Bush on Palin:
After Palin’s selection was announced, the same people who demanded I acknowledge the brilliance of McCain’s choice expected the president to join them in their high-fiving tizzy. It was clear, though, that the president, ever the skilled politician, had concerns about the choice of Palin, which he called “interesting.” That was the equivalent of calling a fireworks display “satisfactory.”

“I’m trying to remember if I’ve met her before. I’m sure I must have.” His eyes twinkled, then he asked, “What is she, the governor of Guam?”

Everyone in the room seemed to look at him in horror, their mouths agape. When Ed told him that conservatives were greeting the choice enthusiastically, he replied, “Look, I’m a team player, I’m on board.” He thought about it for a minute. “She’s interesting,” he said again. “You know, just wait a few days until the bloom is off the rose.” Then he made a very smart assessment.

“This woman is being put into a position she is not even remotely prepared for,” he said. “She hasn’t spent one day on the national level. Neither has her family. Let’s wait and see how she looks five days out.” It was a rare dose of reality in a White House that liked to believe every decision was great, every Republican was a genius, and McCain was the hope of the world because, well, because he chose to be a member of our party.

Watching this video…

I was pretty sure that I had done an different one of these things since this thing, but I can’t find it off-hand.  Ah de well.  Sanford, of course, is out.  The Kid was always a joke of a pick.  Joe The Plumber may finally have exhausted his 15 minutes well enough.  I’m thinking that Michael Steele may just be irrelevant enough.  And, to mull the GQ article is to mull whether we may as well end the door on George W Bush.

Though, Cheney continues to reverberate.

Fill those five seats with some Southern Senators, or a Rick Perry.  And, to mull that video and the Washington DC rally is to state this uncomfortable reality.

Dick Armey would have to fill a slot.  And, in consideration in particular of some of the questions floated out in the  Glen Beck would have to be slotted right in.

An impressive bunch?

Something swirling around my mind a bit, though.  I project somewhere between a small to a mildly large Democratic loss in 2010, and a good sized Obama victory in 2012.  Given that — and things can happen between now and 2010 or 2012, and given the activist Republican base’s projection on where America is with Obama — perhaps to be buoyed by partisan gains in 2010, and perhaps even with a spotted 40s approval rating here or there between now and 2012… and to turn on an am dial of the radio and roll across the dial is to hear one Republican bloviator after another that amplifys their projections on where America stands…

… What does the cognitive dissonance bring?  OR

Up to two million people marched to the U.S. Capitol today, carrying signs with slogans such as “Obamacare makes me sick” as they protested the president’s health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending.
[…]
Tens of thousands of people converged on Capitol Hill on Saturday to protest against government spending

The contradiction is RIGHT THERE IN THAT ARTICLE!!!

Is it worth looking around at the signage and crowd?

Maybe.  Maybe not.  Nineteen out of 20 signs were hand-made. My favorite was “Stop spending our tacos. I love tacos.” The most popular were variations on “Don’t tread on me,” “You lie,” complaints about Obama’s “socialism,” warnings about the 2010 elections, references to the deficit or big spending, critiques of Obamacare, and (especially) cracks about various czars (including not a few that equated czars with Soviet Communism). Godwin’s Corollary was satisfied on multiple occasions, including “Hitler gave great speeches, too,” “the Nazis did national health care first,” and someone comparing Obama’s 2009 with Hitler’s 1939 (alas, we didn’t get to ask him whether America was about to invade Poland). Michael Moynihan did have a nice chat about George Marshall with the fellow holding a sign saying “McCarthy was right.” There was an “Obama bin lyin,” “Feds = treason,” “Birth certificate,” and “Glen Beck for president.” Greatly outnumbering such things were references to the constitution, taking our country back, and so forth.

Okay. Watching the video, I see two signs right off the bat worth noting. The “WWHD” sign and the “Stalin Called — He Wants His Policies Back”. The “WWHD” sign is informative, only inasmuch as I’ve seen this striking argument from the Freedom Works head — Dick Armey– and yesterday in the National Review blog — “Source for all that these guys” – and then spotting the counter-veiling Hitler stuff.  The “Stalin Called” is interesting because we’re just sort of merging everyone into one pile. I suppose we have in Obama a one man renewed Germany — Russia Pact?

… Also… Wait. What’s that sign? Ohmygosh, it’s a Giant Photo of Sarah Palin!!!

