tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990637292166971052024-03-03T16:26:05.073-08:00FrieddoglegRandom thoughts from outside the comfort zone.Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-74176000958500247012019-03-24T21:58:00.000-07:002019-03-25T16:20:11.338-07:00Denial: The River of No Return
Recent events started me thinking about the level of insanity that makes up much of today’s political discourse. Sure, politics has always been a little bit crazy, but in today’s politics, the crazy is off the charts. What’s worse is that on those very rare occasions when the crazy lets up, the stupid takes over, thus ensuring that the assault on those-who-are-not-the-elite continues Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-24231608816208209372017-06-27T13:35:00.000-07:002017-06-27T14:11:23.577-07:00Coming up Short
The
Trump Administration, in its entirety, is proof positive that the
Peter Principle is the real deal; not one of Trump's
Cabinet-level appointees has the knowledge, the experience or the
dedication and commitment needed to effectively lead the department
that he or she was appointed to run. The same can be said for all of
his other appointees, as well.
When
Trump promised to drain the Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-56695323514301318042017-05-03T22:58:00.001-07:002017-05-04T19:53:22.464-07:00An Open Letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai
Dear
FCC Chairman Pai:
Stop the incessant push to restrict Internet access
by creating “fast lanes” for wealthy subscribers and “slow
lanes” for everyone else. The Internet is more than just a channel
for commerce; it's also an important channel for public
communications that serves society on many levels. Citizens are not
well served by regulations that favor the wealthy over the
Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-60742334800994528522017-03-23T01:29:00.001-07:002017-03-23T01:29:18.037-07:00We Have Met the Enemy
One
of the most appealing things about modern society and all its
trappings is that irony abounds. While capitalist systems devour
themselves, the global human population goes farther into serious
overshoot, and the global ecosphere trends toward chemical imbalances
that will destroy its ability to support life, it seems illogical to
assume that the very things that brought the world to this
Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-69025257466319983532017-03-06T23:56:00.001-08:002017-03-19T01:21:39.221-07:00About that Wall
Our so-called president
is delusional if he thinks that just because good fences make for
good neighbors, high border walls make for good allies. History shows
us that high walls create bitter enemies, and exist as much to keep
resident populations inside as to keep invading hoards out. Walls
breed fear and distrust.
Rather than building
walls, we should be tearing them down and building Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-89589875722305657942017-02-21T14:09:00.000-08:002017-02-21T16:13:09.565-08:00Fear and Hatred Never Sleep
If
it were possible to determine sexual orientation at the fetal stage
of human development, you can be sure that abortions would not only
be legal in the states now seeking to outlaw them, but for certain
fetuses they’d be mandatory.
Religion
is the stimulant that keeps fear and hatred alive and awake. Fear the
gay, fear the different, fear the other, and―above
all―hate,
hate, hate Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-48780507705374528142017-02-13T03:40:00.000-08:002017-02-21T15:56:15.937-08:00Classy Comparisons
Who
knew that reviving a blog can be harder than building a new one from
scratch? To ease the task and mark the beginning of my return
engagement with Frieddogleg, here’s an inspiring 3-minute video
that compares middle class to world class (with mellow background
music that makes your meager time investment even more worthwhile),
and subtly suggests in a tangential way that by changing your Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-76139903352858025782013-09-26T23:00:00.000-07:002017-02-21T14:28:18.028-08:00Dear John (an open letter to Oregon's governor)
Dear
Governor Kitzhaber,
Really?
The public soundly rejected SB 633, so you'll just shove it down the public's
collective throat anyway?
GMOs
are an economic dead-end, and the companies that seek to peddle that particular
brand of snake oil to the public know it. If GMOs had real commercial value,
the public would be clamoring for them, not trying to get them rejected; if GMOs
had Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-13761133959203421122013-09-01T20:23:00.000-07:002013-09-01T20:23:14.909-07:00Capitalism: A Criminal Enterprise
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-48629458124874640352013-06-20T00:03:00.000-07:002013-08-26T21:10:04.676-07:00Truth of Consequences
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-46903978424003357512013-06-17T23:14:00.000-07:002013-08-26T21:04:57.815-07:00Growing Pains
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-66515683526750197162013-05-30T00:42:00.000-07:002013-08-26T20:59:26.832-07:00The Best Things in Life
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-46352728838263798282013-05-26T17:59:00.000-07:002013-08-26T20:49:19.652-07:00Daze of Our Lives
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-47864143235830376092013-05-23T18:30:00.002-07:002013-08-26T20:37:48.264-07:00Do the Math
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-14549187971323146792013-05-06T19:08:00.000-07:002013-08-26T20:11:58.554-07:00Damned if We Do, Damned if We Don't
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<![endif]-->As it turns out, a robust economy and a healthy environment are
incompatible. If we rev up the economy, the environment suffers. If we protect
Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-15260839765324738572013-04-29T00:47:00.000-07:002013-08-26T20:03:11.056-07:00Words to Live By (Part 2)
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Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-4819911693384875362013-04-25T21:16:00.000-07:002013-08-26T19:49:56.556-07:00Words to Live By (Part 1)
“Some
will come back. So post wisely and well.”
