quote for the day

"Did you know that for pretty much the entire history of the human species, the average life span was less than thirty years? You could count on ten years or so of real adulthood, right? There was no planning for retirement, there was no planning for a career. There was no planning. No time for planning. No time for a future. But then lifespans started getting longer, and people started having more and more future. And now life has become the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future - you go to highschool so you can go to college so you can get a good job so you can get a nice house so they can afford to send their kids to college."

John Green, Paper Towns

dont ask

Everyday I'm steppin' on the beach.

to secure the state

Egypt to US: “We learned it by watching YOU!!!”

or, as Huffington puts it, we’re some kind of example, if not, perhaps, the kind we want to be.

quote for the day

I think you're stating something we've discussed on this site before. That the Enlightenment experiement in both democracy AND in capitalism (two very different things) that made the 20th Century what it was--was essentially an experiment in ENGINEERING. A system--a sort of machine if you will--was CONSTRUCTED which magnificently channeled human motivation INTO self-sustaining, beneficient directions.

Now in the 21st century, the right-wing is cheerfully dismantling the Great Machine under the bizarre theory that because that machine worked so well, it has proven that human motivation NATURALLY tends toward self-sustaining, beneficient directions, and that machines actually get in the way of this process.

It's analogous to a claim that the functioning of the internal combustion engine proves that the best way to make use of hydrocarbons for motive power is uncontrolled explosions--that the engine itself is somehow retarding the process.

LarryHart commenting at Contrary Brin

saturday matinee

I hope* no one finds this offensive.






* In this particular case, "hope" means "doesnt give a rat's ass"

the Daves I know*

* Well, this guy knows, not me, really

Thanksgiving matinee

Okay, I think I hate pretty much everything about the celebrity worship in our culture, but I'll make an exception for these two little girls. So cute! So clever! So glad that they're not mine! (Well, the quiet one would be okay, but the other one is no doubt a handful).

via

happy thanksgiving

rebuttal

Whenever you hear someone say that government should be run more like a business, you need to bear in mind (and perhaps point out to them) that in a business, votes are based on how much stock you own. The more you hold, the more votes you have. Then point them to this article.

wow

If you have something powerful to say, then Samuel Jackson is a good person to have deliver the message.

wish I'd done this.

Maybe you, my loyal readers, remember my Christina series I did a while back (here, here, here, here, here). I didnt do this one, sadly, but got it from here.

quote for the day

"Conservatism has never been successful in this country. It has only led to some of the darkest periods in American history. The Civil War, the Great Depression, and now this last decade are all due to rampant conservatism."

Stephen D. Foster Jr., in his article The Greatest Liberals In American History And What They Did For Our Country

via

Okay, I'm about to the point where I think that Democrats should boycott the elections. Why? Two reasons:
1) Many of the representatives on the left side of the aisle are either spineless, or sitting on the wrong side. Clear them all out, the good ones will make it back next cycle.
2) No matter what happens, the GOP has the MSM on their side, spinning everything to make them look good and Democrats look bad. Remove Democrats, remove the cover they provide.
So here's my thought. Let's let the Republican Party take over the government. Completely, decisively. With no opposition in the House, and control of the Senate and the White House, they will have no one to blame but themselves when their insane policies make things worse than they already are. Democrats had their chance at dominance and they blew it, through either duplicity or cowardice, allowing the Right a level of believability that keeps them firmly in power, majority or not. Ask yourself, do we really want another presidential term like the last one?
Let the GOP in, let them run rampant, let them, at full volume with no opposition whatsoever, rape the country as they have been quietly doing for decades. I suspect that, at last, most (not all, of course) of the nation will finally see them for what they are.
I think that might be worth a two year dive into Hell, rather than the slow descent into purgatory that we're experiencing now.
And hey, maybe we're all wrong and Republicans really will make the country better!


Probably by getting tossed out on their asses during the next election.

saturday matinee

Just image Harry Potter as a teen comedy...

quote for the day

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."


Albert Einstein

quote for the day

saturday matinee: new word version

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

a special day

I hereby declare, by the Power Of The Blog, that today is Nigel Tufnel Day.

Why? Because it is 11/11/11, that's why.

Incidentally, enjoy this one, because there's only one more left (12/12/12). After that we'll have to wait until the next century, and neither of us will likely make it that far.

quote for the day: screwjob edition

"Many economists argue that the chained CPI is more accurate because it assumes that as prices increase, consumers switch to lower cost alternatives, reducing the amount of inflation they experience."

Like substituting dog food for meat? This is one of the stupidest rationalizations I've heard from economists, in a long line stupid rationalizations.

The quote comes from an article about a plan in Congress to cut social security payments while raising social security tax rates (on ordinary folks - no mention is made of raising the ceiling on social security tax rates, of course). It would also gradually lower the level at which one is considered to be in "poverty".

So, to sum up, it's okay to lower the level at which one is considered poor. It's okay to raise taxes on working people. It's okay to cut benefits for people who've paid into the system for years.
But it's not okay to tax the super-wealthy, the only people who've made gains (and not just gains, but super gains) in the last few decades, even if it means merely returning to the levels of the previous decade (before things started to go to shit for the rest of the country).

quote for the day

With Libertarians/Tea Partiers being against stuff where the government is telling people what to do, I’m surprised they aren’t trying to rid of stop lights/traffic laws/etc: “The government shouldn’t be telling people whether or not they have to stop their car! People are smart enough to make that choice themselves!”

Matthew Trevithick

I originally pre-posted this a while back, before the OWS movement arose. Now, regarding Tea Partiers, it's like, "whatever happened to those guys?".

Not that I really care.

saturday matinee

quote for the day

"One of the best things about Occupy Wall Street is the way it confuses and ignores the shrill pundit class."

Dahlia Lithwick

(via)

("Because a media constructed around the illusion of false equivalencies, screaming pundits, and manufactured crises fails to capture who we are and what we value.")

quote for the day

A Liberal aspires to be right.
A Conservative aspires to be Conservative.

Argue with a Liberal and he'll tell you why you're wrong.
Argue with a Conservative and he'll show you why you're Liberal.

A Liberal bases his position on his judgement of the evidence.
A Conservative bases his judgement of the evidence on his position.

To a Liberal, a liar is anyone who knowingly contradicts the truth.
To a Conservative, a liar is anyone who is knowingly Liberal.

An honest Liberal Politician is one who cannot be bought.
An honest Conservative Politician is one who, once bought, STAYS bought.

stolen from NiceGuy Eddie

i cannot stop myself

It's Ham Solo.

So sorry. You know how much I love Star Wars goofs.