Topic: Random stupid things on your mind. Post them.

[Paper*Boy]

From: Why Is Unemployment Still So High?

By Alejandro Reuss
" ...some unemployment is necessary for capitalists to make profits. When unemployment is relatively high, workers are fearful of losing their jobs and have relatively little bargaining power. Employers find it relatively easy to keep wages down (or even push them down further), and to keep the pace of work high (or even increase it). When unemployment is very low, workers are less fearful of losing their jobs and enjoy relatively high bargaining power. They may be able to win higher wages, and force down the pace of work. Higher wages and a lower work pace, however, drive up labor costs per unit of output, and can “squeeze” profits. Employers may respond by substituting machinery for workers, or even cutting back production (as long as it remains unprofitable). These responses, if taken by enough employers, can drive the unemployment rate back up, and bring down workers’ bargaining power again. For this reason, substantial unemployment is the normal state of affairs in a capitalist economy like that of the United States. Even during the “boom” years of 2006-2007 the number of unemployed workers remained consistently around 7 million (almost half the level it reached during the depths of the current crisis). Radicals do not attribute this unemployment mainly to a lack of appropriate skills (as mainstream economists explain “structural” unemployment), pointing out that even so-called “unemployable” workers do get hired when a boom lasts long enough. Rather, they argue, this “reserve army” of unemployed workers is necessary to keep workers scared of losing their jobs—and therefore willing to work hard enough, and for low enough wages, to ensure capitalist profits."

 
Good grief.  Really?  A certain amount of Unemployment is due to the boom and bust cycle.  A certain amount is 'natural', i.e., people leaving one job for another, just coming out of school and into the work force, coming back after raising children or taking care of an ill family member, etc.  And yes, people that refuse to become educated or don't really want to work have a harder time of it.  Wages will always rise or sink to the level of market demand (too few workers in a boom period equals rising wages, etc)
 
Anything more than that is mostly due to government intrusion - taxing and regulating at home to the point where it's just easier and cheaper to use an offshore labor source (such as has happened in the US), or requiring employers to provide expensive benefits and vacations and pay huge payroll tax rates (we see this in the tired economies of W Europe with their structural ue often at about 20%).
 
Companies would really rather hire US employees and remain in the US.  It's a burden to use a workforce that is less educated, doesn't speak english well, send managers back and forth to offshore factories and offices, ship materials and finished products back and forth, deal with local (non-US) laws, regs, taxes, currencies.  These companies offshore jobs because they are forced to due to the taxes and regulations imposed here.  Excessive union demands don't help either.
 
 
And for this egghead to say it's because the corporations need ue to be a certain amount to keep people scared, etc., is it even possible forcorporate America to all get together, decide what ue rate they want, and stick to it?  It's the Marxists, er, Radcals, that think everything can and should be planned out first, then implemented.  I haven't noticed them being particularly good at it, why do they think 'the corporations' can and do? 

[onan]

 
Good grief.  Really?  A certain amount of Unemployment is due to the boom and bust cycle.  A certain amount is 'natural', i.e., people leaving one job for another, just coming out of school and into the work force, coming back after raising children or taking care of an ill family member, etc.  And yes, people that refuse to become educated or don't really want to work have a harder time of it.  Wages will always rise or sink to the level of market demand (too few workers in a boom period equals rising wages, etc)
 
Anything more than that is mostly due to government intrusion - taxing and regulating at home to the point where it's just easier and cheaper to use an offshore labor source (such as has happened in the US), or requiring employers to provide expensive benefits and vacations and pay huge payroll tax rates (we see this in the tired economies of W Europe with their structural ue often at about 20%).
 
Companies would really rather hire US employees and remain in the US.  It's a burden to use a workforce that is less educated, doesn't speak english well, send managers back and forth to offshore factories and offices, ship materials and finished products back and forth, deal with local (non-US) laws, regs, taxes, currencies.  These companies offshore jobs because they are forced to due to the taxes and regulations imposed here.  Excessive union demands don't help either.
 
