STFU.
No, really.
Shut the fuck up.
Those of you not working for EW and reading this may wonder why: well, I'll tell you.
Because EW has seen fit to tell Vince Vaughn, Will Farrell, and Owen Wilson - by name, although they also refer to "Men of Hollywood" - to quit being funny and grow up.
You know by now I never kid.
Here's a hint, EW: they sell millions and millions of tickets, to movie after movie. Obviously, the fans ENJOY their silliness and refusal to grow up. As long as they continue to sell millions and millions of tickets, Hollywood enjoys that, too.
Since I don't see you selling millions and millions of tickets to anything, and have seen absolutely nothing of yours to compare with Anchorman, as an example, I hereby tell you to cram this up your ass sideways, and then die in a fire.
Sunday, August 6, 2006
Just In Case Anyone Was Curious...
...about why I haven't been writing more extensively about Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, and the general melee going on over there, there's a simple reason.
Because I want to rant at length. While I post diatribes about similar topics on a frequent basis on here, I try to keep it short, and this is a discussion which deserves the full treatment, so (hopefully tomorrow night, but we'll see) it will go up on Xeno's Paradox instead.
I was gonna just do another little rant, but then I started doing research - never a good idea - and came up with a wealth of material, so it's gonna go there instead of here.
Plus, I'm more comfortable with Blogger's interface anyway; it doesn't edit my HTML, which is nice.
This means that it's not as newbie-friendly as Yahoo! 360, but the other side of that is it doesn't insert hundreds of random links out of nowhere that it won't allow me to remove, either.
It also makes permanent links out of post titles, rather than a long-ass string of crazy alphanumeric hash that you cannot possibly remember. It also allows better template customization - look at mine, and then look at CSC's page to get what I mean.
Anyway, so, hopefully sometime tomorrow there will be a huge entry over at XP about the Middle East; since 360 is feed retarded, I will blog the fact that I put it up over there. I wish I could rely on 360 to actually update my feeds, but 360 still insists that my last entry over on Xeno's Guide was about Underworld: Evolution, which was back in April.
This, of course, leaves out my entry on Silent Hill, the one on V For Vendetta, my first mention of Snakes On A Plane, not to be confused with my much more controversy-inspiring second mention, and my review of Suicide Circle. None of these show on 360 at all.
Because I want to rant at length. While I post diatribes about similar topics on a frequent basis on here, I try to keep it short, and this is a discussion which deserves the full treatment, so (hopefully tomorrow night, but we'll see) it will go up on Xeno's Paradox instead.
I was gonna just do another little rant, but then I started doing research - never a good idea - and came up with a wealth of material, so it's gonna go there instead of here.
Plus, I'm more comfortable with Blogger's interface anyway; it doesn't edit my HTML, which is nice.
This means that it's not as newbie-friendly as Yahoo! 360, but the other side of that is it doesn't insert hundreds of random links out of nowhere that it won't allow me to remove, either.
It also makes permanent links out of post titles, rather than a long-ass string of crazy alphanumeric hash that you cannot possibly remember. It also allows better template customization - look at mine, and then look at CSC's page to get what I mean.
Anyway, so, hopefully sometime tomorrow there will be a huge entry over at XP about the Middle East; since 360 is feed retarded, I will blog the fact that I put it up over there. I wish I could rely on 360 to actually update my feeds, but 360 still insists that my last entry over on Xeno's Guide was about Underworld: Evolution, which was back in April.
This, of course, leaves out my entry on Silent Hill, the one on V For Vendetta, my first mention of Snakes On A Plane, not to be confused with my much more controversy-inspiring second mention, and my review of Suicide Circle. None of these show on 360 at all.
So, There's This Crazy Guy...
...In North Korea, who is spending literally billions of dollars on nuclear weapons, with the stated intent and purpose of overthrowing the government in South Korea and attacking his neighbors, including China and Japan.
You may have heard of him.
His name is Kim Jong-Il.
Just recently, North Korea has experienced flooding and storms so severe that basically their entire rice crop of this year is destroyed; the U.N. estimates upwards of 60,000 people are homeless, and people are starving left and right.
So, the natural thing to do is to go, hat in hand, to their neighbors to the south, the ones they've threatened with nuclear weapons, and say "Please, Mr. Capitalist, give us 500,000 TONS of rice so our people don't starve. But shut up about the nukes, already."
Think I'm kidding?
I never kid.
Seriously, North Korea has already rejected the U. N.'s offer of food aid; apparently the fact that the U. N.'s toothless ass wants the North Koreans to return to the negotiating table about the nukes was just far, far more important than the lives of their citizens.
At any rate, they're pestering the South Koreans now. The sad part? Want to bet that the South Koreans go ahead and give them the chow?
HOW LONG ARE THE WORLD'S FREE SOCIETIES GOING TO CONTINUE PROPPING UP THESE CORRUPT REGIMES?
Seriously, folks, if someone's threatening nuclear war, they ought not to get food, financial aid, or even a market share. Fuck sanctions; they never work. I'm talking about total embargo - no chow, no money, no nothing, in or out. If they're self-sufficient enough that, as the North Koreans so often remind us, they don't need the products of our corrupt capitalism, let them go six months or a year without hem, and see how they like it.
