon...

* The Empire Strikes Back is exempt from this title as it is religion, see my ratings in the left sidebar near the bottom.

Source: Bruce, Civilain Overseer & The Hollwood Reporter

Adolf Obama

Eh, No Senator Obama; don't raise your arm like that OK?

Oh no. Too late.

Admiral Kirk with Irridiated Spock

I know this is basically aimed at adult collectors as opposed to kids, but there's something a little disturbing even to me about releasing action figures of Admiral Kirk and Captain Spock from the Dialithum Reaction Chamber scene in Star Trek II where Spock absorbed lethal amounts of radiation and died. In this set Spock is depicted with irradiated skin flaking and melting off his hands and face. It was indeed a noble sacrifice, but I wouldn't want a permanent reminder of the effects of lethal radiation.

Source: Cool Toy Review

US Military behind McCain

If it was only the US Military who were eligible to vote in the November election, then Barack Obama should stop wasting supporters funds and bow out of the race entirely, because the overwhelming majority of the service is behind the war hero John McCain.

Service members from all grades, both active-duty and reservists, those who've been in combat and those who haven’t, all backed McCain by large margins in a Military Times poll, to about the same extent they supported President Bush in 2004.

The 68% to 23% results flavoring the Arizona Senator suggest Democrats have gained little ground in their attempts to appeal to a traditionally Republican voting bloc in campaign messages and legislative initiatives, such as the recent expansion of GI Bill benefits, experts said.

“The military has been perceived as a conservative Republican institution,” said Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University and a special adviser to the National Security Council. “A lot of people thought that eight years of frustration with the Bush administration was going to undermine that,” he said. “This evidence suggests that it hasn’t undermined it as much as they thought, at least not yet.”

Army Sgt. 1st Class Derriel D. Collins, who is black, said he was influenced by McCain’s service record, though he acknowledges black friends question his decision. “I’m not going to give [my vote] to you just because you’re black,” he said. “It doesn’t work like that. John McCain went to war for this country, even though he had an admiral father who probably could have gotten him out of the service. He stuck it out five years in a prisoner of war camp. If that ain’t fortitude, showing your willingness to go all the way, I don’t know what the credentials are.”

Army Sgt. Timothy Coen said he will vote for McCain because that would be in keeping with his political views. “I just always voted conservative and on a lot of the issues at hand — gun rights and abortion — it just seemed like the more logical choice,” he said. Coen, who is white, said he is proud to see a minority running on the ticket of a major political party. “But we’d all be fools to think that the race card isn’t going to be played in this election,” he added. “As much as we’d like to say that discrimination or inequality is a thing of the past, it’s not.”

Daniel J. Becker, an enlisted airman, said he will vote for McCain because he has always leaned toward Republican candidates. “I’ve always felt that the Republican Party was interested in having a stronger military, which leads to a stronger America. That gives us a better voice in world politics and just makes us stand out as the world leaders that we are.”

Lt.Colonel "Whopper" Creedon said, "I've never taken much stock in these polls to be perfectly honest. I recall Sen. Kerry's "lead" in the civvy polls around this time 4 years ago and where is "President Kerry" now eh? Haw haw haw!! Seriously, McCain will be successful because he's been in "The S***" and he survived, that's the kind of man that's needed to pull the whole country out of it."

Source: Military Times

One saving grace granted for Punisher: War Zone

In 2IGTV 59, I spoke about the upcoming Punisher: War Zone and how it looks like it may tank due to director Lexi Alexander wanting to deliver a PG-13 cut of the film in direct contrast to the brutal hardcore Red-Band trailer.

A PG-13 rating would be insane for a Punisher movie considering the actual comic book is aimed at readers older than that! However, after the Motion Picture Association of America looked at whatever cut they got of Punisher: War Zone, they slapped an R-rating on it, so maybe the whole thing won't be a complete shambles.

Now if they just expand on this impressive trailer without trying to make a story out of it; it just may be brilliant!!!

Source: Chud

Second Debate is a Watercress Sandwich

I live an exciting life. In the past 6 weeks I've made a narrow escape from a botched operation in Iran, kept a watchful eye on the Chinese from a cloaked spy satellite as they did their spacewalk, investigated a "loss of containment" on Sample G14 - two miles beneath Area 51, I may-or-may-not-have conducted a classified operation "in the region" of the Pakistani border and went before the Senate Appropriations Committee to support a case for funding for an orbital defense platform.