 
And for this egghead to say it's because the corporations need ue to be a certain amount to keep people scared, etc., is it even possible forcorporate America to all get together, decide what ue rate they want, and stick to it?  It's the Marxists, er, Radcals, that think everything can and should be planned out first, then implemented.  I haven't noticed them being particularly good at it, why do they think 'the corporations' can and do?

So when our economy was the most robust in the 50's and 60's and the corprate tax rate was in the 90% there should have been a mass exodus of businesses to Europe and southeastern markets. Yet that didn't happen. Outsourcing has been a much more recent endeavor. I have used the following example here before: workers in Homestead PA, a section now of Pittsburgh were fired upon and killed by Pinkerton agents for attempting to strike for better wages.

In 2006 the federal government gave $92 billion to General Electric, Boeing, Xerox, IBM, Motorola, and Dow Chemical. So I am somewhat at a loss about how taxed these scum sucking motherfuckers need to be less regulated.

Several years ago the government funded drug research for a pharmaceutical company, I think it was Bristol-Meyer, but not sure. The deal was to make a cancer drug that would as one of its advantages a cheap price, ironically the name was Taxol, and the price was over 20 times the manufacturing cost. Again not seeing the reason to outsource or put a downward pressure.

Poor corporations and the rich... they really mean well for us less thans... if we could just give them more of our slice it would all be better.

[MV]

Companies would really rather hire US employees and remain in the US.  It's a burden to use a workforce that is less educated, doesn't speak english well, send managers back and forth to offshore factories and offices, ship materials and finished products back and forth, deal with local (non-US) laws, regs, taxes, currencies.  These companies offshore jobs because they are forced to due to the taxes and regulations imposed here.  Excessive union demands don't help either.

while i agree with the fundamental principles behind what you're saying here, i don't think it's that simple, particularly that last bit. 


i think another part of the reason for offshoring is simply due to the fact that americans aren't willing to work for $1 per hour. 


regarding the union issue which is always raised as a means of excusing the betrayal of the american worker by american companies... only 6.9% of private sector workers are unionized in the US.  that's basically nothing from which to extract an argument.  when you add in public employee unions, it only increases that total to 12%... but public employee unions aren't really germane to this discussion of private enterprise doing business abroad.  hypothetically speaking, even if american unions really are the problem, 3rd world workers will eventually organize just as american workers did in the early 20th century.  in economics, things will always reach a state of equilibrium.  it's the path that gets us there and the time required that are uncertain.

[Ben Shockley]

Re the excerpt provided by onan:

... the only substantive thing i'd disagree with is the notion that the unemployment rate is organized and deliberate for the purpose of benefiting "capitalists."   although high unemployment does benefit employers, i think that benefit is incidental...

You might be off-put by the use of the term "is necessary for" in that excerpt.  The author surely meant that in a purely technical sense: like, "an atmospheric pressure below 800 mb is necessary for a tropical depression to form."   Doesn't imply any value judgement or agency.
And whether "incidental" or even "accidental" -- the effect is the same.

but i've always been told large corporations are far from being the #1 source of american employment...

But they're influential beyond their employee rolls.   When someone feels less draw to move out of Podunk to go work for the Big Boys (because the Big Boys aren't paying enough to justify moving), what does that do to local wages in Podunk?


Just a nagging detail, MV, but -- what exactly constitutes a "bullshit college professor tone?"  And why taint as "bullshit" a passage that you admit contains little to actually disagree with?   Or for that matter, what's the beef with "college professors" such that you use the term like it's an understood pejorative and automatic discredit to the person so "labelled?"
A bad college experience?
Dude, I'm here to help   

[Ben Shockley]

... i don't think it's that simple, particularly that last bit. 
... americans aren't willing to work for $1 per hour. 
[unions as] a means of excusing the betrayal of the american worker by american companies...   that's basically nothing from which to extract an argument. ...

You're scaring me, MV.   But I won't praise you, so you can keep some cred in here.

[Paper*Boy]

So when our economy was the most robust in the 50's and 60's and the corprate tax rate was in the 90% there should have been a mass exodus of businesses to Europe and southeastern markets. Yet that didn't happen. Outsourcing has been a much more recent endeavor...

