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I had breakfast with Chris Hayes this morning and when I got to the restaurant it was a complete freak show. "I’m so sorry, I totally forgot that CPAC is across the street today," he said.
They seated us at one of those elevated cafe tables and we found ourselves looking down on a sea of helmet hair and bad polyester suits. I only mention it because a) it’s a good excuse to put Chris’s video up, and b) I’m increasingly convinced there is a basic structural difference in the way liberals and conservatives are hard wired.
There is just no way a normal thinking person can look at themselves in the mirror like that and say "damn, I look good" in this day and age without some serious cognitive impairment.
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zed
Hi, Jane. Did you overhear any interesting conversations?
oh gawddd think of all those blind stylists
zed?
they all have that Howard Fineman…sepia/oxblood shoe polished hair look…with the ultrawhite chicklet smile ….erggghhh
if i was a canidate,or wanna bee,id prolly dress like this
http://blog.kir.com/archives/i…..082007.jpg
Hiya Jane!
BTW, I sent you email…*g*
wrong video Jane!
You can probably study some correlation between gooperness and:
1) dress
2) choice of cars
3) landscaping of homes
4) interior decoration
etc.
My guess is that you would see more CONFORMITY in goopers to some “Uniform” of the acceptable.
Lexus SUV, Large Lawn, Navy suit, Furniture that reclines and has lots of stuffing.
whiskey tango foxtrot is that video?
Sure Gravel is still in the race. right.
Ha! Love the tube!
Why does Hayes call the two front runners progressives?
That video is so funny. I needed a good laugh.
and the females should callthis gal for fashion advice
http://images.allmoviephoto.co…..ds_002.jpg
do they think polyester is an aphrodesiac?
do they even know what ‘aphrodesiac’ means?
William F. Buckley described conservatives as “standing athwart history, shouting “Stop!”"
Apparently they wanted to get off the bus at the corner of White Shoe St. and Leisure Suit Avenue, about the time Nixon bolluxed up the whole works for them.
Those ain’t polyester–those are “wool blends”.
the quaintness it burns OT
Airport Security Technology Stuck In the Pipeline
Friday February 8, 2008 7:15 am
Source: The Washington Post
Author: Del Quentin Wilber
Published: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..04067.html
In the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, government officials and industry leaders talked excitedly about how they expected technology to plug many of the gaps in airport security.
They envisioned machines that would quickly detect explosives hidden in luggage, spot plastic explosives or other weapons through people’s clothing, identify a flicker in the eye of a suspicious character.
But six years later, little has changed at airport checkpoints. Screeners still use X-ray machines to scan carry-on bags, and passengers still pass through magnetometers that cannot detect plastic or liquid explosives. The Transportation Security Administration has yet to deploy a machine that can efficiently detect liquid bombs, forcing millions of air passengers to check bags or pare down their toiletries to three-ounce containers in carry-on baggies.
Jane:
Check your email. I responded a minute ago…
Let’s not be too snarky too soon. These people are not letting go of power without a tough fight.
One thread of “conservatism” goes back to Hobbes. The first job of government is to insure domestic tranquility. Conservatives don’t want warring in the streets.
That thread leads naturally to a desire to avoid foreign wars- which was a strong plank in the conservative platform of our eighteenth century founding fathers.
Being conservative fiscally is a personal virtue that naturally finds it’s way into public life- and is almost always ignored.
The REST of the conservative agenda is largely constructed out of the opposition to the New Deal. Yep friends and neighbors- the conservatives are still stuck in the 1930s even though the New Deal and the springs that powered it are long gone.
“Conservativism” today is a logical construction based primarily on all the things that poorly to moderately informed people really hate.
The conservative agenda is a bunch of negatives posing as positives:
“Things will be REALLY great if the govt. doesn’t do all these things that we really hate:
-regulate business
-tax us more than makes us happy
-let the courts tell us who can go to school with our kids
-allow gay people to marry
-give our money to poor people”
There’s really not a positive agenda item in the platform- other than building a huge nuclear umbrella to keep people we don’t like from comin and stealin our stuff.”
Conservative agenda in a nutshell:
“Don’t do shit”
heh heh. Definately not fierce or fabulous. When the apocalypse comes, I’m planning to heat my house with the overstuffed chair I had to buy for nursing in our living room.
Not to wear it out (I hope), but conservatism is belief in the domination of society by an aristocracy (the very rich). The rest (issues, etc.) is simply very good marketing.
Woulda loved a blurry cell camera shot…
Jane is lucky it isn’t springtime yet. If that were the case, the CPAC crowd would have looked like a bunch of used car salesmen. Sky blue or plaid jackets, pants of varying bright shades.
They’re still stuck in the 60s. (Maybe someone should sign Gallagher up for the entertainment part of their meetings.)