And if you want to prate on about the starving, suffering masses, allow me to remind you that they are starving because they APPROVE of their leaders' actions. If they didn't, I assure you that hunger is a sufficient motivator to incite revolution.
You may have heard of him.
His name is Kim Jong-Il.
Just recently, North Korea has experienced flooding and storms so severe that basically their entire rice crop of this year is destroyed; the U.N. estimates upwards of 60,000 people are homeless, and people are starving left and right.
So, the natural thing to do is to go, hat in hand, to their neighbors to the south, the ones they've threatened with nuclear weapons, and say "Please, Mr. Capitalist, give us 500,000 TONS of rice so our people don't starve. But shut up about the nukes, already."
Think I'm kidding?
I never kid.
Seriously, North Korea has already rejected the U. N.'s offer of food aid; apparently the fact that the U. N.'s toothless ass wants the North Koreans to return to the negotiating table about the nukes was just far, far more important than the lives of their citizens.
At any rate, they're pestering the South Koreans now. The sad part? Want to bet that the South Koreans go ahead and give them the chow?
HOW LONG ARE THE WORLD'S FREE SOCIETIES GOING TO CONTINUE PROPPING UP THESE CORRUPT REGIMES?
Seriously, folks, if someone's threatening nuclear war, they ought not to get food, financial aid, or even a market share. Fuck sanctions; they never work. I'm talking about total embargo - no chow, no money, no nothing, in or out. If they're self-sufficient enough that, as the North Koreans so often remind us, they don't need the products of our corrupt capitalism, let them go six months or a year without hem, and see how they like it.
And if you want to prate on about the starving, suffering masses, allow me to remind you that they are starving because they APPROVE of their leaders' actions. If they didn't, I assure you that hunger is a sufficient motivator to incite revolution.
Friday, August 4, 2006
North Vs. South, City Vs. Country
Let me say first, before I begin this, that I like it in Pennsylvania. It's a nice place to live, and I can certainly understand why people enjoy living here.
But it's not the same as living in Texas.
There's differences, you know. Not GOOD or BAD, just DIFFERENT.
To give you a little background, although the last few years I've been a gypsy, I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, which is the third or fourth - depending on who you ask - biggest city in the country. Metropolitan area population: 5,280,077.
I'm now living in Port Royal, Pennsylvania. Borough population: 977.
Liiiiiiiiittle bit of a change, there.
So:
North Vs. South.
FIESTA has any grocery store north of the Mason-Dixon Line whupped all to hell and gone. Seriously. Get on the ball, people! You can do better!
I have to give the North the edge on climate, though, no joke. First, there's seasons up here, which was something I had to get explained to me, since I'd never seen them before. Second, there's a part of the year when it gets COLD, which - snow isn't THAT friggin' hard to drive on, you pussies - is a helluva break from what Houston usually has. You know, Summer, and the other two weeks. Plus, no hurricanes, and no flash floods - and anyone who thinks there are flash floods up here hasn't ever seen one - the climate is a dozen times better up here.
Oddly, for some reason people here seem determined to inform me of how hot it is. A lot. "OMG, we're gonna die, it's SO HOT." I'm like "Um, I'm from Houston." "Oh, my bad."
The dew point in Houston right now is 14 degrees higher than in Port Royal. Port Royal rocks.
Drivers are pretty much fucked everywhere. I'm convinced that it's a conspiracy - the government has a secret fleet of 18-wheelers kitted out to look like delivery trucks for major retailers that they use to follow me around, radioing ahead so that they can unload their horrifying cargo of world-class terrible drivers regardless of my actual location.
Attitude... is a little different. People here are always in such a hurry, even though we're out in the country. I'm not; I'm used to a bit slower pace, you know? Nothing wrong with taking your time. Seriously, the world will not collapse into oblivion if you fail to speed the ENTIRE way there. This doesn't mean I can't be hyperactive - feed me caffeine and I go wild - but that's not really my natural state. SARCASTIC, yes, but HURRIED, nope.
The first few months that I worked at my current job, I got the oddest looks from people. Not because I'm funny-looking - although I am - but because I greet customers. "Hi! How are you today?" gets you a look like you just shit on the carpet. "Good Morning!" can actually draw profanity. Down South, it's the exact opposite: if you ignore customers, they think you're a jackass. Now people around here are starting to get used to me - they don't jump quite as high when I say "Hello!" as they used to - but I think they just tell each other, "See? I told you he says 'Good Morning!'"
This doesn't mean people up here are unfriendly, though. Far from it. They will include you in their conversations if you're as far as a block away. You can tell, not because your name is called, but because you can hear every word quite clearly. People here like to share.
When CSC first moved to Houston, I used to shush her quite often as we would walk down the sidewalk and she would blare at me like a foghorn from two feet away. She comes by it honestly; people here are damn noisy. She didn't really believe that until after 3 years of Houston, we moved back up here, and were able to hear and understand a random conversation - from inside our apartment - that was taking place across the street in front of the bank. She said "OMGWTF?!?" and I said "YOU SEE?!?"
City Vs. Country:
City definitely has the edge in utility choices, but since all the companies suck, and try to screw you, that's not that big a deal. Here there's only one of each, but you get treated just the same as you would in the city.
