Follow The Bouncing Big Brass Balls -OR- Flopping Mops

Circa 1974. I was 20. A group of ~20 friends were sitting around a roaring campfire in the woods next to the river, swapping stories with two alien visitors... No, not the ET kind. Two blokes from the British Army who were visiting one's sister who lived in the townhouse complex where we lived. There was much drinking and music and dancing and more drinking and dirt bike stunts.
There was undoubtedly some sharing and consumption of illegal substances. In other words, a typical weekend around the compound in which the visitors joined enthusiastically. The Brits were cheeky and fresh off posting in then very turbulent Northern Ireland. A week of R&R before reporting for maneuvers in Canada. It was a great night, full of the kind of memories that have surfaced often over the years.

It was there that I first heard of "Flopping Mops". A Brit/Irish colloquialism akin to the American crumbling cookie, as in "That's the way the..." Nonchalance in the face of the inevitable. That's just the way the mop flops. Whatchoo gonna do? (shrug)
Ranks right up there with "Shit Happens" in my event filing system.

If something is inevitable it must be predictable right? No "knowns or unknowns" Rummyspeak needed. Perhaps not the only possible outcome, just a most likely one. Take collective bargaining, defined benefit plans and the fun with numbers exercise currently in play and on display.

Governor Walker is telling anyone who'll stick a microphone in his face or a tape recorder on the other end of the phone that this is just the way the mop flops for workers in Wisconsin. He has the votes he needs, he has the manufactured conditions he needs, so it's a no-brainer. He is only following orders doing the job for which he was elected.

Who could have possibly seen this financial clusterfuck coming? This isn't the state of Wisconsin breaking its promises, shirking its responsibilities or laying the groundwork for replicant efforts nation-wide. He's just playing the hand he's been dealt, right? Whatchoo gonna do? (shrug)

He doesn't know anything about anything regarding how this hand was dealt. His actions that moved the state into deficit happened independent of the present situation. Just as all of the cascading failures, egregious and blatant fuggery, and general mop flopping that have 'crippled" the economy have NOT been deliberate manipulations to get this game of winner-takes-all and moves it offshore into every element of life.

You don't wanna play? Too bad. You just want the deal you made and signed? Sorry, fresh out. You'll take this NEW deal and like it. Hey! It's not piracy when we steal it legally. Thank you for playing our game.

If you haven't read Matt Taibbi's RS piece "Why Isn't Wall Street In Jail?" you should. Then maybe as these shrugging janitors en masse keep playing their bottom-dealt hands, to simply continue ripping down and acting as conduit to their monied benefactors the remainders of what hasn't been previously looted, you might grab hold of that flopping mop and stick its handle where it will do the most good.

Heads on pikes? Too barbaric? Sez who?