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Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all. - Maximilien Robespierre A Violently Executed Feed BUY SOME STUFF, MAKE ME HAPPY Contact me. Links and stuff Handshake Bloggers Damn Good Music
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Monday, February 28, 2005
Yeah, Sure, Whatever An online support group for fans of Michael Jackson. Every time I start to think people in general are actually possessed of common sense, someone like these losers shows up and proves me wrong. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 3:08:00 PM   Tom Ridge Gets His Payoff OK, perhaps I'm being a little inflammatory - I mean, it's not like the Bush misAdministration has overly-snuggly relationships with major corporations or anything, right? coughcoughHalliburtoncoughcough Sorry - a little something in my throat. Damn, but that moral indignation is hard to swallow! Last week, outgoing Secretary of Homeland Now, I ain't sayin' that Tommy-Boy's getting a kickback for boosting sales of duct tape and plastic sheeting, but I think you guys know what I'm sayin'. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:00:00 AM Iran Has A Message For You, Mr. Preznit! Thanks to Gord for this one. Want to know what Iranians think of Bush? Click here (SFW). posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:21:00 AM Sunday, February 27, 2005
Braaaaiiiiiinnnnssssss - Or The Lack Thereof Near as I can tell, this ain't bullshit. A Kentucky student has been arrested for making terroristic threats in a story. A George Rogers Clark High School junior arrested Tuesday for making terrorist threats told LEX 18 News Thursday that the "writings" that got him arrested are being taken out of context. OK, sure - our law enforcement post-Columbine is a little more vigilant about threats against school, and the post-9/11 world gives 'em even more incentive. Except that they're full of shit. Poole told LEX 18 that the whole incident is a big misunderstanding. He claims that what his grandparents found in his journal and turned into police was a short story he wrote for English class. Well, I can certainly see that the possibility of young Master Poole raising an army of the Undead and leading them in to his school to feast upon the brains of the living is a major concern. How many times will our children die at the hands of shambling mobs of flesh-eating monsters before we understand the deadly threat that ZOMBIES pose to our schools? Poole disputes that he was threatening anyone. Whaaaaaaaa? The seriousness of the charge? What the fuck kind of hiring criteria do they have in Kentucky, that they get nimrods that think a fucking story about zombies is a terroristic threat? I suppose "28 Days Later" was a goddam recruiting film, then? "Dawn of the Dead" is definitely a primer for the Eaters of Flesh. I'm half tempted to start the Great Culling in Kentucky, based on this. Feh. The great threat to Kentucky's high schools: 
posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:31:00 AM Saturday, February 26, 2005
So True, And That's Why I'm Scared From the pajama-clad folks at Daily Kos, we have a copy of a soon-to be published column by Ann Coulter: Oh Baby: Well can you believe the latest tizzy the left has gotten itself into since it was discovered recently, that the President was discovered to have allegedly feasted on the flesh of an infant? posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:18:00 PM Got 23? Through the good offices of fnord and communications with you're not cleared for that, I've got a link to a test that will determine your level in the Paratheo-Anametamysitikhood Of Eris Esoteric. As anyone worth their salt knows, members of POEE are the Secret Masters behind the Secret Masters. My score? PopeBonus points to any reader that can explain how the Law of Fives applies to any recent current event. More bonus points to anyone that's seen my hashish. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 4:57:00 PM I've Gotta Get This Game For several years, I subscribed to Steve Jackson Games' online magazine Pyramid and was moderately active in its forums. A couple of years ago, I had to drop my subscription, and I haven't got around to resubscribing. I haven't missed the occasional flamewars on the discussion groups, but I have missed the great articles by Ken Hite, clever posts by John M. Ford and both articles and posts by Chad Underkoffler. Which is why I didn't know until today that Chad's written a game - Dead Inside, which bills itself as "The Roleplaying Game of Loss & Redemption". You've realized something terrible has happened: the scales have fallen from your eyes. At this moment, the world is strange, dreamlike, and mutable. Everything is in flux; anything is possible. You see the monsters and magi, sinners and saints, angels and demons who walk the streets with you. Rainbow rings beckon -- are they gates to heaven, hell, or limbo? You feel empty, hollow, cold, hurt. Perhaps you're mad. Perhaps you're saner than you've ever been before. Chad wrote one of the most interesting features on Pyramid - "Campaign in a Box". in which he would take a genre and build a world around it, complete with major locales, NPCs and campaign hooks. I found these frameworks to be excellent sources to mine for ideas and flat-out fun to read. Based on what I've seen of his writing and world-building, then, I'm going to have to get my sweaty little mitts on a copy of this game. And now I really need to get off my ass and work on that tabletop card game I've been kicking around. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:19:00 AM Friday, February 25, 2005
