Chilling Honesty - OR- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

Chutzpah!

W.T.B. Kristol appears stirred, not shaken. Being pwned by John Stewart. Stepping on his own dick. Grabbin' a heapin' helpin' of John's hospitality.
Neo-con that is, swimmin' pools, Faux news stars.
Pronouncing the movement alive and well.

It's not hard to understand how he could sit there and smirkingly lap up every dollop of shit John served up. When you've been spewing shit for as long as Kristol has, intake is no problem. Double down for 2010. The 2012 race begins on November 5th, 2008. We had a great recruiting year. We saved a ton of dough and showcased the big spending Democrats. We created a buzz for an unknown vanguard. Who did we lose? John McCain? Is he one of ours? Have you seen anyone from the PNAC base, besides me, poking around the White House or campaign? We got out when the getting was good. We left a stinky-ass blamer in the elevator, then tactically retreated.

Changelings. Switching from offense to offensive. There's just no quit in the offing. "Obama will be a liberal centrist, which will disappoint the leftist, progressives." This will be a defeat, not for us. We can live with centrist.

We fattened nicely on 8 years of Clinton. Without us, people may have thought Clinton wasn't such a bad president. We intercepted every Clinton forward pass and took it back. We created great field position. We disrupted the ground game. We made people defend the short-field.

We re-wrote the dictionary. We reframed thinking. We changed the rules. We erased the "peace-dividend". You think Obama can untangle the lights, find every bug we installed, glue the shattered pieces back together and fix the leaks in four years? And you wonder why we've hyped up the whole Messiah angle? Good luck with that.

Thanks Mr. Kristol. What a great American.

"William "The Bloody" Kristol everybody. You're always welcome here on the Daily Show"

Why redistributing the wealth is a moral imperative -OR- Make it stop!

The wealthy desperately NEED an intevention!

All things being equal -OR- Isn't that the fucking point? SAY NO on Prop 8

Heinlein wrote that when you get right down to it, people fall into one of two camps. Those who want to tell others how to live and those who want nothing to do with that kind of shit. He added that the latter make better neighbors.

Yet time and time again, the latter are forced to step up and be heard, in no uncertain terms that they don't want to tell anyone else what to do, how to do it, who they can and cannot do it with or any other nonsense that involves pig-headed people exerting control over anyone's lifestyle, potentials, options or thoughts.

WOLF! Demon Alcohol is destroying America! WOLF! Commies are out to destroy America! WOLF! Dirty Fucking Hippies are out to destroy America! WOLF! The sky is falling! WOLF! We're slouching toward Gomorrah! WOLF!

It's a semi-solid strategy. Since the latter are by nature not particularly interested in rules, rulers or the shit they peddle, the former have a ballot-box advantage. Build yourself a base and you can usually have your way. This accounts for the preponderance of bullshit in which we find ourselves; neck-deep; wondering how we got here.

The uptight, upright, worrisome worriers who form circles to congratulate and reward themselves for their vigilance never say die. They typically don't know their ass from a hole in the ground either, but they consider that too, to be part of their charm and qualification to be society's guiding force.

For myself and other practical anarchists who wish the former would just shut the fuck up, PLEASE? Just give it a rest? We have serious problems and serious issues (You know, the ones you blame on me and my ilk) in need of non-sanctimonious solutions.

If teh gays getting married is the final nail in the former's coffin, I'll gladly hold it, while you beat it home with a steam-powered hammer. That's a cause I'm willing to show up for. We've always laughed AT you in your self-righteous snigglefits. We pegged you for blowholes who were safe to ignore. That was our mistake. We didn't think you'd be able to sustain a movement wholly based on fear, ignorance and misguided prejudice. We didn't even mind much when you strongly suggested that we get out and leave you to your rapture-prep utopia. But seriously, you're getting a bit too big for your britches.

Not surprisingly, everyone I know in California plans to vote NO on Prop 8. Even Rich who NEVER votes (won't be able to say that ever again will ya Rich?) has had enough.

The next Prop Californians might want to consider is a GO AWAY! prop to curb the formers from squatting on the public space, time and attention so that serious problems can get a little too.

A lighter side...

1995 Flashback -OR- Was Malaise really so bad?

Note: The following was first published in October, 1995

Mankind has lived through some serious stuff. We've passed through the age of reason, which wasn't particularly reasonable and the age of enlightenment, which by the standards of the day must have seemed positively stupefying, to reach this point in history; Congresscritters grappling with the national budget and our direction for the future. The media, for their part, has provided ample opportunity to the various factions trying to bring focus to the issues of the day. Congresscritters, experts and the various talking heads have lent their voices to the crisis which awaits a response from our country and its representatives. How will history judge our times? What moniker will historians hang on these troubled times?



By my scorecard, history's doormat, the elderly, the poor and the infirm have taken a sound thrashing in the early going. All of the judges seem to be in agreement that the crux of the problem rests in the government providing too much to this elite group of people. Consensus is building for the unpleasant task of reforming the services provided to this segment of our population. "The beast cannot be slain but it must be tamed." is the assessment. As soon as the tamers can in turn be tamed by their leadership, that taming will begin. The current posturing and rhetoric seems to be the obligatory overture to the days to come.



It's hard to consider the Carter years as a golden age for civilization in America, but in retrospect, they seem to fit nicely into this revisionist category. President Carter in his last year was grappling with a $580 billion budget that had a $59 billion deficit. Numbers like that would be welcome today, just 15 short years later when the budget sits at $1.8 trillion with the deficit numbers that seem difficult to pin down accurately. Is it insane to long for malaise? Even in 1980 there was general consensus that the budget was filled with pork, fraud and waste, ready but unwilling to be cut.



What happened? The current spin is that tax and spend liberals frittered away our national interest chasing the social welfare dreams of F.D.R. and L.B.J.. The numbers being flung far and wide indicate massive spending with little apparent benefit to either the spender or the spendee. Balancing the budget is the number one priority and rightfully so. Unfortunately, I doubt that we will ever see numbers like Carter's again. The "cuts" being so furiously fought over are an attempt to tread water at the current level. Actual dollar reductions are unlikely and so far as I know, aren't even being considered. Re-allocation, re-distribution and reformation of the available funds and programs is the order of the day.



