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Star Fleet Academy: Resistance isn't futile

As a long-time Trekkie, no way would I pass up the chance to blog about a Star Fleet Academy — in Greensboro.

You heard it right.

When he wasn’t busy fighting for video poker in North Carolina, state Rep. Earl Jones was pushing a bill for such an enterprise (sorry about that).

 Here's Mark Binker's take.

The bill would fund the creation of a new research facility at N.C. A&T. The bill earmarks $1.7 million to buy land, conduct a feasibility/market study, and create a master plan for a technology research and development building complex called “The Star Fleet Academy Complex.

(Sounds like a Romulan conspiracy to me.)

The conservative Civitas Institute had a ball poking fun at this one, featuring interns dressed as Star Fleet officers and cadets in a pretend video infomercial for the Academy, where students could learn such lessons as how to speak Klingon, use the Vulcan nerve pinch and overact like William “Capt. Kirk” Shatner.

No matter what your politics are, it’s, as Spock might say, "Very curious.".

I can hear Jones' arguments on the House floor now ("Resistance is futile".).

It's hard to say a lot more about the idea because the bill offers so few specifics.

I’ll give Jones credit for reaching for the stars. And for seeking a creative way to honor A&T alum Ron McNair, the astronaut/scientist who died in the Challenger disaster.

But I don’t give his bill much of a chance of making it off the launching pad.

Alas, I fear, “It’s dead, Jim."