Here he is wrestling some kind of sea monster to a draw (taken with a phone; he ain't really a shiny albino):
But more importantly, if you look closely, you can see that the ocean has already begun to rise again since last Tuesday. Which is good news for me, because it means that in my lifetime I have a chance for beachfront property. I mean, I'm about eight or nine miles inland, but Malibu is only 13 feet above sea level, so you do the math.
This is what I call truly progressive egalitarianism, in that it would leave entertainers such as Barbra Streisand and Mel Gibson -- who have made enough money -- literally underwater in their mortgages, while common folk such as myself would see their property values multiply by a factor of ten or twenty-- a true reversal of the financial world order that should make Marxists happy, if only they were capable of happiness.
Meanwhile, open thread. Suggestions for future topics welcome.
53 comments:
LOL. Well this works out well for me, election night pretty much eliminated yesterday from my conscious participation ... so now I'll go back to yesterday's post and see what else I missed out on.
Celebrations... sheesh... too old for those anymore.
I love that second picture - he looks like a mini Hercules :)
Just so you know, this weeks posts have been good. I think with the elections, though, people's minds have been elsewhere.
Bob:
I haven't checked in for a while, but I'm still here. I'd like to hear your take on the disaster here in California. The whole nation rocked right, but California lurched into Hugo Chavez territory. They've declared the moonbat our state bird, "Imagine" the state anthem, global warming the crisis of the century, and turned the state into a progressive Titanic.
How could this have happened?
JWM
Public employee unions control the state. That and throw in the super wealthy zip codes of San Fran, Marin County, Beverly Hills, Malibu, Brentwood, et al.
Also, apparently Hispanics vote Democrat for some self-defeating reason.
JWM - Robin of Berkely has some thoughts on that as well. Not that they are reassuring.
Besides the election results, how are you?
JWM said "How could this have happened?"
Reminds me of the scene in Braveheart where Longshanks decides on how to fix the problem of Scotland "The problem with California, is it's filled with too many Californians!"
And there's a slight problem with this one too,
"The whole nation rocked right, but California lurched into Hugo Chavez territory."
As one of my friends said this morning, the elections didn't move the country to the right, the country used the elections to move the government to the right, and better reflect their views. The problem with California, is that there are too many Californians who are left, and way left, in their views... the elections merely reflect their views.
The truly sad thing, is that most of the country is going to use this golden opportunity of timing, to rehab their post-census districting maps, and hopefully (a new focus point for Tea Parties) un-Gerrymander the maps. Districts like our MO 3rd, are so convoluted, selected almost house by house to favor one party over another - that's got to be done away with, or nothing can or will change.
And of course, those within those houses need to get some edumification... which brings us back again to the problem with California....
As an ex-Californian... I feel your pain - and intend to remain doing so from a distance. When JB discover's his bank accounts are actually empty, and he has no FED to print his own... the rest of the country is going to repeat, that the problem with California is it has too many Californians, and that AIN'T our problem - No Mas.
wv:terse
Yeah, sorry about that.
S'lack your way to a longer life. Interesting, though I can't say I'm at all surprised.
Van- good point on the shift. Julie- I read Robin from Berkeley's piece this morning. Here's what bothers me. The way the voting went makes me think that either no one had any info other than lefty attack ads (not likely), or that millions of ballots were simply pre-punched left and run through the machines. Why would people vote to raise their own taxes to combat global warming? Even here there aren't that many enviro-weenies.
It all just smells fishy.
JWM
What it really seems is flat out crazy. That said, I know a few too many people who would vote against their best interest because they just. don't. get it. I don't know what your ballot initiatives were, but I do know that lots of people will vote to raise taxes for feel-good reasons, because the affect on them personally seems so nebulous. A half a percent, for instance, doesn't sound like very much - and even less so if it automatically gets taken out of their paychecks. This is especially true if the increase is small and the perceived good is something "all good people" should want, ie. anything "for the kids" or "to save the environment."
