Defies gravity
Can spit really far
Almost touch my toes
Can cut a fly's legs off with a beer cap from 20 paces
Know how to say useless stuff and prattle on in a dozen languages
Don't know when to shut up
Favorite Quotes
To be for or against the Plague, it's much the same thing.
Fiddledee, how a body shure do get around - just 2 weeks ago I was in Mississippi and now I'm all the way to Tennessee...
Eat or Be Eaten
Better to be pissed off than pissed on.
Biography
Born in swaddling clothes (designer, of course) at the confluence of big waters, my first recorded words were "Dad, can I have the keys to the car?" Raised a Southern Pedestrian, my musical talents were recognized at an early age, leading to my being exiled to the shed out back with a stack of books that became my eddykayshun - advanced readin', writin' & ritmytick, creating a major quandary of "what will I do, oh what will I do?" (Gunslinger)
As an old black man advised in song, "You Gotta Move", so move I did, traveling the byways sideways even a lot of driveways, picking up sticks and psychological tics, even movin' to Beverlee through a quaint misunderstanding of the seriousness of TV series, until finally I blew up so big the carry nation incarnation tarnation couldn't hold me no more, so I fixed my sights on yonder sitar, and like Queequeg and Paul Bowles and one of those abducted kids by the Pied Piper of Hamelin, I ventured forth to the larger world, pickin' and grinnin', doin' me some reckonin' and naughts from naughts, occasionally rightin', building me some buildings and wiring and just trying to understand the babble comin' out of people's mouths and heads, I finally ended up in what Rummy quaintly calls "New Europe", which ain't so new from what I sees, but that pit in my stomach from lack-of-moving-sickness finally disappeared, and instead I sit behind a whopping big desk stacked with missives from all the chiefs with big whampum around the world telling me "what's going on". Which seems like a load of boolshit to me, but I guess that's what keeps me busy and entertained now, separatin' the weeds from the chapstick.
So my name is Perry Keys, or Peracles to you, and since my mammy always said, "say please and thank you", I added the please, but I'm holdin' back on that thankee until I feel you've earned it. But do welcome, and I hope we's a gonna have a real good time. It all starts with, "I wuz born a poor young white chile livin' in the South..." and we cycle through again, like Nietzsche and his infernal regurgence. So enjoy, and let's spin a spell...
In an announcement reminiscent of "Dewey Defeats Truman", TBogg jumps the gun and reveals the new pope to be Marisa Tomei I.
Sad, as with her star-studded career, she might have been regarded the world's first SuperPope, and would certainly have looked better in Prada than the previous pope.
Plus the name "Raymond J. De Souza" evokes a writer of detective novels, not the shepherd of the world's sheep.
I'm excited about progress in science on a number of levels, and figure our understanding of matters will be vastly different in 20-30 years based on evolving tools & theories.
You obliquely point out a big issue - people don't have any real ideas for creating mass jobs in the black community, aside from back to government.
In the 50's I believe (via Buckminster Fuller), Brazil was intent on modernizing, with some wanting to emulate the US with its railroads, despite the existence then of airplanes more suitable for Brazil's vast distances and thick jungles.
Addressing the contradiction, Jodie Foster comes out, in her own way, by encouraging privacy. Being accepted includes the choice or non-choice of not having to come out at all. Maybe her best Oscar moment?
Sitting here contemplating the future as I was told I can't predict, and that those premonitions of 2016 are ageist and sexist.
Will Hugo Chavez die before his inauguration 6 days away? Well, he's had an amazing journey, and he's only 58, so it would be wrong of me to predict. Just because he had cancer & 4 major operations in the last 2 years and is now clinging on in a respirator after severe lung infection - well, who knows?
It's a thought that occurred to me numerous times, and would seem to be obvious, but Hillary would be 69 by election day 2016.
