If you're like me, you're thinking -- you know what America needs to resolve its troubles, to firmly cement our middle class backbone, is another multi-millionaire president who is insanely tied to the banking industry.

Ah. This is Seattle. This is just how it is here. I didn't even notice!!

In reply to this comment by direpickle:
I am in pain at hokey artists/bloggers/whatever trying to sound profound!

In reply to this comment by bareboards2:
That was written by someone who isn't religious.

Are you in pain at the sacrilege or at the use of the word "god" in any context?



In reply to this comment by direpickle:
"It's also meaningful that the old cement factory looks a lot like an old cathedral. Cement is the god/substance of the city. The city is all human. And a human is a god to a human."

Argh, the pain.

That was written by someone who isn't religious.

Are you in pain at the sacrilege or at the use of the word "god" in any context?



In reply to this comment by direpickle:
"It's also meaningful that the old cement factory looks a lot like an old cathedral. Cement is the god/substance of the city. The city is all human. And a human is a god to a human."

Argh, the pain.

"It's also meaningful that the old cement factory looks a lot like an old cathedral. Cement is the god/substance of the city. The city is all human. And a human is a god to a human."

Argh, the pain.

They're not just focusing on income inequality or ownership of resources. Just because one clip focuses on it doesn't mean that the entire movement is fixated on one stat. There are a lot of stats the left are focused on, such as unemployment to name another. And it's not a stupid statistic to focus on. If there is too much stratification of wealth, and there is such a thing, then what other statistic would illustrate that it's gotten out of hand?! For the good of the economy, for everyone across the income range, if the rich possess too much wealth, there won't be enough people with money to purchase goods and services being produced. This hasn't a thing to do with the little orphans you helped in Mexico.

Is it being trumped to the point it's being played like an emotional dagger instead of being analyzed rationally? Of course. But come on, if you're gonna sit there and say that only the left is guilty of that, then you're being partisan. How is raising the marginal tax rate on the super rich a few percentage points "communist" or even "socialist" on an objective scale? Or even using those words to elicit a knee jerk reaction by people to say it's bad just because of the word instead of rationally discussing the policy? Or when anyone suggests raising taxes on the rich, it's automatically "class warfare"? Or you using derogatory terms like "NeoProgLibNaziCommunistSocialist" blah? Give me a break.

And yes, some wealth stratification is good. You want the people who work hard or are more talented to have more income. It keeps incentives in the system. I have no problem with that. But you're pretending that the income gap between super rich and poor is static, which misses the entire point. It's not static. It fluctuates. We're too the point now where it's getting absurd to the point that it's hurting the economy. You're also pretending that the stats only illustrate the gap between the super-rich and the poor, and that's not the case. The stats are showing the gap between the rich and everyone else, including middle class, which is being decimated.

You have very little patience when you hear a college-age son's of yuppies whining about they only earn $30K/yr for their liberal art major degree? What about me, the son of a solid middle class family who got one of those horrible liberal art degrees (Master's in Education, Bachelor's in History, Minor in International Studies) and got a "fake job" as a history teacher in a public school? Are you kidding me with this? (BTW, what a good person you are to say whose jobs are of value and whose aren't!) What I did for a living for four years combined produced less value than a commodities trader did in one year, whose job is essentially speculation that artificially drives up prices on the things they trade? You don't find something extremely absurd about that?

Let's do the math. At those salaries, a public school teacher is producing less than 10% of the value of what a commodities trader does, and a commodities trader isn't even required to have a college degree, and we're not even including the better benefits and bonuses. I'm not naive enough to think a public school teacher would ever be paid that well, but when the gap is getting wider, and wider, and wider, and you're seeing a public school teacher's benefits getting reduced, particularly retirement, I'm sorry, but something is horribly wrong here. The market is failing to address a basic societal problem. I'm not advocating a state controlled economy (aka Communism) to even it out. I'm advocating the gov't make it moderately more equal by raising the rich's taxes, and ease up on the poor and middle class. Tax capital gains like it's income, subject to the same brackets, etc.

