Free Republic

I'm pleased to announced that I've just finished writing the first draft of my new Sci Fi novel, "I, Palpatine". This novel covers the biography of Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars (for those who haven't seen the film, he's the really nasty piece of work). One can either read the story in pieces on SithOrder.Com or get a more complete manuscript (with some corrections) by mailing me privately; I am doing this to keep track of to whom I send these manuscripts. Feedback from the most intelligent and discerning audience on the web is most appreciated.

One by one, the landmark epics of the 1970s are tying up the loose ends -- alas, not always in ways that quite support the great mythic power invested in them. In ''Revenge of the Sith,'' George Lucas brings the ''Star Wars'' cycle to a close by revealing how Anakin Skywalker went over to the Dark Side, transformed himself into Darth Vader, destroyed the Republic and consigned it to the mad imperial ambitions of Chancellor Palpatine -- all because, er, he was a bit worried his beloved Senator Padme might die in childbirth. If Senator Padme had been like Senator...

Now that the new Star Wars film has been released, there has been a flurry of articles drawing facile comparisons between the Emperor (formerly Chancellor) Palpatine and President Bush, and between the Sith and the Republicans. The preening liberal elite, which has hitherto regarded science fiction as the province of lesser mortals, has seized upon statements such as Darth Vader’s “If you’re not with me, you’re my enemy” and gasped with orgiastic delight upon recognising George Lucas as a kindred soul.This liberal interpretation of what is in the final analysis, a fantasy film, has not confined itself merely to an...

It is arguable that the most famous line in “Revenge of the Sith” comes from Padme Amidala. When Palpatine announces to a rapturous Senate that the Republic is to be re-organised as the first Galactic Empire, she says: "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause”. We are supposed to infer from this statement that freedom has been traded for security, and democracy traded for a dictatorship. As such, it is supposed to be a dark day, a tragedy, one which will take 20 years and the original three films to remedy. However the question that no one asks...

For connoisseurs of surrealism on the American right, it's hard to beat an exchange that appeared about a decade ago in the Heritage Foundation magazine Policy Review. It started when two associates of the Rev. Jerry Falwell wrote an article which criticized Christian Reconstructionism, the influential movement led by theologian Rousas John (R.J.) Rushdoony, for advocating positions that even they as committed fundamentalists found "scary." Among Reconstructionism's highlights, the article cited support for laws "mandating the death penalty for homosexuals and drunkards." The Rev. Rushdoony fired off a letter to the editor complaining that the article had got his followers'...

SENATE ROTUNDA, CORUSCANT -- Supreme Chancellor Palpatine took to the general channels of the HoloNet yesterday to announce the hotly debated Military Creation Act will finally be settled next month. Palpatine announced the date of 5:16 for the full Senate vote on the creation of an Army of the Republic.