Also, just going by Arizona's ballot initiatives, it's not always easy to figure out what you are really voting on, depending not only on the wording but also the reality behind the proposal. For instance, we had one that was a proposal to shift funds from a tobacco tax that were supposed to go to an early childhood education program which hasn't been particularly useful. So it started as a "tax on the other guys (those awful smokers) For the Kids™." The program is apparently a failure; instead of just repealing the tax, the only option we're given now is to shift the revenues from the failed program to the general fund and help Balance the Budget™. There is no winning situation, not in my eyes anyway. There were a couple of initiatives like that.
People in general don't understand the issues nearly as well as they'd like to think, and I include myself in that category. Being the case, I generally oppose anything that involves charging the public more money. Whatever else they may accomplish, higher taxes virtually always result in poorer communities. But most people don't see it that way. They buy the charade that if they dig just a little deeper, some good will be done with their money that will absolve them from having to get their hands dirty. They helped the helpless by checking the box; their guilt is reduced.
In California, more than in most places, the guilt is piled on heavy, and the hands out for "help" are extremely insistent.
The numbers may have been boosted somewhat by fraudulent means, but there isn't a whole lot needed when the populace in general is so determined to feel good about themselves by checking the prescribed boxes that they cannot bear to grasp the true consequences of their votes.
Also, I think a great many people are so invested in the lie that now, when it becomes ever more clear how mistaken they were, they can't allow themselves to see; it would literally destroy their worldview to do so. They will instead grasp to it all the more tightly. To such as those, no force in the Cosmos can force them to see what they will not. Much like the dwarves in the last Narnia book.
Suggestions for future topics welcome.
I missed that earlier.
Hmmm...
Lots of very good thoughts there, Julie. Here too, the propositions were deceptive- cleverly written double deals that sound like they promise something they don't. In Ca, the amount of money spent on TV time for the great left agenda must be staggering. It was non-stop near saturation of the networks. I've never seen such strident, bombastic, heavy handed, and most of all, mean spirited, poisonous crap. And not low budget crap either. That's where the union money comes in. Not even a millionaire like Whittman or Fiorina can afford to keep up.
JWM
Bob said, "Suggestions for future topics welcome."
Bob,
Not sure why it popped in my head last night but I remember you mentioning a couple of years ago in a post that there was a (chance meeting?) with a certain man, an older man, I think his name was David. I don't think you had much interaction with him. Maybe most of it was one-way and in a letter from him. This person was instrumental in wisecracking your stumbling blockhead intellect to let in the Light. Just enough it seemed to let in the Light and then the Light took care of itself.
I think his name was David. Do I have any of this right?
I'd like to hear more about this, if it's not too much to ask.
Only because I love stories like this. I mean, they are the best kind, aren't they?
Would be wonderful if you still had the letter.
Hey JWM,
Good to see you.
Similar experience here in lovely CT -- I mean, the daily barrage of mailers was incredible. The last days before the election was like Sears catalog day. I've never seen anything like it. And these ads were so polished. The recycling bin was very heavy this morning.
This member of California's victorious faction exults. We crushed all opposition under our bootheels with an effective campaign.
We magnanimously will not exact revenge on our opposition; all of them may continue as they were. Obey code, submit taxes and all will be well.
Thrive. Don't resist in the future. Accept global warming as, if not the literal truth, nevertheless our truth.
Carpe Diem my Moonbats let the revelry begin!!!!
Julie says:
" Being the case, I generally oppose anything that involves charging the public more money. Whatever else they may accomplish, higher taxes virtually always result in poorer communities."
The problem we are faced with now is that the entire economic structure is so distored that the dollar amounts being thrown around is insane. Bernake is printing randomly huge amounts of money to accomplish something. I'm not sure what he's trying to do.
Taxes have to go up and entitlements have to go down. There's really no way around that.
My problem with politics is that it's always frustrating for me.
I suppose like many other people, I want to be able to personally set public policy and international policy based on my personal beliefs about how the world should be ordered.
I want the world to have the culture that I want it to have based on my beliefs about how things should be.
So, I can participate, but it's not going to accomplish what I want to accomplish. Because I want to influence all possible futures. I want to own tomorrow.
"Taxes have to go up and entitlements have to go down. There's really no way around that."
Revenues need to go up. Lowering taxes should do that. Since it's done it before.