The underlying problem is redundantly reproduced each and every day. You don't have to search long or hard to find out how redistribution and reallocation work in today's government. It was just one small item from the Associated Press, I'm sure the content won't surprise you. 200 Federal Employees, upon returning after the short budget furlough, went to Disney World at taxpayer expense. An expense of only $200,000 in the greater budget dilemma seems almost trite, nevertheless, these rangers and tour guides, who just the week before were deemed non-essential, spent a week learning how to do their non-essential tasks with a little more non-essential, four fingered cartoon-like, flair; refreshed and fully versed in subject matter such as "Goofy Nature Songs" and "Interpreting Resources Along Scenic Byways and Corridors.



The spokesperson (apologist) for this little fiasco read from the official government script. "It's a recognized training function and they take a lot back to the (insert appropriate field here). And we don't view that as a boondoggle." She went on to add that the timing was bad, that's all. If the workshop hadn't come just after the shutdown it wouldn't have stood out. After all, it had been scheduled well before the furlough.



Maybe I'm just a liberal, who won't admit that social programs don't work. Perhaps, I'm just plain ignorant about the important things government could do by freeing up dollars now being frivolously doled out to feed, shelter, educate and care for those who really need it. But then again, I might just be more likely to support that kind of reform if I knew that the two-thirds of the budget not currently earmarked for such trivial support programs was being spent in the most cost-efficient effective manner.



If it makes me a liberal (even in print, these days, the word drips with disdain) for doubting the motive behind this latest money trick, then hopefully I won't be stranded out here long. We're better than this. Whatever the final budget figures are, from my jaded viewpoint, I'd feel a lot better going into the Christmas season reading how we wasted $200,000 sending 200 poor or elderly citizens (or an opinion columnist's family and friends) down to Florida to visit with Mickey. I'd still be upset but at least the article would have had a nice accompanying photograph.

2-4 2sday Ain't No Thang w/ Extra Sauce Edition

Sarah Heath? -OR- Heather Duke?

If you're getting an odd sense of deja vu' from Sarah Palin's evolution from Hockey Mom to Pit Bull, you may be a victim of selective defensive forgetting.
Think back to 1989 with a fresh degree, a new hubby and little Trog on the way, Sarah Heath(er) Palin needed a night out. It's late March in Alaska, so they fire up the snow machines and head off to the Wasila Mall's cineplex for the opening of "Heathers".
The movie left a definite impression. Especially Heather Duke – (from Wiki)She starts off as the quiet Heather. She is the least-appreciated of the clique, and allows herself to be kicked around by Heather Chandler. However, after Heather Chandler is killed, Heather Duke becomes the new Number One and begins behaving as badly as her predecessor.

Fast forward to the present and plug it in.
J.D.: [shows Heather pictures]
Heather Duke: Me and Martha Dumptruck? Where did you get this?
J.D.: I just had the nicest little chat with Ms. Dumptruck. Got along famously. It's kind of scary that everyone's got a little story to tell. You wanna see the canoeing shots?
Heather Duke: What is this? Blackmail?
Heather Duke: [pause]
Heather Duke: I'll give you a week's lunch money clothing allowance.
J.D.: I don't want your money. I want your strength. Westerburg does not need mushy togetherness. It needs a strong leader. Heather Chandler John McCain was that leader but...
Heather Duke: But she couldn't handle it.
J.D.: I think you can. Moby Dick is dunked. The white whale drank some bad plankton and splashed through a coffee table and now it's your turn to take the helm.
Heather Duke: What about the photographs?
J.D.: Oh, don't worry. I'll ask you to do me a favor. That will be one you'll enjoy. Then you'll get the negatives and everything back then. But in the meantime... strength. Here's a little gift. From Heather to Heather.

-or-

Heather Duke: Some people need different kinds of convincing than others. (wink)

-or-

Heather Duke: Hi, everybody. Door was open. Veronica, did you hear? We were doing Chinese at the food fair, when it comes over the radio that Martha Dumptruck tried to buy the farm. She belly-flopped in front of a car wearing a suicide note.
Veronica Sawyer: Is she dead?
Heather Duke: No... that's the punchline. She's alive, and in stable condition. Just another case of a geek trying to imitate the popular people and failing miserably.

Sarah Heather Palin a real throwback character.

You can do it -OR- they may call it a movement.

All praise and good thoughts to Blue Gal for posting this.

Commenter Quaker Dave mentioned that we should all put it up on our own blogs. So I stole it for you to steal and pass on.

We all do our small parts. (Parts may settle after packaging)

Now I have some cursive to curse through. I'll be back in 100.

The Green Circle Debate -OR- Dude! WTF is wrong with you?

Stated: This circle is green.

Hey, wait a minute, that isn't a circle and it's purple not green!

I'm sorry you're having difficulties with the format of this debate. Please adhere to the subject at hand. You will have your opportunity to speak in due course. Plese take your seat.

We will begin with the speaker from wingnutia

Thank you Mr. Moderator. I'd first like to thank Backwards U. and its Chancellor for providing an opportunity for this important debate. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Great Green Circle is something of which we should all be proud, but as we've seen right from the start, there are some who insist on railing in protest against this important and wonderful achievement in this great country's history.

Without the Green Circle we would still be limited by treaties and restricted from the expansion that has made this country wonderful. Without the great Green Circle, we could not have become history's greatest civilization. It was the GGC that sustained us through our darkest times, when through subterfuge and sabotage, faith in the GGC was tested to its very core. Every citizen owes his prosperity to the GGC, but my opponents would have you reject the GGC. They would have you believe that the circle is a square and that green is purple. Who are you going to believe?

I can't begin to guess at my opponent's motivation for purposefully lying. I'm not calling him a liar, but his side has been putting out this hateful brand of heresy for too long and I can no longer remain silent. If you were to believe him, it would be the end of us all. He wants to replace the GGC with the Big Purple Square. That's crazy talk and dangerous. It emboldens our enemies. Our financial markets have reacted to the slightest potential of a BPSer administration. The GGC markets were doing quite well until the BPS ideology began to show signs of life and we've all been witness to the devastating effects that uncertainty introduced.

Rebuttal:

Fuck all y'all. You're fucking crazy. When/If you want to get real, let me know.

