kuniform

Table of Malcontents is a Marvel Secret Wars re-enactment. This really made me laugh, since it spoofs a series that came out in the early 80’s, right when I was in my long underwear comics collecting craze. This seris, and one before it whose name I can’t remember, which featured international super-heros (the non-American ones were all made up and lame, except the Black Panther), kicked off the cross-over idea for Mavel and the industry in general.

Pretty soon they realized they could make lots of moola by making kids buy issues of titles they wouldn’t have otherwise. Sheer genius. I stopped collecting comics seriously the day I took some of mine to a show with a buddy of mine. Aside from getting lowball ridiculous offers from parents of kids, and then getting worse offers from dealers, I heard a comix dealer tell a story that has stuck with me to this day.

Basically, reading the trade rags, this guy knew a major new villian was introduced to mess up Batman severely, causing his 1st appearance issue to sky-rocket in value. So, the dealer put up a sign trading all these gullible 8-12 year olds their 1st appearance for crap comics, and then a few months later sold them back those 1st appearances for tons of cash. Why not take them out in an alley and beat them up for their money? It’s about as nice. Anyway, that started me on reading things like Pogo, Krazy Kat, and graphic novels like the Watchmen, the work of Paul Pope and Fallout, a comic history of the creation of the atomic bomb.

This article by Jack Balkin puts the whole Congressional uproar over separation of powers in perspective. The money quote:

Instead of being upset about the President spying on Americans without a warrant,and in violation of federal law, the members of the U.S. Congress are upset about the FBI searching a Congressman’s office with a legal warrant. Instead of being upset about the cruel, inhuman and degrading tactics of the CIA and military interrogators, members of the U.S. Congress are upset that a corrupt Congressman’s office has been disturbed. Instead of being upset about abuses of government contracting and incompetence that have cost the tax payers countless sums of money and sapped resources from our troops overseas, members of Congress are busy protecting corruption in the halls of Congress itself.

This Gilded Age redux has got to end. I am not affiliated with the Democrats or the Republicans—I am more interested in keeping our elected officials honest, since they cannot seem to do it themselves. More and more, the media does not seem interested in pursuing these stories. The next ten years are critical to our country, and to our future.

The ability of those in power to lie and cover up, regardless of political affiliation or role (government, industry, etc.), is diminishing with the rise of citizen reporting and the age of the Internet. However, as the mainstream media attacks the blogosphere as another enemy, it ends up siding with those who hate press coverage at all. The media is willingly complicit in this turn of events, as it tries to keep hold of notions like number of eyeballs or impressions, controlling access to those in power, and dictating the narrative of history. If the MSM wants to know why those in my generation and those behind us don’t read newspapers, it’s because kids don’t care to read propaganda.

They’re more concerned with American Idol than presidential elections because American Idol is inclusive and responsive. The presidential elections, well, they’re not as credible (2000 election) or direct (Electoral College). Former Republican Congressman John Kasich, now
surprisingly with Fox News, made that comparison to talk about what is wrong with the kids in this country. Um, John… What’s wrong is that people in power don’t want the kids involved. If they were involved they’d ask our leaders to do things like fix the environment, stop spying on our citizens, stop butchering people overseas, and be honest. And what’s the fun in being a leader if you have to do stuff like that?

Hi everybody-

In mucking with the template a bit (mostly to make sure I’m accessible for RailsConf), I went through the logs. Low and behold, I broke the search template. It’s fixed now. All half-dozen of you daily searchers fear not! You can find your name with impunity.

Yay!

An extremely interesting story on how China and Russia, traditionally, two enemies for a long long long time, have suddenly started partnering up in response to our aggressive idiocy overseas. Who knew? No one who gets their news from the TV, apparently.

Was this in my dreams, or my nightmares:

Hey, hold on to your surf board. It may be a little slick from that Valdez oil slick we still haven’t paid to clean up yet. Hi, I’m Lee Raymond, ex-head of Exxon, guest blogger on kuniform today. Please don’t be angry because I was given a 400 million dollar retirement package, I am a human being like you. I’m just sharper at the game, boss! Hee hee hee. Haw.

Here, this fair and balanced Washington Times article will tell the whole story. Heck, you can always trust a paper owned by the moonies. It shows I need to work for my dead presidents, baby!

Heck, some of that isn’t even cash, it’s stock options, a coupla houses, use of a private corporate jet, and a $1 million/year consulting contract. Sheesh. It’s not all just cash, so get over it. I am a C-O-N-S-U-L-T-A-N-T. C’mon, you’re only pissed because it’s a retirement package bigger than the GNP of the three smallest countries in the world.

Ok, ok, you’re right, Jason (Man, this guy will not shut up with the useless opinions). You’ve convinced me. Time to donate all my ill gotten gains to charity. I wonder if I can find a group with similar interests. Hey, this Josh Marshall guy has a great article here. I really dig his progressive views.

Competitive Enterprise Insitute, you say? Attackin’ Al Gore, huh? Defending the pro-emissions folks?!?

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Pollution! Goooooooooo toxic chemicals! I’m a big rooter for emissions! Whoops.. Excuse me… That emission.. Must’ve been that guacamole you made, Kunesh. Too spicy, and it’s not the kind of gas that makes me a filthy rich man.

Well, it makes your air filthy, and me rich. Now, where’s my checkbook so’s I can buy off the public’s interest?