Everyone knows I demand the most exciting entertainment, from the big screen in the movies of Mike Bay and John Woo or the small screen in the from of 24 or The Unit. I demand excitement from my games such as the speed of X-Wing or the action of Soldier Of Fortune. I desire excitement from my food, favouring Indian, Mexican or South East Asian dishes that I request to have made even hotter than normal even though I've seen lesser men suffer chronic gastrointestinal spasms from attempting to consume them at normal spiciness! And naturally I elect to experience only the most exciting of women, but all have to be silenced or threatened afterward so their story doesn't appear in places like The National Enquirer.

My being so exciting also means that it's hard to follow the instructions of someone less exciting than you. Thankfully for my entire military career, I've served at the pleasure of exciting Commanders-In-Chief; all Republicans are exciting and one can't say that Bill Clinton wasn't exciting especially on his home stretch.

So tell me why I'm so worried now after watching this latest debate? This bland demonstration of political opposites in the town hall style forum where McCain should rule! But all we got was almost exactly the same ground covered in the original debate only this time both candidates were able to walk around under ridiculous, more constraining time-limit rules that even the moderator felt were crap.

From Yahoo News: "The day after leaves behind a puzzle: How the hell did candidates manage to be so timid and uninspiring at a time when American troops are in two problematic wars, the world financial markets are in scary free fall and the Dow has lost 1,400 points since Oct. 1? This is a moment history rarely sees — and both men blew it."

I want a Thai Red Curry, not a Watercress sandwich! It was 10 times more exciting to sit and watch Joe Biden grin lasciviously at Sarah Palin in the VP debate last week. Forget a third Presidential Debate on Oct 15th, have another Veep one!!!

Valkyrie may not be shit....

United Artists' Valkyrie based on the true story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, has long suffered from filming problems - the Germans at first denied them permission to shoot in Berlin, then later agreed, then threatened to halt production as Tom Cruise is a Scientologist (classified a dangerous cult by the German government), but latter backed off on this stance and so the filming went ahead.

Above - The cast of Valkyrie (Kevin McNally, Christian Berkel, Bill Nighy, Tom Cruise, Terrence Stamp, David Schofield and Kenneth Brannagh).

Wikipedia chronicles the fluctuating projected release dates as thus:

"Valkyrie was originally slated to be released in August 8, 2008, but the film was moved up earlier to be released in June 27, 2008. The release date was again moved, to October 3, 2008 to avoid competition from WALL-E and the delayed Wanted and to enable the filming of a key battle sequence, after the production was unable to find a suitable location for the scenes. The date was also chosen to increase the film's chances of awards success. In April 2008, the release date was pushed back to February 13, 2009, with the studio citing the early fall schedule as too crowded with Academy Award prospects. Valkyrie will instead take advantage of the lucrative President's Day weekend, after The Wolf Man and The Pink Panther 2 were moved from this date. By August 2008, the release date was changed to December 26, 2008 with reports citing commercial reasons for the move after a successful test screening."

Many journalists and critics have sniped the film at every turn. Personally I think it will either be amazing or complete shit. This won't be a 3-Star movie. See the new trailer for yourself below:

The Children of the Peoples Republic of Obama

I've seen some pretty disturbing stuff in my lifetime from the young members of the cult of David Koresh to platoons of youngsters in the east, in little military get-ups parading and singing for "glorious leaders" like Kim Jong Il and similar commies. We've all seen reels of wartime footage of thousands of Nazi children performing the Hitler salute, banging drums and singing to The Fuhrer. Today we're bombarded with news reports of African and Middle-Eastern children being indoctrinated into organisations whose only purpose is to thwart the duly elected government and/or wage war through heinous terrorist acts.

And then I saw these:

Young children forced to sing radical songs in the name of Obama.

The last time I saw a militia made entirely from African-Americans, it was The Black Panthers!!!

My Readers: This is happening today on US Soil! The sick individuals responsible for these are at large and brainwashing children into this type of deplorable activity. Imagine what they'd be capable of if Obama is elected?! Their message represents a kick in the face for every serviceman whose life has been lost or whose blood has been spilt for that soil. There are two other colours on the flag besides RED! SO KEEP THEM THERE!!! Voters: You know what you have to do...

Tropic Thunder: Bizarre

I had been looking forward to Tropic Thunder for some time. Ben Stiller is my favorite US comedic actor, but when I discovered that Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise would be playing barely recognisable characters in it too then I was even more psyched.

Tropic Thunder is a bizarre movie to say the least, detailing the comedic exploits of a group of prima donna actors stranded and left to fend for themselves in a South East Asian jungle while shooting a Vietnam War movie. Through various twists, they believe that they are still portraying a Special Forces unit and are being filmed and that the producers are simply striving for the greatest realism on screen.