While Reagan was elected at 69, he was an outlier, and had spent much of his life in casual living, including an age when running from President wasn't so grueling. William Henry Harrison was 2nd at 68, and the rest go from 65 on down. Oh, did I mention Reagan's Alzheimers was covered up at the time? The press isn't so obliging these days (especially not to Democrats)
Bob Somerby at The Daily Howler, as he does frequently, voices the teachers' angle on things - in this case of the massacre - that we've been attacking them for decades, trashing teachers' unions, pretending that public teachers are just lazy and that school vouchers will cure all our ills. Even liberals blasting away at the poor state of education even as minorities make leaps and bounds progress over 2 decades that everyone ignores. Democrats like Rahm Emmanuel and Republicans like Scott Walker blast away at the teachers' unions, one point of sharing in our our rare bipartisan consensus.
Uncharged detainee dies in custody of drug overdose; after unsupervised autopsy, body kept in storage until after general election, when organs have rotted out, at which time remains sent back to Yemen. Permanent war on terror, business as usual.
Well, I blew it - I thought with the number of green-on-blue attacks and the complete collapse of our efforts there, plus the pointlessness after getting OBL in Pakistan - that we'd start cutting and running right after election day.
Ayup, looks like 59% of Obama's vote was female voters in a highly gender defined election. Women made up about 54% of the voters and favored Obama 55-45, so roughly Obama's base is 59% women, 41% men.
So will women get some of the love back, or will they have to fight tooth and nail (oops) for basics like use of contraception, proper health care, abortion rights, and some of the less "soft" non-reproductive-related issues that women might prefer?
In a veer to reality-based elections, Nate's total prediction this time, 49 right last gives us hope that the effects of the chattering class will be diminished next time.
After chumps like Dick Morris blew all credibility (did they have any left?) proclaiming a blowout to be, when any casual glance at the ground games in needed states proved it hoo-hah?
In an age where we can pull $1000 out of any ATM worldwide, it's absurd that we're stuck in an age-old tradition of going to a particular precinct on a particular day to stand in a pretty retro booth to vote.
There's no reason not to have voting places where everyone can vote if we can't just do it via our mobile phones (yes, there are considerations for voting fraud, but as new last minute software for Ohio machines shows, we have this to contend with anyway).
Perhaps like Katrina was a turning point for Bush's presidency, Sandy will be a turning point for Obama's.
After 4 years of 11-dimensional chess, this one's curiously a no-brainer - get help to people quick, get the power back on, get the payments in, streamline response.
I was ready to write a column about how we could get resources in *before* the storm, since we knew they'd lose power, subways would be flooded - and there's Brownie criticizing Obama for acting too quickly. Well that's a good side of the fence to be on.
Hot off his claims Obama made up the latest batch of jobs statistics, Jack Welch suggests Obama had his global warming pals gin up a hurricane to make him look awesome and presidential.
Obama's Chicago headquarters released a rather cryptic non-denial, saying, "you don't need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows."
Meanwhile, Donald Trump accused Obama of creating the hurricane to give him an excuse not to take $5 million and release all his records. The offer must be accepted by 5pm Halloween. Atlantic City and Manhattan are expected to be underwater by then.
Winner - Lena Dunham, now the viral video Obama Girl 2012 along with monster book advance - I feel a bad Foreigner hit coming on...
Loser - Donald Trump, still finding ways to look ridiculous post-The Apprentice
Winner / Loser - Mourdock, finding the positive side to Richard Speck and Albert DeSalvo, and portrayed as Voldemort on Stephen Colbert, has earned himself a lucrative earlier-than-expected post-congressional Fox career.
I disagreed with Emma a few days ago over the idea we needed more "hacks", but now I'm reconsidering...
Bob Somerby as usual's doing a bang-up job tracking the media madness, and in 2 particular areas his observations fit together -
1) the media pack has gotten chummier of late with its Groupthink as Twitter helps them align their stories (sad, but bars used to serve this purpose, and at least then you could say you got a buzz)
Seen by society folks, Andy met Richy at The Palm, and seems Rich is the go-to-gal for heart-felt emotions, at least for this 15 seconds. Main theme - no such thing as bad publicity, and that new gig at Fox holding up God's values won't hurt at that, what with unexpected retirement. Mourdock took occasion to show he's man of the earth by not bitching about the vinaigrette dressing. And you probably thought he was a Hoosier or something...