Friday Five - Breakin' The Law Tanya the Happy Tester is interested in our legislative plans: Due to a highly improbable circumstance, you have the power to create or destroy 5 of the laws where you live. This could be anything from changing a local ordinance to overturning case law to drafting new sections of your constitution. What do you change? I, Zoltar I, by the Grace of God Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, having been granted the mantle of America's first Emperor, Norton I of San Francisco, do hereby proclaim the following changes to the criminal code:
The other Friday Fivers, the pretenders to the Throne, are only through Our magnanimousness granted permission to be listed here. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:19:00 AM Thursday, February 24, 2005
What I Expect From My Insurance Company I opted for the higher tier coverage last year. For the most part, it's worked out OK - with 3 kids and me getting treated by a psychologist, plus that whole pneumonia thing at New Year's, the extra money every month is cancelled out by the savings on co-pays, deductibles and prescription costs. But. When we're buying new eyeglasses, a healthcare choice covered under this plan, we would like to be able to find out where we can use our insurance card. It's not really that hard to do - the insurance company has lists of medical providers, after all. Why is it so goddamn hard to have a list of places to buy one's fucking glasses? It shouldn't require 4 or 5 calls to the insurance company and 2 or 3 calls to each of a good dozen stores to figure it out, especially if whatever you were told on the phone turned out to be wrong and you had to make two MORE phone calls from the 1-hour eyeglass store to find out that you're stuck paying for your glasses OUT OF GODDAMN POCKET and will have to waste time and effort trying to get reimbursed by the insurance company. It's not a hard concept, this customer service thing. Big Insurance Company gets an assload of money every month from me and hundreds of other employees at Mid-Sized American Company. We're customers, and we and our employer pay good money to them. That means they ought to, Idunno, make things a little easier for us. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 3:28:00 PM Wednesday, February 23, 2005
I Don't Think So Got the following email today: EMAIL NEWS FROM ( MRS. MERCY STEVE ) Damn. Only $500,000? The widow of Jonas Savimbi is offering me 20% of $30,000,000, and Barrister Onkagwele of Kenya says he can get me 25% of $20,000,000. Sorry, Mrs. MERCY STEVE - if I'm going to be a sucker for a scam artist, I'm going to get cheated in hopes of making some serious bank, not a paltry $500 grand. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 2:24:00 PM Leaning Into Discomfort I'm currently running an RPG set during WWII. The party is a group of super-powered individuals in the employ of His Majesty's intelligence service - kind of a variant on the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". Each character has a unique power and a hook - something that M has promised them in return for their cooperation. There's an immortal soldier who's lost most of his memory, a Polish Gypsy with psychic powers, a German deserter that's exceptionally lucky, a British nobleman in it for the excitement and a young mage tormented by the ghosts of victims of the Holocaust. At our last session, the party completed a mission in Germany and elected not to make their way back to Britain, but rather to head into Poland in order to try to find the family of the Gypsy. At the end of our last session, the plane they had stolen crashed about 60 miles away from O?wi?cim. And this is where it gets uncomfortable for me. The Holocaust is an extremely touchy subject - in most RPGs dealing with WWII, it's recommended that the Holocaust be handled with kid gloves, if at all. I don't want to minimize the horror of it, and at the same time, I want to hew as closely as possible to the real timeline of the war. In the real world, the British government ignored reports about the Holocaust, making a variety of excuses that now ring hollow. The truth is, nothing was said, nothing was done, and over 6,000,000 Jews were systematically murdered. Next session, then, I have to present to the party the horror of one of the largest cogs in the Holocaust's machinery of death. If they find the Gypsy's family (and I'm still not sure what I'll decide on that count), they'll find themselves sooner or later back in the UK with definitive proof of the Holocaust (to go with all the other proof that Allied governments had by that point). Holding to my decision to stick as close as possible to the real course of the war means that the party will have to deal with the fact that the British government will do nothing about the Holocaust until well after D-Day. That'll make for some uncomfortable gaming moments. This is something that'll bug me for a while - although I'm handling this with as profound a respect for the subject matter as I can, part of me still worries that I might be somehow cheapening the Holocaust