Listics

Thanks to the old Kerr Mudgeon for turning me on to this Bish cartoon (© 2005 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co.).

This beats the hell out of duct tape and and a polyethylene poncho.  I’m buying several "totally encapsulated suits" right now.  They can’t hurt me anymore.  Thanks to the CBO for the link.

EuroYank takes on the Prison Industrial Complex and American Apartheid.  The data are appalling.  The story is true.  Read it and weep.  (And thanx to Harry for the link to EuroYank).

Global Voices is an international effort to diversify the conversation
taking place online by involving speakers from around the world, and
developing tools, institutions and relationships to help make these
voices heard.

The Berkman Center’s MacKinnon and Zuckerman continue to enhance the Global Voices blog.  They’ve added a "world blog index and aggregator" as well as a daily "world blog round-up."

Hammering it home… blogging is writing. 

What’s the difference between fundamentalisms, between the Kalshnikov and the M14 7.62 caliber semiautomatic rifle?  The Wikipedia avers:

Opposition to homeschooling comes from varied sources, including
organizations of teachers and school districts. Opponents’ stated
concerns fall into several broad categories, including: academic
quality and completeness; socialization of children with peers; and
fear of religious or social extremism.

My concern regarding extremism sparked this flight of fancy, but I can’t find anything to substantiate the idea right now.  We have a constitution that says people can do what they please when it comes to the myths and mysticism associated with their "religion."  And if they want to wear sheets and take target practice out behind the biffy, who are we to criticize?

I’ve googled it and HighBeamed it and I’ve come to the conclusion that the American Madrassas are well hidden.  A less paranoid person might think they don’t exist.

Fool to cry…  that’s some timeless shit.  No West Wing, no whitebread HMS Pinafore leggy blonde bullshit… strictly a colored girls go doot da doot Lou Reed kind of thing and the question has been asked and answered regarding how many people of any color that I know that go doot-da-doot dad doot da doot hey baby, take a walk on the wild side… and if that’s an Oscar Wilde kind of thing well God save the Queen and ain’t it great to be an Englishman on this bright and foggy day…

I’ve been feeling bound up, creatively constipated, uptight about things when I should be fearless… can I scrape it together for Nashville, can I put together a trip to Seattle, why don’t I write it down and sell it to the only bidder, I mean maybe I should just write a letter to the governor.

Yes.  That is the ticket.  A letter to the governor indeed.  He’ll be sooo glad to hear from me.  But somebody’s gotta tell him and there’s no use to sit and ponder these insignificant patterns when there’s a truth to tell.  Is there?

And how does real life differ from fanfic?

Madame Levy shares this sentence, magnificent in it’s almost Mandarin reliance on pitch and emphasis:

Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.

She translates the sentence as follows:   

"American bison habitually bamboozled by members of their own
species that have themselves been bamboozled by others of their ilk
(that is, buffalo whom other buffalo who have themselves been buffaloed
by buffalo regularly buffalo) tend to engage in bamboozlement."

I for one am glad that she did not confuse us further by suggesting an urban origin of these shaggy beasts… say a city in western New York State.