Elvis

“A lot has been written and said about why he was so great, but I think the best way to appreciate his greatness is just to go back and play some of the old records… Time has a way of being very unkind to old records, but Elvis’ keep getting better and better.”

-- Huey Lewis




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GTA 5 and BioShock

The GTA team has announced that Grand Theft Auto 5 is being delayed from its expected spring rollout and won't come out until September. I remain doubtful that I will hang on and try the new game, but I also continue to feel the temptation. If only they pumped up the sexual play, I would definitely be in, but the fear is that they are probably tamping it down if anything, on account of all the feminist-correct pressures. Consider, for instance, the picture above: I imagine that it is because of these pressures that they could not show a male police officer putting the babe into cuffs.

Oh, well, I don't know. I'm playing it by ear. After all, there is another big game coming out that is tempting me to grab the old game-controller: Bio-Shock Infinite.

(Source: ONTD1, ONTD2)

More Dumbing Down in America

Arizona, Oklahoma and Colorado this year joined the dubious list of states to have this year introduced a bill which would mandate the teaching of climate change skepticism in public school systems, according to an investigation by DeSmog Blog’s Steve Horn. Horn reported that Environmental Literacy Improvement Act, a model bill written by the American Legislative Exchange Council with libertarian, climate skeptic think tank the Heartland Institute, is already gaining ground in State Houses around the country.

-- News-LJ

This should fit well with the teaching of creationism over evolution, as well as with the lessons to help kids become habituated to having guns as part of their normal, everyday life.

I wish some brilliant wit would seize on this material and make a movie that is a brilliant comic mockery of what is going on in America today - a Michael Moore but with real dramatic talent. Who needs Big Brother when you got the Bible, guns, and pollution?

Texas Politics

Texas is seeking to fly in the face of Obama's healthcare policies.

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House Bill 649, introduced by Rep. Jonathan Strickland (R-Bedford) would give for-profit businesses like Hobby Lobby a state tax break if they chose not to comply with the birth control benefit in Obamacare. Under the rule businesses that refuse to comply with the mandate face up to a $100 penalty fine per employee per day. Strickland’s bill would allow those businesses to claim a state tax break for the amount it must pay in penalties, up to the total the business owes in its total state tax bill. In other words, Texans would subsidize for-profit businesses seeking to break the law.

-- News-LJ

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Great, our resources would be used to fund our oligarchs' right-wing zealotry. They also see the health and education of our poor as a waste of taxpayer money. Texas pride!

Guns and Suicide

In the ongoing debate, we finally come across a discussion on how guns are especially useful when it comes to suicide. I expected as much, but I was still surprised to learn that 60% of gun deaths are suicides; by contrast, only 37% of gun deaths are homicides.

Over the years, in the rumblings of my mind, I understood that a gun is really the only way to go if suicide is what you want, unless maybe you are of the upper-classes and enjoy ready access and know-how to use drugs to send you off more sweetly. I remember being taken aback in my youthful ruminations when I came to understand how horribly difficult suicide would be in a world without guns.

Who wants to jump off a tall building, or run in front of a speeding truck or train, or drink household-cleaning products? Under such circumstances, when all the love and hope of life has gone from you and left you utterly dry and barren, there is much to love in a gun. Which is also why I am rather pro-choice on guns, in that I am certainly not one who believes in a complete and total abolition of all guns, but only for guns that can fire dozens and dozens of rounds in a minute, guns which I cannot imagine being suited for hunting and basic personal protection.

But, yeah, I believe in freedom, within reasonable constraints.

(Source: Sully's Dish)

haircut

I finally got my haircut today. Ms. Walker had spent another night, and as they were obviously going to spend another late morning in bed, I thought this might be the best time to knock this chore out of the way, especially since Pop might be leaving for the weekend, and I didn't want to have to drag this out into yet another week. Pop even helped out again with the money. I was afraid he wasn't going to do it this time, showering money and gifts on her lately, but he still has the money to spend, as though he might be an organized crime figure, a Tony Soprano. But, hey, so long as the good times continue to roll, eh?

Daily Fun

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