The Diary of A Simple Man

[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]

[Pete's RuneQuest & Roleplaying!] [Quasit's Grave] [Letters to Salon] [Fiction] [Charlie On The Commuter Rail]
Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Peter Maranci" journal:

[<< Previous 20 entries]

October 23rd, 2009
01:59 pm [Link]	Separation of Powers This is an absolutely delightful (political) video: ( Read more... ) Current Mood: amused Tags: politics, video, youtube (Leave a comment)
October 22nd, 2009
02:15 pm [Link]	Askville: politics "Is Government the Solution, or Is It the Problem? Or What?" ( warning, politics ) Current Location: Home Current Mood: hurt Tags: askville, politics, religion (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
October 20th, 2009
01:54 pm [Link]	Askville: Assassination This topic bothers me, but I have a hard time not replying to this sort of question. "Do you approve of our government using predator aircraft to strike at terrorist targets?" Oh hell, I assume that this is political. ( Read more... ) Current Mood: angry Tags: askville, politics (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
October 19th, 2009
11:59 am [Link]	Askville: Usury I suppose this could be considered political, so ( on with the political chastity belt again! (Read more) ) You think 79% is high? The effective annual interest on many payday-loan-store loans is over 800%. Current Mood: thoughtful Current Music: The Ocarina of Time - Windmill Hut Tags: askville, economics, politics (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
11:46 am [Link]	Askville politics: FOX News Politics. ( Politics. Do not click if the topic bothers you. ) Current Mood: amused Current Music: The Ocarina of Time - Windmill Hut Tags: askville, humor, news, politics (Leave a comment)
October 16th, 2009
09:30 am [Link]	Askville: Capital Punishment Apparently someone was recently executed for a crime it was then proved they hadn't committed. Someone asked if this would mean the end of capital punishment in the USA. I suppose this is political, so here's a cut. ( Read more... ) Current Mood: tired Tags: askville, humor, politics (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
October 15th, 2009
01:08 pm [Link]	Noble patriots vs. vile traitors God help us, it's more politics. Snarky politics, to boot! ( Read more... ) Current Mood: amused Current Music: Monty Python - The Meaning of Life Tags: askville, humor, politics (Leave a comment)
October 9th, 2009
09:26 am [Link]	Suffer the little children... Here are a couple of photos of some of the grateful young beneficiaries of our new Nobel Peace Prize President's policies: ( Oh god, NO! He's writing about politics again! Watch out! Don't click!!! ) Found these via Glenn Greenwald over at Salon. Current Mood: angry Tags: politics (7 comments \| Leave a comment)
08:27 am [Link]	Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize for "Hope, Torture, Explosions" Warning: politics inside. It's a letter I wrote to Salon. ( Read more... ) Current Mood: sleepy Tags: politics (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
October 7th, 2009
01:54 pm [Link]	Political test: Minimum Wage on Askville Okay, this is a political post which is NOT filtered. I'm putting it behind an LJ cut, instead. Those who don't like my political posts, DON'T READ THIS. ( Read more... ) Current Mood: tired Tags: askville, economics, politics (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
October 6th, 2009
12:53 pm [Link]	Politics alternative Just had a thought: instead of using a Politics filter for virtually all my political posts, would be be acceptable if I put political content behind an lj-cut? Current Mood: thoughtful Current Music: Shriekback - The Underwater Boys Tags: politics (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
August 26th, 2009
08:26 am [Link]	Ted Kennedy ...died early this morning. I'm terribly sorry to see him go. As I wrote on Askville: He exemplified the ideal of noblesse oblige. Born with everything - incredible wealth, looks, charm - he could have spent his life enjoying himself without a thought for anyone else. Instead, he spent his life working to improve the lot of those less fortunate than he. But actually, I think he enjoyed that far more than he would have enjoyed a lifetime of selfish pleasures. I saw him once; didn't get to meet him, but I saw him about 16-17 years ago at Boston's World Trade Center. I was very surprised. He wasn't the fat, red-faced caricature I'd come to expect from depictions in the press. In fact, he seemed far younger than I'd expected, and was a surprisingly handsome fellow. I wish we had more Senators like him - even one would be good. He was my Senator for many years. I suppose it was inevitable, but right-wingers are already screeching about Chappaquiddick. Bastards. I notice they never whispered a word against Laura Bush, who had a very similar event in her young life. Current Mood: thoughtful Current Music: Todd Rundgren - The Very Last Time Tags: askville, news, politics (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
August 18th, 2009
01:06 pm [Link]	Robert Novak, B.I.H. Robert Novak is dead. I was having a bad day, but this news brightens it a little. As, I would imagine, it has brightened his - or would, if there was a hell. Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: Monkees - Last Train to Clarkesville Tags: politics, tv (Leave a comment)
August 4th, 2009