May
Well you MIGHT say that conservatism is a reflexive habit of mind against change and new ideas that the wealthy have tapped into to protect their wealth, power, and social position.
Actually, burning said chair would probably poison us with toxic fumes from the unnatural upholstery. I’ll have to devise an alternate plan of destruction.
CPAC
Is that the conservative group that Clustefuck just addressed?
The CPAC raging crowd are not conservatives. They are the anti crowd. One common trait I notice is that they are so sour. Twisted minds have no place to go now that there is no wild west to go shoot-um-up when you get your pants in a bunch. That’s where invading other countries and on-going wars come in.
But why self mutilate with polyester clothes? Man that’s sick.
CPAC / ipecac
Do they still really make polyester suits? I don’t think they’re even in the SEARS catalogue anymore. (Is there a Sears catalogue?)
rw – I’ll agree – they support the traditional institutions that ensure the continuation of the aristocrats’ dominance.
OT
Sessions is defending U.S. use of waterboarding on CSPAN2.
Jane:
You got it now…*g*
Georgie just set the narrative for the election.
Here
Just a catch-all term for synthetics these days. Otherwise known as “man-made” fabrics compared to natural fiber: silk, linen, cotton. Basicly, synthetics are plastic by-products of the oil industry. Raw material is sold to such companies as Dupont. We get to wear the sticky, doesn’t breathe, retains filth and germs, ugly synthetic. We couldn’t look much worse had we gone through the Russian Revolution.
spew!
Sure hope ol Clusterfuck stays engaged- using the bully pulpit to position McCain as the man to continue his policies. Couldn’t GET any better.
Wow, I guess they really do want to lose!
literally!
Alabama reserves the right to offer waterboarding to anyone regardless
of their race, color or creed… some things never change.
well, maybe i’m not a real liberal… ‘cuz this morning i spent a lot of time thinking about mukasey’s testimony before the HJC yesterday and the senate dems cave on FISA – but not once did i think about the clothes i was wearing.
should i be worried? maybe i should check the labels for polyester?
Maybe not lose, but they attend the CPAC meetings to get their yearly dose of hate to take on the campaign trail.
We have to make sure we tie Bush around McCain’s neck. Bush said it himself – this is a fight over his policies, with the Rep nominee fighting to defend them.
Did anyone watch the freak show on Newshour last night? Jiminychristmas! Watching helmet heads explode over McCain’s candidancy was quite the patriotic fanfare in gooperworld. Fireworks and everything.
The conservatives who hate McCain are the same koolaid drinking people who think Bush and Cheney are doing just a dandy job! Wow! There they are in all their glory, telling us what to think!
Yes, I was yelling at my TV last night. It was freaking unbelieveable.
/rant.
want to REALLY laugh at ‘what they’re thinking’?
bush declares cheney the best vice president ever
this is what they do;
they take something which cannot be supported by anyone on the planet, they say it as though it’s a fact, people repeat it and it becomes a fact in their minds
like when they say reagan cut taxes even though he is responsible for the highest tax increase of any peace time president in history
like when they say he was good for the economy when he created more poverty, lower wages and a smaller middle class
like when they say bush is fighting terrorism, or saddam was responsible for 9/11
thanks for the heads up. i had to stop watching… but i have the recording going – i’ll post a clip to youtube later.
Hey, c’mon, they can’t all aspire to the taste and looks of Jeri Thompson.
Dressed back
Polyester suits
Plasticated hair
Don’t get to close
that hair is sharp
On Robotic minds(whoever said robots weren’t sentient)…ok maybe not
Turn the switch
To think?
In 2 degrees of bliss
I give you
Diss
http://pop.youtube.com/watch?v…..re=related
The video rebukes Chris of the Nation for doing what the MSM did – quickly narrowed the Democratic field to Hillary and Obama. You aren’t doing Chris any favors with this video. The allegations are true. Because it specifically cites the exclusion of Gravel, does not make it false. Edwards was blacked out similarly.
Yeah- and of course they still make “Poly Wool” suits. It’s the chevrolet of the business world. It’s what you wear when you can’t AFFORD all wool custom tailored suits at a few thousand bucks a pop.
Toyota and wool poly? You ain’t makin it- BMW and all wool- yer sittin pretty.
It’s actually a status thing- probably has little to do with conservatism as near as I can see- unless conservatives are mostly “losers” in the great threshing fields of corporate america.
The antidote to all this was listening to Janene Garofalo on KFOG this a.m. who thought the CPAC folks were sociopathic.
A listener phoned in to “call her on it.” That it wasn’t OK to call “anyone who disagreed with her ’sociopathic’”. She didn’t back down. First, she rebutted that people disagree with her all the time who are not sociopathic. And second, she specifically meant the CPAC were sociopathic. And defined sociopathic to mean people who lack empathy for other humans.
Then the comedienne who was with her stated that the “24″ fan who called in after that to compliment her “pouty” performances was also “sociopathic”. It was hilarious.