People recognize you, quickly, in small towns. I will probably be "that new guy" for a lonnnnng time, but just about everybody knows who I am. In Houston things are more courteous in terms of greetings and whatnot, but at the same time more anonymous, and kind of disposable - you don't have to pay all THAT much attention to whoever you're dealing with, because you'll never see them again. Here, you're nice to the customers, because if you're not, they'll tell your aunt.
Parking - as long as I have a place to sit my wretched, ancient gas-guzzling boat, I don't care, so this is a toss-up.
The Amish - seriously I have only one problem with these folks, which is that Pennsylvania departs from the standards of every other place that has Amish and does not require them to bag their horseshit, which means it litters the roads, and they don't pay road taxes. You'd think the least they could do would be to put a poop bag on their horse.
In Houston you can get just about any fruit, vegetable, meat, game, or any other grocery item known to man. Seriously. It just takes a couple days in a truck to get it to you. In Pennsylvania, most of the produce comes from locals, so there may not be as much variety - try to find fresh habanero peppers here - but it sure is fresh. Couple HOURS in a truck beats couple DAYS in a truck hands down.
(A note, here, about the Habanero. It is maybe the fourth hottest pepper in the world, behind the Red Savina, Naga Dorset, and Naga Jolokia. The others rage from twice, to nearly four times as hot as a Habanero, which is itself about 65 times hotter than a jalapeno. However, the Habanero is the one upon which I shower my attention, because it is the hottest one I can comfortably eat. Naga Dorset feels like you're going to die. The endorphin rush is wonderful, admittadly, but getting there is a biatch. The Wiki for it notes that most people who use them "touch the food with the pepper" rather than including it as an ingredient.)
[*Edited to add a note: I feel like a jackass. You can buy Habanero peppers here; you just have to look really really hard in the produce section to find the single one-pint plastic tub behind the zucchini.*]
Maybe I'm biased due to many moons of riding Metro, but the sight of two drunken farmers racing their riding mowers on the freeway makes me laugh until there are tears in my eyes, and I don't give a damn if it IS illegal.
There's no shortage of officious people with bureaucratic jobs in Houston, but there's very little help for people who are down on their luck. Up here, there aren't as many people working for the state, but they have a lot more help to hand out. (The first paycheck I got up here I was AGHAST at the number and volume of the deductions, but that's a totally separate issue. I have issues with most of that help, but that doesn't mean they're not honestly trying to do the right thing, and this isn't really about politics.)
I guess what I'm getting at is that it doesn't really matter where you live; anyplace has its ups and downs. You just kind of have to figure out how to be happy wherever you are.
I've got that down, and I'll tell you how:
Wherever I sleep tonight, that's home.
No civilian job is worse than being shot at. I promise.
I have the most beautiful wife in all the world, AND SHE COOKS.
My car may be ugly, but it runs.
My apartment may be small, but that just makes it cheap to air-condition.
The video store knows me - not like any Blockbuster I ever entered - and will order things for me if I ask real nice.
So does the hardware store.
So does the computer store.
All my bills are paid; all my bills are on time; and I have enough free time to publish offensive, sarcastic political rants on the internet.
Life is good.
But it's not the same as living in Texas.
There's differences, you know. Not GOOD or BAD, just DIFFERENT.
To give you a little background, although the last few years I've been a gypsy, I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, which is the third or fourth - depending on who you ask - biggest city in the country. Metropolitan area population: 5,280,077.
I'm now living in Port Royal, Pennsylvania. Borough population: 977.
Liiiiiiiiittle bit of a change, there.
So:
North Vs. South.
- North: Philly cheese steaks, which you can't get in the South, because they don't even sell the INGREDIENTS in the South.
- South: Chicken Fried Steak. Proper Tex-Mex. The Bellaire Broiler Burger. (Shitty website, but possibly the best hamburgers on the PLANET. CSC will vouch for this.) Whataburger, for when you can't go to Broiler Burger.
- North: Drivers tailgate like it was the national sport, drive with their high beams on ALL THE TIME, and generally act like asshats on the road.
- South: Drivers tailgate like it was the national sport, drive either 5 mph above, or 15 below, the speed limit, and generally act like asshats on the road.
- North: Dude, it fuckin' snows here, man.
- South: WTF is this white shit coming from the friggin' sky?
- North: Weis Markets, Giant, Mr. Z's, Aldi.
- South: Randall's, Safeway, FIESTA.
- North: salt trucks in winter. And plows. Don't forget the plows.
- South: Flash floods and hurricanes.
- North: OMG HURRY UP!!!
- South: Dude, relax.
- North: Shocked surprise upon utterance of the phrase "Good Morning!"
- South: "That rude bastard didn't even say 'Good Morning!'"
FIESTA has any grocery store north of the Mason-Dixon Line whupped all to hell and gone. Seriously. Get on the ball, people! You can do better!
I have to give the North the edge on climate, though, no joke. First, there's seasons up here, which was something I had to get explained to me, since I'd never seen them before. Second, there's a part of the year when it gets COLD, which - snow isn't THAT friggin' hard to drive on, you pussies - is a helluva break from what Houston usually has. You know, Summer, and the other two weeks. Plus, no hurricanes, and no flash floods - and anyone who thinks there are flash floods up here hasn't ever seen one - the climate is a dozen times better up here.
