"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

Outlandish Josh

Published on Thu, 2010-09-30 12:34

Good Idea

This is a good idea, White House:

Keep practicing this, work it, and have the President go all Ross Perot on mofos. Throw this up against Glenn Beck's blackboard, and you have a chance of winning.

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Published on Wed, 2010-09-29 00:43

What's new...

I've been blogging about politics a lot lately. Must be an election coming up or something. For all my griping, you gotta vote. For serious. These people are crazy, and if you're in California you can vote to "legalize it,"* with local control for the details, so it's not even a corporate takeover. So seriously, though I gripe, don't take a pass.

But my purpose here is to throw out the rest of my worldly details. So here goes:

  • Spent a week on the Road up to Oregon, saw my parents, then back to Humboldt where I got the old house pretty much to myself for the weekend to pack and enjoy. It was a good decompression. Long drives are relaxing to me now, and I feel grounded to have seen my people again.
  • Going to the dentist tomorrow. First time in over five years! (eeek!)
  • This coming weekend is Vancouver for the Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit
  • The following weekend, visit with The Robinses in San Louis
  • The weekend after that, wedding of the Nice Lobster and her thoroughly likable Ken Barbe of a man, up in the Sierras.
  • And the weekend after that there's the Slusarz/Erlach nuptuals back in NYC
  • And then I'm off to the great metropolis of London for three weeks of experimental domesticity w/Rina. :)

In and around that I need to launch my new business, find a way to keep hitting the gym a couple times a week, plan another Houseku dinner party, and handle a few other issues.

It's going to be a pretty packed month.

*There's a great add running in Savage Henry up in the HC: "Vote No For The Status Quo". The "industry" as-is is worried about prop 19 being the end of the marijuana bubble for sure. I'm voting yes anyway.

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Published on Mon, 2010-09-27 15:02

Noblesse Oblige

Paul Krugman, my dog:

So: I support tax increases that will reduce my own after-tax income; I worry greatly about unemployment, even though my own living is secure; I warn about growing inequality, even though I’m of the class that has gained from rising disparities; I’m upset about the direction this country is going, even though my own life is comfortable. And this is supposed to cast doubt on my motives?

This is what I jokingly refer to as being a "class traitor." But it's not all patriotism or Noblesse Oblige, it's also the proverbial enlightened self interest. To wit, none of my prosperity is possible in a world without a vibrant, literate, educated middle class. As a creative/enrepreneur, I have no desire to end up as a toady to some 21st Century DiMedici. However, without a rich economic infrastructure to draw, on, it's that or back to the land for me.

Also, as people much more well off than I have pointed out, being Brazil kinda sucks for them. Helicoptering everywhere sounds like fun, until you remember you're doing it to avoid being kidnapped for ransom. That's no way to live even for a rich person.

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Published on Sat, 2010-09-25 15:07

Politics 101: How To Throw A Punch

As will surprise no-one, I'm perennially upset with the Democratic party for it's weak and waffling nature. I think a fair amount of this is just plain mediocrity, and certainly a non-trivial portion is a way of covering establishment ass without overtly stabbing your alleged "constituencies" in the back; but fundamentally it really feels to me like most of these people don't know how to (rhetorically) throw a punch.

Here's a hint:

Effective ads have been run that morphed a triple-amputee vietnam veteran (Max Cleland) into the face of Osama, without actually having the thematic tie of religious extremism or dominion over women. The "Taliban" moniker is provocative, but that's not a bad thing. Let's talk about this issue, and how scuzzo's "Submit to Me" mentality is really very different from that of the erstwhile rulers of Afghanistan.

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Authentic Experience

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Nerding Out

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