Republicans call for tax cuts. Surprised?

Technorati Tags: Taxes,Republican Party,Class War,Bush Administration,Los Angeles Times

Ah, Dear Gentle Reader(s), the joy of politics lies in the small print.

Today the Los Angeles Times gives us a little more insight into the “class warfare” which the Republican Party so often bewails. 

It’s a classic case of misdirection.  The class war is over, and you and I, DGR(s) have lost.

This last week the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted, each and every one of them, for more tax cuts.

That insight in the LAT is this:

The average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2% through the first six years of the Bush administration, and their average income doubled to $263.3 million, new data show.

Was your tax rate reduced by 1/3 and did your income double during the first six years of the Bush administration?

Thought not.

Welcome to awareness, fellow losers in the class war.

The Republican Party is not so interested in preventing a redistribution of wealth as long as that redistribution is trickle up.

Alas.

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Agnostics All

Technorati Tags: Religions,Agnostics,Andrew Sullivan

Here’s a quote from a recent posting by Andrew Sullivan:

What the defenders of the Flying Spaghetti Monster thesis' commensurability with actual theism fail to recognize is that belief in God generally doesn't have anything so "concrete" as its substance. It's not the particulars of God -- the "invisible man in the sky" imagery and such -- that matter.  In some sense these particulars aren't the content of theist belief at all; it's the "consequences" of God -- moral compunction, cultural taboo, social phenomena that amount to a de facto eschatology, etc. -- that actually constitute theism. And when measured by adherence to behaviors consistent with this belief, atheism suddenly appears much rarer. 

And that, Dear Gentle Reader(s), is what I’ve been trying to formulate into words both respectful and logical.  The “particulars” of the monotheist religions of the desert are truly irrelevant.  What is important is the social contract, the “consequences.”  “Do unto others” is far more important than a virgin birth or a resurrection or a single anthropomorphic deity.

When that basic reality becomes dominant in religious thought and seminaries, the world will be better off.

Unfortunately, researching the answer to a religious cui bono indicates that the power/money behind the current religious thinking will not cede anything to logic or the betterment of the planet’s occupants.

There’s one current theological dictum with which all can agree:  Man cannot grasp the reality of the godhead.  And since that reality extends far beyond an anthropomorphic supreme being, we’re all agnostics.  We simply don’t know because we can’t know.

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The Rottweiler Snarls; The Rottweiler Whimpers

Technorati Tags: Benedict XVI,John XXIII,Anti-Semitism,Holocaust Deniers

Poor Pope Benedict—he simply can’t win for losing.

Benedict XVI, (B-16), welcomes back into the fold of the Roman Catholic bishoparchy an outspoken Holocaust denier then says he doesn’t agree with the guy’s anti-Semitism.  Sounds like a version of “hate the sin, love the sinner.”

Pope John XXIII convened Vatican II which was designed to “modernize” the Catholic Church; B-16 seems determined to roll back VatII as much as possible. 

B-16’s actions speak louder than his words.

One wonders if the Prada Pope will be welcomed by John in the Conclave in the Sky.

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Editor? We don’ need no stinkin’ editor!

Technorati Tags: Editors,John Huston,Program Applications,Spell Check

With apologies to John Huston, Dear Gentle Reader(s), one moans the use of spell check in the absence of editors who are a bit more sentient than an application.

Here is a quote from today’s The Desert Sun obituary page.  It seems a man who recently died also recently, in 2007, “marred” the woman who became his widow.

One doubts she would agree.

A spell check program is less expensive than a live editor or at least a proof reader, but the trade off is of dubious value. 

 

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Oh, really?

Technorati Tags: Junk Mail

One has to be amused, Dear Gentle Reader(s), at the inadvertent humor contained in some email subject lines which grace the Junk box.

“grtou, keep your youthful look”

Um…Keep it?

Please.

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January quickies

1) It’s 86 degrees here in Palm Springs right now.  Top’s down.

2) Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is on the way out.  It’s about time.

3) No on 8 court case is going forward with substantial additional help from major unions.

4) To prosecute or not to prosecute the torture clique is ahead of its time.  Investigate first then, if warranted, prosecute.

5) Obama’s dinner w/conservative pundits was a good move on his part.

6)  Big Bang Theory is the absolute funniest program on the tube this season.

7) Two and a Half Men can hardly get any raunchier without full frontal nudity. 

8) CCH Pounder is underappreciated.

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Tits Up in a Ditch

Technorati Tags: Annie Proulx,Wyoming

That, Dear Gentle Reader(s), is the title of the final story in Allie Proulx’s recently released collection of short stories.  They all deal, natch, with Wyoming.

It’s a tough read. 

One wonders how citizens of that “Great State of” feel about Ms Proulx and her writing.

Recently Proulx made some minor headlines by announcing that she intended to leave Wyoming.

Read these stories, DGR(s), and let me know whether they are an homage to the people of the state or a…um…middle finger salute.  (You might also read the linked story for further insight.)

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