Spit Take -OR- Makes perfect sense to me?

Just saw a promo for this morning's Meet the Press showgram. A full-hour (minus Obama ads) with John MeCain via satellite from the campaign trail in Iowa.

Google R UR Friend...

Sen. MeCain on the stump in Waterloo, IA.

Really? John?

C'mere My Friend, let me `splain something to ya...

Yeah, it's a great ABBA song opportunity, but...



You might want to go kinky...

One of these things is not like the other -OR- My Friends [shudder]

An ongoing philosophical debate, discussion exercise in sado-necro-bestiality over the problems between Us/Them.

Them's spokesperson.

It would be far more entertaining to ENGAGE with u if u knew what the fuck u were talking about.

Reliance on what carefully selected pundits might be saying on a given day is quite a lazy way to learn and inform (see cut and paste in a chrysalis).

McCain and Rick Davis have never ceded any portion of his campaign to Rove, Mehlman, See, and quite a number of other operatives (2009).

If u think that we (conservatives) will be banished, you are delirious.

Here is the problem with your logic. You seem to believe that Bush and Rove "created" an ideology of conservatism, when in fact what Rove and Bush did was harness and hone an ideology that already exists/existed in constituencies, organized and galvanized those constituencies, and then turned out a force that won elections is 2000 and 2004.

The larger problem becomes quite evident when u deal with a contrarian voice or disagreeing text. It has been become quite evident that the typical response to a conservative point of view eventually ends up in a portrait wherein u (the liberals) seem to resort to a tactic wherein u portray ur opponent as one of subservient intellect, logic, or reasoning. And therein lies the difference between us.

Liberals see conservatives as idiots. Conservatives see liberals as different.

I'll happily remain faithful to the side of he aisle that allows discourse without sanction.

The response:

Congratulations. Your conversion is complete. Your blinders are ultra-effective and your looking glass marvels Alice's.

So John MeCain is a full-blown, card-carrying, party embraced conservative now? Maybe that's why his Maverick ruse hasn't so much flown as plummeted?
Respectfully, Liberals see conservatives as bullies pushing a wholly un-American agenda that read better in the original German. The delusion that inferior ideas can be improved by shouting, shifting and blaming marks just the beginning of its short-comings. It takes a heap of sugar coating to mask the natural repellant stench of the quasi-fascism cum authoritarian policies This partly explains the exploding budgets, deficits and debt. Only partly though. The remainder stems from their upside down reward system and greed driven squatting on the public square.

Conservatives have used negativity to demonize all save their own ideology. They are dismissive and shrill and vengeful towards competition. They indeed harnessed those common traits among blocs that were previously isolated, but when the measure of that constituency was taken, it contained little that could be turned into a foundation for leading America. Attempts to add necessary ingredients like compassion or wisdom towards positive, shared goals did not mesh with the underlying philosophy. Their answer was to flood their splintered constituency with manna from Washinton. Faith-based enrichment and unearned tax-breaks.

Can you name one reality-based, fully funded exercise in conservatism that has resulted in sustainable positive energy for the country? They have failed miserably at their plainly stated agenda. They've marked their territory with scandal, licentiousness, more bullying and abuse of the very "rules" they fought to impose. When you come right down to it, the "evil" they saw in America was their own reflection.

Admitting that would be a good first step toward becoming human again.

Straight Outta Juneau -OR- Do You Want Fries with that?

If we get the blame anyway; why not? -OR- Damned either way, go down fighting!

What could possibly be bugging liberals and progressives? Our guy is leading; their guy is still in the non-starting gate. Sure he's only single digits behind in what should have been a slam dunk cakewalk landslide. MeCain been in the hole digging away since locking down the nomination in June, and hasn't hit bottom or China yet. He has no traction, no groundgame, no money...
Obama is rubber and MeCain is glue...

If any challenge is coming, it's yet another Hail Mary; some off the mat Haymaker that'll render the 14.999 round pummeling moot.
So Nah, that can't be it.

Gee, could it be that the strumming and chumming has begun? That even after "our" guy wins, he will "naturally" govern from a center/right position, because we are still, at root, a center/right country? What ground isn't strewn with shards of broken glass from the worst stumblefuck ever, is either hallowed ground of our ancestors or endangered nesting ground of our future generations? This is no time for radicalism. Even though we've gone down the wrong fucking road for thirty fucking years, selling off national treasure as worthless trinketry, gutting anything that even resembled progressiveness and built a bureaucracy designed to prevent even a glimmer of light to shine on the hope and aspriations that propelled this campaign season. We can now only accept the inherent and deliberate design flaws and keep shoveling fuel into the furnace. Your job is to muck out the stable and get the stains out of the tapestries while we plot and scheme your demise.

We have to be "conservative" in our approach? Really, really? Conservative? A steady, don't rock the boat, hand on the tiller. Can you smell what's cooking here? What kind of idiots do you take us for? Oh yeah, THAT kind.

`Twas ever thus? The demonicly possessed liberals and progressives who, if you believe the hysterians, are responsible for everything that went wrong, is going wrong, may go wrong... the doomsday clock of our very civilization, cannot be allowed to put their concepts, precepts, thoughts and ideas into practice. For to do so would surely unravel the finely tuned, perfectly perfected perfection of four decades of rock steady right-of-center-right rule.

Of course, that makes perfect sense.

I have a radical idea. Since we DFHs are to be blamed anyway, why don't we really apply some liberal/progressive ideas and principles in their un-bastardized form and see what happens?
Social programs where the funding actually arrives intact at the spigot end. End the war in Iraq. Bring the troops home. Give Washington D.C. a cleansing enema, re-allocate the $3 Trillion budget rationally and show how it's supposed to work. How it could work if reasonable people use reasonable thinking skills and avoid the parasitic colonies who set up camp.

Sans a spine transplant, how will this likely play out? Conservatively?

A Universal Single Payer Healthcare System for EVERYONE?
Not exactly, we'll put some lipstick on the old one. Watch more hospitals, in acutely underserved areas, CLOSE forever, while subsidizing growth and expansion of huge, for profit, medical centers. But they assure us they will open hundreds of under-equipped and understaffed satellite centers as they continue swallowing up the remnants until they can all be safely closed and forgotten.