Oddly, for some reason people here seem determined to inform me of how hot it is. A lot. "OMG, we're gonna die, it's SO HOT." I'm like "Um, I'm from Houston." "Oh, my bad."
The dew point in Houston right now is 14 degrees higher than in Port Royal. Port Royal rocks.
Drivers are pretty much fucked everywhere. I'm convinced that it's a conspiracy - the government has a secret fleet of 18-wheelers kitted out to look like delivery trucks for major retailers that they use to follow me around, radioing ahead so that they can unload their horrifying cargo of world-class terrible drivers regardless of my actual location.
Attitude... is a little different. People here are always in such a hurry, even though we're out in the country. I'm not; I'm used to a bit slower pace, you know? Nothing wrong with taking your time. Seriously, the world will not collapse into oblivion if you fail to speed the ENTIRE way there. This doesn't mean I can't be hyperactive - feed me caffeine and I go wild - but that's not really my natural state. SARCASTIC, yes, but HURRIED, nope.
The first few months that I worked at my current job, I got the oddest looks from people. Not because I'm funny-looking - although I am - but because I greet customers. "Hi! How are you today?" gets you a look like you just shit on the carpet. "Good Morning!" can actually draw profanity. Down South, it's the exact opposite: if you ignore customers, they think you're a jackass. Now people around here are starting to get used to me - they don't jump quite as high when I say "Hello!" as they used to - but I think they just tell each other, "See? I told you he says 'Good Morning!'"
This doesn't mean people up here are unfriendly, though. Far from it. They will include you in their conversations if you're as far as a block away. You can tell, not because your name is called, but because you can hear every word quite clearly. People here like to share.
When CSC first moved to Houston, I used to shush her quite often as we would walk down the sidewalk and she would blare at me like a foghorn from two feet away. She comes by it honestly; people here are damn noisy. She didn't really believe that until after 3 years of Houston, we moved back up here, and were able to hear and understand a random conversation - from inside our apartment - that was taking place across the street in front of the bank. She said "OMGWTF?!?" and I said "YOU SEE?!?"
City Vs. Country:
- City: There are tons of phone companies; tons of cable companies, and a plethora of broadband internet providers.
- Country: I hope you like Embarq - they're the only phone company that serves this borough. There's one cable company, and you can get broadband from one or the other.
- City: You never see the same people twice.
- Country: A few weeks after I started at my current job, we got a phone call, and I answered. "Dave speaking, can I help you?" The person on the other end says "Is this the Dave who lives across from the bank in Port Royal?" Why yes, yes it is, but OMG.
- City: You have either a driveway, or assigned parking.
- Country: If you're in Mifflintown you have a meter. Port Royal, pretty much you just park on the side of the street.
- City: No Amish.
- Country: Amish.
- City: Wiiiiiiiiide variety of produce.
- Country: Fressssssssssshh variety of produce.
- City: Mass Transit.
- Country: Riding tractors on the highway. Often drunk, and racing against other tractors.
- City: Too many civil servants, not enough civil services.
- Country: Too many civil services, not enough civil servants.
City definitely has the edge in utility choices, but since all the companies suck, and try to screw you, that's not that big a deal. Here there's only one of each, but you get treated just the same as you would in the city.
People recognize you, quickly, in small towns. I will probably be "that new guy" for a lonnnnng time, but just about everybody knows who I am. In Houston things are more courteous in terms of greetings and whatnot, but at the same time more anonymous, and kind of disposable - you don't have to pay all THAT much attention to whoever you're dealing with, because you'll never see them again. Here, you're nice to the customers, because if you're not, they'll tell your aunt.
Parking - as long as I have a place to sit my wretched, ancient gas-guzzling boat, I don't care, so this is a toss-up.
The Amish - seriously I have only one problem with these folks, which is that Pennsylvania departs from the standards of every other place that has Amish and does not require them to bag their horseshit, which means it litters the roads, and they don't pay road taxes. You'd think the least they could do would be to put a poop bag on their horse.
In Houston you can get just about any fruit, vegetable, meat, game, or any other grocery item known to man. Seriously. It just takes a couple days in a truck to get it to you. In Pennsylvania, most of the produce comes from locals, so there may not be as much variety - try to find fresh habanero peppers here - but it sure is fresh. Couple HOURS in a truck beats couple DAYS in a truck hands down.
(A note, here, about the Habanero. It is maybe the fourth hottest pepper in the world, behind the Red Savina, Naga Dorset, and Naga Jolokia. The others rage from twice, to nearly four times as hot as a Habanero, which is itself about 65 times hotter than a jalapeno. However, the Habanero is the one upon which I shower my attention, because it is the hottest one I can comfortably eat. Naga Dorset feels like you're going to die. The endorphin rush is wonderful, admittadly, but getting there is a biatch. The Wiki for it notes that most people who use them "touch the food with the pepper" rather than including it as an ingredient.)
[*Edited to add a note: I feel like a jackass. You can buy Habanero peppers here; you just have to look really really hard in the produce section to find the single one-pint plastic tub behind the zucchini.*]
Maybe I'm biased due to many moons of riding Metro, but the sight of two drunken farmers racing their riding mowers on the freeway makes me laugh until there are tears in my eyes, and I don't give a damn if it IS illegal.