for the purposes of entertainment. No matter how it works out, though, I'm glad I'm attempting it. If it works, I've given the players in my game an opportunity to engage in some deep roleplay about our conception of WWII. If it doesn't work, I've learned something about how not to deal with issues like the Holocaust. Just out of curiosity, what do you think, Dear Readers? Should I have done this? Is this the same, better, or worse than making a movie about the Holocaust - like, say, Life is Beautiful? posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:28:00 PM One Can Only Hope They'll Maintain Tradition According to the Guardian, the hotel that was the inspiration for "Fawlty Towers" has been sold. John Cleese based the character of Basil Fawlty on Donald Sinclair, a former owner of the Hotel Gleneagles, in Torquay, Devon. While under normal circumstances it would be imperative that the hotel's bad reputation be erased, I believe that rude management is clearly a tradition at the Hotel Gleneagles, and that the Patels have a pair of very large (yet still pinched and uncomfortable) shoes to fill. The public expects, nay, demands that they be treated in a high-handed and cavalier fashion when they stay at Gleneagles, and to give them anything more than that would, in my opinion, be cheating them out of an experience that should not be missed. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:52:00 AM Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Shaken and Stirred One of my two favorite female writers*, Adrienne Martini, has a new column up at Austin Mama: The power of Blankie The Diva's response to Blankie is almost Pavlovian. Now, approaching three, all it takes is the sight of this flannel wonder to make her put her thumb in her mouth and drop her eyes to half-mast. Blankie is better than Xanax and liquor, when it comes to calming the rampaging toddler. True, dat. * - I differentiate on the basis of sex only because I am my #1 favorite writer - all other writers are enjoyed but not as much as I enjoy my own writing. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:26:00 PM Olbermann On Focus On The Family I've developed a fondness for Keith Olbermann - not in the creepy "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" stalkery kind of way, just in a "I like the way this guy writes" kind of way. He had some good analysis of the shenanigans in Ohio, and he's had some good snark on JimJeff GannonGuckert. In today's Bloggermann, he treats us to some delightful snarkage on the sheep that drool over every word uttered by Dr. James Dobson. And I should tell you that I’m still getting an e-mail or two a day from those individuals over at James Dobson’s Focus On The Family who are apparently just getting the memo. This is the “SpongeBob SquarePants” controversy from a month ago (you know, the one Bill O’Reilly said last week that he stopped, and “saved” SpongeBob). The writers continue to miss the point, and more importantly, to underscore how Dr. Dobson missed the boat on which area has long truly needed his tub-thumping and fervor. He should’ve founded something called Focus On The School System. HAW! posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:07:00 PM Haw! This is too damn funny. White House Press Pool Application: Press Secretary Scott McClellan Unveils Strict New Credentialing Application to Ensure Rock-Solid Integrity of the White House Press Pool posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:11:00 AM Monday, February 21, 2005
w00t! GURPS: Infinite Worlds is on its way to me! The last book I ordered with my Christmas gift certificate should be in my sweaty little hands by tomorrow at the latest. It's written by Ken Hite and John M. Ford, my two favorite game writers. It's about Alternate History, my favorite genre. The only thing that could make it better would be if it was full-color and a hardback - which it is. 'Scuse me, now - I'm gonna go home and wait by the front door doing the peepee dance until DHL delivers it to me. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 3:44:00 PM Is Our Children Learning? There's one young lady in San Antonio that has learned more than our so-called "leaders". Mia Kang is boycotting the TAKS test. Mia Kang stared at the test sheet on her desk. Mia, obviously, was smart enough to know that the "black mark on your record" bullshit is just that - bullshit. Mia's not the only kid with guts about this - just the latest. Meanwhile, our elected representatives claim that forcing kids to peg their entire educational success on one bullshit test is somehow bringing "accountability" to the schools. Funny - I thought grades served that purpose. Teaching to a test does nothing but teach students how to take tests. Teaching them to think gets you citizens. It seems that our "leaders" place a higher premium on drones able to spew whatever they're force-fed than on flexible, questioning thinkers. I think "accountability" is needed more among our elected officials, not our students. Good on you, Mia! Fight the power! posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:29:00 AM Ave atque vale Hunter S. Thompson is dead. He shot himself. Damn. That shit ain't right. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:36:00 AM Sunday, February 20, 2005
