NICE WORK, ALL! NOW LET'S GET TO WORK. (& LET'S GO PURPLE TOO WHILE WE'RE AT IT)

CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA! COMMON SENSE AND JUSTICE HAS AT LAST PREVAILED!
HUZZAH! HUZAAH! 'Tis surely a momentous occasion and cause for celebration throughout the land!

Yesterday we demonstrated that "yes we can" get enough Americans to acquire a sufficient grasp on their sanity and actually dare (once again) to elect an honest, moral and highly intelligent (and potentially competent, we hope) candidate to be our next president.

Great; there is a Santa Claus(e) after all! And Santa done whooped dat ol' nasty-ass boogieman's sorrysaggy butt into oblivion...

A particularly vituperative take on all of this came from ThirdStone founding father, Admiral Pluto Krozabeeep. In a crankily terse statement issued by his office this morning he said: "Take that, Republican miscreants! And don't think we won't be watching you - you can all go and wear those goddam cheap orange and blue plaid sport coats from Wallymart. We won't be fooled. Or maybe you'll change the name of the your party - ask Rove if that might work; really! Fat Chance! Go ahead and try to continue your self-serving agendae in whatever idiot disguise you so choose. But guess what boys; whatever you try now, IT WON'T FUCKING WORK!! We're onto you.

For evermore, we'll still know who you are and, we will no longer be tolerating any of your dangerous and dreadful shenanigans. Have you no fucking shame whatsoever? Don't you see what you've done to the rest of us these past few years??!! And how you've brought the entire fucking world to the brink of doom and damnation?? And, most tellingly of all; just how little you actually give a damn? We'd love to give you all a conscience 'transplant' if it would help but, according to the limits of current science, it wouldn't work; in order to function compassionately and mindfully, a conscience requires both a heart AND a head working synergistically. So watch out, godless troglodytes.... we'll kick your asses from here to kingdom come! Twice!"

Personally, were I to dial down his vitriol a smidge, I'd have to pretty much agree with the goofy admiral's take on things. Yesterday was unprecedented history made right before our eyes. A paradigm shift of the highest order. Perhaps even the advent of the "omega-point" that could seed a long overdue shift of the collective consciousness. Okay, so that's probably asking a bit too much (and Locke's gonna feed me my head for breakfast for sayin' that). But in any case, we've just jointly witnessed and achieved a shift of a tectonic magnitude. Bully to that, I say!

Okay, we done good - a potent new mandate's done been writ. We've further 'decrappinated' the chambers of our Congress. SO WHAT'S NEXT?

Yeah, that's the REALLY BIG question now, ain't it? It's okay to give ourselves a coupla days of giddy euphoria. We really have accomplished something of critical and life-reaffirming importance. Now, not to put a damper on the party but.... let us 'rewind' to the midterm elections of 2006. Seems we all agreed that we'd turned a corner; we'd issued a loud and proud mandate-manifesto then when we swept Congress clear of a bunch more of those pesky Republicrats, right?

But then what happened? Um, yeah... We blithely assumed we'd done our job and that our Congress would then do its', in accordance with our wishes. And yet, that wasn't quite what happened now was it?

So, this time folks, we truly can't afford to let that happen again. Never have so many of us spoken so loudly and proudly of our country's desperate and immediate need for significant change. Because of our efforts, we appear to finally now have a helmsman with 'the stuff" it'll take to get us there. We've given him a legislature he can work synergistically with. Things are definitely looking up. Aren't they???

Yes. They are. That's a guarded "yes" however. Remember, any "change" we're to achieve, is still well into the future. And that means that our work as citizens is not over. So let's pat ourselves on the back and drink our celebratory toasts to a job well 'started" but then remember that it is also one we cannot consider 'done'.