As media events go, Obama has rebounded a bit since August.  To feed the media, you have to spit out counterveiling events so you get “your side” into the same story.  Hence, Obama runs over and has a rally in Minnesota.  It is for Obama “On the job Training”, I suppose, hiking up that learning curve.

… Then again, the larger war protests of the 2002 – 2003 era were downplayed in the media compared to this — Front Page here, some pages in for them.  There’s a double-edged sword to this thesis working here, I gather… note for sake of partisan comparisons: the giant photograph of Sarah Palin, and note: name a  politician that might’ve been spotted in one 2002’s crowds?

Regarding the whole “9/12 Movement” of one Mr. Beck, one major organizing force standing behind these things, the stated purpose for Glenn Beck around which to: “bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States, or political parties. We were united as Americans.”  This is malarkey.  It’s “Unity” as defined by that.  I find this paleo-conservative’s defense of Beck off point, only partially fine with regards to the “From his perspective” I try to strive for in these types of cases.  9/12 — the date most conducive to perpetuating the War State and the Security State (Patriot Act).

I’m part of the 9/13 Movement.  That would be an extra day to line up some “Upon further reflection”, “Upon further perspective”.

It’s THEIR health care bill:

Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Mark Warner of Virginia, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Tom Carper of Delaware, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Mark Begich of Alaska, Mark Udall and Michael Bennet of Colorado, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Bill Nelson of Florida, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, and Independent Democrat Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

The current legislative process has unravelled to the point where a filibuster proof 60 is necessary to put something through.  And these are the 60 Senators leading up to that number 60.  The tail that wags the dog.  Their interests are catered to, their concerns dealt with.  In the classic Senate strategum that held that there were 40 intense partisans on either side, and twenty Senators in the middle who’d end up “getting things done”, these would be your twenty.

Another way of looking at them is from the comparison of the Lyndon Johnson Experience that is in vogue. “Civil Rights” had to be “built on”. Johnson got through a bill in 1957 framed from what the Southern Dixiecrat Chairmen would let him get away with. And Strom Thurmond peed off stage in his filibuster, or something?

The finest point comes with Ben Nelson and Olympia Snowe.  Snowe is the one Republican Obama has swirling around these mixes.  And, if I’m reading this right, Snowe’s big concern is…

Speculation is that Snowe is afraid to be the sole Republican on the bill and feels she needs a concrete concession on the price tag in order to justify her involvement.

FANTASTIC!  If that sounds ridiculous — Olympia Snowe wants to not be the only Republican Senator to vote for this for the sake of not being the only Republican Senator to vote for this, I can point out that Obama has wandered around with the same mindset, as has the Baucus Finance Committee.  The problem for Snowe is her Republican Caucus is down to that magic 40 number of irretractibles.  Her game is thrown off filter.

For what it’s worth, Olympia Snowe makes Senator #61 here.  Ben Nelson is Senator #60.  And I take his “Game Changer” statement , never mind the following equivacations, to mean he could be catered to.  Meaning, I guess, it’s Ben Nelson’s bill — followed by the other sixteen off of that list.  Just drop that arbitrary $100 Billion, and we should have the Ben Nelson Health Care Act pronto!

The Drudge-i-verse spit out the headline “YOU LIE!” following Obama’s health care speech.  Looking down further, I caught the further glimpse of the snap-shot of where the Conservative Movement is at the moment:  there was a link to an item about Janet Napalitano rounding up Girl Scouts for the government indoctrination.

Replete with scary photograph of Napalitano with Girl Scout troupe.  Everything is topsy turvy, isn’t it?  We are in a bit of John Birch, or the modern equivalent of the (still existent) Birch Society — the Alex Jones Show arena.  Take, for instance:

From “Crooks and Liars“:

But he certainly made some waves last week when — clearly, and appropriately, disgusted by Jerome Corsi’s bizarre piece in WorldNetDaily suggesting that President Obama was preparing concentration camps to round up and imprison his conservative critics — Henke urged his fellow conservatives to disassociate themselves from WND in every way possible.

This is, frankly, an oldie.  Jones has drummed at it since at least the Clinton Administration.  I can go back to the 1968 George Thayer book on the political fringe and cull it out from 40 years ago as well.  I think World Net Daily’s Jerome Corsi (cue 2004 presidential campaign for name check) merely cast a partisan hue to the conspiranoia.

