eVille Times

Nov 22, 2012

Nov 21, 2012

The point is that The Market works, and when properly guided and regulated, it can do nearly exactly what we need it to do. It's when we leave it completely alone or (more to the obvious) exclusively in the hands of "the elite" that we start to get real problems.

It seems we may be seeing more of a positive shift. Where before, the Big User/Abuser could force us into thinking we only had 2 choices: feeding our families or starving to death while saving a few "insignificant plants and animals".

It's becoming clearer even for the rubes who hear nothing but what's on DumFux News that we have to ensure the overall health of our surroundings if we expect to have any jobs at all; and in fact, we can build an economy (that's almost outsourcing-proof) based on the principles of sustainability that all those "mush-brained hippies" have been trying to get us to understand for a very long time now.

I like thinking we're finally getting to where we can make some of the connections we need to make to change the way we do things - eg: understanding the moral imperative of not making it impossible for somebody else to feed his family while pursuing the means to feed my own.

Rubio's Dodge

Marco Rubio's interview in GQ Magazine:

GQ: How old do you think the Earth is?

Marco Rubio: I'm not a scientist, man. I can tell you what recorded history says, I can tell you what the Bible says, but I think that's a dispute amongst theologians and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States. I think the age of the universe has zero to do with how our economy is going to grow. I'm not a scientist. I don't think I'm qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. I think parents should be able to teach their kids what their faith says, what science says. Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to answer that. It's one of the great mysteries.

Horse shit.

Knowing something solid about science - geology, biology, astronomy - has everything to do with how our economy grows. Where do you think the inventions and innovations come from, Marco?

Without a real underpinning in evolutionary science, guys like Salk and Sabin never learn what it takes to kill Polio; we don't get 2nd or 3rd or 4th generation antibiotics, and we don't get anywhere near the gene-based solutions that are coming over the horizon for Alzheimer's or Cancer or Parkinson's or or or.

If we don't put aside this childish wish-think of magic and superstition, we don't figure out the movement of the planets, which means we don't discover anything about gravity, which means we don't put satellites into high-Earth orbit, which means we just sit on our thumbs waiting for the next monster hurricane to wipe out 10-15% of...wait for it...our economy. You lying pandering sack of coprolites.

I've honestly been watching for somebody - anybody - wearing the GOP label to stand up and let me get behind him. We've been told for a coupla years now that Rubio's one of those guys. Not now. Not any more. And not any time in the near future. Turns out Rubio's a fuckin' punchline just like practically all the others.

God, I'm sick o' this shit.

New Music

Jon Gomm - Ain't Nobody (Chaka Khan)

(hat tip = Little Green Footballs)

I can't recommend him for his singing voice, but the guy plays the fuck outa that git-fiddle.

Nov 20, 2012

Little Red State Fundy

A golden oldie from driftglass.

I'm not overly fond of the Scary Scenario. Repubs use it all the time to spook people - trying to talk us into believing they've got answers to questions they're usually just yankin' outa their asses. But I guess the difference here is that you can look at something like driftglass's Little Red State Fundy and see some real historical foundations for it.

So there's an element of "both-sides-do-it" - no denying that. I just think it's important to remember always to test for False Equivalence.

Today's Cartoon

How We Do Things

Have you watched "the Sunday shows" lately? Meet The Press and Face The Nation et al? Does anybody watch that junk anymore? I mean anybody who doesn't live and work in DC, or anybody who has any kind of actual life outside of politicking and/or keeping an eye out for the general douchebaggery that politiciking almost always leads to.

I was just wondering because of a piece by Charles Pierce:

But, as they say around the cool kidz table, people like Ms. Dowd set the agenda, and because the whole Susan Rice episode involves intimately the sacramentalized oozing of The Sunday Shows, there was a whole lot of Benghazi-ing goin' on, beginning on Face The Nation where former Prince Henry The Navigator foreign-correspondent Bob Schieffer somehow managed to pry the reclusive Senator McCain out of hiding to appear on the program. McCain promptly proved he is as shallow and muddleheaded as Maureen Dowd.

That little snippet makes it seem to me that David Gregory and Bob Schieffer are somehow considered important not so much as journalist watchdogs, but almost as another forum within government; or maybe it's just that The Sunday Shows have become the Public Information Office for Capitol Hill.

I don't watch these shows anymore - haven't for quite a while now. Partly because it's always the same people saying the same things, but mostly it got to where I tho't I was listening to a conversation that had nothing to do with me. Like I'm just the guy serving the coffee at the Hangover-Recovery Brunch the morning after the usual Hearty Party for all these High Holy Pashas.

But what really cemented it for me was the advertising.

Boeing
General Dynamics
Lockheed Martin

Really? How am I the target demographic for the F-22? Am I supposed to rush right over to my local Amphibious Landing Craft dealer for...what exactly? A test invasion across the neighbor's farm pond? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over.

I think there's gotta be something else going on. I guess it could be as simple as Power Talking To Power in a closed feedback loop that's so self-reinforcing that's it's almost impossible to break into it - or out of it - all I know is that it feels like I might as well be listening to Baghdad Bob.