Well, Waddaya Know? Looks like I'm not the only one that thinks that Bush is about as honest as a Three-Card Monte Dealer. The way privatizers link the long-run financing of Social Security with the case for private accounts parallels the three-card-monte technique the Bush administration used to link terrorism to the Iraq war. Speeches about Iraq invariably included references to 9/11, leading much of the public to believe that invading Iraq somehow meant taking the war to the terrorists. When pressed, war supporters would admit they lacked evidence of any significant links between Iraq and Al Qaeda, let alone any Iraqi role in 9/11 - yet in their next sentence it would be 9/11 and Saddam, together again. Heh. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:31:00 AM Saturday, February 19, 2005
Friday, February 18, 2005
How Badly Will You Get Screwed By Bush's Plan? Thanks to the Democrats in the US Senate, we've got a way to find out. Go check out the Social inSecurity Calculator. Say you were born in 1967. You make $50,000 per year - a little bit less than the median income for a family of four these days. Under current Social Security rules, you've got an annual benefit of $22,678 per year due when you retire. With a 401(k), you should be able to eke out a decent living. Under Bush's plan, you'll get $13,796 per year from Social Security and another $4402 from your private account, for a total of $18,198 per year. You will be getting 20% less, a total of $4,480 per year, under the Bush plan. That's a little over $373 per month, which about covers utility bills for an average-sized house. How, then, will workers be "better off" under the Bush plan? 'Cause I'm not seeing it. Fixing Social Security is relatively simple - it takes a decrease in outgoing benefits or an increase in incoming money - or a combination of both. Right now, income over $90,000 is not subject to SS withholding. Raising that threshhold would give us more money coming in. Of course, you'd have to actually be serious about fixing the "crisis" Social Security will experience in 40-odd years, rather than intent upon dismantling it, to actually propose something as mind-bogglingly simple as the above proposal. I leave divining Bush's true motives as an exercise for the reader. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:46:00 AM Friday Five - Trading Places Rob wants to know: i've been wondering about discontent lately and how it seems to be something fundamental in the human makeup, like lipstick or eyeshadow. so, to undermine the power of discontent i think we should be able to walk in someone elses shoes, though bring your odoureaters if you're borrowing mine; hence , name five people you would swap your life with for a day. At first I thought the question involved wife-swapping, something akin to that awful TV series. My instinct was to say, "No way - I'm happy with what I've got." A second reading, however, clued me in to the real question. So. Five people I'd swap lives with? I'm going to say that I'm allowed to go back in time if I want to, just to give me enough interesting people.
posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:14:00 AM Thursday, February 17, 2005
Liar, Liar Shocking - another lie told by Bush. This latest lie was one of many in his radio address of 2/5/05: Finally, our commitment to human dignity and freedom at home also leads us to spread freedom and peace around the world. We remain at war against the forces of terror, and we will not rest until the fight is won. We will continue to hunt down terrorists abroad, so we do not have to face them here at home. Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Porter Goss was giving a substantially different story: "Islamic extremists are exploiting the Iraqi conflict to recruit new anti-U.S. jihadists," CIA Director Porter J. Goss told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Goss' wasn't the only unpatriotic voice on the Hill, either: "Our policies in the Middle East fuel Islamic resentment," Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate panel. "Overwhelming majorities in Morocco, Jordan and Saudi Arabia believe the U.S. has a negative policy toward the Arab world." Rumsfeld, of course, was, as always, brilliantly to-the-point: Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the House Armed Services Committee that he has trouble believing any of the estimates of the number of insurgents because it is so difficult to track them. Translation: "Hell, no I'm not going to let you see how badly we've fucked up in Iraq! Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to provoke the government of Iran to do something we can use as a flimsy excuse for invading them." It's comforting to know that even the party loyalist Bush chose to posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 11:42:00 AM The Gospel According to Drew and Franny Recently, Drew and Franny were in a kids' class at church about Lent. As part of the class, the teacher was discussing the miracle of Lazarus' resurrection. She read the kids the appropriate passage, and when she got to the bit where Jesus commanded Lazarus to come out, Franny said excitedly, "LAZARUS WAS A ZOMBIE!" By the end of the class, about 1/3 of the kids were shambling around making zombie noises. Later, there was some exercise that involved wrapping one of the kids in toilet paper like a mummy. I don't recall the ecclesiatical significance of this. As the children wrapped their classmate, Drew stood back and said, "If she's really going to be a mummy, she's got to take all her clothes off and we have to get all the water out of her body and take out her brain and heart and liver..." I don't know where they got this stuff. Probably from their mother. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:19:00 AM Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Emotional Memory It's interesting how certain words, phrases and tones of voice can bring back the emotions of your past. Take today... please. drum roll No, seriously. I'm sitting in my cubicle at work and a co-worker asks me a question. The area I'm in is kind of loud - it's just expected that questions get asked to the room in general, and answers come back the same way. I answer the question and another co-worker cracks, "That'th a cute lithp you've got there, Adam." Immediately, and without warning, I'm slammed back to junior high and the helpless rage and frustration I experienced back then. All the years of therapy and anger management and speech therapy and successful navigation of the intricacies of interpersonal relationships are gone, and all I'm left with is this white-hot lump of rage and the gut-clenching hate I felt almost every day back then. I was able to keep it together long enough to walk out of the room and calm myself down, but it was a pretty disturbing experience. I was convinced that feeling was a little more under wraps. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 3:43:00 PM New Link I've added a new blog to the roll - Facing South, a blog run by the Institute for Southern Studies. The folks at the ISS are good progressive Southerners. Go take a look at 'em, see what you think. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:11:00 AM Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Gaaaaaaaah Baby Alec has discovered The Wiggles. He would watch the Wiggles all day long if we let him. And I can't get their friggin' songs out of my skull. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 1:53:00 PM A Day Off Taking a day off work. I'll be doing that co-op thing at Fran's preschool, more Ranty Goodness to come later today. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:04:00 AM Monday, February 14, 2005
Domestic Disturbance It's time once again for a new edition of Melissa's column. Go check out A Mother's Work. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 11:23:00 AM What Did They Know and When Did They Know It? Remember this statement? I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon That was Condi Rice, speaking before the 9/11 Commission regarding her utter failure as National Security Advisor to in any way act to prevent the attacks of 2001. Of course, the Bushistas are lying about that. What's more, they're trying to keep the full report from ever being released. In spring, 2001, the FAA warned American airports that if "the intent of the hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners but to commit suicide in a spectacular explosion, a domestic hijacking would probably be preferable." [empasis mine - ACL] There were 105 daily intelligence summaries provided to the White House from April 1 2001 to September 10 2001. 52 of them mentioned Osama and/or al-quaeda. And we're expected to believe that all 52 of those were "historical in nature"? The FAA, meanwhile, was more worried about reducing congestion and protecting airline profits than in getting armed marshalls on planes, or in any way strengthening security. Meanwhile, what of Richard Clarke? His memo regarding al-Quaeda was dismissed as "not including a plan for dealing with al-Quaeda". That memo's been declassified, too. It's here. I'll take the liberty of quoting from Clarke's memo, dated January 25, 2001: Condi, The memo goes in to detail, covering the extent of the al Quaeda threat and some urgent questions that needed decisions as quickly as possible. It closes with this: Attached is the year-end 2000 strategy on al Qida developed by the last Administration to give to you. Also attached is the 1998 strategy. Neither was a "covert action only" approach. Both incorporated diplomatic, econimic, military, public diplomacy and intelligence tools. Using the 2000 paper as background, we could prepare a decision paper/guide for a PC review. So, yeah. Suuuuure. There's no strategy there, no plan. And with no plan in place for dealing with an enemy that had already struck against US interests several times (the USS Cole and the embassy bombings in Keny and Tanzania), it only stands to reason that the administration would wait until September 4th, 2001 to have a Principals meeting regarding the looming al-Quaeda threat. The mendacity and incompetence of this Administration boggles the mind sometimes. After they dropped the ball on 9/11, after they used outright lies to justify an invasion of a sovereign country, after tens of thousands of men, women and children have died and been maimed in the occupation of Iraq - after all that, we're expected to believe them when they say that Social Security is in a "crisis" and they know how to fix it? They need to take their three-card monte game on down the road, 'cause I'm not gonna fall for it. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:06:00 AM Sunday, February 13, 2005
