September 12, 2011 by mike.

So, there is lots of discussion about how scary it is downtown.  It’s not just dirty, with houseless people urinating on the sidewalks, it’s just downright scary!!

It has been pretty clear for generations (and especially in the past decade) that the First Amendment right to assemble and petition for redress of grievance and to exercise free speech is just too inconvenient to remain on the books.  Just look at the pedestrian interference  ordinance.  If the right to assemble for any reason interferes with the ability of a suburban shopper to come downtown and empty their wallet at a place like the Alpine Experience (just an example) instead of enjoying the homogenous shopping experience at Cabela’s or Walmart, then the first amendment is dispensable.  

The first amendment is archaic.  The updated, if unofficial primary civil right appears to be the absolute right to shop in a safe and sterile environment.  So, Amendment One - get out of the way.

So, aside from the fear that accrues from running into a strange looking person downtown, why don’t we make the downtown really safe by scuttling Amendment Two as well?

Wouldn’t we all feel safer if we knew when we head out to go shopping downtown that we are not going to be sharing the sidewalk with folks packing heat?   Why is the Olympia City Council so timid.  Dump the second amendment and let’s get the fourth out of the way as well.

Come on, let’s make the downtown really safe.  Let’s outlaw any firearms in the downtown core and give the police blanket authority to conduct patdowns for weapons.

I want pants on dogs that are over twenty pounds as well.  Some of these animals are just indecent.  What’s up with that?

These guys also should not be allowed downtown unless they promise to turn the volume down and act in a civilized manner.

Posted in Defies Categories, Humor, Connect the Dots | Print | 1 Comment »

May 3, 2011 by mike.

It is widely reported in Puget Sound region that the undead are unhappy about the Washington State slash and cut budget.

MONSTERMASHBUDGET$LA$H!
Friday the 13th! BEWARE! ZOMBIES AT THE CAPITAL!
ZOMBIE WALKOUT! Noon! Thinking minds will soon be turned to mash thanks
to the privatization of higher education in Washington! The government is leaving the youth little hope or opportunities as the blood thirsty Vampire Gregoire and her corporate monsters drain every drop of money
from services and higher education.

ALL STUDENTS! WALK OUT AT NOON! HIGHSCHOOL to DOCTORATE!

Sylvester Park @ 1:30 for a slow ZOMBIE MARCH on the Capital!  Not a student? FEW WILL BE! But this Zombie march is for everyone! March if you to believe an all cuts budget is UNACCEPTABLE & INEXCUSABLE! The banks, corporations and filthy rich aren’t hurting, only the good
working people are made to suffer! We all have family and friends, if not ourselves, who will be affected by this bad budget! Come sing and
dance to the Monster Mash Budget Slash!

Wear your best Zombie attire! Our zombie demands? What else?
BRAINS! BRAINS! BRAINS!

For more info call 360-545-3267 <tel:360-545-3267>
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117433595004682

Inspired by UNDEAD OLYMPIA, http://www.undeadolympia.com/
<http://www.undeadolympia.com/>

Posted in Music, Politics, Humor, Connect the Dots | Print | 1 Comment »

March 28, 2011 by mike.

Joe Bageant died yesterday.  He fought a good fight against cancer the past 4 months and kept writing and posting.

Here is part of a piece he wrote not too long ago:

AMERICA: Y UR PEEPS B SO DUM?

Ignorance and courage in the age of Lady Gaga

By Joe Bageant
Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico

If you hang out much with thinking people, conversation eventually turns to the serious political and cultural questions of our times. Such as: How can the Americans remain so consistently brain-fucked? Much of the world, including plenty of Americans, asks that question as they watch U.S. culture go down like a thrashing mastodon giving itself up to some Pleistocene tar pit.

One explanation might be the effect of 40 years of deep fried industrial chicken pulp, and 44 ounce Big Gulp soft drinks. Another might be pop culture, which is not culture at all of course, but marketing. Or we could blame it on digital autism: Ever watch commuter monkeys on the subway poking at digital devices, stroking the touch screen for hours on end? That wrinkled Neolithic brows above the squinting red eyes?

