OK, so it's Wednesday and I still haven't written the Little Red Riding Hood story. Sorry, I'm swamped and I'm having some headache issues that make it difficult for me to sit and work at the computer for extended periods of time. So with that in mind, this will probably be short.
Out
Republican conservative candidate Michelle Bachmann has officially dropped out of the race for President of the United States. Obama's supporters couldn't be happier. She was the one candidate that he and his people feared most. They had already managed to assassinate Herman Cain, the second most feared opponent for Obama, so the defeat of Bachmann is a real high point for Obama's new year. Now all he has to worry about are a bunch of white males who all look alike to him and his supporters. They will be much easier for him to beat than a strong conservative woman or black businessman. From here on out, it's straight up attack ads calling the Republicans 'racists' and '1 percenters' and shit like that.
Gone
The music industry has indicated that they are going to abandon the production of CDs in 2012 and just focus on selling digital downloadable music instead. Personally I think this sucks in a big way. If I like a song I want a hardcopy of it. I want a good hardcopy, in fact. If I can get a SACD I will. And if not, a standard CD will do. But the iTunes downloads are crap in terms of quality and only good enough for songs I just like a little bit, about 99 cents worth and no more. So anyway, I am in the market for a new high quality turntable after hearing this news. I still have a large collection of vinyl, which incidentally is superior to standard CDs, so if they are going to give up on CDs, too, then I'm going to scarf up as many albums and CDs as I can from the artists I listen to and then, I suppose, live in the past from here on out.
Serve and Protect?
I'm reading more and more articles talking about the alarming trend in the militarization of American police departments, resulting in more and more "no knock" SWAT team home invasions, inexcusable sexual assaults of unarmed men and now a high school girl, tanks, M16s, armored Humvees, and other totally military war-specific weapons, assaults and strategies by police officers against ordinary and frequently non-violent American citizens, with absolutely no justice for the victims and no response from lawmakers or judges. Police are now shooting and/or sexually assaulting American citizens who are not armed, not fighting, not dangerous, and not resisting, and then charging those citizens with an avalanche of crimes that absolutely make no sense. Police in other Western nations have indicated some concern at what American police are doing, but inevitably, American abuses by police are slowly creeping into the practices and arsenals of those other nations as well.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. And good men are disinclined to fight when they are being shot in the testicles with shotguns and Tasers and semi-automatic M16s and handguns, or grabbed by, punched in, or kicked in the testicles while simply standing still and protesting for their basic human rights.
So anyway, my eyes are killing me. I really can't write anything more at this point. So, happy hump day!
12 comments:
How the heck do you post a gif on your blog? I'm impressed. Muchly.
Wha? They're getting rid of CDs? Wtf?
I've only just gotten used to them after living forever in the cassette period!
Hope your headaches subside. If not, get thee to a doctor, STAT!
Well, it's a New Year and all that jazz, so hopefully a lot of your own personal stuff will be resolved so you can move on and get on with the living of life. I mean, I know you're living life, but hopefully you know what I mean.
There's not much scarier than cops with military and un-governmented force. I just made that up. Yes! Anyway, the only thing scarier would've been Michelle Bachmann shooting up in the polls as the front runner.
*Shudder.*
Happy New Year, Memphis Steve!
Hope your headache has subsided........
I need to get our turnable fixed....
Ute, I totally cheated to get that gif image up there. It will probably break soon. Yes, they are getting rid of CDs. Insane, right? But true. The music industry is in a state of chaos. They really don't know what they're doing anymore.
Sybil, this new year is already promising some big changes. I just hope they are for the better. Cops with military weapons and bloodlust targeting ordinary citizens is a recipe for tyranny and murder.
AlleyC, well, my head isn't hurting just now. I'm hoping it remains that way throughout the rest of the night. I, too, need to get my turntable fixed. Or replace it.
Greetings Steve.
Regarding the CDs, since my last comment I posted here last week, I did read where some radio stations are pushing to return to vinyl. I was doing a lot of studio work as the world transitioned from reel-to-reel, to cassettes (forget the 8-tracks) and eventually to CDs. The only advantage CDs ever had on vinyl was their size and being somewhat less resistant to scratches, warping and dust. The fidelity on CDs never matched vinyl (assuming the record was clean and scratch-free and that a good quality magnetic cartridge was utilized). The digital data “burned” onto a CD is not as complete as the continual physical contours of the vinyl. I wonder if the stuff we will have to download will have embedded codes preventing copying or burning of the songs that are downloaded. It wouldn’t surprise me. Even if we could copy the downloads to a CD, we would now have to print all the inserts and buy the cases.
Regarding the militarization of police – look up a little thing called “ZBV (Z Backscatter) technology. I first read about it last year – it is kept rather quiet. Installed in helicopters and vans it can see right through clothes, into cars and through walls into homes. This is not the infra-red technology – it is X-Ray. Some police are now using these. They can tell what you have in your car and see you right through your bedroom or bathroom wall. Look it up and you should find some information (again, as I am new to commenting here, I am not sure if links are alright or not).
I enjoy your posts, as always. Best wishes for you this year!
Wow. I didn't realize that CDs were going extinct. But since I haven't bought a CD since 2002 (the year I realized that I do not enjoy ANY new music) this does not disturb me as much as I thought it would. All the music I enjoy, I already have! So I'm good. :o)
Man, thats all just fucking depressing!
(.)(.)
When a person possesses a Taser they can't wait to use it just to see what happens when someone is tasered. Believe me, the curiosity is overwhelming. Things cross your mind like...Do they pass out and crap/piss their pants? Do their eyes roll back scary-like when they gain consciousness? Do they mumble gibberish in a fetal position whilst crying out for their mommy? This by the way is exactly what happens when a man is kicked in the nuts. Men have to start wearing cups each and every day.
And before you ask… NO, I have never shot anyone with a Taser.
SBronx, I have the same reservations about all-digital music as you. I expect it to be so loaded down with restrictions on how many copies we can make and what we can do with it as to be useless to me. As for the backscatter technology, I had read about that before. We are in great danger of becoming a police state in the name of 'saving lives', 'reducing the danger to police officers', 'reducing violence against women', and whatever other excuse they find expedient and hard to argue against. Freedom is being taken away rapidly and we aren't getting any of it back. At least, not that I have seen during my lifetime.
Minxy, I keep discovering music I didn't know I enjoyed so it alarms me. I didn't become a fan of the Rolling Stones until a few years ago. I didn't appreciate Led Zeppelin until recently. There is a lot of old music that is new to me, so I don't have it on vinyl or CD yet.
Phishez, that's become a problem with my blog, too fucking depressing. I need to write something closer to funny. First I need to find my 'funny' again. I seem to have left it somewhere.
KatherineH, I don't doubt that for a second. I guess in a society that views violent sexual crimes against males as high comedy, and boys throwing themselves off roofs only to smash into broken screaming heaps on the ground as great entertainment, the idea of shooting a friend, relative or neighbor with a weapon just to see them flop around and scream seems fairly minor. Forget "1984" - we have already become the "Idiocracy"
Hey Steve, please no more zapping of twats or of twigs and berries. To maybe liven things up here in your blog you might want to something like…if you mention a negative you should offset it with two positives then it won’t seem negative.
You were supposed to write your own version of 'Little Red Riding Hood." Make it a comedy or a clever light drama…like Jonathon Livingston Seagull. :)
Kath, I actually tried to hire/persuade/blackmail/beg Steph to come write posts on my blog to maybe help with the funny a little, but she's not having any of it. It was worth a shot, though, eh?
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