The group is led by fading action star Tugg Speedman (Stiller) who is portraying John "Four Leaf" Tayback. The real Tayback (Nick Nolte) was a Vietnam War veteran who wrote the book Tropic Thunder on which the movie is made. Jack Black is Jeff "Fats" Portnoy a drug addict star of popular Eddie Murphy-style multiple-role fat-suit comedies. Kirk Lazarus (Downey) is a multi-Oscar winning Australian method actor who goes to the lengths of having skin pigmentation alteration cosmetic surgery in order for him to better portray the African American NCO Sgt. Osiris. As for Tom Cruise, well I don't want to spoil it, but needless to say there are a few people reading this, who saw the movie, who wouldn't be able to tell me what part Cruise was playing.

Final Verdict: It sadly wasn't the best comedy of the year, but well worth watching for all of the Hollywood in-jokes and satire and especially to see the actors playing quite different characters than ever before.

Colonel Creedon Rating: ****

The Clone Wars arrives on Television

As previously announced, Star Wars: The Clone Wars made it's Television debut on Friday October 3rd on the Cartoon Network in the US. As expected for the series premiere, God allowed us to see not one but two episodes of the revolutionary Television series which extends the boundaries of CGI beyond anything conceived by mortal man.

In the first episode entitled Ambush; Count Dooku ambushes Jedi Master Yoda's ship while he is on his way to Toydaria (homeworld of Watto's race); Yoda, Lt. Thire and two other Clone Troopers face off against Count Dooku's assassin Asajj Ventress and a droid army using impressive small unit tactics. It's a fantastic start to one of the most incredible events in the history of entertainment.

Viewers with access to British Sky TV channels will see the show beginning Saturday October 25th on Sky Movies Premiere in Hi-def.

The Clone Wars Official Site

The Clone Wars portal on the official Star Wars site

"Say it ain't so Joe" - The 2008 Vice Presidential Debate

I had the opportunity to review Thursday's one-and-only Vice-Presidential debate in St. Louis, Missouri last night and it looks like the entire thing didn't turn out to be the fiasco that many predicted it would be. Instead it was a concise and mature debate between two individuals who proved they would have no problem stepping into the shoes of their Primaries, should - Lucas forbid, anything happen them.

Many, in both the opposition and those even within their own camps, were worried that there would be a monumental screw-up from either or both of them - damaging their respective campaigns. It was expected that Senator Joe Biden would would attack Governor Sarah Palin coming across as condescending or a patronising "bully" or either say or do something to offend the moderator Gwen Ifill or Palin herself by spewing some of the racist or sexist remarks he's blurted out (accidentally?) in the past. Similarly, they were those who were worried that Palin would present herself has a complete muppet who would voice statements that would make the creators of the Bushisms calenders jump with glee. However all groups were surely shocked when Biden remained a perfect gentleman throughout and there was little evidence of the Caribou Barbie phenomenon next to him on stage. It left some wondering even if they had been replaced with clones...

Because neither of them spent time sniping each other as McCain and Obama did; Palin and Biden had more time to actually discuss the issues. They outlined their position on the economy, energy and foreign policy and even spoke about something they equally hoped wouldn't happen: replace their presidents. Throughout the debate (I watched the ABC coverage, because I like their split-screen gimmick) it was obvious that Sarah Palin was in awe of Joe Biden. She had listened to his Senate speeches many, many years before she had even considered running for public office and mentioned on several occasions in the debate that she held the utmost respect for him. Upon meeting him for the first time before taking the podium, she politely asked him: "may I please call you Joe?". Biden for his part seemed just as awestruck, not by her almost non-existent experience compared with his many decades obviously, but her ability to be so endearing while presenting the opposite viewpoint of his own. Here was a "common"-by his Washington elite standards- "Hockey Mom" debating herself into the second-highest office in the country and pulling it off. There wasn't a red-blooded straight male watching that who wasn't salivating a little at both her beauty and the power she wielded on that podium - the giant grin that Biden sported while listening to her spoke volumes about his own thoughts which most likely centered on her inviting full red lips that seemed to... Ahem! Sorry. I'll move on.

Naturally as expected, both the Democrats and the Republicans are claiming that their respective candidates won. It seemed to me that Biden was little more convicted in what he was saying and probably presented a more convincing argument but I'm sure that most people weren't even listening to him as they were looking at Palin, waiting for her to speak and look up directly in into the camera, it truly didn't matter what she was saying, so long as she was looking directly into our hearts.

