S3e20- We Killed Yamamoto ("There are moral absolutes.")

Well, Aaron Sorkin is taking us on a nice journey through leadership manuals.  Last episode, it was The Art of War, and in this episodes, it's Machiavelli's The Prince, which the President refers to in Italian- "Il Principe has has justified every act of oppression..." in response to Leo stating that doing something wrong to end another thing that is wrong is right.  There's a nice symmetry that exists between this and Josh's dilemma.  Through Amy's actions, Josh is forced into making this decision- grabbing votes to the right for every vote she takes from the left.  If he wins, he can claim victory, though the strength of the bill is less than what it was- better to win ugly that lose with your principals intact.

So, that paragraph above seemed smart, I think.  There was a nice parallel that I drew there- and plus I let you know that they were talking about Machiavelli.  So, I hope I've earned a bit of what is about to happen.

NASA didn't spend millions trying to develop a space pen, and the Russians didn't just send their cosmonauts up with pencils!

Folks, let me introduce you to the privately funded Fisher Space Pen:

That's right.  Designed by Paul Fisher, who invested a million dollars of his own money, patented the pen and has had the market all to himself ever since.  In 1967, he sold these pens to NASA for their use at the very reasonable price of $4 per pen- a bargain, considering NASA has tried two years prior to purchase Mechanical Pencils made by Tycam for $129 per pencil.  Fisher Pens ended up selling the Space Pens to the Russians in 1969, which replaced the grease pencils they were using.  Of course, even though these pens were cheap, Fisher got an incredible endorsement and marketing strategy for their product:

  

Fantastic.

If you've been reading this blog much, you'll know that I'm not usually someone who tries to find holes to poke- I'm all about celebrating this wonderful show called "The West Wing."  But I bought my first space pen long before I watched my first episode, and by golly, I'm going to stand up for the pen I believe in.   Aaron Sorkin should apologize to the Fisher Pen company for the egregious slander he commits in this episode.  SHAME!  He thought it would be ok to do, because his errors might have made for a better episodes, but Aaron, there are Moral Absolutes!  

Seinfeld's no better!  Really, Seinfeld?  Too cheap to use the proud Fisher brand name??

Seriously, though- I really am a huge fan of space pens.  Space foods, on the other hand, are the worst...  What an incredible marketing ploy- eat this thing that tastes like crap, but enjoy it, because it's as close as you'll come to orbiting the moon!

Oh my god, Sean Spicer must have really hated Space Ice Cream!

Shoot, there, I made reference to the over-cooked Tanning-Bed residue with a toupee who currently lives in the White House...  I was trying to not rise to the bait of Toby trying to get rid of his candidates tax problem (how quaint!), and the amazing quote "Jed Bartlet: Not quite as mean-spirited as the other guy." Doesn't really send me running to my polling place," which sent me into a spiral of despair thinking about this past November's Election.  

Oh well- better luck next time.

What's Next?  S3e21- Posse Comitatus

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