This photo of Barb Tarbox didn’t make the cut for the FDA’s new cigarette warning labels, but she wanted people to see the truth.
Photo: Tarbox on May 13, 2003. View more photos at the gallery. Credit: Greg Southam, Edmonton Journal
Her name is Tarbox? Just a little too appropriate if you ask me.
Finally, there are taxes. Germany does not have a smaller budget deficit because it spends less. Germany, you’ll recall, is the original welfare state. It has a smaller deficit because it is more willing to match the benefits it wants with the needed taxes. The current deficit-reduction plan includes about 60 percent spending cuts and 40 percent tax increases, Mr. Hüfner says. It’s like trying to lose weight by both eating less and exercising more.”
What an unintentionally perfect summary of the American mindset.
Complaint of the day:
Every time there’s a story about some police raid, or someone’s rights being violated, or police brutality, or some other injustice, there’s always a tendency on the part of the writer to emphasize that the victim is “an elderly woman,” or “a pregnant mother,” or “a…
Because of this. Making the victim a child or elderly woman is a major boon towards driving home the injustice of what actually happened because it’s more difficult for individuals to reconcile with what happened and sub-consciously shift blame to the victim.
Do you? Probably not, right? But I bet you don’t mind hearing little details about them here and there. They’re pretty outrageous, after all. Pretty crazy. Maybe you wonder what’s going on in their heads. Maybe you wonder what’s going on in the heads of their respective spouses. Maybe you come up with a witty dick joke and post it on Tumblr, followed by a gif of Stephen Colbert. It’s okay, everyone does it. It’s fine.
Jesus-fucking-Christ-wake-the-fuck-up, wo/man. None of this really matters. None of it. It doesn’t matter what Anthony Weiner’s dick looks like or what other pics there are; all that matters is that you know he fucked up and lied about it. It doesn’t mean anything if Sarah Palin failed 8th grade history because she’s never going to hold any kind of political office again; her image is obviously too damaged for that.
Look and listen carefully. This is gossip. This is the exact same dung that those trashy magazines at a supermarket newstand package and sell to middle aged women who want to vicariously re-live the youthful glory days they never had. As you wait with bated breath for the next celebrity cock pic, the world continues to turn and burn. Syria continues to kill its citizens, NATO falls deeper into the conflict in Libya, and America becomes a place with substantially less “free” than initially advertised.
And you know what? I’m not angry at Sarah Palin or Anthony Weiner or the media for putting this stuff out in the open. I’m not even angry and Andrew Breitbart. They’re like animals. You can’t blame them for being what they are. But you know who I can blame? You. I can blame everyone who pays attention to this shit instead of shutting off the tube or moving on to the next link. You’re the one who has demonstrated to them that this is how to get attention.
I’m not angry. After all, maybe you’re just an animal too, you goddamn sheep.
This has been a rant brought to you by Weltanschauung.
I don’t know who made this, but I must confess I sympathize greatly with them. Ronald Reagan’s wrongdoings have all but been erased by conservative deification, and it’s important to recall just how much he screwed up. If he started the “small government” movement, I think it had a lot to do with how afraid of government he made people in the first place.
From politics to personality, do online filters create blind spots?
The downside of online personalization: Eli Pariser, who’s the board president for MoveOn.org and the author of “The Filter Bubble” (above), says that there’s a pretty troubling blind spot with online personalization — it hides opinions you may not like, but are important to know nonetheless. “People love the idea of having their feelings affirmed,” he notes. “If you can provide that warm, comfortable sense without tipping your hand that your algorithm is pandering to people, then all the better.” It’s a problem with wide implications — it can reinforce views, produce blind spots, and prevent you from challenging your own opinions. Your opinions deserved to be challenged, kids — including by Google. source
He did a TED talk on this recently. Quite good.
In an increasingly more international arena, Obama is definitely the best man.
Check out this Economist article: http://econ.st/kwU1iU on Obama’s recent trip to Britain, Ireland, France, and Poland. The major purpose of this being to strengthen relations between the United States and the other Western countries, electrifying audiences across these countries.
Cosmopolitan to the last, O’Bama (as he seeks his non-existent Irish roots) is an appropriate face to put in front of our impending sovereign debt crisis. Western nations are failing quickly, the Rise of the Rest is upon us. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but the US now needs to begin strengthening overseas ties or be washed away.
Your harbinger,
- The Drunken Liberal
I couldn’t agree more. Obama has done wonders for our much tarnished international image in recent years.