Absolutely! Shouldn’t be too hard, either – “100 years in Iraq.”
Oh, and in what should surprise absolutely no one, Rush Limbaugh is frantically walking back his anti-McCain comments now that Keating Five Boy’s nomination is all but assured.
Y’know, the DLC and Bush Dog types like to lecture us on how we netrooters are not like the majority of Democratic primary voters. Look at the yawning cavern between the GOP’s primary voters and the anti-McCain crowd.
I was born without a fashion sense gene and have always dressed and lived without taste- except when I put on the navy blue wool uniform suits of the world of work- with no more than ten ties each of which would go with a navy suit.
I really should care- but somehow I don’t . I am NOT a conservative however.
Nailed it.
Jane!
You’re too cute…(by half, And a bag of chips….sorry, your post got me in a mood.)
Yesterday, when that blond freak was introducing Mittens, I was thinking. WHOA, no one ever told her that a black jacket over a navy top is just Wrong. And, I almost commented to that, but thought better of it since people here rarely get my twisted sense of humor. Well, sometimes, but mostly not.
Still, I feel vindicated by this post.
(ps — ask Bio what I said to him about some of the comments yesterday.)
Garafalo can be seen regularly on the Henry Rollins Show on IFC (Independent Film Channel). She is great. Rollins’ whole show is good too, BTW.
I have mostly lived in warm climates. It always bothered me to pay a couple of grand for a suit- the coat of which was never worn but always carried back and forth between home and office. That’s a pretty pricey bit of baggage- and another thing to forget on it’s hanger behind the door.
Thank Goddess you’re here to explain stuff to Jane.
I’m relieved now.
It’s what’s inside that suit buddy
You have a mind and a kind heart.
A human being in the lakota souix
sense of the word
It’s all good with you
You do mean hillbilly heroin addict and V*iagr* sex tourist/comic Rush Limbaugh, don’t you?
Must remember the frame….
1,744 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen rwcole and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:
“‘Conservatism’ today is a logical construction based primarily on all the things that poorly to moderately informed people today hate.”
Yes brother cole, “the conservatives today are stuck in the 1930’s” and they represent the ideology that opposed the New Deal then and advanced support for the “new” political reality in Germany – FASCISM! There is not one damned thing about these conservatives now or then that hearkens back to Hume or Edmund Burke or Disraeli, let’s call ‘em like they are, they’re fascists , friend, by any definition includin’ their own (see the political history of Prescott Bush and the America First movement).
KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T LOOK FOR SOMETHIN’ THAT AIN’T THERE!!
Perhaps you could explain it to me. I’m not getting it.
bush declares cheney the best vice president ever
You won’t run out of one hand’s fingers counting the mourners at his wake.
It occurs to me thus: in ‘92, it wasn’t the Republicans who first raised the Rose Law/ Whitewater allegations: it was Jerry Brown in the primary debates. I’ve always felt that Brown was essentially doing opposition research for the Republicans, based on what followed. The logical application of this to the present is this: Democratic oppo research needs to be listening to the last 6 months of Limbaugh’s show, as I am certain he has done a far more thorough oppo-research job on McCain than you or I could pay for…collect the highlights, and make the ads.
Resource management, as it were.
Pointless, but I just faxed Senator “Treasonous” Bayh and asked for NO telecom immunity, FOR the People’s day in court, and NO on basket warrants.
He will nonetheless do what he always does: disappoint his father and vote GOP.
So glad Bush let us in on the secret.
Very Funny.
might also be time to contact our reps in the house too.
the senate caved a week ago yesterday. and while i’m all for holding them accountable, the progressive caucus is the only firewall i can see.
Norske
Yep- the thirties was the time when the real battle with communism was fought. The depression showed that unbridled capitalism was a failure- and there was much hope for the great Russian Revolution as an alternative. The battle then was VERY real. Some thought there were commies under every bed- and they were RIGHT! “The Grapes of Wrath” documents pretty well the role of american communism in the dialogue of the times- and that led to fascism as day follows night.
The “liberal vs. conservative” wars of today are Kabuki dances in Pale imitation of the real battles in American Politics.
CLOTURE CALL! On the FISA bill! Right now!
Confusion…now it is gone. No cloture. General business.
Thanks
Although I am totally unapologetic about my low concern threshold concerning fashion.
If someone shows me things that look good- I will pay a bit of attention and perhaps notice a thing or two- then I return to my nondogmatic slumbers.
Monday, 2pm, back on FISA to conclude amendments. Senate adjourned.
More FISA debate Monday 2PM, then vote Tuesday. Did I hear that correctly?
Doesn’t congress need to take another vacation soon? It’s already BEEN a week or two.
Confusing. Yes, business on FISA AMENDMENTS takes up again on Monday at 2pm. Tuesday will be votes on all the amendments, then a test vote on cloture(?)
close.
i think that’s right.
