J' rejette

I have no idea, if internet ads are tied to where you visit, why I keep getting ads to find singles - especially single men - in my area. I not only have no interest in meeting single men, I also have no interest in meeting single women in my area. Or in any area, for that matter. And for what, exactly? To give them fatherly advice about their boyfriends? Wtf? I did buy my wife some silk pajamas for Christmas, and continue to get ads from the site I bought them from, for which I am grateful because the gift was such a success it shall be repeated on MrsRW's birthday and again for our anniversary. So I don't want to forget where I got them from. But I surely don't need to find single men and women to help me with that. Sheeesh.

***

In a recent internet dust-up I had with some neanderthals regarding the behavior of some of our boys in Afghanistan my critique was finally met with the comment: "until you've been shot at you have no right to say anything." To which I say - bullshit. I've been told I can't say things about black people because I've never been black. I've been told I can't criticize moves baseball teams make because I've never played the game at the professional level. If you say something negative about Israel's policies you're suddenly an anti-Semite (even if Palestinians are also Semites!). But I don't see where it says, in the First Amendment, where there are all these conditions about the voicing of opinions. And if that kind of personal participation is a prerequisite to opinion, then no one can say anything against what I think unless they've been born in 1953 and saw and thought everything I saw and thought up to this time. Because unless they've seen things from my perspective for all this time they should just STFU or something. That's ridiculous. And I continue to say - even though I now make it a point to pointedly ridicule our over-macho'd sunshine patriots and their chicken hawk fandom - that the American flag itself should be enough of a symbol to strike fear into the hearts of the unjust. But I doubt that's what it means anymore in the world anyway. Because we're a bunch of vengeful, malicious, meddlesome cavemen now and have no ownership of justice or truth by any stretch of the imagination. Ugga bugga anythehellway.

***

I still can't fathom how grown men can slobber and fawn over professional athlete heroes. We have a TV in our break room at work and - since we work overnight - there is often ESPN or such similar programming on at all times. And, of course, athlete interviews are the ultimate absurdity...

"We just need to just go out there and take care of business."
"I want to just contribute for the good of the team."
"If we play like we're capable of..."
"Go out there..."
"One day at a time."
"Out there."

And then there's these guys who want desperately to believe in some kind of ultimate goodness. Sitting around the break room stuffing our faces with sandwiches and chili and all, some guys seem to always be the ones saying "oh he's a good guy." or "He does a lot of charity work you know." Or "he's a real down to Earth guy." Really... who cares what these guys do, and how "good" they are? For God's sake they're millionaires who don't really give two shits about us watching them when all is said and done. The whole worship-thing is just as bad as the opposite. "I don't watch basketball because they all wear chains and have their baseball caps on sideways." Seriously? They all do? Oh yeah? Wow.

I purposely avoid athlete interviews because they are useless in the first place. And I seriously don't care about their personal lives or what they do in their spare time or who their girlfriend is nowadays. The same goes for the big game, pre-game hype sessions. Hell I even avoid the national anthem. The whole hand-over-heart crap and suddenly the word "brave" has 47 syllables is a bunch of tripe.

***

But here's something I don't reject at all...

Yep. There's Charlize again dammit. She just can't stay away it seems.

Also? I turned off the capcha codes on the comments. Or at least I think I have. What a stupid ass idea THAT was. Who came up with that? I can't even read the friggin things.

Separated At Birth?

Governor Mitt Romney and Guy Smiley...





No... it's the same guy. Silly.

O RLY?

Speaker Gingrich was never a favorite of the Republican brain trust. Since his surge in South Carolina we are seeing a steady drumbeat by the conservative media against him. He bullied too many of his allies and simply alienated the rest.

Now, the majority of Americans aren't even paying a minute's worth of attention to the campaign so far. The only people busy are the true believers and the morbidly interested. But as soon as the electorate gets wind of Gingrich's operational double standard, should he be the GOP nominee, he's going to be buried.

It isn't that he cheated on two wives and has the potential to be going into the White House with one of his mistresses. He could be forgiven, in the modern American mind, for that and divorces and all the rest. That's not the problem.

