The Kleptocratic Empire

[pan]

Stealing us blind.

[pan]

Positive attitude bullshit  As Jo used to say in response to the nonsense about everything will get better or "its all good", "It can always get worse."

[stonefruit]

I absolutely adored Rigorous Intuition too. And as far as the odious concept of positive mental octopus goes...

[waldopaper]

Well, here's the final WP Virgin for June.  .  Seven come eleven.  How lucky can you get?  Throwing bones and stones.  I am quite sure Henry is an Anabaptist.   

[pan]

Creative Dementia is the art of passing as sane in insane world.

You still got it Waldo!

[BO]

By George, he's got it. 

[pan]

The semiotics of suffering

Those tv ads with the same music, same pacing, same shots of big eyed scruffy dogs, cats, children, wounded vets.  Pull out your pocket books - for just a few pennies a day you can pretend you are a saint like Mother Teresa who doesn't really do anything to change the conditions that create these donation-driving poor waifs/pets/vets but it helps to ease your privileged conscience just a bit.....see, I am putting the Sermon on the Mount into action without leaving the comfort of my screen!

[pan]

This movie manages to be funny and suspenseful while laying bare the bastards who took down our economy.  It also is a stark reminder of why HRC's Goldman Sachs lectures are important to keep in mind.

[BO]

And guess what? It's much worse now. But wait, Hillary's going to clean it all up.

Americans are now the dumbest assholes on the planet. 

[waldopaper]

Still engaging with my old neighborhood... while trying to adapt to my new neighborhood... high desert/ mountains vs. flatland swamp.  Of course back in the Duckburg Swamp, Trump is a big deal and they're still trying to save the fetus to gain political capital.  Here's my last note to home before the Mormon/Pioneer Days (Pie-and-beer Days) begin:  

Some of us think it is not appropriate to debate metaphysics while the planet cooks and oceans die. An egg is an egg. A chicken is a chicken. What is "sentient" (able to perceive or feel things) life? 
As they say in my new neighborhood, "...that's a first-world problem." 
Let the rolling brown-outs and black-outs begin, and we'll soon see how how much you care about somebody else's fetus. Let's see how much you "support our troops" when "friendly fire" blows your house to splinters and you have to bury what's left of your family in (what used to be) your back yard.

And finally-- let's see what kind of "2nd amendment patriots" you are when you're up against space-mounted scalar weapons with your Elmer Fudd popguns. Just like Trumpty Dumpty; 
Fake "patriotism." Fake "religion." 
What fun.   

That's it so far.  I ain't diggen being uprooted... but understand it was necessary.  Nit-gnat details of relocation are delaying work on the Opera-- but so it goes.  

[pan]

So you have exchanged Duckberg with the Center of the Hive.  Driving through the South to Florida the Jesus road signs are more frequent and more fearsome than in the West but it is nice to be away from the Moron Tab and Apple choir.

[waldopaper]

This is a pretty progressive neighborhood... and the LDS presence is almost nil... even tho we are only blocks from the tabber-nackle.  In the burbs, it's probably a much different story-- lots of Stepford Wives, etc..  And i see lots of affluent young folk that i suspect are doing secret projects for secret things- etc.  Now lurking on the SLC Trib site... picking up on the reader commentary... and it's waaay smarter (and much larger) then the Duckburg rag.  The Desert News is the right-wing rag- scary enough- but not nearly as coo-coo and ignorant as the Duckrag...  where there are unabashed ,,, uh,,,  "Trump supporters."   

I was glued to the RNC freak show in Cleveland... which i mostly filtered thru TYT so i wouldn't puke.  Never seen anything like it.  He makes Shrub look like a freaking genius.  S. Florida... wow.  Last time I was West Palm (30 years ago?) it was lots of coke dealers murdering each other in the streets, etc.  Had to get the hell out of there and never come back.  Had to explain it to some Euro folk on the train... and that was way before Brexit etc.  The DNC circus was pretty predictable and boring... with most of the interesting shit happening outside.  Looks like another hold-your-nose-lesser-evil thing... again.  

 

[pan]

I'm in Tallahassee which is fairly liberal though the county is very conservative.  The drive through Mississippi and Georgia was where the truly frightening Christian signs were.

SLC has a fairly surprising alt-culture.  But you are absolutely correct - the burbs start to get scary.  In many ways I think Pocatello and most of Idaho were perhaps creepier with the dominant culture than Utah - it was as though they were trying harder.

I'm looking forward to voting for Alan Grayson for Senate.  I'm hoping that the polling will be such that I won't feel obligated to vote against Trump by holding my nose and casting for HRC....but I'm prepared for that.  Bo and Hannah and I have been having Facebook discussions - I guess I feel that preventing Trump is more important than my disgust with the undemocratic Democratic Party, but I would rather vote for Stein.