tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27255825051022014622024-03-13T09:12:25.365-06:00m a n d r o p p i n g srandom ramblings of a ravaged mindwasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.comBlogger1011125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-55750030136440237922014-01-13T14:25:00.001-07:002014-01-13T14:28:01.813-07:00Yes, But Who Built It?So, remember the <a href="http://discovermagazine.com/2013/dec/09-do-we-live-in-the-matrix">stories </a>that finally went mainstream about a month ago around the idea that perhaps this universe and everything we know is just one big computer simulation? It occurs to me that this might be a very good explanation of why we’ve never encountered alien life: those who built the Matrix would likely be outside of it looking in.<br />
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Of course, that presupposes someone ELSE building the simulation, someone not human. What if we built it ourselves? I think that thought is even more disturbing. But it is also one that lends itself to explaining why our politicians and our powerful are so hell-bent on pissing away all of our resources and laying waste to the planet. If you knew it was all false, that it was all a game, it would definitely change your attitude toward the things the rest of us normally take for granted as “real.”<br />
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And if I were a powerful person in possession of some definitive knowledge like that, knowledge that the world and everything in it was just a construct, then I have to assume I would do my damnedest to keep that knowledge secret. Imagine the chaos, the insanity that would be unleashed on the world if everyone suddenly came to find out that we’re all living in a massive lie.<br />
<br />
No, we certainly must keep the plebes struggling and desperate and fearful.<br />
<br />
At any rate, this train of thought reminds me of a sort of side point--but one that is incredibly thought-provoking and perhaps alarming--in Chuck Palahniuk’s book “Rant.” In it, a character who is capable of time-travel casually opines something along the lines of this (badly paraphrased): If it were possible to do that, to travel in time, don’t you think the people who have all the money and the power not only know about it, but have already been doing it for a long time?<br />
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Similarly, it occurs to me that if the universe and our world is a simulation, then the people who run things, the people who are privy to information most of us can’t even dream of, would be the most likely to know about it. And so look at their behavior: they sure ACT like there is no reason to worry about destroying this world...<br />
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wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-39998726412581907782014-01-11T10:31:00.005-07:002014-01-11T10:38:24.992-07:00Yeah, that's...pretty accurate<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rmOs4j7GRjw/UtF_39NiZZI/AAAAAAAADZg/rffCoXgrfmc/s1600/KkL2T7g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rmOs4j7GRjw/UtF_39NiZZI/AAAAAAAADZg/rffCoXgrfmc/s1600/KkL2T7g.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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The way we live.</div>
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<a href="http://reddit.com/" target="_blank">via</a></div>
wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-40127048125737743002014-01-05T18:23:00.001-07:002014-01-05T18:26:58.524-07:00Violent Ape/Deadly ApeThis is a piece I started a few months ago and just got around to finishing it. It's pretty bleak. And while I would say it is only reflective of how I feel SOME of the time, I would hasten to add that I in no way disavow these thoughts. Not at all.<br />
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Bleakness comes and goes, ebbs and flows, as does my faith in humanity. <br />
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<br />
MONKEY WITH A GUN <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I4szeZSba28/UsoBCchMOpI/AAAAAAAADY4/bsymaKc9ne0/s1600/monkey_with_gun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I4szeZSba28/UsoBCchMOpI/AAAAAAAADY4/bsymaKc9ne0/s1600/monkey_with_gun.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">George Zimmerman readying for another night patrol on neighborhood watch.</span></div>
<br />
So, another school shooting.<br />
<br />
Another outcry, another call for compassion, another call to keep The Children in our thoughts, along with Those We Have Lost.<br />
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Another call for prayers to a god who either chooses not to intervene and is therefore evil, or who is incapable of intervening, and is therefore not omnipotent, and therefore no god at all.<br />
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But at least Rush Limbaugh has straightened everything out for us: these things happen because liberals.<br />
<br />
Of course.<br />
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(Note that there is always the jangle of defensiveness, the blatting of a wrong note, the creeping desperation of the lady protestething too much when people like him clamor to mansplain these things, you notice? A couple of shootings ago, someone was saying it was all because God has been kicked out of the schools, um, somehow. Funny that, when he tells us he’s everywhere...)<br />
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I would posit that the answer is even simpler than that, that it goes back further than the Johnson Administration--or even the Jesus Administration: simply put, we are a dumb, violent, brutal species, just as myopic and short-sighted as any other hungry animal on the planet, incapable of thinking coherently for any length of time beyond our own immediate needs. And with our big, stupid brains and our subjugation of the natural world and conquering of death (we like to imagine), we’ve managed to convince ourselves of an entirely new and all-encompassing definition of the word “need.”<br />
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As CIA Director Saul Berenson says to his brilliant but impulsive protégé Carrie Matheison on “Homeland,” “You are the smartest and the dumbest fucking person I’ve ever known.”<br />
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That is the human race in a nutshell.<br />
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Convince us that we are gods incapable of dying--or who SHOULD be--that we are emperors incapable of suffering the slightest inconvenience--or who SHOULD be--that we are kings and queens who deserve everything we can possibly imagine--and then put guns in our hands and watch as we destroy ourselves.<br />
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We like to argue that the rapists among us, the shooters among us, the child abusers among us, the animal torturers among us--that these are aberrations, that they are outliers, that they fall far outside the bell curve of normal human behavior.<br />
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But at some point folks, we have to admit that there are simply far too many of “them” to consider “us” as something completely separate. Perhaps, a la Occam’s Razor, the answer is far simpler than the reasons we desperately grasp at in the wake of these events: bad upbringing/poor socialization/affluenza/The Media/violent video games/the NRA/the religious/the atheists/the homosexuals/etc etc ad infinitum.<br />
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Perhaps we’re just stupid, selfish, inherently violent monkeys whose brains grew too large.<br />
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But what about art, you say. What about beauty and love? What about the search for something larger than ourselves? Whither Michelangelo and Shakespeare and Mozart? What about humankind’s higher callings and aspirations?
To that I would argue that, yes, fleetingly, a few of us have occasionally shown ourselves capable of rising above our brute, petty needs. But really these examples are quite rare, when you think about it. And on closer examination of the individuals responsible for birthing such beauty into the world, we usually find that they are just as monstrous, just as banally, casually stupid and evil as the rest of us, in their own way. They just happened to stumble upon beauty in addition to the rest of it.<br />
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As they say down south, even a blind pig finds an acorn every now and then.<br />
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Simply put, humans are shitty people.<br />
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Individuals have moments when they are not, but if taken honestly and as a whole tapestry, let's face it: the overall picture is bleak.<br />
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I’d rather spend my time with a dog. At least they won’t shoot you.<br />
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wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-84597419839623791572014-01-05T15:39:00.000-07:002014-01-05T15:52:22.741-07:00No. Just, no.<a href="http://laughingsquid.com/" target="_blank">via</a><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TrKdysL9zxM/UsniGY2ObYI/AAAAAAAADYc/S2R6PMwTpCk/s1600/hoodsie2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TrKdysL9zxM/UsniGY2ObYI/AAAAAAAADYc/S2R6PMwTpCk/s1600/hoodsie2.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
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Just when you thought adult Americans couldn't get any more cutesy-wutesy in our ongoing regression into childhood.<br />
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Introducing the Hoodsie, a hooded onesie for "adults." (note the quotation marks at the top of the video.)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rkWKrqfpx3w" width="560"></iframe><br />
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How did I know these idiots would at some point be wearing one of those retarded animal hats? <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wxYDGrcD-9U/Usnd-_ifL_I/AAAAAAAADYQ/n0hwX6eXCts/s1600/Panda_Hat_151__64867_zoom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wxYDGrcD-9U/Usnd-_ifL_I/AAAAAAAADYQ/n0hwX6eXCts/s1600/Panda_Hat_151__64867_zoom.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">If you wear one of these and you are over the age of twelve, please kill yourself.</span></div>
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I don't care how many hot models you feature sporting this terrible product, we all know that the people who will end up wearing them will be obese, unwashed Wal-Mart shoppers, like this lovely lady looking spiffy in her terry-cloth, bib-overall style onesie.<br />
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Hell, if they made one with a butt-flap, you'd never have to change clothes at all! <br />
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pic <a href="http://peopleofwalmart.com/" target="_blank">via </a>wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-529037148614131052014-01-03T13:19:00.002-07:002014-01-03T13:21:35.379-07:00Snow and Batman Jammies<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7-feD8YMUIM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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This dog is happy, methinks.