Communications, infrastructure in other countries, shipping stuff around, all different now, much more feasible.  I'm just saying there are other factors than just pure greed.  If it were me, I'd slap tarriffs on all the offsourced goods and services coming back in.
 

... regarding the union issue which is always raised as a means of excusing the betrayal of the american worker by american companies... only 6.9% of private sector workers are unionized in the US...

That's today.  What was the union membership % when the offshoring started in ernest in the mid-80s?  Of course union membership is practically gone after 25 years of offshoring

[MV]

Just a nagging detail, MV, but -- what exactly constitutes a "bullshit college professor tone?"  And why taint as "bullshit" a passage that you admit contains little to actually disagree with?   Or for that matter, what's the beef with "college professors" such that you use the term like it's an understood pejorative and automatic discredit to the person so "labelled?"
A bad college experience?
Dude, I'm here to help   

it's just the predictable anti-capitalist overtones i'd expect to hear from a square peg college professor.  that's all.  i did a little research on the guy, and his opinions seem to emanate from what i'd call a marxist viewpoint.

[MV]

Communications, infrastructure in other countries, shipping stuff around, all different now, much more feasible.  I'm just saying there are other factors than just pure greed.  If it were me, I'd slap tarriffs on all the offsourced goods and services coming back in.
 
That's today.  What was the union membership % when the offshoring started in ernest in the mid-80s?  Of course union membership is practically gone after 25 years of offshoring

from here:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm


In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent and there were 17.7 million union workers.

keep in mind, that 20.1% stat also includes unionized government workers who don't apply to this discussion... so the number is actually quite a bit lower.

[MV]

If it were me, I'd slap tarriffs on all the offsourced goods and services coming back in.

agree completely with that.  eliminate their competitive edge if they're going to fuck the american worker.  no reason to continue committing economic suicide.

[onan]

Communications, infrastructure in other countries, shipping stuff around, all different now, much more feasible.  I'm just saying there are other factors than just pure greed.  If it were me, I'd slap tarriffs on all the offsourced goods and services coming back in.

Communications in most industrialized nations hasn't been much different than the US even in the 50's. Hell we rebuilt Germany and Japan. So yeah things have improved but in a very similar development in the US as well. I am not sure shipping has really improved that much. But even if we would agree that greed isn't a primary factor, what about this concept of patriotism? Shouldn't the people that are able to use the US as their "incubator" have at least loyalty to their fellow citizens? And hell yeah tax the fuck out of em if they leave.

[stevesh]

And my use of "you" was rhetorical, though apparently, from the vitriolic nature of your "response," you aren't smart enough to understand that.

You're right. My apologies.

I was in a contentious mood yesterday thanks to the Supreme Court decision about ObamaCare, the latest symptom of the accelerating decline of a once-great country. The whole thing depresses me and makes me angry.

I only see two possible solutions now: sheep-like acceptance of this Brave New World, or bloody revolution. I think I prefer the latter, sad as that is.

[Frys Girl]

onan is right. however, i do see a major difference with how government reaches out to small businesses vs. big business. Neither of the parties gives a damn about small businesses. You can be a multi-millionaire from a chain of this or that, and have money to spare for donations for these snakes, but they still don't give the same respect if you don't have share holders and multi-national interests. More reason as to why we need politicians who put Americans first, second and last. 

[Camazotz Automat]

I only see two possible solutions now: sheep-like acceptance of this Brave New World, or bloody revolution. I think I prefer the latter, sad as that is.

I proffer a ~third way~ Stevesh....  by some miracle of miracles or curse of curses, it turns out that Major Ed Dames is right to a degree and a fantastic Wham-O plasmatic kill shot from our friend the Sun incinerates/sterilizes our world within, oh, about seventy years.  Consequently, in Metallica-speak, Nothing Else Matters - provided it was a decent kill shot.

However, adding insult to injury, soon thereafter, (in astrophysical terms) the Sun expands ten times its current size into a red giant and we (we being any incidental remaining life) are introduced to total FUBAR mode.  Take that, solar cell economy! How you likin' that red shift, baby?

The depression you feel is similar to what I experienced years ago while watching a documentary about the closure of a factory in the U.S. that manufactured television sets.  They held on as long as possible but were finally destroyed by the calculated under-priced flood of sets from China.