There's no shortage of officious people with bureaucratic jobs in Houston, but there's very little help for people who are down on their luck. Up here, there aren't as many people working for the state, but they have a lot more help to hand out. (The first paycheck I got up here I was AGHAST at the number and volume of the deductions, but that's a totally separate issue. I have issues with most of that help, but that doesn't mean they're not honestly trying to do the right thing, and this isn't really about politics.)
I guess what I'm getting at is that it doesn't really matter where you live; anyplace has its ups and downs. You just kind of have to figure out how to be happy wherever you are.
I've got that down, and I'll tell you how:
Wherever I sleep tonight, that's home.
No civilian job is worse than being shot at. I promise.
I have the most beautiful wife in all the world, AND SHE COOKS.
My car may be ugly, but it runs.
My apartment may be small, but that just makes it cheap to air-condition.
The video store knows me - not like any Blockbuster I ever entered - and will order things for me if I ask real nice.
So does the hardware store.
So does the computer store.
All my bills are paid; all my bills are on time; and I have enough free time to publish offensive, sarcastic political rants on the internet.
Life is good.
Thursday, August 3, 2006
I Was Gonna Do A Big Long Political Rant...
...filled topful of sarcasm and fury, but my mother-in-law is coming to visit tomorrow, which, although she is a great lady and I actually like her quite a bit, kinda has me on edge and twitchy, because it's the first time she's been in our new shitty apartment.
Fortunately, she's going to CSC's sister's shitty apartment first, which has us breathing a sigh of relief; 2 kids plus a husband on the night shift means that apartment is way worse than ours, 24-7. Ours is just cluttered - we have furniture for a two bedroom apartment, in a one-bedroom.
So, when she gets here, our place should look great!
She won't be here long, just a couple of hours and dinner, but that doesn't mean we don't want everything to go well. CSC hasn't seen her mom in quite a while, and this is the first time she will be meeting me - since CSC and I have been together, we've been separated from either of our families by a lonnnnnng way - first hers, while she was with me in Texas, and now mine, since we're in Pennsylvania.
I refuse to use the postal code to describe this state. "Where are you from?" "PA" "WTF?" No-one else, anywhere, does that. Massachusetts people don't do that, and their state's name rolls off the tongue with even more leaden eloquence than does "Pennsylvania," so I'm not sure I understand WTF the reason is for that.
Must be a local thing.
Anyway, wish me luck with The Dreaded In-Law! Despite the fact that she's actually a nice lady.
Fortunately, she's going to CSC's sister's shitty apartment first, which has us breathing a sigh of relief; 2 kids plus a husband on the night shift means that apartment is way worse than ours, 24-7. Ours is just cluttered - we have furniture for a two bedroom apartment, in a one-bedroom.
So, when she gets here, our place should look great!
She won't be here long, just a couple of hours and dinner, but that doesn't mean we don't want everything to go well. CSC hasn't seen her mom in quite a while, and this is the first time she will be meeting me - since CSC and I have been together, we've been separated from either of our families by a lonnnnnng way - first hers, while she was with me in Texas, and now mine, since we're in Pennsylvania.
I refuse to use the postal code to describe this state. "Where are you from?" "PA" "WTF?" No-one else, anywhere, does that. Massachusetts people don't do that, and their state's name rolls off the tongue with even more leaden eloquence than does "Pennsylvania," so I'm not sure I understand WTF the reason is for that.
Must be a local thing.
Anyway, wish me luck with The Dreaded In-Law! Despite the fact that she's actually a nice lady.
Wednesday, August 2, 2006
Unsurprisingly, Yet Another Rant.
Ok.
The Democrats have been trying to pass a minimum-wage increase for ages and ages. Literally, since before Reagan was in office. They've always failed, because good sense prevailed.
However, the Republicans are at least TRYING to play "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" by offering a piece of legislation that cuts - it does not eliminate, but merely reduces - the estate tax, while simultaneously INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE by $2.10 an hour, in three steps of $0.70 apiece over the next four years.
The Democrats are so dead-set against decreasing the estate tax that they are gladly willing to sacrifice the first offer the Republicans have made on minimum wage in 25 years.
Now, some of you may be wondering, "what is the estate tax, anyway? And why do they keep saying it only benefits the rich?"
Well, I'll tell you.
First, the "it only benefits the rich" thing is only true if you don't understand economics. The estate tax is a tax on material and financial assets left as an inheritance upon the taxpayer's demise. The rate is ridiculously high, but it only affects people who are leaving a fairly substantial legacy - your dad's old Chevy and collection of fishing magazines isn't gonna get gaffled.
So, it only benefits the rich to lower the estate tax, unless you happen to be one of the millions and millions of people who work for those rich folks, in which case it benefits you as well. And there's the flaw in the Democrats' whole approach.
In an attempt to extend and continue an immoral tax - more on that later - they are screwing the very people they purport to be trying to help, YET AGAIN, by voting down the very measure about which they have been making so much noise just recently - the minimum wage.
Way to think clearly, there, lefties.