What's going to strike him dead in the water is when people put 2 and 2 together; specifically that precious moment in history when, because of the Monica Lewinsky debacle, Gingrich publicly said that President Clinton "no longer has the moral authority to lead." - - - After which he went off to his weekend hideaway with the woman he was cheating on his wife with.

You've got to be kidding me. Once people clamp down on that there's no hope for him. As it is the Republican leadership (that unseen blob of state party chairmen and influence holders that actually run the party and wish the Tea Party would dry up and go away) hate him. And the machinery to defuse his candidacy is already starting to churn.

Governor Romney will be hoisted on his own petard. Americans may have been ready to elect a black President, but a goofy Mormon in magic underwear they are not ready for. And all it will take is for the Democrats to simply publish a list of all the things he's changed his views on depending on the circumstances and the temperature. He's practically Obama-lite. Even if he does gain the nomination, and even if by some miracle he does win the election in November, people who like President Obama won't have to worry; they'll be getting the same M.O. and nothing upsetting will happen to their liberal fantasy.

Congressman Paul doesn't stand a canary's chance in a hell full of cats. Why he's even bothering is beyond anybody with half a brain at this point. It's one thing to be a libertarian (a fanciful, important-sounding philosophical apology for what basically amounts to the social economics of Ebenezer Scrooge that often appeals to people who have more education than is probably good for their limited brain capacities), but it is quite another thing to say you are a libertarian, and then pander to the trailer park rank and file by negating long-standing and legitimate libertarian views on immigration, for example. He is not only ridiculous, there's a good chance he's a quack.

Senator Santorum, rounding out the remains of the day that is the Republican field, is - to put a bow on it - categorically unelectable. He would carry South Carolina if the GOP standard bearer, because almost everybody in South Carolina is a nut job. If it weren't for the transplanted people from other places than South Carolina you could still make a case for having James Pettigru's famous take on the place as the official state motto. There isn't even any point in discussing Senator Santorum's chances, pathetic an d narrowly-based as they are. He would simply be destroyed in a general election.

Which all leads me to the conclusion that somewhere along the way the powers that be in the GOP took a look at President Obama's campaign war chest on one hand, and the nutbag Tea Party on the other hand, and said "screw you guys, we're staying home." They'll save their money for when the election is between two new names, hoping that the Tea Party will go back into the Ross Perot hole it crawled out of by then.

It's the only thing I can figure right now.

The Truth

And so the soulless American political season marches on. I'm over it, how 'bout you? Ron Paul, that great libertarian fraud. Newt Gingrich, the crabby professor. Rick Santorum, the guy we need at the head of the GOP ticket so we can expose the true ugly nature of conservatives in this country once and for fucking all. And a President who can't wait to get millions for his memoirs if he can just skate through the next four years.

I'm over Our Fundamental American Principles - whatever the fuck they are. Oh yeah; hard work, big cars, faith, family, Cocoa Puffs, porn sites and football. I forgot. Plus the right to remain silent in a court of law. And the rising ability of the federal government to pry into your shit. Plus big pants down by your ass and the careful study of Intelligent Design in full knowledge that Gawd created America in the image of heaven or some shit like that. Germany as part of the Axis of Evil. France full of accordions. What's the currency of the United Kingdom...? What's the United Kingdom I never heard of that... Palestine? What's the main religion of people from Israel? Easy... Israeli. What are you, a stupid moran?

I once had a person tell me that kangaroos made it on the Ark because the land masses were all one clump back then. You know, the Pangaea thing. Then they went to their Catholic church where the wafer turns into the actual, no-doubt-about-it body of Christ but we have the gluten-free Jesus too, if you ask for it. Just in case.

I had another person tell me once that since they have to take a drug test to work in a damn grocery store then people who get welfare should have to take a drug test before they get their money from the state. Of course the answer is nobody should have to take a drug test for these things but never mind that - we believe in the Constitution. Like the great "libertarian" Ron Paul who says "Our leaders betrayed the middle class which is forced to compete with welfare-receiving illegal immigrants who will work for almost anything..." - summarily trashing any real libertarian ideal about immigration, pandering to the xenophobes, saying that immigrants get welfare and jobs the middle class deserves. We know our audience. Ron Paul the True Believer. More like horseshit on a stick.