“Without Roosevelt, the poor would have starved.”
(alternate theory)
“Without Roosevelt, the poor would have organized.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Huffington running “The Picture” of McCain burying his face in Clusterfuck’s armpit in a gesture of man love and adoration.
If that picture can’t win this election- nothin can!
I knew I missed something :)
Instead of fashion, we need to be discussing this:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…..nforce.php
Well they DID organize- and the short lived labor movement was the result- now a sort of dinosaur without a home.
jane – any chance of getting a statement from dodd and/or feingold about why they didn’t object to the UC on 1/31?
*sigh*
Without Roosevelt, the country WOULD have gone to communism. The conservatives (Aristocracrats) don’t understand that you cannot get away with putting your boot on the neck of the poor indefinitely. You cannot get away with feeding table scraps to the poor indefinitely. The French Revolution demonstrated part of the inevitable result of such policy.
The wealthy would have been eaten (almost literally) and the country would have gone communist.
Instead of fashion, we need to be discussing this:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…..nforce.php
There are twenty four hours in every day- no need to be deadly serious for every ONE of em.
(((elliot)))
what’s wrong. what can we do?
i’m going to have yummy cookies later today thanks to you….
Sadly, yes.
Negotiators of contracts, usually favorable to the captains.
That’s certainly possible- and actually it was the war that ended the depression and served as a socio-economic ladder for millions- so one might say- the war save america from communism- but not in the way anyone expected.
i don’t think that’s so – see germany. see italy. see spain.
revolution sure. but no way to determine the outcome.
I maintain a fond admiration for the French Method of dealing with an arrogant ruling class.
That may be so
But what I see happening now has far more serious consequences.
“Without Roosevelt, the poor would have starved.”
(alternate theory)
“Without Roosevelt, the poor would have organized.”
___________________
the poor in America have almost no record of organizing.
MLK Jr. got hisself shot for making the effort.
Don’t berate yourself. It just ain’t easy, not to mention it can eat up your earnings. Most is a farce and the industry needs lots of suckers to keep it going.
I love fashion, I admit it. My budget is zilch. So what’s my alternative? I go to second-hand clothing stores in upper end neighborhoods. What a deal!
I have a friend who never spends more than $15 bucks on her entire outfit (excluding shoes). What an eye this woman has! She bargains at garage sales, picks up men’s Armani shirts at second-hand stores, puts a little twist to it and comes up with a smashing outfit. She starts trends. Now that is a special talent and I’m not at her stage of development so I do the next best thing, take her with me when I shop for myself. Maybe we can pass her around.
just the primary blues is all.
but thanks! I sure would like a glass of milk to go with those cookies.
You’re making me kind of nervous here. I’m the type of clueless nerd who only looks presentable because my wife will say “You’re wearing that?!?“. Oh, and there are the high school pictures from the 70s, showing me in lots of polyester with bizarre patterns and strange colors. Though to be fair to the younger me, everyone back then wore that crap.
Twas a comment on rwcole’s 30’s context.
Under the pressure of the depression and the war, america made some decisions that served us well for decades..The GI Bill, gave housing and education to millions of americans- the war forced integration in the military which eventually spread to the nation at large after a gigantic struggle. The country suddenly was providing opportunity- not for EVERYONE but for a large percentage of people who previously were largely rural hangers on- workin family farms and doin without. No education, no real jobs, no real future.
The effects of that boost are still being felt- but barely.
What will it take to bring EVERYONE on board?
((((((((((((((((((G))))))))))))))))))))))))
no. but gotta say, after yesterday’s hearing, i don’t see today as a normal day. and i’m feeling pretty confused that most everyone is going on like it was.
there’s a lot of that going around. must be wicked contagious.
Sadly, some of us look like that cartoon Atrios ran the other day.
Selise
It’s a LONG WAR- not a short one. It won’t be won today, tommorow, or the next day. It will not be won in our lifetimes. Best to pace oneself I’d say.
Yesterday here at the lake it was anything but normal. It was not about the hearing – though it would have been easier. I think people are really overwhelmed by everything right now and frustrated beyond belief. It makes for some unhappy times and important things are ignored.
When the suffering Vietnamese had the opportunity, they rose up against the rich Chinese landowners who had thrown scraps to them and beat those landowners to death. Where did the landowners get such large pieces of property? They stole it from those very same people. People don’t forget and they will rise up.
Of course you’re right – especially about the GI Bill – but I think the fact that WWII had destroyed the manufacturing capability of most of the rest of the world may have had something to do with it.
maybe people aren’t showing everything they’re feeling, you know, like “don’t get kharma all riled up. it might boomerang on ya,” or sunthin’ on that order …..
yep but it’s just temporary!
We’ve got the real fight in November
and to appropriate a most revered expression, we’ve got to “Keep our eyes on the prize”
we can’t forget this.
