Can you imagine a world without the rich?

http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2007/10/below-the-fold-.html

Can you imagine a world without the rich?

You might say that the rich we have had as long as we have had the poor. As the incredulous swell in an old wine commercial said to the ingénue: “How do you think I got so rich?”

Most Americans today accept the rich as they do death and taxes as another one of life’s annoying basic facts. It is unusual for Americans to realize that we as a society are responsible for their existence. We believe what they tell us. Once again, an old commercial suffices: As John Houseman, bow-tied, and quintessentially the patrician Harvard law professor he once played put it about his client: “At Smith Barney, we make money the old fashioned way – we earn it!”

(Parenthetically, who among the moneychangers would dare run this ad now?)

We need not countenance their existence forever. One need not bring back Stalin to reduce or eliminate the rich. Scandinavian countries do quite well in minimizing their presence. And there is little mystery in how to reduce or eliminate the economic power of the rich. Steeply progressive income taxes, elimination of inherited wealth through estate taxes, and income redistribution along with a robust welfare state can do it.

If Americans examined the deeper damage that the rich do to society, perhaps they might be willing to try cutting the rich down to size.

Let’s look at how the rich damage American society.....

Regarding OiNK

Everyone Needs to Read this...

http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2007/10/when-pigs-fly-death-of-oink-birth-of.html

Its basically a beautiful essay entailing my thoughts on the whole ordeal, the misinformation spread on OiNK, and why we need piracy.

Well looks like Jin is going to die on LOST...

If you don't watch LOST then you can ignore this but you really should watch LOST. Its still damn good and better than any TV Show on right now in my opinion. Anyway buy seasons 1-3 on DVD then you can get back here.

For those who have seen LOST or who continue reading out of boredom then you needn't worry. This post doesn't really have any spoilers (well except for those of you out there who have yet to see Season 2 but its over a year old so really its your own fault). Jin probably won't die, but he might.

You see he (or the actor who plays him rather) has just been arrested for Driving Drunk (Asians break the law? news to me). And the last two actresses (Michelle Rodriguez and the chick who played Libby) who were caught driving drunk were also killed on the show. So there is precedent.

Heres hoping they don't kill him off till we find out what island magic makes it so that he can speak not a lick of English but everyone seems to understand him.

Man I love LOST (I also love typing the name in all caps).

Define Irony...

One of Saddam Hussein's crimes that led to the current war was the way he bombed the Kurds in retaliation to the PPK uprising.

And now I read this...
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22636940-663,00.html

Basically it says that President Bush has agreed to bomb the PPK rebel group in retaliation to their uprising in Turkey.

Its been a long time since I have taken an English class but I am pretty sure this is irony.

And I had just gotten an mp3 player to keep all that music too...

At least now Rennie can erase all those Justin Timberlake albums from his computer.

http://torrentfreak.com/oinkcd-servers-raided-admin-arrested/

For those who don't feel like clicking, the story basically says that Oink.cd, the awesome private bittorrent site where Rennie got a lot of music and that I wanted to start using too, got shut down yesterday and its admin got arrested.

That sucks.

Also the site now has a message that says "A criminal investigation continues into the identities and activities of the site's users" so here's hoping Rennie doesn't go to jail.

Iraqi/Kitchen Nightmares

I have learnt about what is the best way to solve the Iraq war crisis. Don’t stop reading, it gets good.
For years now, we have been having trouble dealing with this problem of the Iraqi government and how they can’t handle their police or their own people. We have Shiites and Sunnis blowing each other up, and noone stopping them. Well everyone I have found our solution and savior.



Gordon Ramsay.



Gordon Ramsay owns 12 succesful restaurants in the UK and in the United States. I used to think he was a douchebag because all I saw was clips of him yelling at people in his kitchen and making them cry and apparently that seemed to pass off as good television for fox. But lately they decided to come up with this great show called “Kitchen Nightmares” where Gordon Ramsay goes to some poor shmuck’s restaurant that’s on the verge of closing, screams at them for being disappointments, and then saves them from their utter cave in. So here’s my idea: “Iraqi Nightmares” Gordon Ramsay heards out to Iraq to yell at Nouri al Maliki for being a disappointment and a fake. Then, Gordon Ramsay’s team of designers and chefs turn Iraq into a Steakhouse. Brilliant!

random++::...

cheers

Random Funny Thing #2...

From Ren

Dear Friends,

HELLO From the world of training logs and raw material inspection reports. I am writing you to say that my first week of actual work is actually alright; except for the fact that I am already drowning in paperwork and I've only been here three days. I have calculated that since my training booklet is 58 pages long, consisting of about 5 training logs per page, and each training log is 13 pages long (training logs are done in my computer), By the end of the week I will have read 3,770 pages worth of laboratory information. But I don't mean to gloat, these logs are boring and I want to tear my eyes out. I can't wait to finally get some actual time in the lab, which I am told won't be any time soon.

I must say I kind of miss being a bum, hanging out at the house all day, watching TV, doing nothing. I really should win the lottery. But work's not that bad really, it really isn't, I like my co-workers, and I like my boss. Oh and I have asked carlos to post this since I am not able to do so in my internets.

Also moving has been the worst experience of my life. I will absolutely hate doing it ever again.

We should all get together in Austin; I know a brewery we would all love to visit ;).

May the peace of the flying spaghetti monster be upon all of you.

Rennie

Random Funny Thing #1...