Here's the "more" I promised:
The estate tax is immoral on a level not shared by other taxes. All taxation is inherently immoral anyway - it is organized extortion performed upon the citizens by the government. Sadly, there isn't any other realistic way to pay for things. But: childless people, and stores, paying school tax is a perfect example of why it's extortion. Anyone or anything NOT HAVING CHILDREN is inherently incapable of deriving value from the result of that taxation, which means that the argument that the government is using that "contribution" from the citizen to provide them services falls apart.
However, the estate tax is far worse than that.
See, all through your life, you pay taxes constantly, even if you're not aware of it.
When you go to Wal-Mart to buy anything, you pay exorbitant taxes.
Here's how:
You're there for a crock-pot. A crock-pot is made of clay, steel, copper, rubber, plastic, glass, and maybe some aluminum.
Copper, iron, and aluminum are mined; oil is drilled, clay is dug, glass is made from sand, and rubber is harvested. The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages. The cost of those wages becomes the cost of the product.
Copper is smelted; iron is made into steel, aluminum is melted and formed, oil is refined to make plastics, clay is shaped and fired, glass is melted and formed, and rubber is vulcanized. The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages. The cost of those wages are added to the cost of the product, as is a markup so the company that does these things can make a profit.
Copper is formed into wires and plugs, and the heating coil. Steel is cast into the casing, along with some aluminum; plastics are used to manufacture insulation, light covers, and dials. The shaped clay vessel is glazed and made ready to be a cooking surface. The glass is polished into a lid. The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages. The cost of those wages are added to the cost of the product, as is a markup so the company that does these things can make a profit.
Wires, plugs, and heating coil are added to the casing; the cooking vessel is added, the lights, dials, and rubber feet are added, the lid is clapped on, and the whole shebang is stuck in a box. The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages. The cost of those wages are added to the cost of the product, as is a markup so the company that does these things can make a profit.
The product is shipped / trucked / airfreighted / whatever to Wal-Mart.The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages.The cost of those wages are added to the cost of the product, as is a markup so the company that does these things can make a profit.
Wal-Mart stocks it; maintains it; and checks you out when you choose it. The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages.The cost of those wages are added to the cost of the product, as is a markup so Wal-Mart can make a profit.
In most cases, the state adds a sales tax - at every step in the chain of events from the ground to the store.
In every case, every single penny of that accrued cost comes out of your pocket.
This is true of EVERY SINGLE THING YOU BUY, EVER.
YOU have a job. (Well, more than likely you do.) You pay income taxes, in addition to all the accrued tax burden of each and every thing you buy during your lifetime.
Then, when you die, what you have left after all these taxes is your estate - which is taxed YET AGAIN.
This is abusive taxation in its worst form, and causes the afore-mentioned rich people to dance a friggin jig trying to get out of paying it in any way they can.
That jig takes money, liquidity, and free capital out of the market, often permanently.
The estate tax hurts the economy. Period. It is that simple. And the Democrats are so married to it, they are willing to give every single one of their constituents the finger over minimum wages to keep it.
Very in touch with your constituency, there, guys. Good on ya.
The Democrats have been trying to pass a minimum-wage increase for ages and ages. Literally, since before Reagan was in office. They've always failed, because good sense prevailed.
However, the Republicans are at least TRYING to play "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" by offering a piece of legislation that cuts - it does not eliminate, but merely reduces - the estate tax, while simultaneously INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE by $2.10 an hour, in three steps of $0.70 apiece over the next four years.
The Democrats are so dead-set against decreasing the estate tax that they are gladly willing to sacrifice the first offer the Republicans have made on minimum wage in 25 years.
Now, some of you may be wondering, "what is the estate tax, anyway? And why do they keep saying it only benefits the rich?"
Well, I'll tell you.
First, the "it only benefits the rich" thing is only true if you don't understand economics. The estate tax is a tax on material and financial assets left as an inheritance upon the taxpayer's demise. The rate is ridiculously high, but it only affects people who are leaving a fairly substantial legacy - your dad's old Chevy and collection of fishing magazines isn't gonna get gaffled.
So, it only benefits the rich to lower the estate tax, unless you happen to be one of the millions and millions of people who work for those rich folks, in which case it benefits you as well. And there's the flaw in the Democrats' whole approach.
In an attempt to extend and continue an immoral tax - more on that later - they are screwing the very people they purport to be trying to help, YET AGAIN, by voting down the very measure about which they have been making so much noise just recently - the minimum wage.
Way to think clearly, there, lefties.
Here's the "more" I promised:
The estate tax is immoral on a level not shared by other taxes. All taxation is inherently immoral anyway - it is organized extortion performed upon the citizens by the government. Sadly, there isn't any other realistic way to pay for things. But: childless people, and stores, paying school tax is a perfect example of why it's extortion. Anyone or anything NOT HAVING CHILDREN is inherently incapable of deriving value from the result of that taxation, which means that the argument that the government is using that "contribution" from the citizen to provide them services falls apart.
However, the estate tax is far worse than that.
See, all through your life, you pay taxes constantly, even if you're not aware of it.
When you go to Wal-Mart to buy anything, you pay exorbitant taxes.
Here's how:
You're there for a crock-pot. A crock-pot is made of clay, steel, copper, rubber, plastic, glass, and maybe some aluminum.
