It appears that the state of Michigan will continue to pay me to try to find gainful employment for the time being, and so it would probably not be the wisest course of action to start up that whole blogging thing again - especially when I'm trying to start it up as a paying proposition - just yet. My lone advertiser will get mondo value for his contribution as things should probably stay static here for a while.

Besides, serious journamalistic integritude takes quite a bit of time and effort for Your Humble Narrator, even with all of the cheats and time-savers I've built over the years. And I am probably spending more than forty hours a week in an increasingly desperate search for just about any sort of employment opportunity that I can handle. Plus I'm trying to work out some long standing issues and get my kimchi together. Which brings the E2E ratio* for blog updates to microscopic levels until such time as I can get out of my current situational difficulties.

There are also a number of Catch 22's involved:

- first and foremost the mortgage. I have no income or current employment prospects and thus cannot refinance the loan. As long as I don't miss any payments, the mortgage remains in good standing. Once (the outstanding amount on the mortgage) + (the available funds to pay for the renovations/updates required to sell the house) gets to be lower than (the current retail value of the house with renovations/updates as required to sell the house) I can begin to think about starting said renovations/upgrades;

- secondly the auto situation. It will be impossible for me to get an auto loan without some sort of job. As long as I keep on paying the car note, the car holds together, and nothing untoward happens, all is well. It would be nice to think about a new vehicle (especially with all of the new fuel efficient options becoming available), but I'm not so sure about what direction I want to go as far as my next vehicle is concerned. If I will be able to get a new vehicle when the time comes...

- lastly (among the primary situational Catch 22's I am trying to deal with right now) being hamstrung by the lack of employment. I can't start up a small business (I can't afford to pay attention - remember?) and/or pursue anything of that nature until I am no longer collecting unenjoyment. Once I can satisfy myself that I will be able to produce enough to replace the dole, then I can resolve the business issues. I can hone my business plan in my spare time (cough) and work towards a smoother implementation when the time comes, but not much else.

So I guess what I'm saying is: so long** for now and I'll be back once I can get some steady employment, or once I'm no longer getting state unenjoyment and trying to pursue some independent entrepreneurial activities. Which I hope turns out to be sooner rather than later. See ya!

* - E2E ratio = Earnings to Effort ratio

** - and thanks for not serving me fish.

I seem to be getting into the lists of late, so I thought I would bring a couple more points of clarity to those who have been following my personal exploits for a while. I have always considered the lack of ability of (most) humans to be able to rationally discuss politics, sex, and religion to be a problem that humanity needs to solve if we are to ever evolve beyond our current capacities*. Just as I have always been frustrated when conversations inevitably spiral into chaos if any of those topics (which also seem to be the main focus of many people's lives) get brought up in a social setting.

So, when I find out that somebody who can put into writing some of the way I feel on at least two of the big three (I haven't seen many of his writings on sex; but maybe I haven't been looking hard enough!) has written three (of a four part) series of essays about the Catholic Church and why he has some slight (cough) problems with the way they've been handling the fact that there have been a lot of priests doing a number of immoral (and illegal) things for years while the church's administration tried to cover it up, I like to point it out and explain a bit of the problems I have in similar areas.

Thanks to my good friend Bartcop featuring his latest article, I got a chance to revisit Barry Crimmins' site and catch up on Cath 22, Manic Compression, and The Legion Of Indecency. Barry's also informed the studio audience that there is still another essay in this bunch – something I am definitely looking forward to. You might want to check it out too...

The exposure of this long term, long time problem with the Catholic Church points to other issues within the broader scope of acceptable moral behavior for humanity as a whole. Will mankind decide that civility and empathy are not as important for their continued survival as duplicity and selfishness? Will the unique abilities and talents of mankind nurtured more by treating individuals as precious and brimming with the potential to revolutionize the system, or treating them as easily replaceable cogs that can be fit into place as need be to keep improving the running of the system? Will mankind's skill set include bigger and better ways of generating broad mental reservations about things they'd rather not face, or more flexibility to adapt to whatever reality we have to deal with?

On a personal note, my particular journey out of the clutches of the Church had two main pushes behind it:

- a long time friend of the family became a Catholic bishop after many years of (as far as I know) exemplary spiritual behavior. Then, out of the blue, he suffered a stroke. This led me to a couple of observations: what kind of Invisible Sky Fairy would 'reward' his most faithful minions with motherCheneying strokes? And why would it make any difference what I did - if such an entity could do that, and/or allow all sorts of other atrocities by others, in and out of the faith, to go by without similar 'reward', why should I even bother to factor it into the equation?