Something’s happenin
But you don’t know what it is
do you
Mr Jones?
Christopher Hayes, the DC editor of The Nation, has an article in the recent issue described on the web as “Here’s why Obama is the left’s best chance to take back the country” and in its subhead in the print magazine, “Why Obama is more likely than Clinton to bring about a new progressive majority.” In it, he writes this:
And here’s the letter I just sent off to them, which summarizes a lot of things that have appeared here in previous posts. Since it undoubtedly won’t be published (for starters, it’s way too long), I might as well post it here:
Obama’s nominating speech for John Kerry at the 2004 Democratic Convention is also instructive: “When we send our young men and women into harm’s way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they are going, to care for their families while they’re gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return and to never, ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace and earn the respect of the world.” Once again, entirely tactical reasons for opposing the invasion. Not to mention that the truth was not “shaded,” it was a complete fabrication, as we all know, and as any serious opponent of the war knew before the invasion, and everyone in the world knew by July, 2004.
Recently, in an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal, Obama had what many thought were overly charitable words to say about Ronald Reagan. But most missed this from the same interview, a rather instructive view about how Obama views the movement against the Vietnam war: “My frame of reference is ‘what works.’ Even when I first opposed the war in Iraq, my first line was, ‘I don’t oppose all wars,’ specifically to make clear that this was not just an anti-military, 70s love-in kind of approach, rather, that I thought strategically it was a mistake for us to go in.”
In the most recent Democratic debate in Los Angeles, Obama shed even more light on why he opposed the invasion of Iraq: “If we were concerned about Iranian influence, we should not have had this government installed in the first place. (Applause.) We shouldn’t have invaded in the first place. It was part of the reason that I think it was such a profound strategic error for us to go into this war in the first place.” Once again, the idea that a U.S. President actually has to obey U.S. law (including ratified treaties like the Geneva Conventions) doesn’t seem to enter into his calculation.
Then there’s the potential war against Iran. In a Democratic debate last year, he asserted that “Iran possessing nuclear weapons will be a major threat to us and to the region.” When interrupted by Dennis Kucinich protesting that Iran has no nuclear weapons, Obama pressed on with the standard Bush line, the one that served so well in Iraq: “I understand that, but they’re in the process of developing it. And I don’t think that’s disputed by any expert.”
Finally, and also recently, there was Obama’s letter to the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad, in which Obama asserted that Israel had been “forced” to impose the current blockade on Gaza, and astonishingly claimed that it was “seeking to minimize any impact on civilians,” as if the collective punishment being imposed on the people of Gaza was not precisely aimed at impacting civilians.
And this is the man whom Christopher Hayes wants us to believe is going to bring about “a new progressive majority.”
Eli Stephens
Left I on the News
Hmm
Ya know- I have never thought of that- and so obvious too. Thanks!!
how is recognizing what happened yesterday contrary to pacing? i don’t get that.
i’m not saying everyone should be talking about the mukasey hearing… but why, when one person does, are they shot down? is there some rule i missed that everyone has to ignore it?
twain @108 – i missed most of yesterday here (dare i ask what i missed?) i was at emptywheel following the hearing and then events on the senate floor.
elliot @ 112 – ah, maybe that’s the disconnect. i think the real fight is right now.
Brown shoes don’t make it
Brown shoes don’t make it
Quit school, why fake it?
Brown shoes don’t make it?
TV dinner by the pool
Watch your brother grow a beard
Got another year of school
You’re OK, he’s too weird
Be a plumber He’s a bummer
He’s a bummer every summer
Be a loyal plastic robot
For a world that doesn’t care
Smile at every ugly
Shine on your shoes and cut your hair
Be a jerk and go to work Be a jerk and go to work
Be a jerk and go to work Be a jerk and go to work
Do your job, and do it right
Life’s a ball! (TV tonight!)
Do you love it, do you hate it?
There it is, the way you made it (WOOOooow)
No problemo!
Selise
I’m all for everyone talking about what ever they wish- my comment was directed at someone who appeared to think that the topic of the current thread was too frivilous.
1,744 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen rwcole:
Well, I like ta think that Roosevelt and the “New Deal” represented a “third way” alternative to the historical dialectic…in fact, I really think that Roosevelt and the New Dealers found the “radical center” of American politics or, if you will, the genius of the founding fathers: DEMOCRACY. It was a way past the historical reality of the battle between the power of the “haves” and the mass of the “have nots”…that is, it woulda been an alternative “third way” if Radical Reconstruction had not ended in 1877 and re-enfranchised the losers in the Civil War. When that happened, Northern capital got their economic colony back while re-establishing the terrible political stalemate of ante bellum America.
KEEP THE FAITH AND TEACH YOUR CHILDREN THEIR HISTORY BEFORE THEY HAFTA RELIVE IT!!!
well, wake me up when the nightmare is over…
later ‘pups.
