prole

Bring the Troops Home Now - 0 Leave Them There Indefinitely - 17

At least I'm not vocally advocating for making them worse!

How many thread-killing "oooh, titties!" posts is that for you during the last week?

Yes, good point. When you consider the American landscape and communities that either haven't gone anywhere in 30 years, have been treading water, or have been in slow decline it's clear that the poor don't really represent much of a threat to social stability. The "mob" is mostly a racialized middle-class fantasy. The newly poor and the suddenly downwardly mobile however constitute the classic demographic for fascist movements in liberal democracies. Heelllooooo Teabaggers!

That America has been in decline for some time is not really news. Braudel, Wallerstein, Arrighi and others looking at the rise and fall of hegemonic powers over the long period of capitalist development have been writing about it since the 70s. The question for the medium-term (the next 50 years) is how the American political establishment and others will cope during the chaotic transition to a new order. The right in America and Europe (most certainly on the rise) seem hell-bent on some combination of looting what remains, actively betting against us, and mobilizing citizens using xenophobia and scapegoating to maintain their ability to smash and grab what they can while they can. As far as the left is concerned, Keynesian nostalgia and lifestyle politics (attractive though they are) are woefully overmatched for the hard-edged toxic stew of intensified economic hardship visited by the economic orthodoxy, crumbling political capacities, and the thundering ignorance of the American people that characterizes the current social landscape.

But what about this?

Please everyone, remember to vaccinate your children, and to spay and/or neuter your pets. Thanks.

What's his VOEB (Value Over Eric Byrnes)?

Evoking myth, emotion, and exhilaration in place of reason and compassion are characteristic of the fascist aesthetic and are used to great effect in mobilizing populist sentiment. Doesn't really matter whether she has clothes on or not, maybe you just represent the "potential crossover vote".

Sarah Palin is bigger than politics or celebrity now. She's a living embodiment of 21st century America. She is our Columbia, our Brittania, the personification of who we are as a people. Embrace and adore our Fuhr-chen, keep her close to your heart and protect her.

Some decent radio today... http://www.kcrw.com/media-player/mediaPlayer2.html?type=audio&id=tp101207is_what_wall_street_

Gregg Zaun is what's known as a "seasoned veteran". As in beef jerky seasoned with novocaine. I've heard they based the Eastbound and Down character on Zaun, the difference is that Zaun is still playing: Link. This guy has "Mariners starting catcher" written all over him.

Oh, it's working baby.

While wandering the winter meetings agog with a pinwheel and a bag of popcorn, Zurd managed to find what he was looking for. A first baseman? No, a company that's willing to produce a Milton Bradley bobble bubble-butt for 2011. The team should move to Las Vegas, keep the name "Mariners", and play in a ballpark shaped like a giant boat set in real water paid for by taxpayers. Safeco can then be used to house political prisoners and miscreants in the coming GOP administration. Poor Ichiro, I'd feel sorry for him having spent his whole Hall of Fame career here if I thought he gave two shits about it or anything else. He doesn't. He's still awesome though. The 1969 Seattle Pilots had a better record than last year's Mariners. Isn't that just fucking crazy? What does that even mean? Wouldn't it be cool if the Tacoma Rainiers played the Seattle Mariners in an exhibition game? No. It's a bummer about Niehaus though. He's in a better place now...literally. I am looking forward to Rick Rizz taking over more of the broadcasting duties though. He's the only one that can make a routine foul ball into the seats along the first base line sound like Bobby Thompson's shot-heard-round-the-world. WTF?

The most recent "compromise": We can keep our tax cuts, you can stay unemployed.

You are actually carrying on an imaginary conversation with Gene Simmons in this passage. Are you aware of that? What does that mean? I mean, what the fuck is going on here?

"In the words of Ted Nugent..." indeed.

"We welcome Gene Simmons"? You are fucking retarded! And I mean retarded in the real sense of the word. What does Whoopi Goldberg think, Bill? Has David Hasselhoff weighed in on the "gold question" yet? Who's next, Miss Cleo?

"In the words of Ted Nugent..."

So, Jose Lopez is gone. Opposing catchers will miss the cool breezes generated by his bat. Also, we got somebody named Erik Bedard. Yay? Sources at the winter meetings are reporting that Zurd is wandering around the convention in a beanie with a propeller on it looking for MLB schwag. That and ogling Ken Williams big black butt. Question: Does the Seattle Mariners Baseball Club actually exist? Call fucking Leonard Nimoy, maybe he can relaunch "In Search Of..." to find out. Apparently, the M's are looking to deal Aaardsmegma. Thats a bummer, because I always look forward to leaving the park 100%-deaf from his theme music whether or not he gets the save or not. The big news is that they'll be adding a fourth speedboat for the hydro race. That and the possibility of seeing a healthy Milton Bradley tased by Safeco Security during a game should keep Mariners fans packing the ballpark for the rest of Zurd's tenure. The speedboat is teal, by the way.

"I feel a lot better now.." [video:youtube]

Yeah, we'll just paint everything blue and talk backwards...

It's a good thing this team doesn't really need to make any major moves (guh.) because the Zurd is looking less like a major league GM than a member of Obama's economic team.