Serrated Prose

Before I get going, look at this: http://goo.gl/Fo0WK We've all seen the mockery of the Tea Baggers with their goofy tea bags dangling from tricorn hats. We've seen the price rampant patriotism can have on one's ability to think clearly or somehow mix up Jesus with the American flag. There's been vague accusations of racism -- and somewhere deep in the ranks, there is -- but certainly not the majority. Not consciously, anyway. Enter the OWS crowd. Clearly, a left-wing movement. If not in direct opposition to the Tea Party, it probably wouldn't have gotten as much traction without the right-wingers thumping their Bibles and loading their guns at the last election cycle. Imagine an alternate universe, where the Tea Party abandoned 1776 as the time when rainbows and butterflies burst from the orifices and fountain pens of our Founding Fathers, but instead harkened back to an earlier time -- 1605, when Guy Fawkes decided to start amassing gun powder to blow up Par

Have I mentioned that I'm pretty much useless? I haven't written a lot, here -- but I've written enough to repeat myself, from time to time. I'm pretty sure I haven't mentioned my masterful ineffectualness before. I don't do much, in general. Maybe I do about as much as the average guy; I've discovered over the years that I'm just average enough to melt into the pablum of society, so I'm typically safe in assuming that I'm suffering from the same pox of mediocrity that most people bear. This comes to mind because my readership on this blog has recently exploded by 100% -- or 50%, if you count me. I've given you enough math to figure that one out. In a recent discussion with my new readership, I was asked the question,. regarding this blog "Does anyone else read it?" I said, "No," although I actually have no idea. But I'd say, the chances are likely that my quick assertion is correct -- which is what gave me pause. Wh

So the "Occupy Wall Street" thing has been going on for a week or two, now. What does it all mean? Damned if I know. What I see are hippies, new and old. We have the old, who protested Vietnam and somehow really believe that they changed the world -- when, in fact, it was more likely the war was just becoming an expensive, losing battle. But what the hell, the Baby Boomers love to believe they changed everything with some sit-ins and Mary Janes, so let them have their little glory delusion. Accompanying the old hippies are the new hippies: The ones with Liberal Arts degrees and boundless love for the Earth and boundless hatred for anything connected to corporations. Let me clarify: I love the Earth. I live here, full-time. I don't expect to move, although I think it would be nice to see some scenery on other planets. I'm stuck, so I make the best of it. I recycle. I don't kill non-infesting bugs (like spiders or centipedes) in my house; I just release them outsi

Sociopaths, rejoice! Casey Anthony, according to even the most casual observer, appears to have murdered her daughter, kept the body in her car for nearly two weeks, and then dumped the stinking corpse in the woods. Her acquittal is a victory for guilty criminals everywhere, present and future. It gives them hope that even the flimsiest defense can still be victorious -- as long as more than one flimsy defense is presented at a time. It seems Anthony's lawyers have stumbled on a little glimmer of genius in their fumbling, incompetent way. They have revealed that the American attention span has become so brief and critical thinking skills have become so dull, that a new defense can be presented daily, with no substance to back it up. First, the father did it; that was pursued briefly, but then quietly dropped. Then, the brother did it. That wasn't pursued at all; once the brother took the stand, the defense made no mention of it to him. The mother was likely in the mix somewhe

Here are some points that need to be addressed before I consider you a viable party to lead the country: 1) Evolution is real. It is not a "theory" in the colloquial sense; it's a "theory" the way gravity is a theory, meaning, it really exists, but the details aren't fully discovered. If you propose that an invisible man or woman (as if a god needed the differentiation) started the evolutionary ball rolling... well, you can believe that -- but nothing supports this idea. If you choose to use the Bible as a point of proof, the creatures pretty much sprung up from magic pixie dust in Genesis -- so, no evolution there. In short, understand you have no proof and no proof = imaginary, so treat it as such and shut up about it. 2) Morals exist without any divine intervention. Every society, regardless of which god they worship, has some kind of laws and morals because it keeps society together. Imagine a society without morals... how would it hold together if s

Ever since I was child, I had a fascination with science. I loved dinosaurs as a toddler and youngster (more than most kids; I learned the names and eras they lived in) and as a tween I watched the entire Cosmos series. One would think my parents would expect me to become a scientist or at the very least, do something useful with my life. Unfortunately, my appallingly average intellect and above-average slothfulness prevented me from entering the sciences. In fact, it's a bit laughable that science interests me at all. What do you think of when someone says "science"? After I think of that Thomas Dolby song from the eighties, I think of math. Lots of math with indecipherable symbols and abstractions and plenty of square roots canceling out fractional imaginary numbers. Impenetrable math. Truth be told, I was terrible at math. Not just terrible in a average sense -- but terrible in the sense that I was put into a special remedial math program when I was in fourth grade,

So, here's a twist: The normally super-patriotic, love-to-kick-brown-people's-asses Republicans are now criticizing the no-fly zone over Libya. Unlike the mamby-pamby Democrats of the Bush era, these Republicans aren't saying we shouldn't be bombing the hell out of brown people (again), but that we're not doing it enough. The typical over-the-top right wing talking heads say we should go to Syria, while we're Libya kicking the ass of governments killing their own people for protesting. In a left-handed way, the wing-nuts are trying to play some kind of turnabout "Ah-ha!" bullshit, by implying that the whiny Democrats have a double-standard when it comes to making war in the Middle East. OK, so here's a little clarification: America was attacked by terrorists (mostly from Saudi-Arabia) on 9/11/01 -- a year we will never forget in the States. Then Bush attacked Afghanistan because that's where the al-Qeada training ground was and those Taliban

I'll start with the least important first: Charlie Sheen. Trainwreck? Oh, yeah. "Winner"? Um, no -- but I'm not looking down my nose at the latest Hollywood manic. Let's face it, guys -- he's living a man's dream. Two great looking women, lotsa money, and more leisure time than anyone should have. Frankly, if a man between the ages of 18 and 85 says anything bad about that arrangement, they're either lying or so uptight that they need lube to shit. It's the drugs that are the problem.The other stuff, I could live with. But he's gone off the deep end, maybe not because of genetics, but possibly because of extended meth use. And his ex-wife is not much better. Damn shame for the kids, really. Chances are, they'll be raised in the same bubble Charlie grew up in and become adults who think they're entitled to all the hedonistic pleasures the world has to offer. Who knows? Maybe they are. Maybe God just likes the rich folks better. With th