Investment in Alternative Energy and sensible Mass Transit?
Mega Oil and Power has given us assurances that with a ten-fold increase in direct subsidies and tax-breaks they will be able to roll out our new dependent energy grid just as soon as the last profit is squeezed out of our fossil fuels. In laymans terms, when the gas gauge reads empty and we've transferred the environmental nightmares of our industry to the taxpayers, only then will we pull the plug. Our new technology will be available to anyone willing to pay the going rates.

Balanced budgets and debt reduction?
We're working on it. We have a 50 year plan that we're hopeful will see us safely through the next campaign cycle when we will really start thinking about working on it in earnest.
As the planet's second largest employer, we have a responsibility to honor the committments of St. Ronnie that the civil servants who answered his call will be able to pass their position on to their children and grandchildren.

Affordable housing?
We're all pretty much in agreement that this pipedream is now safely behind us. Aren't we? After all, it ended up costing the taxpayers a trillion dollars and left us with a glut of unaffordable housing. Didn't it?

Quality Education?
As soon as we can figure out what that is supposed to be, we promise to start thinking about looking seriously at ways to improve things. Realistically? Kids don't vote.
The private sector has responded, where applicable, by providing safe alternatives to public warehousing of tomorrow's all-voluteer armed forces.

But hey, Rome was built in a day. We will move quickly on some important Legacy items. Our Audacity of Hope LayAway Centers will be opening up soon.
Applications now being accepted.

The cock-eyed optimist in me would dearly, whole-heartedly, gleefully, ecstatically LOVE for the cynic in me to be proven wrong.
What can I realistically expect? What would I consider a win? Not much and I may already be a winner. (C'mon Publisher's Clearinghouse!)

I'll accept the pyhrric victory that at least the Supreme Court will be around to protect us from the monster truckers, power grabbers, aesthetic councils and fundie morality patrols.

I will cling to my own audacious hope with the conviction of a Red Sox Fan. If we can seal the deal next month, if we can avoid freak injuries between now and January, if we can arrive at spring training with some or all of our off-season acquisitions in camp, settle on a starting line-up and rotation, avoid clubhouse distractions and off-the-field stupidity, get on the same page and JUST BELIEVE!...
2009 will be a banner year.

DIY Photoshop Kit-OR- Another opportunity missed...

Another one gathering dust...

Has anyone mentioned Cindy's "Flair"?



(Why do I doubt they are paste?)

Sucking Seed -OR- Can I get a doggie bag?

He was the kind of man who created his own death.
--Epitaph for Ailchino Furuneo- F.Herbert

It's a Whipping Star kind of day.

Wait for it... Here it comes...

"But look how nice Obama and Biden dress! Did you ask for their receipts too?

Do we have time to do this now? Right now? With less than two weeks to go?
After all it's all LEGAL. These are valid campaign expenses under McCain/Feingold.
Embarassing? Sure, but 100% LEGALLY allowed.
Besides... the wardrobe will be donated to charity anyways."

Isn't this just S.O.P. in politics?

Actually it's not. This is a new old wrinkle. This is Mike Dukakis Tank Helmet territory. Ill-advised, half-baked, licentious, out-of-touch, SELF-Destruction.
This one just carried a heftier price tag. Candidates and parties have been self-inflicting wounds even before John MeCain chiseled his first vote onto the tally slab.

We will have to fight our way through this latest "you look mahvelous, dahling!" superficiality too.

I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken -OR- Churn Baby Churn

"Facts can be whatever you want them to be. This is the lesson of relativity."
-- BuSab Manual/ F. Herbert

The concepts of speculative fiction appeared in conjunction with man's attempts to standardize life. Playing "What if" without the restraints. Existing in a world hellbent on applying whatever binding was thought to codify life and its living for the masses. The real world did not adapt to a one-size-fits-all approach; therefore, the only logical thing to do is to ignore that which didn't fit? Label them non-conforming and mark them for later when proper methods can be used to bring about compliance?

How many other worlds were/are possible? How many exist today? Will any exist tomorrow? Can certain designs co-exist better than others? Can two or more absolutes do more than battle and counter each other?

Success As Failure

Frank Herbert

Planners often appear unwilling to believe that a history of success can produce the conditions for disaster. Rather, they believe that success measured in current terms is sufficient justification for any decisions about tomorrow. (To those who doubt that success can bring ruin to a community, look at the Boeing Corporation, a study of unusual poignancy in its demonstration of disaster brewed from success.)

You glimpse here a hidden dimension of powerful influences upon our survival. Here are the locked-up decisions predicated on capital investments and operating costs. Governments, large corporations, and service industries know they must build today according to long-range projections. Those projections tend to come from planners who know (unconsciously or otherwise) what the directors want to hear. Conversely, directors tend not to listen to disquieting projections. (Boeing's directors were being told as far back as the early 1950's that they had to diversify and that they should begin exploring the potential of rapid transit.)

Planning tends to fall into the absolutist traps I've indicated. Warm is better than cold, we'll listen only to the left hand. The limits under which powerful private assessments of "the future" are made predict mistakes of gigantic lethal magnitude.

If we define futurism as exploration beyond accepted limits, then the nature of limiting systems becomes our first object of exploration. That nature lies within ourselves. Some who say they are talking about "a future" are only talking about their own limits. The dominant pattern in current planning betrays a system of thinking that does not want to abandon old assumptions and that keeps seeking a suprise-free future. But if we lock down the future in the present, we deny that such a future has become the present-- and the present has always been inadequate for the future.

My explanation of this pattern goes partly -- where we commonly believe meaning is found -- in printed words (such as these), in the noise of a speaker, in the reader's or listener's awareness, or in some imaginary thought-land between these. We tend to forget that we human animals evolved in an ecosystem that has demanded constant improvisation from us. In all our systems and processes, including the human brain, our consciousness, and our thinking patterns. The virtuosity of our customary speaking tends to conceal from us how this behavior is dominated by improvisation. This non-awareness carries over into that "talking" with our universe by which we shape it and are shaped by it.

It dismays some people to think that we are in some kind of jam session with our universe and that our survival demands an ever-increasing virtuosity, an ever-improving mastery of our instruments. Whatever we may retain of logic and reason, however, points in that direction. It indicates that creation of human societies probably should become more of an art form than a plaything of science.

