As I was dressing this morning (which would’ve been afternoon for you east coasters), I was listening to an interview / call-in show featuring Congressman Mike Doyle (D - PA).

He was speaking at length on the necessity of saving the US automobile industry by granting their request (to be made formally this afternoon by the CEO of Ford, I believe) for a large taxpayer loan. As I listened, I kept hearing him say that the auto industry must be saved really for two reasons, which were repeated consistently no matter what the initial question.

The first, which I don’t dispute the fundamental truth of, is that the automotive industry is a major employer of middle class workers in the US. This is all well and good, but discussing this bailout (and, loan or not, it is a bailout) as if the industry will disappear completely overnight is extremely misleading. Yes, certainly the industry is in trouble. Companies have been slashing their workforces for years, continually hemorrhage vast amounts of money, and seem incapable of genuinely gaining ground against their foreign competitors. Further contractions of the industry will hurt, yes, but we’re not actually talking about 3 million additional unemployed skilled laborers tomorrow morning if we don’t drop tens of billions of dollars on the Big 5 (or is it 3 now?) today.

The second major presumption of Doyle’s “Save the Automakers” position was that the loss of this industry (again, all of it, immediately, by implication) would represent the catastrophic loss of all the Research and Development work that the industry does and which America needs in order to remain competitive in the global economy.

This point I dispute on a couple of levels. First, and I hope you’ll forgive the snark, if the United States automotive industry’s R&D was really all that, they wouldn’t be requiring tens of billions of dollars of assistance. They are just years, decades maybe, out of touch with the state of the art being developed in Japan and Germany. They’ve moved only reluctantly towards retooling to support hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles and even then had to be dragged, kicking and screaming about their bottom lines and the needs and wants of the American consumer, to that table. Claiming that we need to salvage their vaunted R&D programs at taxpayer expense represents either a clear misunderstanding or a deliberate oversight of the meager reality.

Of course big companies do R&D, and many do it very well, but the foundation of the argument for saving the carmakers because of their R&D wings presupposes that there are no alternatives, and further relies on the belief that market forces represent the most efficient way to allocate resources for this kind of work. The market is a wonderful thing, but if there is one area that arguably is least benefited by reliance upon market economics, it’s basic scientific research.

Let’s face it, the market is a lagging indicator in most cases. It responds only as rapidly as consumers recognize and understand the conditions that affect the market. In a perfect case, the consumers are all well informed about current circumstances as well as the predicted future conditions that will affect the market, and in that case only, the market may (but is not guaranteed to) respond rapidly and ahead of immediate circumstances. In reality, most consumers are not that well informed, either because they aren’t paying attention, don’t exercise reason in tracking through difficult issues, or, commonly, aren’t provided enough genuine facts about what to expect in the future.

This argument underpins most of my response to knee-jerk free-marketeerism — even allowing that a perfect market will best allocate resources, we don’t have perfect markets, and we must be sure to recognize those cases where the imperfect ones that exist in reality actually do provide the superior solution.

To presuppose that the kind of basic scientific and engineering research that will support the future generation of energy efficient cars (not to mention all other devices that will benefit) ought to be performed by the historically deficient auto industry is just absurd. In fact, it’s clear that the market is largely to blame for the very situation we face. The American public demanded big trucks, SUV’s and other inefficient but fun vehicles, and the industry not only made their billions by filling that desire, but actively lobbied in favor of policies (energy and otherwise) that would keep them in the high margin business of selling these types of vehicles, even after the writing was on the wall with respect to our eventual need to reduce consumption drastically.