For an eye on where Alex Jones is throwing things around, I am similarly confused by this link to this piece.  When I clicked over to “prisonplanet” the other day, the Charlie Sheen Interview with Obama dominated the page.  It was really, really bizarare.  That was a hoax?  I was supposed to believe it?  When I first saw it, I assumed it was a parody in their own visage — which would be acceptable. 

Incidentally, back to Drudge: I see the Homeland Security Wants to Recruit Girl Scouts” story is on now on that Alex Jones page, now that we’ve seen the Charlie Sheenpromotion subside a tad.  (But only a tad.)

And back to Drudge – i-verse, and the celebration of Joe Wilson as the new Joe the Plumber: in retaliation from the liberal blogs, I see an ad for “Censure Joe Wilson”.  Why bother?  I don’t even think pushing  funding for his opposition is all that worthwhile a goal.  He had a close-ish race in one of the last two cycles, and the next one isn’t probably as Democratic a year.  The DCCC just plopped his name on their “Targetted List” for fund-raising pitch reasons now that he’s a name.  Good for the Old Donkey Versus Elephant Show, I guess.

Keith Olbermann, 9-8-09:  First, on this date in 1922 was born one of the greatest American comedic geniuses, Sid Caesar, born the same day, Lyndon LaRouche, now behind some of the Nazi imagery at the health care town halls. The difference between the two men, Sid Caesar realized he was funny.
[Note: corrected transcript, which had the year “1992”.]

My first impulse is to assume that this is false, an item of mild imagination from bystander:
“At the Trader Joe’s in Irvine, the LaRouche Activists wore swastikas, which brought some customers to tears,” according to the complaint.”
But a second thought is that it just might be, along the lines of “Chartor”‘s thought process here.

Leatherstocking Unleashed at Wikipedia!  Searching about for ways to maintain the insertion of the world inside the cult as opposed to the world outside the cult, for instance the confrontation with Lerner.  Which gets him such attention as:

I started watching only after Leatherstocking brought this to the attention of a noticeboard frequent but, since then, I haven’t seen anything egregious from SlimVirgin.Simonm223 (talk) 02:59, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

Comment: Both Will Beback and SlimVirgin are quite capable WP:FA writers – I am sure they will do fine with the clean-up. Cirt (talk) 20:21, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

 A bit too easy on him is “Atama“, in describing his possible relationships with sock-puppets.   And yet, Comedy still ensues.  For instance:

“Antony Lerman is in fact an obscure individual, who had no bio at Wikipedia until SlimVirgin authored it[26], shortly after adding multiple references to him at Lyndon LaRouche.  Lerman consequently does not have the wild-eyed public image that Dennis King has.”

The only place King has a “wild-eyed public image” is within the world of Larouche — maybe too the world of Fred Newman, but I don’t much concern myself over there.  In the world at large… well, he’s a fairly obscure individual.

AND
I apologize; I have only limited time each day to participate at Wikipedia, so it is often difficult for me to keep up.
I don’t believe him.  This is a stalling action to impede wikipedia editing.  See also:
“A teqhnique of Larouche’s opponents is to produce a sort of parody of Larouche’s views and then attack the parody as a strawman and if we exclude primary sources, the reader is likely to get a misleading picture of LaRouche’s views.”
Leatherstocking’s comments are pure Comedy Gold!

Leatherstocking delays:
I would like to make one very specific proposal here. It would be helpful to the mediation process if Will would agree to cease making major deletions or other highly controversial edits until the matter is resolved. My limited time is largely taken up trying to keep track of dozens of controversial edits he is making every day. I would prefer to concentrate on the mediation process.

Second, and this applies particularly to the “Views” article, I am concerned that LaRouche’s core views, which as far as I can tell are about economics and science, may be obscured by undue weight given to secondary issues raised by hostile secondary sources. I raise these points simply because I have for two years observed POV warfare at the LaRouche articles, and I believe that misrepresentation of LaRouche’s views is typically the tactic of anti-LaRouche editors. Many of LaRouche’s views are quite peculiar, but they should be given a fair and neutral hearing. And, his track record on economics is good (as the Chinese and Russians seem to delight in pointing out.) —

I suppose the best way to handle that crisis would be to list out the whole list of the annual predicted slides into Economic Dark Ages.  I actually don’t think anything else matters much in this regard.  This, I guess, would be seen by Leatherstocking as “cariacture of his views”, but it would solve his burning issue of this piece of comedy gold:
In this edit, SlimVirgin changes the date of “LaRouche on financial crisis” to 2008, despite the fact that the cited sources indicate that his forecast was made in 2007. Presumably this was done to minimize the significance of the forecast. Incidentally, in looking at Russian press coverage of LaRouche, there is a lot more material available on this topic.