To plan for the future, to attempt to guide ourselves into "the better life" projected by our utopian dreams, we are involving ourselves with profound creative changes and influences. Many of these already are at their work unrecognized around us. Inevitably, we change our frames of reference, our consensus reality. It becomes increasingly apparent that today's changes occur in a relativistic universe. It is demonstrably impossible in such a universe to test the reliability of one expert by requiring him to agree with another expert. This is a clear message from those physicists who demonstrate the most workable understanding or our universe-in-operation. After Einstein, they tell us: all inertial frames of reference are equivalent.

This is saying that there is no absolute frame of reference (local reality) within the systems we recognize, no way to be certain you have measured any absolutes. The very act of introducing the concept of absolute into a question precludes an answer with sensible meaning. (Which hand will you believe, the "cold" hand or the "warm" one?) It serves no purpose to ask whether absolutes exist. Such questions are constructed so as to have no answer in principle.

Accordingly, both Pakistan and India could be equally right and equally wrong. This applies also to Democrats and Republicans, to Left and Right, to Israel and the United Arab Republic, to Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics. Remember: "We inevitably are led to prove any proposition in terms of unproven propositions." We do not like unproven propositions.

If we face up to this consciously, that might cut us away from everything we want to believe, from everything that comforts us in a universe of unknowns. We would be forced to the realization that the best logic we can construct for a finite system (which describes our condition at any selected moment) might not operate in an infinite system. No matter how tightly we construct our beautiful globes of local reality, no matter how many little Dutch boys we assemble to apply fingers to any holes that may appear, we still have built nothing more than a dike, impermanent and essentially fragile.

Every Stupidity Shrub Bought Hook, Line and Sinker -OR- Hey Everybody! Watch This!

"What? You never fucked up?"
Being the cheesiest means never admitting fault.
But think of the limitless commercial possibilities if I'd succeeded instead of
sucking seed.

Sometimes, if you listen closely enough... -OR- I'll see your qualifier and raise you a scheme.

On This Week w/ Georgie Porgie

George Will: "The so-called Reagan Era began with Nixon."

Buried within the Chernobyl-esque sarcophagus of what have, inner-defensively, been coined: "The Nixon Years" lay the open sores of Modern America. Burying our mistakes was a luxury we'd enjoyed for 400 years. Our national fuggetabowtit excused everything from slavery to genocide, blatant racism to cyclical transfer of debt and risk in the name of national honor and dignity. The lofty end always trumped the questionable means, but the course was ever onward. Looking back was/is for suckers.

America's sin-eating demands national blinders, rationalization skills straight out of Compton, copious quantities of alcohol, mind-boggling special effects, Jedi mind-trick suspension of critical thinking and K's Neuralizer flashy thing.

There's nothing for which I, as a lowly citizen, need to answer. I am not the droid I seek. They don't let me drive the bus. At various times I have made formal apologies to the long line of wronged, abused, dismissed and forgotten victims of America's stampede. Its sacking and trashing of rights and liberties in the name of progress IS our history. If an apology and scape-goat were all that were necessary, I was more than willing to do so. That's just the kind of patriot I am.

Sadly, for my part, I can only take ownership of wrongs bestowed since 1972 and then only to the extent that I was not directly impacted by, nor did I lend my proxy to, what was done to and for us. I was against all of it. Short of immolating myself in protest, I did what I could, when I could, to stop the madness.

Which brings me to George Will's nonchalant and immediately glossed over admission of yesterday. Within his seven words is the key to unraveling what went wrong; when and why. Beneath the admission is the fragile O-ring failure that has haunted and driven us ever since.

It was a simple enough scam, in principle, served up on a platter that the right would never have conceived of, let alone supported. In the annals of history it has been called generically "The Great Society". It was to be an FDR style, proven approach, to fixing the nagging problem of haves and have nots in America. Then a funny thing happened on the path to implementation. LBJ's mandate of JFK's legacy fell to Richard M. Nixon for full implementation.

The national purse was at his disposal. He could appoint whomever he wanted to the newly hatched sub-divisions of the Washington Bureaucracy. He could make sure that the systems were designed and operated to fail miserably without risk to his own party. It was an open door for building the Republican dynasty. The massive influx of civil servants with a natural resistance to egalitarian ideals, the freedom to write and set the guiding policies and principles while establishing the infrastructure was Nixon's perfect storm.

All that has come since was predicated on a lie that has grown without conscience.
That is was LBJ who ushered in the expansion. That more money would overcome the reservoirs that were designed into the plumbing. That the victims of the scam were beyond helping, undeserving and ungrateful. With each succession of power, there could be no master of the beast. At best, perhaps, they might climb on, strap in and ride it pretending to steer. Along the way, each has been schooled in the futility of trying to fix any or all of its quirky works. Their attempts have provided comedy fodder. Revealing the secret would cause such a cataclysmic cascade of anger, panic and chaos, such a shuddering of the footings that complete collapse was the only possible outcome.

Such a dark cloud. Is there no silver lining? Funny you should ask. The big silver lining is that the revenues required to maintain the facade could go a long way towards reversing the trends. Given our collective ability to forget resides an opportunity to overlook the massive outsourcing, downsizing and streamlining that would pay huge dividends for our future.

The typical proffered solution is naturally backwards. The natural approach is to wield indiscriminate Claymores, axes, chainsaws... when a surgeon's touch is called for. A brigade strength surge of surgeons with discerning eyes, to be sure, but nothing that would fall outside of the available talent pool.

The aggregate supply of bodily, life sustaining fluids (read: CA$H)could be re-piped to bypass the diseased, necrotic, parasitic sections without risking the "health" (air quotes?)of the patient. There would be a glut of talentless bureaucrats on the dole, but they have people skills. I'm sure they will fare as well or better in the private sector. GS-7 thru GS-15 civil servants would get a chance at the kind of self-help they've said their charges are in need of. Adding their vigor and vibrancy to the private sector could revolutionize and rebuild our Civilian/Industrial base.
If not, we've got that whole collective amnesia thing as a fall-back contingency.