- many moons ago, I was so broke and destitute that I had to move back into my parent's house** during the Ronnie Ray-Gun/PapaDoc Putsch Recession of the late Eighties. The condition that caused me to move out six months later was that I had to go to (Catholic) church every week. The sheer hypocrisy of the uber-Catholic who required this as a condition of my keeping a roof over my head was bad enough, but after being away from it for a decade, it was kind of difficult to handle what I saw as the inherent contradictions of pretty much all religions (but particularly the one I was most familiar with, the Catholic Church) up close, and in my face, so to speak, on a regular basis. I do remember informing a few people that I would no longer be attending any Catholic services of any kind once I no longer had to as a condition of my residence. And I've pretty much kept to that vow to this day...

Now, of course those are not the only factors causing me to reconsider my membership within the religion I was enrolled in from birth; but both of those events caused me to reevaluate my decision to be a willing follower of the BuyBull. I was also able to take a year's worth of university courses on the major faiths out there; and I was able to flesh out those courses with supplementary reading - there's a ton of people who have written about the wisdom and truth of their particular brand of superstitious nonsense.

You can well imagine that my particular take on religion does not go down too well in most social situations. So it's somewhat refreshing to find someone whom I believe I might actually be able to talk to about (at the very least) religion and politics without the conversation going down in flames...

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* - I also consider one of the main failings of civilization as we know it today is the lack of common courtesy and basic civility for our fellow man – especially the promotion of said lack as a character virtue instead of a hidden flaw - that seems to be the accepted norm in society these days.

** - not in the basement - that was a packrat's paradise thanks to nature/nurture from both family trees - but back upstairs, in my old room before I had left for university ten years earlier.

It's been a long, hard slog here at the Funny Farm for the past year and a half or so – adjusting to paying (roughly) $1800 worth of bills with $1500 per month of income*. As long as I don't eat, put gas (or maintenance) into my car, and nothing goes wrong with any of the old junk that I'm keeping together with duct tape and baler twine**. One of these years decades millennia days I'm going to get around to cleaning things up and having Toms' Great Junk Purge Garage Sale, but until then there's a lot of mathoms piled up all over and a few things that I can kluge together to make the old junk that I need for whatever I'm up to at the time.

So, basically, I'm trying to get by on dwindling resources and keep things going for as long as possible with what I've got. In efforts to cut back on things, I began to cook more often, and I noticed that my electric stove was causing a bit of a ding in the power bill. As any cheap-a$$ skillbilly would do, I began to use my little baby Weber grill more for cooking as much stuff as I could get on the grill, which is slightly larger than a regular dinner plate. It certainly was an adventure grilling sweet corn on it with out resorting to actually tossing the ears into the charcoal.

Now, one of the main reasons I am so keen on trying to hang on to my current domicile is that I live in a very nice zone of southeast Michigan. My neighbors are nice quiet people who get along with each other as well as Your Humble Narrator while struggling with their own situations and adventures in life. It is probably the nicest set of digs I've been lucky enough to live in. I am able to set up areas that allow me to be able to do some computer repair work (now that I might actually manage to find a few jobs in that area). My car is garaged year round, which I can say from personal experience is a lot easier to deal with than outdoor long term parking, and might add significantly to the life and value of my vehicles (the jury's still out on that one).

I've also been here longer than almost any other place I've lived at; a lot of stuff has accumulated; having already moved over thirty times by the time I was thirty, I now have a somewhat different perspective on the whole moving experience; and I don't want to have to tear down/wade through/set up a lot of the houses of cards I've kept so precariously balanced.

Well, as you may well imagine, even though under this particular roof an economic crisis was underway, life went (and goes) on just the same. So it was that my neighbor, a relatively new surgeon (having just completed his internship in Pontiac) with a newly born child, went to the place he was finishing interning at and asked for a surgeon's salary. And then, shortly thereafter, found a place that would pay him surgeon's wages.

So now he's working in Florida, with a place to walk his dogs on the beach less than a block from his house, and hopefully enjoying the new situation (along with his wife and the youngling and the two aforementioned dogs). And, why, dear reader, did I tell you this in the middle of my tale of woe? Well, we had had a few discussions over the years (I'm not all that social by nature until I get to know someone, and rarely have I engaged in a lengthy conversation with my neighbors), and he was aware of how tight the purse strings are stretched over here. So, just before he moved the last of his stuff out of the house next door, he wheeled his old gas grill over to my place, helped me lift it onto my deck, and gave it (along with a full tank of propane) to me.