via <a href="http://laughingsquid.com/mosley-the-greyhound-plays-in-the-snow-in-his-batman-pajamas/">laughing squid</a>wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-50461179900034631482014-01-03T12:53:00.000-07:002014-01-03T12:53:31.604-07:00Some Days...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Some days, human beings break my heart. </div>
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It’s nothing out of the
ordinary; it’s just the way it hits me. Just all sorts of stupid things I notice sometimes, things that
aren’t any different from anything any one of us does on any given day. But
watching others fumble through their lives some days, it’s just heartbreaking,
I don’t know why. The futility of their efforts, their failed attempts
at...everything. The eternal hope and subsequent, inevitable eternal failure is just excruciating sometimes:</div>
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Some grumpy kid being dragged behind his clueless parents on
an outing that started out fun but isn’t anymore. </div>
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Some lonely, heavyset girl eating alone, her
long-anticipated meal of a sandwich and a yogurt so much of a letdown even
after only a few bites. </div>
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Some older lady waiting for a delayed flight in her stupid new boots. You can sense her disappointment in the world reflected in the
shiny silver buckles, her disdain for things that don’t turn out her way in the
care with which she perches them on her stool’s footrest. </div>
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Some days all the sad, crushed high hopes of the
ever-hopeful human race are right there, plainly etched in the dead skin of a
cow wrapped around some woman’s feet.</div>
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Other days, humans fill me full of rage. Our unfathomably
stupid, thick-headed bloody-mindedness. Our relentless selfishness. The endless
wells of self-deception we lug around with us. </div>
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On those days it amazes me we ever survived our trip down
out of the trees.</div>
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<br />wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-50044347328958521192014-01-03T12:41:00.001-07:002014-01-03T12:41:10.583-07:00Happy New Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YaRxBsWOgNI/UscR6MymRUI/AAAAAAAADXk/OUoXQgX66zA/s1600/homer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YaRxBsWOgNI/UscR6MymRUI/AAAAAAAADXk/OUoXQgX66zA/s320/homer.jpg" /></a></div>
I'm back.<br />
<br />
Again.<br />
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I hope to get back in the habit of posting here at least every other day. I found last spring that it took me away from writing on my plays. Which it does. But I also am finding that I need this outlet too. Hope you'll enjoy.<br />
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pic <a href="http://homergoldenretriever.blogspot.com/2013/01/homers-happy-new-year-hangover.html">via </a>wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-17676449949155841542013-04-24T22:04:00.002-06:002013-04-24T22:04:36.732-06:00damn right.<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tRZYm8dXgZg/UXirNUDymQI/AAAAAAAADNw/2bGro62FWe8/s1600/no+we+wont.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tRZYm8dXgZg/UXirNUDymQI/AAAAAAAADNw/2bGro62FWe8/s320/no+we+wont.jpg" /></a>wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-59166239787234164452013-04-22T17:50:00.004-06:002013-04-22T17:50:46.487-06:00background checks and hypocrisyThis is not the appropriate time to discuss background checks (on immigrants and/or muslims.) We should be looking at the mental health component of this tragedy, and the individuals in question rather than painting all (immigrants and/or muslims) with broad brushstrokes. #soundfamiliar?
--kjb wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-69713968047171319372013-04-15T14:11:00.000-06:002013-04-15T14:11:03.802-06:00Quo Vadis?<div class="MsoNormal">
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O, Obama, wither goest thou?</div>
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And thou, O Liberal, who followeth thy shepherd?</div>
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There is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quo_vadis%3F" target="_blank">a tale </a>from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Peter" target="_blank">Acts of Peter</a> which has Saint Peter fleeing
from Rome and his own likely crucifixion. When he encounters a resurrected
Jesus on the road, Peter asks, “Whither goest thou?” ("Quo vadis" in Latin.) </div>
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Jesus replies, “I am going
back to Rome to be crucified again.” Thus, Peter gains the courage to return to
Rome himself and continue his ministry--at least until he is indeed finally
crucified, upside-down.</div>
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And as the media try to make sense of Obama’s <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/04/12/obama-does-social-security-and-medicare/" target="_blank">proposed</a>
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/us/politics/president-obamas-budget-revives-benefits-as-divisive-issue.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0" target="_blank">budget</a>, which sells out seniors, not to mention 70 years of Democrats fighting
to protect Social Security, liberals find themselves encountering Obama on the
road to Rome. </div>
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Are we going to follow him back to the Eternal City to be
crucified ourselves, ass pointed toward the sky, head full of blood--and very
likely, regret? Will he be your resurrection? Or could it be possible that
Obama is--gasp--selling out his base? As unimaginable as this may seem?</div>
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Well, an <a href="http://www.politicususa.com/obama-called-bluff-republicans-admit-scared-cut-social-security.html" target="_blank">adorable little article</a> that appears today in
<a href="http://www.politicususa.com/" target="_blank">politicsusa</a> suggests that there is no such crucifixion in the offing. That in
fact, what is actually happening is that that clever Obama is at it again,
playing 11-dimensional chess and whooping everyone’s ass in the process, only
no one else knows it yet.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vwqySOddtYU/UWxVmrftTBI/AAAAAAAADNI/_EDUJSvPLbg/s1600/Barack+Obama+chess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vwqySOddtYU/UWxVmrftTBI/AAAAAAAADNI/_EDUJSvPLbg/s320/Barack+Obama+chess.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">via</a></div>
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Well, the article would be adorable if it weren’t so
hopelessly naïve and so typical of the contortions that liberals will put
themselves through in order to find a way to keep supporting this president,
even after he has proven<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>himself over
and over to be nothing but a less-abrasive, English-speaking version of George W.