So here’s my alternative proposal… let’s not loan billions of dollars to a set of organizations whose credibility in performing basic scientific research is nil, and whose management has been self destructive or brain dead for 25 years. Rather, make that money available to organizations who can and will make good use of it. Direct those funds to the National Science Foundation and other funding mechanisms for academia, whose ability to perform basic science is part and parcel of their mandate. Set aside 200-300 million dollars towards establishing a series of X-Prizes for advances in the materials science and engineering disciplines necessary to advance the state of the art in this country. Provide incentive for American entrepreneurs and researchers to do this kind of work for the auto makers, whose market incentives were never before, and will never be, sufficient to make them forward looking and responsible stewards of the huge power they hold over the economic, environmental and energy policies of this country. Perhaps even found a national laboratory with a mandate for performing work on modern energy and automotive technology, much as the Sandia, Los Alamos and Oak Ridge labs did for Nuclear research and as the NIH does for much basic public health research.

By all means, salvage what can be salvaged of the auto makers in the interests of job retention and maintaining an industrial and manufacturing base in the US. But please don’t foist this ridiculous notion of automaker funded R&D on the public. It’s wrong, and while it may be politically sensible to speak well of companies that employ your constituents, in this case doing so is to spread misunderstanding and inaccuracy. Basic science will almost never be performed best — and by best I mean best for the world at large… by this metric, even the drug companies largely fail — by organizations responding to market forces, because by it’s very nature, basic research may or may not be economically rewarding and will always have to be initiated well in advance of the day the resulting technologies are needed. At best, todays markets provide incentive just as new ideas need to be available, and at worst, lag until they’ve been needed for some time already. It’s time to wake up to this reality and stop throwing good money, money that could be made to serve this nation in countless ways, at companies that provably, unequivocally, do not deserve to be trusted with it.

Recently, Vice-President Dick Cheney endorsed Senator John McCain for president. In his speech, Vice-President Cheney stated that Senator McCain is “a man who has looked into the face of evil and not flinched.”

Whether Senator Obama, Senator McCain, or Nader wins, I hope that the victory will bring in a new era to American politics. An era that represents an end to thinking that I had thought went out with the Middle Ages. An era where our leaders do not talk about things in tems of good vs. evil, where our leaders personify evil to exist and even have a face, or where our leaders describe evil as having an axis.

Again in my continued theme of “I thought it was the year 2008″, it is time that our leaders talk with intellect about world issues, agree to disagree with someone without turning to war immediately, and not flame the flames of discontent worldwide by describing anyone who disagrees with us as being evil.

It is time that public takes the government back as we are a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. How do we do this? First, not get scared everytime someone says there is evil trying to get us. Second, not give up our liberties everytime someone says there is evil trying to get us. Third, demand that our leaders respect us enough to not speak in terms of good vs. evil as if we are all children. Finally, vote out these leaders if they continue to do so.

If not, I fear that the next time I go to the doctor, the doctor will try to treat every ailment that I have with leeches.

If you own a tree that has branches that hang over a public sidewalk, can you please trim back any branches that are less than 7 feet above the sidewalk?

I am pro tree.

I am anti wet leaves to the face…twice in one morning

I have a tendency to retreat into the privacy of my own private den when things are not going perfectly in my life. This is not a good trait. It is not fair to me or my friends. I am sorry, and I am going to work on this trait, so please bear with me. Pun intended. With that said, I am slowly coming out of hibernation, so I will be trying to get back in touch with the rest of society very soon and will be blogging more regularly. As I wake from my hibernation, the bear is apparently pissed.

The fact though is that I have been in hibernation, so I may not have my facts straight. I thought I was waking up in the year 2008, not sometime in the 1940s and 1950s where McCarthy and other fear mongers thought that we can simply dismiss and, in some cases, destroy lives by screaming socialism. I thought that I was taught that a true and strong democracy was based on a battle of ideas. Again, my mind may be a little cloudy due to the hibernation, but surely we have not returned to these tactics of screaming socialism in the year 2008. I almost wish that I was wrong.

The fact is that we are in the year 2008. The fact is that Republicans are now screaming socialism on the campaign trail. This pisses me off. Whatever happened to expecting professionalism and maturity out of adults? I expected professionalism from my secretary, so why can I not expect and demand the same from my politician? Why would the scream of socialism not be professional and not be mature? Simply, it is wrong…the Republicans know that…the Republicans have made the choice to appeal to the worst in humanity by scaring the voting public with emotionally charged words. In full disclosure, I am not voting for Obama…or McCain for that matter, but I do hate it when I am put in a position to completely defend someone attacked unfairly.