A whole new world of culinary adventure has opened up to me with this acquisition. No more double power expenditures (mondo electricity to power the stove, then mondo power to cool the house down from all the extra heat). And a different methodology and way of thinking about the job of cooking makes things a bit more interesting.

I've already explored a few avenues previously unimagined to me: I made my first beer can chicken, put together some awesome kebobs, and had grilled beer soaked sweet corn. But the best is the grilled veggies. I've never been a big fan; but mostly I was getting my veggies in the convenient canned form. The bland, soggy, salt-and-preservative-filled canned form. Now, I put together a nice chicken marinade, cut up some fresh veggies, make a little grilling pan with a veggie griller and some tin foil, add olive oil and marinaded chicken, and start grilling. Add fresh veggies as desired – carrots and other tougher veggies should get grilled longer than things like tomatoes and peppers. Usually things are done to my satisfaction within fifteen – twenty minutes or so. I can make a small pan of rice on the side burner at the same time to complete the basics of the meal. And there's usually enough leftovers from one grilling for the rest of the week!

Along with this fine parting gift, Your Humble Narrator also managed to pry this out of their hands when they had their garage sale:

I don't know where he got the original from, or the Plexiglas cover he got for them. And I don't want to know. All you need to know is that I have an (almost) 3'x4' framed picture of the Three Stooges, each holding a bottle of Three Stooges Beer. And that I am sincerely thankful to my ex-neighbors for their kindness and friendship.

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* - the rough numbers:

mortgage – 825
auto - 225
phone - 70
cable/internets - 55
water - 40
gas / electric - 350 (summer=high electric;winter=high gas)
prescriptions - 150

unenjoyment benefit (after taxes, FICA, etc.)*** - 362.94 / week

** - spare the duct tape, spoil the job! Oddly enough, the lawn mower decided to take a crap this weekend and I'm trying to figure out what parts to get and where to get them so I don't have to drop $300 plus on a new lawn maintenance device.

*** - that's right, gang, Your Humble Narrator is still paying all of his taxes, lazy DFH that he is...

I am very happy to announce the first fruits of the ongoing online labors here at the Funny Farm: Pizzariffic, a local pizzeria in Lake Orion, Michigan, has agreed to support the blog as part of its' local advertising strategy. And I've agreed to take his cash and put a link up on the page for you to get to him whenever you want some excellent italian food.

Brick oven pizza is a specialty of the house, Mike features a number of recipes that you don't always see on the regular menu (and that aren't listed on his current online menu – D'oh!), and the jalapeno poppers and the cannolis are magically delicious. Plus, on a personal note, he is a friend of a friend who is a huge hockey fan who will probably soon be getting me into the Joe Louis Arena to (finally) see a game of hockey in the Motor City in his fantastic season ticket seats sixteen rows up on the blueline*. Yes, his loyalties are somewhat misplaced as far as I'm concerned, and I'm sure I've only got a slight mental defect as far as he's concerned because I root for the Habs, but there's no denying his love for the game. I probably wouldn't even hold it against him if the Dead Things trounced the Habs in a future Stanley Cup Final...

So you will now be able to see a new banner in the newest part of the links zone (in the primo real estate section for the paying customers) over on the right for Pizzariffic. Click on it for delivery and take out orders - or come in and enjoy the comforts of Mike's dining room filled with sports memorabilia and comfortable seating (and free WiFi, setup courtesy of the Funny Farm Computer Services Burro). And tell them that the Funny Farm sent you!

* - that's right, kids, it's not what you know, it's who you know**.

** - Don't hate the player. Hate the game.

So, it's going on four weeks now that I've been dancing the dance with no results as far as trying to claim additional unemployment benefits after having them run out in the middle of June. I have been able to successfully login to the online application and try to claim benefits for the past four weeks, but I have yet to be able to receive any compensation for those four weeks (and I haven't even begun to have a chance to talk about the month between the time they stopped paying me and the time I started re-qualifying for benefits). Calling any of the telephone lines leads me to voice messages and hang ups after the end of voice messages.