Copper, iron, and aluminum are mined; oil is drilled, clay is dug, glass is made from sand, and rubber is harvested. The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages. The cost of those wages becomes the cost of the product.
Copper is smelted; iron is made into steel, aluminum is melted and formed, oil is refined to make plastics, clay is shaped and fired, glass is melted and formed, and rubber is vulcanized. The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages. The cost of those wages are added to the cost of the product, as is a markup so the company that does these things can make a profit.
Copper is formed into wires and plugs, and the heating coil. Steel is cast into the casing, along with some aluminum; plastics are used to manufacture insulation, light covers, and dials. The shaped clay vessel is glazed and made ready to be a cooking surface. The glass is polished into a lid. The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages. The cost of those wages are added to the cost of the product, as is a markup so the company that does these things can make a profit.
Wires, plugs, and heating coil are added to the casing; the cooking vessel is added, the lights, dials, and rubber feet are added, the lid is clapped on, and the whole shebang is stuck in a box. The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages. The cost of those wages are added to the cost of the product, as is a markup so the company that does these things can make a profit.
The product is shipped / trucked / airfreighted / whatever to Wal-Mart.The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages.The cost of those wages are added to the cost of the product, as is a markup so the company that does these things can make a profit.
Wal-Mart stocks it; maintains it; and checks you out when you choose it. The workers who do these things pay income taxes out of their wages.The cost of those wages are added to the cost of the product, as is a markup so Wal-Mart can make a profit.
In most cases, the state adds a sales tax - at every step in the chain of events from the ground to the store.
In every case, every single penny of that accrued cost comes out of your pocket.
This is true of EVERY SINGLE THING YOU BUY, EVER.
YOU have a job. (Well, more than likely you do.) You pay income taxes, in addition to all the accrued tax burden of each and every thing you buy during your lifetime.
Then, when you die, what you have left after all these taxes is your estate - which is taxed YET AGAIN.
This is abusive taxation in its worst form, and causes the afore-mentioned rich people to dance a friggin jig trying to get out of paying it in any way they can.
That jig takes money, liquidity, and free capital out of the market, often permanently.
The estate tax hurts the economy. Period. It is that simple. And the Democrats are so married to it, they are willing to give every single one of their constituents the finger over minimum wages to keep it.
Very in touch with your constituency, there, guys. Good on ya.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Just So's You Guys Know...
...There's aliens, and stuff.
No, really.
Art Bell, famous UFO conspiracy theorist and cult radio host, actually got a professional watcher from SETI - Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence - on an interview on his show. Said dude, Dr. Stephen Greer, claims that SETI has been receiving extraterrestrial signals of intelligent origin, they are increasing in frequency, and they are being jammed by an earth-based source, to prevent word getting out.
SETI, of course, denies all of this, and it's likely that they're not lying; Dr. Greer relied almost exclusively on hearsay during the interview (which you can find here.)
But it does make you wonder.
The government would of course cover up any actual contact with extraterrestrial intelligences as a matter of course; people are stupid, and you know as well as I do that there would be panic, and people in L.A. would burn their own houses down.
There's also the tiny fact that the likelihood is that any race we would make first contact with would be hostile. Eggheads love to dispute this point, and so do I, so here goes.
See, technology, assuming it follows the track ours follows - I'll tell you why I make that assumption in a bit - goes in stages, from less to more advanced. Once a society takes a step to a higher stage of technology, it quits using the older technology.
Once we moved from messengers to telegraphy, we pretty much did away with the Pony Express, didn't we? Then came the telephone, and telegraph operators fell into disuse. Now cell phones are taking an ever-increasing share of the communications "pie" from land lines, and so on.
Now. Picture a vast, ancient alien species, capable of manipulating science in ways of which we can currently only dream. Whatever advanced means of communications over interstellar distances they've devised are irrelevant; do you suppose they're still looking for someone to send them a radio signal? Particularly, a radio signal which carries meaning only so species using atmospheric vibrations - sound - as communication, encoded in modulations of the radio signal's frequency?
Not likely.
This is the same reason I discard any species whose technology follows a different track than our own; if we're using pulses of radio waves to generate sound, and they're using directed microwave radiation to stimulate heat receptors, or infra-red, or ultraviolet - see, there's a huge range of ways to communicate, even only under the science WE know - there's simply very little likelihood that they'd be listening for what we're saying.
SETI is a perfect example of this. SETI scans the galactic "background noise" for - radio waves. Which means that any species we'd come into contact with would be at a relative technological par with us, (maybe 50-100 years' worth of research either way, I mean) and following a similar technological path. This also means that they would be biologically similar organisms, since technology is largely dictated by a species' senses, means of natural communication, and natural tools.
By the same token, any biologically similar species is very likely - note, I did not say certain, because we'll never know until we find 'em - to behave in similar ways, as well. Territorial aggressiveness, xenophobia, and natural hostility are survival traits. Look at any successful species in nature - every one of them has biological means of self-defense, a fight-or-flight instinct, and hostility or fear of any other species. (This excludes symbiotes, which are kinda biologically SPECIAL, and only have exceptions for their symbiotes, responding to all other species in the same way everyone else does.)