01:17 pm [Link]	GoodReads Review: The Cat Who Walks Through Walls The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein My rating: 3 of 5 stars One of Heinlein's last books, and not one of his best. It represents yet another installment in the "World As Myth" theme that he used so often later in life, and therefore includes many characters from his older, better works - including, inevitably, Lazarus Long, who continues his long (pun intended) degeneration from the original interesting protagonist of "Methuselah's Children" into an annoying incest-freak, Heinlein surrogate, self-parody (I suspect), and all-around jerk-who-must-be-worshiped-due-to-his-natural-moral-superiority. ( Read more... ) Heinlein only wrote one more book after this; I've read it, but don't remember much of it (which is not very high praise, I must say). Unfortunately, that means that I don't remember if there was any mention of the outcome in that book. I suppose I'll have to re-read it to find out. If it weren't for Heinlein's great skill as a storyteller, I'd have given this two stars at best. It's certainly among his weakest novels. View all my reviews >> Current Mood: thoughtful Current Music: Tiny Tim - Tiptoe Through The Tulips Tags: books, fantasy, genre, goodreads, politics, rant, review, reviews, science fiction (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
June 9th, 2009
10:03 am [Link]	Politics Okay. Per request, I will never make an unfiltered political post here again. I'll also go back and filter some of the more recent unfiltered political posts. I'll post an announcement now and again about the existence of the political filter, however, if that's all right. PS - what about humorous posts that relate to politics, like http://bobquasit.livejournal.com/701080.html and http://bobquasit.livejournal.com/700852.html ? Should I filter those as well? PPS - Okay, I've filtered about ten recent posts. My apologies to the few who had commented on them, but who aren't on the politics filter; sometimes there are no good choices, I guess. There are still some humorous political posts left. I can remove them if anyone wants me to; let me know. I'll filter any future posts of that sort. This means that for those not on that filter, I'll be posting much less often. Current Mood: tired Tags: politics (8 comments \| Leave a comment)
May 29th, 2009
03:25 pm [Link]	Cars Someone asked an anti-Obama question about the government owning GM (which is SOCIALISM!!!). I didn't feel like getting into it, so I was brief: Don't know. Don't care. If you're stupid enough to buy a GM car, you deserve whatever breakdowns you get. She responded that I didn't seem to like GM, so I gave her a bit that I made up long ago: In Japan, if a worker makes a bad car, he must ritually disembowel himself in order to extirpate the shame that he has brought upon his family. If an auto executive's company brings out a bad car, he does the same thing on national TV, so that all may see his disgrace. In America, if a worker makes a bad car, he scratches his @ss and goes for a beer. If an executive is responsible for a bad car, he raises the price, runs more ads prominently featuring the American flag, and applies for a government bailout - which he gets. Then he turns around and uses some of that money to lobby the government to eliminate or delay safety features and fuel efficiency improvements (see Iacocca, Lee), thereby killing thousands of Americans, ruining the environment, and increasing our dependency on brutal Middle Eastern despots. What's not to love? Current Mood: amused Current Music: Too Much Joy - Long Haired Guys From England Tags: askville, cars, economy, humor, politics (Leave a comment)
May 14th, 2009
09:17 am [Link]	The Boy Death Squad Scouts of America I just wrote this as a comment further down, but it's worth posting by itself. This morning there was a story in the New York Times; the Explorers (who are part of the BSA) have been training thousands of children aged 13 & 1/2 and up as paramilitary death squads! Technically they're to be border patrol or "law enforcement" teams, but they train with guns and...well, take a look at the article. The photo is a bunch of kids dressed as a goddamned death squad! Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More (link fixed) Current Mood: angry Current Music: Jackson Browne - Doctor My Eyes Tags: links, politics (Leave a comment)
09:09 am [Link]	The Senate and usury The Senate just voted down an attempt to cap credit card interest rates at 15%. Their own bill does not cap interest rates at all. Here's a link to the actual roll call (it's in message #2). One of my Senators, Jack Reed, voted to uphold the interest rate cap; the other, Sheldon Whitehouse, did not vote. How did your Senators vote? Current Mood: angry Current Music: Hall & Oates - Adult Education Tags: politics (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
April 28th, 2009
12:18 pm [Link]	Political irony According to multiple sources (including the NYT and CNN) Senator Arlen Specter is switching parties and becoming a Democrat. If Al Franken ever gets seated, that means the Dems have, in theory, a filibuster-proof majority. Two observations: 1. Enough of those 60 seats are Blue Dogs and conservative Dems, who have already shown that they'll be quite ruthless in blocking anything progressive. And it's not as if the vast majority of Dems and Obama himself are progressive in any case; they're not. Anyone who expects there to be a meaningful change in Washington is deluding themselves. 2. I find it ironic that the Dems have in theory gotten so close to absolute power less than a week after I stopped being a Democrat...after a lifetime of supporting them. So it goes. Current Mood: bitter Tags: politics (Leave a comment)
April 27th, 2009
03:36 pm [Link]	Politics Okay. I'm going back to putting future political posts (including most posts about the Genocide) under my Politics filter. If you didn't see a post on the subject in the last ten minutes, you're not on that filter. If you're at all inclined to tell me that I'm full of shit, politically, please don't bother asking to be included. Current Mood: angry Tags: armenian, genocide, politics (2 comments \| Leave a comment)

[<< Previous 20 entries]

Pete's RuneQuest & Roleplaying!