Archive for the ‘An American Portrait’ Category

Bush to break vow of silence

Monday, November 8th, 2010

Apparently former president Bush has been engaged in, as the NY Times puts it, a “self-imposed silence about his presidency” which will end with an interview tonight in prime time.

Two thoughts:

1. What is the difference between a self-imposed silence and no one giving a shit what you have to say?

2. It’s a common Network TV strategy to schedule programming  dogs opposite Monday Night Football because it’s a sure-fire ratings loser (even with MNF on cable).  So the timing of this interview makes perfect sense to me.

2012 Election Headlines

Friday, November 5th, 2010

With the 2010 elections now in the books, it’s time for pundits to start looking forward to 2012. So I’m going on record right now, and writing what I think the story post-election 2012 will be, taking into consideration my vast expertise in matters of politics and future-seeing–only time will tell if I am correct:

2012 ELECTION STORY:

Voters yesterday (Tuesday), delivered a clear message to Washington: it’s time for a change. The old political bickering and partisan politics will no longer be accepted, and it’s time to put the focus back on Main Street.

Of particular concern to voters were matters of domestic and foreign policy, as well as the culture of Washington. Unpopular incumbents find themselves today out-of-office, while more popular incumbents held their seats.

If anything, the message to both Democrats and Republicans is the same: voters want a smaller, limited government and increased job security through more government job programs, more funding for  schools, roads, defense, social security, and other government programs.

As one politician said: “The voters told us what they want. They want specifics and good policies that are not the status-quot, but different in some specific and good way.”

Certainly, it is not hyperbole to suggest that history will consider this the most important election of all time.

Teens who have sex more likely to have sex

Monday, November 1st, 2010

So says this brain-busting study on the relationship between oral sex and sex sex.

This is consistent with my own research which shows that teens who lay on-top of each other naked are more likely to engage in intercourse than teens who do not lay on top of each other naked.

Because you can’t spell REACTIONARY POLITICS without two of the letters in SEX.

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Vanity Faire launches its “Red Meat” calendar, filled with the sexy men of the GOP.  Almost as un-sexy as my new Twilight calendar, and just as white.

The next big thing

Monday, October 18th, 2010

Why will Millennials share personal banking information with each other online in the future? Because they can.

After watching The Social Network this weekend (a whimsical movie that imagines an alternate reality in which women at Ivy League colleges act like porn stars) and being forced to digest a presentation on the Millennial Generation, compliments of a cable news station whose initials are M.T.V., I have figured out how to invent something that will make me billions.

Here are the assumptions guiding my invention:

  • Great inventions (specifically in the world of technology) fill a consumer need that no one could have imagined existed and, at the time of their invention, seem very stupid.
  • Young people today feel comfortable sharing information online that previous generations feel uncomfortable sharing.
  • Therefore future generations will likely feel comfortable sharing information the current generation is uncomfortable sharing.
  • The future is going to be worse than the present, so all advancements must err on the side of something we find totally abhorrent today

With these solid principles in place, I offer up my proposed website BANKSTER.  This is a site where people publicly post their Social Security number and checking account balance for all their friends.

You can comment on peoples balances and even try to predict which of your friends will over-draw their accounts. You get ranked against all your friends based on how high your balance is, thus driving rampant competitive capitalism. I’m not sure why you get to see everyone’s social security numbers other than because it seems like a terrible idea.

Awkward Phone Conversations

Friday, October 1st, 2010

Hello, Guatemala? It’s me, President Obama. So….anyways…about those thousands of STDs we gave you back in the 1940s.…sorry about that. I mean, I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time but…well…you know how it was in the 40s….crazy times man.  We owe you one. Seriously.  Everything else cool down there?

The key to affordable housing markets is suckiness

Friday, August 20th, 2010

This "affordable" Detroit fixer-upper could be yours, NO MONEY DOWN!

What do Syracuse, Indianapolis, Detroit, Youngstown, and Buffalo have in common? If you answered that they are hell-holes that no person would ever want to live in, you’re only part right–they are also the top 5 most affordable housing markets according to this unhelpful article which mistakenly assumes “affordable” and “good” are synonyms.