In addition to this, the drive to colonize the stars must come from one, and only one, biological source: running out of room. Species which outbreed their niche expand, or die. This means that any extraterrestrials we would be likely to encounter would be young, hungry for life-supporting planets - like ours - biologically and behaviorally similar to ourselves, at a relative technological par, and terrified of us.
Scientists assuming that our first contact would naturally come from an established, older species assume that such a species would still even recognize our signals for attempts at communication; that they would be capable of interstellar travel, and that being an older species is required for interstellar travel.
The simple fact is that we could travel to distant stars ourselves, with the technology currently at our disposal, if we were sufficiently interested in space exploration. We're not; our society is sufficiently fucked up that we're worrying about the ground, rather than the big-ass rocks falling from the sky. But we could if we tried.
We'd just be taking a hell of a risk. I'm not saying that any species we run into out there is automatically assholes - but it does seem more likely than the alternative.
And, as you've heard me say before - we might even be alone, but that does seem like a waste of a whole big universe, doesn't it?
No, really.
Art Bell, famous UFO conspiracy theorist and cult radio host, actually got a professional watcher from SETI - Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence - on an interview on his show. Said dude, Dr. Stephen Greer, claims that SETI has been receiving extraterrestrial signals of intelligent origin, they are increasing in frequency, and they are being jammed by an earth-based source, to prevent word getting out.
SETI, of course, denies all of this, and it's likely that they're not lying; Dr. Greer relied almost exclusively on hearsay during the interview (which you can find here.)
But it does make you wonder.
The government would of course cover up any actual contact with extraterrestrial intelligences as a matter of course; people are stupid, and you know as well as I do that there would be panic, and people in L.A. would burn their own houses down.
There's also the tiny fact that the likelihood is that any race we would make first contact with would be hostile. Eggheads love to dispute this point, and so do I, so here goes.
- In Nature, the drive to expand a species' territory is directly linked to that species' aggressiveness.
- The assumption that a naturally aggressive species cannot survive to advanced technology isn't even consistent with OUR OWN experience, and that's the assumption upon which many scientists base their belief in inherent XT benevolence.
- Another unsafe assumption that many scientists make is that any civilization with which we could make contact would be ancient or far more advanced than our own. (This point will get expanded upon below.)
See, technology, assuming it follows the track ours follows - I'll tell you why I make that assumption in a bit - goes in stages, from less to more advanced. Once a society takes a step to a higher stage of technology, it quits using the older technology.
Once we moved from messengers to telegraphy, we pretty much did away with the Pony Express, didn't we? Then came the telephone, and telegraph operators fell into disuse. Now cell phones are taking an ever-increasing share of the communications "pie" from land lines, and so on.
Now. Picture a vast, ancient alien species, capable of manipulating science in ways of which we can currently only dream. Whatever advanced means of communications over interstellar distances they've devised are irrelevant; do you suppose they're still looking for someone to send them a radio signal? Particularly, a radio signal which carries meaning only so species using atmospheric vibrations - sound - as communication, encoded in modulations of the radio signal's frequency?
Not likely.
This is the same reason I discard any species whose technology follows a different track than our own; if we're using pulses of radio waves to generate sound, and they're using directed microwave radiation to stimulate heat receptors, or infra-red, or ultraviolet - see, there's a huge range of ways to communicate, even only under the science WE know - there's simply very little likelihood that they'd be listening for what we're saying.
SETI is a perfect example of this. SETI scans the galactic "background noise" for - radio waves. Which means that any species we'd come into contact with would be at a relative technological par with us, (maybe 50-100 years' worth of research either way, I mean) and following a similar technological path. This also means that they would be biologically similar organisms, since technology is largely dictated by a species' senses, means of natural communication, and natural tools.
By the same token, any biologically similar species is very likely - note, I did not say certain, because we'll never know until we find 'em - to behave in similar ways, as well. Territorial aggressiveness, xenophobia, and natural hostility are survival traits. Look at any successful species in nature - every one of them has biological means of self-defense, a fight-or-flight instinct, and hostility or fear of any other species. (This excludes symbiotes, which are kinda biologically SPECIAL, and only have exceptions for their symbiotes, responding to all other species in the same way everyone else does.)
In addition to this, the drive to colonize the stars must come from one, and only one, biological source: running out of room. Species which outbreed their niche expand, or die. This means that any extraterrestrials we would be likely to encounter would be young, hungry for life-supporting planets - like ours - biologically and behaviorally similar to ourselves, at a relative technological par, and terrified of us.
Scientists assuming that our first contact would naturally come from an established, older species assume that such a species would still even recognize our signals for attempts at communication; that they would be capable of interstellar travel, and that being an older species is required for interstellar travel.
The simple fact is that we could travel to distant stars ourselves, with the technology currently at our disposal, if we were sufficiently interested in space exploration. We're not; our society is sufficiently fucked up that we're worrying about the ground, rather than the big-ass rocks falling from the sky. But we could if we tried.
We'd just be taking a hell of a risk. I'm not saying that any species we run into out there is automatically assholes - but it does seem more likely than the alternative.
And, as you've heard me say before - we might even be alone, but that does seem like a waste of a whole big universe, doesn't it?
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