I was aware prior, of course, that things were changing. But whether because of the television being an icon of our time or whatever, it struck a nerve. I think I gave up at that point.  Thus I have read far less data on the topic than most here.  It amounts to reading obituaries for me.  Forewarned is not forearmed. Nothing short of options 1, 2, & 3 seem very likely - and I HATE to state that anything predicted by Ed Dames is remotely likely, but at this point, his Kill Shot is more likely to occur than for things to stop spiraling into a shit storm.  If the U.S. continues, unchecked, to outsource in the name of bottom line maximized profits the future is bleak bleaker bleakest.  Fucking Sixty Minutes can show "Made In America" specials until they turn into wooden ducks and shit alphabet blocks.  Such small amounts do not begin to scratch the surface of what we have gutted.  I'm really offended when a talking head claims someone making bird feeders in Vermont is helping the economy by "bringing back American jobs."

Christ.

Other than that, I enjoy reading both left and right views here - I'm just not qualified to interject much.  Yesterday, I was very upset and had to vent.

Today... well, I'm waking up thinking about the possibility of a mass extinction event as brought forth by the Sun.


[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Ben Shockley]

You're right. My apologies.

Accepted.
For future reference (this is to everyone) : when reading my posts, assume a default intended mood of "sarcasm" or "exasperated humor."   Never assume that I'm taking an unwarranted personal shot at another poster.    Return fire, however, may be brutal.

Now, since stevesh has proven to be an understanding good sport, I shall use him again as a springboard.   He writes of:

...ObamaCare, the latest symptom of the accelerating decline of a once-great country. The whole thing depresses me and makes me angry.
I only see two possible solutions now: sheep-like acceptance of this Brave New World, or bloody revolution. I think I prefer the latter, sad as that is.

First, I'm genuinely dumbstruck that anyone can see an existential threat in a good-faith, if flawed and fatally hamstrung, effort to improve health-care coverage.   I honest-to-god do not get that.   The most ready explanation would be to presume mental illness (paranoia, for example) on the part of the person so panicked.   But, being a good progressive, I hesitate to blame the victim.
I will blame instead a corporate-capitalist structure that has done exactly what any complex organism does: expend resources to create and maintain defensive mechanisms.   In the U.S., these have increasingly taken the ingenious but insidious form of transforming potential threats to the "capitalist organism" into defenders of that organism.   Convincing the working people of America that the capitalists' interests are their interests; convincing the working class that the slightest inconvenience to the capitalists is an existential threat to the lives and chastity of the workers.   Brilliant!   We see in all the people who have demonstrated in the streets of America, and who have sounded off in these pages, how capitalist (and other regressive-oppressive) forces have brought people out willing to shed blood to fight "existential threats" that simply do not exist.
Folks, "the man" --whoever you want to think that is, okay?-- doesn't need to do a thing to control you, if he's already got you so far gone that you're willing to cut your own throat --and certainly mine or anyone else's who happens to get in "your way"-- in defense of HIS interests. 
As regards the "health care reform" legislation, all the propaganda you've heard is NOT from people who have your best interests in mind.   Corporations don't put billions into advertising and paying Limbaugh and the other mouthpieces and sponsoring traveling "spontaneous" demonstrations in order to help you!    But right now, thanks to expenditures like that, corporate America has you exactly like I just said: willing to cut throats to fend off something that is no threat to you!
When it comes to the "health care reform," folks, please-- calm down!   I can promise you that in 2 years when the rest of this legislation goes into effect:
No one is going to kill your grandma.   A gang of Kenyan Blacks will not come with U.S. Marshals demanding access to your daughter for "medical experiments."   No one is going to take your shotguns.   No one is going to force you to be gay.   No one is going to force you to allow Blacks in your church.   No one is going to tie you down and siphon your blood and put it into a pregnant "illegal alien."  Whatever else you are afraid of, IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.    Take it from me, some dude whose real name you don't even know, because he's giving you a lot more truth than some millionaire on Fox "News" ever will.
In fact, I wish you'd try to take a hard look at whoever has told you the scary stuff, and ask yourself: WHY did they tell me that?   Let me start you off with a good general clue:  it wasn't to protect your interests.   Procede from there.