This is why it is wrong…

All of this is coming from McCain’s continued use of Joe the Plumber’s question regarding Obama’s tax plan. McCain keeps describing Obama’s tax plan as a redistribution of wealth akin to socialism.

First, read Karl Marx before you call anyone a socialist. Tax plans do not make someone a socialist.

Second, we have a progressive tax system in this country. This is a fact. What does this mean? This means that the more money that you make, the more taxes as a percent of your overall income you will pay. To illustrate this, the tax brackets for a single (unmarried) person in 2008 are the following:

- 10%: from $0 to $8,025
- 15%: from $8,026 to $32,550
- 25%: from $32,551 to $78,850
- 28%: from $78,851 to $164,550
- 33%: from $164,551 to $357,700
- 35%: $357,701 and above

Why do we do this? Because it is fair. Why is it fair? Here is an illustration. Take Person X that is trying to live on $10,000 a year. Person X is poor. Person X is dirt poor. Person X has to worry about basic necessities of food and water, shelter, and clothing at this income level. Person X is in the 15% tax bracket. Now, take Person Y making $200,000 a year. Person Y’s worries are very different. Person Y is not worrying about survival. Person Y has all necessities covered by their large income. Person Y is in the 33% tax bracket. Yes, the percentages of taxes are different, and yes it is fair. But shouldn’t Person X and Person Y pay the same percentage in taxes for it to be fair? Well, we do not have a flat tax in this country. If we were to expect Person X and Person Y to both pay 25%, just to pick a percentage in the middle, more and more people like Person X will not be able to afford the basic necessities of life, eventually becoming dependent on the state for shear survival. In order to avoid this, we ask those of us that can afford to pay more to pay more. The fact is that those of us who have been given an opportunity to make more have the infrastructure, society, and culture that the government helped to create and maintain to thank for it…to some degree.

Obama did not invent the progressive tax system. It is a fact of our society. In the last 100 years, we have never had a flat tax system. The only thing that changes is the steepness of progression. In fact, during WWII, the highest tax bracket was 94%. 94 fucking percent… Surely, this was just because we were in war. Obviously, WWII was the main driving factor to taxes being that high in the highest tax bracket, but the reality is that we have a strong history of high taxation of the rich. To illustrate this, when I was born in 1978, the highest tax rate was 70%.

If McCain is going to complain about a progressive tax plan, you would expect his plan to be a flat tax…right? Nope…Not at all. He is taking his plan completely out of context in order to scare us all. The Tax Policy center compared Obama and McCain’s tax plans. It can be found here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/09/ST2008060900950.html

McCain can claim that he will be reducing taxes, but this does not mean that he himself is not guilty of a redistribution of wealth. You see, just because you lower taxes on the wealthy, does not mean that you have created a flat tax where everyone is paying the same percentage of income in taxes. He still is proposing a progressive tax system. He knows this, and he is a hypocrite that is trying to scare voters by screaming socialism.

Another example of him being a hypocrite…McCain voted against Bush’s tax cuts “because of the disproportional amount that went to the wealthiest Americans.” I guess he was in favor redistribution of wealth at that time. Check out the transcript on Meet the Press this past Sunday.

Third, a nuanced fear that McCain is pushing is that Obama’s plan will result in refundable tax credits that would result in the government cutting a check to citizens that actually have no income tax liability resulting in Obama giving welfare to Americans…i.e. – OBAMA IS A BIG SOCIALIST…He is giving money to people that do not pay income taxes…Here is the problem. Our tax system already pays out refundable tax credits to people that have no income tax liability…How can this be? McCain is not pointing out an important factor…People who do not have income tax liability due to low income still pay taxes. How? They still pay payroll taxes…What are payroll taxes? Payroll taxes go to Social Security and Medicare.