Now then, let's get back to work; the election was the easy part. Now, we need to ride herd on the team we hired. And ride 'em hard. And watch their every move. And communicate frequently and lucidly with our representatives and our new President. We've got some genuine momentum here and, the processes of government being what they are, will require that we keep that momentum building. (And that we dial up our bullshit filters to "stun")

Our pathological cultural ADHD/short-attention-span tendencies aside, we've gotta learn to focus. And to stay focused. And not just to one day find ourselves uttering "oh shit; they've blown it. Guess we'll have to wait for the next election and "reissue" our mandate.

Uh-uh. It doesn't work that way. Or at least, not any more. If (to paraphrase somebody or other here), we're to see the change, we gotta BE the change ourselves.

(and thus ends the polemical screed-screech portion of today's post. Well... maybe).

As duly noted above, we all have our work cut out for us in facilitating the change our country sorely needs. I have a pet target of my own that I want to see accomplished before the next presidential election.

SO, WHILE WE'RE AT IT: LET'S GO PURPLE (NO MORE RED & BLUE, WHAT SAY YOU???)

Okay, so we're all agreed that we're on a new course here. Let's move on. Over time, numerous pundits have bemoaned the inherent imbalances, inequities and liabilities of our "two party" system though none, so far as I can find, has ever proposed a realistic analgesic for this dire pain. While I heartily agree that it's a problem, I also think there may be a way to mitigate a good deal of the dysfunction said system creates. "And what is that Mr. Smartypantsbigmouth?" I hear many of you asking. It's actually quite simple. In fact, it's an issue of "color".

BANISH THE ELECTORAL PRESIDENTIAL VOTING SCHEME.
(AND DO IT NOW!)

Red states. Blue states. Bah, humbug. Turn 'em all purple. Let's face it; they are anyway. The absurd and depraved notion that any one state is entirely 'for' any one candidate is an insult and a travesty. "We the People" are just that. Our Constitution empowered us all to each have our own vote in selecting our top leader. Sort of. Or at least it did until this demented scheme got plugged in to gum up the works.

At the time it did, there was perhaps some reasonable justification for doing so, mainly that the technological limitations and the complex logistics involved of compiling all our votes across great distances in a timely fashion truly was a dodgy and unwieldly policy.

But fast-forward to present times and we find that it now manifests as a complete mockery of our constitution's original intent while rendering us all essentially impotent.

Sure, our two major parties love it; it keeps any and all other possible parties from being part of the process in any significant way. Dog forbid some smart-alecky independent-minded citizens might actually have some good ideas of how to run our government by breaking away from those two ailing ideological streams of often questionable motivation. How could THAT be good for our precious country. Oh wait...that actually MIGHT be... okay, you see where this is going, don't you?

Aside from the important direct benefit of allowing other political schema to blossom and perhaps thrive and contribute something actually useful, there are other, even more important and compelling reasons to eradicate this ugly and truculent beast.

Like, letting our composite, in-toto popular vote actually determine who should be our leader. I've never heard one good reason why, since we now have the means to count ALL votes, the electoral college is still deemed to be a sounder, more rational idea. It's simply NOT!!! C'mon folks, I double-dare you: Why shouldn't the simple aggregate voice of ALL our country's voters be allowed to select our president?

Of course it should. So now we're forced to look at the reasons this diabolical strategy is still foisted upon us. Any 'good' ones out there? None that I can find... So why do we continue to allow it then? Seems we've more than enough reason to discontinue this inane practice.

First of all, it disenfranchises and demoralizes us. We're told that we should all be sure to get out and vote and then, in the same breath, reminded that our vote doesn't really count. By doing so, we assure ourselves of lower voter turnouts, voter apathy and ambivalence and for many of us, it creates discomfort and frustration when it 'paints' us the color of the state we live in. This is deeply sick and twisted. Aside from all of that, it simply offends the Hell out of me.

Do I need to remind anyone that this electoral system dementia is the sole reason we have had to suffer two terms of "Bush-Terrorism", economic collapse and human suffering? In 2000, "throwing" a whole state's electors to one (the wrong) side (with, of course, the errant complicity of our own Supreme Court), was enough to steal and seal the election for the unelected candidate. In 2004, the probable 'real' result of the popular vote would've swept Bush aside like so many fetid dustbunnies.