JP,
Your last comment is "all Lib".
Rick said:
"JP,
Your last comment is "all Lib"."
Pretty much.
Although my asthetics are pretty much opposed to basically all of contemporary leftism.
But doesn't everyone want to be in charge of everything?
I'm opposed to any kind of "family" or "tribal" identity. I'm also anti-war and anti-corporate. All violations of the moral order are bad and must be punished so that evil is wiped from the face of the earth!
I would make a good leftist if they agreed with any of my moral positions.
Which they don't.
"But doesn't everyone want to be in charge of everything?"
Sheesh!
Sounds exhausting!
Walt,
'zactly!
See? This is the problem... The guy fit for the job doesn't want it.
So, he shall remain the solution.
Rick -
In the past, I toyed with the idea of being in charge of nothing ... but I never could seem to get a grasp on the subject.
We were born to do it, Walt.
Of course, the world isn't in any danger from me.
I'm not even in charge of myself, so there is essentially zero risk that I will be running the world anytime soon.
I don't even have any idea who I am let along what I'm supposed to be doing with myself.
What is liberalism but government by the ungovernable?
bueno song-o
a perfect duet
by denny-ian matthews
of a RT song
JP said "But doesn't everyone want to be in charge of everything?"
No.
Rick said "Revenues need to go up. Lowering taxes should do that..."
It'll definitley help. Revenues need to go up, but more importantly spending needs to go down, and entitlements need to go as close to away as is possible.
NB ought to have a few memories of the sad shape Canada was in just a decade or so ago - still sucks to be Canadian, but not nearly as bad (sorry, gratuitous American reflex action over voicing possible praise of our northern neighbor).
Mauldin is an iffy hit and miss pundit (JP'd like him), but this one, and what it links too, is one of the better suggestions I've seen in a while.
Gagdad said "What is liberalism but government by the ungovernable?"
Yep (though seeing 'liberalism' and reading 'leftism')
I'm late to this party, but
But doesn't everyone want to be in charge of everything?
Ohdeargodno.
That's pretty much my definition of hell right there. If I were in charge of everything, I'd probably just strategically place some stone tablets with ten basic rules (the same ones that made the free world possible, I think they'll do nicely; way better than anything I could come up with), then make myself very, very scarce.
As far as taxes go, lowering taxes increases revenues. Know why? Because when people get to keep more of the money they earn, they will both try to earn more and will spend more generously. Everybody wins. Have you ever turned down a job because the amount you'd pay in taxes makes the effort worthless? I have. In fact, thanks to taxes it's easier for my family if I just don't do anything to make money. The hoops I have to jump through aren't worth it. Everybody loses.
Now magnify that by thousands, and then millions, combine with the governmental spending habits of a bunch of drunken frat boys with their first high-interest credit card, and what do you get? The Deficit.
Why is this so hard for people to grasp?
I've never really been able to reconcile the fact that I am personally responsible for the state of the world (meaning it's spiritual, political, cultural, and economic structure) while simultaneously I only have a extremely limited ability to fix the world so that it is a close to ideal as possible.
Meaning that I don't have infinite resources to accomplish an infinite goal.
I only have a extremely limited ability to fix the world so that it is a close to ideal as possible.
Bingo. In fact, that ability is pretty much limited to "fixing" only yourself. Or really, not even that, since too often man's idea of perfecting himself has little if anything to do with his God-given deustination.
Meaning that I don't have infinite resources to accomplish an infinite goal.
No, of course you don't. So don't get hung up on that, you're simply wasting your time.
If you properly understood that the cosmos is truly within a grain of sand, you'd understand that you don't need to be infinitely big or great or anything else. You just need to be, and try to be good. Small things matter, and we are, in truth, very small things. What's wonderful is that when we stick to the matters within our tiny sphere of influence, we can have cosmic effects; but because we are small, we may never even see it, any more than a butterfly flapping its wings would know of the hurricane it caused a thousand miles away.
Is that young fellow in the picture a seagoing Lao-coon?
Julie says:
"Small things matter, and we are, in truth, very small things."
