So web 2.0 it makes babies cry.

There is an article about Ron Paul in this month’s Esquire magazine.  While I did manage to learn quite a bit about Ron Paul in the article, and perahps I dont’ think he is as goofy as I once did, I found this infographic to be the most entertaining.

President Obama, Sarah Palin, George W Bush, and some of my other favroites are displayed!

When Santa Claus comes to town this week, he’d better watch out — because the federal government may be making a list of his crimes (and checking it twice), the Libertarian Party warned today.

 

“Hark the federal agents sing, Santa is guilty of nearly everything,” said former Libertarian Party press secretary George Getz. “The feds know when Santa’s been bad or good — and he’s been bad, for goodness sakes.”

Does Santa belong in the slammer? Instead of stuffing stockings, should he be making license plates?

Yes, said Getz, if he’s held to the same standards as a typical American. 

For example:

* Every December 25, the illegal immigrant known as Santa Claus crosses the border into the United States without a passport. He carries concealed contraband, which he sneaks into the country in order to avoid inspection by the U.S. Customs Service. And just what’s in all those brightly colored packages tied up with ribbons, anyway? The Drug Czar and Homeland Security want to know.

* Look at how this international fugitive gets around: Santa flies in a custom-built sleigh that hasn’t been approved by the FAA. He never files a flight plan. He has no pilot’s license. In the dark of night, he rides the skies with just a tiny bioluminescent red light to guide him — a clear violation of traffic safety regulations.

* Pulling Santa’s sleigh: Eight tiny reindeer, a federally protected species being put to hard labor. None of these reindeer have their required shots, and Santa’s never bothered to get these genetically-engineered animals registered and licensed. It’s no wonder: He keeps them penned outside his workplace in a clear violation of zoning laws.

* But Crooked Claus the Conniving Capitalist harms more than just animals — he’s hurting hard-working American laborers, too. Isn’t Santa’s Workshop really Santa’s Sweatshop, where his non-union employees don’t make minimum wage and get no holiday pay? Add the fact that OSHA has never inspected the place, and you have a Third-World elf-exploitation operation that only Kathy Lee Gifford could love.

* No wonder Santa is able to maintain his monopoly over the toy distribution industry: He’s cornered the Christmas gift market. Santa dares to give away his products for free in a sinister attempt to crush all competition — just like Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Antitrust Lawsuit Memo to the feds: Is Santa Claus the Bill Gates of Christmas?

The bottom line, said Getz: “It might be tough sledding for Jolly St. Nick this Christmas if the government decides to prosecute him.

“We’re just surprised it hasn’t already happened. After all, Santa Claus is everything that politicians aren’t: He’s popular, reliable, and gives us something for nothing every December 25th — instead of taking our money every April 15th.”

by George Getz

A friend and I were discussing the other day via email how we really need to start updating our personal blogs on a more frequent basis, so that’s what I’m gonna do.  That same friend sent me a link today to a painter by the name of Justine Lai.  She does some pretty cool stuff with some pretty “stuffed shirt” political types.   As a result, I’ve decided I’m going to start making posts of the cool artsy stuff I tend to check out, and created a new section for it.   From her site bio:

In Join Or Die, I paint myself having sex with the Presidents of the United States in chronological order. I am interested in humanizing and demythologizing the Presidents by addressing their public legacies and private lives. The presidency itself is a seemingly immortal and impenetrable institution; by inserting myself in its timeline, I attempt to locate something intimate and mortal. I use this intimacy to subvert authority, but it demands that I make myself vulnerable along with the Presidents. A power lies in rendering these patriarchal figures the possible object of shame, ridicule and desire, but it is a power that is constantly negotiated.

I approach the spectacle of sex and politics with a certain playfulness. It would be easy to let the images slide into territory that’s strictly pornographic—the lurid and hardcore, the predictably “controversial.” One could also imagine a series preoccupied with wearing its “Fuck the Man” symbolism on its sleeve. But I wish to move beyond these things and make something playful and tender and maybe a little ambiguous, but exuberantly so. This, I feel, is the most humanizing act I can do

An example of her interesting works

Make sure you check out her page, I assume she has showings out in the San Fransisco area.

Her first interview, with the ABC News anchor Charles Gibson, was too hard. The second, with Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel, was too soft. The third, however, did not turn out to be just right for Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.

On the CBS Evening News on Thursday, Katie Couric asked Ms. Palin, Senator John McCain?s running mate, what she meant when she cited Alaska?s proximity to Russia as foreign affairs experience. Ms. Palin could have anticipated the question ? the topic of their interview, pegged to her visit to the United Nations, was foreign affairs. Yet Ms. Palin?s answer was surprisingly wobbly: her words tumbled out fast and choppily, like an outboard motor loosened from the stern.

And when you are done watching that one, there is always this one.

Check out the nice summary that Andrew Sullivan posted which, pretty much sums up how silly these ads/media and hype are getting over this presidential election. Frum on Palin.

Mike King posted a nice article this week as well, on 10 Ways to Simplify and Eliminate Waste in Your Life. I’ve been flipping back and forth from it today and it makes quite a bit of sense.