Don't we care? Is this evenly remotely sane or prudent? Should we continue to allow this to happen? Does the bear shit in the woods?

I'll grant you, I'll not likely be finding much support from the leaders of EITHER political party for this idea. Nor will the overly self-important po-mo media find favor with it... they have far too much fun "playing" incessantly with their infernal "color maps" and then spinning the story every which way every few minutes.

Again, there's no sound reason for it and absolutely NO benefit to our country for it. Let's make sure that its abolition occurs before 2012

adapted from Wikipedia:
The United States is the last remaining example of a country having an indirectly elected executive president, with an electoral college made up of electors representing the 50 states and one federal district. Each state has a number of electors equivalent to its total Congressional representation (in both houses), with the non-state District of Columbia receiving three electors and other non-state territories having no electors. The electors generally cast their votes according to the winner of the popular vote in their respective states, but are not required by law to do so.

These 'renegade' electors are referred to as "faithless electors". Some states do require its electors to cast their vote in accordance with the majority of the popular vote. However, in 26 states, it is legal for these to vote for other than the candidate that received the majority of the state's votes. Now THAT's kinda interestin', ain't it??

So now we see that, not only does our vote actually count even LESS than previously believed but, it doesn't necessarily go to our candidate of choice!!

I'm sure any one of us could cite other reasons to dismantle the electoral college. Please add them as 'comments' to this post. We need to compose a bullet-proof argument to stop this monster dead in its tracks before it can be allowed to do us further harm.

And as we move forward from today, our great day of triumph, let's all remember to maintain our vigilance in the coming weeks and months. And to all promise each other that we'll make ourselves heard to those we've placed in charge. If we are ever to evolve into a true democracy, we need to take steps right now to correct our previously wayward and bumpy path. It's not good enough to merely call ourselves a democracy. We all have to do our part to learn to actually function as one by letting our elected 'hired-hands' in on the fact that there's a new boss in town who's gonna be keepin' a sharp eye on their shenanigans and that new boss's name ain't spelled O-B-A-M-A; it's spelled U-S.

(special thanks to Admiral Pluto Krozabeeep for providing us with his astoundingly ornery and petulant rantings yet again. And, of course, to all of you for voting us into the new "promised land". Let's hope it can keep its promises this time. Dog speed)

OKAY, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH...

are we finally clear on this???

most of the comments I read on election blog posts read like just another partisan slugfest.

There's a week to go-so let's clear the air folks, okay? This ain't rocket science.

Gov. Palin has adequately demonstrated two things: 1 she's in no way qualified to lead this country should that become necessary. 2. She (like most of us, I might add) has her own interests as her priority.

As for Senator McCain, have a look at this first:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c

Okay. So much for part one of the equation. But, in addition to all of THAT, Senator McCain has now demonstrated that he is no longer the McCain we thought he was these many years.

In his present form, he is clearly not fit to lead our country (and, by his own admission of the 'things' he's not well-versed in!). His campaign reached new lows in trading in outright lies and hate. Electing the man who can say "I'm John McCain and I approve these lies and tactics" would clearly be a tragic error. How on Earth could we ever expect him to tell US the truth? Or act in our best interests?

Merely saying all campaigns are dirty in order to rationalize such abhorrent behaviour and lack of integrity will NOT cut it this time. It's gone too far and, there's too much at stake.

As such, sad as that may be to some, we only have one sane/safe choice. And Senator McCain himself has already made that choice for us with his childish behaviour and sordid campaign.

HOLY SHIT, BATMAN! Rome burns, despite all the twiddling

THE WILD RIDE AHEAD - WITHOUT PRECEDENT, WITHOUT REASON, WITHOUT HOPE?
Well, we may really have gone and done it this time folks. For all of the turgid talk and frantic-frenetic action, it's lookin' more and more like we're starin' down the barrel of a brand new financial paradigm.

And we ain't gonna like it.