Phascist Phuktards flinging feces -OR- Rawrah's Etiquette Guide to online forums

This is a blog. A soliloquy. A MONOlogue.
It is not a debate, discussion, dialogue, conference or exchange.
There is a comment section where visitors can leave words of agreement or disagreement, encouragement or discouragement, love, hate or ambivalence, but it should not be mistaken as a substitute for the give and take of actual conversation.

I cut my online teeth via BBS forums, message conferences, offline readers and flame wars. The demise of FIDOnet, RIME, ILink and BBS systems came with the rise of the World Wide Web. Sure, there were Usenet groups, but... it wasn't the same. If you weren't there, there's no way I can possibly explain the online community that evolved from 110baud acoustic modems to blazing 28.8K dial-up connections. Mail-doors, offline readers. It was a different world that got lost in the graphic wonderment of the web.

I visited almost every writer's outpost on what was then the web. I only encountered one place that fed my particular beast. I wasn't just looking for an argument, I was searching for discussion and debate and understanding.
One day I stumbled across a writer's conference that had just joined the R.I.M.E. network. RIME writer's! That apostrophe made all the difference.
Rules? We don' need no steenkin' rules. "Writers write about everything.
A writer's conference has to discuss what writers write about, not just the mechanics, but the substance as well." WOW.

There I met Bill, Eric, Lyn, Louise, Al, Kent, Del, Avenir, Rosemary, Herm, Michael, Shakib, Dick, Lucia, Zach, Marty and Dave. I slipped in, joined assorted extras. I lurked, I tried to tune in to the vibe. Before I knew it. I was dancing.
We crossed swords, we beebled, we told tall tales, outright lies and painful truths. We didn't gather to write, we gathered when we were done writing, or were procrastinating, or were facing a deadline.

On the timeline, this was waning-Reagan waxing Bush I. My socially progressive, fiscally conservative, liberal, libertarian anarchist brain was exploding with pure rage. As an outlet, this oasis provided twice daily feedback, tweaks, alternative viewpoints and outright contempt for my ideas which I gave back in kind.
This was discourse. This was debate. Over time, they knew me and I them.

By Clinton things were in full bloom. And among this group, there was understanding.
Ideas were expected to be challenged, support and opposition questioned rigorously.

The explosion of the web did nothing to mimic this style of communication.
The signal to noise ratio diluted the effectiveness. It scattered thoughts to the point of randomness. It made a million more haystacks without increasing the size or quantity of needles.

Like the early promise of television, the information superhighway missed the mark.
Yes it is great that millions of bloggers are pounding away on their keyboards. Yes it is wonderful that we get this vast ocean to surf and sail, but to what end?
It's unlikely that this medium will ever reach the interface level produced by Echo-mail conferences, Compuserve SIGs or even AOL forums.

That was personal interaction, ideas were put forward, defended and attacked.
Which brings me to the genesis of this entry. What most closely resembles that world today are online forums. Decentralized dots of specialized discussion about specific interests; either as stand-alone forums or adjunct to a website.

At present, the diversity of ideas is stuck in the same electoral rut as the MSM with the same affect. Topics are pointed, barbed and one-sided. Responses are dismissive, angry and defensive.

Beyond "somebody being wrong on the internet" and preaching to invisible choirs, is there a chance that anything written will engage the kind of discourse thinking people desperately need to have?

At some point will it evolve ABOVE flingflingflingflingflingflingfling flingflingflingflingflingflingflingfling

Wait a million years, tell a million lies, cry a million tears. -OR- Fear's pricetag

"In the Age of Dubya, one can either be a Good American or a Good Republican, but one can no longer be both." - Driftglass



Drifty's the man.
Phuquetard Buddah
Again. As usual. Dead. Solid. Perfect.

As I commented there.

Learn it.
KNOW it.
Spread it.
Cross-stitch it on a Sampler.
Blog it every day.

Until we outnumber them.
Or, at minimum, out-vote them (and their Diebold machines).

Tom Tomorrow Deja Vu

Drill Baby Drill OR Deja vu all over again and again and again.

If nothing else sticks from the "Campaign to Nowhere" (tm)
"Alaska's oil fields alone can completely fill America's domestic needs for SEVEN YEARS!"

So THAT'S what they meant by "Country First"? Drain America first?
What then?
How fucking stupid are we?
"C'mon, open it up. Let us suck every last drop out. When we're done, you can have the whole freaking planet martinized. We can put it on E-bay!"

The last debate ends. All targets met. All systems working. All customers satisfied. All staff eagerly enthusiastic. All pigs fed and ready to fly.
Sound like a carnival barker? A snake oil salesman? A sideshow shill?

A quick search...
No search results found.
No jobs found for Chief Evil Genius & Carney Barker.

Please check the keyword terms you entered.

You can also try using some other keywords, or enter fewer words to expand your search.

President and Vice-President? Waaaaaaaaaaaaay above your pay grade.

I'm starting to hear talk of reconciliation and Glasnost when what seems to be inevitable happens and the long nightmare ends. After 28 years on the wrong road? After being systematically and repeatedly raped, pillaged and looted? When Eleventh hour panic over the potential pendulum swing caused a full-blown financial tantrum?

No, it's not time to turn the page. The party's over. It's time to settle the bill.
Not payback, not revenge, not retribution, just a little justice and fairness.
TANSTAAFL.

Three decades of somebody else footing the bill was wrong. Do the math.

Metaphors, Analogies and Life Oh My! -OR- Belt AND Suspenders

We bought our first home in 1988. Old timers thought we were crazy. At the time, the OTers outnumbered us 10-1. Our 18 month-old daughter and son on the way were the only kids on the block. By son's arrival two more younger couples moved in. By the following summer there were 7 kids on the block.

The house we bought had "issues". The town we bought in had a process that sought to bring housing up to code before transfer. It wasn't a particularly good process. The seller was responsible for correcting code violations and typically did this in the quickest, most inexpensive way possible. Follow-up inspections were semi-half-hearted. Which means rubber-stamped.

As we tracked the "progress" of our seller's repairs, I freaked out. After a flurry of phone calls involving lawyers and officials, our seller was told not to TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE. I already knew I was getting a house with issues. The purely cosmetic attempts made by the sellers were making our tasks even more daunting.

Adding a layer of paint to surfaces that were to be scraped, repaired or restored simply made no sense. Cladding aluminum flashing to ROTTED porch timbers made them prettier, but did not improve their structural shortcomings.

