Life, Love, and Liberty

I read The Onion!

U.S. Not Planning To Attack Iran, Says U.S. Iran War Czar

USS STENNIS, PERSIAN GULF—U.S. Iran War Czar Gen. Glenn Jacobs, the general director of the U.S. Center of the Invasion of

On a more serious note, I am entirely disillusioned by the current political situation in America. I can see why someone would want to be apathetic in it. I honestly can.

“Even today, America is certainly among the best places to live inside, despite its many troubles. For one thing, we still have many freedoms, at least tacitly, that most other countries do not. For another, living in America, we have much less a chance of being bombed by the U.S. government than do foreigners.”

~ Anthony Gregory

That last point gave me a real laugh. I am not sure if Anthony intended it to be funny or not though. It’s actually quite true!

The quote of the day feature is back!

“It’s no secret that after 9/11, the administration authorized the use of waterboarding, and that the technique was used on a number of detainees in 2002 and reportedly stopped in 2003. But the administration has never explicitly admitted that.

In fact, when Dick Cheney, seduced into loose talk by a friendly interviewer, confirmed that “a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives,” the White House furiously backpedaled, and Tony Snow did his best to proclaim that “a dunk in water” had not been a reference to waterboarding, but just “a dunk in the water.”"

~ Paul Kiel

Thanks, Tony. I feel much more reassured now.

The Last Thing America Needs Is Another President

For as long as I can remember, this country has gotten itself all worked up every four years or so trying to pick just the right person to be in…

Rove New Newsweek Columnist

Newsweek magazine hired the president’s former deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove, as a columnist last week. What do you think?

In The Know: Are America’s Rich Falling Behind The Super-Rich?

Americans Announce They’re Dropping Out Of Presidential Race

WASHINGTON—Intense media coverage of trivial issues, partisan bickering, and the relentless exploitation of 9/11 discouraged Americans from making it to Election Day.

My last digest hinted at some new awe inspiring blogs by writers on sexuality; so I kindly point my readers to the Lusty Lady blog of Rachel Kramer Bussel of the big apple. She has become the most recent recipient of the “added to Nick Manley’s blogroll” award.

*Applause *Applause*

Once I alert her to my website’s existence by means of a congratulatory email on her eccentric and sex-positive writing/personality — what I can glean of it from the web, at least — ; perhaps she will give an acceptance speech

Now; I am sifting through her favorite posts on the sidebar to see if there are any I can put in my sexuality category when I redo the insightful reads listing on the sidebar. During this, I came across a post where she mentioned this:

whether that meant going off to play chess at age 15 in Brazil

Wow! Now; I am in complete envy of the friendly variety. I’ve only worked the chessboard in the U.S. in my lifetime. This person has caught my eye now.

Anyhow, I wish I could “stop” discovering awesome blogs maintained by people who are 3 billion miles away. Or snap my fingers to make everybody I adore in some fashion or another be instantly transported with me to some really cool urban environment in short distance from a more rural area; for variety’s sake.

Or I could just apparate — provided that J.K. Rowling hasn’t patented the technique yet — and visit people like that; don’t want to uproot anyone involuntarily

On a final note; check out her very very lusty photographs while you’re browsing through her blog archives. If I am ever living in the NYC area, then I will seek to woo her into a passionate romance.

A combination of intellectual acumen and wonderfully delicious looking breasts is more than enough to make Nick swoon with a starry eyed look on his face.

Off to the big apple! To see Chris Sciabarra. He’s quite possibly the coolest guy to ever feed the ducks of Brooklyn, and I will also court him.

Bisexual polyamory: the best of both worlds.

Note: I am not actually off to visit NYC this very moment or tomorrow, yet I will most definitely meet Chris Sciabarra someday; for all of the reasons detailed here . As for why this post would be of interest to left-libertarians; I thought they might like to know of a new blog listed on my sidebar. This post smacks of my personality and was quite spontaneously written. I had a great time writing it too. Such a nice diversion from the genocidal actions of the U.S. military in Iraq.

An unfinished post got posted early and it also messed up the website’s layout. It revealed to the world just how bad of a speller I am

I don’t think spellcheck is helping improve that, so I should sound out the words more often.

And I quote:

Today is a typical day for 51-year-old J. Gordon Grantham III, as he drives his luxury-model Cadillac to a favorite restaurant to meet with potential investors. Over a lunch of $45 porterhouse steaks, a deal is brokered, and, using his company credit card, Grantham picks up the tab.

At first glance, this scenario might not seem terribly unusual. But J. Gordon Grantham III is one of the nation’s approximately 2.6 million recipients of corporate welfare.

Grantham, CEO of Global Tetrahedron Consolidated, one of the world’s largest petrochemical-manufacturing concerns, receives more than $850 million a year from the federal government in the form of tax breaks, incentives, grants and no-interest loans.

Defenders of Grantham’s welfare-queen lifestyle say people like him wouldn’t be able to survive without a lifeline of public aid. But many Americans are growing tired of what they view as abuses of the system. To them, Grantham and corporate-welfare recipients like him are living high on the public dole, growing fat on the handouts of others.

“I work for a living,” said Reston, VA, delivery driver Ted Schacht, 41. “I’m a responsible, tax-paying citizen. I can barely afford the insurance payments on my ‘91 Subaru. So why should my money pay for some welfare recipient’s imported Italian loafers?”

“These parent companies can’t afford to support the subsidiaries they already have, but they go right on acquiring more of them anyway,” said Ellen Gertsen of Medford, OR. “And who winds up paying for them? Hard-working taxpayers like me, that’s who. It’s a damn shame, is what it is.”

Defenders of the corporate-welfare system say such attitudes are insensitive and cruel. “These are not just corporate-welfare recipients; these are human beings, struggling to survive,” said Sen. Don Nickles (R-OK), one of Congress’ most outspoken proponents of the current welfare system and co-sponsor of the Aid To Companies With Dependent Subsidiaries Act. “They have households full of domestic servants to support. Many of them can’t even provide decent housing for their polo ponies. Offering them a helping hand is the only decent thing to do.”

Corporate welfare accounts for 95 percent of all government welfare expenditures each year, a figure many find excessive. Yet, according to the recipients themselves, it is not nearly enough.

“Even after downsizing 75 percent of our domestic workforce and relocating half of our manufacturing plants to Central America and the Far East, third-quarter profit margins were still 15 percent off last year’s figures,” says Charles Beeman, 47, associate vice-president of a multinational textile conglomerate. “If I can’t make ends meet by the end of the fiscal year, I could lose my corner office.”