As Boris Badenov (and yes; I'm gonna recycle this metaphor even though I just referenced it in my previous post) used to always exclaim a mere nanosecond before the black bomb sphere with the sputtering fuse (that he always seemed to be holding at the wrong time), blew up in his face:

"HOOOO BOYYY!!!"

David Leonhardt's Oct. 7th NY Times blog column titled " Ignoring Reality Has A Price" quoted some interesting (and, somewhat terrifying) figures from the mouth of Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke himself. In perspective, it seems that Mr. Bernanke's statement that it's "a problem of historic proportions" is a woefully huge understatement.

Ben's "scorecard" tally:
30 billion $ to Bear Stearns
85 billion $ for A.I.G.
"Hundreds of billions, here and there, lent to various banks"

So far, chairman B says, we've dumped in about $800 billion. But wait.

He also notes that this does not yet include "the untold sum that the Fed now plans to spend buying short-term debt so that companies can continue to pay for their daily operations". And it doesn’t include any of the money the Treasury Department is laying out, like the $700 billion "bailout" fund or, the $200 billion that will be spent propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And, oh yeah.. there's still that little problem of givin' the US automakers a bunch more billions to "save" them.

Anyway. he then goes on to refer to this as putting "serious money on the line". Geez, Ben - ya think? Total those and you're up to about 70% or so of our current annual budget of $3 trillion.

You and I might state this a bit, um, differently. That's right folks...pardon my French but: we're fucked. We've got a huge deficit to begin with. We've got a huge trade deficit with the world marketplace. We've got a perky but pesky little war that still costs us 10 billion bucks a month or so. The stock market is worth little more than half of what it was a mere couple weeks ago.

But don't worry, the Fed and a number of other central banks around the world announced last night that they're cuttin' interest rates and planning what they call "cash injections". But then, "OOOPS! SHIT!! DANG!!".Today's stock market apparently didn't seem to be reassured... it tanked yet again.

Okay.. so let's see... we're gonna double our annual budget to maybe prop up the world financial market a bit (or, who the Hell knows, maybe not). Other than that, we don't actually have a real understanding let alone a viable, doable 'plan'.

So, I'm'a wonderizin'... Shouldn't we be just a teensy bit concerned that we actually don't have anywhere near that kind of money to begin with? Is anyone (including our next President and his weenie and waning competitor) willing to speculate on just what else that all might cost us? If they are, I sure the heck haven't heard it.

In my newest role here as amateur bigmouth dipshit pandit/pundit, allow me to make a prognostication. All of the scrambling and wailing and hand-wringing so far is NOTHING compared to the "SPLAT" we're gonna hear in the week after the election's finally over when we hear the resounding and sickening dull thuds of how things are really hitting the fan. Hard to imagine that the horrific things we're hearing daily today are actually whitewashing and 'soft-pedaling' just how dire things really are.

Sadly though, odds are, we're still far from seeing the big picture/real impact. And it's likely to be far uglier than any of us can dare to imagine at this particular moment.

And, just for the record, I genuinely hope I'm wrong about that. I am, after all, just an ignorant bystander...

Meanwhile, I guess we wait and see.... Don't worry too much though; your family really doesn't need all those groceries. Think of how glorious all that leisure time will be when your job disappears, all the hobbies you can finally have! And your retirement fund/pension/401K/etc. was really just 'fun money', right?

Don't you think? Or don't you?
(addendum to this post, added Oct. 10, '08)
so... let's see - today the Wall Street "Wheel-of-Fortune-Doom-&-Disaster-Rodeo-Doodah-Ride" took yet another huge & surreal plunge. I shouldn't need to say this but I will anyway. First, let us remember who set the stage for this "horrification continuum" in recent years. OK. But now let us consider that even after all this malarkey that nearly half of the electorate are still considering actually voting for the perpetrators' (perpetraitors?) party's candidate. It could well be that no one person or party has the ability to lead us out of such a mess.

