Taboo Plaza- Where's Your Passport Petunia?

The secret of success in America has nothing to do with the amount of dollar bills in your hip pocket.  Dollar bills can buy many things, but a pocketful of hundreds is only a pocketful. 
When the paper runs empty what then? 

As a system of finance, and really a critical element of society, hard currency is to human freedom what a king and queen are to peasants.  Dollar bills are a step toward democratization.  Credit is an essential element of democracy.

Moving forward with the assumption that "We" are progressing down a path of detaching from monolithic social structures to greener fields of democratic life: certain ideas need to be understood by the masses.  The core of what we collectively stand for is an important aspect of society and cohesion.  Without some prospect of social cohesion in the future, splinter groups and factions will tear the country apart.  
For a clearer example in defining the American system, watch those resisting immersion into the system.  The counter culture has always been there, but now the mainstream social culture has found a way to incorporate the counter culture and turn a profit. 

Take, for instance, Hillary Duff. 
Did you know that she was punk?

Our system is not good or bad.  The system simply is what it is.  It is a system in evolution.  From bartering to coins, guilds to corporations; the structures change and the underlying needs continue with- ideally- a shared goal of perfecting the system into providing for the highest needs of the most citizens.  

Access to credit in America has firmly established a monolithic cultural system without any rudder to guide our collective dignity.  Debits and credits work much easier than money.  They also require nothing more than a general acceptance among the populace coupled with Excel macros to sustain. 

Cheap overhead.
Relatively accurate.
Who wouldn't want part in that system? 

That system will allow you to purchase things and have them shipped to you without ever having to leave your chair.  What have you learned from the transaction?  Nothing really.  Market pressure is directs and instructs us now. 
The market mandates our time should be consumed securing a job, setting up a weekly schedule and meeting our newly acquired obligations. 

All of this is established predominately with a pure financial rationale in the minds of most.

The market supplies the driving force directing the minds of our country and its citizens today.  Religion may no longer be a viable institution for inciting kindness and positivism in America.  Judge for yourself the health of Christianity in America.  Christians once could burn another person alive in this country.  That kind of swing ain't around today.  The void left by a departure from spiritual outlets becomes consumed in video games and movies.

So what we are left with, is a culture driven and guided by purchasing for satisfaction of temporary desires.  (It is important to note that some people cannot get into this system.  People denied would predominately be those without checking accounts and those with illegal citizenship status.)

Market pressure took over the cultural rudder from those who would slap, burn and shoot one another.  It was a positive step, but that doesn't mean we should be done trying to perfect the system.  Socially, we've grown up only a little bit more than we were in 1776.  In some ways, we may have atrophied in areas and simply retarded in others; but for the most part we could point to certain aspects of America and say, with a clean conscience, that we're making some progress.

Let's get down to what it is I'm talking about. 

If we are going to be that Great Country dreamt of in a propaganda-machine and embedded deep into the brain of half the world's population, then we are going to have to evolve in a positive direction.  We are also going to have to understand that evolution in the Darwinian-sense does not mean advancement.  Evolution in the Darwinian-sense simply means progression with no moral judgment. 

Survival of the fittest in the sense that a cockroach will probably be around longer than your descendants. 

If we want to beat those odds, We need to steer the course. 
I can't do it for you.  Even if I were smart enough to capably drive the course of a couple of million people, some day I would die and what then? 

That same statement applies to everyone. 

Even if you could, it doesn't make it a good idea.  The President drives security and attempts to maintain the peace.  That's a pretty good definition for what he should be doing.  The Congress generates law and should reflect the attitude of the general public in their market.  That's their function.  The Justice department solves social disagreements.

Nothing drives our cultural development. 

At the rate we are going now, fifty years from now the nation's best will have been steeped in SpongeBob SquarePants and South Park (from behind shielded eyes.)  I don't think there is anything wrong with that necessarily; however, it will in itself enable the perpetuation of a stagnant cultural core robbed of momentum by the single-minded focus on the cultural finance system which determined that SpongeBob SquarePants is the best thing for your children to watch because it is popular.

Cultural advancement is not always popular step by step.

Can Americans spend and buy?  If so, surely everyone must be satisfied.  Correct?
It is interesting to me, our Legislature uses the public opinion poll to justify their actions.  The use of the opinion poll seeks a justification through the "will of the people" by random sampling.  With this established justification of "socially-correct" actions being determined by random sampling; I suggest that we do away with the middle man. 

Why have voting polls when we possess the technology to randomly sample our populace for congressional office?  I'm sure there are many Americans willing to accept $80,000 to voice their opinion for one year.  That move alone would save America more than $34 million a year.

The real America needs to be heard, because the noise that has been coming out of the Federal Authority of the United States of America is not furthering freedoms.  Wake up and smell a call to action.  There is no need for bloody war to enact social change, the power of rational thought in intelligible sound bites (I blew that advice on this piece long ago) is more effective than the rifle.

