Throwing Sand in the Umpire's Eyes

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Friday January 07, 2011 · 8:00 PM PST

2011/01/07 · 20:00

Start with Joan McCarter's excellent thread (if you have not already done so) where she breaks down the raw hypocrisy of diminishing the CBO's estimates as merely "their opinion"

"There are no fact, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Now that is someone I want to borrow money from. A lot of money.

Of course, with that sort of crappy attitude you couldn't craft a pot to piss in or a window to toss it out of. So Friedrich's legacy is pretty slim when it comes to piss-pots and windows. He did manage to die alone in a state of syphilitic insanity.

"To measure is to know" - Lord Kelvin

Lord Kelvin, on the other hand, could knock out six piss-pots before breakfast, with each of such measured precision that it would make you swoon with admiration. And, unlike Nietzsche, His Lordship had the good sense and manners to live a very long and productive life and then peacefully die at home in his own bed, completely sane and universally loved and admired.

Renzo Gasolini

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Sunday December 19, 2010 · 2:21 PM PST

2010/12/19 · 14:21

Secession Sesquicentennial - Say that three times fast

150 years ago tomorrow, the State of South Carolina announced their intentions to secede from the Union, struck up the band, and started marching towards what would become known as the Civil War, and ultimately 600,000 of their fellow Americans would die trying to rectify their folly.

And South Carolina did so to preserve the institution of Slavery, and for no other reason. Certainly there was been friction between North and South on more issues than this, but none of those rose to the level of Casus belli.

So yes, you can argue "and"

As in: "South Carolina seceded because of slavery and (give your reason)"

The same way you can state: "The Titanic struck an iceberg and the conversation at the captain's dinner table was a bit tedious earlier that evening"

Yes, other things happened. But they did not matter.

Renzo Gasolini

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Wednesday December 15, 2010 · 10:27 AM PST

2010/12/15 · 10:27

Living our daily lives in the carnage of ignorance that is trumpeted, applauded, and in fact actually revered by some of the media, dealing with the daily consequences of the thirty year mind-fuck that has been accomplished on the American Public, I have to ask a simple question:

Does 50% of this Country really believe the rest of the world even exists?

And no, I don't mean on some vague level where they heard about this place called "somewhere else", but I mean in the sense that they would bet their house, their car, the family jewels, and their daughter's virginity...against a small sack of dirt...that the rest of the world is a real place and then sleep comfortably on the outcome of the wager.

Because I can not escape the conclusion that to explain our current state of national discourse, 50% of my countrymen must not really believe the rest of the world even exists.

Renzo Gasolini

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Sunday November 14, 2010 · 12:21 AM PST

2010/11/14 · 00:21

US Constitution
Article I, Section 10 - Powers prohibited of States

"...No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay."

Hmmm...or can they? If the Federal Model has been permanently damaged by Partisanship, Discourse, and Obstructionism what is to stop Progressive States from working together on common interests such as Health-care, Education, Economic Growth, Rewarding Work, Etc, Etc? Can we find another way...our "Plan B"?

Renzo Gasolini

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Wednesday October 27, 2010 · 11:55 PM PDT

2010/10/27 · 23:55

And evidently it is fiendishly disguised as a 260 mph train

Because the Chinese have one, and we don't. And by God the Republicans are going to make damn sure it stays that way

China unveils 260mph train line

"A new high-speed rail line has been opened in China amid boasts from officials over the use of domestic technology to set world records...

...The China-made CRH380 train has been clocked at almost 262 mph - a world speed record - though it will usually operate at a maximum speed of 220 mph...

The line was opened as China prepares to have 10,000 miles of high-speed rail in operation by 2012...

Ten Thousand Miles of of High Speed Rail (HSR) by 2012? Holy fucking yikes!!

Renzo Gasolini

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Saturday October 23, 2010 · 8:28 PM PDT

2010/10/23 · 20:28

"I saw John Boehner with a Chinese menu in his hand,
walkin' through the streets of Georgetown in the rain..."

Of all the things that sadden and anger me about the Devolution of the Republican Party from one which could once appeal to me on the grounds of Fiscal Discipline and a Horror of Foreign Entanglements...into the present mutation that is little more than the "Flat-Earth, Angry Old White Man, Get off of my lawn you damn kids and keep the Government out of my Medicare and Social Security" Society...is the willful misuse, mis-interpretation, and general contempt that the GOP currently holds for the US Constitution. And the Tea Baggers are making it even worse.

As my old hero Keith Duckworth used to say: "Ill-informed is worse than un-informed"

Renzo Gasolini

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Wednesday October 13, 2010 · 9:10 PM PDT

2010/10/13 · 21:10

So what do we call all this inefficiency? Well, we used to call it the middle class. And that was the beauty of the thing: Potent enough as an engine to add real value, and create tremendous real wealth, but inefficient enough at concentrating that wealth to support a prosperous middle. 40 hour work weeks are inefficient. Weekends are inefficient. Overtime pay and safety rules are inefficient. Livable wages, health-care, one-worker families, and pensions are all inefficient. At least they are at concentrating wealth in the hands of a only a few. Oh, a little chaos still allows to the rich to get richer, and I for one wouldn't have it any other way. Those Scribes of Leviticus were no Marxists, mate.

Efficiency = (work out/work in) x 100. For financial tools simply replace "work in" with "capital + resources in", and "work out" with "profits extracted".

But...uhhh...isn't that what we are all taught to achieve as our goal...increased efficiency in all things?

Renzo Gasolini

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Friday October 08, 2010 · 8:29 PM PDT

2010/10/08 · 20:29

"And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger..." - Lev 23:22, KJV

I am occasionally surprised at life, but rarely do I find myself completely gob-smacked by the result of applied forces. Gravity holds little mystery for me. When I drop an apple, it accelerates towards the Earth at 32.116 ft/s^2. Every time.

So when we have an Economic System whose primary function is to concentrate wealth in the hands of a very few, to the exclusion of the broad segment of the population we call the Middle-Class, why should I be surprised when it does exactly that?

RSS

Throwing Sand in the Umpire's Eyes

Secession Sesquicentennial

What if the rest of the world really does exist?

Plan B - Drown them in a Tea Cup

The GOP has identified the number one threat to our "Fredoms"...

Do Republicans know the difference between the Constitution and a Chinese Menu? Part 1

Achieveing the Subtle Virtues of Inefficiency

The Subtle Virtues of Inefficiency, Chaos, and Uncertainty