And there's a site that you're supposed to post your resume to in order to show up in the job searches. When I went in to re-sign up recently, they directed me to fill out the online forms at that site (again), and forced me to put in some basic resume stuff (again) in order to create a profile that I was to log in to at home – where I could add from my existing resume on my home PC with relative ease, update things as need be, and do ome searching on my own. The only problem is, my logon ID doesn't seem to work, and I just got through a surprisingly difficult conversation with the lady running the computer room at the local Michigan works office which leads me to believe that I will have to go through yet another episode of 'set up your user id and password, and sign up again' when I can get up the nerve and the time to take that project on again. I've requested the additional compensation; I need to find a way to talk to somebody who can look at the files and tweak the right flags in the system so that that compensation get to me, or I get officially told that I can no longer collect unemployment. Not one of the four professionals you need to know*, but probably somebody in the know who could help me with bringing this situation to some sort of resolution.

For now, it's off to the ex-doctor's office to get some forms that might convince the makers of Januvia, Plavix, Zetia, Fenofibrate, and Simvastatin that my current financial situation means that they should subsidize the prescriptions that I have for these medications (if they want me to be able to follow my doctor's advice and continue taking my pills). Plus I have a few basics that need replacing (milk and juice being tops on that list) and I need to get cracking on an overdue thank you note to my ex-neighbors that I think you may enjoy.

Ciao fer now...

* - from a discussion long, long ago with my good friend Roy about the professional people you should know that you can trust - and trust to be able to do a good job: a doctor, an accountant, a general contractor, and an auto mechanic.

I have a two thousand dollar album in my CD collection that you can purchase from CD Baby for $5.99! Let me tell you all about it...

I recently received an update from a former co-worker, telling me about that latest news with regards to the album he (and his friend) released while I was working with him at SearsMart. Apparently, they now have an international top 10 hit from the album, according to the International Association of Independent Recording Artists (IAIRA). So I guess congratulations are in order for C T H S (Cortez Taylor and Herman Stacy), and hopefully this the start of something big for them.

I was one of his fellow employees at SearsMart for a number of years until my area got melded into his. I eventually learned that he was one of the few people whose views were even close to mine about, well, pretty much everything* in the new group I was now part of. And I eventually managed to find my way into the pecking order (our group went under the unofficial title of the department of grump bunnies) and hang out with Cortez and a few others** at break time, go to lunch together, etc.

So it was that I learned of his music, his potential upcoming album, and his need of additional capital in order to get the job done. Two thousand dollars of additional capital. Being well ahead in my own financial recovery plan at the time, I was able to find the resources to lend a hand to a friend. I got a promissory note with an excellent return on my investment. And a pretty good piece of music was released to the public – good enough for an international top 10 hit at the time of this posting.

Unfortunately, no good deed goes unpunished. C T H S made the payments (more or less) on time for the first six months, but then Cortez got zapped by the IRS and this happened and that happened, and, well, it's now the middle of 2010. And Your Humble Narrator is still waiting for a still gainfully employed member of the SearsMart family and a motherCheneying Christian minister*** to get their act together and honor their debt.

Actually, I'm not waiting any more – Cortez now needs his cash to trick out his daughter's beemer and probably didn't even know he told me the news about the album via the power of automagic email updates. And, if there's an Invisible Sky Fairy****, there have been no updates from that area regarding this particular situation with one of their spokespersons. No – I'm putting this out onto the internets so that any future investors will be a bit less trusting than I was should C T H S request additional investment capital.

Yes - I could have taken them to small claims court. But I'm pretty sure it's too late for that now, I'm not all that interested in another adventure within the justice (cough) system, and I'm not sure I have enough resources to take that project on (I've taken previous 'friends' to court before, and it wasn't all that and a bag of chips, if you get my drift). And I'm not all that into burning bridges these days and still have a faint hope that Cortez (at least) will do the right thing and finally take care of this problem.

* - a lot of Rush Limbaugh fans, several card carrying members of the Gawd Squad, some “moderates” who really don't want to be bothered with all the nonsense and just want to bring their families up and enjoy life (and/or don't let it intrude into their business persona), and me.

** - the other culprits shall remain unidentified here; but fellow SearsMart employees of the time would easily be able ti fill in the blanks.

*** - it seems to me to be particularly appalling to find yet another so-called servant of Gawd having no problem screwing over his fellow man.

**** - which I seriously doubt – so much so that I hesitate to even use the phrase, except in particularly ironically appropriate situations such as these.