Sorry to be irreverent or irrelevant to the seriousness at hand, things so overwhelmingly maloderous cause me to retreat to comedy because laughter is my only weapon of survival, and I write bad poetry.
Business as usual, even here.
Need to laugh so we don’t cry.
It’s all so serious, we need a little light-heartedness and perspective.
please don’t think i was objecting to humor – never that!
There was certainly a period in american history where the power elite got the idea that if they didn’t give at least a little ground- they’d lose all their shit.
Ironically, the changes made in the forties actually made MORE money for em.
Since they have decided that compromise is wimpy- they can have it ALL.
That’s on account of there hasn’t been a revolution lately in the world that worries em I suppose.
Many of them (like Richard Melon Scaife) seem to be very shortsighted about their OWN interest. It’s because they are not really wealth creators as their grandfathers were. Henry Ford understood that if no one could afford his cars he’d go broke. Those who inherit money and power just want lower taxes.
Back at ya
Dumb all over,
Black ‘n white
People, we is not wrapped tight
Nurds on the left
Nurds on the right
Religious fanatics
On the air every night
Sayin’ the Bible
Tells the story
‘N makes the details
Sound real gory
‘Bout what to do
If the geeks over there
Don’t believe in the book
We got over here
You can’t run a race
Without no feet
‘N pretty soon
There won’t be no street
For dummies to jog on
Or doggies to dog on
Religious fanatics
Can make it be all gone
(I mean it won’t blow up
‘N disappear
It’ll just look ugly
For a thousand years . . . )
You can’t run a country
By a book of religion
Not by a heap
Or a lump or a smidgeon
Of foolish rules
Of ancient date
Designed to make
You all feel great
While you fold, spindle
And mutilate
Those unbelievers
From a neighboring state
TO ARMS! TO ARMS!
Hooray! That’s great
Two legs ain’t bad
Unless there’s a crate
They ship the parts
To mama in
For souvenirs: two ears (Get Down!)
Not his, not hers (but what the hey?)
The Good Book says:
“It’s gotta be that way!”
But their book says:
“REVENGE THE CRUSADES . . .
With whips ‘n chains
‘N hand grenades . . . “
TWO ARMS? TWO ARMS?
Have another and another
Our God says:
“There ain’t no other!”
Our God says
“It’s all okay!”
Our God says
“This is the way!”
It says in the book:
“Burn ‘n destroy . . .
Repent, ‘n redeem
‘N revenge, ‘n deploy
‘N rumble thee forth
To the land of the unbelieving scum on the other side
‘Cause they don’t go for what’s in the book
‘N that makes ‘em BAD
So verily we must choppeth them up
Or stompeth them down
Or rent a nice French bomb
To poof them out of existance
While leaving their real estate just where we need it
To use again
For temples in which to praise
OUR GOD
(”Cause he can really take care of business!”)
And when his humble TV servant
With white hair
And a brown suit
And maybe a blonde wife who takes phone calls
Tells us it is okay to do this stuff
Then we’re supposed to do it,
‘Cause if we don’t do it,
We ain’t gwine up to hebbin!
(Depending on which book you’re using at the time . . . Can’t use theirs . . . . . . it’s all lies . . . Gotta use mine . . . )
Ain’t that right?
That’s what they say
Every night . . .
Every day . . .
Listen, we can’t really be dumb
If we’re just following God’s Orders
After all, he wrote this book here
An’ in the book it says:
“He made us all to be just like Him,” so . . .
If we’re dumb . . .
Then God is dumb . . .
(An’ maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)
DUMB ALL OVER
A LITTLE UGLY ON THE SIDE
DUMB ALL OVER
A LITTLE UGLY ON THE SIDE
DUMB ALL OVER
A LITTLE UGLY ON THE SIDE
DUMB ALL OVER
A LITTLE UGLY ON THE SIDE
fz-
That’s not Iambic Pentameter is it?
vely vely nice
Well said.
A good argument can be made that the “death tax” is one of the most effective engines driving economic growth. It takes money out of the hands of the people who tend to do nothing of value with it (spoiled brats) and makes it available to those who really have the energy and imagination to build something of value.
There have, I suppose, been studies done to measure the relative ineffectiveness of those who inherit millions. I’d love to read the results. Their attitudes certainly differ from those who actually MADE the money.
1,744 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Selise:
Bless your heart, I feel your pain because I’ve had it since I realized the reality of 1968…there is just SOOOOO much shit goin’ down so quickly that it is impossible to have a single conversation that connects with the reality of the moment. I’m afraid that we’ve lost the war…democracy is dead and any change is gunna require actions that we abhor. First thing we hafta do is protect our children from bein’ compromised by their parents’ aquiescence to tyranny and lead ‘em into the streets of Denver (and I’ve got 3 of those kids and they’re READY!)…’cuz if there is to be an end to the post modern nightmare of the “friendly fascism” of Bush-Clinton, he’s gunna hafta be carried through the streets to the floor of the convention.