Now: marvel as I shift gears--
If stevesh is still with me: I'm assuming that you're an American male, stevesh.   If you were born after 1961, did you register with Selective Service?  Same question to any other male American readers who may be panicked about "Obamacare."   Did y'all register?   You did?  You mean you sheepishly accepted that intrusion?   Because hey-- that's about potentially killing you in a war.  "Obamacare" is just about altering how a few %s of Americans pay for health care.   I don't remember any riots against Selective Service post 1982, so apparently there was no Option #2 (bloody revolution) over that.   So if potentially hauling your asses off involuntarily to war was no biggie,  WHY is this attempt at tweaking insurance such a big goddamn deal to y'all?   To YOU, worried posters, not to the radio talkers who get paid to get you scared about anything, and not to Mitch McConnell and John Boehner and every other congressional Republican whose bribe fee depends on whether their party is "in power."   Set aside anything negative you've heard from those highly-interested players, and reflect very personally on why it worries YOU.   It shouldn't, good folks.

Okay now, I'm out of steam.   Y'all calm down too.    Pres. Obama will be re-elected and it'll be alright   

[analog kid]

Did you hear the Glenn beck meltdown on the healthcare ruling? Wow. Some on the right have lost their marbles.

[MV]

Did you hear the Glenn beck meltdown on the healthcare ruling? Wow. Some on the right have lost their marbles.

glenn beck always rolls out that shtick...  and his identically voiced co host said he "collapsed in the corner" at around 7PM the day of the ruling. 


ok.

[analog kid]

Yeah, that's his shtick.

[Camazotz Automat]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Apologies to R. Crumb.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[MV]

if i were a chinese astronaut with a sense of self preservation, the first thing i'd ask when stepping aboard the craft would be, "was this thing made in china?"

[MV]

i'm working on weeding out the bullshit to get these boards down to significantly fewer threads each.  i've just finished moving HUNDREDS of threads to the archive from "open lines."  WOW did that suck.  moving on to the other boards tomorrow.  lots of housekeeping needed.

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

if i were a chinese astronaut with a sense of self preservation, the first thing i'd ask when stepping aboard the craft would be, "was this thing made in china?"

oh? i dunno about that as i've been following their program outside of what little is heard about it in the USA. private space industry in the USA has been trying to do what China has done. the United States has placed extreme restrictions on such industries. if you look back at what little the USA had to put a man on the moon compared to the tech available today you would understand how China may well pass other nations. not only in spaceflight, but in the recovery of and industrialization of the resources in space.
here is a good link for you:  http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Chinas_Space_Program_Accelerates_999.html

[stevesh]

Accepted.
For future reference (this is to everyone) : when reading my posts, assume a default intended mood of "sarcasm" or "exasperated humor."   Never assume that I'm taking an unwarranted personal shot at another poster.    Return fire, however, may be brutal.

