I once scavenged; thus, my society should abandon the project of feeding its hungry.

From MaxRedline a conservative blogger I have enjoyed reading for months, this moral tale comes in response to "a discussion involving public schools offering free meals year 'round."

Judge for yourself, readers, based on the merits of the writing. But first, a caveat from the author:

If you're a leftist, you may as well move on now, because I'm going to explain exactly why compassion is not necessarily good. This will cause your head to explode, so in the interest of your personal safety, you should leave.

Are you still in, readers?

My parents were out here for a visit a few years ago, and one of Dad's observations was that Oregon has so much food, growing everywhere - even in the urban areas - that it would be almost impossible to go hungry during the summer months. He was right.

Unless you're absolutely a sloth, you really can't go hungry. Nuts and berries grow in almost every neighborhood in which I've lived or visited. To supplement, there are edible native plants in abundance, as well as - in the urban areas - food distribution centers.

The only way someone can go hungry here is if they sit on their fat ass and demand that others bring stuff to them.

Sure, and you may have to get hands dirty by picking nuts and fruits, by participating in one of the many gleaning programs, or otherwise working to feed yourself and your kin, if any. But forty+ years ago, finding myself out of work for a time and with few actual possessions such as telephone or tv, I lived in Forest Park for a couple of months - a mere jaunt to downtown Portland.

It involved a bit of work, as I had to fabricate a small shelter - but it was well-camoed and actually had quite a spectacular view from the entrance. I harvested quite a number of edible native plants and obtained water from a nearby spring. Perhaps the greatest amount of work involved digging a privy; difficult to do with but small tools and hands.

Of course, as the economy improved I was able to secure work, leave the park, and build things up. I now live in a house, complete with mortgage, in Portland's West Hills.

Nothing was given to me. I worked for everything, however meager it may have seemed at the time.

And if I can do it, surely then others can as well.

I'm not advocating that everybody move into the park and start digging privies and setting snares, but there are far more private social services in play now than there were 40 years ago. The one factor that remains is this: you have to be willing to do at least some work.

"Free" meals served year-round at schools simply undermines the values of self-reliance and personal responsibility; supplanting them with a "somebody owes me" mentality.

Please discuss.

Next We'll have Tony Blair and Jeff Tweedy...

...talking about Harold Wilson and the other fall of the house of labour.

(h/t Washington Note)

The OG's Word Cloud for October

h/t Jason

created with wordle

Terra incognito

To second dave's sense of wonder, "wow" describes a lot of things I'm seeing right now. Honestly, I'm lacking any sort of historical reference to which I can grab and gain some sort of insight into what might happen. A black man is the odds-on favorite to be president of the United States. An economic catastrophe makes it likely that we will see a fundamental reordering of the premises of the financial world (although like dave, I'm not ready to call it the "end of capitalism"). And most worrying to me, a segment of the population - as a consequence of the two previous points, a decades long diet of eliminationist rhetoric, and candidates for high office willing to light a match - seems on the verge of a very ugly explosion. What does this all mean? Hell if I know, but I have a sense of unease unlike anything before.

Wow

Krugman won the Nobel in economics. I thought these things only went to Joes that spouted off about the wonderousness of the market.

Reminds me that with this economic crisis, I've been beginning to feel like a whole of of shit is possible now. There was a big editorial in the RG yesterday about how leaders around the world are declaring the end of laissez-faire capitalism and the free market. I'm not quite there yet. The Dow rallies for a week and makes it back to 10K and a whole lot of people will be assuring us that this was temporary and we should all trust in the power of those markets.

And I also understand that it in no way serves Barack's interests to start talking about the end of capitalism, but couldn't we get one of those dog whistles I hear so much about?

What happened to good drug etiquette?

Thanks to the NYT, I spent the evening familiarizing myself with the whole genre of Salvia trip YouTube videos (as an added bonus, it's also the first time I recall having seen the word "bong" appear in the Times). Back in my younger and wilder days, I was no stranger to all manner of psychedelics, and to be perfectly honest, I enjoyed them. Salvia, however, was my least favorite - I tried it once and had the worst experience of my life. It wasn't a good time. Some people enjoy it, and that's fine by me, but it's definitely not my cup of ('shroom) tea.

Watching the videos, though, made me realize we were downright civilized in our little adventures. A few thoughts:

• Tim Leary always talked about "set and setting" in having a good trip. We always managed to either be outside in a safe environment, at a show or club, or some comfy place to chill out. Watching these jokers get blasted in their dingy apartments doesn't seem like a lot of fun to me.
• You know what sucks when you're tripping? People pointing and laughing, and some jerk trying to "trip you out" with some sort of nonsense. People, just let the person enjoy their voyage.
• You know what would've sucked even more? Someone waving a camera in my face and documenting my trip.
• And really, posting it on YouTube? I don't care if the shit's legal, broadcasting to the world how fucked up you were is one of the stupidest uses of technology I've seen.