―Lambert
Strether
First, the Backstory
Monday.
Earth Day. 10:00 a.m.―oh, alright, quarter-to-eleven―I roll out of the sack in
anticipation of a fairly laid-back day, not quite awake but too awake to get
back to sleep. There’s nothing on today’s agenda more complicated than booting
the computer, checking e-mail, fixing breakfast, doing Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-48508049413357370912013-04-21T23:02:00.000-07:002013-08-26T19:38:41.897-07:00No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
A
spike in traffic to Frieddogleg (for our purposes, “spike” is defined as two or
more visitors on the same day), all of it coming from here, caught my attention earlier today and
prompted me to do a little additional sleuthing. It wasn’t hard to find the
link.
BDR
has been a good friend of this blog almost from the beginning; a similar link
to one of my earliest posts produced a similar Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-49326325002209337432013-04-20T15:45:00.000-07:002013-08-26T19:33:42.005-07:00Environment 1, Economy 0
According
to a recent report in The Guardian
(UK), the world’s wealthy have as much as $32 trillion stashed in off-shore
accounts.
Why
is all that money stashed in off-shore accounts? The obvious answer is that
it’s avoiding the tax man, of course. The less obvious answer―the answer almost
everyone overlooks―is that it’s cooling the economy and helping to reduce CO2
emissions and other Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-38213409551762311272013-04-19T17:08:00.000-07:002013-08-26T19:25:07.977-07:00M.I.A.
"Coming
out of the recent election, it is clear that we're in the midst of a serious
national conversation about marijuana." ― Drug Czar
Gil Kerlikowske, January, 2013
Where the hell have you
been, Gil? We’ve been having a serious national conversation about marijuana
for forty fucking years, but your side refuses to participate.
Q >>>
Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-50199731396224981122012-05-24T16:05:00.000-07:002012-05-24T16:55:10.069-07:00Fuck DOMA, Support DORMA*
*Defense of Right to Marry Act
Or, you can just sign this petition:
Change.org|Create a Petition
Moral and social justice demands equality under the law.
Q >>>
Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-59195798259314512542012-02-20T01:20:00.000-08:002012-05-24T16:56:58.028-07:00Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings
Random thoughts that almost became blog articles but, you know, didn’t:
The only truth is the one that conforms to reality.
• • •
Any society that puts a higher value on dead trees than it does on live ones deserves its fate.
• • •
Human beings became stewards of the planet largely because the fuckin’ polar bears and whales wouldn’t stand up and do it. Well, okay, I can understand Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-39746370790987720252012-02-17T16:53:00.000-08:002012-02-17T16:53:37.446-08:00Payback is a BitchThe Supreme Court’s ruling (Citizens United v. FEC) essentially gave corporations, in the name of free speech, the right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence the outcomes of public elections and dictate legislative agendas. In effect, the Supreme Court affirmed that money is equivalent to speech.
But if one buys that argument—that money is equivalent to speech—then one must also buy Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-44088007189613736192012-02-15T12:32:00.000-08:002012-02-15T17:27:49.795-08:00Appointment in SamarraYesterday, Population Media Center’s daily e-mail contained a link to an excellent .pdf, by Doctor William E. Rees, on issues of sustainability. It boasts lots of fun facts and more than a few interesting parallels that suggest the golden age of unbridled capitalism, unlimited economic growth and mass consumption is about over.
This excerpt―especially the highlighted portions, which are Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-799063729216697105.post-61967811371893653542012-02-14T00:44:00.000-08:002012-02-14T01:02:08.039-08:00Get a Brain, Morans!Quoted from George Monbiot’s article in The Guardian (as posted on AlterNet):
“Perhaps it is in the same spirit of liberal constipation that, with the exception of Charlie Brooker, we have been too polite to mention the Canadian study published last month in the journal Psychological Science, which revealed that people with conservative beliefs are likely to be of low intelligence.”*
NoPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09974356693812650266noreply@blogger.com0