Our Story Thus Far...

As promised, a Kevlar Primer:

Comedy Hour - Oh, the humor.
The Dish - You gotta be in it to win it.
Pass the Rum - It doesn't matter what race or gender your captain is when the ship is going down.
An Alternative - Part One in the Humbug Series.
Rats Invade Sweden! - Socialism breeds rats.
Federalism Kills Zombies - Let's get that on some t-shirts...
A Disconnect - Why taxation by fiat is the bane of democracy.
Slippery Slope - A step by step guide to evil.
Box of Rocks - Unconsciousness begets more of the same.

Please stay tuned...

Pain and Plunder

Dear Constant Reader,

I was recently asked on a local forum if I didn’t have something better to do with my life. I believe the question was in regards to this blog, although the questioner’s lack of eloquence left much up in the air. Let us assume that he was indeed wondering about the importance of my microcosmic writing here, relative to the life-sized chunks that make up… well, life. And the answer to that question is… a tricky one.

It is incredibly discouraging to see the world as we know it crashing in upon itself, with not many people around to shore it up. The foundations aren’t there – or perhaps they are, but just are not adequate to support the burgeoning mass of post-modernity that teeters like a tumor on stilts above our heads.

I believe firmly in the concepts of Liberty and Democracy, as seen through the lens of our Constitution. And I have a few things to say about these topics, in a voice gradually becoming that which it will be. I enjoy this process. It is vitally important that we encourage an active dialog about the ways we are all failing in our basic responsibilities as citizens of a great Republic. Yes, that includes me, too.

However, this has not been my only goal. I set out to create a habit in myself –the habit of writing daily. Granted, not every post involved writing. But the process was engaged every day, and it really isn’t so much about daily writing as it is a daily effort to create in general. And so, Mission Accomplished, in a factual and non-Bush sense. But in the pursuit of this goal, I have found two things happening concurrently:

1.) I have wanted to write more, and quote less. I look back on these thirty-some-odd posts and see a lot of indented blocks of things that are not my own. And this is all fine and good, because my intent was to evoke a sense of context in which these various items may not normally be rendered. But the daily posting schedule leaves a lot of what I would like to say out in the cold. Which leads me to point # 2.

2.) The universe sees fit to gift me with little dribs and drabs of time here and there… And of course, these little morsels burn away just as easily as the rest. We all have to burn our time at the altar of life – and it is one’s hope that the sacrifice is worth it. (That “the pain is worth the plunder,” as a very good band has put it.) And as a question of the time/worth ratio, I believe I can do better with this blog and my life in general by changing the schedule of posting to one of more weekly dimensions.

All right, enough already. What does this mean? Expect a few changes over the next week or two. My next post will only be a summary of the Kevlar Essentials, for anyone who is going to pick up reading this thing in the future and says, Keanu-style, “Whoa.” After that, there will be no posts for several days. But have no fear, Constant Reader, I will not be forsaking this good habit of creating daily. Posts will be fewer, but the things that make this blog unique will be more potent, more plentiful, and just more gosh darn warm and fuzzy. With the occasional pointy stick thrown in for good measure. And maybe a stone or two. And some broken glass. Ok, warm and fuzzy will probably be mutually exclusive. You might get warm, you might get fuzzy, but don’t count on both at the same time.

In any event, to answer the Inquisitor’s question from paragraph one: “Yes, I do have something better to do. Thanks for pushing me in that direction. Now bugger off. All this better stuff sure as hell isn’t going to do itself.”

As for the rest of you… I think you’re all pretty cool. And if you wanted to maybe forward a link to this blog on to all of your cool friends, I certainly wouldn’t stand in your way. There’s plenty more Ideas to come.

Yours sincerely,
ll REVO ll

Box of Rocks

At the risk of repeating myself, I am about to repeat myself.

In a previous post, I quoted our President Bush:

"I think actually the spending on the war might help with jobs, because we're buying equipment and people are working. I think this economy is down because we built too many houses."

I resisted the urge to start pontificating on this again. (For a good explanation of what's called The Broken Window Fallacy, take a look here or here.) That is, until I just couldn't take it any more.

Here's what tipped the cart, or broke the camel's back, or perhaps broke the cart and tipped the camel, I'm not sure which. A Reuters article appeared this fine second day of March, telling the story of one Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel-winning economist, and his book "The Three Trillion Dollar War."

"It used to be thought that wars are good for the economy. No economist really believes that anymore," Stiglitz said in an interview. Asked if the war has contributed to the U.S. slowdown, Stiglitz said, "Very much so. To offset that depressing effect, the Fed has flooded the economy with liquidity and the regulators looked the other way when very imprudent lending was going up," Stiglitz said. "We were living on borrowed money and borrowed time and eventually a day of reckoning had to come, and it has now come."

And while we're talking about Reuters articles, take a look at this one:

The dollar's sharp slide deepened on Monday when it fell to a record low against a basket of major currencies as expectations for more aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate cuts ignited selling of the U.S. currency.

When you really start to look at all of this, you can't help but wonder what on earth the people we trust to make these decisions are thinking. It starts to raise questions in my mind about the efficacy of a representative democracy to address the needs of the People. Of course, the main alternative is a pure democracy, which is akin to mob rule. So here, perhaps, is the Achilles Heel of the representative system: water cannot rise above its source. In other words, if the People are about as conscious as a box of rocks, we're probably going to end up with leaders of the same calibre. But, if we unplug ourselves from the social morphine delivered to us via all our little distractions, then who knows what we might become aware of.

"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day." --Thomas Jefferson

Socialist Crows

This is absolutely brilliant. Absolutely bloody brilliant. This is the best get-rich-quick scheme I have ever seen. Imagine: putting crows to work. That's right, crows a la Hitchcock. Evidently, these birds really are super-smart, but instead of going mad and pecking my eyes out, they're going to make me lots and lots of cash. I'm telling you, I am going to make millions. Until they unionize, and then I'm in trouble. But until then folks, watch your spare change, because the Crows are coming to redistribute your wealth. Kind of like another dark and shady bunch I know of...

Here it is. Cha-ching!