AND , Atama continues:  We shouldn’t “stack the deck” with the views of his enemies, but at the same time we should try to portray the prevailing opinion of Larouche and his ideas. If 9 out of 10 secondary sources are critical then the article should reflect this. Being neutral doesn’t mean that the article should strive to say as much positive about him as negative. Not to be dramatic, or try to equate the two personalities, but look at Adolf Hitler#Legacy.  

Weback:  Regarding the general view of LaRouche, I came across this recent reference to LaRouche by Congressman Ed Royce. While it wouldn’t add it as a source, it’s illustrative of the general view:
The one thing Democrats and Republicans and Libertarians and Peace and Freedom all agree with is that Lyndon LaRouche is a nut case. [2]
Again, I wouldn’t necessarily add it to an article, but it is an indication of how folks regard LaRouche.  

And then there’s Leatherstocking again:  I will also say, knowing that this is controversial, that the process has been hindered by the banning of knowledgeable pro-Larouche editors who were contributing useful research. I do not have extensive knowledge of LaRouche’s writings or where to look for secondary sources, but I can use Google as well as the next person and perhaps I can contribute something in that regard.
Again, I don’t believe him.
I will confess that I am a bit reluctant, because I am concerned about being labeled “pro-LaRouche” if I add material that appears favorable to LaRouche. From what I have seen, being labeled “pro-LaRouche” leads to bans.
Something about editing against a Kitchen Table applies.

AND  Generally, that would make his views on important issues notable. What constitutes an “important issue” should be a matter of mature editorial judgement. In LaRouche’s particular case, he claims that the media have a policy of suppressing his views selectively (and some of the media appear to cheerfully agree — see Views of Lyndon LaRouche#LaRouche vs. the media. Therefore, I am uncomfortable with the idea of making the media the arbiter of which views get covered in Wikipedia.

Good gravy!  It goes on to allow Leatherstocking the out of “no mathmatical foruma” in placing secondary and primary sources.  Which would be okay, if not for the nature of the editing — Leatherstocking will, and does indeed, take this “general rules of principle but no hard Law” as a license to continue as per usual.  Here is the Funniest item, the Gold Standard in Leatherstocking’s little Comedy Routine:

 

Unlike much material here which has little to do with LaRouche personally, the webcasts seem to be an important, professional activity for him and appropriate to a biographical article.
(This was immediately slapped down by two wiki users… While it may be personally important to him, is it important as part of his biography?Seeasea )
To finish theis excursion into wikipedia up:

WB  Regarding the new account, he’s obviously experienced at Wikipedia, and obviously knowledgeable about LaRouche. Doesn’t that make you wonder if it isn’t a returning baned editor, HK, whose used several socks on this article in just the last couple of months?

I can answer that question for him: No.

Let me ask you this: do you accept that the NPOV policy, particularly UNDUE, means we can’t treat LaRouche sources as being on a par with mainstream sources, and that this article must reflect what mainstream sources say, not what LaRouche says? Do you accept that?

I can answer that question for Leatherstocking: No.

The world in which Leatherstocking inhabits can be gleaned from various web droppings of “Wait. Who are these people?” types:

“Are You Brainwashed”?  No.  But you are.  According to Democratic Presidential pre-candidate Lyndon LaRouche, whose assessment is shared by many competent specialists on terrorism and irregular warfare in this country and around the world, what took place was not a terrorist attack, but a strategic, covert special operation,

A must read exchange between Alfred and Archie.  Two highlights:

Alfred:  I have listened to some og LaRouche´s webcasts and I like these ideas a lot.  He is a visionary but realist, a patriot and has a good economic grasp. Why is Larouche not more popular in the US?
He then goes on to partially answer his question.