>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:

Or is that a typo for "ProgLibDytes"
As with "neolibs" it is a word of my own creation which I used to describe the crazed, hardcore, insane left-wing liberal denizens of the world. Neolib was my default for a long time, but lately the vitriol of the left has gotten so prone to hate, anger, and insanity that I have moved to defaulting with "ProgLibDyte" to describe them. It is perfect because it is so close to "Troglidyte" (cave dweller) and covers "Progressives" and "Liberals" together. ProgLibDytes. Cave dwelling political liberals and progressives. Brevity is the soul of wit.
Which one should we obsess over?
How about not picking just one, and looking at all of them - or at least a LOT of them? Regardless, examining only the gap between the ultra-rich and the poor is about one of the stupidest metrics one could examine when it comes to economics. It means absolutely nothing in terms of either real income, economic trending, or any other meaningful metric. Such a myopic stat serves only one purpose, and that is to angry up the blood of the lower class.
There are always going to be really rich people who have so much money that they could eat gold bricks and crap diamonds. These guys are always going to exist in the same nation as people so poor they scrape the very bottom of the economic barrel. The difference between the top 0.1% and the bottom 5% is utterly meaningless. It is pure nonsense to get mad about the difference between Bill Gates and the guy who pumps gas. It tells nothing about anything.
I personally donate my time to help the poor. I've helped the poorest of the poor in US cities and I thought I knew what 'poor' was. Then I volunteered to help little towns in Mexico. When kids and widows weep in your arms just because you came to them with a few bags of cement to put a small concrete slab in thier one room dirt-shanty then you know you've hit the real thing.
In the US, even those who live in so-called 'poverty' have cars, TVs, homes, cable, internet, clothes, and money to spend at McDonalds on a lark. So I have very little patience when I hear college-age son's-of-yuppies whining about the fact that they only earn $30K a year (with benefits) for thier liberal-art's major compared to Wall-Street guys (who are actually performing a real job) earning 300K plus cash bonuses. Boo-freaking-hoo.

Keep packin' them pennies--you will probably need them someday

Oh - I am. No debts, and socking away money to make me a millionaire when I retire with slow, steady, reasonable investing. Hope you are too, because the way Obama and all the other bozos in Washington are running things we're all going to need to pack away as many pennies as we can.

Or is that a typo for "ProgLibDytes"

As with "neolibs" it is a word of my own creation which I used to describe the crazed, hardcore, insane left-wing liberal denizens of the world. Neolib was my default for a long time, but lately the vitriol of the left has gotten so prone to hate, anger, and insanity that I have moved to defaulting with "ProgLibDyte" to describe them. It is perfect because it is so close to "Troglidyte" (cave dweller) and covers "Progressives" and "Liberals" together. ProgLibDytes. Cave dwelling political liberals and progressives. Brevity is the soul of wit.

Which one should we obsess over?

How about not picking just one, and looking at all of them - or at least a LOT of them? Regardless, examining only the gap between the ultra-rich and the poor is about one of the stupidest metrics one could examine when it comes to economics. It means absolutely nothing in terms of either real income, economic trending, or any other meaningful metric. Such a myopic stat serves only one purpose, and that is to angry up the blood of the lower class.

There are always going to be really rich people who have so much money that they could eat gold bricks and crap diamonds. These guys are always going to exist in the same nation as people so poor they scrape the very bottom of the economic barrel. The difference between the top 0.1% and the bottom 5% is utterly meaningless. It is pure nonsense to get mad about the difference between Bill Gates and the guy who pumps gas. It tells nothing about anything.

I personally donate my time to help the poor. I've helped the poorest of the poor in US cities and I thought I knew what 'poor' was. Then I volunteered to help little towns in Mexico. When kids and widows weep in your arms just because you came to them with a few bags of cement to put a small concrete slab in thier one room dirt-shanty then you know you've hit the real thing.

In the US, even those who live in so-called 'poverty' have cars, TVs, homes, cable, internet, clothes, and money to spend at McDonalds on a lark. So I have very little patience when I hear college-age son's-of-yuppies whining about the fact that they only earn $30K a year (with benefits) for thier liberal-art's major compared to Wall-Street guys (who are actually performing a real job) earning 300K plus cash bonuses. Boo-freaking-hoo.

Thanks, Dudes! Christmas came early this year!



>> ^vaire2ube:

"Our service personnel and people, cherishing an absolute faith and a noble sense of moral obligation, will hold the great leader Comrade Obama in high esteem for ever, will never make the slightest concession or vacillation on the road of the Yes We Can revolution and the Hope and Change revolution, true to his lifetime instructions, and will staunchly defend his immortal revolutionary exploits and carry them forward for all ages and generations.
All the Democratic Party members, service personnel and people must firmly defend the single-hearted unity of the Party, the army and the people and cement it more solidly in faithful support of the leadership."

---
edited for qm's pleasure

You know that classic video with the kid that tries to jump in the pool but miscalculates where the water starts and face-plants on cement... Perhaps that kid learned to swim in this pool.

>> ^spoco2:

>> ^Deano:
It is astonishing to me that THIS particular video, from the best standup in the business, has not been sifted.

