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A friend of mine took me to task last week for not commenting on the House passage of a bill levying a 90% tax on bonuses granted by companies receiving the Federal banking bail-out funding. I had to admit to him that I hadn't been paying much attention to the news recently, so knew nothing about it till he grilled me about it. But I also opined that, since it was directed at those particular companies, I wasn't too torn up about it. (I've already stated I'm not particularly taken by any of their arguments justifying the massive bonuses being paid out at this time.) He argued 'slippery slope' — "give the government an inch, they'll take a mile." I told him I understood the sentiment behind the bill and, while I might not be 100% behind the idea, I wasn't ready to storm the barricades protesting it. Then I read this in an article from Saturday's LA Times: BONUS BACKLASH RIPS INTO WALL ST. Rep. Brad Sherman (DSherman Oaks) said he was prepari...

I first read Watchmen a couple of years ago, after hearing for many years previous what a groundbreaking, genre redefining, award winning novel it was. I read it, enjoyed it, and realized it was probably a lot smarter, deeper and challenging than I was giving it credit for. I also knew I was going to have to read it again, now that I knew the story, to really get to the meat of it… those things that made it groundbreaking, genre redefining and award winning. This is not to say that I didn't appreciate the book… just that I did not come away from that first read a convert to the cult of Watchmen. When I heard that Warner Bros. was finally making the movie (and it looked like it was really happening) I studiously avoided going back to the novel… I knew enough of the story not to feel like I would be lost in the movie, but didn't want to have the novel in the forefront of my mind when I went to see the movie, since that's usually a recipe for disappointment. I've wat...

I was asked recently what I was going to bitch about now that we don't have Dubya to kick around any more. I told them I was sure I'd find something, but here it is, nearly a month since my last post and I've got nothing to show for it. Admitedly, there have been things that have caught my attention… the continued BS surrounding the banking bailouts (I'm sorry, I don't care what your justification may be, paying massive bonuses when your company's only afloat thanks to a government bailout IS still bullshit), Dick Cheney's arrogance (hardly news, but still), and the continued bickering among Republicans searching for relevance (seriously… the RNC Chairman just went on record saying abortion is a "personal choice" and it looks like Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin are circling Rush Limbaugh for the role of party leader… it's gotta be rough to be a Republican right now, right?). But it's still kinda background noise. Besides, schadenfreude only...