Which isn't saying much.

I'm going to voice the unpopular opinion: Gail Simone not a very good writer, neither of fiction or bloggy opinion pieces. Her work is overly-fannish, similiar to what we see in Peter David's or Mark Waid's work, but without the character development of David or the skilful plot unification that Waid is known for. IMHO, what sets Simone's work apart from other comics writers is its astounding degree of 'fanservice'. Fans want to see X beat up Y? So does Simone. Fans want to see fan-favourite characters A, B and C in a team? So does Simone. Whether it makes sense from a plot perspective or whether there's any kind of character development that grows from those stories is secondary -- and usually non-existent.

Simone also writes in too many 'Mary Sue' characters. Birds of Prey's Misfit. Tranquility's Sheriff Thomasina. And on and on and on.

Tranquility had a great high concept, but has failed terribly in its execution. The best large-cast stories are able to develop the characters of the cast. The worst focus on one or two and leave the rest as cardboard cutouts. The very worst can't even succeed with one or two. And then there's Tranquility, with a cast of cardboard characters, none of whom the audience should care about, inhabiting a virtually incomprehensible story. Don't get me wrong: the idea was great, but someone else should have written it.

So far, Simone's WW arc has had several retcons: WW's lasso can do *what*? Captain Nazi's mother was a what? And some of the plot points are just asinine; Diana agrees to serve some Hawaiian god? Talking gorillas in her apartment? More unnecessary bloodshed directed against women, ironically from a writer who has railed about such violence for years?

As with so many other fanservice writers before her, fans mistake her ability to press the right buttons in the fannish pleasure centre for good writing.

The problem is, we're talking morality here, not law. Google's motto is "do no evil", not "break no laws". Applying your logic to morality only leads to relativism, where there ceases to be any absolute good just because there's multiple subjectively valid claims to it. And it's this that really bugs people. With that kind of thinking, "evil" means almost nothing at all because the line between good and evil is a moving target.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but there is such a thing as being tried for legal acts in foreign countries. Canadians and Australians can be tried in their home country for sex tourism abroad.

That scene where Galactica jumps into the atmosphere is from the Battle of Exodus. Now you can understand what's everyone ranting and raving about :) That was one heck of a season premiere.

We here on Slashdot tend to be too cynical, too willing to accept the fact that bad laws will be passed and there's nothing we can do about it. We need to write to our elected officials and let them know how we feel. We can actually help make a difference on issues if we simply take out a few minutes to let our feelings be known.

Teddy Roosevelt once said: "A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user." So, make your letters well-written, well-reasoned arguments combined with impassioned pleas for your senator or representative to listen to logic, instead of a hate-filled diatribe as to why these bills are the root of all evil and they are just part of the machine dragging us further and further downward. Otherwise, we'll all be bystanders as this entire class of legislation is forced upon us.