KEEP THE FAITH, THERE IS NO REDEMPTION FOR US BUT WE KEN STILL SAVE THE CHILDREN!!!
“Obama’s opposition to that invasion has been unprincipled from the start.”
What is your argument here? Is the implication that Hillary Clinton’s support for invading Iraq, and her erring on the side of bellicosity vis-a-vis Iran are principled?
You then say, “The fact that this would be an unprovoked invasion of another country in violation of U.S. law and international law didn’t enter into his calculation, nor did the potential cost in Iraqi lives; if it could have been done on the cheap and without losing too many American lives, he would have been all for it. Watch for more invasions of countries like Panama, Grenada, and Haiti under “antiwar” President Obama.”
Did it enter Clinton’s calculations?
I’m flabbergasted. Please, I’m interested in seeing you try to take your arguments to some logical conclusion that might dispose me in favor of your candidate. Contortionists make a good spectacle.
Huh? Homer said!
Have to go, a little boy is hungry and I am chef.
If capitalism is really a meritocracy as claimed, then a confiscatory estate (”death”) tax should be no problem.
It is a travesty that we have become a nation who values “investors”- lazy ass people who move their money from account to account as a way of living of daddy’s dough. There is a current myth that they are the heart and soul of the nation- in fact they are parasites- building nothing, creating nothing, contributing nothing.
Sure we need capital- and investment is necessary to growth- and it is one of the weaknesses of classical marxism that it has no way of attributing proper value to capital in decision making- but the idea that we need to revere “Investors” and bribe em with tax cuts in order to get em to invest is dangerous and stupid. What the fuck else are they gonna do with their money? Eat it?
Invest it elsewhere. In places like China and Bangladesh, where people appreciate them.
I am, by the way, an investor so I am chastising myself as well as others when I say- “Don’t expect eternal gratitude and tax breaks for doin the only thing you CAN do with your money”.
I maybe wrongly jumped to the conclusion that you support Clinton. I apologize if that’s not the case.
Modern capitalism began with the invention of corporations – in order to create a vehicle for investment of a scarce resource – capital. A case could be made that the problem now is too much capital chasing too few investment opportunities, suggesting a post-capitalist economy.
It does no good to make fun of anyone’s fashion sense. It’s like name calling, satisfying perhaps, but not argument. The human problem is that we are crazy. I mean that literally. The insanity is that some of us think they can prove their “superiority” by winning socially approved races. People who “make it” are then perceived as “better” than those who don’t. Their superiority as reflected by tasteful clothing and fine restaurants is short lived because they, like everyone, die.
Human inferiority, face it it is generally believed human nature is sh*t, derives from any number of things, the most important being death. Death is a tough reality, so we conjure up heaven, hell and places in between. We use collective agreement impose these questionable concepts on everyone we can. We can’t bring ourselves to admit we don’t know. We prefer to fall on our knees and worship our ignorance.
I’m not sure how to get around madness of this magnitude, but it won’t be by calling names or making fun of those who doubt what we believe.
What Was I Thinking?
1,744 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen rwcole:
“What the fuck else are they gunna do with their money? Eat it?”
Yes indeed, stuff that shit down their throats and we ken eat the cake!
But seriously…there is a mechanism to “attributing proper value to capital in decision making”, it’s called democracy and the “labor theory of value.”
KEEP THE FAITH, THE ANSWER TO A SICK DEMOCRACY IS MORE DEMOCRACY!!!
the problem is too little regulation, when a capitolist is allowed to defer their costs to everyone else, they grow exonentially by literally stealing from everyone else
Look at it this way. When the Rapture comes we’ll be left with all kinds of stuff these people “left behind.” Most of it we could burn to heat our homes, some we could recycle to build stuff, the rest we let sit and rot. Those “wool blend” suits break down in sunlight pretty fast after they’ve been rained on a couple of times. Acid rain helps a lot. 60 inch flat screen TV’s make good slingshot targets.
That’s part of the problem – most of the scientific and technological advances that allowed capitalism to flourish – the “low hanging fruit,” if you will – has already been exploited. When the “big idea” is cost cutting (via labor arbitrage, among other things), then capitalism loses its true reason for existence and becomes simply a morally bankrupt system of oppression.
Hmm- another very provacative comment. Thanks- Have to think about that one.
I have a dream, which may never be realized, of writing a book on the subject.
I totally disagree
there is the technology we have to develope to reverse global warming, there’s alternative fuel industry, there’s planetary exploration
there are generations of technologyies that are not explored
I’d love to hear more about it.