Nevertheless, "regime change" is our ONLY option bearing ANY hope. You know what to do.... so now, let's make sure we do our best to let everyone else in on it too.Ya wanna see even the slightest glimmer of hope? It's simple AND obvious as all get out - we need a landslide in the election. A close race would be both an insult AND a tragedy - if we screw that up, just how the Hell many more chances do ya think we're gonna get?

Uh-oh... Krozabeeep returns (damn). Sort of..

FROM THE ARCHIVES
(an excerpt from Admiral Pluto Krozabeeep's 2002 "State of the Kosmos" address...)

"All we really have, when it comes right down to it, is our integrity, our compassion, and our capacity to love each other. While we're continually presented with many tempting teachings, numerous poignant lessons, buckets n'barrels of cataclysmic calls for change, and the lure of many fragrant paths to help us understand this, it's something we already know internally and wholly instinctually. Reallynoshitreally.

Our ability to grasp any of this intellectually is secondary at best, in fact almost superficial or, in any case, beside the point . Sometimes, some of us ask angels to sweep down to our sides to assist the process... sometimes we pray... Or we begin yet another spiritual vision-quest-rodeo-doodah fest... An' sometimes, we just throw up our hands and go "huh?".

In any event, we're really just asking ourselves to do what is needed. Yet, somehow, by externally morphing these manifestations into various sundry hoodoo-holographic quasi-deified pantheistic polyglots o' exogenarian ectoplasmicplastic divinelight fat-free party favors, we feel the comfort of aid and can accept it because we asked for it and it arrived. And, yeah, often even, the help really does come.

Yet if we were to believe this was actually coming from within ourselves, we'd likely be unable to accept its veracity nor would we have the wherewithal to ask for it in the first place. As Boris Badenov used t'say, just a nanosecond before the sphericaloid black bomb he was holding in his hand always blew up in his face: "HOOO - BOYYY!!!"

And then there's this; just as we must be self-responsible for all that transpires in our lives, the good and the bad, we must also remain mindful that others may not always be doing the same at the same time we are. We're not all of us always on the same page at the same time, y'know. So be it I guess. "HOOO - BOYYY!!!" Again (and indeed!) And, for that matter, "So what?" we might say again.

Okay, since ya's asked, I'll tellyas what... we still gotta do it anyway. Acceptin' resonsibility fer our own stuff is in our job description as practicin' human beans. It's how we grow; the means by which we transcend the challenges that always present themselves and by which we try our resolve to live better in the first place. It ain't rocket science. It ain't quantum physics (Oops... actually it is quantum physics, now that I think about it!!). Be that as it may, our toolboxes already got what we need in 'em, but, as we know only too well, sometimes our tools get scattered, misplaced, or sometimes left out in the rain t'rust. It might be good to remember that now n'again.

Anyway, before ya think old Krozabeeep's goin' soft in his senile dementia, oh, heck, never mind...maybe I am. Or not! Guess I'll haveta leave ya's guessin' on THAT one. For now, anyway. Stay tuned n'pruned fer my next outburst t'see..."

c'mon, people...WAKE THE HELL UP!!! ARE WE REALLY GONNA STAND FOR THIS BULLSHIT??

liar-liar-pantz-on-fire alert

I meen really now.... Every time I hear "I'm John McCain and I approved this message." I want to fucking scream. Okay, I admit I can be somewhat naive at times. But I do "get" how the "spin" game is played. I also recognize that Mr. McCain employs disciples of metamonster Karl Rove to design his campaign and we've seen plenty of that kind of shameful (But highly effective!) "spin" in the service of the Bush-Boy campaigns (need I remind any of us where THAT has gotten us??).

But every fucking McCain campaign commercial I've seen or heard in the last couple weeks is far worse than mere creative manipulation of facts or wildly-whirled factoids.... Every single one is comprised almost completely of out-and-out bald-faced LIES.

And yet, here's Johnboy McCain, Mister "Hero" smirkily stating that he "approves it"; that all of those lies are just motherfucking okeydoke fine an' goddamdandy by him. All the while smugly assuming that enough of us will buy it at face value and just give him our vote. And the kicker is, that he's probably right; many will do just that!