Next: Why “under a freeway overpass” is the most affordable place to live regardless of real estate prices.

Americans’ favorite way to drink beer? Orally.

Friday, August 13th, 2010

Despite new technology, a cutting CNN poll reveals that Americans’ favorite way to drink their beer remains orally.  Just the latest in a string of bad news for inject-able alcohol companies like ALK-I-POKE.

Hips Don’t Lie: Illegal Immigration Policy Debate Rages

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Could this woman be an illegal immigrant? No, note the non-yellow eyes.

From where I’m sitting, in Phoenix, Az at the heart of the storm over Arizona’s new, controversial immigration law, the debate is literally raging outside my window.  (Actually, right now they’re re-painting the building across the way from me, so the debate isn’t raging so much as it’s setting up painter’s tape around the building’s windows. But after that, it’s sure to start raging again).

The law makes it illegal to be in Arizona if you are not a legal immigrant, and gives police officers the power to confront someone they suspect of being illegal and ask about their immigration status.  This has caused concern in two areas: One, does the state have the power to enforce immigration policy, or is that the business of the federal government?  Two, might it lead to racial profiling if police are expected to spot those who appear to be here illegally?

I for one find the whole uproar silly.  First, states should be allowed to do whatever they want whenever they want regardless of federal law. That’s why I firmly support certain southern states interests in succeeding from the union, and Wyoming’s long-held desire to allow people to drive on whatever side of the road they feel like it.  If the Civil War taught us anything it’s that if states get to do whatever they want regardless of federal policy, nothing bad will ever happen. That’s just fact.

The second point is more complicated. Can police use means other than race to identify “suspiciously illegal” characters? Of course, if they know what to look for.  For example, here are some traits almost all illegal immigrants share that have nothing at all to do with race:

  1. They are often shifty, not staying in one place for more than a few minutes. This is not, as some assume, a result of fear, but a biological quirk: If an illegal immigrant stands still for more than ten minutes he or she will die.
  2. Their bright yellow eyes, which have evolved to give them super night-vision
  3. The way they float when tossed into a body of water (if they sink, they were just a terrorist)

Luckily, it appears the end to the debate is in site. The pop-singer Shakira is on her way to Arizona to try and help resolve the situation. Some may wonder how a Grammy-winning singer is going to fix a problem as complex and contested as immigration, but those people don’t realize how beloved Shakira is in Arizona. She is literally a God here, with many mystery cults popping up in her honor.  This is why when AZ finally releases it’s own currency next year (getting off the dreaded dollar-standard), Shakira will be on the newly minted $3 bill.

The Future of America

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

It’s very simple. There are only two possible futures for the United States of America (because when I say America, I hope it is obvious I don’t mean Canada or Mexico).

In the first future, our ever-increasing debt, foreign entanglements across the globe, growing class inequality at home, a shrinking manufacturing base and increased reliance on foreign imports, combined with more and more corporate-owned news dumbing down the information we receive, leading to an apathetic, uneducated voting population, in conjunction with growing climate problems from global warming and an over-reliance on foreign oil, all lead to the slow unraveling of American power, until we are forced to retract our imperial presence around the world, leading to decreased relevance globally, reducing our overall quality of life until we end up with a fragmented, largely impovershed nation, governed by a handful of wealthy families who occasionally are forced to suppress violent uprisings by retracting all of our civil liberties until we are essentially another run-of-the-mill, 2nd world dictatorship.

But that is only one possibility.

In the second future, we figure out how to recreate dinosaurs from DNA trapped in tree sap and, using creative gene splicing, create a race of super-intelligent dino-poets who lead us into a new golden age of enlightenment as we traverse the country on the backs of gentle brontosauruses, drinking honey tea, and reciting verses from Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

This is all obvious.

What isn’t clear is which path we’ll take.  In truth, there is no way to know. The future is mysterious that way.

One thing that is for sure, there is no possible scenario in which current US currency will hold any value, so if ever there was a time to invest in 1992 Donoraus Baseball cards, now is that time. Luckily, I happen to have a TON  of 1992 Donoraus Baseball cards in my parent’s basement, and they could be yours for a reasonable fee.

Only serious inquiries please.