You are absolutely right, Archie. Transition is always difficult. I think LaRouche has good ideas. Hitler and Schacht got Germany up on her legs with fiat government money which funded autobahns and a lot of other infrastructure without gold, as Germany had no gold.  The real gold in any society is the brains and natural resources. After WW2 Germany had even less gold but rebuilt its shattered, totally bombed economy in express time, with paper money.  Nowadays, with almost all gold in the hands of bankers and Jews, it would have been a gross mistake to restore gold standard. Anybody can see the logic of it, except the Austrians and Paul.

Turns out it was a political group, linked to Lyndon LaRouche, called BüSo.  We chatted with a young partisan of that party and she described their link with the “large US political group which was responsible for the successful mass demonstrations against the death panels.”  We learned that LaRouche is married to a German politician.  We’ll let you know their German polling percentages when we know.

Hint: somewhere in the low hundredth of a percentiles.

This guy thought he was so clever, he rolled this joke out twice.

I’ve always had this small dream of becoming a professional reviewer or critic of this or that media — novels, popular movies.  Then I could write a review and give things “A -“, which would force onto the cover the movie poster or book an “A -“, begging the question “What… deficiency knocked its grade down?”

The other effect is the old Siskel and Ebert show.  That show tossed in the trash-bin for use any pull-quote by Siskel or Ebert (in favor of “Two Thumbs Up”), and made moot for promotional use any review by Siskel or Ebert if the other gave a negative review.

There is this effect in reading The Kite Runner that comes with its quick “Study Guide” inclusion, which is a product of the novel’s immediatnotch to the status of “Big Important Literature”, and the fact of its study guide affects my reading rather detrimentally, even if I paid that no mind.  I was consciously aware that I was paying too much attention to structure.  So… what is that?  A few points deducted due to post-production presentation?

With that, I can say it is a depressing ending.  Bleak and full of despair.  With that little narrative tic of wrapping it into the feeling of bitter-sweetness.  But that only magnifies the destitution.  On its own, it wouldn’t be too bleak, but the emphasis on the tiny shining light as a positive source for optimism is what makes it depressing.

But this is a novel regarding Afghanistan and the by-product of three decades of war and turmoil, so that is pretty much the way things have to be, I would suppose.

Back into the world of current events, with something like 130 percent of the vote counted, Harmid Karzai has pulled out of run-off status against his competitors.  Next up is the what now?

The Strange Death of Franklin D Roosevelt, Emanuel M Josephson, 1948

page 85
The invisible Rockefeller Empire is a super-government that is rapidly encompassing the entire globe.  It has entered into partnership or other deals, and has dominated the governments of numerous countries including France, Italy, Roumania, Germany, Czecho-Slavakia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China, Abyssinia, Japan, and Soviet Russia; and in the Western Hemisphere, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia, Bolivia, and Argentine.

For the past thirty-five years, the government of the United States has been a completely dominated and minor dependent bureau of the Rockefeller Empire that has always done its bidding.  For more than half a century, the Rockefeller Empire has controlled by its contributions the nomination in the major political parties.  Under Franklin Deleano Roosevelt, their agent, the Rockefeller Empire entered into open rule of the United States.

[page 305]

War is an absolute necessity for the continued maintenance of our present scarcity economies and for the support of the scarcity monetary system, whether that economy be Communist, Socialist, Nazi, Fascist, or the Speculative or “Gold Standard” economy we call Capitalism.  […] 

The Truman Administration, like that of Roosevelt, is undertaking to follow the Lenin formula and force dictatorship through bankruptcy.  By direct and indirect taxation it is taking between a third and a half of the nation’s income.  As the percentage rises higher, ever more persons will be forced into straightened circumstances and bankruptcy.  Finally, when a sufficient number of taxpayers and a sufficiently large proportion of the productive capacity of the nation has been bankrupted, the government itself will be bankrupt.  The nation will be faced with the alternative of seizing private wealth and industry, as was done by the Communists or concentrating wealth directly in the hands of the ultra-wealthy whose fortunes will have escaped taxation through various loopholes written into the law, in which case the pattern will be that of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.  In either case dictatorship will eventuate, as planned.  The blight of wanton waste and of oppressive and confiscatory taxes is being depended upon to impoverish all but the Dynastic rulers and their allies.  The Rockefeller Empire will then reign supreme.