But a more reasonable explanation is that, (A) we don’t even know we are doing it, and (B) we cling to institutions dedicated to making sure we never find out.

As William Edwards Deming famously demonstrated, no system can understand itself, and why it does what it does, including the American social system. Not knowing shit about why your society does what it makes for a pretty nasty case of existential unease. So we create institutions whose function is to pretend to know, which makes everyone feel better. Unfortunately, it also makes the savviest among us — those elites who run the institutions — very rich, or safe from the vicissitudes that buffet the rest of us.

I will miss the guy.

Posted in Friends and Heroes, Humor | Print | 1 Comment »

February 28, 2011 by mike.

Does Rumsfeld have lizard dna? I don’t know, but I sure get a kick out of listening to Louis CK ask the question.  Louis says that the lizards can only answer honestly to that question or avoid answering the question.  Something lizardy about their inability to directly lie about their lizard origins.

I guess the lizard dna question is going to be one of the known unknowns. Buy the Rumsfeld book for more background.

Posted in Politics, Humor, War Criminals | Print | 1 Comment »

February 25, 2011 by mike.

Not sure about the answer to that question, but

There are some important advances being made every day.   TGIF

Posted in Humor, Connect the Dots | Print | No Comments »

February 23, 2011 by mike.

Have we hit Peak Rock?

Hypothesis: Current scientific thought suggests we have already achieved max rocking level.

Perhaps max-rocking levels could be radically increased with creation of 30ft tall motion controlled guitar thrashing robot simulacrum.

Technology rocks.  Click on the picture to jump to the website.

Or another choice.  If you prefer tailgating to thrashing: Roastmyweenie.com

Roast’m with Marsha Mello.

It appears these grill accessories are designed and manufactured by Texans.

Classy.

Posted in Humor | Print | 1 Comment »

February 10, 2011 by mike.

Pick the date and time that Hosni Mubarak departs Egypt and heads off to one of his other estates.

I am going with Tuesday, Feb 15th,  1:00 pm Cairo time.

He’s leaving, but he’s going to be one of the last ones to figure that out.

God help us, I hope we support the Egyptian people’s desire to set their own course instead of rallying support for a “transition to democracy” that lets our CIA guy Sulieman continue the oppression and corruption of the Mubarak government.

Posted in News, Politics, Humor, Connect the Dots | Print | 1 Comment »

February 10, 2011 by mike.

Write your own caption or click on the photo to read the article at Grist.   Use the hyperlink if you prefer.  See, we have choices!!

Posted in Humor, Small Foot Print | Print | 1 Comment »

February 7, 2011 by mike.

Thought I would post something before I continue the work week.  I was in the office for a few hours this weekend trying to keep up.

A few things jumped out of the news.

George W. Bush was scheduled to travel to Switzerland and read from a teleprompter for an undisclosed sum of money, but the trip was canceled.  The WA Post has coverage.  The trip is off because protests were being organized and more importantly, several human rights groups were planning to use the occasion to inflict the rule of law on W by persuading the Swiss to respond appropriately and open an investigation of the man who admits he ordered that prisoners be waterboarded.   W better hunker down in Crawford and keep his travel plans quiet if he wants to avoid a Pinochet moment.

Here is another story that jumped out at me.

Hosni Mubarak’s holdings might be worth about 70 billion dollars.  It’s like Where’s Waldo.  How many of those bucks in holding originated from US military support to Egypt?   The man has done alright for himself, hasn’t he?  Maybe it’s time to move on in the manner of the Shah instead of the manner of Saddam?

Posted in News, Politics, Humor, Connect the Dots, War Criminals | Print | 1 Comment »

February 4, 2011 by mike.

This is not from a Hitchcock movie.

Posted in Humor | Print | 1 Comment »