McCain’s own tax plan has a refundable tax credit for health care expenses, so he knows that these exist and is even proposing some himself…

More color on this issue can be found at this link:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/813/

Finally, still on the tax issue, but less on the socialism issue, McCain wants us to worry that Obama’s tax plans will hurt corporations in this country because the statutory tax rate is not the lowest corporate tax rate amongst industrialized nations. Surely McCain cannot be wrong that corporations would be attracted to countries with lower taxes. He is actually quite right. The problem is that McCain is playing the fear card again because he knows that the American public does not understand the nuances of the tax code. Yep, he is purposely misleading the American voter, and scaring them into voting for him…Country First…I think not.

The nuance is in the concept of the effective tax rate. An effective tax rate refers to the actual rate of taxes paid, not the tax rate written in the statutes. Why would a corporation pay a different tax rate than the ones written in the tax codes? First, corporations have tax offsets that lower taxable income. Second, corporations…are you sitting down?…keep two separate tax books…and this is legal. One tax book is kept to report earnings for the stock market…i.e. – higher earning means that the stock will go up. The other tax book is used to determine how much in taxes the corporations have to pay. How are these tax books different? One way is that the two books use different ways of valuing inventory which drives up earnings or liabilities depending on the method you use. What is the end result? The Government Accountability Office found that 2/3 of all corporations did not pay any taxes between 1998 and 2005…Good times…

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/business/13tax.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

So where does this leave us? No candidate is perfect. No platform is perfect. However, there is no room for screaming socialism in the year 2008. A democracy is a battle of ideas, so show up and bring some ideas to the table. We need some fucking ideas. What we do not need is diversions of stating that I am putting the Country First while at the same time purposefully and knowingly appealing to the worst in all of us.

Here is the reality…

- A recession is coming.
- We have 2 fucking wars going on.
- We have a disappearing middle class as more and more middle class jobs leave the country leaving us with working class service jobs.
- 3 weeks ago I had friends wondering if they should pull money out of their checking accounts…Seriously, a potential run on the bank. 3 weeks ago I was reliving “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
- Whether you want to ignore all science and say the global warming may not be caused by humans (this is an issue for another time), the world is changing.
- People are losing their homes.

And you want me to tolerate a Red Scare now?

Both plans are progressive tax plans. The fact is that the rich will still be rich, will still be able to live a rich lifestyle, and just because you may pay more taxes if you get rich this does not in any way destroy the incentive system for people wanting to be rich…

McCain is a liar, and he is putting McCain and McCain alone First.

I mean, really.

Again, Sadly, No! is smarter than everyone else.

It’s time for the Democrats to call the GOP’s bluff. They have to hammer the SOBs and tell them that they had a deal all set before John McCain and his big fucking ego decided to ride in on his white horse and fuck everything up. They cannot allow themselves to be used as pawns to get John McCain elected.

Democrats, give them the finger and walk away until they meet your demands. And then go on television every day and loudly blame for the coming stock market crash. Crush them and don’t stop crushing them until you’ve won.

I swear to god, I will lose all faith in this country if we get railroaded on this bailout, and let me not even speak of anyone who still thinks Sarah Palin should get within 1000 yards of executive office.

For fucks sake.

You know what’s worse than commercials with talking animals?

Commercials with fucking kids dressed up and acting like adults.

To everyone involved with all such commercials : Please stop. Stop now and never, ever, ever have anything to do with advertising again. I mean you, executive who hired the ad agency, and you director, writer, and cameraman. And, yes, even you, poor witless child actors. Just quit now, and stay off of my television.

I hate you.

Are you fucking kidding me with this CBS?

I understand how hard it is to come up with new ideas, but ganking “Psych” (which is *awesome* no matter what Miss IL thinks) and making it a bit more “hardcore” is just lame.

And the name is even fucking stupider. “The Mentalist” sounds like a good ironic moniker for your favorite imbecile. So, actually, good job I guess. I’ll readily apply it to all the people responsible for this show.