Bush. </div>
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In the piece, the author, one <a href="http://www.politicususa.com/author/jasoneasley" target="_blank">Jason Easley</a> pushes the notion
that Obama’s embrace of <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/173786/top-5-myths-about-chained-cpi-debunked#" target="_blank">chained-CPI</a> social security “reform” is in fact a
setup: </div>
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The truth is that outside of the right wing ideologues, many
Republicans see real political danger in messing with Social Security. In plain
English, Republicans will get nothing on Social Security unless they agree to
raise taxes.</div>
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He suggests that Republicans have three choices: allow tax
increases in order to get chained-CPI passed (and get savaged by their
tax-hatin’ base), argue for chained-CPI without tax increases (and get nothing,
because Obama and the Senate have proven so very formidable when it comes to
negotiations) or reject chained-CPI altogether (resulting in a party divided
and nothing getting passed at all.)</div>
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Well, first of all the premise that Obama might stand tall
in <a href="http://negotiatingwithobama.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">negotiations </a>with Republicans in order to secure a deal that he “really wants”
is...well, it’s sweet. That's so cute. I wish I could meet Mr. Easley so I could pat him on his
widdle head. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j7pQ7wI-oqM/UWxWUhLXb_I/AAAAAAAADNQ/_vgSrjigK68/s1600/best+i+can+do.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j7pQ7wI-oqM/UWxWUhLXb_I/AAAAAAAADNQ/_vgSrjigK68/s320/best+i+can+do.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://negotiatingwithobama.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">via</a></div>
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As is apparent to anyone with a pulse, this flies in the
face of all available evidence. <a href="http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/01/01/obama-caves-on-taxes-while-house-prepares-to-vote-on-deal/" target="_blank">Given </a>any <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/08/1200238/-BREAKING-Obama-Caves-Again-Freed-Slaves-To-Give-Back-20-of-Their-40-Acres" target="_blank">opportunity </a>to <a href="http://www.npr.org/2010/12/02/131733220/liberals-obama-doesn-t-compromise-he-caves" target="_blank">cave </a>to Republican
<a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/156852/obama-caves-tax-cuts-endorses-bush-mccain-philosophy" target="_blank">wishes </a>or to the received wisdom of the Beltway in order to fulfill his weird
fetish for so-called “bi-partisanship,” this president has done so. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WPzhmqMBA-I/UWxWuC-dZ6I/AAAAAAAADNY/jCHku0NadD8/s1600/obama+inception.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WPzhmqMBA-I/UWxWuC-dZ6I/AAAAAAAADNY/jCHku0NadD8/s320/obama+inception.jpg" width="196" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://negotiatingwithobama.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">via</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One might be prompted to imagine--if one were of a cynical
bent--that with this nearly unbroken string of concessions, Obama has in fact
been getting what he wants all along. That perhaps his stated goals aren’t in
sync with his actual goals. One might imagine that if there
is a game being played, it isn’t being run on the Republicans, but rather on
Obama’s liberal base. (See: closure, Guantanamo; reform, Wall Street; health
care, single-payer; withdrawal, Iraq; Patriot Act, renewal; torture, non-prosecution of; etc., etc., ad infinitum.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But enough heresy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mr. Easley goes on to say:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Democrats have constructed an elaborate political trap for
Republicans. If they go on record as supporting Social Security cuts, President
Obama his party will snap it closed. (sic)</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, because that’s what Democrats are good at, snapping
traps.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Note that within hours of Obama’s budget proposal going
public, Republicans were already <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/04/nrcc-chair-blasts-obama-budget-as-shocking-attack-on-seniors.php?ref=fpb" target="_blank">accusing him of selling out seniors</a>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s
some fine trap-snappin’ there, Lou.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Obama:</b> Good luck in 2014 and 2016, fellow Dems! Did I
mention I won’t have to run again? Ever?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dem politicians:</b> 0_o</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps the most infuriating piece of this liberal
head-in-the-sand routine as demonstrated by Mr. Easley’s article is the notion
that anyone who argues against Obama’s policies from the left is somehow
actually the one who is ignorant or naïve:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
While the activists on the left continue to completely
ignore the political realities unfolding before them, it is looking more and
more like Obama’s Chained CPI offer was designed to call the Republican bluff
on Social Security.</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here’s the thing: the “political realities” are a result of
what the president wants them to be. They are not entirely his doing, obviously, but the president
has the largest, loudest, biggest, baddest bully pulpit on the planet. If he
wanted to change the conversation--or even make an ATTEMPT to change the
conversation, he could do so. He could have done so, over and over again. He
has had countless opportunities to try and shift the conversation--ANY
conversation--more toward something resembling the progressive platforms on
which he ran. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He has not done so.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And here’s where the intransigent Obama cheerleaders are
completely self-defeating: the conversation desperately needs to be changed.
I AGREE with them, for fuck's sake, that this country is fast steamrolling toward an unshakeable oligarchy run by and
for the plutocrats, and there will come a point--if we haven’t passed it
already--at which no amount of howling from us plebeians will have any effect. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And if Obama won’t change the conversation, we need to call
him out on it. If we continue to support him no matter what shitty, anti-democratic, anti-human policies he supports, we are complicit. Why isn’t he (and Mr. Easley, for that matter) saying things like:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Wage_Base#Historical_data" target="_blank">cut-off for social security contributions</a> is $113,000.
Any money a person makes over that amount is exempt from the SS tax. You want
to “save” social security? Raise that limit a few thousand dollars and it can
last as long as this country does.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Social Security<a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/10/15/5-huge-myths-about-social-security/" target="_blank"> is not insolvent</a>, nor is it about to be. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-Social Security <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=social+security+does+not+add+to+the+deficit&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a" target="_blank">does not add to the deficit</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-the deficit is <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=the+deficit+is+shrinking&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a" target="_blank">actually dropping</a>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-the deficit is actually a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/opinion/krugman-dwindling-deficit-disorder.html" target="_blank">good thing</a> right now, according to some economists.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-tax rates <a href="http://money.msn.com/taxes/todays-taxes-lowest-in-60-years.aspx" target="_blank">are at their lowest</a> in ___ years (depends who you ask).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My point is that left and right, blue and red are no longer
relevant arguments to be having, not when all of the people we’re arguing
about, left or right, are supporting the position of big money, either tacitly
or overtly. If anyone or anything is threatening the destruction of
this country, it is wealth disparity, political corruption, and revenue shortfalls.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So who’s being naïve again? The people who think Obama is
pulling some elaborate con while only appearing to sell out his base? Or those
who think that he really is selling out his base, as he has so many times
