flat tvs, check. portable phones, check. personal computers, check. flying cars ….. i feel ripped off.
the 70’s LIED!
And who is wearing shiny silver clothing?!
No one!
and no moon colony!
fucking fuckers
I was really planning on getting in my flying car, wearing my silver suit, and visiting my friends on the moon colony this weekend. I’ve had this planned since childhood.
Being that neither C nor myself are cathaholics—she a teetotaler and me an apathetic—we have tossed in the proverbial towel on this so-called St Valentine and his alleged day.
In case you didn’t know (and most don’t), St Valentine had an imaginary friend. The guy can’t stop talking about his imaginary friend. Just loves him. Says he is loved by him. A match made in heaven. But it’s over and over, relentless, like the pounding of the waves upon the beach. Everybody he meets stares in awe as Valentinus Sinusitis regales the very air with luscious adulations of said imaginary friend.
Then he meets an emperor of Rome—let’s call him Claudius—I like the name Claudius—I might name my next cat Claudius—anyway, Valentinus continues to avail every breath which might reach those imperial ears ever-toward the tiresome goal of shouting from the top of a mountain that which could just as effectively be slipped into a note in the pocket of one’s robe like a precious telegram.
have imaginary friend stop
lots of love stop
Long story short… so Claudius says “if you don’t shut the fuck up about your invisible companion I’m gonna have a couple of the boys take you out back and beat you to death”. Valentinus, being a smooth negotiator, talks the emperor into beheading when the beating is done: “if you’re going to do it, your highness, at least do it right”.
Clearly this is the most magnificent symbol of romantic love in the many millennia of humanity’s struggle to find someone with which to enjoy chocolate, perhaps rivaled only by Big Bird’s love of Mr Snuffleupagus—assuming of course someone were to then beat and behead Big Bird.
But hey, Big Bird’s been through a lot lately.
Big Bird: Down but not Out
Let’s leave him and his romance to blossom as it will. It’s a harsh world; we should never endeavor to hamper love.
So what might lovers do to spontaneously express their gratitude and joy, nay to celebrate the very fabric of love which binds so many of us together?
Let me turn your attention to another historical figure.
This chiseled human specimen is a novelist and a playwright, loves spanking servant girls in his spare time, did most of his writing in prison, was subsequently elected as a delegate before the National Convention, and can often be heard saying “Seigneur, Madame le Guillotine”.
Let’s have a big round of applause for our first contestant, the Marquis de Sade.
[Insert applause.]
(Actually he’s our only contestant as I don’t plan to stay up all night trying to convince you to laugh.)
The Marquis de Sade was probably born in June of 1740, not that it matters much. Holidays get tossed all over the calendar. If someone doesn’t like where a holiday lands they have always had the option to just move it.
Granted it’s a lot harder with a holiday like the Fourth of July, but as long as it’s named Lumpy Rug Day or Ether Day you have a bit of flexibility. And thanks to the amazing magic of double-think you too can think “it’s always been on that day”.
There have been a lot of folks talking about the Second Amendment. This of course reveals a lot of misconceptions and intellectual slight-of-hand by individuals on both sides of the discussion (right-to-bear v anti-gun and all points in between).
I came across this lengthy discussion of the Second Amendment and thought I’d pass it along for those interested in such intellectual matters. I would encourage many to read this so as to better understand the issues currently facing us, issues both in the news and in our neighborhoods.
The question is often posed, “Do we want big government or little government?” as though it were that simple.
It should be the general goal of any citizen to endeavor toward an optimal balance of minimal government and maximal mutual benefit (through said government).
That is all.
PS:
Apparently I’m not alone.
Politics should be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage. — Lucille Ball (here)
This telephone number belongs to some spammer assholes:
800-847-2911
It will probably die soon, as it should. They wanted me to visit some (presumably shitty-spammy) Web site.
Also, I had a text message from efagtiopla@gmail.com; I want to quote the entire text because it’s so laughable:
call my office at (011)6703308191 we need to discuss about last month
Incidentally, in case you didn’t know (I didn’t), zero-one-one is merely how to prefix an international call here in the US. The next three are the country code (670) and that is for Timor.
For the curious, I wasn’t in Timor last month. At least I don’t recall being there.
