Obama assimilated quickly

I admit I was surprised by the eagerness with which he became that which he claimed to oppose.

He appears to be, at heart, a much bigger authoritarian asshole than I expected.

Sometimes it seems like...

when you get right down to it, the only thing that's really left is art.

Jazz is like, there, and exists. No question about it.

Sometimes it feels like jazz is saying....

i understand....

there is this, and that... and this and that and this....

and aalllll that... and yeah....

this sound is still cool anyways....

so go ahead...

and take that......

and this....

and that and this and that.....

and take aalllll that.....

but don't you worry...

cuz there'll STILL be these cool sounds...

Obama's Legacy

Barack Obama was the final nail in hope's coffin.

That's one heckuva legacy.

Click, click, click, done.

It's quite funny to click through the available political media outlets, particularly the patently partisan ones, or even just the "muddy the waters forever except in the sense that we should always hold the powerful unaccountable because we like them and want to go to their cocktail parties" varieties, because you can know everything you need to know about the stories being covered, the angles being used to cover them, the claptrap being peddled and the filler being used to take up the rest of the time within the first 4 or 5 seconds.

Click...

click....

click....

done.

Effing tards.

When a socialist warmonger claims...

that there isn't enough money to go around to pay for "needed social programs", but there is plenty of money to intervene militarily in conflicts around the world, with or without a Congressional declaration of war....

well, i tend to be skeptical of that person's claims.

I HAZ POPCORN AND AM READY FOR WAR

I PUSH LEFT-LEFT-RIGHT-RIGHT-UP-DOWN-START AND I GET 100 EXTRA LIVES.

I WILL RESCUE THE PATRIOTIC FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAMIC TERRORIST FREEDOM FIGHTERS FROM THE EVIL ASSAD.

I WILL INSTITUTE DEMOCRACY AND BRING STABILITY TO THE PEOPLES OF SYRIA

UNTIL THEY PISS ME OFF, AT WHICH TIME I WILL KILL THEM TOO

BUT I WILL DO ALL THIS OBJECTIVELY

AND WITH GOOD INTENTIONS

Is it right to hate stupidity and self-deception?

selective outrage, intellectual cowardice, etc. and so on?

Moving on...

So what is the floor under which no one should be allowed to fall?

How much will it cost?

How much will that cost increase over time?

Are there any potential unintended consequences of such a policy?

Will you work harder or less hard upon the implementation of the policy?

Will you accept raising your taxes to help pay for the policy?

If someone then says, "but it's not fair, because I am entitled to 'this'", which you hadn't included in your original definition, will you be inclined to accept their claim?

Will there ever be a case where you would disagree with such a claim?

If the person stated that you were a cold-hearted, selfish person for disagreeing with their specific claim, how would you respond?

Would you accept their characterization of your motivations?

Would it change your overall perspective on the concept at all?

Is there any place for private charity in a free society?

Is there any place for a free society on the 3rd rock?


It's funny how the "grass is greener" concept applies in all sorts of ways. We celebrate "freedom fighters" in foreign lands (even to the point of demanding that fellow citizens pay with their own treasure, even their own lives, in order to support those foreign patriots), while denigrating them at home.

That's funny, you have to admit.

Politics is jello and we are all enthusiastically hammering away.

Expecially...

lol.

Fletcher Reede said it best...

Your honor, I OBJECT!!!!

Judge, "and why is that Mr. Reede?"

Because it's devastating to my case!!

In the spirit of his recent piece

I would ask David Brooks who "authoritarian warmongers" would tend to vote for.

Or the "ignorant and uneducable". What would their voting tendency be like?

How about "religious fundamentalists who want to impose their religious beliefs on others via government force"? Who's their guy?

And corporate welfarists?

How about those who support an untouchable, unaccountable banking system with bailouts for the richest?

I doubt he would find such questions worthy of the type of examination he has given to those who vote with a more independent mindset.

the "recent piece" in question.

