Gingrich In, Palin Out

As her popularity with the masses wanes, Palin declined being the keynote speaker at the big GOP dinner. She cited state political reasons, but I think the reality is that she’s tired of going up in front of people and putting her foot in her mouth. Not that Gingrich is going to do any better, but I’m glad she’s like falling out of the limelight for awhile.

A US ambassador met with an Iranian one on actual face-to-face cordial circumstances today. First time in 30 years, to be exact. The global reaction to this type of diplomacy seems completely positive.

I knew eventually it would come to this, and now the Pakistani Taliban is making threats of violence on US soil again. I mean, the chief Taliban dude made plenty of threats last year, but now they are starting to sound more serious. It was only a matter of time, though.

China’s not sure how to act as they become more of a world leader in light of the financial problems around the world. Maybe for the first time in four decades, China’s government will slowly evolve into something other than an pseudo-oligarthy.

My major was psychology/sociology, so I’m interested in stuff like this. I mean, how smart do we have to become before we realize that focusing on outward beauty is going to hurt our kids?  Bad news all around, really.

SCIENCE!!! says that the reality of sustainable, affordable fusion is right around the corner. It’s nice to know that we’re actually trying to find alternative sources of energy in this day and age.

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The Battle for Wall Street

I’ve probably sat through more conversations and forum threads about the US economy in the last four months than I’ve ever sat through in my business/economics classes. I realize that one fault of my professors – maybe not a conscious fault – is that they never seem to encourage discussion and accept new ideas. Problematic, at least.

I just finished reading online a book by Richard Goldberg called The Battle for Wall Street. I encourage all the people who argue and discuss and lament the present economic crisis in the US to read his book. It’s not all-encompassing, but it is fairly direct and insightful on the entire problem of Wall Street since its inception. My favorite part is where he fully supports capitalism, but not a run-away market. As he put it, “The US has never, ever been a totally free-market – the government regulates hiring and firing practices, ecological footprints of companies, and the lawful selling and buying of commodities, to name a few. All these things protect the investors – the buyers – from a run-away market.”*

You can watch a bit of his speech at Columbia University’s SIPA series:

I find it funny that during his Q&A session, he addresses the new extremist position of the Republicans in totally nationalizing all our banks. How it’s such a narrow view of a much larger problem. In another talk he had (and unfortunately, I don’t have a video to link), he says that a party solution is only half a solution, because the other half of the solution is in the hands of the other party. Present day political parties only fight for extremes because they are paid by the financial community – the private sector – to maintain the status quo (which is broken market now), which narrows the proper viewpoint needed to overcome crisis.

* He said this in a video that I watched at work, which I wish I had taken the name and time of the video so I could link it back here.

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Teh End iz Neer (#1-10)

I don’t know why these entertain me. But it appears that a majority of the Internet is also entertained, so maybe it’s MIND CONTROL!!!

Anyway, I’m tired. And work is … tiring. And being on the Internets is boring. So Imma gonna go play something on the work PS3. See you next week.

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Twilight Fangirls == Evil (and the Jonas Brothers)

This is the post of some guy who just got the beatdown from some Twilight fanbitches:

We were discussing the differences between popular and elite culture in my communications studies lesson today and it branched onto how classic literature is elite culture. A Twilight fangirl boldy stated that “Twilight is already a modern classic and will undoubtedly go down as one of the finest romance series of all time”

Naturally I disagreed with her and told her that “Twilight is just a shallow fad that’ll be forgotten about in 10 years time. No professional in the literary world considers Twilight a good book, let alone a work of art”

Big mistake. From the menacing glare to flaring nostrils I knew then I should’ve kept my mouth shut. Remarkably though she responded with “well that’s YOUR opinion” and left it at that. I left that class, went about my business for the rest of the day and completely forgot about the incident until it came to home time.

So, I was on my merry home listening to my MP3s when I walked past a shop and saw a group of girls I don’t normally see there before but I thought nothing of it, “they’re probably waiting for some friends and are then going to cross the road and go into the train station” I thought. How wrong I was.

I walked past them and immediately felt the hairs raise on the back of my neck, I could literally sense the bloodlust in the air. I turned round to see the group of girls, led by the Twilight fangirl in my class, charging towards me and before I could do anything they’d swamped me, pushing me onto the floor and proceeded to physically assault me with whatever they had. Feet, fists, fingernails and teeth. All were used to hurt me. They mainly targeted my ribs but one pyscho tried to scratch my eyes out. I had to use my hands to cover my eyes and just rolled into a ball to protect my testicles whilst the rest of my body absorbed their blows. It was like I was a rug they were beating the dust out of.

The ordeal felt like it had lasted for an hour even though it probably lasted for an 8th of that before some passerby became involved and broke them up. They ran off and I was left to nurse my wounds and clean up before glumly resuming my trek home.

I examined my wounds when I got home. A black eye, severe bruising on the torso, a split lip, several cuts along my arm from their fingernails and I’m pretty sure one of them bit my head. I’m a little shaken by the event but I’ll be ok.

You can read it and all the hilarious replies on the Escapist Forums => HERE

I had to put this in my blog above all the other shit that Fox News is now flinging around about Obama, and the love lost for marijuana. Mostly because this is the kind of fantardism that happens too often.

NOTE TO ALL TWILIGHT FANGIRLS

I didn’t think the book was that good honestly. It was probably mediocre at best. Getting worked up at Twilight like it’s the next best thing to the Bible? Well, snap out of it, because it’s not that good of a book. It’s not even comparable with most works of fiction. I’d say it’s more of a Goth’s wet dream. The movie was even worse, if not toxic.