before?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
O, liberal, wither goest thou,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now that thy shepherd has proven a wolf?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
--kjb </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H4fRaF6Cleg/UWxXE5Ve31I/AAAAAAAADNg/-So77xuY9BA/s1600/what+if+i+told+you.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-H4fRaF6Cleg/UWxXE5Ve31I/AAAAAAAADNg/-So77xuY9BA/s320/what+if+i+told+you.png" width="211" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
(by the way, if you haven't clicked on the last two "via" links I posted, go immediately to this guy's <a href="http://negotiatingwithobama.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">tumblr</a>. It is awesome and hilarious. :-)<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-42893393324127623782013-04-09T16:21:00.000-06:002013-04-09T16:21:45.704-06:00Guns Don't Kill People......four year olds<a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/four-year-old-shoots-kills-deputys-wife-at-tennessee-cookout.php" target="_blank"> at picnics</a> do.<br />
<br />
Tennessee is two-for-two today in the weird story lottery, what with the <a href="http://mandroppings.blogspot.com/2013/04/tennesseeing-is-tennebelieving.html" target="_blank">masturbating driver</a> going 90 miles per hour and this one: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say a 4-year-old boy grabbed a
loaded gun at a family cookout and accidentally shot and killed the wife
of a Tennessee sheriff’s deputy.</blockquote>
No, this is really sad and not very funny at all. But it does go to debunk all the gun-toters' pithy quotes about how gun violence is strictly an operator problem, not anything to do with the equipment at all. Still.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Investigators say Wilson County Deputy Daniel Fanning on Saturday was
showing his weapons to a relative in a bedroom of his Lebanon home when
the toddler came in and picked up a gun off the bed. Sheriff Robert
Bryan says the weapon discharged, hitting 48-year-old Josephine Fanning.</blockquote>
Sad. wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-4292610098331154802013-04-09T12:40:00.002-06:002013-04-09T12:45:10.497-06:00Tennesseeing is TennebelievingAnd what they Tennessesaw they cannot UnTennessee <br />
<br />
<a href="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/tenn-lawmaker-allegedly-drove-90-mph-while-masturbating" target="_blank">Headline </a>reads:<br />
<br />
"Former Tennessee Lawmaker Allegedly Drove 90 mph While Masturbating out Window" <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Witness Deanna Dykes said Blakely was "waving, grabbed his shirt, kind of pulled it up."<br />
"He was taking his hand, wetting his mouth, and masturbating," witness Deborah Sturgill said. </blockquote>
And another:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Witness Kelly Street offered a similar account.<br />
<br />
"At over 90 miles per hour, he had his penis out [the window]... he
was masturbating... and that's when it got really, really bad. I
wouldn't look over any more, and I wrote his tag number down on my hand,
which I believe he noticed, and he exited very quickly," Street said.</blockquote>
Wait a minute. He put his penis out the window at 90 mph, and you say "...that's when it got really, really bad??"<br />
<br />
I think not. I say kudos, good sir.<br />
<br />
Hell, if he's that coordinated, not to mention talented, not to mention determined, maybe he deserves another shot at office?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HmeAxZTYJD0/UWRfvEDU6BI/AAAAAAAADM4/_jyxyB3J8Fs/s1600/susie_9-24-9_-_photo_by_michal_mrozek__medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HmeAxZTYJD0/UWRfvEDU6BI/AAAAAAAADM4/_jyxyB3J8Fs/s320/susie_9-24-9_-_photo_by_michal_mrozek__medium.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">You should see what he's got in his other fist.</span></div>
<br />wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-45398820427446814972013-03-28T11:43:00.000-06:002013-03-28T12:06:31.229-06:00Change Your Profile Pic or the Homo Gets It<span id="goog_2102527974"></span><span id="goog_2102527975"></span>Well, I’ve been sort of passively called out by an FB friend for posting this picture yesterday or the day before, and for being snarky about the whole “change your profile pic in support of gay marriage” thing.
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MJQ6Hbdv50s/UVR6OLW2gyI/AAAAAAAADMA/2Ewi-_H-7BU/s1600/who.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MJQ6Hbdv50s/UVR6OLW2gyI/AAAAAAAADMA/2Ewi-_H-7BU/s320/who.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
For the record, I also left this pic up after a different friend posted it on my wall.
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4d-hcNxiyac/UVR6dv9zgfI/AAAAAAAADMI/QY9f2fTNPQQ/s1600/supreme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4d-hcNxiyac/UVR6dv9zgfI/AAAAAAAADMI/QY9f2fTNPQQ/s320/supreme.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
(I also posted this, but who's counting?)
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qQwTz0NJxxQ/UVR6tBqso_I/AAAAAAAADMU/OMGUchsCgTo/s1600/blackflagsdfsdfsdfsd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qQwTz0NJxxQ/UVR6tBqso_I/AAAAAAAADMU/OMGUchsCgTo/s320/blackflagsdfsdfsdfsd.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
First of all, let’s establish this: I’m not anti-gay marriage.
<br />
<br />
I’m anti-marriage, personally, but if anyone else wants to get married, I don’t give a shit. I will mock them mercilessly, and I may drunkenly cite divorce statistics at the reception afterward in a very loud voice, but I have no reason to stand in their way.
<br />
<br />
I am fully, 100 percent in support of legalized gay marriage. Like my friend, I too have many, many friends who are gay, and I too abhor homophobia. <a href="http://mandroppings.blogspot.com/2013/03/rand-paul-is-still-idiot.html" target="_blank">Here </a>are a <a href="http://mandroppings.blogspot.com/2011/05/feel-rainbow.html" target="_blank">few </a>things I <a href="http://mandroppings.blogspot.com/2010/08/angel-in-america.html" target="_blank">have </a>written <a href="http://mandroppings.blogspot.com/2012/08/to-murder-muppet.html" target="_blank"> on </a>the topic, and there are many, many more relevant posts on FB.
<br />
<br />
Second, the pictures are fucking funny. Aren’t they? I mean, come on. No matter where you stand on this, these are funny. When did liberals become so very humorless about things we support? I thought that was the job of hardcore religious conservatives.
<br />
<br />
(And Libertarians. Try making a Rand Paul joke on the interwebz sometime. It’s like trashing Elvis while you’re on a Graceland tour. Only instead of fat, southern, octegenarian housewives riding scooters chasing you off, it’s 20-something, half-bright bros clutching “Atlas Shrugged” and firearms. Many, many firearms.)
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-plyIOTWpAoc/UVR72sjh0aI/AAAAAAAADMY/vUxhWteqq7Y/s1600/ayn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-plyIOTWpAoc/UVR72sjh0aI/AAAAAAAADMY/vUxhWteqq7Y/s1600/ayn.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
The point is not to disparage people who support gay marriage or who changed their profile pic, but to suggest that we all take a moment to think about climbing down off that high horse, before it gets so very high we require a helicopter extraction team.
<br />
<br />
Yes, it’s taking the piss a bit, at a lovely time when the tide towards tolerance seems to be shifting in this country. But I contend that taking the piss is a healthy part of the discussion, even on a day when the national bandwidth is covered in so much “support.”
<br />
<br />
Maybe especially on a day like that. As Harvey Keitel’s character The Wolf said in “Pulp Fiction,” “Let’s not all start sucking each others’ dicks just yet.”
<br />
<br />
(Ha ha...irony...insert your own joke here.)
<br />
<br />
(Ha ha...he said “insert...”)
<br />
<br />
Anyway, the last time I got into an FB discussion with the first friend, the one who was offended--I don't even remember what we were talking about--but we went back and forth a few times in comments before he announced he was finished with the discussion and taking himself out of the conversation--after posting his last say, of course, haha.
<br />
<br />
So that’s the reason I’m going to post this here and not bother with going back to his original post; if you don’t want to engage the topic and have a discussion all the way through to wherever it leads, then why begin it?
<br />
<br />
Which is also kind of my point about these trends on FB: we post these things (remember Stop Kony?) in a mostly closed feedback-loop of self-congratulation and mutual back-patting, assured of 98 percent of our friends' “Solidarity” and “Support” of whatever the topic du jour may be without actually DOING anything more than clicking “change profile pic.” It is my contention that this leads to an unpretty and self-deceptive smugness and sense of “a job well done” while not having actually done anything.