I'm pretty convinced most Americans don't have a conscience. That old saying - "the Bible is like a human, you can get it to say anything you want if you torture it enough." And that tortured collection of fables, tricks, puzzles and games-for kids has been tortured to read God Bless America. The first empire that will never collapse. Stupid Rome. Dumb Pharaohs. Idiotic Brits. What the hell did they know? It's all in the socks-and-sandals and K-Y jelly. They didn't have socks-and-sandals and K-Y jelly. Of COURSE all those old empires failed. Did Alexander have the NFL? Did he? Huh? Did he have Harleys? No he did not. End of argument. We got American Idol and we rule the fucking world. Ha ha haaa. (win!)

How many times will you go back to the polls because it's your American duty to all those busted veterans and dead guys strewn over hundreds of foreign fields put there to protect motherhood, Old Glory and the right to create insurance derivatives? How long will it take you to get dressed to come out of your trailer park long enough to go vote for the party of business owners who would just as soon keep your wages the same from now until forever and send your sons to die in places nobody can even point to on the map? And how did you get into that mindset in the first place? Pay me shit, take my sons, and I will vote for your right to use venture capitalism to inflate the incomes of six guys on your board of directors. Forget Mitt Romney's magic underwear, he's a capitalist. That's all you need to know.

We had to bail out Wall Street and the banks, which were run into the ground with trick, unsound derivatives foolishly created by business leaders trained and educated in all the best schools, and that just proves that what we need in the White House is a business leader trained and educated in all the best schools. It's logical. Do the math. Drain a beer can and do the math. Sheh... stupid liberals don't understand anything.

Okay so South Carolina is next. We need to find that one conservative super hero because Mitt Romney is a moderate and you know - those Mormons want to take over the world (they're like a bunch of damn Freemasons). But for some reason we just can't find the Perfect One. Compromise is a dirty word. Reagan never raised taxes. Eisenhower never warned us about the military industrial complex. That's where the jobs come from. What, are you nuts>

I gotta go pray now. Pray anybody who wishes us ill gets smitten by a drone. Piss on 'em. We'll show them the bastards.

God bless fucking America and all the wonderful Americans in it too.

Getting It Off My Chest

Does Tim Tebow win football games because his team has better Christians? What about the Christians on the other team? Do we really think a God would care about a football game? Have we heard enough of the whining from the flock about how the "media" is crucifying him because of his faith? He's made a big play about having been a virgin and so proud of it and I'd just like to know why nobody ever thinks about the flip side of that? Or is the thought of Tim Tebow wanking himself off in the shower sort of turn people off? Inquiring minds want to know.

Yesterday I heard an interview with an elderly couple. They were being asked about the end of the Iraq War. She said that she's sure it's only happening so that "Obama" can use it during the coming election, and he said "I come from a time when men were men," and then he explained how he hates to see our soldiers come running home with their tails between their legs. That they should stay until they finish the job. This was a husband and wife team. Obviously made for one another. There'd be no point in telling her this date was established by President Bush for the draw down. There would also be no point in explaining to him that we don't play set-piece battles anymore, that warfare is asymmetrical now, and that somehow we managed to do pretty much what we intended to do in Iraq... except of course find the weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist but hey... who is counting? We need to just line them up and shoot them. Then we come home, have a parade, and some hot dogs. And go to church. And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free.



Someone I used to know on Facebook put up a post about the Occupy movement and ended their comment with the jab "why don't they just go out and get a job?" And it made me think for a second, you know, like, where? What jobs? Because I have been meaning to ask; you know, those tax reductions that President Bush (the "Bush tax cuts") made that exacerbated the oncoming debt crisis were defended on the grounds that this is the kind of thing that creates jobs. You reduce the tax rates on rich people and you get jobs. Only the thing that happened was that we reduced the tax rates on rich people and we lost jobs. The job market, and the economy, shrunk. And we still don't want to use the money that rich people make today because if we did that would be "job killing." And people buy this. It seems counter-intuitive to me to say we should never "up" the taxes on wealthy people or we'll end up stifling job growth when the last time we gave those people more money they didn't. What?

In fact the #1 criticism from the Tea Party against the Occupy Movement is that all they are protesting for is to get entitlements. But the critiques never finish the thought. It should be "all they are protesting for is to get MY entitlements." We need to be honest.