Really? You don't get why a shitty quality, hard to listen to video of a comic being abusive isn't sifted.
Yours and my definitions of comedy are worlds apart sir... worlds apart.


Wow, guy on the internet realises other people may have different opinions - hold the front page gents!

Yes it's unfortunate the video is not of the highest quality. Sometimes that happens. But context is everything which is why I added that.

He is simply not just being abusive. He's actually being very funny, coming up with spontaneous riffs on the city's sporting culture, insulting them in crude yet creative ways and then throwing in a non sequitur towards the end, which is a staple of comedy.

Everyone who has ever heard this realises what a talent Burr is and an underappreciated one at that. This certainly cemented his growing reputation at the time with standup fans and fellow comedians (this was in 2006, prior to that from 2001-2005 he was as he has put it "killing in obscurity". And every single Burr clip on the sift will prove that.

Now if you don't think Burr is funny, fair enough but please don't get on your high horse when you make a comment.

>> ^Skeeve:

I think the big issue is that, now that Americans are waking up and realizing how "free" they actually are, the powers that be are acting quickly to cement their position at the top.
It brings to mind the rise and fall of the Roman Empire; the Republic was no more but Augustus let the people believe their votes meant something, let them think the republic still functioned until, after generations, the emperors were too entrenched to be removed without violence.
It may not be too late for America, but it's following a similar course.


Indeed, though, once you had Emperors at all, the dream of Rome was dead really. Most of the history of Rome that is lauded over was in the years of the Emperors; which means our death throws might be longer than one would expect.

I think the big issue is that, now that Americans are waking up and realizing how "free" they actually are, the powers that be are acting quickly to cement their position at the top.

It brings to mind the rise and fall of the Roman Empire; the Republic was no more but Augustus let the people believe their votes meant something, let them think the republic still functioned until, after generations, the emperors were too entrenched to be removed without violence.

It may not be too late for America, but it's following a similar course.

It's a seasonal thing?!
And why did she just let them escape from the dish she put them in?!
Drop cement slabs on them!

This is probly a private story, but wtf.

This track (REZ) defined my adolescence. My older sister was a party kid (read: raver) and I thought she and her boyfriend were just about the coolest people on the planet when I was about 14. She had crazy colored hair and hosted all her crew's house parties at our house. He was an "agro-skater" as we called them in the mid-90s, and he taught me how to grind rails and do stairs backward. I used to hang around them like the classic cloying little brother, just trying to absorb all their coolness by proxmosis (that's a term for proximity osmosis I just made up).

Late one night, my sister came in to my room when I was in bed and she popped a disc into my stereo and cued up track nine on some nameless trance compilation and pressed the repeat button. REZ. I listened to that track over and over as I fell asleep that night, and for many nights after. I don't mean to be saccharine, but I think all your inner fourteen-year-olds will understand when I say that it gave me a sense of the universe, of all the sensory wonders this life and body had to offer, and even some beyond what I thought possible at the time. I can recite every note of that melody and every drum line in the track as if I were breathing. I danced by myself in the reflection of my bedroom window, making sure I could hit every beat and even started making up some silly shit I thought I would never show anyone. I spent about two years soaking up all the trance I could get (and thankfully my tastes grew more mature and eclectic as a result) and before too long, it was my turn to step out into the night.

My first party was a small affair at a tiny little club on 28th street, where I danced for an hour before falling fast asleep. As I came out of it, I thought I was still dreaming. It was about 3:30, and every single person in that club was sweating like a demon in an incredible symphony of movement. The first notes of the REZ melody were just coming in. I stood up, still a little unsure, or perhaps so excited I couldn't really believe it, and began to move. Before I knew it, I was writhing with the abandon I'd taught myself in the bedroom window and I truly had never felt so alive. A friend of mine had taught me how to figure-eight with sticks earlier in the night (we didn't have LEDs quite yet), and within seconds I was off. And people noticed. A lot of people noticed. By the apex of the track, I was at the center of a circle of party veterans, who seemed to see straight into the center of my transcendent bliss. I laughed like a madman. I cried like a baby. I danced like an animal. By the time the next track began to wind it's way in, I had made friends who followed me and whom I followed for years to come. I never heard REZ out at a party again, but I knew I didn't have to. It had given me an incredible gift, and I am still inspired and filled up whenever I hear it.

My sister broke up with that dude, and it turned out she wasn't really a party kid after all. But I was. Through and through I was a party kid. My friends and I, some of us wear suits now (@handmethekeysyou), some are still dancing (@youmakekittymad), some, well who knows...but I really do believe that what cemented my bond to that scene, and to the people I came to love, had a lot to do with REZ.

Looked like he hit a cement pumping truck.