Deception

Noam Chomsky and Robert Trivers discuss deception.

Propaganda Overdrive

Couldn't even make it a week.

In an effort to diversify my news sources I had been getting a feed from an English language Iranian news source. While it was great to see all of the news stories from a radically different perspective, in less than a week I grew tired of the propaganda. It was the Iranian equivalent of FOX News.

News feed canceled.

LHC and mini-Big Bangs

Large Hadron Collider creates 'mini Big Bang' with lead ion.

And it didn't destroy the Earth... yet.

Self Referencing Propaganda

Hunter S. Thompson once cited rumors about Senator Muskie using the drug ibogaine and how that might account for his strange behavior. When questioned about it he reminded people that he had said it was a rumor which was absolutely true because he had started the rumor.

It's more fun when the rumors are outrageous and the reporters admit to circle jerking their own lies. Otherwise we just have a nasty propaganda machine just like the ones that my high school civics teachers told me made the Nazis and the Russians such evil bastards.

The Birth of Jesus H. Christ

It's only the week after Halloween and the Christmas flood gates have been released. The levy of sane, rational thought and financial responsibility gives way to what has become a two month long national disaster. People will over-eat, over-spend, and over-extend themselves to fulfill their impossible dream of a perfect holiday.

All to celebrate the retailer's equivalent of a golden calf, the birth of Jesus H. Christ. In a nation that always wants more Jesus, the "H" must stand for Heroin.

These are a few of my favorite things...

...and some of my least favorite.

Did I mention I'm back? The other campaign is over and the American Dream could use one hell of a fisting.

Worker Solidarity

Can the working class unite? (emphasis mine)

...it is almost common sense today, on both the right and the left, to equate the right-wing Tea Party movement with the working class. It is assumed that workers are more likely to be duped by the likes of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. However, analyses of the ranks of the Tea Party have shown that its supporters tend to be wealthier, older, better educated and whiter than the U.S. population as a whole.

Tea Baggers are better educated? That gives me so much more hope for the working class.

Still Crazy

It's not what it looks like. You don't understand. Yes, they bent me over backwards, took my money, and left me to die or rot in jail. They then slapped me around until I apologized for making them do all that. But deep down they are good politicians who really do love me. This little affair with business is just a passing thing. They'll come back to me and love me and treat me right. You'll see. You just don't know them like I do.

Or is comparing voters to domestic violence victims a bit crude? Fine, I'll try it another way.

So I met this total creepoid at a bar. They kept buying me drinks and nobody else was talking to me. Next thing I know I'm waking up someplace that isn't my home, I'm tied up, and my ass is bleeding. The creepoid is there. They stuff a tissue up my ass (so it doesn't stain the carpet) and ask me if I'd like to do it again. I figure since I can't remember what happened the first time, there's no harm in doing it a second time.

Still seems a bit complex.

Stupid poor people for maintaining the status quo!

Damn. It sounds right but it just isn't as much fun as a good analogy.

Every election cycle I think US citizens are going crazy. I think back on the good old days and remember that the USA has never been sane.