-----------------------

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Ron Paul phenomenon is that it has forced everyone on all sides to see the flaws in the collectivist thinking they've been captive to for the majority of their lives. Most have never been forced to reconcile the hypocrisy and illogic in their positions before. In the past, the belief that "my team agrees on this" has sufficed to convince them of their righteousness, but that is no longer the case. The Ron Paul movement is essentially holding a mirror to their faces, both as individuals and as groups, forcing them to confront all the fruits of their collective dissonance. This, understandably, causes anxiety.

The game has changed, and they are unsure how to play it, so they attack those attempting to modernize the game and force it to be played by a consistent set of principled rules. I imagine the dynamic is nearly identical to that facing slave owners at the time of liberation. Part of me particularly enjoys the knowledge that many would be appalled to see such an example being used to demonstrate this particular point (of course, their reaction would likely hold in regards to "any point they disagree with"), and I recognize that such a feeling of satisfaction is probably a manifestation of a personal weakness that I should work on. And I will! But not today. On this day, the comparison stands, and we have Ron Paul and his supporters to thank for nudging us back in the right direction.

Emptying the Desk Drawer (respeck)

• Baseball needs to do something to eliminate extra innings regular season games. 10 innings max, then it's a tie. Tangentially, I think I've been convinced that the "loser point" should be eliminated in hockey.
• Maybe it's time to ban all forms of cell phone communication while driving, including "hands-free". I would suggest setting up additional rest areas along highways to allow people to pull over and communicate safely. Y'all drive badly enough as it is. Time to minimize the distractions.
• Ed Markey's negative ads make me like Gabriel Gomez more and more
• All politicians supporting broad, sweeping collection of private individuals' communication data without a warrant should be required to give all of their account passwords to a new committee made up of citizens elected by their peers to collect and access their communications "only when necessary" and that determination shall be made in secret and "signed off on" by another, separate un-elected group of citizens chosen by me who are not and shall never be members of Congress or paid lobbyists thereof. Any politician subject to this rule found to be attempting to circumvent these restrictions by using communications technology outside of the monitored set shall be fined an amount not exceeding $50,000 and/or sentenced to a term not exceeding 6 months in jail. If you're not doing anything wrong, you probably have nothing to worry about. Accounts shall be made available free of charge to individuals under this rule requesting such.
• OOOOH SAY CAN YOU SEEEEEEE???????

Respeck

I support a new "Patriot Password Law" that

requires everyone to send all their passwords to the federal government pre-emptively in case any of us is considering doing something bad. in fact, let's just go ahead and establish the pre-crime division, in the name of efficiency and patriotism. if you're not doing anything bad, or thinking any bad thoughts, you'll probably have nothing to worry about.

Objectivity Lies

in the corners of circular rooms.

Clinton / Kerry - the thought hadn't even occurred to me

but it makes 100% perfect sense. Good call, amigo.

The only entertaining aspect of the Democratic primary will be watching Joe Biden be Joe Biden, while honestly thinking he has a shot at the nomination. His awkwardness and inflated sense of self-importance is always interesting to watch. But other than that it will be a rather boring, predetermined cakewalk, and will constitute (an ironic choice of words) a formidable foe for Republicans to defeat.

Republicans would need a dynamic ticket along the lines of a Chris Christie type in order to have a chance to compete. They will need someone who is not afraid of the Clinton mystique, or any mystique for that matter, and someone who ordinary Americans can relate to on a visceral level more easily than off-putting elites like McCain and Romney. Perhaps Jeb is relatable enough on a personal level for most voters, but the thought of another Bush presidency still makes me instantly physically ill. I assume that sentiment is fairly widespread and I doubt he could overcome it in a general election.

Thank you and good day.

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel

is one of the best and most useful program on television and has been for many years now. It consistently leaves you feeling as though the time spent watching it was time well spent.

I would suggest that they pay to broadcast an episode on network television as a means of advertising HBO programming. I assume they could trade-off standard advertising dollars from somewhere else to pay for it. Of course one could argue that both HBO and the networks would have a conflict of interest at that point, but I would suspect that would be the case in many of the advertising relationships for both parties.

Perhaps they could even include very limited commercials during the broadcast, but it would probably have to be limited to only a single break in order to retain the existing, uninterrupted flow of the program which is one of its benefits.