Did FDR Want Private Retirement Accounts? Yes and no. It's been claimed by Fatuous Windbag William Bennett and Brit Hume, As Media Matters has pointed out, Hume said: 'In a written statement to Congress in 1935, Roosevelt said that any Social Security plans should include, quote, "Voluntary contributory annuities, by which individual initiative can increase the annual amounts received in old age," adding that government funding, quote, "ought to ultimately be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans."' Hume lies by deliberate omission. When Roosevelt presented his proposal to Congress in 1935, he asked for 3 things:
#2 is what we have today, the system with an administrative cost of less than 1% that helps 90% of the elderly in America stay out of poverty. #1 is the system that Roosevelt spoke of being "supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans". The full quote is: In the important field of security for our old people, it seems necessary to adopt three principles: First, non-contributory old-age pensions for those who are now too old to build up their own insurance. It is, of course, clear that for perhaps thirty years to come funds will have to be provided by the States and the Federal Government to meet these pensions. Second, compulsory contributory annuities which in time will establish a self-supporting system for those now young and for future generations. Third, voluntary contributory annuities by which individual initiative can increase the annual amounts received in old age. It is proposed that the Federal Government assume one-half of the cost of the old-age pension plan, which ought ultimately to be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans. Hume and Bennett, then, deliberately lied. Not surprising - like the case for war against Iraq, these clowns will say and do almost anything to advance their cause. Bald-faced lies are the least we can expect. When testifying before Congress during hearings on the Social Security bill, Edwin Witte stated that voluntary accounts were a "separate undertaking" intended to "supplement" the second of the three systems outlined above: "The voluntary system of old-age annuities we suggest as a supplement to the compulsory plan contemplates that the Government shall sell to individuals, on a cost basis, deferred life annuities similar to those issued by commercial insurance companies; that is, in consideration of premiums paid at specified ages, the Government would guarantee the purchasers a definite amount of income, starting at 65, for example, and continuing throughout the lifetime of the annuitant. The primary purpose of the plan is to offer persons not included within the compulsory system a systematic and safe method of providing for their old age. It could also be used by insured persons as a means of supplementing the old-age income provided under the compulsory plan.(emphasis mine -ACL) So it's plain to see that private accounts were considered as a supplement to the system, not as the system itself. For the record, I don't have a problem with supplemental private accounts. I'd be more than willing to pull an extra 1-2% along with my withholding to invest in an account that I would own, and would be made available on my retirement, or to my heirs upon my death. This, in fact, would be an excellent way of providing those workers employed by companies that can or will not provide 401(k) plans with some assured money for their retirement, as well as those that by choice or by circumstance have changed jobs multiple times. A shrewd investor would still be able to maximize the growth of this money, and some guarantee of a minimum sum were the worst to happen (say, a stock market crash - what are the odds of that eventually happening?) could be set up as a fail-safe. As Senator Barbara Boxer pointed out in a recent speech, the right wing has been after Social Security for 60 years. A successful and popular government program, with less than 1% of its budget spent on administrative overhead, really gets their knickers in a twist. It goes against the holiest of their holies, the principle that businesses, not the people, know what's best for America. Having seen the track record from the last time we let Big Bidness call most of the shots, I'm inclined to suggest that maybe they shouldn't be given the keys to drive again. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:50:00 AM Saturday, February 12, 2005
Pay Your Share There's always one in every group of friends - you know who I mean, the gal that seems to have left her purse at home when it's her turn to buy a round of drinks, or the guy that insists when the check comes around that he didn't order the steak - all he had was a salad! There's a distressingly high number of people in this country just like that. They say they love America, but when April 15th rolls around it's a different tune. "But our money keeps the economy rolling!", they whine. "When we buy our yachts, we employ people!" They'll look you in the eye and flat-out lie to you - "It all trickles down! Cutting taxes increases revenue!" They love sitting down at the table with the rest of us, enjoying the cheap gas bought with the oh-so-cheap lives of American soldiers and innocent Iraqis, topping it off with a serving or two of our community-funded schools. They gorge themselves on cultural events funded by tax dollars, savor the flavor of our national parks and seashores. When the check comes, it's all different. "It's those other people at the far end