Fucking Mentalists.

Mine’s cost me about $1000 in the past two weeks.

Beyond their expense though, I hate their noise and their traffic and their pollution and most of all the fact that they are why I don’t have trains.

Fuck them. Fuck cars so, so, so very much.

So, I sold my copy of Grand Theft Auto IV today.

Multiplayer was a big draw for me, but sadly turned out to be the worst example of what that mode of play has to offer. It’s not Rockstar’s fault really, but the inundation — which I should have predicted — of the service by Mountain DewVault guzzling, foul-mouthed, homophobic 14-year-olds ruins whatever social fun might be had. The goal-oriented modes all devolved immediately into free-for-all deathmatch (which is it’s own mode, of course, rendered redundant by the players). It’s too bad, because the platform and the environments are ripe for a really fun game.

Call of Duty, for example, has fun, hyper-realistic, but small environments. Given players with similar, team-oriented mentalities, in the admittedly less gritty, but massively more open environment of Liberty City’s Algonquin, I can imagine spending hours hunting down a team of gangsters, getting sniped at, evading police, etc. Instead I get run down before I even have a gun by a pre-pubescent douchnozzle yelling “FAAAGGGGggggggggg” out the window of his virtual NSX.

Awesome.

It’s as if someone put up a big chalkboard for anyone to draw on… a few people would try to come up with something cool and fun, but the rest would be scrawling epithets and poorly drawn cock and balls all over your attempt. No thanks.

As for single player, it’s the almost same as it always was with improved graphics, and unquestionably a remarkable rendering of New York City. But that “almost” carries a lot in it. I was immediately turned off by the asinine “friendship” tasks you kept getting bothered with. It’s like if your mom calls while you’re playing a game… so you pause and talk to her about whatever, and it’s a short call, but you’re annoyed and just want to get back to it on some level. It’s like that but THE GAME IS DOING IT TO YOU. I don’t want to spend my limited gaming hours playing fucking virtual bowling with some virtual “friend”, or if I did, I’d play Wii Bowling which actually does it well. I’m sure most of that can be ignored, but without knowing for sure, I had this nagging feeling that I wasn’t *really* playing the game. It kept feeling like I was doing work, of which I have quite enough, thanks much R*.

There was another issue which I didn’t even really see clearly until watching Yahtzee’s review of the game, but he hits it spot on (as he usually does)… the game takes itself too seriously. There’s no tongue in cheek, no satire or caricature, and frankly the game is considerably lessened by it’s absence. The only genuinely fun moment I had while playing was when I unlocked the “Hot Chocolate” achievement, and that was just because it was a bit of a surprise and a nice fuck you to the moralizing bastards that got so up in arms about San Andreas’ “Hot Coffee” sex scene.

So fuck it. I can spend my time better. Hopefully the Utahian (Utahn? Utaher? WTF?) I sent it to this morning will feel like he got his $40 worth out of it.

this is a great compendium of comics dealing with the douchebaggery of hecklers:

I am now calling for an end for all future political rhetoric in any way alluding to the United States being a beacon of democracy… Do not confuse this call as a description of the United States as a dictatorship or as an oppressive regime. I am not asserting this. I am merely stating the actions of both parties do not represent the democratic values that I was taught that our country was supposed to represent…or at the very least to strive for…

First, on Tuesday, the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008 fell short of the two-thirds majority it needed to pass, even after clearing a House committee unanimously. The vote was 239-178 in favor, with all but two Democrats supporting it and all but 16 Republicans opposed. This bill would have provided money to states from the federal government to help provide better voting infrastructure. Eight years ago, there was a botched federal election (this characterization is and should be considered non-partisan). How can the Republicans justify voting against the bill that would improve the most fundamental action in any democracy/republic while at the same time supporting wars so we can export democracy around the world? Side note…insert the obligatory “How come we can send a man to the moon, but we cannot figure out how to vote?”

