I think it’s safe to say that when a show outrages Al Sharpton, that show should receive more attention. Not because Al Sharpton is incensed, but because whatever the show did to induce his indignation is probably important, intelligent and worth seeing. The show in question is “The Boondocks”, based on the Aaron McGruder comic strip of the same name. The thing that is different about The Boondocks, when compared to most other comic strips and animated shows, is that the creator and the majority of the characters are black.

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So I got my W2 forms in the mail this past week and decided to go ahead and bang out my taxes immediately. I’d received the TaxCut software I usually use in the mail (part of their Direct Mail campaign to keep customers) and after researching to make sure I wasn’t going to miss out on too many rebates or special offers, I decided to go ahead and use the mailed CD instead of buying a copy from Staples, or someplace like that. My taxes ain’t complex, so it doesn’t take me long to do (this would seem like a benefit, but just means that I don’t have any good investments) and I banged them out in an hour or less. I’m even getting a decent refund (although I’d prefer not to have given the gub’mint 30% of my income, regardless of the refund amount).

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Oh yeah, I added a link on the right to my new Gallery 2 install. It’s at http://gallery.packingheat.com and is lightly populated with a mix of work and personal pictures. I’m trying to do something cool with the WordPress Gallery plugin, a la Kev’s site, but it’s not working so well (due to pathing issues, it seems, since my Gallery 2 install is on a different subdomain than my blog), so if ya wants to look, ya gots ta click.

I really shouldn’t spend the money (especially considering my car decided that the last 7 months of payments aren’t enough and decided to prope the depths of my credit), but I don’t have a choice. My monitor, a venerable Sony Multiscan 17seII, has finally given up the ghost.

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Impossible as it may seem, the Vatican has come out on the side of science when it comes to the argument of presenting “Intelligent Design” alongside the theory of evolution in science classrooms. I’ve talked about this subject before and believed that my arguments, a mirror of many others, were solid without being exclusionary (albeit a bit condescending, I’m sure). I never imagined that my views would be echoed by, of all people, the Pope. The Vatican Newspaper has published a story stating that the Vatican believes that Intelligent Design is not science and should not be taught in science classes. The author, Fiorenzo Facchini, “lamented that certain American ‘creationists’ had brought the debate back to the ‘dogmatic’ 1800s, and said their arguments weren’t science but ideology.” Unfortunately, it’s my belief that most creationists and supporters of teaching intelligent design are not Catholics, but are Evangelical Christians. Evangelicals aren’t known for backing down from a fight or for posessing much common sense, so it will still be a battle throughout the Bible Belt. The sad thing is that I don’t want a fight, all I want people to do is teach religion in church and science in school. Why is that so difficult?

I know it’s petty but if I see that ad for the “New Season of 24 on Fox” one more time, I’m going to start shooting televisions. I’m not worked up because I think 24 is a bad show, but because the ad is horrible. Let me be specific; it’s not the ad’s production value, or the graphics, or the voiceover that qualifies the ad as horrible. In fact, all of the preceding simply puts it squarely in the land of bland. What drives me nuts is the analogy that one reviewer makes about the show and which gets the professional voiceover treatment: the new season of 24 “Hits the ground like a bullet train”. Huh? What? Hits the ground? Train? Hitting the ground? I don’t know about you, but I don’t recall a lot of bullet trains hitting the ground. Some might consider bullet trains hitting the ground a significant design flaw, so exactly how is that a good analogy? Short answer: it’s not. How does a professional critic/writer (NY Daily News’ David Bianculli) make a horrible analogy like that and not catch it before press time? How does a broadcaster ignore such a horrible bit of writing an get it on the air in heavy rotation? Bianculli obviously likes the show, but does that excuse him from writing such a ridiculous analogy? I assume Bianculli meant something more like, “Hits the ground running faster than a bullet train”. Isn’t it amazing how leaving out just a couple of words makes something sound moronic? Next time I hear that ad, I’m going to hit the roof like a bullet train…faster than a bullet train, I mean.

There’s nothing I like reading about more than “national security initiatives” other Presidents put into place that could be abused by our current Head Moron. Of course, if we’re really lucky, we won’t have to worry about the law-breaking bastard for much longer.

It’s a new year, but nothing changes all that much. I never understood the fascination people have with dates. Mainstream holidays are meaningless and rarely have any significance beyond the revenue brought in my retailers. What’s the big story around Thanksgiving and Christmas? How much are consumers going to spend and will it be enough to put retailers in the black for the year.

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