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L3NrkNjfHn8/UVR8SWJcU3I/AAAAAAAADMg/Rq0TBzasyrs/s1600/Smug+Alert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L3NrkNjfHn8/UVR8SWJcU3I/AAAAAAAADMg/Rq0TBzasyrs/s320/Smug+Alert.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uH9Hq9qNFks/UVR8UkUTiwI/AAAAAAAADMo/zNG3pzd-at8/s1600/smug_480_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uH9Hq9qNFks/UVR8UkUTiwI/AAAAAAAADMo/zNG3pzd-at8/s320/smug_480_poster.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Also, if you’re “taking a stand,” then shouldn’t you be prepared for some dissent? The original friend actually wrote, “...it is really not acceptable...” to post things like these pictures at a time like this. (He used the word “ridicule,” but as I explained above, I don’t think that is the message; I know it definitely isn’t the message I was trying to send, and if any of my friends felt ridiculed by me for changing their profile pic, then I humbly apologize.)
<br />
<br />
Anyway, my main point here is to make sure that anyone who cares knows without a doubt that I am not anti-gay marriage. Nor am I anti-changing-your-profile-pic-to-show-support-for-gay-marriage.
<br />
<br />
My second point is that it is okay to laugh at ourselves. I mean, I am a liberal. I am a flaming liberal. I'm practically a socialist, I’m so fucking liberal. But I can be that and still be aware that we’re hilariously self-contradictory, overly earnest, naively idealistic at times and many other things. So what if we’re funny? We’re still right, so I don’t give a shit if anyone laughs at me, and I’m okay with seeing the humor in us as well.
<br />
<br />
Thirdly, if you are going to “take a stand” on something, then you need to be able to handle a bit of very, very gentle and oblique teasing about it without getting all huffy. You take a stand by clicking a link in your FB profile, then get upset if someone posts something on their own wall that mildly, jokingly rebukes you a tiny bit?<br />
<br />
I mean, it’s hardly firehoses and police dogs, now, is it? And to suggest that certain words and pictures and phrases are unacceptable or inappropriate is about as illiberal as you can get.
<br />
<br />
Stifling dissent? Shit, not even dissent--low-key mockery by someone who is clearly on the same team? Again, that sounds like something the hard right does, not us.
<br />
<br />
If you want to be part of a national discussion, great, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should expect the online equivalent of a roomful of 500 of your “closest personal friends” all nodding in total agreement and saying, “Yep, you sure are right, Steve.”
<br />
<br />
How fucking boring would that be?<br />
<br />
Plus it's not even like I disagree. <br />
<br />
Take care everyone, and again, I pledge my undying support for my LGBT brethren and sistren. Let’s hope those douchebags on the Supreme Court actually do the Right Thing for once instead of the expedient, political thing.
<br />
<br />
--KJB
<br />
<br />
*The picture of the two combative gay gentlemen is from an episode of Seinfeld, so, no, not all that terribly hip, I don’t think. Not for a couple of decades at least. :-)
wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-18998128139481386062013-03-26T12:54:00.002-06:002013-03-28T17:59:48.368-06:00Cornel West is Right<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CPO0tNyTYxQ/UVHu2DgLrEI/AAAAAAAADLw/E-9rrXTuluU/s1600/cornel+west.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CPO0tNyTYxQ/UVHu2DgLrEI/AAAAAAAADLw/E-9rrXTuluU/s320/cornel+west.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
But it is so goddamn hard sometimes.
<br />
<br />
Despair is a hungry demon nipping at your heels, demanding attention constantly. You think, maybe if I just give him a snack, he'll leave me be. But whatever you feed him only whets his appetite.
<br />
<br />
Best just to kick that little bastard in the throat and get on with your day, with something that gives you hope, with people that uplift you and help you to see what's possible, not what's impossible.
<br />
<br />
--kjb
wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-67324170589577113262013-03-24T11:56:00.000-06:002013-03-25T13:44:28.880-06:00Rand Paul is Still an Idiot<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZ-Vw4Ioqio/UU898W-4b1I/AAAAAAAADLQ/t5mTB9MXP84/s1600/rand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZ-Vw4Ioqio/UU898W-4b1I/AAAAAAAADLQ/t5mTB9MXP84/s320/rand.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/rand-paul-flat-income-tax-solves-same-sex-ma">via</a>
<br />
<br />
Hey, gays! Guess what? The junior nutbag from Kentucky has great news for you!
<br />
<br />
No, it's not an intellectually consistent stand on individual liberty versus liberty for commercial interests, but it's almost as good! When asked if he would strike down the Defense of Marriage Act as a federal interference in states' and individuals' rights to decide who can marry whom, Paul weaseled and waffled, "...that's a complicated issue..." but then came up with a left field idea that might be just as good.
<br />
<br />
See, you know how you guys are always on about the whole marriage thing? How about this instead: a flat tax just for you and your...what, husbands? Wives? I never could get that straight. No pun intended! Ha ha!<br />
<br />
No, really though, here's the idea (via <a href="http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/rand-paul-flat-income-tax-solves-same-sex-ma" target="_blank">crooks and liars</a>):
<br />
<blockquote>
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Sunday suggested that implementing a flat tax could assuage gay and lesbian Americans who want equal marriage rights because straight marriages would not get a tax break.
<br />
<br />
During an interview on Fox News, host Chris Wallace pointed out that the Supreme Court would be hearing arguments this week on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prevents the federal government from recognizing same sex marriages even in states where those unions are legal.</blockquote>
Well, come on, I mean everyone knows how teh gheys are about shopping and spending money. Surely they will appreciate this gesture. Think how many more brunches per year they can afford with the savings!
<br />
<br />
Republicans: Making This Shit Up Every Day, So We Don't Have To.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s23.photobucket.com/user/wasabi23us/media/PALINANIMATEDvarwwwclientsclient1web2tmpphpiKEfTg_zps5fbb191a.gif.html" target="_blank"><img alt=" photo PALINANIMATEDvarwwwclientsclient1web2tmpphpiKEfTg_zps5fbb191a.gif" border="0" src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b386/wasabi23us/PALINANIMATEDvarwwwclientsclient1web2tmpphpiKEfTg_zps5fbb191a.gif" /></a>wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-80794036639405529742013-03-23T14:02:00.000-06:002013-03-23T14:02:07.286-06:00Vertical CookingUm...kay...<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1XILbEZlS0U" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
At first I was a little creeped out by this ad for the Rollie Eggmaster Cooking System, probably due to the, er, ever so slightly suggestive nature of the photo accompanying the story I saw on Laughing Squid <a href="http://laughingsquid.com/the-rollie-eggmaster-cooking-system-makes-eggs-on-a-stick/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4UTMzPKVPI/UU4Iwh-ERLI/AAAAAAAADK4/SmwOS1jefyM/s1600/egg+girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4UTMzPKVPI/UU4Iwh-ERLI/AAAAAAAADK4/SmwOS1jefyM/s320/egg+girl.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Riiigghhtt...</span></div>
<br />
Not that there's anything vaguely sexual about the shot, but why do we feel we need more foods in this, um, "easy to eat shape?"<br />
<br />
And then of course, you see the bit about "Just crack your egg, pour it in, and watch it pop up in minutes!!"<br />
<br />
Of course it "pops up." I mean, what else, right?<br />
<br />
But when you watch the promo video above, I could see the benefits of this. Heck, I want to host a party serving only cylindrical foods! I want to be able to grab an egg-stick on my way out the door! Or a mini-burrito! Sold!wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-65752795412762661952013-03-22T15:33:00.003-06:002013-03-23T14:11:10.675-06:00Pipe Trouble!This is just all kinds of awesome. (<a href="http://boingboing.net/" target="_blank">via</a>)<br />
<br />
It's a game for ipad and android tablets that lets you play as the CEO of an oil pipeline company that is trying to build a new pipeline (suspiciously like the Keystone XL perhaps?) and bring it in under deadline and cost. Despite trouble with dead livestock and poisoned water and dirty hippies protesting and maybe even blowing it up, you have to keep laying that pipe in order to rake in that cash!<br />
<br />
Here's a demo clip: <br />
<br />
EDIT: I removed the video clip because it is goddamn autoplay and i can't turn it off. Here's a <a href="http://pipetrouble.com/">link </a>to it though. Go watch, very funny.