For the scant few people who care about facts and figures, I have been made aware of this posting on Factcheck.org concerning the fact that on many counts both Biden and Palin were wrong on a lot of their points. It's evident from this that Palin made a small few more blunders than Biden, but his were more serious than hers. Also Palin's blunders could be attributed to her inexperience or perhaps ineptitude, but Biden has no such similar excuse and so was almost certainly deliberately lying or otherwise distorting the facts. And as someone pointed out to me yesterday: it's well documented that Americans favour complete idiots over bold faced liars in government.

The debate was intriguingly chaired by Gwen Ifill, who nefariously did not inform the debate commission that she was writing her first book, one about African-American politicians that would majorly feature Barack Obama - and even named for him. When coupled with her snippyness towards Dick Cheney in the '04 VP debate, it would have been prudent for the Republicans to demand a more neutral host, but it was perceived that she could remain neutral and I could not find any evidence other than political neutrality throughout the debate. So kudos to Ifill.

From The Baltimore Sun: "Thursday night's vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden was seen by 69.989 million viewers, the second-largest TV audience for any presidential or vice presidential debate since Nielsen started counting the number of persons watching debates in 1976. The largest national audience ever for a presidential debate was 80.6 million viewers on Oct. 28, 1980, for a meeting between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan." Now, can anyone care to guess how many of them were tuning in to see Biden? Were any of them? We're now only half-way through the debates. McCain and Obama lock horns again on Tuesday. I know however that it won't have half the entertainment value as this one...

Who is Joe Biden really?

Someone said to me the other day that I had nothing written about Joe Biden yet. There's a good reason: Biden is a nobody, a "meh" politician. I don't think anyone cares enough about him either way to say either good or bad things about him. The day I discovered he had been picked as Obama's veep, I also discovered he was a plagiarist, practically a criminal, but hey! - there's no such thing as an honest politician and so I guess Biden can't be any different huh?

I felt I should put something up here other than write about his deplorable plagiarist tendencies to inform the people about this Biden bloke before the VP debate tomorrow. To my shock, I've discovered there's actually loads of news stories about him and he is in fact far more active then he appears to be in the news - so why isn't he actually in the news?

Well the answer is simple. His actions and statements are so "helpful" to Obama's campaign that the liberal media elite have covered him up. For example if McCain slips up and says something silly like "The Economy is Strong" or when Palin indicated that she didn't know what the Bush doctrine is - then they get front page news! Obama admitted his Muslim faith the other day on live television, but that got downgraded to a "gaffe" as opposed to the big news story it was supposed to be. However the real story is actually Biden, and what he can do, or at least what he thinks he can...

Joe Biden can do stuff just like Jesus could...

Joe Biden can make the lame walk again! Yes! I shit you not people! At a campaign rally, Joe tells a crowd that Chuck Graham, a State Senator for Missouri and a wheelchair bound paraplegic is present in the audience and commands the man to stand up for applause!!! Don't believe that anyone could be so thoughtless? See for yourself:

Biden's powers fail him however and Graham's hopes are dashed as he remains in his chair to be offered only a feeble excuse "You can tell I'm new at this"- And by new, please realise that Biden has only been speaking as a politician since his election to the Senate in 1972 and this is only his 3rd attempt at Presidential level office. ..And we all assumed it was only Obama who thought he was the second coming!

Joe Biden has been "shot at" while in Iraq.

That's right! He actually said it here:

Later Biden backtracked on this statement saying: "I was near where a shot landed," he then downgraded this statement saying that some sort of projectile "landed" outside a building in the Green Zone where he and another senator had spent the night during a visit in December 2005. They were shaving in the morning when they felt the building shake, Biden said. "No one got up and ran from the room-it wasn't that kind of thing, it's not like I had someone holding a gun to my head."

This seems more like Billary Clinton's "War Story" than anything else. Her Tales From Sniper Alley negatively impacted her own presidential bid when the press lept on her over it, so it's more worrying that the press hasn't lept on him for this and his helicopter story from his time in Afghanistan last week.

Joe Biden Campaigns while intoxicated.

Well, O.K. this one may not actually be true I'll admit. But if you watch the video, he does have the same mannerisms as an "embarrassing grandpa" after one to many tipples at a family wedding.

Here are some interesting Biden quotes:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” (First expressed opinion on Barack Obama.)

“You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

"Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America, Quite frankly it might have been a better pick than me." - Just 3 Weeks ago!

Hell! After all that, I'm beginning to agree with you Joe!

Sources: Youtube, FoxNews, CNN, Alan H.