It could happen to you

I began to think.

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then-- to loosen up.

Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told
myself-- but I knew it wasn't true.

Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home.

One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"

One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."

This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss.

"Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..."

"I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently.

She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.

"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche.

I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors...They didn't open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.

Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.

You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster.

Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting.

At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting.

I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home.

Life just seemed...easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.

I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.

Today, I registered to vote as a REPUBLICAN, so Limbaugh can do my thinking for me.

A little optimism and 'practical wisdom'

This 20 minute talk got a standing ovation... worth the listen...

Compromise is for Wussies

"Bipartisanship is safe and effective, when used as directed. In the present circumstance, however—dire economic crisis, hardheaded Republicans, time running out—bipartisanship is doing more harm than good. President Obama and the Democratic majorities in Congress can no longer afford to let comity defeat common sense.

An additional 600,000 Americans lost their jobs last month. If the loyal opposition chooses to obstruct economic recovery, those who hold power are obliged to use it."

Does the US Government have what it takes to stimulate this economy? My personal opinion - President Obama should take the proposal back to it's original and mostly useful, if still woefully modest proportions - less all the Democratic pork (even if some of it might be stimulating) and all the ridiculous Republican tax breaks which make no sense at all. And he should make our lawmakers (term used loosely) swallow it whole. And if they cry like the spoiled little girls that they are... he should go on national TV (because that's where the voters are,) and make an appeal to the American public that's proportioned to their tiny attention span. He should say something like, "Folks, you elected me because you wanted change... a new direction. But your elected officials are not interested in changing anything and they are not going to let me do what you've asked me to do. So now you need to take it up with them, and I'll be here waiting to get things going when you do." At the end of the ad - should be a screen with contact info for each state, because most good Americans have no idea how to contact their Senators and Reps (most good Americans might be fuzzy on just who those people are...)

It would be interesting to see what would happen now, wouldn't it?

This is not an issue where the answer is to be found in the “middle.” This isn’t a matter of left, right and center; it’s a matter of yes or no: Does the federal government try to get the economy moving again, or not? This will sound ridiculous, but the fact is that the details of Obama’s plan don’t matter that much. If anything, many economists believe, the government needs to spend even more than Obama proposes.

Republicans are using this debate as a branding opportunity, positioning themselves as careful stewards of the public purse. This is absurd, given their record when they were in charge. It’s also cynical. They know that some kind of stimulus will get passed anyway. If it works, they’ll claim their principled intransigence made the plan better; if it doesn’t, they’ll say “I told you so.”

Obama and the Democrats have public opinion on their side and the wolf at the door. Republicans need to get out of the way—or get run over. "

Read all of the excellent article by Eugene Robinson (quoted material) here.
And for an even more heated argument... click here.

Refreshing... sort of

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

After Dubya and his infamous, never ending refusal to take any responsibility for the horrific errors of his administration, I personally find it refreshing that this President can look into a camera and admit that he screwed up. However, we both know that the vultures circling his head are taking no end in delight in this... both to point it out as weakness and a character flaw not tolerable in a leader, and to show a lack of competancy. Come on, Obama, you can't afford this kind of shit.... Be sure. Do your GD homework and for Godsake, call the damn IRS on the carpet for not fleecing every dime out of the wealthy.... for they surely don't mind picking my pocket....

Refining Fine Art

Ten Apples and a Flat Sponge reports that the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen is selling reproductions of with some artistic interpretation. Venus is it Jenny Craig or NutriSystem?



But wait there's more: Check out the new Aphrodite!

Can you believe it? " It's not just the supermodels on the cover of Cosmo, it's not just Oprah, it's not just Kiera Knightly or whatever her name is, being stretched and elongated on her movie posters. Oh, no! Even Botticelli's Venus and the Thorvaldsen Aphrodite are "too fat" and not bobble-headed enough to sell in today's market. They've been Slim-fasted and Photoshopped (or had ribs removed) because in someone's opinion, even neo-classic art lovers who would be looking to decorate their homes with reproductions of their favorite pieces would not want to look at such chubby women as artists like Botticelli chose, as models.

Can you BELIEVE this? The catalog is full of these, the "Three Graces", Rodin's women, and a poor "Hebe, Cupbearer of the Gods" who looks like she's been given silicon breast implants.

This is hilarious: it's revisionist art history, as done by the Photoshop-happy editors of Vogue."

Soooooo wrong.