My favorite incarnation of Star Trek is probably The Next Generation. Of course I was a fan of the original when it came out, but in retrospect it was basically a western set in space, and far too many problems of life and death for entire civilizations, even galaxies, were settled by a fistfight.
Ashley Judd
Deep Space Nine had it’s moments, the Ferengi were very comical characters and I had kind of a thing for Kira Nerys, and I eventually learned to like Voyager after Captain Janeway changed that ridiculous hairstyle. Perhaps I’m being a tad sexist focusing on appearance, but people who are living in the 26th century or whatever the hell it was should not look like a 19th century Kansas schoolmarm.
All in all, though, TNG was my favorite. Picard was definitely my favorite captain and my favorite episode was Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra, possibly because the focus was on an alien language and languages are really interesting to me.
In a very minor role on that episode was an actress named Ashley Judd. She is considering running against Mitch “Turtlehead” McConnell when he comes up for re-election in 2014. I hope she runs.
If she wins, it would be a record for the greatest increase in hotness in an American Senate seat ever in history, by far. Also, it would be getting rid of one of the evillest Republicans and replacing him with a very liberal Democrat.
There’s the rub. As Rand Paul said “She’s way damn too liberal for Kentucky.” That’s true, but she’s got several things in her favor. McConnell is deeply unpopular, one of the most unpopular Senators in the Senate, with only a 37% approval rating among Kentucky voters. Judd is within 4 points of him in opinion polls, and she’s a complete newcomer to politics. While her politics are a lot more California than Kentucky, she is right at home there culturally. She grew up in Kentucky, went to college in Kentucky, and her mother and sister are country western singers. Although she’s married to a foreigner, he’s Scottish, which is all right, it’s not one of those weird countries, plus he’s a race car driver, and they love that shit down there.
She is a daughter of the South, someone they can be proud of, and if she can make the race about personality rather than getting into the whole liberal vs. conservative thing, she can win. It would not be the first time a progressive got elected in the south. Think of Jimmy Carter, Al Gore and Bill Clinton. Hell, think of Earl Long.
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