A Slice of the Pie

2010-12-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

Yeah... there's just SO much about our current system in general that is completely fubar, from economy to governance and all points in between there's a serious logical disconnect. Enough with the fucking finger pointing, assessing blame does little to nothing in regards to actually SOLVING the problems. Admit there's a problem and set to fixing it, election results be damned. Campaigns financed by corporate interests are going to benefit who? You guessed it, the corporate interests. And just what are their 'interests', you ask? Mainly, higher corporate profits, paying their CEO 300 times what the average worker in the company takes home, and making sure he doesn't have to pay his fair share of taxes on that egregiously overinflated income.

The Republicans argue that if we repeal the tax cuts made by Bush II in '01 and '03, the already sluggish economy (because the Bush years were SO productive in stimulating the economy) won't recover as quickly because the wealthy will be paying too much in taxes to create jobs. If that's the case, then why didn't 10 fucking years of HAVING the tax breaks get anywhere in job creation? Oh, right. Because they shipped all of those new jobs to overseas markets like Asia and India. Why? See the above statement regarding higher corporate profits, and paying their CEO outrageous sums for selling out the American dream, leaving the average Joe in America living in a van, down by the river. In other words, not going to amount to JACK SQUAT!

This all seems so plainly obvious, that the 'American Dream' is at best a vestige of a bygone era, significant in name alone to the huddled masses of generations passed by, as they lament the youth of today, and their inability to be 'bootstrappy' like they were in their halcyon days of youth. Problem being, they came of age in a much different country than you and I, where honesty, hard work and integrity were the hallmarks of success, the good were rewarded and the wicked punished. Not so for our lot, unfortunately; We are resigned to a life based on struggle and strife, without the clear possibility of overcoming our adversity. An economy based on credit and debt, not worth or wealth. A corporate culture that rewards backstabbing and cut-throats, a culture of loopholes and technicalities, a focus of profit at the expense of all else. The profit that benefits the shareholders and no one else, save for the CEO perhaps. Certainly not the American people at large.

There is more than enough to go around, obviously, but why them is the unemployment rate so high? Why are so many people left living hand-to-mouth? Because, my dear reader, those all-important corporate profits have little room for American workers who deserve a livable wage. Why bother hiring one American worker when for the same outlay, you can hire 5 in a foreign country, ship raw materials to them, and ship the finished goods back to market, and still have plenty leftover for dividends and CEO compensation packages? This all works out very well in the end for the top 1% who take home just about 35% of all US wealth, not so bad for about 10% of the American public who manage to split another 35% ten ways, and with the other 90% left to divide up the remaining 28.5% of the income, you can see where the picture starts getting a little fuzzy.

Think of it as 100 people:
Guy #1 gets $35.00
Guys #2-11 each get $ 3.50
Guys #12-100 each get a quarter.

perhaps in another way...

Guys #12-100 Get minimum wage @ $7.35 an hour
Guys #2-11 make $100 an hour to help Guy #1 screw Guys #12-100 out of making a decent living.
Guy #1 makes $1000 an hour to figure out new and better ways for his company to further screw Guys #2-100 out of making a decent living.

To be Continued...

It DOES grow on trees...

2010-11-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah... call me a hippie, tree hugger, whatever, MAN. Here is yet another fantastic use for cannabis, and not some fucking burlap underwear or recycled-tire sandals. A genuinely legitimate medical use for cannabis.

WEED. Kills (super)bugs dead. Even MRSA.

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Enlightenment

2010-11-17T14:14:00.000-08:00

To be honest, it's much more 1984 than Brave New World in concept, but some woman in Seattle has successfully lobbied her local school board to have Brave New World removed from the Language Arts curriculum at her daughter's school. Not satisfied with pigeonholing her own community's educational resources, she now seeks to have the book banned in the greater Seattle area, and perhaps beyond.

Her reason?

"She is Native American, and her heart started to sink as she turned the pages to find more than 30 references to "savage natives"... 'and it portrays Indian people as being savages and living on reservations,'" Sense-Wilson says.

She tried to read the book for herself.

"I was outraged when I read through the book. I had to keep putting it down because it was so hurtful," says Sense-Wilson. "It was traumatizing to read how Indian people were being depicted."

The text has a "high volume of racially offensive derogatory language and misinformation on Native Americans. In addition to the inaccurate imagery, and stereotype views, the text lacks literary value which is relevant to today's contemporary multicultural society," she wrote.

One commenter from the article linked above summed it up best, in my opinion:

The "society" in the book is a sex-crazed, drugged out, lab manufactured "people". The "savages" lived free and as humans do now. Huxley may have used native americans as his prototype but his intent wasn't to slander their culture. Actually he was wanting to glorify the fact that they (savages) still had choices in life, something that was taken away from the "civils". Something that is being taken away from us by a person who can't read past a word and see the meaning of book beyond having their feelings hurt.