Yes, and all of the problems caused by people, including war, pollution, starvation, poverty, Marxism, Hindusim, Buddhism, and Windows ME, are in fact, our fault.
If by "our" you mean man in general, then of course. If by "our" you mean that we as individuals hold some part of the responsibility for any of the things you listed (though I think it's a bit unfair to list Hinduism and Buddhism with all the rest), then you're off your nut.
"We" are also not responsible for slavery, mass murder, or Jersey Shore.
"We" are responsible for quite enough problems within our local sphere of influence. "We" would do well to try and work on those, instead of fretting over the impossibility of saving the world.
JP said,
"I don't even have any idea who I am let along what I'm supposed to be doing with myself."
A Godman said, paraphrasing, "don't worry about tomorrow. I'll take care of you tomorrow."
Maybe you know someone who needs help, or can find someone. Any kind of help. A sandwich. A minute. A turkey dinner.
You'll know him when you see him. It may be someone you don't like.
It's supposed to be enough.
I need to look harder myself.
Imagine being at the end of your rope. And someone helps you. That's a world, isn't it?
Well, these days, I help people get on Social Security Disability and private disability.
Considering that there is no mental health system here, the schizoaffectives of the world have to be on Medicaid or Medicare.
I suppose I could also help megacorporations defeat other megacorporations.
I only ended up here in the first place once I realized that there really is such a thing as mental illness and that psychology and psychiatry might not be a completely useless endeavor after all. I was sheltered as a child.
I was talking about love and charity. The way Jesus would mean them. These are personal (between two people).
I know I could practice more of it myself. I see others do it who have very little.
Not that what you're doing are not good things. I was just talking about something else.
JP,
You reminded me of something that happened a long time ago.
Thanks.
Topic for future discussion:
Why are the leftist moonbats dominating us and taking our money all the time?
A round table discussion which should feature Van, Julie, GDB, Rick, JP, and JWM.
Mushroom is to abstain.
BH will moderate. Don't be late, debate starts tommorrow a.m.
Alternate topic: "The symolism of GW; beyond a literal interpretation."
Rachel Carson will moderate.
I propose as our first order of business that Rick be removed from this discussion immediately.
All those in favor say aye.
"Aye"
The ayes have it.
Class dismissed.
blackie, will you never learn? cones taste better in your mouth not mushed against your forehead
Small thing, cosmic effects.
anyone else reading Keef's autobio??
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/books/review/Phair-t.html?_r=1&ref=music
spills chills & thrills
unquidio
Good Morning Raccoons:
With me today in the East Wing of my home is Rachel Carson, author of "Silent Spring." What would you like to say to the blog readers, Rachel?
"Please trust, believe in, and support anti- global warming causes. Because you love God, you love His planet.
"Those who oppose global warming are squares. These are very unhip people who want to take us down to their level. They love to eat fast food. They don't dress well or groom themselves properly. They smoke. So don't be one of them. Be with us and support GW/CC initiatives."
Thank you Rachel. Now I open the floor to debate. The question is, "Will Raccoons defy their leader and embrace GW, despite any consequences?"
Any early risers want to chime in?
ge:
Mrs. G is actually reading it on the plane, although I can't say I'm interested....
As Keith puts it: “For many years I slept, on average, twice a week. This means that I have been conscious for at least three lifetimes.”
Ah. wv says that suficith to explain why he now looks like an old lesbian...
i was more a Beatles man myself many years but find the Stones at their 'whitest' --ie poppiest-psychiest-- to be pretty satisfying
Didja know Phil Spector played bass on PLAY WITH FIRE? [Nitzsche on harpsichord] KR sez of the two the music 'genius' is Nitzsche not Phil... but then again they were rivals for the heart of Ronnie of the '-ettes'
Can't think of a better place for rachel carson than up the east wing of a black hole.
Another example of small things, cosmic effects:
"It‘s something of a stretch to compare a soccer game among eleven-year-old boys with the fate of the democratic world, but I’ve always managed to see big issues in small things."
Alrighty then, we'll need a new post right about now.
The funk soul broher.
Abstain from what?
Nevermind, Mushroom. You were not to taint yourself in the proposed GW debate. But the debated never got off the ground anyway.
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