Second, the Democratic Party is showing that they do not truly believe in a democracy either. In the midst of the primary campaign, many prominent members of the Democratic Party are calling for Sen. Clinton to withdrawal from the primary race before all the states have a chance to vote for their candidate. Why? These members point to the fact that Sen. Clinton cannot mathematically achieve the required number of delegates without the Democratic Party’s super delegates votes at the convention. These members also play the fear card that by remaining in the race, Sen. Clinton will weaken Sen. Obama’s chance to beat Sen. McCain in the general election. What is the problem with this? First, Sen. Obama also cannot mathematically achieve the required number of delegates without the help of the super delegates at the convention. This fact is typically completely ignored by the media and these members of the Democratic Party. Second, should any of us support a system that “elects” a party representative by trying to prevent states that hold their primary system later in the primary calendar to essentially not have any say?

Because, apparently, people are still going to shoot up schools until we actually do something about our gun problem in this country, I will be cursed to re-post this every year or so.

Many people will use this terrible tragedy as an excuse to put through a political agenda other than my own. This tawdry abuse of human suffering for political gain sickens me to the core of my being. Those people who have different political views from me ought to be ashamed of themselves for thinking of cheap partisan point-scoring at a time like this. In any case, what this tragedy really shows us is that, so far from putting into practice political views other than my own, it is precisely my political agenda which ought to be advanced.

Not only are my political views vindicated by this terrible tragedy, but also the status of my profession. Furthermore, it is only in the context of a national and international tragedy like this that we are reminded of the very special status of my hobby, and its particular claim to legislative protection. My religious and spiritual views also have much to teach us about the appropriate reaction to these truly terrible events.

So, it’s been more than a fucking year since I wrote one of these? Goddamn, it’s apparently been the best fucking year ever.

Actually, now that I think of it, looking back, 2007 was more or less the best year ever. That’s pretty cool.

I guess I will get around to talking about that, eventually, but for now it’s 2008, about 9 degrees outside and all my close friends are gone from Atlanta (g and the lady g now rock well in Brooklyn, to the envy of all and sundry). Meanwhile, I’m left here to deal with the bullshit, drinking alone to ease the pain.*

To wit:

1. MY APARTMENT COMPLEX : My man g, assuming he still has time to read this (much less post) while living his awesome new URBAN existence, will no doubt be the first to agree that these fucks that bought our complex from Post are a bunch of cut-rate jackals. Lucky for him (and the complex managers too, I suppose, given the likely reaction they’d have endured) he got out before receiving the letter from them (not mailed, of course, just rolled and wedged between the doorknob and jamb, lazy mfers) that I’ve excerpted here (bold mine):

We are sending this notice to you to inform you that the drop box at the Leasing Office was recently broken into and some rent checks may have been stolen. If you turned in any checks some time between the hours of 6pm and 12pm, on Saturday and Sunday, we ask that you contact your bank and stop payment. Please re-submit payment or contact us by Wednesday, February 6, 2008.

There are at least three things wrong with this, from the shitty expression of time, to the fact that it was only put on my door on the 5th, when they wanted me to take action by the 6th, and, worst of all, that they couldn’t even fucking identify those residents whose checks were missing (for any reason) and contact them specifically, sending a general notice out to the rest of us.

Worse than all of this is the fact that their response to this incident has been to close the drop box, and only accept rent payments in person from now on. How fucking convenient. How about this, you fuckers : install a surveillance camera or two, or, if you’re too cheap for that (and I know you are), just put the goddamn drop box inside the fucking gate!

Oh, right, that wouldn’t help much since THE FUCKING GATE HAS BEEN BROKEN FOR THE PAST 3 DAYS AND IS WIDE OPEN!

It strains credulity to experience this level of incompetence.

Ugh, OK, moving on.