A few of my friends around the blogosphere have been giving a running critique of the GOp debates as they go forward. And some of the comments are pretty funny. Even lifelong Conservatives are having to scratch their heads about this GOP crew. I've decided to finally give my view a complete airing. As follows... Quite generally the GOP has fielded a list of potential candidates for the presidency who would fulfill all the desires of the GOP rank and file. The nominees have so far proven to be everything Conservatives admire. Pandering liars with the combined IQ of a hint of a shadow. Perfect for Ma and Pa up there in the second paragraph... pathological idiots. Just what the country needs. President Obama is unquestionably one of the most pointless office holders we've had in Washington for some time. He is a "cultural marker" - and as is said "the first one through the wall always gets bloodied." But his meandering, self-serving positions are still a thousand times better than the hateful, mean-spirited, know-best coming out of their mouths.

I think there are a lot of morans in this country. Cough...

My Last Word On Politics

The Republican state party leaders, upset with the Tea Party for the influence they've taken away from them, are going to make sure Herman Cain gets the nomination for President. The idea is that he will absolutely crash and burn, and the Tea Party's influence will be stunted. Then, in 2016, we will see a serious candidate for the office - picked by the old guard party leaders minus the defunct Tea Party.

The game is this; The oligarchs of the GOP want their power back. So long as the Tea Party is active and organized they have to listen to them and even share their clout. The best way to destroy the influence of the Tea Party is to have Herman Cain run for President. During the campaign he will prove to be an embarrassment one way or another (and there will be more revelations as to his proclivities coming, put out - not by Democrats and the Evil Media, but by the old guard GOP - just like these recent ones were), and there will be a great big "I told you so" - not by the Democrats, but by the old guard GOP state chairmen who have been threatened by said Tea Party.

In the meantime the old line Republicans like the Speaker and other prominent GOP Senators and Congressmen who are not beholden to the Tea Party will continue to court the populist glow generated by this "grass roots movement" while enacting none of their programs under the guise of not having enough votes somewhere, as if the Tea Party didn't really exist, because the Speaker and the rest happen to BE the oligarchs of the GOP who have never wanted to have the Tea Party watching their every move in the first place.

Any threat to the clout, largess, and patronage held by the GOP oligarchs is viewed by them as something to be stunted; but they have to go about it very carefully. The mission is to appear to be doing the will of the Tea Party, but actively ruining their hold and influence in the long run.

The Democrats have already done as much. Barack Obama's upstart campaign - never supported by the Democratic oligarchs from the beginning - took them by storm as well. In response they purposely dumped enough congressional elections to not have a Democratic majority in both houses anymore (like what he had when he took office but oddly wasn't able to get through but around 10% of his programs - for some mysterious reason while the whole world said "the Republicans are headless"), by not backing key candidates and convincing other, big name Democrats, to walk away from politics and leave their seats wide open.

With Obama's policies checked, the bottom-up influx of new blood he brought with him will dissipate as time goes on, and the old Democratic oligarchs will be back at the reins of power. They did much the same in 1972, withholding workers, money, and support for the candidate McGovern so that the young Turks fell flat on their faces and the old guard retained control of the party because... hey... "I told you so."

In 2016 the two candidates will be much like Kerry / Bush; both minions of the oligarchs and not much difference between them, hand-picked by the "pros" and run through the obligatory proceedings to keep up the masquerade that the Peepul actually make the call, and the old guards of the two parties will be back at the throttle without these pesky groundswell movements popping up and getting in the way of their power.

In the meantime regular joes on the internet and on TV will continue to spit at one another fueled by code words, logical fallacies, generalizations, personal attacks and obtuse verbosity much like any political discussion board, blog or posting will demonstrate. Because we are the circus.

A bunch of clowns.

Pah HA HA HA HA HA HA HA... meh...

So Congress failed to "defund" the Libya thing after all. And there are no war crimes trials being done on President Obama for skirting the "War Powers" Act. All the huff and puff and smoke about the Constitution has faded away. And life goes on as we know it. All the "greatly concerned," "important" and overwrought comments and articles by serious American patriots worried about the erosion of constitutional law in this land (that they only just thought of now, decades after Grenada) ended up being the usual partisan bullshit once again.