Now, since stevesh has proven to be an understanding good sport, I shall use him again as a springboard.   He writes of:First, I'm genuinely dumbstruck that anyone can see an existential threat in a good-faith, if flawed and fatally hamstrung, effort to improve health-care coverage.   I honest-to-god do not get that.   The most ready explanation would be to presume mental illness (paranoia, for example) on the part of the person so panicked.   But, being a good progressive, I hesitate to blame the victim.
I will blame instead a corporate-capitalist structure that has done exactly what any complex organism does: expend resources to create and maintain defensive mechanisms.   In the U.S., these have increasingly taken the ingenious but insidious form of transforming potential threats to the "capitalist organism" into defenders of that organism.   Convincing the working people of America that the capitalists' interests are their interests; convincing the working class that the slightest inconvenience to the capitalists is an existential threat to the lives and chastity of the workers.   Brilliant!   We see in all the people who have demonstrated in the streets of America, and who have sounded off in these pages, how capitalist (and other regressive-oppressive) forces have brought people out willing to shed blood to fight "existential threats" that simply do not exist.
Folks, "the man" --whoever you want to think that is, okay?-- doesn't need to do a thing to control you, if he's already got you so far gone that you're willing to cut your own throat --and certainly mine or anyone else's who happens to get in "your way"-- in defense of HIS interests. 
As regards the "health care reform" legislation, all the propaganda you've heard is NOT from people who have your best interests in mind.   Corporations don't put billions into advertising and paying Limbaugh and the other mouthpieces and sponsoring traveling "spontaneous" demonstrations in order to help you!    But right now, thanks to expenditures like that, corporate America has you exactly like I just said: willing to cut throats to fend off something that is no threat to you!
When it comes to the "health care reform," folks, please-- calm down!   I can promise you that in 2 years when the rest of this legislation goes into effect:
No one is going to kill your grandma.   A gang of Kenyan Blacks will not come with U.S. Marshals demanding access to your daughter for "medical experiments."   No one is going to take your shotguns.   No one is going to force you to be gay.   No one is going to force you to allow Blacks in your church.   No one is going to tie you down and siphon your blood and put it into a pregnant "illegal alien."  Whatever else you are afraid of, IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.    Take it from me, some dude whose real name you don't even know, because he's giving you a lot more truth than some millionaire on Fox "News" ever will.
In fact, I wish you'd try to take a hard look at whoever has told you the scary stuff, and ask yourself: WHY did they tell me that?   Let me start you off with a good general clue:  it wasn't to protect your interests.   Procede from there.

Now: marvel as I shift gears--
If stevesh is still with me: I'm assuming that you're an American male, stevesh.   If you were born after 1961, did you register with Selective Service?  Same question to any other male American readers who may be panicked about "Obamacare."   Did y'all register?   You did?  You mean you sheepishly accepted that intrusion?   Because hey-- that's about potentially killing you in a war.  "Obamacare" is just about altering how a few %s of Americans pay for health care.   I don't remember any riots against Selective Service post 1982, so apparently there was no Option #2 (bloody revolution) over that.   So if potentially hauling your asses off involuntarily to war was no biggie,  WHY is this attempt at tweaking insurance such a big goddamn deal to y'all?   To YOU, worried posters, not to the radio talkers who get paid to get you scared about anything, and not to Mitch McConnell and John Boehner and every other congressional Republican whose bribe fee depends on whether their party is "in power."   Set aside anything negative you've heard from those highly-interested players, and reflect very personally on why it worries YOU.   It shouldn't, good folks.

Okay now, I'm out of steam.   Y'all calm down too.    Pres. Obama will be re-elected and it'll be alright   

Well, no. What I said was that I was in a mood about the Supreme Court decision about ObamaCare, not the law itself. Insofar as the federal government is incapable of doing anything right, administering something as complex as the nation's whole health care system is completely beyond its abilities, and it will collapse of its own pindick bureacratic weight, to be replaced by an honest single-payer system or a return to the private enterprise/Medicare clusterfuck that we have now, depending on what party has the reins at the time of the meltdown.

The idea that the evil corporations are out to get you in order to make obscene profits, while the loving government has only your best interests in mind is naive in the extreme. Who do you think controls the government in this essentially fascist state ?

What Justice Roberts' betrayal did was guarantee that the federal government can now compel us to do anything it wants us to do, as long as the penalty for non-compliance is called  a 'tax'.

The short-sightedness on those at the opposite ends of the political spectrum amazes me. Does the Left not understand that power given to their current Golden Boy can (and certainly will) also be wielded by future (shudder) Republican presidents and Congresses ? Sure, says President Scott Walker and his Republican Congress, you can still belong to a labor union if you want, but it'll cost you a 'tax' of 1% of your income. Think about the horror of a President Michael Bloomberg.

Just for the record, I never registered for Selective Service. I enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 17, and when I got out four years later, veterans weren't required to register. You could make the case that enlistment is even more sheep-like than registration, but I did a lot of things at 17 I wouldn't do now.

If Ben is still with me, I'll end my part of this with a quote from Theodore Forstmann:

In a state-run society the government promises you security.  But it's a false promise predicated on the idea that the opposite of security is risk.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The opposite of security is insecurity, and the only way to overcome insecurity is to take risks.  The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side.