2. DRIVERS : I know I’ve ranted about drivers and driving before, but here’s today’s load of utter horseshit. I’m exiting the highway at North Druid Hills Road, which is kind of a long exit and also one with 4 lanes and a merge. Anyway, kind of a serious “cars everywhere, fucking pay attention” kind of situation. So I’m getting off there and half way up the hill there’s a fucking car stopped in the second lane (also known as the lane I’m fucking in). Well, whatever, shit happens, right, but I’m still pissed off because if your car breaks, especially in such a fucking busy and potentially dangerous spot, with people exiting a highway at 75 or 80 miles per hour, maybe you should put your fucking hazards on. Just a thought.

But then (fuck me this is such total bullshit) after moving to the first lane, to get around this guy, I look over and he’s READING A FUCKING MAP. About 2 seconds later, I guess he figures out where he is, puts the car in gear and then crosses over to the fourth lane (though a merge) to turn right.

I mean, what the FUCK is wrong with people!? You don’t stop your fucking car in the middle of traffic, obstructing every mother fucker on the fucking earth so you can read your fucking map. FIND A PLACE TO GET OFF THE FUCKING ROAD AND DO THAT. I’m nearly spluttering here, I’m struggling so hard to find the words to express how completely inexcusable that shit is. What the fuck goes through a man’s head to convince him that that’s an ok place to stop and check the map. I don’t fucking care HOW lost you are. God fucking fuck.

3. NO FUCKING TRAINS, NO FUCKING TRAINS : Continuing in a related vein, Atlanta still has no fucking useful trains. And, it looks like even the modest fucking expansion that’s been in the works is getting fucked in the ass. Ugh. I want trains so bad, I honestly don’t care if they funded it by taxing blind, elderly diabetics at 75% if it’d get the goddamn job done. Ok, not quite that bad, but for fucks sake you short-sighted Georgian motherfuckers… let’s make this happen. Atlanta is DYING and another few lanes of superhighway ISN’T THE FUCKING ANSWER.

Meanwhile, no trains, and I have to deal with people stopping in the middle of the fucking road to pull out their Rand McNally street atlas. Atrocity.

4. ATLANTIC STATION : I know, i’ve covered this ground too many times, but I was down there again the other day to go to the IKEA (which is still FUCKING PACKED ALL THE TIME somehow) and not only is it still a total load of shite, as it always has been, but they’re busy building MORE SHIT down there. None of that MORE SHIT is trains, cool bars, or anything fun to do. More goddamn condos and apartments. Fucking super. The traffic wasn’t quite horrible enough down there.

Oh, and also the 14th street bride will be closed for the next, oh 30 months, so that’ll help matters as EVERY FUCKING BODY ON THE EARTH gets off at 17th street where Atlantic Station already ass rapes the Earth with it’s complete mediocrity.

5. OFFICE PARK / STRIP MALL CHURCHES : Come on. Really, come on. I know Jesus is everywhere and all but even He fucking hates single story, fluorescent lighted, drop ceilinged, white walled cages like that. The Holy Spirt too. Maybe, maybe, God, the Father, might drop in once in a while, because that’s more or less his job, I guess, but it’s no fun for him. Build a wooden shack in your back yard, like people used to do. Inviting the Lord into a space adjacent to a McDonalds and a fucking tri-lingual insurance agent is just lame. He may still love you, but it’s like the love you have for that annoying uncle who gives you a quarter when he sees you. “Like, gee, thanks Unlce Pete, I’ll go put this right in the bank.”

6. THE INTERNET : Specifically, the fact that people don’t put dates on their shit. Every single thing on the internet should have a fucking date on it, period, OK. But especiallyif you write an ARTICLE, something that either expresses an opinion, or attempts to be useful in some way, PUT A DATE ON IT. I can’t tell if your shit is relevant if there’s no date. It may be 5 years old. This frustrates me to no end, and it’s been getting fucking worse.

On the other hand, my faith in the internet is largely renewed by Aimee Mann’s Christmas Trilogy.

There are a few more annoyances I could list, but whatever, this is too fucking long already. I hope you assholes enjoy my fucking pain.