And so much for the bluster and indignation of serious-minded people who want to save America from this dangerous black guy in the White House. The GOP has once again manipulated their base on an issue, then walked away from the issue, leaving a steaming pile on shit on the President, which was their only goal anyway, but no real resolution to their manufactured indignation. I don't know what pisses me off more, that normally intelligent, reasonable people continue to allow themselves to be manipulated by country club Republicans, or that the Democrats have no fight in them. The Dems remind me of the old phrase we used to use in the drug days - "he can see the cars, he just can't get out of their way."

Now we've moved on to the debt limit.

In this act the GOP will take their position all the way down to the wire, vehemently demanding no tax adjustments whatsoever and a cut in Social Security and Medicare, until the midnight hour when the the deal both sides have already made will go into motion and the debt ceiling will be raised without any real alteration in anything we can think of off the top of our heads, and the whole thing will not only be forgotten but no one will be able to say what they actually did about it. Then it'll be "it wasn't all we wanted but we have to take little steps to get where we're going."

The truth is that if the debt ceiling isn't raised and the USA defaults on its paper the world economy will smash into a million little pieces and if you think it is bad now you ain't seen nothin' yet. Anyway that's the argument President Reagan used when he wanted the ceiling lifted, and nobody said a whisper about the budget deficits he racked up. They still don't.

But there are political points to make and more steaming piles of shit to leave on President Obama's doorstep that he'll just step over on the way to the next act because he's presumably too dumb to recognize what's going on - OR he's already in "I'm the adult in room" mode (which is what will get him re-elected). And no doubt we'll have to listen to the same "concerned" and "important" commentators - amateur and professional alike - about whatever the hell the next terribly significant issue is that will ruin the country, the Constitution, motherhood, God and baseball.

Or we'll just toss out another tweeting Congressman proud of his balls or something. That always acts as a kind of analgesic. Doesn't really deal with the pain, just makes you forget you have it.

In the meantime there's drug tests for people before they get that awesomely huge welfare check, the campaign to keep GAWD in the Pledge of Allegiance, and all the other bullshit commonly associated with Wal-Mart America's campaign to make this the single most prosaic, irritating, provincial, reactionary, knee-jerk, peckerwood haven, anti-intellectual shit hole of a country you and Abe Lincoln ever saw.

Happy Fourth of July. For duty and humanity... or whatever...

Around Town

Received the Spring 2011 issue of Fred Woodworth's The Match! today and, as usual, two hours later I've finally put it down. In this issue Fred discusses his protest of the BODIES EXHIBITION that lasted every day of 142 days through the searing Tucson heat. As usual Fred draws our attention to yet another item we simply choose to walk past without regard and focuses our attention to it in dramatic fashion. That these cadavers, skinned, posed and plasticized, are obtained by dubious means (some are Chinese police torture victims, some are homeless people, none ever gave permission for the use of their bodies) and translated as objects of "art" or "education" (a plasticized cadaver with a basketball in hand? Really?) for a gullible and desensitized American audience visiting the macabre displays by the hundreds of thousands. Until Fred brought to light the source of the bodies I myself thought nothing of it. But these are the victims of a police state. And his recording of justifications given by customers passing his protest (including "who cares, they aren't Christians.") are enlightening. This along with Fred and cohort's usual articles - including in the regular feature "Crap-Detection Department" which excoriates the hilariously hypocritical reactions of this country to the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords in his own town and the mind-numbing "words of wisdom" from President Obama and the chief of Homeland Security that followed; Fred once again demonstrates that there is a legitimate third and sometimes fourth way of looking at things. Whether you go along with his "Journal of Ethical Anarchism" or not, it remains the best magazine in the country. It's free for the asking, but send some stamps anyway to The Match! PO Box 3012 Tucson, AZ 85702.
-----------------------------------------------------