Take the advice from someone who's "been there," kids - turn off the camera, light up a doob, put on Dark Side of the Moon, and just relax. It's much easier on your constitution.

< /cranky old man >

Oh, fuck it. This one's pretty fucking funny.

And now, I digress

I've laid off the celebrity blogging for awhile now, mainly because celebrity antics no longer shock me. Really, how long can I go on spouting about drug-fueled escapades, gratuitous cooter shots, and fucked-up interpersonal relationships? It's all pretty fucking boring.

However, I'll make an exception for Amy Winehouse who, against all odds, appears to have OD'd on weed:

It was following this second overdose in July that doctors are worried her brain was damaged by the cannabis overdose after she displayed symptoms normally associated with schizophrenia.

The Back to Black star inhaled an 'inhuman' amount of hash that left her vomiting uncontrollably and hallucinating, according to her pal.

Back in the day, I'll 'fess up to some marathon pot-smoking sessions and methods of ingestion that turned the little weed into a hard drug (gravity bongs, anyone?). I've gotten so high that I... fell asleep.

But to smoke so much as to overdose and cause cognitive dysfunction? I have a hard time believing that it was solely hash-fueled, but damn - that shit's fucked up.

A Timely Reminder

I am not having the best of days. This perked me up considerably. Thank God for youtube.

My Mind is Blown

The Tree of Labor, my friends.

When the unfortunately named lash out

Meet John "Jack" Kass, columnist for the Chicago Tribune and world-class Obama hater. "Jack" Kass is angry:

"Did you ever notice that when John McCain is on TV he's always grumpy?" asked a colleague in the cafeteria who whispered, lest others denounce him for Barackian Thought Crimes.

"McCain's always made to look old and angry, a curmudgeon. And Barack Obama? He's always seen as presidential, cool, smiling, shaking hands," whispered the guy.

Now, a rational person would look at, say, this:



And then look at not only the candidate, but at his image consultants, asking, "Really, are you guys trying to lose?"

"Jack" Kass, however, is not rational. And who does he blame?

I believe this phenomenon is called liberal bias. And the country has caught on.

Since I mentioned it a few days ago, newspapers, Web sites, radio and TV news have been full of stories about media bias and outraged denials, recrimination and guilt. Always the guilt. Obama's people know we're guilty.

That's right, "Jack" Kass was the first to notice liberal bias in the media. Not just content to put lipstick on that old sow, he sprinkles in some queer innuendo:

Guilt is what McCain is playing on, too, trying to shame journalists with a new video with dueling sound tracks about the Media Love that Dares Speak Barack, featuring MSNBC host Chris Matthews shrieking that when he hears Obama talk, a tingle runs down his leg.

some astonishingly bad advice:

Predictably, McCain blew it by selecting lame songs for his video. He should have used "Barry Angel" sung to the old dusty "Johnny Angel" or my personal favorite, "Oh-Bama" sung to the 1958 hit, "Oh, Donna," back in the Route 66 days when McCain was young and not so old.

some more not-so-subtle innuendo:

Meanwhile, the Democrat Obama is treated quite differently. He's the Mr. Tumnus of American politics, the gentle forest faun of Narnia, with throngs of reporters trembling to sit with him at tea and cakes, like the little girl in the C.S. Lewis story, as he plays the flute, chanting "We Are The Change We've Been Waiting For." And nobody laughs.

Barack Obama is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

some bedwetting about "angry bloggers":

I hesitated to suggest this is because of liberal media bias, because the last time I said so, I was frightened and intimidated by the angry left blog Daily Kos, which has discovered that I'm not liberal. One Kos reader suggested that he'd read my column in the Tribune only "if the headline read 'Tribune Columnist Beaten to a Pulp.'"

and, just because you can't do it enough, a smidgen more innuendo, with bonus cult implications!:

Because the election is over, isn't it? Obama is president, all we're waiting for is the transcending, when a beam of light shines on Chris Matthews' face, carrying him to the heavens, smiling, that tingle running down his leg.

Poor, angry "Jack" Kass.

Goin' to...

John Cornyn Ad

Someone thought this was a good idea. That's all I can say. I'm blown away.

Oh, Canada!

As far as I can tell, these are real. Allegedly (I'm not convinced, obviously) they are Canadian Public Service Announcements that (possibly) never aired. But were made for real.

I'm kind of too fucked up about them to comment, so you all please do.


Canadian Domestic Abuse PSA - Watch more free videos


Canadian Domestic Abuse PSA 2 - Watch more free videos