Note: In hindsight, I grossly underestimated the former owner's ineptitude at basic home maintenance and repair. Since then, every project has dominoed as I've uncovered shortcuts, fudgings, kludges and finagles, but that's what happens when you buy a 100 year-old house.

The point was, we wanted things fixed properly; permanently. And the laundry list that was given to the seller was not going to help us at all.

That's where I see America right now. There's no limit to the damage that can be done between now and the closing on January 20th. I just wish I could call my lawyer.

I've lived that nightmare already.

A final notation to that long ago real estate transaction: On the night of the closing, the seller's 20 year-old son threw a blow-out party at OUR house. It seems Dad lied to us when he handed over the keys.

Caveat Emptor meets Carpe Noctem

2-4 2sday Patience My Ass edition

Will there be fiddlers? -Or- I bet there'll be fiddlers.

Humpty Dumpty: When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.

Alice: The question is, whether you can make words mean so many different things.

Humpty Dumpty: The question is: which is to be master - that's all.

(chart h/t fivethirtyeight.com)



Further on in the Looking Glass...

Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.

The Cat: Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.

Alice: How do you know I'm mad?

The Cat: You must be. Or you wouldn't have come here.

Alice: And how do you know that you're mad?

The Cat: To begin with, a dog's not mad. You grant that?

Alice: I suppose so...

The Cat: Well, then, you see, a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.

Monday on the fringe -OR- Keyboard troubles

The blogger you have reached: Rehctaw
Is unavailable.
Leave a comment and he will respond right after
the Thorazine kicks in.

The Moon is waxing Gibbous -OR- Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh

Won't be full until Tuesday night? That is truly frightening. The upsurge in troll activity and outright blowholiness is already pegging the meter. The rolly-coaster is speedier. The merry-go-round is very unmerry. Edges are frayed. Brainfarts are anything but silent.

The game is afoot. The ringwraiths ride. Sleep's uneasy.

On the bright side, only double-digit days left on the new benchmark for "How bad could it possibly be?". Vlad the Impaler is off the hook forever. Someday we will look back at this epoch and admire the trainwreck we will have survived. And when people begin to forget just how stupid and dangerous and fubarred things were, we will know that they need to be reminded, good and hard, that we will never again allow stupid to masquerade as smart. Won't allow our proxy to be usurped, our rights trampled, our fortunes mispent, our reputation sullied or our goodness questioned.

Until the next time, because face it, we're easily mislead and distracted.

To everything there is a season -OR- Not soon enough but will have to do.

1oo Days!
ONE HUNDRED DAYS!
Take one down, pass it around..

Who IS this guy anyway? -OR- Lost in the maelstrom of true terror

If this guy's a terrorist so am I.
The problem with demonizing good people is that collectively stupid herds of humans tend to buy it. You can't argue with the collectively stupid. Nothing will change their programming. The only thing you can do is ignore them.

So instead of presenting the collectively stupid's shallow, mindless rants as entertainment, I prefer to find and display the target, in his own words on which you can decide. Not people who didn't know him 40 years ago and were not actively engaged in events then. Who didn't find themselves in the other undeclared war of the 60's. The war over thought and potentials.

I give you William Ayers.

Y'all come back soon, ya hear -OR- Fish and Whistle

Alaska got $2.62 back for every dollar paid in Federal taxes.
Arizona: $1.53

but that's not PORK.

Rhode Island: $0.83
Illinois: $0.68

That's INCLUDING "PORK".

In fact, the map might be mistaken for a Red State/Blue State display.



Coincidence? Yeah, that must be it.

How fucking arrogant.

Adler Planetarium didn't get the $3 million MeCain is ranting about. It should have. The current Zeiss projector is 40 years old and still one of the most amazing bits of technology EVAH. Half a million people visit Adler every year. Chicago, as an economic engine, (Adler Planetarium is part of that) enables Illinois to donate 32 cents of every dollar paid in federal taxes to build Bridges to Nowhere.

This bit of technology has taken 16,ooo,ooo visitors into the cosmos. It has sparked the dreams of children of all ages. Made the universe their playground. Inspired generations of scientists and promoted an understanding of space as a awesome, jaw dropping place that we need to study and understand. 3 shows daily. 4 on weekends. 363 days per year (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Days) = 43,640 shows. I can't calculate how much $$$ this gem has helped generate world wide, just getting people to look UP and wonder, focus on, think and consider. Maybe that's what MeCain objects to? He should make a point to take in a show before he judges its value.

$3 Million? Luddite PLEASE!

Hopefully, MeCain's mention of Adler's Zeiss plight will prompt a benefactor from the private sector to step forward and say "It's okay Johnny, I got this one.". That seems to be his style anyway. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Right?

What a waste.

Post Debate Riddles -OR- Holy That One Batman

What has two thumbs and doesn't get it?

This guy!


Will the guy with the clear, workable plan please step forward?

Not so fast Quick Straw McDraw.

Sen. McDraw...
Didn't that bailout rescue mission already buy up all those evil
bad mortgages?

"My friend, We buy the evil. We eats the evil. We fix the evil. Make it new and shiny and good all over again. `cuz gosh darn it, we are Americans. Follow me, my friends, I have a secret plan to win this election? I cribbed it off some really smart guy. How do I know he's a smart guy? He assured me he was a smart guy, that he never lies, never makes mistakes and has never met anyone without preconditions. He told me how to do it. That's what this is about my friends. Winning. I'm a winner who knows how to win."

Hmmm Okay... So Senator President-Elect? How do you respond to that?

"How do I respond to what? How does anyone respond to that? I agree?
Except for what he said after he started talking until he was stopped, he made perfect sense to me. Look, this is some fucked up shit. I'm getting a job that no sane person would consider taking. Call me crazy, but I can't think of any way to stick a solution into a gelatin capsule we can all swallow. So I'm not gonna bullshit the voters and start pulling crap out of my ass. I'm still standing up here telling you that I'll take the job. I'll do the job. And I will try to fix it on the fly.
Hell, I might even use some of Mr. McCrankypant's suggestions. I'll troll blog comments if I think there might be a usable idea in there. But I have to get elected and see if there is a wheelbarrow and shovel left before I can make any clear plans."

