May I rant?

      I'm in a bad mood. My back is hurting, my IBD is flaring, and I have that dang surgery this Thursday. I'm unhappy in the sense of wanting to wage war, kick over garbage cans, and yell at innocent Congressmen -- if I could find any. So bear with me as I rant.
Start Star Trek rant.
      Rick Bergman, executive producer of Enterprise, has been quoted as saying Star Trek is "tired." He says that the recent box office flop of the movie Star Trek: Nemesis is another example of that fact. As he puts it, "Star Trek is overexposed, and the public is tired of it."
      What a jerk. Fans aren't tired of Star Trek. They're tired of poor writing. Putting your female characters into ever-tighter uniforms doesn't not constitute good writing. I'm surprised that Seven of Nine or T'Pol were able to walk at all in their skin-tight catsuits.
      Bergman had no vision of Star Trek other than status quo. Under his helm, the show became its blandest. Consistently he catered to the lowest common dominator.
      Of course, I'm not saying anything that other fans haven't said. The problem actually started with Star Trek: The Next Generation. I liked TNG, but I got tired of too many holodeck stories and too many stories in which the Prime Directive simply forced the crew into inactivity. And let's not forget the shipboard romances that made no logical sense. (Is there any military service or otherwise that allows romances between superior officers and their subordinates?)
      This was followed by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. DSN was darker than previous Treks. True to the spirit of the original series, it dealt with many social issues. Bergman never cared much for DSN and sent constant memos that it needed more action. (But he was responsible for squandering the death of Dax; that could have been a stunning story. Instead it became just a senseless act.) DSN also didn't have the ratings of TNG, but it won more awards and followed a consistent storyline.
      Bergman really took control with Star Trek: Voyager. And what a shame that was. Janeway was a great character and one worth pursuing. V had some great stories, but would also introduce Seven of Nine, a former Borg captive who could wear tighter and tighter clothes. I like Seven and her quest for humanity, but the writers kept confusing humanity with sex or violence. They would also overuse one of the worse thing to happen to the Star Trek: time travel.
      Star Trek had done a few good time travel stories before, but in Voyager, they used time travel again and again. They would kill characters, destroy the ship, end the universe, but hey, don't worry. We'll just change time, and it never happened. It became their equivalent of "It was all a dream." The writing became sloppy and stupid as the writers used time travel again and again to fix their mistakes.
      Next up: Enterprise. And from the start, the show was based on a temporal cold war. People traveled back and forth, changing time lines at whim. The characters never had a chance to grow; instead the writers used such stupid plots as having a Vulcan woman become a drug user, emotional, and weak. I have incredible sympathy for actress Jolene Blalock who played T'Pol, also in an circulation stopping uniform.
      Bergman helmed all of these disasters, including most of TNG movies. You'd think someone would look at how the ratings declined and figure that Bergman needed to be replaced. You'd think Bergman would look at the ratings and think that maybe something needed to be changed.
      Instead Bergman is blaming the fans for their lack of interest. He is blaming Star Trek for being "old" and "tired." He should, instead, shoulder the blame.
      Here's an idea for the next Star Trek series: There are an abundance of good science fiction writers; use them. (DSN used scripts from various writers, perhaps that's one reason the writing was consistently good.) And give them these rules: no time travel, no holodeck stories, no romances that don't develop naturally, actually have some science in there, and give us people we can root for and a future that we'd want to live in. But most importantly, shoot Bergman if he even comes close to the lot.
End of Star Trek rant.
Start doctor rant.
      Is it totally impossible to get a straight answer from a doctor? I understand they have to be careful about lawsuits, but really, when I ask what I should do to prepare for an operation, must he refer me to his nurse or the hospital? I'm paying, God help me, $175 a visit for his time. And he's going to charge me $1,000 for my surgery on Thursday. A straight answer surely must factor in there somewhere.
End doctor rant.
Start health insurance rant.
      People have asked me why I'm a Democrat when I hold a lot of Republican values (I'm against abortion, for instance). Well, there are several reasons (civil rights, environmental protection, etc.) but one of the biggest reasons is that I want universal health care. Gasp! Yes, that's right. I'd like to have some minimum health care available for everyone. (Go ahead; call me a Socialist right now. I know you want to.) Because I don't have any. Not a bit. I'm basically getting this surgery, knowing that I can't pay for it. Oh, I will make monthly payments because that's all I can do. I won't walk away from my debts. But man, I wish I had health insurance. Not that I haven't tried to get any, but no health care provider will sell me a policy that I can afford. I got a job, I'm making my way through the world, I pay my own way or do without, but listen, I need some help on this. And guess what, because I have a job, I can't quality for any government assistance. I'm poor, but not poor enough. Our president talks a lot about helping middle income families with health care costs; dude, go to it. I'll convert to Republican on the spot and campaign tirelessly for every elephant candidate on any ballot, but help!
End health insurance rant.
Start body rant.
      Okay, my body, let's have a talk. It's bad enough that we have to have surgery, but is it really necessary to punish me with an IBD flare and a back problems at the same time? I'm not happy with this, either, so don't punish me. Here's a thought: Let's get overwhelming healthy so that we avoid all future surgeries, all IBD flares and all back problems. Wouldn't that be a kick in the face of the entire medical establishment? I think we should do it.
End body rant.
Start local theater board rant.
      Most of you will recall that I was appointed to my local theater board a few months back. I worried about it being too stressful as the board has the reputation of being difficult. It has lived up to that in spades, diamonds, and clubs. The worse part is the vicious infighting on the group. And they all take it so seriously, like the fate of the world depends on their decisions. Many times as they endlessly debate, I want to yell, "Do you not have a life? Is there not enough real problems for you to handle? How can you be so childish? Grow up!" Someday I will snap and do exactly that. It won't change them, but it will make me feel better.
Oh, and while I'm at it, being a professor means nothing, okay? No, I take that back. It means you should know something about your field, but it doesn't mean you've been gifted with godlike knowledge of all things. I have a degree with several minors (I'd be in college right now if I could afford it), but I'm not so stupid as to think that what I know about what I studied makes me automatically as smart or smarter than other people. (Those to whom this applies will be upset; those to whom it does not will not care.)
End local theater board rant.
Start blogging rant.
      Aren't you tired of those bloggers who do nothing but rant? I mean, obviously they're alive, they're not starving to death, they got enough money to afford Internet access or they can make it to a library, exactly how much of a whiney butt are they? No matter how bad we think we have it, someone -- usually a lot of someones -- have it worse. Something for me to remember.
End blogging rant.