My Quiet Life

Nathan Newman notes the appearance of “Radio Free Ohio”:

A new rebel radio station is appearing in Akron, Ohio.

Deemed “Radio Free Ohio”, it’s luring new listeners by denouncing the “corporate-controlled music playlists” of stations owned by companies like the megacorporation Clear Channel.

And who owns Radio Free Ohio?

Clear Channel.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Amanda sent me a list of the top “most harmful” books of the 19th and 20th centuries.

It’s a very interesting list of books, but I am not really sure “harmful” is the right word to encompass what they all have in common. Maybe “dangerous” or “provacative”. Or maybe “required reading”. Well, maybe not Mein Kampf.

Anyways, the list is good, but the descriptions are laughably stupid. For example, from the description of Das Kapital:

Marx theorized that the inevitable eventual outcome would be global proletarian revolution. He could not have predicted 21st Century America: a free, affluent society based on capitalism and representative government that people the world over envy and seek to emulate.

Yeah, what an idiot! Go America!

And from the description of Keynes’ General Theory (his opus, and pretty much the foundation for modern macro-econ):

When the business cycle threatens a contraction of industry, and thus of jobs, he argued, the government should run up deficits, borrowing and spending money to spur economic activity. FDR adopted the idea as U.S. policy, and the U.S. government now has a $2.6-trillion annual budget and an $8-trillion dollar debt.

Who wrote this? Some dipshit intern at the heritage foundation? He might as well prefaced that description with “I haven’t actually read this, BUT …”

Cheney is shocked, SHOCKED:

WASHINGTON, May 30 - Vice President Dick Cheney emphatically defended the handling of detainees at Guantánamo Bay in an interview to be broadcast tonight, saying that they had been “well treated, treated humanely and decently” and that some accusations to the contrary were “lies.”

If only there were some impartial international agencies designed to inspect these sorts of arrangements to make sure everything is kosher so we don’t have to rely on the dubious testimony of former prisoners.

Okay, it’s not really the first day of summer.

But, it’s Memorial Day, and today I had a cheeseburger, onion rings, and a banana milkshake from Bobbie’s Dairy Dip, which means it’s officially summer.

And I am officially a giant lard-ass.

Evidently, there is a huge elephant sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. Who knew?

They are currently embroiled in a debate over the fate of the Hawthorn Herd.

An interesting post and discussion about the societal merits of abortion over at Nathan Newman’s.

Rumors are swirling that Honda may in fact be interested in buying what’s left of MG.

I have a few irreverent observations to make:

• I hate that social decorum (and law?) dictates that you should pull over as a funeral procession goes by. I think it’s stupid. I realize many people will act insulted and say I am being disrespectful to the dead. I don’t care. People die every day. I am trying to drive, here.
• Harleys and other motorcycles with loud pipes are stupid. There, I said it. They are loud, obnoxious, and they serve no purpose. I have considered the “loud pipes save lives” argument for some time and found it without merit. Millions of other vehicles, including other motorcycles, manage to survive just fine without being so loud they hurt the ears of people within 4 city blocks. I think harleys and other choppers are beautiful works of engineering that are entirely too fucking loud. I am not going to pretend they are not just to seem hip. If you don’t hear from me again, it means I’ve been kidnapped and made a bitch by the Hell’s Angels.

“Work To Do” by the Isley Brothers is a goddamn good song.

That is all.

I re-added the little list on the sidebar of “recent music” with the latest songs i’ve listened to from my profile on Audioscrobbler. Something I forgot to do when I migrated from Movable Type to Wordpress.. So, there’s that.