So who did win the debate last night? I guess that depends on how you define victory?
I can state without reservation; It wasn't me.

Which candidate was more animated? Again it depends on definition. Animation as in movement or animation as in cartoonish? Oops, okay, MeCain won that category hands down.

Which candidate appeared more Presidential? Frankly, it's been so long since we've seen a real one, one who truly displayed our idealized version of Presidential, I think undecided viewers were left to plug both men into their favorite movies that portrayed a President. MeCain seemed most like the President from Escape From New York while Obama dovetailed into
several scripts quite nicely.

Isn't the real question: Which guy made me feel less like Ensign Expendable on Star Trek TOS?
That ONE. The guy who will be the first POTUS whose name ends in a sounded vowel.

Middle Class Blues -OR- Another lie? Well, bless her heart.

Palin's Net Worth > $1 Million


Palin's Net Worth Exceeds $1 Million, Financial Disclosure Shows
Published by Dan Auble on October 6, 2008 6:23 PM

Just before the weekend, the McCain campaign released running mate Sarah Palin's first personal financial disclosure report as well as her tax returns for the past two years. The investment picture we get from her FEC-mandated financial disclosure filing is vague, since values and income are only reported as ranges, but it is clear that the Palin family is worth at least $1 million.

The vice presidential candidate and her husband, Todd, appear to funnel most of their income into tax-advantaged retirement accounts such as an IRA, state pension plans and Todd's 401k with the oil company BP. The couple's largest non-retirement holdings are their family home, worth at least $500,000, and Todd's fishing business and fishing leasehold, with a combined worth between $150,000 and $350,000.

With the release of Palin’s tax returns, some tax experts now question whether Palin owes back taxes and penalties on more than $60,000 worth of per diem travel and lodging reimbursements that she and her family received from the State of Alaska for official travel as governor. However, the McCain-Palin campaign has their own tax lawyers who claim the omission is legitimate and the per diems should not be considered taxable income.

Slide it in on a Friday Afternoon while all eyes are still focused on the $700 Billion Bailout. Roll out your Obama MAY be a terrorist rhetoric on Monday to distract folks. Brought to you by the duo who are promising the end of politics as usual.

Not to get off on a rant...I do miss THAT Dennis Miller even if his seething was all show, no go. I have been struck by the speechifying MePalin's camp has inflicted upon us. It seems to me that replacing "OBAMA" with MeCain in anything that's spewed forth is MORE accurate toward MeCain than Obama.

Try it in tonight's debate and see if you agree.

2-4 2sday Old Milwaukee Edition -OR- It doesn't get any better than this

2-4 2sday 30 Days Edition High and Low

I want to be GRUNTLED! -OR- Please sir, may I have another?

After 40 years of forced disgruntlement, I want to be GRUNTLED! That's the CHANGE I NEED. Our tactic of feeding amphetamines and steroids to hyper-partisans hasn't worked. (I thought typing that out would be satisfying, instead I just feel obvious.)It failed on a fundamental level. Now those funds are mental.

"You don't fix problems by throwing money at them." Remember? The mantra of education "reform". Produce more with less was the challenge issued. When schools all over MET THAT CHALLENGE. They were rewarded? Nope, just more hoops to jump through because there were some schools that didn't meet the challenge.

"We'd like to help you out. REALLY we would, but you see we have this law and order problem, this weapon systems gap, and the plumbing? It's leaking like a dollar store umbrella. Do you have any idea how much it costs to law AND order? You got jails and courthouses and computers. Lots and lots of computers to keep track of the laws. That's where our resources are needed. The kids are allright. We passed a bunch of laws to make sure of that."

Hey, wait a minute, you're changing the subject! I'm here to find our why our children isn't learning. Why their desks don't have books in them. Why there are 35 kids and only 20 desks. We've tried it your way for 40 years. Putting more and more into less and less. We sunk Billions into a surge that you say worked, so humor me. GRUNTLE ME. Let's put HALF of that into education and see what happens.

Otherwise, from where I sit, people might just think that smarter citizens isn't what you're looking for. So for the next forty years, let's let the law AND order folks do more with less so the kids can learn how to fix what you've fucked up.

Terra Firma -OR- Cub Phew, Phooey

I take no pleasure in typing that the Cubs were swept by the Dodgers in the 2008 NLDS. That the Cubs were outscored 20-6. That another century has begun with everything in proper alignment.

Joy, satisfaction, jubilation, glee, celebratory geehawing, enjoyment, happiness, delight, bliss, contentment, satisfaction, gratification, but absolutely no pleasure.

21% said Palin won the debate -OR- Crazy BASE World Crazy For DITZ

I will not say "We have got to". I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to". I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".I will not say "We have got to".

Sorry, I slipped into a 60's Catholic school reflex. Rote, rote, rote. But, when you're a maaaaaaavrik, you're a maaaaaavrik all the way and mangling the language is just part of your charm?

What do you gots? Is our children learning? What do we gots? We gots us a new NEW-CUE-LURE animatron who showed us the error of our ways.

If she masters the "Well, bless her heart" dismissive subjunctive case between now and election day she might boost that support up to TWENTY ONE PERCENT.

In Opposite World that's a slam-dunk cakewalk. Sarah's greeted as a liberator. A winking breath of fresh air. SarahBaracuda kicked some ass.

REALLY? Aw, Geezums. I guess I just don't got the right pursepective.

Want Cheese with that whine? -OR- Too Hippie for the Room

Smart

My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more than one!

And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes -- I guess he don't know
That three is more than two!

Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!

And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!

And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head--
Too proud of me to speak!

- Shel Silverstein

Irony?? Putting lipstick on a Monday pig and lining up to sleep with it on Friday.

How can you, with a straight face and a shot at selling your crap, oppose a bill on Monday ON FUNDAMENTAL GROUNDS (and faux umbrage at a partisan speech) then cast your proxies on a significantly identical bill on Friday? By calling the bailout a back-dated insurance policy? Including $112 Billion in Tax Breaks? REALLY?

Comedy? Newt Gingrich kicking off his 2012 Presidential Campaign.

Once this slasher movie of a Presidency has ended. Job ONE in America should be to permanently render Newt and the Neo-Cons to the cut-out bin.