An important message

It's been months since i've written anything here, it's true, but i'm back with an important message:

DON'T VOTE ROMNEY

There's a sizeable section of the working-to-middle class that are under the general impression that having a multimillionaire in office will somehow help them become multimillionaires by association. That will not happen. Wolves do not not teach sheep how to eat like wolves, they merely eat the sheep. Look to recent-to-present-day Italy for an example. They will just sell you out.

Illustration: There's a billionaire, a blue collar and a poor man all at the dinner table with a pie. The billionaire, with seven of the eight slices of the pie, says to the blue collar, "Watch out! That guy over there wants to steal your slice!"

anneshelby wrote (Sep 21, 2012 8:36pm EDT):

Is Romney in poverty? Why is he paying poverty level tax rates? He pays less than someone making $8,701 a year.
tax rates –
10% $0 – $8,700
15% $8,701 – $35,350
25% $35,351 – $85,650
28% $85,651 – $178,650
33% $178,651 – $388,350
35% $388,351+

That is all. Do the right thing.

Michigan voted 50th most intelligent state

...voted by a panel of one...me.

• Most Michiganders support paying 6% Michigan sales tax for online purchases, poll shows. Proves that most Michigan citizens actually believe in paying for things you shouldn't have to. Maybe the American 0.1%-1% should be paying more than 14% of income tax on their earnings, like most of the middle class (right-leaning or not) is paying out. Let's see what that does for state income.
• “Are they allowed to be here?”, asked 17-year-old high school student Dana Messman, regarding the protesters outside (400 feet outside from the outside) of the University of Michigan's Glick Fieldhouse, Ann Arbor, MI where President Obama gave his speech. Are they allowed to be here? Really? Says Attorney and passerby Barry Goodman, “I don’t agree with what they’re saying, but they have a right to be there.” Uhmmm, just in case y'all forgot.
• And, me, even though Google has changed their privacy policy and terms of service effective March 1, 2012, i'm still posting with their Blogger service, still using their GMail service, still watching and posting on their YouTube service, and own an Android-based phone which lays bare any and all my movements telephonic. From their privacy policy FAQ:

We believe anonymizing IP addresses after 9 months and cookies in our search engine logs after 18 months strikes the right balance

Right balance of what? Now i'm not so naive that we get all these nifty Google services without some kind of price. Of course their data collection is probably all in the making a buck and probably not in some evil scheme to literally rule the world, a la Pinky and The Brain. Nevertheless, three-quarters of a year? A year and a half? Google thinks anonymizing (which is not erasing) IP addresses after 6480 hours strikes the right balance.
And yet, here i am...pointing you to YouTube... We are morons, tried and true; and we'll do our yell for you... (go to 3'54")

I'm so rude

A belated but sincere Happy 2012 to you all.

Just saw this article about Mitt Romney on the site i read far too often (why, The Detroit Free Press' RSS feed). It seems to confirm a lot of suspicions not just about Romney but the whole shrinking middle class/1%/economic crisis polemic we all are dealing with. And somebody actually had the nerve to ask me last year, did a poor man ever give you a job? Maybe not, but apparently not all rich men create jobs either. Or even help the economic landscape.

Meanwhile (via NYT, grazie Slashdot), there's an article on how Apple's manufacturing operations are almost entirely overseas. Prize winning quote: We don't have an obligation to solve America's problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible. Heartless. Bragging how their chinese slave labor camps are more resiliant than the american work force.

Happy New Year, everybody. And Happy Birthday, Edie!

We're all water

Benetton, scoppia caso internazionale - Vaticano minaccia azioni legali, Obama irritato
(Benetton creates international scandal - Vatican threatens legal action, Obama not amused)
Warning: the Repubblica article contains a pop-up window.

© respective owner. Upload believed to be fair usage.

In other news, violent clash between student protesters and police in Milan yesterday. The demonstration subject: We don't want a new government ruled by the banks. And i think i pretty much side with this sentiment, being how these are the same organizations that put the entire world in the position it finds itself in recent years.

After being forcibly expunged from Zuccotti Park (formerly Liberty Plaza Park -- that's why i couldn't place it mentally) in lower Manhattan, Occupy Wall Street protesters are now occupying the Brookyln Bridge.

Eye Candy

ROSA from Jesús Orellana on Vimeo.


Evelyn Evelyn "Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn" Music Video from Amanda Palmer on Vimeo.

And...

Happy Birthday, Joey Tomorrow! “I ain't got the time/For your peace of mind!"

Gang of four

Vivendi buys EMI for $1,900,000,000.00. Now all recorded music is owned, for the most part, by one of four companies (Vivendi, Sony, Warner and BMG). Almost every recording label is a subsidiary of these four conglomerates.

Art imitates art

photo © respective owner

Separated at birth?