<br/>
<br/>
Apparently the game has <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/03/21/ontario-premier-to-investigate-game-with-pipeline-bombing-on-taxpayer-funded-broadcasters-website/" target="_blank">angered</a> some Canadian-type people as it appears to them to be celebrating the sabotaging of a pipeline, and because the game developer received taxpayer funding:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says she’ll be looking into an online
game promoted by a taxpayer-funded broadcaster that shows the bombing of
a gas pipeline.<br />
<br />
A blog post supporting the game appeared on the website of the provincially funded broadcaster TV Ontario.<br />
<br />
The TVO website also provides a link to the game, called “Pipe Trouble,” and offers a free trial.<br />
<br />
But questions have been raised about the game’s introductory video,
which appears to show activists protesting before a pipeline blows up.</blockquote>
<br />
O, Canada, you so cute! Why on Earth would you give creative, artistic,
innovative people your tax dollars in the first place? Haha! Just wait until you're a
big-boy country like the U.S.! You will look back on this and cringe!<br />
<br />
Game available <a href="http://pipetrouble.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. A portion of the proceeds go to the <a href="http://www.davidsuzuki.org/" target="_blank">David Suzuki foundation</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-56471318030483448982013-03-21T14:13:00.000-06:002013-03-21T14:13:43.528-06:00Modern FriendshipTed McCagg of something called <a href="www.questionableskills.com">Questionable Skills</a> (looks like his blog; he's got some very funny stuff on there) created this piece called 'Modern Friendship.'
<br/>
<br/>
Yes, buddy, I love you so much I'd create a hashtag for you.
<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e940Pcw1ZEM/UUtplbj7cqI/AAAAAAAADKo/MkB6knKMUH8/s1600/modern+friendship.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e940Pcw1ZEM/UUtplbj7cqI/AAAAAAAADKo/MkB6knKMUH8/s320/modern+friendship.jpg" /></a>
<br/>
<br/>
<a href="http://laughingsquid.com/">via</a>
wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-87379464833354411082013-03-21T13:22:00.000-06:002013-03-21T13:22:13.430-06:00randoms<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U1GInhLCbMU/UUtdAX96jFI/AAAAAAAADKI/AgCUdM-FHew/s1600/cat+lady.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-U1GInhLCbMU/UUtdAX96jFI/AAAAAAAADKI/AgCUdM-FHew/s320/cat+lady.jpeg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N9_5C9ip-i0/UUtdB-Z8EkI/AAAAAAAADKY/2iTySI4F2j4/s1600/were+all+mad+here.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N9_5C9ip-i0/UUtdB-Z8EkI/AAAAAAAADKY/2iTySI4F2j4/s320/were+all+mad+here.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sMRpx1g9Hy4/UUtdDlb09fI/AAAAAAAADKg/Xdr3phS9sPU/s1600/here+kitty+kitty....jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sMRpx1g9Hy4/UUtdDlb09fI/AAAAAAAADKg/Xdr3phS9sPU/s320/here+kitty+kitty....jpg" width="320" /></a>
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--vP_OzZYX4Q/UUtdAoWF9DI/AAAAAAAADKQ/o6jD9CxZESw/s1600/oh...you+penguin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--vP_OzZYX4Q/UUtdAoWF9DI/AAAAAAAADKQ/o6jD9CxZESw/s320/oh...you+penguin.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-55395929210122596162013-03-21T13:12:00.001-06:002013-03-24T12:06:42.883-06:00Life - MeI think this is my favorite gif of all time.
<br />
<a href="http://s23.photobucket.com/user/wasabi23us/media/melife_zps2ce26396.gif.html" target="_blank"><img alt=" photo melife_zps2ce26396.gif" border="0" src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b386/wasabi23us/melife_zps2ce26396.gif" /></a>wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-58601765764739817432013-03-16T13:42:00.000-06:002013-03-21T13:12:49.390-06:00"Very Unpromising Material"<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FdqkznSwNac/UUTIG3LxlsI/AAAAAAAADIs/Q20tzk2-jC8/s1600/waiting-godot.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FdqkznSwNac/UUTIG3LxlsI/AAAAAAAADIs/Q20tzk2-jC8/s320/waiting-godot.jpg" /></a>
</br>
</br>
And here's all you need to know about critics and reviews. (<a href="http://dangerousminds.net/comments/very_unpromising_material_a_review_for_becketts_waiting_for_godot_from_1955">via</a>)
</br>
</br>
From a 1955 review of Beckett's "Waiting For Godot:"
<blockquote>The play, if about anything is ostensibly about two tramps who spend the two acts, two evenings long, under a tree on a bit of waste ground “waiting for Godot.”</blockquote>
Click the link above to dangerous minds to read the review in its entirety, but pretty much all you need to know is that you've heard of Samuel Beckett, and you've never heard of Guardian reviewer Phillip Hope-Wallace.
</br>
</br>
Having been on both sides of this divide, reviewer and reviewed (at least, reviewed as an actor; I haven't had any of my plays staged yet, but looking to get one up for a staged reading this spring) I can tell you it is a fuck of a lot harder to create a show than it is to create a review. Not that what reviewers do is without value; not that they (we) don't put a lot of thought, sweat and time into creating a good, honest review. And certainly by putting our work out there, artists of all stripes are asking to be looked at, and thought about, and engaged with.
</br>
</br>
But I think there is a certain lack of humility in some reviewers, a lack of understanding where one's place in the food chain really is. I think a lot of reviewers could greatly benefit from being part of a show, from table read to closing night, just to get some perspective on what it really takes. If you're going to casually shit all over something, at least be aware of what it is you are beshitting, right? :-)
</br>
</br>
That said, here's some closing words from Mr. Hope-Wallace:
<blockquote>It is good to find that plays at once dubbed “incomprehensible and pretentious” can still get a staging. </blockquote>
Best of luck to him in his career, pointless, incomprehensible, and pretentious as it may be.
