today's quote

If I was a bed,
I'd be an unmade bed

Tom Waits from Baby Gonna Leave Me.

where credit is due

Have credit cards ruined America? Not the cards in and of themselves, but the mentality that we've adopted to go with them?
Normally, when one does not have enough money, one must make decisions about what not to spend money on. But with the credit, this no longer applies - money can be spent, even if one does not have it currently. No decisions must be made about what to cut and what to keep.
Also, I think that people use credit as a means of avoiding fights about what to spend on and what not to spend on, and so spend on everything rather than choosing, thus digging themselves deeper and deeper into debt.

So, the question is, can Americans get their own spending habits under control, because if they cannot, they're not going to be able to force those who govern them do it either.

sunday night at the movies

Uh-oh, it seems that the wildly popular 'Iron Man' trailer is to be adapted into a full-length feature film.



Once again, the folks at the Onion show their brilliance.

Got this from Beam Me Up.

anti-tax?

Listening to the "cut taxes" crowd is a lot like listening to my kids whine about having to clean the living room. Cooperation and sharing are hallmarks of civilization, and the selfishness displayed in the rejection of participating in this civilization, simply because they want to keep "their money", is one of the primary reasons for the decline of America. If you worry about government waste, the answer is not to cut taxes, but to cut waste.

today's quote

When people ask me why I have to roam,
I say that 90% of all accidents occur in the home

Peter Case, in Never Comin' Home

listen...

... to Kevin Phillips as he tells you that the American Century is done. Why? Because we've become a nation who's economy is based on finance, rather than industry and trade. That, basically, what we produce is debt, rather than goods. This was apparently true of the Dutch and English Empires also - at their ends.
Incidentally, if you click on the image, you can see who owns our asses. Bear in mind, one quarter of that debt money is the Iraq War.

singled out

This post is for The Boy, who really needs to get out of Dallas, and here's a good reason why. Wish I'd had this information back when I was young.

Maps from Who's Your City, via Pure Pendantry, via Blog Around the Clock.

how about now?

Seriously, can we do this yet?
props to Dusty for the video.

covering, my ass

Okay, let's get something straight. There are NO major candidates in the race for president who are planning to offer universal health care. McCain simply calls for more of the same, and his Democratic rivals call for universal health coverage. Coverage means insurance, and while this coverage may bring health care with it, it will do so while making profit for the insurance companies, sometimes at tax-payer expense. It gives us all health care, but with a unnecessary and parasitic middle-man soaking up money that could be used for further health care, or (crazy idea) spent somewhere else. The biggest problem in American health care today is not the health care system, it is the insurance system that skims a profit before paying for that health care system.

Obama's plan.
Clinton's plan.
McCain's plan.

Notice that not one of these people propose cutting the insurance companies out of the middle, yet all talk about "reducing costs". What simpler way to reduce costs than to remove a middle-man which, essentially, is paid to filter out "unnecessary"* health-care.
Look at each plan, and notice their unifying quality: All of them will benefit the insurance companies. Personally, I find this neither desirable nor the job of the government, which for too long has been about helping business at the expense of the People.


* as determined by accountants

geography lesson

I love maps, and this is a very cool one. Predominant religious affilliation in America, by county. Click to see bigger.

props to Strange Maps, via Thrutch, via Gus Van Horn.