Power to the people and keep the dream of democracy alive.
Dictatorships are far too predictable and uninspired.
It's time to wake up and smell the roses Petunia.  You can't leave this country without a passport now! 

Do you have your passport yet in case you need to leave?

Current Affairs

Bad mothers serve as the news-tainment theme of this week and some of the worst aren't even being talked about. 

Take the 33-year old mum of six in Eldene.  Convicted of cutting and scalding her two-year old son.  The son got 17 stitches and what I presume will be a lifetime of psychiatrist bills.  His mother received 36 months for cutting him, 18 months for deliberately scalding him and 12 months for neglecting him.  By the time he turns eight, he'll be just in time to deal with his mother trying to regain custody. 
Nothing good can come from this situation she created, but let's see if society can rehabilitate her?  Maybe one day society will also find a way to squeeze lemonade from a turd.

The Toronto Sun reports on another bad mommy with another 2-year old.  At some point in her 22-years, mommy decided her 2-year old daughter should allegedly take seductive nude photos for her boyfriend.  According to the boyfriend, the 2-year old should also perform sexual acts with him.  Mommy was okay with that scenario.  Mommy got 18 months in jail and baby got screwed for the rest of her life.
Good job mommy, but hopefully society can reform her poor judgment skills before daughter ends up knocked up with no where to turn.

In Iowa, mommy may just be dumber than a box of rocks.  In this case mommy had a 4-year old son.  Mommy owed $200 to a street vendor for a wedding dress.  Mommy apparently wanted the dress really bad, so she offered to trade for her 4-year old son.  Mommy may possibly be a screaming alcoholic and a totally ineffective bargainer.
I would think you could get at least $1000 for a healthy child.
In this case, depending on what her son knows he may not have received anything more than a break from mommy, because mommy received 90 days in jail.

And then you have poor Paris.  Her mommy broke down in court when the judge made Paris return to isolation in the county jailhouse for another month.  Now the world bears witness to what the childhood discipline scenario probably looked like in the Hilton household.  Paris screamed, cried and generally threw a tantrum.  Mommy Hilton throws her arms around her husband when the 45 day pronouncement falls from the judge's lips like a ton of bricks.  Paris mouths to her parents how much she loves them and it's like a goddamn soap opera drama.
It seems like Paris received a life sentence in prison, except for the fact that she only received a 45-day sentence in county jail.  So the two situations are similar in the fact that they are totally different.  However, Paris has not run out of tricks though.  She's already convinced them to hook her up with psychoactive drugs (for a chick that gets drunk and parties that's got to be awesome) and she's not going to eat.
If that doesn't work, she'll probably have to play the holding her breath card.  I'm sure we all hope it doesn't come to that though.  Through all of this, apparently her parents never spoke to Paris about dignity.  She's got money though, so she can probably just buy it when her 45-days are up.

In better news, at least a couple hundred of thousands of parents took care of their kids last week (although one mother, taking care of her kids, received 2 years in jail for buying them beer and keeping them off the road.) 

There were even a couple of fond memories created. 



What's up with the University of South Dakota's graduate degree programs? <Out of undergrad in a year with a Masters?>
Last week's batch of Senators averaged 4.25 years in public office as U.S. Senators. This week's batch of Senators average 4.25 years as U.S. Senators.
 
Tim Johnson (Democratic, South Dakota)
Religion: Lutheran
1969: University of South Dakota, B.A.
1970: University of South Dakota, M.A.
1975: University of South Dakota, J.D.
1979 to 1982: South Dakota House of Representatives
1983 to 1986: South Dakota State Senate
1987 to 1997: U.S. House of Representatives
1997 to present: U.S. Senate

John Thune (Republican, South Dakota)
Religion: Evangelical Christian
1983: Biola University, B.S.
1984: University of South Dakota, M.B.A.
1989 to 1991: South Dakota state Republican party executive director
1991 to 1993: South Dakota state railroad division director
1997 to 2003: U.S. House of Representatives
2005 to present: U.S. Senate

Lamar Alexander (Republican, Tennessee)
Religion: Presbyterian
1962: Vanderbilt University, B.A.
1965: New York University Law School, J.D.
1979 to 1987: Governor of Tennessee
1988 to 1991: President of the University of Tennessee
1991 to 1993: U.S. Secretary of Education
2003 to present: U.S. Senate

Bob Corker (Republican, Tennessee)
Religion: Presbyterian
1974: University of Tennessee, B.S.
2001 to 2006: Mayor of Chattanooga
2007 to present: U.S. Senator


You Kinda Looka Like a Communist

The U.S. doctrine of torture took some heat this week.  Scott Shane, a writer for the New York Times, wrote a piece about the evolution of U.S. methods of torture.  His article focuses primarily on the days following September 11th, 2001.  Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib stand out as wonderful examples to debate the issue of putting human beings into unpleasant situations on purpose.