[BobGrau]

if i were a chinese astronaut with a sense of self preservation...

... I'd probably keep my mouth shut and smile for the cameras.

[Camazotz Automat]

... I'd probably keep my mouth shut and smile for the cameras.

I would be screaming that they all had forgotten the faces of their fathers* - while being forcibly leveraged into the capsule.

(*Get it? Quoting from the I King?)

"And stop shoe-horning me in, motherfucker!" would be the final sound byte before being sealed for the great beyond.

Ideally, someone, somewhere, would be playing the theme from the series Kung Fu soon after we achieved escape velocity.

Yes... right there in the opening credits, when Carradine is tripping through a sand dune.....  Annnnnd, we're weightless!

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[EvB]

It's been a long time, gang!  The M Ed is D One. Rumor has it I have a job - but the paperwork seems to be taking forever.


I'll try to spend more time here now.  I've missed this place.

[Camazotz Automat]

It's been a long time, gang!  The M Ed is D One.

Well aren't you ever clever.

I'll try to spend more time here now.  I've missed this place.

Not as much as the place has missed you!  We've prepared a little something for your return. Bring it out guys.  That's it.  Wheel in that rickety independent school district gray metal cart with the portable record player suction cupped to the top.  Plug it in.  Use the extension cord, you worthless bleeding civil service parasites. OK.

(picking up mint condition vinyl album, carefully extracting grooved countenance)

Vinyl.

Spindle.

Arm.

Needle.

~hiss hiss hiss pop hiss hiss pop hiss hiss hiss~

I'm sleeping and right in the middle of a good dream
Like all at once I wake up
From something that keeps knocking at my brain
Before I go insane I hold my pillow to my head
And spring up in my bed screaming out the words I dread
I think I love you

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

I think I love you
Oh, I think I love you
Oh, I think I love you
Oh, I think I love you
Oh, I think I love you
Oh, I think I love you
Oh, I think I love you
Oh, I think I love you
Oh, I think I love you

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Time for that dreaded fascist pat down and scan as I make my way to that island jewel.  As the mighty Pink Floyd would quip.... I will soon be Wishing (a very few of you) Were Here.  - Cam out.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[EvB]

Classic CAM!  OMG - I did miss this place.

[McPhallus]

And now, for something just a little different:

Presenting the Gas Sack

[HAL 9000]

(picking up mint condition vinyl album, carefully extracting grooved countenance)

Vinyl.

Spindle.

Arm.

Needle.

~hiss hiss hiss pop hiss hiss pop hiss hiss hiss~

Or see the attachment below for the CD version

 

[Ben Shockley]

...Just for the record, I never registered for Selective Service. I enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 17, and when I got out four years later, veterans weren't required to register. You could make the case that enlistment is even more sheep-like than registration, but I did a lot of things at 17 I wouldn't do now.

Now look what you went and did, stevesh -- came dangerously close to finding some common ground between us.
For me, it was the Army at 17, but, re the Selective Service bit, "being in" apparently didn't absolve you from the supposed requirement to "register."   The feds --y'all know: the ones you think can't do anything-- immediately noticed upon my 18th birthday that I had not registered, and sent me a letter chiding me to that effect.   Of course, I didn't get it right away, being in basic training and all ~ but as I recall it, upon my mother responding to that letter and telling them about me already BEING IN the f@*#ing military that they wanted me to "register" to possibly be put in, they changed my status to "registered" (not "exempt from registration").   And upon turning 26 (or somewhere around there), I got the form letter thanking me for "staying registered" for my required time and thereby contributing to America's military readiness, and telling me how I no longer needed to stay registered.   That, after having 2 "Honorable Discharges" from different components and 2 DD-214s from different active-duty stints and having been pulled out of civilian life for Bush War I in '91 -- but they were thanking me for "staying registered until 26."   Not to mention all the university paperwork --and I think even some relating to some employment, and most of it well after all "obligation" was ended-- on which I had to dutifully affirm (i.e., lie) that I was "registered with Selective Service" in order to qualify for whatever.   Such forms take utterly no recognition of the status of "way past that."

I'll let the politics slide on past because I guess they were cluttering up this thread anyway....