I think you may have missed the “low hanging fruit” part, which is essential. Not that there are not new technologies to discover, of course there are. Just that those most ripe for exploitation have already been exploited. New technologies would require vast investments, which our aristocrats have neither the foresight nor the patience to make.
It’s basically just an outline right now, and on the other computer. I really appreciate the interest, though.
Well it may be more complicated than that. Millions have been religious for thousands of years without the dream of an afterlife- (judaism for example). There’s something else that drives religious thinkin- something more akin to aesthetic experience than wishful thinking perhaps.
I maybe wrongly jumped to the conclusion that you support Clinton. I apologize if that’s not the case.
Most assuredly I am not; apology accepted. :-)
Bill Gates knows that his kids aren’t going to do anything very useful with his billions- so he’s sending it elsewhere- also Warren Buffet. Rare insight.
As would I, MayDaze – when ever you have the opportunity.
If there is a relative bounty of capital- and a dearth of investment opportunity- one would expect interest rates to decrease and return on investment to spiral downward. Well- check- check!!!
If there is a capital surplus- then the silliest thing in the world would be economic policy based on trying to wring more investment out of the nation—-Check!
In which case I’d say that we don’t have a candidate at this point who voted against the war. The best we have is one who didn’t vote for it.
Thanks, with permission, I’d like to sue that!
I mean, use that (preview, preview…)
You want my permission to SUE ME?
see 161 – a typo
Yeah- I got it- eventually. Kinda funny though. Sure USE it!!
Thanks!
MayDaze, please write the book.
Thanks for the encouragement. I am finding that writing is really hard work (apologies to G. Bush).
Can we run a corporation for president? I mean, just to demonstrate the absurdity of corporate personhood…
We’d need a workaround for the “citizenship” thing, but I’m sure there’s a corporation that was formed more than 35 years ago in the U.S. or spawned overseas from U.S. parent corporations that would be willing to run, and perhaps even spend its own funds.
Don’t put ideas like that in lizard brains they’ll roll with it.
I know what you are saying but I disagree maydaze
when a technology needs investment, that is the very thing that stimulates the economy
the low lying fruit you are talking about is not nearly as good for the economy as things like reversing global warming and developing alternative fuel
I understand your point, my conclusion though is the oposite
and there is the very point and why there must be regulation in the first place
we need to insure the investment in our future and our economy and the only method to accomplish those goals that are neccessary for us to survive is through regulation
this is our country, it’s not the corporations country, if they want to play ball in our field they follow our rules
our rules are;
“you invest back into this economony not into your bank account”
oops. ;-)
In which case I’d say that we don’t have a candidate at this point who voted against the war. The best we have is one who didn’t vote for it.
Sure, if you don’t want to count all the votes for funding as votes for the war.
I was once at a Warner Bros senior staff meeting and Prince came in wearing a yellow silk pants suit with matching wide-brimmed yellow hat, yellow bag and yellow pumps. He never said anything out loud during the meeting. I couldn’t stop thinking how he got up in the morning, looked in his closet and said to himself, “Self, I’m going to Burbank to meet with the Chairman of Warner Bros, the President of Warner Bros and a dozen senior vice presidents of Warner Bros. What should I wear?” It must be something like that for all these people getting ready for CPAC. I assume Rick Santorum just wears wash’n’wear suits because people are always throwing pies at him. But what about the others?
howie – or maybe they don’t think at all about what they’re going to be wearing? maybe they have other things on their minds? (probably not good things). not everyone considers what they’re going to wear that day as one of life’s big questions.
more often than not the clothes we wear are social signifiers of the our tribe – or the tribe we want to be part of. at most, i expect their clothes are just like gang colors, at statement that they are not one of those coastal latte drinking liberals they imagine the enemy to be.
thanks norske. very much appreciate the sentiment – and i hope to see you in denver. but i draw the line at actions i abhor. the risks i’m willing to take are risks for myself only.
It’s not necessarily that they think it looks good. It’s that they think it looks better than the alternatives.
Reversing? Unlikely. Extremely unlikely. That is a fiction, FAPP. We input a change to a very non-linear dynamical system and see what happens. Cutting emissions will have an effect, but it’s highly unlikely that it will reverse.
See Chaos Theory.
I think Jews believe in some sort of afterlife, not sure what it is, but I should know. I’m not sure what an aesthetic experience is either. Religion is an example of collective thinking, a large group agreeing on what is up and what is down. Collective thinking is the basis of most non-phyical world (i.e. morality) absolutes.
no CHIT! Jane. Can’t TELL YA how many times I’ve wondered about this. WHAT IS X THINKING?!:
Who WEARS those ridiculous getups??? AND THEY ALL LOOK ALIKE! Where’s the originality? Where’s the style? Where’s the “human expression”????
Point of reference: Cindy McCain
She’s really a pretty little thing. If she’d clean up! Scrape off the pancake, do something human with her hair, rethink her wardrobe.
(Change husbands).