We can now say goodbye to Geocities.  It will go black at the end of October.  In its hay-day, it was much maligned by techies, and probably for good reason — even if one basic thrust of their problem has that sort of elitism that didn’t take into account a desire on the public not to become computer techies themselves.  Geocities misfired on a couple of occassions — a noxious little watermark, and then at the acquisition from Yahoo a claim of corporate copyright over everything anyone posted.  In retrospect, Yahoo’s purchase of geocities was probably an unwise investment, a flush down the toilet of some millions of dollars, though it made sense at the time — geocities reportedly was the third most hit site on the web at one time.  Geocities could have been something, had it evolved with the Internet Zietgist — on to something paralleling any blogger or facebook, but it didn’t evolve.  So it was a relic, by-passed.  The thing lacked any dynamic features, encouraging a great deal of inaction and abondonment, and thus languishes its users into obscurity.

I liked, or at least adapted a liking, to the neighborhood subdivision inherent in the sub-directorys for the web addresses.  “SoHo” “Coffeehouse” “7115”.  What an address!  It gave me a bit of amusement in “looking around the neighborhood”, where I found a lot of unused websites — people figuring putting up a website of their own was the thing to do, and then not doing anything with it.  Lack of dynamism.

Then again… the subdirectories of these address… and an inability to communicate it to Law Enforcement… all on their end, I have to say… appeared to foster a feeling that I wasn’t playing things straight with them, which is never a good thing to engender with figures of Authority.

I stood at the entrance of the police station, whisked off of my high school campus after a brief and horrifying little chat, and the officer asked, “What’s the address?”  And I answered.

“dubba u dubba u dubba u dot geocities dot com slash SoHo slash Coffeehouse slash seventy-one fifteen slash diddley dash doot dot h t m l.”
I don’t know what he was expecting, but he couldn’t quite process such a thing.  After a short pause, he rustled about for a notepad and a pen, handed them to me, and asked “Could you write that down?”  Which I did.  And, after a pause, he parked me to the little holding cell, only convenient place available to dispose of me.

A minute later, he came back.  Unlocked the door.  Handed me the paper.  “This is… the right address?”
I looked at the paper.  Saw that everything was in order.  Handed in back, nodding my head, “Yep!”
 He handed it back, saying “Are you sure?”  I looked down again.  Grabbed my pen (which I had been impulsively clicking for the duration of this police visit), drew three lines above the “C” in “Coffeehouse” and “S” and “H” in “SoHo”, and handed it back. 
“It’s … um… Case Sensitive.”
Huh.

He returned in a minute.  Opened the door.  Summoned me.  And asked, “Why don’t you… um… come back with me and type it yourself?”
In retrospect, there probably wasn’t too much harm in having me do so in the first place.  But there was no protocol for this, so the police was in a very real way was playing this in an ad hoc manner.  As it were, I entered the office.  Another officer, the other’s Superior I presume, rolled his seat back, and let me lean over with just enough room to type the address on his keyboard.  There was a false start in getting the page up as it clicked to one of the barely wrong addresses he had been typing in to no avail, and so came a stern and accusatory question — “Why don’t you type in the address that you actually use to get to your page?” — which was answered by the page coming up.  I was ushered back out so they could apprise the situation anew.

It turned out all right, of course.  Me?  Not a Serial Killer.  Good to know!  But I am trying to imagine how these things might work in this day and age.  I don’t know. Do schools make it a point to survelliance their students’ Internet accumulations?  (Quick google search.  Around here?)  And how does one answer the question of handing an address for a long-gone facebook post — isn’t that a bunch of “&”s and random numbers and “^”s, something a bit more confusing than three slashes, three upper-case letters, and a dash (which, I suppose, everyone is used to by now).

Anyway, cue Mountain Goats.  And fade to black.

Any good geocities pages out there?  I can think of two.  Kind of.

Over heard Phone Call number one:

“So I say you need to bring in that resume.  If you can handle [name not caught], you will most certainly be able to handle [other name not caught].”

Next phone call.  “Yeah, I just got around to [someone or other, name not caught].  HAD to call her.
[bunch o stuff or other.]
Yes, I say the ideal person to hire would be a hooker who is about five months behind on her rent, because what we need is someone to bust their ass for long shifts upon long shift.  Everyone’s a little hazy right now, and I’m pulling in a lot right now.”

There is something about these two phone calls.  It may be a sign of the current “Great Recession” on how terms of Labor are sort of being lost.  That’s the macro-level of this thing.  But what caught me on these, why I found it kind of odd…

… The first call, clearly an acquaintance or minor friend.  Did that second call say that she was a Hooker, or just somehow on the level of one?