*I’m being overly dramatic, of course. I still have friends here and manage to be social enough, and — for the first time in my adult life — I’m dating an awesome girl who I like an awful damn lot, and we spend many great hours together. Not that I’ve stopped drinking alone, mind you, but that’s just because I like scotch. Life’s still great, really.

• A character in the movie “The Holiday” stated that “In the movies, we have leading ladies and the best friend. You’re supposed to be the leading lady of your own life, for God’s sake.” I am not sure what this means, but I am trying to incorporate it into my life. Hello world…I am a leading lady!?!

• Ballerinas cannot punch.

• It is 2008, and I can still dunk. This translates to I am not old…yet.

• The election system needs to be revamped…
- Today, I felt a little disenfranchised. The fact that I essentially had to vote for my third or fourth favorite candidate in the party that I reluctantly vote in shows that there is a problem. After primaries in around 5 states, we have a system where candidates drop out before the vast majority of America has a chance to have a say.
- Let us please have a discussion about voters in Iowa. They are not automatically better voters, more informed voters, better judges of character, etc.
- Let us at least acknowledge that although this year’s election has been noteworthy in the sense that for the first time we have a viable woman candidate and a viable African-American candidate, the next president will be rich. This has not changed. No matter what Obama’s background is or what his name is, he is still a graduate of Harvard Law. This is not your average American. This is not a paradigm shift.
- Let us please have a real discussion about what it means to vote. Should we vote for who we think will win? Should we vote for who is winning in the latest poll? Should we vote for who we would rather have a smoothie with? Should we vote for who is raising the most amount of money? Should we vote for who makes us feel the most inspired but have no idea what the person stands for? Should we vote for who has the same demographics? Should we vote for whom we think will handle issues the way we think they should be handled? This real discussion needs to happen. Without this discussion, we go from election to election without an educated and informed voting public. An election determined by the uninformed results in what? Imagine the changes we could create if we demanded education of issues, public stances of issues by the candidates, and people actually knowing what they are voting for.
- Let us at least acknowledge that election coverage is a joke. Let us take the Democrats for an example. Obama entered the race on February 10, 2007. This is almost a year ago. We have all of the advantages of year long political coverage, many forms of media to get stances out, and most still could not tell me what are the specific differences between Obama and Hillary. Part of this is the voting public’s apathy. Part of this is the election coverage that treats it as a “horse race” not an election. Part of it is that our candidates do not state their platforms. No matter what side you end up on. The reality is that Obama does not speak in specifics…hardly ever. He gives a great speech. He gives an inspiring speech. He creates hope in the public. However, hope does not pay heating bills. Hope does not pay mortgages. I am not picking on Obama. Every candidate is guilty of this, but many Americans, however, will be casting a ballot today for Obama and not be able to tell you what he wants to do. This is the problem…Not necessarily Obama.
- Let us have a real discussion about privatization. Is the free market really better? Is it really always more efficient?
- Let us have a real discussion about Blackwater. Do we want to have private militaries? Do we want to have a private intelligence company that they are in the process of building as we speak? Do we want to have a private army that is fully armed and running around our cities as Blackwater was doing in New Orleans during Katrina? Is this a good idea?
- Let us have a real discussion about economics. We have a voting public that still believes in some form of trickle down economics. What is wrong with the average American when they would support a system that gives more money to the rich in hope that a little bit of the vast benefit that we just gave to the rich will trickle down to the rest of us? I understand how language and framing an issue can determine how we think about the issue, but trickle down economics does not even sound good for us and we support it.
- Let us have a real discussion about Corporations and the stock market. We have a candidate in Romney that made a fortune off buying corporations, laying people off, and reselling the company for a profit. The average American does not think that there is anything wrong with this because he is acting in the best interest of the shareholder. What is wrong with us when the average American lives from pay check to pay check and depends on a job to make this work, but yet we are ok with someone placing the needs of a rich shareholder’s account balance over the job of the worker that actually pays for food?

• Finally, I am apparently in a ranting mood this week…