April 25, 2004
reality is not an idea
it
needen't be treated
so gently
don't believe
in self-fulfilling
prophecy
"you create your own reality"
is just mommy saying:
"careful
or you'll ruin it" -- NO WAy
(or dad's excuse
for hitting her)
what's out there
is tough -- don't
gotta worry about it...
it's what's
inside
that's delicate.
---------------
an idea can be
shredded
with the slightest breath.
and built again
anew with
not much less
ideas leap on
way out ahead
of what our feeble
legs and arms
can keep up with
a brain fabricates
alternate realities
like a drunk
downs liquor
at a certain point you've
really gotta ask yourself:
"are these things worth
any more than cat shit?"
commence testing
-------
so treat yourself, bub
smash a window
hell smash a jaw
if you're prepared
to face what comes back
at you.
it don't matter how you
thrash
reality is
not offended,
not hurt, not upended
so go ahead and wail,
if ya like to bet
road of excess, palace of wisdom &etc.
better yet
try something out
that has an unknown ending
for sure
Posted by Sam on
08:51 AM
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Comments (3)
April 21, 2004
a must read
those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and anyone who doesn't want the war in Iraq to funnel straight into another Reagan "revolution" must check out pinky's tretise on the class wedge. it's a little sprawling, but keep with it and you'll find the golden moment.
Posted by Sam on
08:48 PM
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Comments (1)
April 14, 2004
April 07, 2004
More news from the tax desk
this just in from the gov't:
"-- A majority of all corporations reported no [federal tax] liabilities [between 1996 and 2000], with a higher percentage of [foreign controlled corporations] doing so than [U.S. controlled corporations], an estimated average of 71 percent and 61 percent, respectively.
-- A greater percentage of USCCs than FCCs reported tax liabilities of less than 5 percent of their total income, an estimated 94 percent and 89 percent, respectively..."
moreover:
-- of large corporations (with assets over $250 million or gross recipts over $50 million)
-- less than 7% paid more than 10% of their income
-- less than 2% paid more than 15% of their total income
um, like, oh my god. You kinda know this stuff going along, but occasionally it just slaps you in the face again. add to it this tax chart artfully re-created from "Lou Dobbs Tonight" last night. I can't find this anywhere, and by god it should be everywhere. If you want the story of American taxes in the last 30 years, this is it. boom.
Posted by Sam on
09:58 AM
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Comments (1)
Tax time
so I'm standing in line
waiting to send in my sales taxes
and I realize
just what a fucking
pessemistic mire
gen x has dumped us in.
we have no sense
at all
that taxes actually
pay for something
adding feul to the fire: business people lining up to pay sales tax at the main branch
It's just supposed to be another
"like, oh, we're getting screwed, I guess
or something, but we would be,
like, anyway"
me: "what the fuck are you talking about?"
gen xer: "like, whatever society there is
will fuck us over somehow"
me: "but look at the chart,
it didn't used to be like this"
gen xer: "yeah, but they were probably
getting fucked over in some other way"
....you see what I mean? Total pessimism
if it's not one thing, it's another, so why fight.
-------
Still,
it's all a little abstract,
and hard to see what conseqences
these tax dodges have
Like for me, it's pretty fucked up to think that the McDonalds down the block is most likely claiming ZERO tax liability. McDonalds, with their millions invested in developing the optimal technologies, carefully constructed supply chains, real estate clout, etc. -- is getting, like, totally funded by the goverment. I mean, cities pay to have chain restaurants move in, citing "job creation."
gen xer: "but it's only, like, a reduction in their taxes, right?
it's not like the government is giving them money."
me: "this shows me you don't get it.
taxes buy real things: roads, police, fire service, etc.
the megacorporations are using these things, and they are
not paying for them. This is giving them something,
not just not taxing them. It's like we're
buying them lunch. That's a gift.
that is majorly fucked up
And that's how cities are treating
these corps.
Posted by Sam on
09:55 AM
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Comments (4)
mourning song
peeping dove
I've become completely enchanted with the call of the mourning dove -- the low, haunting chant -- and I hear it from dawn to dusk, all over downtown. One dove has taken up a perch on our fire escape, but there are plently more secreted about -- if I go up to the roof I can hear them singing back and forth to each other. It's wonderful to live in nature.
Posted by Sam on
08:23 AM
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Comments (1)
April 06, 2004
t33 v33 r0x!
Ignore these bubbas pooh-poohing da tube.
Say the expert:
"Watching television
during this critical period might
condition the brain to
expect that level of stimulation."
adding: "Anything less might actually be boring."
Elsewhere (on TV, actually) it's been admitted that what was actually found was greater brain growth in their tube-test tots. But it, ah, ee, could make, er, uh, you know...problems...
B33 3SS! I recommend
not one milisecond less than
4 hours of TV every god-fearing day
for ebry
man woman and
childrens of all ages
in
my 'merica.
(an don't forget your innernet and v-games)
Hows dat sound? r0x d4 h0w53!
Posted by Sam on
09:25 AM
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Comments (1)
April 02, 2004
totality city
a guest post by
pinky...
totality city is all based on a simple
cell system of interchangable space frame units
whole 20 million capacity city
based on a single standard module
that all occuped spaces are built out of
not stopping at brick units like old systems
this is built out of
actual room units
units that can travel
be an elevator cabin
or passenger area on a tram
office bed room all larger units just
agglomerations of modules
whole city made of completely
interchangable parts
any unit can go anywhere
move anywhere
no hierarchy
no rigid results fore gone options
not ever fore gone
vision of
" the lost wizzard of odessa"
victor stoopenko
designer of the better known
cossack series of
truck-trailer living units for
temporary job site dwellings
yes come meet the fabulous prof stoopenko
visionary civil engineer of the 1920's
party stalwarts bete noir
for impish subversions
of practical building plans
constructivism inspired
but working in near isolation
among " philistine cheese graters "
some how
stoopenkowas able to
produce his brake thru conceptions
in the field today know as
hypercity integrationism
he was
temporarily lost to history
whenuncle joe saw to it
that he and his wartk got
memory holed
after his
gulagment in 1936
for"excessive ukrainian nationalism"
Posted by Sam on
04:11 AM
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Comments (1)