Cut the Deficit by Cutting the Wars

2010-11-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

$1,332,676,368,880.00
That's the current US Federal Defecit according to a Congressional Budget Office report from August.
Threre's a good read over at Yahoo! News that has some very obvious answers for budget shortfalls: Cut the Deficit by Cutting the Wars.

"Considering that the United states still held a federal surplus before the Afghanistan and Iraqi Wars began, common sense dictates that ending them could decrease the deficit by billions each year and over time and bring the nation back to a surplus, even if the nation continues spending elsewhere.

The wars cost the United States over $10 billion in 2002. That cost rose to over $1.4 billion per month in 2003. Again, in 2004, the cost to sustain the wars rose to $25 billion for that year. In 2005, the war cost the United States almost $60 billion. In 2006, it cost the United States almost $120 billion. In 2007, about $170 billion was spent. From 2001 to 2007, a total of $503 billion was spent. In 2008, spending increased to almost $200 billion and in 2009, reduced to $141 billion. To date, the cost of both wars together total over $1 trillion and will continue to increase with every month that passes.

In the years 2001 until the present, many federally funded programs were cut to make room for the increasing deficit. Some of the programs cut in 2010 include education funding, Farm Aid, cancer research, Medicare and many others. How many of these programs would continue receiving their funding had the not pursued either of the wars?"

U.S. Wealth Inequality

2010-11-15T15:01:00.001-08:00

Yes, I realize that had I pursued the traditional course of education and employment, I would have had a better chance of developing 'wealth' than I currently do, but apparently the chances of that happening were akin to a snowball's in hell anyway. Every year the wealth gap widens, with a smaller and smaller percenta...ge of the population earning a larger and larger chunk of what's available. The rich become the super-rich, the middle class erodes away to nothing and the poverty lines grow longer and longer... So glad we bailed out Wall St. so they can keep fleecing us.

Americans Underestimate U.S. Wealth Inequality : NPR

www.npr.org

The term wealth inequality refers to the unequal distribution of financial assets among a group of people. In the U.S., the top 20 percent of people have 85 percent of the wealth. Harvard professor Michael Norton, co-author of a forthcoming paper on misconceptions about wealth equality, talks to Ste...

520hp Volkswagen van

2010-11-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

520hp Volkswagen van

www.youtube.com

It's a 1962 VW bus with a 520hp Porsche 993 twin-turbo drivetrain under it. LOL

Tech Support

2010-11-15T14:59:00.002-08:00

xkcd: Tech Support

xkcd.com

Clerks 2 LOTR Vs. Star Wars scene

2010-11-15T14:59:00.001-08:00

LOTR Vs. Star Wars

www.youtube.com

Black Magic Woman

2010-11-15T14:58:00.001-08:00

Black Magic Woman by Peter Green

www.youtube.com

Performing his composition live in early 1970 with his group Fleetwood Mac, six months before they disbanded. Headed by Peter Green,who made his bones with John Mayall, this blues band had two other lead guitar players,Kirwan and Spencer, who also handled lead vocals.

Matt, Rose and Blue @ AC Phish show costume contest! Woot.

2010-11-15T14:57:00.002-08:00

Phish 2010 Halloween Costume Contest

By:Phish

The Best Band You've Never Heard: The Samples

2010-11-15T14:57:00.001-08:00

The Best Band You've Never Heard Trailer 2 [HQ]

The Story of The Samples is currently in post production. Please "LIKE" us on Facebook and join our mailing list at www.bestbandsamples.com for future updates.

Length:5:35

Good utilization of space

2010-11-15T14:56:00.000-08:00

It's all well and good that a building on Glen Street has been filled, but I can't help but think about how Glens Falls really needs more knick knack and handicrafts stores. God forbid a major retailer set up shop downtown, better save all the storefronts for useless-shit-stores and mediocre restaurants. Way to go.

I don't like Reggae. (I love it!)

2010-11-15T14:55:00.000-08:00

10cc Dreadlock holiday 1978

www.youtube.com

Golden Brown

2010-11-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

It turned out that the sweet-talking, tattoo-sporting pikey was a gypsy
bare-knuckle boxing champion. Which makes him harder than a coffin
nail. Right now, that's the last thing on Tommy's mind. If Gorgeous
doesn't wake up in the next few minutes, Tommy knows he'll be buried
with him. Why would the gypsies go through t...he trouble of explaining why
a man died in their campsite when they can bury the pair of them and
just move camp? It's not like they got social security numbers, is it?
Tommy - the tit - is praying. And if he isn't, he fucking should be.

Stranglers - Golden Brown

www.youtube.com

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

2010-11-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
...Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow.

