Fish in Space

Offered without comment. Seriously, what more needs to be said?

It seems to me that a lot of conversations about the economy and capitalism today could boil down to this: Libertarian/Republican/fiscal conservative: "People are too dependent on entitlements! They have no sense of personal responsibility! Everybody needs to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps!" Everybody else: "Okay, fine. Where do I get the bootstraps from?" Libertarian/Republican/fiscal conservative: "Why are you so lazy? I'm not responsible for your success!"

This has been coming up a lot lately, so I decided to put it down somewhere I could easily reference it. This observation is in no way new or original, only the phrasing is uniquely my own. Did you ever do those obnoxious math proofs in school? Add X number plus Y number to get Z result. Now show the proof. Did you ever get points knocked off because your proofs contained errors, even though you arrived at the correct result? In morality as with math it's entirely possible to come up with good answers for the wrong reasons. And like those math proofs, you can't actually be sure you got the right answer because it doesn't add up. That's why I don't trust morality that isn't grounded in reality. People can and do claim their gods demand all sorts of things. They demand sacrifice, they demand worship, they demand obedience, etc. Occasionally people hit on useful things like "love thy neighbor as thyself." But just as often they use it to justify...

I like this. I want to put it on my car. If you have the right to broadcast your religious beliefs, I have the right to shoot them down.

I'm sitting here at work listening to Obama's inaugural speech because everybody is riveted to the screen. Fortunately, I'm pretty good at multi-tasking. As he speaks of the challenges that lie before us, I'm compelled to reflect on the hope and change he promises. Obama made it pretty clear that he's not planning to govern from the left. The Left made it pretty clear they expect him to do it anyway. The Right are sharpening their blades in gleeful anticipation of cutting his policies to shreds now that they're back in the obstructionist role they perfected. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Obama will be able to leverage the public support he currently enjoys to function effectively and neuter the Republican noise machine. I wish I could say that I have hope. Obama's cabinet picks have been a mixed bag, at best. Some neocons from the Bush administration, a genuine scientist for the Energy Department and a lot of former Clinton appointees. Eric Holder...

So our revered drug addict is at it again: Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what's gotten us dangerously close to the precipice here. Why do I want more of it? I don't care what the Drive-By story is. I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: "Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails." Somebody's gotta say it. The funny thing? I seem to recall Conservatives running the show for the majority of the past two decades. I'm getting really tired of conservatives trying to go back and blame their screwups on liberals. Rove is doing it, Bush is doing it, pretty much everyone on Fox News has been trying to change history as it happens ("terrorist fist-jab," anyone?) and Limbaugh is right there on the fringes leading the charge. It's all the fault of the Liberals! But...conservatives have dominated government more often than not since Reagan started appointing federal judges. Liberalism! The media has a well-known liberal bia...

Digby brings to my attention the words of the venerable conservative icon Rush Limbaugh: With gasoline prices now under two bucks in most places and dropping, and the price of oil (I checked it right before the program) below $50 now ($49 a barrel it was earlier today.) So with the gas price under two bucks and oil plummeting, what would you say, Pelosi and Reid, if the car companies could become profitable by selling SUVs or go broke by turning out the green cars that you're going to demand they make? Ah, the hypocrisy of the Right Wing mindset. This is what I like to refer to as "conservative blinders." You're focused exclusively on short-term interests because things are precisely the way you want them. Nevermind that they're going to change, and nevermind that you're not going to like the change. Things are the way they are right now and thus there's no need to change anything. Gasoline is under two bucks in most place right now but we had a tast...