</br>
</br>
--kjbwasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-69732427940366026812013-01-31T13:37:00.001-07:002013-01-31T13:38:33.694-07:00GonzoI think I need a visit from Dr. Mario S. Thompson to perk me up for the rest of this week's performances. Performance-enhancing substances, anyone?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://s23.beta.photobucket.com/user/wasabi23us/media/mariosthompson_zps92919380.gif.html" target="_blank"><img alt=" photo mariosthompson_zps92919380.gif" border="0" src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b386/wasabi23us/mariosthompson_zps92919380.gif" /></a>wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-12258317758440552522013-01-29T13:13:00.000-07:002013-01-29T13:14:20.165-07:00Noises Off Is On<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gnbv-JWWaHI/UQgrdWlGJCI/AAAAAAAADH0/HSEw6YbMrCo/s1600/noises+off.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gnbv-JWWaHI/UQgrdWlGJCI/AAAAAAAADH0/HSEw6YbMrCo/s320/noises+off.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Well. Tonight is the big night, opening for <a href="http://www.lonetreeartscenter.org/showinfo.php?id=16" target="_blank">Noises Off</a>, and we're all of us feeling pretty much, you know, I mean aren't you? It has been a weird and arduous 17 days of rehearsal time getting this beast together (not counting 3 days pre-Christmas of blocking rehearsals) and I think we can plausibly argue that it has never been done so well in such a short time-span.<br />
<br />
But that's neither here nor there. Last night's small but appreciative dress audience was awesome and they really seemed to dig it. I think we finally kind of know what we're doing. (knockonwoodknockonwoodknockonwoodknockonwoodknockonwood)<br />
<br />
Anyway, I came across this word of the day today, and it seems especially apropos, for not only the tenuous nature of the show-within-the-show, not only because it contains a homophone for Phillip, one of the characters in the show, but also for how exhausted I've been lately.<br />
<br />
One more word: sardines!<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
filipendulous
</h3>
<br />
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;">
PRONUNCIATION:</div>
<div style="margin-left: 20px;">
(fi-li-PEN-juh-luhs, -PEN-dyoo-)
<a href="http://wordsmith.org/words/filipendulous.mp3" target="_blank"><img align="top" alt="" border="0" height="24" width="32" /></a>
</div>
<br />
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;">
MEANING:</div>
<div style="margin-left: 20px;">
adjective: Hanging by a thread.
</div>
<br />
<div style="color: #555555; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px;">
ETYMOLOGY:</div>
<div style="margin-left: 20px;">
From Latin filum (thread) + pendere (to hang). Ultimately from the
Indo-European root (s)pen- (to draw, to spin), which is also the source
of pendulum, spider, pound, pansy, pendant, ponder, appendix, penthouse,
depend, and spontaneous. Earliest documented use: 1864.
</div>
wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-195332537640425272013-01-14T13:14:00.000-07:002013-01-14T13:45:47.247-07:00Downton Abbey: What's in it For Me?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hfj4anLHLaA/UPRasfoGx0I/AAAAAAAADFI/tsWBAcv9Kpc/s1600/DowntonAbbeyS3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hfj4anLHLaA/UPRasfoGx0I/AAAAAAAADFI/tsWBAcv9Kpc/s320/DowntonAbbeyS3.jpg" width="291" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> If they're so rich and aristocratic and British and all, why did they put their abbey downtown?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Catching up on the last few episodes of Season 2 of “Downton
Abbey” the other night, followed by the first few episodes of Season 3 (spoiler
alerts below) and it occurred to me that: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
1.)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>I very likely fall outside the usual demographic for this
show’s viewers. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
2.)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>The writers and showrunner really boxed themselves in at the
end of last season. With Matthew and Mary’s snow-globe kiss and the marriage
proposal that millions of dewy-eyed, lonely, Anglophilic women had been
anticipating for two seasons, all major conflict had largely been excised from
the story; aside from Bates’ murder charges, all the cliffhangers had been
hung.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TE_omDs_e6M/UPRgtgjZZ5I/AAAAAAAADF0/rXVU2mptr2E/s1600/downton-abbey-bates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TE_omDs_e6M/UPRgtgjZZ5I/AAAAAAAADF0/rXVU2mptr2E/s320/downton-abbey-bates.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sorry, he still looks like Eeyore to me.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
3.)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span>Buried among the major differences separating modern life from
post-World War I England--traditional gender roles being challenged, questions
about the validity of class and privilege emerging, the impact of technological
advances--it is striking that we never question or at least don’t think too
much about how differently we see another subject depicted on the show that is
largely missing in the modern age: self-sacrifice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not to put too fine a point on it, but today we are a bunch
of selfish cunts. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course I don’t mean to literally speak in this manner
about every single human being living today. Nor to suggest that every person
who was alive a hundred years ago was some sort of saint. Just as I’m sure
there are many people who gave nothing to their fellow humans back then, there
are lots of modern examples of self-sacrifice: some of those serving in our
armed forces; those who give of themselves for the sake of the poor or ill.
(Parents...I have a problem with including them.*)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But generally, I don't think self-sacrifice is all that common today. As a mental exercise and to perhaps get a
more honest assessment of where we think self-sacrifice fits as a modern human virtue, let’s pose this
question: would you say that your fellow human beings--people besides
yourself--in general possess and demonstrate the capacity for self-sacrifice?
How often/how much? On a list of the 20 most common human attributes, where does
self-sacrifice go?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can come up with a fairly concise answer based solely on the evening commute.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I mean, forget about the harrowing portrayal of life in the
trenches in The Great War, a time when so many served that “there were no young
men left” afterward, as opposed to the drone war we wage today from behind
computer screens with a tiny fraction of a tiny minority of our population
actually on the ground. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SIDEBAR: And for those who are stuck serving on the ground in a war with no conceivable end
(how do you defeat a concept? When will Terror surrender?) and who are fighting
a nebulous, ever-changing enemy on endless tours of duty, is it any wonder that
suicide--perhaps not incidentally what some consider the ultimate act of
selfishness--might seem like <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/09/us/suicides-eclipse-war-deaths-for-us-troops.html?_r=0" target="_blank">the only way out</a>? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And how about the quaint idea of the children of privilege
not only serving but actually VOLUNTEERING to serve on the front lines? And
then serving with no special considerations, no <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072899.htm" target="_blank">Alabama National Guard</a> tours or
anything like that? That is completely unheard of today, and pretty much has
been unheard of, going all the way back to Vietnam. Just ask George W or <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/chatterbox/2004/03/elizabeth_cheney_deferment_baby.html" target="_blank">DickCheney</a>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
>>MILD, POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT BELOW: If you haven’t gotten to S03E03
maybe stop reading here<< </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then we come to watching Matthew’s struggles with whether to
accept an enormous inheritance from his former fiancé Lavinia’s family, knowing
that he had thrown her over for Mary. Worse, he thought that Lavinia
having seen him kissing Mary may have helped push her illness over the edge
into death. (When I actually type out the storyline like this, it makes me feel
like a soap opera fan. Where's the amnesia? The long-lost twin? Oh, yeah. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-lorenzo/downton-abbey-a-blow-to-t_b_1256887.html" target="_blank">Right</a>...) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ePi3PNTzBJ0/UPRg-E7-OjI/AAAAAAAADF8/d91HmHfbsT4/s1600/downton+outtake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ePi3PNTzBJ0/UPRg-E7-OjI/AAAAAAAADF8/d91HmHfbsT4/s320/downton+outtake.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Pic unrelated, but too funny not to include.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Matthew argued with Mary and clenched his jaw stoically
looking off into the distance, pinching the bridge of his nose--in the
timeless international actor’s indication of inner torment--did anyone honestly think,
“Yep. I too would be selfless enough to seriously consider turning down
millions of pounds in honor of the memory of a dead woman.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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Bullshit. Not in the “<a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bastard-machine/here-comes-honey-boo-boo-alana-mama-364933" target="_blank">Dolla make me holla</a>” generation. Not
in an era when people won’t think twice about sacrificing their
privacy and dignity for the sake of a shot at just being on television--let
alone fame or fortune--but are also perfectly willing to sacrifice their
children too. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/dina-lohan-lindsay-lohan-support_n_1958154.html" target="_blank">Literally </a>in some cases. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T6KlSKntifc/UPRhMFyqMtI/AAAAAAAADGE/Lzh1NsF5a-E/s1600/Jabba_SWSB.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T6KlSKntifc/UPRhMFyqMtI/AAAAAAAADGE/Lzh1NsF5a-E/s320/Jabba_SWSB.png" width="275" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Honey Boo-Boo's mother was unavailable for comment as of press time.</span></div>
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So what happened? Are we so inundated with images of fame
and wealth? Are we so drowned in advertising pitched to appeal to
self-indulgence that we can no longer fathom a world without us sitting atop
it? Are we just <a href="http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-11/are-people-getting-dumber-one-geneticist-thinks-so" target="_blank">dumber</a>? Or perhaps just less imaginative, in that we lack the
capacity to envision a world without us in it?</div>
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I don’t really have the answers, and I realize using a
fictional character’s fictional situation on a television show as a launching
point from which to ask these questions may have some layers of irony and absurdity embedded
in it that cannot even be fathomed straightaway. But I think it’s inarguable,
even almost trite to say that we are more selfish today than we once were. And
this scene in this show made me think for a moment about how the calculus of
modern thought seldom includes anything remotely approaching what people were
asked to do in bygone eras. More importantly, what they asked themselves to do.
