Thursday, January 29, 2009

I believe that the second syllable of "buttock" should rhyme with "luck" not "lock"

"We live in uncertain times," I said to my brother tonight, and I think it's true enough as far as it goes. Barack Obama is our president, which some students of history are calling another step in the slide toward socialism. (As a quick aside, did you know that Obama's tax cut plan calls for more than 50% of the populace to pay no taxes (or less). Do you know what that means? That means that beginning with the advent of graduated income tax (thanks to the Progressive movement of the early 20th Century), and through the governmental gluttony of Wilson, FDR and LBJ, we have now created a voting majority who pay no taxes. Or are on welfare. Guess whether those folks are going to vote for Obama, who pays their bills (with our money), or some Republican. It's easy to say, "stick it to the fat cats," but what we're talking about here is the brink of class warfare, when the many can become a mob and take from the few... and, call me George Orwell, totalitarianism.

Yes, it's years away, certainly. But it's over 200 years closer than when Tocqueville saw the same thing coming.

I'm afraid that was a bit of a tangent, when I promised you a brief aside. These are uncertain times. I'm in a bit of a maelstrom myself, and a few of the people around me are paddling gamely through their own, and sometimes it seems like the Bermuda triangle because it's so marvelous.

How fast can you run?

How well can you spell?

If the meteor hits tomorrow, whose bra will you grab?

Do you know how to dance?

Can you explain how calculus curves define the economic balance of the last thirty years?

Those are the questions that I'm interested in. And none of them are easier to answer than the next.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

30-second video spot

If you've got the time, I'd love to hear what you think of this. Love it? Hate it? Disrespectful? Ingenious? Misleading?

Don't be afraid to ruffle feathers.