Do you want to call it torture?  Would you prefer to use the phrase "applying pressure through stress positioning?"  Either way the result is the same.  People are being discomforted through policies and agendas. 

Screw the people. 
We need what we need. 

That doesn't sound even a little bit familiar from where I work.  A big U.S. Corporation.  Fortune 500 company.  Retail store fronts.  Millions of customers walking through our doors everyday.  Do you think the employees receive training?  The training is on the first day throwing them out on the "floor" after a week of "training."  Partner that little gem with a mentor too busy helping other customers and you either sink or swim on your first day. 
Apparently, the mentality also suggests that if you can't take it: you must've been worthless to begin with.  We'll just coach you out of the system and hire another you.  A fantastic outlook starting at the top and working its way down like a bird dropping on your head. 

The U.S. (or us depending on where you put the emphasis) learned a little something from our Cold War partners in Russia.  Apply a little stress into someone's life and you can get something out of it.  Although, no direct correlation from stress and torture demonstrates reliable and accurate information as a result.  

Maybe godless Communists just enjoyed torturing people.  Or maybe they just enjoyed stressing people out.  It's not torture when you're stressed because you get stressed at work.

Is that torture?

This guy has an interesting analysis though linking the torture argument to an expansion of the Imperial President's powers in office.  It's an extension of ideas I first heard from Arther Schlesinger.  If you buy it (and the theory is not far-fetched) there's not a War on Terror or a War on Drugs.  There's a War on Defining the Constitution.

I might slip and say a War on the Constitution but that's really not the case.  The War on the Constitution was lost when we were able to interpret the document.  You see that war was between the people who thought the Fore Fathers were brilliant and couldn't make mistakes and the people who couldn't find enough manuverability within the text.  Then the suggestion came down that we interpret the Constitution of the United States of America.  Finally the minority became the majority and they acquiesed.
As if the United States Constitution were written in Aramaic.

It needs to be interpreted!

There are people interested in a controlling the world.  Just because it was funny on Pinky and the Brain doesn't mean the impulse has gone away. 

Do you think that impulse has disappeared? 

Some people in the Sudan probably don't believe the impulse to control the world has met with extinction.

Tip of the week

   Just because the guy that washes your car may have been in Mexico doesn't mean you should treat him like crap.  The guy just washed your car.  In Phoenix, AZ that 's a pretty monumental task in the middle of the day under 106 degree shaded-areas.  Have some fricking respect for the dignity of human beings.
If your car isn't cleaned exactly to your specifications then at least it is closer than when you started.  If you want your car detailed then pay for it you cheap prick.  At the end of a Basic Wash, you shouldn't be inspecting the inside of the door sill.  If you want it cleaned better, either: tip heavily, pay more for the detailing or do it yourself!

Birthday Shout Outs (6/10- 6/16)

June 10th
   (1922) Judy Garland- With how many childhood's will she be associated?
   (1928) Maurice Sendak- Where the Wild Things Roam is one of my favorite children's book. 
   (1965) Elizabeth Hurley- Hotty.

June 11th
   (1935) Gene Wilder- A very funny man.  I'm especially fond of Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory as well as Blazing Saddles.
   (1949) Frank Beard- ZZ Top had their moment.

June 12th
   (1924) George H.W. Bush- The 41st President of the United States of America.
   (1929) Anne Frank- A generation of U.S. students read a little girl's diary.  Nice. 
   (1932) Jim Nabors- From now on you're Gomer Pyle: though his best work was probably done in Mayberry.
   (1951) Brad Delp- Boston had their moment.

June 13th
   (1943) Malcolm McDowell- A Clockwork Orange is one of the greatest flicks ever. Caligula is also pretty out there.
   (1960) Jacques Rougeau- One of the best bad guys in professional wrestling, before he became a cartoon character.

June 14th
   (1811) Harriet Beecher Stowe- She helped America grow.
   (1931) Marla Gibbs- One of the sassiest ladies on television.  She gave Flo a run for her money.
   (1949) Alan White- Any reason to bust out some Yes is good enough for me.
   (1969) MC Ren- After listening to Yes, what goes down better than some NWA.

June 15th
   (1937) Waylon Jennings- A key piece of music occupying my brain at all times.
   (1961) Brad Armstrong- An under-rated professional wrestler.
   (1969) Ice Cube- Friday and Boyz in the Hood- two of the best.  He's an all around talent.

June 16th
   (1890) Stan Laurel- An icon.
   (1942) Eddie Levert- The O'Jays are badder than you probably know.
   (1971) Tupac Shakur- An example of living hard and leaving a pretty corpse.  R.I.P.