Then there was this lovely gem from dvwegjb@iphonetext.us:
Your cell phone was chosen to win a brand new 32GB i Pad 3! hxxp://alerts.iphonetext.us
(I have redacted the URL for the safety of all.)
Also the similarly styled message from 807-842-5369@textwinners.net:
Your number was randomly selected to recieve a $1,000 Walmart Gift Card! Claim it now at [the same site as the e-mail]. Your code is: 6712
I didn’t realize you could buy a $1000 worth of stuff at Walmart.
You can listen to the full half hour interview on Soundcloud.
Jeffrey Clements: “Corporations Are Not People” (Visit or Download)
You can read the full text of the proposed amendment here.
Those who know me well know that I am very concerned by the current state of afairs surrounding corporate personhood. This discussion (linked above) and his book (which I added to my Amazon —>wishlist<— hello) should help move your understanding of why this issue is of critical importance today.
I am reading a great book on the history of wealth over the four most recent world-economic powers: the United States, Great Britain, the Dutch, and the Spanish. Great book. It’s called Wealth and Democracy (A Political History of the American Rich) and it can be had at Amazon easily enough.
It contains some compelling quotations one of which I’d like to share here. This is FDR apparently in 1935 (p 213).
The transmission from generation to generation of great fortunes by will, inheritance or gift is not consistent with the ideals and sentiments of the American people. Great accumulations of wealth cannot be justified on the basis of personal or family security. Such inherited economic power is as inconsistent with the ideals of this generation as inherited political power was inconsistent with the ideals of the generation which established our government.
I couldn’t agree more. If we are going to praise the individual for creating wealth then every individual should begin as near to an even playing field as possible.
I worked for about three months for the IRS, in collections no less. My second least favorite job. I hated it and left. The first worst was working in a sheet metal plant and it wins that contest by dint of being utterly filthy in the physical realm. Telling crying taxpayers you are not going to sell their children into slavery for back taxes sucks.
Our tax system is really confusing. There are all sorts of maneuvers one can make if one hires an astute accountant adept in taxes which will improve one’s tax position. I would do this if I had money and I worked in that system. You’d think I might have a clue but our system is really confusing.
One thing you will hear lauded from time to time is a flat tax rate. They may even claim this will somehow make our tax system simpler. That is not likely to happen because those who propose flat taxes rarely also propose removing the host of deductions which create the bulk of the confusion.
Flat taxes are not fair in any objective sense. They are sold as fair by dint of being the same percentage. Let’s be clear though. Ten percent of ten thousand dollars is a thousand dollars. When you are making ten grand a year and lose one of those grands things have suddenly become a lot less grand. By contrast when you make ten million each year and you lose one of those million, meh, whatever.
Never mind that the very wealthy earn most of their money through rentier methods (non-labor related income) such as capital gains (which in turn is taxed much lower than labor-styled income—wages for instance).
I would like to see some major reforms (such as eliminating capital gains for single-home home owners where said home is valued at less than a million dollars tied to a capital gains tax increase), but I’m always pie-in-the-sky like that.
This excellent article came to my attention recently. I highly recommend the article as it is a good read and the author does an excellent job of describing one of the many confusing aspects of our tax system.
I might own an arsenal of firearms and I might think giving money to beggars is wrong (a la Plato: you are building an economy for begging), but I’m also a(n aspiring) musician and living in Seattle; this affords me access to some of the most liberal folks in the United States.
There has been an alarming trend I have noticed where the most liberal folks I know (especially the radically liberals) are abandoning President Obama. The reason seems to be that he just isn’t liberal enough. I admit that for a Democrat he is pretty flexible around the middle. Truth be told that’s probably a good thing. Unfortunately there is this trend.
That wouldn’t be so terrible but on the flip side the conservatives (especially Republicans and Tea Baggers) don’t like him because he’s still black liberal.
I can’t say with certainty what history will have to say about the Obama administration, but I would like to make an appeal for re-measuring your valuation of this current president, President Obama. Consider the depression/recession as it was inherited, consider the two wars (again as they were inherited), and consider the stupidity of both parties in both houses (Tea Baggers not withstanding) waging a partisan war largely measured in willy-wagging and posturizing rhetoric. Sitting at the head of this you have one human, Barack Obama, our President.
Isn’t it about time we made this more fair measure of his progress?