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Granted, another frequent topic or even perpetual undertone
of the show is the push and pull between ancient British stoicism and reticence, "stiff
upper lip," and "suffering in silence" and all that, and a more modern modality of
self-expression and emotional honesty. And the notion of self-sacrifice wedges
itself in there somewhere between the two. <br />
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But goddamn, wouldn’t our so-called “culture” benefit if
more people were LESS self-expressive? If more people STIFLED their emotional
honesty some? I’m looking at you, Kardashians. Also Jersey Shore, everything on
TLC--hell, all so-called reality television--as well as a vast swath of our
popular TV, movie and music stars to boot, and all the loud-mouth, obnoxious people out there who noisily hold them up as role models. If people could just shut the fuck up about themselves for five minutes, the world would be a better place.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NwiKGJh9PsE/UPRhc34xTEI/AAAAAAAADGM/8JuIk8a9Z8g/s1600/Kim-Kardashian-Teeth-Cleaning-Picture-500x375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NwiKGJh9PsE/UPRhc34xTEI/AAAAAAAADGM/8JuIk8a9Z8g/s320/Kim-Kardashian-Teeth-Cleaning-Picture-500x375.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Well, shit, if it'll keep her from talking...</span></div>
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I say again, we are a nation of selfish cunts. We are denizens of an <a href="http://mandroppings.blogspot.com/search?q=empire" target="_blank">empire</a> that is tottering on its last legs, burdened under the weight of 300 million sets of
absurdly grandiose expectations. </div>
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Reality took several hundred years to become plain to the
Romans; of course, things move much faster these days.<br />
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--kjb </div>
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*To me, regardless of the sacrifices that parents make on
behalf of their children, there is a rather large and unforgivable element of narcissism involved in the
decision to have a child. Especially in this day and age, when we can quantify
the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/9701-save-planet-kids.html" target="_blank">environmental demands</a> that a child born to parents who live in an
industrialized nation imposes. I could drive a Hummer to the grocery store
every day and ask for both paper and plastic and still have far less environmental
impact than parents of even one U.S.-born child. And anyway, let's get down to it: what, you think passing on
that awesome DNA you have, the DNA that made you such a stable and wonderful
and loving and beautiful creature, you think that’s vital to the species? Or the planet? </div>
wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725582505102201462.post-53529931447576634132013-01-13T09:41:00.002-07:002013-01-14T14:01:45.569-07:00Nazis in Space!!!So, I haven't seen any of the Oscar contenders yet this year. I've been busy...not going to the movies. I tend to wait until the furor has died down over anything, new-release movies just being one example of the type of crowded venue I can't stand. Plus there's something to be said for watching movies at home, often for free, with a beer and whatever in hand, haha.<br />
<br />
But that's neither here nor there. What I am about to tell you will change your life forever.<br />
<br />
Find and watch a movie called "Iron Sky." Just do it. It's on Netflix streaming, and it is all kinds of awesome.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rKMnNE6N_VU/UPLcIuNMuaI/AAAAAAAADDU/DL3bcv8b7MI/s1600/index.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rKMnNE6N_VU/UPLcIuNMuaI/AAAAAAAADDU/DL3bcv8b7MI/s320/index.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Nazis apparently make their space helmets in the shape of WWII stormtroopers. </span></div>
<br />
But Kurt, you say, does this purported visual feast of amazingness really have space nazis? Or is it all a clever ruse? Perhaps just something concocted by clever marketers to draw me in and make me sign up to be a Scientologist? Or worse, a Republican?<br />
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Nope. It's true. There are space nazis here indeed. The year is 2018, and a U.S. manned space flight encounters a Nazi civilization thriving on the dark side of the moon, to whence said Nazis secretly debarked in 1945.<br />
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There is also a black U.S. astronaut who gets captured by them and (spoiler alert) turned Aryan (hilariously) by a mad Nazi scientist.<br />
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Of course. <br />
<br />
But Kurt, you add (as you don't seem to realize this is a one-way communication format) is there also a super-hot Aryan princess who suffers a crisis of conscience? Yep. How about a future U.S. president who bears a striking resemblance to a certain former half-term Alaska governor? You betcha. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6xp40sOmzUo/UPLceQy2mnI/AAAAAAAADDc/1P9yaX7NKzQ/s1600/iron+sky+poster.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6xp40sOmzUo/UPLceQy2mnI/AAAAAAAADDc/1P9yaX7NKzQ/s320/iron+sky+poster.png" width="216" /></a></div>
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No, the whole thing is ridiculous, and silly, and campy in the best Buck Rogers tradition. If you know "Evil Dead," "The Venture Brothers," or the band Ween, you will recognize the genre: it is art made by artists who recognize the ridiculousness of what they love--in this case, over-the-top, 1950s sci-fi--but who celebrate it anyway, and who celebrate it lovingly, and cleverly, and with attention to detail.<br />
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The film is also visually sharp, with excellent CGI and production values, and believe it or not, it is a smart script as well, containing an endless slew of tongue-in-cheek ironies and clever satire, as well as low-brow, silly paeans to almost every sci-fi/action movie trope there is. It got like 6.1 on IMDB and only 30-something percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but ignore that. Watch this and you will laugh, and be entertained, and not only in a "so bad it's good way."<br />
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In fact, it's actually good. It really, really is.<br />
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And it's the next morning now, so you know it's not just the beer and whatever talking.<br />
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wasabiushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10193470359531661912noreply@blogger.com2