"Where no one has gone before..."

Forty-two years after Gene Roddenberry dazzled NBC executives with his vision of a "Wagon Train to the stars", and received authorization to produce an unprecedented second series pilot ('Where No Man Has Gone Before'), the tale of the starship ENTERPRISE returns to the big screen this spring.

Rather than another William Shatner-Leonard Nimoy-Patrick Stewart production, though, Star Trek will provide a glimpse into the childhood and Starfleet Academy days of James Tiberius Kirk and his future crew.

For many of my generation (early Gen-X), Star Trek was the caregiver of our youth. Both of my parents (late Baby Boomers) had full-time professions and were building their careers, so early afternoons and evenings were spent watching TV. Through the five year voyage of the ENTERPRISE, we were entertained -- and we were educated. The core values of loyalty, trust, and camaraderie -- as well as a latent distrust of technology -- were infused in our spirits. And we are the better for it.

May 8th can't come soon enough....

[Moblog] Artillery!

Man-Cub mans the cannon as the Nutcracker's soldiers battle the Rat King's mice. Artillery rules the battlefield!

[Moblog] Nutcracker

Eldest is dancing as part of the Sugar Plum Fairy's Chinese troupe today.

Roundtable II: "Karl von"

The gang at Chicago Boyz will host a roundtable on Karl von Clausewitz's magnum opus, "On War", in January. I'm pleased to join many of my fellow 'bloggers who took part in the Boyd Roundtable earlier this year, as well as an extremely impressive lineup of other noteworthy 'bloggers in the national security realm.

New 'Blog, New Post

After nearly a month as a contributor to the 'blog "Antilibrarium", I have finally offered my first post: a review of a book from my "Quantum Library", The Sea Power of the State by Admiral of the Fleet Sergei Georgyevich Gorshkov.

Here are links to descriptions of an Anti-Library (i.e., books you own but don't intend to read) and my own Quantum Library (books that lend new insights, even after multiple readings).

In Remembrance

[Moblog] Happy USMC Birthday!

Happy 233rd Birthday, Marines!

As luck would have it, my re-entry to the Federal workforce - and the reissuance of my vehicle decal - gives me a memorable date to renew my stickers (albeit "month-year" instead of "month-day").

Nevertheless, we shall never forget. Through the Honor, Courage and Commitment demonstrated daily by our Marines, we shall triumph.

Semper Fidelis!

Winds of Change

The underdog, son-of-an-immigrant-father, raised-by-his-grandmother, no-silver-spoon junior senator from Illinois has won the highest office in our great nation. America is a different country this morning, a better country this morning.

Yes, I voted for Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin. Yes, I have been a member of the Republican Party for more than twenty years. And yes, I was moved by the images last night:

• Celebratory crowds across the nation, irrespective of race, creed or caste.
• A teary-eyed Rev. Jesse Jackson, visibly moved by the significance of this election.
• Sen. John McCain's very elegant and classy concession speech.
• Pro-Obama crowds cheering for Sen. McCain during that speech.
• Numerous non-caucasian commentators recalling grade school classrooms with pictures of Presidents -- none of whom looked like them.

American may have finally proven -- not only to the world, but to itself -- that we have cleared the hurdle that is race. Barely forty years after the end of Jim Crow laws, our Head of State, Chief Executive of our federal government (and my ultimate boss), and the Commander-in-Chief of the greatest armed forces in the history of the world is a man who was subjected to those segregationist laws in his youth.

Ironically, this is also a more appropriate role for the Republican Party that I joined: a party built not on the morality of evangelicals, but on the simple premise of "Less Government, Free Markets". It was a counterintuitive role for the GOP to be the majority party, so hopefully Rep. Boehner and Sen. McConnell will embrace this opportunity to stymie the growth of government and bring our party back to its core values.

I chose the photo at the top because it is indicative of the same winds of change that we have just witnessed. Just as that Iraqi woman was given the power (just a few short years ago) to have an impact on her own nation's policies, so too has America embraced the optimism of change -- and done so in decisive fashion.

I'm proud to be an American.