This goes for all the obsessed JONAS BROTHERS fangirls. They suck. Really fucking bad. And their music isn’t having an impact like the Beatles at all. There’s better bands, and better music. But it’s what I expect from a bunch of tweenies who think they are greater than God right now. So fuck the Jonas Brothers.

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Fred Thompson’s Two-Step

Read this.

Now, ignoring CNN’s normal liberal biased headline, read what Thompson says about supporting Obama in cutting ballooned spending and unnecessary earmarks. He’d support Obama. So ol’ Fred Thompson does the two-step: he’s not outright saying he wants Obama to fail as long as things don’t get out of control spending-wise, and will even work with Obama if he works to cut unnecessary spending. You have to read between the lines. He’s still largely neutral about Obama.

Which – if the Republican party ever figures that out – they’ll crucify him.

The supposed Trade War isn’t really a trade war when Mexico can’t even fight back. It’s been a fairly short struggle, but already, their fragile economy is going figuratively south. Conclusion? Mexico should have probably just ignored the trucking issue. I mean, there is safety involved in there (90% of trucks driven by Mexicans in the US are unsafe, not paying highway taxes, and who knows what else) with the Teamsters.

The drug war that spills across the US/Mexico border is mostly regional. In some states, like Arizona and California, it’s bad. In others, like New Mexico and Texas, it’s not so bad. I guess you have to understand the bordertowns and populations situated along the borders better to determine the level of violence.

Ze French Revolution Part Deux: Ze Electric Boogaloo. Hasn’t anyone studied French history? When you fuck with the workers, they become mad revolutionaries that kill people. Thank God there’s no guillotine in modern times, because the 3M guy would have lost his head by now.

Here’s an ultimate Check 22 -
- A European PM expresses his doubts about the American plan for the global economy. Which he does have a few good points.
- However, said PM’s government just collapsed, mostly due to political and economic problems. Oops! Probably should have had someone else deliver his message.

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Oh Man, Neo-Cons and Rush Limbaugh

Okay, the other day I got an email from the nice guy who runs The New Republicans webpage to comment on the discussion about Rush Limbaugh trying to be one of the leaders of the Republican party. I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline – I read most of the comments, and all of them seem to LOVE Rush Limbaugh. I don’t. I detest the motherfucker with a vengence. I would post, and there would be a massive flame war and hurt feelings. So I decline. Thank you for thinking about me, though. I appreciate it.

Obama essentially put a huge ass budget on the table. I’d say he’s not stupid – he knows that Congress is going to trim it down and send it back. Which will absolve him of any guilt of programs getting less money than promised. But that’s how this checks and balances thing works. He did mention we’re staying on the offensive in Afghanistan, which is more or less what we should have been doing in the last six years.

The stock market fell a little after all that gain, but it was a tiny fall compared to previous ones. Mostly because GM announced laying off white collar and upper management people. I noticed out of the jobs mentioned that 60% of them are executives, and that always makes things a bit shaky. But the real estate market is seeing potential resolution, so that’s a great sign.

And to all the idiots who complain that higher taxes on cigarettes and booze is taking away the one last mental refuge in today’s economy? You shitheads need to stop killing yourselves with tobacco and alcohol, so you don’t end up in a hospital taking up valuable resources that health-conscious but unfortunate people need. JFC, how about you go outside and walk around or do something constructive to relieve stress from a bad economy? No, that would be too much fucking work.

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moot of 4Chan and Time Magazine

As of this entry, moot – the creator of 4Chan – is at the top of the 100 most influential people of 2009 for Time magazine.

Go here to watch.

#2 is fucking Ron Paul (because of retarded Ron Paulites), followed by the Jonas Brothers, and then Jon Stewart* at #4, and KaKa (European footbol player) at #5.

That’s what I’m seeing as of this very moment.

4Chan will probably win, since everyone Anon will vote in their favor.

Do me a favor and vote down Ron Paul. Please. Pretty please.

* And because my friend Omlette pointed this out, there is the fact that Time misspelled the Daily Show’s host’s name – Jon Stewart. So you are voting for the Green Lantern in essense.

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I Really Can’t Feel Bad for 50 Cent

When he says on TV:

You know the economy is hitting our industry hard, cuz it gets hard to buy a diamond watch, yo.

Uh … yeah.

Same with Beyonce. She’s apparently bitching about piracy and the economic slump forcing her to keep the same Benz instead of trading it in every week for a new one.

…

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Republicans Raise $5m in February

The GOP announced that under Mike Steele, they just raised $5m. They are – for some reason – touting this is a turn-around in popularity for the Republican party. Now, I’ll believe it when I see who gave what to the GOP in a public document, because – for the GOP – $5m can come from 5 people giving $1m a piece, and not one million people giving $5 a piece. The first just says that rich people love Republicans (which we already knew), and the latter would truly mean a turn-around in popularity.

The $1.2 trillion stimulus is in motion – the Department of the Treasury fires out a bold plan to reinvigorate the economy. One of those options is to spend $300b buying back Treasury bonds. The stock market went from a down trickle to a leap on that news. Also, the fact that they are going to alleviate the percentage rates on mortgages and other consumer credit is bringing back some confidence in spending.

Chris Dodd is a fuck-up. He’s the biggest hero of some Democrats, and he engaged in allowing groups like AIG give executives huge bonuses by creating a loophole. I’m actually laughing – people thought this guy was a good politician. Come on, man. There are very few good politicians left.

Good news: The Army plans to end stop-gap by 2011. They also plan to shorten deployments overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Which is probably going to help them get new recruits and let their present forces last longer mentally.

The real question of Gitmo isn’t “What do we do with the guilty terrorists?” as much as it’s, “What do we do with the innocent people released from Gitmo that have no country to return to?” Some want to stay in America, some want to go to Canada, some want to live in Europe. Isn’t that everyone’s dream – to live where they want to?

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