I'm going through my own entanglement right now regarding the individual facing the "corporate structure." My old job - which I left February 18 - still owes me a little over $5300 (before taxes) for salary left unpaid to me over the last few weeks. I have today sent them a certified mail letter explaining that though it is my right to do so right this second, I am giving them until April 15 to make final payment to me or I will be going to the state and seeking the aid of the Wage Collection Act. Looking at the form the state requires me to fill out makes me think the second I do it he's doomed. As soon as any investigator tries to reconcile my stating there are 5 employees there with the fact that only two ever got paychecks that took taxes out of, he's screwed. It's only because of past kindnesses that I'm allowing a window before applying for my rights. More than that, though, I'd rather not drag the government into it on principle. They clearly state it may take up to a year to collect the money from the offending company, and the whole process skirts by the right way to do it - which is to handle it between individuals without the intrusive involvement of a corrupt state like Illinois. Part of me wants to handle it face to face and part of me feels a bit impotent in the face of promises already broken. I hate to be an active critic of government and then rely on it to function in my behalf. There's something very Tea Party about that and it bothers me to no end. I hope he just comes up with the money he owes me.
------------------------------------------------------

I'm very much enjoying the fact that it is Monday afternoon and I am still on my weekend, that I have been on since very early Friday morning and won't end until tomorrow at 3:30 in the afternoon. 24 more hours of liberty as I write this... it's fantastic, I must admit. The bad thing that happened is that I gained almost 2 pounds because I slacked my eating habits last week toward convenience. My goal this year was to get under 200 pounds and stay there. I started at 213 and last week was at 197, but am back to just a tick over 199 now. So the "oh what the hell" stops for Whoppers and Egg McMuffins is hereby over. I'm such a damn hypocrite sometimes. And then I laugh about it. Not good.
------------------------------------------------------

There's going to be some exciting news around here in the field of the written word (no not the book that is currently making the rounds with an actual agent but just as fun) and it's going to include a familiar name or two, so stay tuned.
------------------------------------------------------

I think I need a small libation right about now because, y'know, it's still the weekend like I said. Catch you all later.

Predictable Outcomes

I guess it's becoming obvious. I have officially passed that boundary beyond which a person becomes an agitator and a crank.

During the interminable pregame ceremonial horseshit that happens before the Stupor Bowl I was asked at least once if there was something wrong with me. Once by my own daughter. It wasn't that I was looking like I was sick or had some kind of obvious physical problem or something. If I was really sick no one would say a word. But I guess I'd been rather vocal about what a crock the interminable pregame ceremonial horseshit was. I guess I was vocal to the point of moaning about all the sickly religious God bless our great shit because our shit's the best shit on Earth stuff that they foist on people, who are just happily waiting for two groups of guys in goofy get-ups to start running into each other with malintent at ridiculously high speeds.

I suppose I was rather vocal in my assessment of the proceedings. I guess my comments could be seen as inflammatory. But I should probably also be ashamed of my own predictability.

I was just observing and expressing those observations. I mean right after my family's obligatory race jokes (which are usually centered around the predisposition of some genetic stock to have big lips) everyone sat in reverent amazement at the beauty of our great land when the great blond sang the greatest national anthem in history. They were probably too mesmerized by the fact that "see," "hail," and "brave" had now been expanded to seventeen syllable words. Everyone was so quiet and respectful in their chairs I thought somebody was going to cry. But nobody noticed she sang "reaming" instead of "gleaming," and the person in the kitchen (who was compelled to laugh at all the commercials - even the ones that weren't funny - because this is where the laugh track has to come in) just loves that singer, whoever she was.

I said something in a faux-announcer's voice along the lines of "and now to honor America we proudly present Up With People who will perform the song 'America The Beautiful is Gonna Kick Your Little Commie Ass' from the hit Broadway musical 'Coons And Chinks' in four part harmony accompanied by the WWJB - Who Would Jesus Bomb - Marching Band from Puff Bluff Arkansas."

I don't think that went over too well.

I think my sarcasm was too obvious. That's what tipped it off. I put my hand on my heart and cocked my head as if I was moved in a God Isn't That Great double take when somebody mentioned that we have some representative of our armed forces in 137 countries. I'm sitting there going "WTF are we doing in 137 countries" and everybody else is like "That's so cool, we're in 137 countries." Military personnel in 137 countries protecting our shores. Our great shores next to our great oceans and our fields and valleys. Our great cities. Our tasty water. My land. My air. My waste treatment plants and my public schools with our metal detectors to keep my holy guns out so great American ten year olds don't start happily murdering each other when they pull their great guns out of their great iCarly lunchboxes.

