brenda and ita, click on the link again and look at the upper right hand corner. The picture and the entry do not match.

Oh, I see.

Of course, I have no idea who that is, but there you go.

Oh. I assumed that was a picture of him as a young(er) man in some German church get-up. Who is it really?

Edit: Never mind, it's a Star Wars joke.

Who is it really?

Emperor Palpatine, from Star Wars

also, props to the Wikipedites for being fast on the edits

The Emperor Palpatine, from the Dark Side of the Force. Vader's patron in the pursuit of evil-tude.

edit: a lovely x-post among 2 of the Buffista brides-to-be. That's good company.

Chancelor Palpatine, when not in the form of Darth Sidious.

eta: Large dark-side x-post, of course. I had to google to find the spelling of Sidious.

What I hate is that the very question of access to guns has turned into such a divisive political issue for so many Americans. It seems to me that the Democrats could have found a way to present mandatory background checks in such a way as to reassure the vast majority of gun owners that their access to owning weapons was not being threatened. However, the right has done an amazing job in taking a single, relatively unimportant issue and using it to sway people who no other reason to vote for them.

Yeah, how hard is it to basically say, "we don't want bad people to have guns"? I find the same cock-up in the arguments between pro-choice/pro-life. Why can't the pro-choice side find a better way to say, "we ALL want FEWER abortions"? Seems like a severe breakdown in communication in people that basically want to achieve the same ends--just by far different means.

Brenda, I think the core of it isn't any ability to defend myself against whatever. It's a resignedness to the mortality everywhere. If the gun's actually put away, I feel safer than if it's where I can see it. Hell, just the idea that only the people who know it's there can use it is a comfort. The more that know, the more vulnerable the bystanders. But I know I could be killed by a fist, a pencil, a shove, a choke, a car, a brick -- whatever.

Know this I did not:

Both the middle aged Palpatine and the elderly Emperor Palpatine are played by actor Ian McDiarmid, although the holographic image of the Emperor that briefly appeared in The Empire Strikes Back was played by an unnamed actor (a woman with the composited image of a lemur for the eyes) and was voiced by Clive Revill. For the 2004 DVD release of the Star Wars Trilogy, the scene in Episode V was reshot with Ian McDiarmid replacing Revill as the Emperor, with new lines recorded for both McDiarmid and James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader).

Sad I am that removed were the lemur eyes.

Sad I am that removed were the lemur eyes

Don't go getting attached to Lucas visuals. In ten years Palpatine will be played by Dakota Fanning in all versions.