As some of the studio audience might not be aware of the dire straits that the Funny Farm is going through these days, allow me to bring you up to speed on the basics of the situation: since being laid off by SearsMart in January of 2009, I've been living on (i) the ten weeks' severance from SearsMart; (ii) the unenjoyment claims that I have received from the state of Michigan (26 weeks + 33 additional weeks of unemployment, beginning when the severance ran out in the middle of April, 2009 – which then ended in the middle of June 2010 during yet another successful derailing of the federal legislative process by the Republican't Party); and (iii) a $10K dispersal from my rollover IRA (of which I have set aside $2.5K for extra tax penalties and early withdrawal fees). There has been no extension of my unemployment as of yet; the local EI center tells me to register online and use the EI (lack of) help line in case of any problems; the online system rejects my claim out of hand; and the EI (lack of) help line is either busy or automagically connects me to a voice mail telling me that no one can answer my call, and then hangs up. The online site directs me to call the (lack of) help line if I want to contact them about any problems I might be having with processing my unemployment claim.

Just a tad confusing, frustrating, and daunting to use methinks. I've finally found a few positions to apply for in my area of expertise out there in the last few weeks, but all of my experience is outdated (because it didn't take place in the last couple of years) and so I seem to be getting tossed out in the first run through the pile of resumes. I have been fortunate enough to be able to try and look for a job (in and of itself a full time position) in an area that I have had considerable professional success over my prime working years. But that time seems to be coming to an end. I'm going to have to get something soon and/or come up with enough work on my own to make ends meet.

Due to some diligent spending habits* and a horking big income (especially for a cheap bastich like me) of $70K/year during the reign of the Ilegally Installed Drunken Cokeheaded Deserter, I managed to get five years ahead on my mortgage (which was entered into in December 2003), along with maintaining a zero credit balance and staying current on my car note and all of my bills. I'm still managing to hold to those benchmarks as I write this post. But the day that I won't be able to meet all of my financial obligations is getting closer every day. [shameless plug] Unless you can help me out with a subscription or a donation to this blog [/shameless plug]

It was going to be one step closer after today – my 2006 Honda Civic has been on the road for more than two years since the service representative at Troy Honda** informed me that my rear brakes were shot and needed to be replaced. Since they had spent most of the day dicking me around on a two hour service job, I was a bit suspicious, and got a second opinion. The long and the short of that story is that I am still using the same rear brakes that the Honda dealership told me were shot over two years ago. Coincidentally (cough), my car came off warranty just before that service call (which they forgot to tell me about until after they had done the work), and the brake job would have added even more ill-gotten gains to their coffers.

So, today, I finally had enough spare cash to get the job done. I drove over to my mechanic's place, he takes the car for a spin around the block, and he tells me that my brakes are 'glazed' (as far as I can understand it, the brake rotors/drums get all shiny and so they squeal a bit when the pads/shoes first get applied to them), and, while it's a bit annoying, there's nothing to worry about yet. So that's approximately $100-$200 that didn't have to come out of my pocket today. Bonus!

Then, as we're winding things down and I'm getting ready to leave, he asks me if I'm still trying to fix computers on the side. These days, I'll even go so far as to watch Faux Snooze if there's some cake to be made by doing so***, so of course I offered to take a look at it and see what I could do. Thus it was that I got another small commission, solved the problem, and have managed to put some cash in my pocket. Double Bonus!

So how was your day?

* - Scotsmen have nothing on Belgians in the frugality department. These days, I'm so broke I have trouble paying attention...

** - as detailed previously, here at The Funny Farm, in July 2008.

*** - as long a I get to make off-color commentary about the Republican't propaganda I'm viddying. Some nerf balls to toss at the screen would also be greatly appreciated, in case anyone's looking to hire for that job...

One of my personal faves among YouTube videos (along with the God, Inc. series of videos) of late has been the Engineer's Guide to Cats. How nice to find out (through the good graces of Crooks and Liars) that there is a sequel as well, the Engineer's Guide to Cat Yodeling.

It gives me great pleasure to show them to you here:

Share and Enjoy!

When the topic of conversation inevitably drifts into the realm of politics, and I begin to show a glimmer of the extremely non-Republican't positions I have on the subject, I seem to be getting (and have been getting for some time now) lots of questions about Charlie Rangel, Kwame Kilpatrick, and any other Democratic politician with a whiff of scandal anywhere in their general vicinity.

Funny – besides the willful blindness to any of the much more criminal activities of the many more Republican'ts with a much stronger stench of illegal activities (John Ensign immediately springs to mind, feel free to enlighten me about others in the comments), they also seem to consider things like this*:

to be unworthy of a second look.

One might think that, in tough economic times, especially with Republican'ts whining about adding to the deficit on a continual basis, an investigation looking into this rampant waste of taxpayer dollars would be considered worthwhile.

Why is there so much inconsistency in the standards being applied to the different sides of the aisles? Why does it seem to me that I am one of a surprising (to me) minority that sees that this is taking place? How can anyone make the claim that all politicians of any stripe are all the same?