of the table that are running up the bills! Just look at them, sitting there in their opulent rags and heckling us with their coughs and wheezes! And you! Sitting there right next to me, you had the audacity to try to grab some of these college funds off my plate! You're really going to have to chip in a little bit more for that, pal!" To borrow one of their stock phrases, Why do they hate America? It seems to me that if you love your country and all the top-notch things we've got here, you should be willing to pay for it. For most of us, if you pay $200.00 for a car, it's a stretch to expect it to run. If you want to shell out a little more cash, though, you'll get something better, probably even with air conditioning and a working radio. So why do the fatcats want to pay Yugo prices for their Beemers? And why do they expect us to pay the difference? Hey, fatcats! Pay your damn share! Quit trying to cheap out on the bill, 'cause while us folks down here are pretty giving and generous, if you keep this up we might just work you over in the parking lot and clean out your wallet. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:19:00 AM Friday, February 11, 2005
Double Damn. Jack Chalker is dead. Details, including forthcoming funeral arrangements, are here and here. If you were a fan of Chalker, think about giving a little something to his family to help with the hospital and funeral bills. Fucking hell. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 2:46:00 PM Hell and Damn Yahoo! News - Playwright Arthur Miller Dies at 89 Arthur Miller, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright whose most famous fictional creation, Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman," came to symbolize the American Dream gone awry, has died. He was 89. Damn, damn, damn. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 2:21:00 PM Friday Five - Belly Up! 5 outstanding places to eat - where & why? I'm presuming that Pogo is looking for good restaurants, so I'll skip the obligatory "home", "Grandmother's" and "Mom's"listings. Those go without saying. The Varsity - A tradition, nay, a way of life in Atlanta and Athens, GA. "No food over 12 hours old" used to be their motto. It's grease, grease, grease and some meat on a bun. Their fries are thick and still have strips of potato skin on them. The fried batter on their onion rings oozes oil like a supertanker on a reef. And it's good. Real good. Time was, I could plow through 5-6 of their burgers, 3 orders of fries, 2 orders of onion rings and still have room for a jumbo frosted orange. These days, I limit myself more - only 2 burgers, 1 order of fries and one order of onion rings. And a medium frosted orange. Johnny Ray's BBQ - On Valley Ave in Birmingham, AL. Johnny Ray's serves pulled pork and chicken sandwiches, slaw and onion rings that'll make you slap your grandmother, as the saying goes. When we were in college, we used to get up late on a weekend day, shake the bleary fuzz out of our heads and drive over to Johnny Ray's for lunch. To this day, when we eat there, I feel a little bit of what I felt sitting across from Melissa back then, fresh in love and hanging on her every word. Riverbend Restaurant - On a bluff overlooking the Flint River, between Thomaston and Woodland, GA. Riverbend serves up deep-fried catfish, fried potatoes, hush puppies and slaw. The tea is iced and sweet, the waitresses have big hair and call you "honey". It's all you can eat, and there's nothing better after a day spent drifting down the Flint in canoes. The Red Lion Inn - It's somewhere south of Crickhowell, which is just a hop, skip and a jump from Abergavenney, and Melissa and I ate there with the kids during our stay in Wales. The owners of the cottage we were renting had recommended it to us, and we drove down the narrow, twisting lanes from Crickhowell to the inn. We'd spent the day driving around southern Wales, hauling the kids out at interesting spots and walking , walking, walking. I had venison sausage and mashed potatoes, Melissa had chicken and the kids - well, they ordered chicken fingers. We weren't going to risk a meltdown at that point, so we didn't push them. After our meal, we got a brief tour of the inn from the owners and then we drove back across the narrow bridge, up the hills and back to the cottage. Part of what made that meal so good was the day we'd had before it, but it was damn good food. Unknown Greek Restaurant, near Russel Square in London - Way back when I was in college, I took a 2 week trip to London. It was one of those package tours that is marketed to college professors - if the professor gets enough people signed up, they travel free. This one was organized by a theater professor in Bowling Green, KY - I'm not sure how Birmingham-Southern got included in the tour, but I wasn't complaining. I had worked the entire summer before at a restaurant in Atlanta - washing dishes 10-12 hours a day 6 days a week. I stayed in the warehouse my brother was renting and had halfway converted into living space, but I don't like to talk about that part. When I got to London, I quickly found a small Greek restaurant right around the corner from the hotel. I started popping in for my evening meals, ordering a glass of wine and some souvlaki, or I'd treat myself to some hot, fresh pitas and a block of feta cheese. I spent a lot of time talking to the waiter there, a Greek Cypriot working in London and sending money home to his family. Good times and good food. I tried to find the restaurant when we were back in London last spring, but either it was gone or I've completely forgotten where it was. Still, it was a warm, homey place and the food was great. I'm sure just the fact that I was in London had a lot to do with how much I liked that restaurant, but it would be nice to maybe catch some of that feeling in a bottle and save it for bad times. The other Friday Fivers are posting their lists in the blogs listed to the left. A copy of the Friday Five Restaurant Review will be available by special order for the low price of $52.95. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 11:02:00 AM Thursday, February 10, 2005