So I kind of put a sock in it once the commercials started. I didn't want to get in the way of what most of the women were watching TV for. Except I didn't really think what people were laughing at was all that funny and every once in a while there was a nervous laugh that didn't even belong there because the commercial wasn't even trying to be funny. What the hell?

Football is very much a product of our great country, somebody said once and I'm paraphrasing now because I can't remember who. We have these strategy meetings punctuated by brief moments of extreme violence, and then we sell stuff.

Now don't get me wrong I do enjoy football. I never miss my Bears and have been a lifelong fan of theirs so that you could say I do bleed blue and orange. But if I ever get to the point where I think it's this shiny American thing that is so amazing we can justify giving neanderthals who can't speak in complete sentences millions upon untold millions of dollars because they can run and jump and throw... just shoot me, okay? If you don't have or can't find a gun just go down to the nearest elementary school. I'm sure you could borrow one of the ones they'd confiscated.

We're the greatest country on Earth. Full of people we can't stand. It was a nightmarish horror when hijacked planes killed 3,000 innocent people whose only crime was they went to work one morning. But you have to know that somewhere someone - in the back of their mind - said "well, that's 3,000 potential bad drivers I don't have to contend with."

It's predictable.

Holding Head

Think of this as a sticky note and put it on the fridge for yourself.

If at any time you are ever published and they come at you for a head shot always remember; unless you are Victor Stinkin' Hugo do not under any circumstances get caught holding head.

Even if you are a cool, edgy writer with tattoos who lives in Havana, don't do it. It's an old trick and, really, doesn't have a point any more.

I suppose the significance behind the pose is to show that the Great Writer has so much shit going on in that head of his that he needs a hand and attached arm to prop it up during the normal course of the day. And if you are especially poignant and significant, or just think you are, you may even need two hands. God knoweth how a person is supposed to type in that case, but maybe there's a tripod specially built for writer head. Who knows?

This is a public service message from old Uncle RW. You may send dollars.

From time to time in my blog travels I do see folks who lament (because just about every blogwriter has the same mantra) that "one day I'll sit down and write that book." And there's plenty who can certainly do it and that really ought to get off the wish list and just get going already, yeah?

But seriously? You have to get to the point where you can't imagine a week spent where you aren't working on it, and can't remember what it was like not to be working it.

Or else you just aren't. And then I suppose you can sit there holding head as long as you'd like.

The Hot Air In Those Tea Cups

The proposed discretionary spending part of the national budget (over 1 trillion dollars agreed upon by the President and the Congress together) for 2011 can be broken down this way (data)

NASA, Energy, Labor, Treasury, Interior, EPA, Commerce - 1% Each

Justice, Agriculture - 2% Each

Homeland Security, Housing & Urban Development - 3% Each

State, Education, "Other" (mostly pork) - 4% Each

Health and Human Services, Transportation - 6% Each

Defense - 59%

1. Deficit spending has been occurring every year since 2002 after some years of surplus,
2. According to OMB this 2011 discretionary budget reduces NON-MILITARY spending by $520 billions (a billion is like a real lot).
3. The Economic Stimulus Package is now moved to mandatory spending, but is still slightly lower than the total spent on the discretionary dollars for the Department of Transportation.
4. Note that Defense spending is SEPARATE from Homeland Security, which in itself is three times larger than NASA.

A. The "Bank Bailout" was proposed under the Bush administration and worked very well to put the stops on a full bore depression, but the Tea Party uses this program as proof that "President Obama is a socialist."

B. The Tea Party continually points to welfare and social programs as the reason the budget is overblown, but never takes into account the $1.98 million spent EVERY MINUTE by our military and attendant programs (includes veterans and nuclear weapons maintenance).

Notwithstanding the "mandatory" spending approved by both parties, or that few specific cuts are actually being proposed by the GOP concretely in any published program or campaign literature; why not cut all discretionary spending for four years, keep the tax structure exactly as it is, frozen, for the same time period, and see where we are on the $13 TRILLION deficit both parties have contributed to since 2002 and act accordingly?

Of course that is impossible and will never happen. But what remains interesting is the size of the nose ring in the faces of the lawn chair and snake flag set.

Damn lies and statistics. Have a nice election.