Inquiring minds want to know...

* - thanks to one of the best investigative journalists out there today, Digby of Hullabaloo, for talking about this.

Thank goodness the irony alert meter has been unable to arise, phoenix-like, from the ashes any more - or else it would never stop around here.

it's also a good thing that I have always gotten my fill of the Sunday morning adult cartoons political press shows second hand. To watch these lying sacks of dren has always induced severe nausea in my system. It's even more bile-inducing when I think about how these immoral hypocrites are claiming to spout their vapid nonsense in the best interests of the american people, and their noxious blather is so full of lies that it might as well be a blast of white noise.

Primary in the sea of wingnut kimchi is the lament about the Republican't tax giveaways to the rich finally expiring as was expressly agreed upon by the Republican'ts when they rammed them through in the first place.. That was the deal that the Republican'ts managed to broker when the tax giveaways to the rich were enacted.

And now they're telling the american people something that I've known for a long time: Republican'ts can never be trusted to keep their word.

They're telling america that when they make any sort of deal with Democratic politicians in Congress, they're going to try and break that deal whenever and wherever they can. They're never going to compromise - the Tax-A$$ Two Step is still being danced to almost the same exact tune as it was when I mentioned it early on in my journamalistic career. Still just as sour to my ears. And now, with even more hypocritical horsehockey! These are the same clowns that told the american people they speak for a majority of americans - when they were turfed out of office by the biggest political landslide since Ronnie Ray-Gun's handlers propped him up against Mondale.

Why anyone, much less the president of the United States, has to put up with their irresponsible, reckless, sociopathic behavior, much less consider its' merits, is something that I have given up trying to understand. The part I'm still puzzled about is why a lot of rational, level-headed people (i) can't see through their crap and/or (ii) actively support it.

Here's a prime example of the unmitigated gall of the current supporters of the Republican'ts, courtesy of our good friends at Crooks and Liars - listening to Steve Forbes, Brit Hume, and Stephen Moore (for Koresh' sake! - was Breitbart unavailable?) sling the latest Republican't spin on tax increases, when they, big business, Wall Street, and every single one of the smart boys have known that this gravy train was going to end in 2010. They set it up this way, and now they're crying about the mess that they've made - along with shameless crap and disinformation about the Democratic deficit reduction and the reckless Republican't borrow-and-spend sprees. Funny how it was never noted, with all that talks of deficits and such, that Ray-Gun and PapDoc Bush quadrupled the american national debt, and the Illegally Installed Drunken Cokeheaded Deserter (During Wartime) doubled it. While running record deficits and giving outrageous tax breaks to the richest of the rich.

What all of those Republican't spokesweasels (who, coincidentally, all happen to be considerably wealthier than your average citizen) conveniently forget to tell you is that, in the tax systems in place in america, the rich are currently taxed at a significantly lesser rate than their less-well-off brethren in the portion of their income that is under $100K (which, of course, is at least double the sum total of all of the income of those they are compared to here). The tax rates go up, but only on the income in the higher tax brackets. Sorry if the largesse that you've been skimming from the sweat of the average Joe is coming to and end, rich guys. Let me know when you have to sell the only car you have to pay the only mortgage you have, or you have to cut your retirement 401K in half to make sure you get through the year, and let me know if you still think it's a good idea to give the wealthiest members of society even more at the expense of the poorer masses.

Here's another thousand words (or the visual equivalent thereof) on the subject:

Share and Enjoy!

Take care, all. And good bye.

Courtesy of our good friends at Sadly, No! comes this gem:

Remember, kids - this is what passes for a respected, respectable pollster, who always presents his polling and his poll results in a fair and balanced manner - as far as conservatives are concerned. For some strange reason, this has caused presentations of this nature to be off the infotainment menu at the Funny Farm as a general rule. Once in a while I review highlights (cough) such as this - but, since there's usually nothing new, and no connection to reality or even some sort of journamalism, involved with these sorts of investigative reportering by the conservative media, I generally find ways of avoiding them. This one is so bad - and not even a good interpretation of the drunken village idiot role to boot - that I couldn't help but point it out to you, so that the next time you hear about a fair and balanced poll from that objectively neutral pollster John Zeigler, you can remember this video.

Share and Enjoy!

Late Late Breaking Update: Yes, kiddies, Your Humble Narrator will be posting more bloggy goodness soon! The first who can spot this entry and toss off a quick note to my email addy will get a special treat from the Funny Farm vaults!