Yep, Another Rocket Scientist Elected By Our Red Stater Buddies From the "No, he didn't really say that, did he?" department, we get this piece of news: Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), a new member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was at last week's meeting on a bill restricting class-action suits. "You know," he said, "I immediately thought about silicone breast implants and the legal wrangling and the class-action suits off that. And I thought I would just share with you what science says today about slicone breast implants. If you have them, you're healthier than if you don't. That is what the ultimate science shows...In fact, there's no science that shows that silicone breast implants are detrimental and, in fact, they make you healthier." Y'hear that, ladies? Getcha some implants, 'cause they'll make you healthier! I just wonder if Coburn was cupping his hands about 8" in front of his chest when he said "healthier". Late edit - for those that don't remember, Tom Coburn is the guy that claimed during his campaign that “lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom.” posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:57:00 AM Wednesday, February 09, 2005
A Woman After My Heart - Platonically, Of Course An online acquaintance posted her rules regarding those annoying forwards we get in our email - you know, the urban legends, the heartwarming stories, all that tripe. She wrote down her Seven Rules regarding this spam here, but I'm quoting the best ones for your enjoyment. 2. If it's a heartwarming story about friends that makes you think of the sappiest card Hallmark has ever offered in their long line of sappiness just click on delete. This is the kind of sick fetish that people will pay for. Please don't torture those of us that don't have that fucked up passion with it for free. So go on and read her blog, Smoooochie Says II. You'll be glad you did. That woman's smart and wicked funny. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:15:00 PM Leaving Children Behind As if we didn't know their real goal - the dismantling of the reforms of FDR and LBJ - we find that the Bushistas have withheld study results showing head start is effective. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) failed to publish two reports that show Head Start is effective in raising the academic performance of low-income children. The National Head Start Association (NHSA) recently leaked the data, noting that the Bush administration continues its efforts to dismantle the program. Head Start advocates have been fighting the administration’s proposals to restructure the program for more than two years. This administration doesn't want an educated populace - they want ignorant, bible-thumping sheep that are satisfied with substandard wages and working conditions. Whatever they have to do to expand that class of Americans, thay'll do. I've said it before and I'll say it again - FUCK YOU VERY MUCH, RED AMERICA. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:39:00 AM Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Well, That Worked About As Well As Expected... Yesterday, I came across this article: Texas Teens Increased Sex After Abstinence Program. Abstinence-only sex education programs, a major plank in President Bush's education plan, have had no impact on teenagers' behavior in his home state of Texas, according to a new study. The utter inability of "Abstinence Education" to have any measurable positive impact on its targeted behaviors mirrors that of boondoggles like D.A.R.E. - simply telling kids "Don't do that" doesn't really do any good. Giving them a real education about all aspects of an issue does. The study showed about 23 percent of ninth-grade girls, typically 13 to 14 years old, had sex before receiving abstinence education. After taking the course, 29 percent of the girls in the same group said they had had sex. Stands to reason. I can picture the kids saying, "Man, if the grownups are that dead-set against us doing this, it's probably as fun as drinking and smoking pot!" Efforts to boost the self-confidence of kids won't help a lot, either. The most self-confident kids in my high school were the ones actually having sex. The outsiders, nerds and others, the kids that were faced every day with a barrage of messages that they weren't good enough, that they didn't measure up to their peers - those kids weren't having sex. Hell, they couldn't get dates! The jocks and cheerleaders, on the other hand, were about as busy as busy could be, if you know what I mean. Chalk it up to yet another right wing initiative that does |