John Lennon - "Remember"

www.youtube.com

John Lennon "Remember" album "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" 1970

Mom's On Facebook

2010-11-15T14:48:00.000-08:00

Hulu - Saturday Night Live: Mom's On Facebook

www.hulu.com

Screwed because your mom joined Facebook? Just install the 'Damn it, my mom is on Facebook' filter.

Very cool theory about the pathogens that cause mental illness among other things.

2010-11-15T14:47:00.002-08:00

The Insanity Virus | Mental Health | DISCOVER Magazine

discovermagazine.com

Schizophrenia has long been blamed on bad genes or even bad parents. Wrong, says a growing group of psychiatrists. The real culprit, they claim, is a virus that lives entwined in every person's DNA. Visit Discover Magazine to read this article and other exclusive science and technology news stories.

Makes me want a scotch...

2010-11-15T14:47:00.001-08:00

Supreme Beings of Leisure "Never The Same"

www.youtube.com

From their 2000 self titled debut album

Overheard in New York

2010-11-15T14:46:00.000-08:00

20-something-girl:
He has liked every status I put up since Wednesday. I haven't spoken to
him in ages. I was like, "stop peeing all over my Facebook page!"

--42St & 2nd Ave

Overheard in New York | The Voice of the City

www.overheardinnewyork.com

Eavesdropping on strangers since 2003

The name's Eagle Eye, and I'm a Champion...

2010-11-15T14:45:00.002-08:00

Robot Chicken - Eagle Eye Smith

video.adultswim.com

Watch Robot Chicken - Eagle Eye Smith. Blind people couldn't be not endearing if they tried.

Battle of Wits

2010-11-15T14:45:00.001-08:00

Battle of Wits

www.youtube.com

The Walking Dead

2010-11-15T14:43:00.000-08:00

OMFG this show is good. If you haven't seen the first 2 episodes, check them out.

The Walking Dead - Video - AMC

www.amctv.com

Happy Ending!

2010-11-15T14:41:00.000-08:00

Happy ending!

www.youtube.com

A Molecular Link Between the Active Component of Marijuana and Alzheimer's Disease Pathology

2010-11-15T14:39:00.000-08:00

A Molecular Link Between the Active Component of Marijuana and Alzheimer's Disease Pathology

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda MD, 20894 USA

It is noteworthy that THC is a considerably more effective inhibitor of
AChE-induced Aβ deposition than the approved drugs for Alzheimer's
disease treatment, donepezil and tacrine, which reduced Aβ aggregation
by only 22% and 7%, respectively, at twice the concentration used in our
studies.7
... Therefore, AChE inhibitors such as THC and its analogues may provide an
improved therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease, augmenting acetylcholine
levels by preventing neurotransmitter degradation and reducing Aβ
aggregation, thereby simultaneously treating both the symptoms and
progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Wealth And Inequality In America

2010-11-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

Wealth And Inequality In America

www.businessinsider.com

There's lots of good news in here -- if you're a CEO. Or rich already. 15 handy graphs that illustrate the root causes of not only our staggering unemployment figures, but the general shitshow that is our modern global economy.

A Slice of the Pie

It DOES grow on trees...

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Enlightenment

Cut the Deficit by Cutting the Wars

U.S. Wealth Inequality

520hp Volkswagen van

Tech Support

Clerks 2 LOTR Vs. Star Wars scene

Black Magic Woman

Matt, Rose and Blue @ AC Phish show costume contest! Woot.

The Best Band You've Never Heard: The Samples

Good utilization of space

I don't like Reggae. (I love it!)

Golden Brown

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,I know of no reasonWhy the Gunpowder TreasonShould ever be forgot....Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intentTo blow up the King and Parli'ment.Three-score barrels of powder belowTo prove old England's overthrow.

Mom's On Facebook

Very cool theory about the pathogens that cause mental illness among other things.

Makes me want a scotch...

Overheard in New York

20-something-girl:He has liked every status I put up since Wednesday. I haven't spoken tohim in ages. I was like, "stop peeing all over my Facebook page!"--42St & 2nd Ave

The name's Eagle Eye, and I'm a Champion...

Battle of Wits

The Walking Dead

OMFG this show is good. If you haven't seen the first 2 episodes, check them out.

Happy Ending!

Happy ending!

A Molecular Link Between the Active Component of Marijuana and Alzheimer's Disease Pathology

Wealth And Inequality In America

There's lots of good news in here -- if you're a CEO. Or rich already. 15 handy graphs that illustrate the root causes of not only our staggering unemployment figures, but the general shitshow that is our modern global economy.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
...Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow.

20-something-girl:
He has liked every status I put up since Wednesday. I haven't spoken to
him in ages. I was like, "stop peeing all over my Facebook page!"

--42St & 2nd Ave