I'm not going to recap any of those lies for you here. We both have better things to do with our time. But, if you have even a smidgin of doubt about what I'm saying here then please do us all a favor and listen to the next McCain commercial you hear; doesn't matter which one. Pluck any two or three statements he makes about his opponent Mr. Obama. Then, spend 3 or 4 minutes online and check 'em out for accuracy/veracity.

Isn't it already bad enough that he's put us at risk of having the absurd and dangerous Ms. Palin become president at a moment's notice (a sufficiently irresponsible and contemptuous act in it's own right)? And now we're being asked to elect as our next president, a proven and guiltless liar (let alone an avowed Bush bootlicker who wouldn't understand the meaning of actual change if it bit him in his sorry, saggy ass).

Enough is enough. Make sure that everyone you know also knows what this sociopath is up to. It's up to us. Remember, we already know that half the country is gullible enough, lazy enough and ignorant enough to simply believe him.

And then, even if we do succeed in keeping him out of the White House, let's not let the ball drop there. We need to follow up and see that he stands trial for reckless slander and perjury and does hard time for it too. Oh wait...that can't happen, now can it? Perjury charges are for lying under oath and, in order to nail him for slander, someone would have to sue him... So, are we to just let him get away with this? Do we really want to be subjected to his whims and lies after he's under the BIG oath..the oath of the Presidency??

I hope not.

Regardless of what one may think of Mr. Obama, we really don't have a choice here folks. If ANYTHING is to ever change even an iota or two, it's going to require at the very least, a Democratic Congress AND president working in tandem.

If the past two weeks' financial meltdown haven't shown us what kind of leadership we've been suffering under, if the travesty of our trillion dollar "OOPS" war hasn't given us a clue, if we "get" that we cannot continue on this sort of path then please.....

Let's not fuck this up

I'm Magilla Gorilla and I approve this message - Just say "NO!" to McNocchio and his lies.... (paid for by people who don't wanna go to hell inna tugboat)
.

PANDERING TO THE PUNDITS, MUSING TO THE MONKEYS. SO WHAT??!! (OK, I'll tell you what...)

In the first two 'graphs from his August 29th NYT story about John McCain's choice of running mate, Governor Palin of Alaska, political analyst, Peter Baker writes:

"Senator John McCain spent the summer arguing that a 40-something candidate with four years in major office and no significant foreign policy experience was not ready to be president.

And then on Friday he picked as his running mate a 40-something candidate with two years in major office and no significant foreign policy experience."

Really? Duh, no shit, Sherlock. Okay, it's a clever enough opener for his less-than-astute "analysis" and certainly a true enough observation. And it's surely no surprise to any of us that po-mo lives on blindly and blissfully in the self-important narcissistic realm of journalism.(oops, better not follow THAT particular tangent here.. not to worry though; I'll post one of my famous screedrants on that dodgy topic in a separate post to this blog soon enough...).

Anyway, we should hardly be surprised by such an obviously contrived maneuver from Senator McCain; it just seems to be more of his classically narcoleptic lack of both style and sensibility. As he sleepwalks through the remaining weeks of the campaign he will, time and again, stumble into a semi-awake state and suddenly blurt out his latest 'brainstorm', I'm sure we can expect to see plenty more of this scurrilous neo-logic before election day.

As I pointed out in a previous post on this blog, his own party doesn't even like him. And as most sensible people recognize, if he gets elected we're in for only more of the same "contempt for the electorate" as we've had in the last eight years and, the ever-worsening cumulative effects thereof.

But let's not kid ourselves, folks. We might see the transparency of such maneuvers in the here and now. We might even find such a miscalculated yet desperate attempt at half-assed pandering to an ignorant electorate be mildly amusing. Okay, let's have our chuckle and then move on; and we'd best put some hustle in our step while we're at it.

Because, we've had eight long and ugly years of of travesty, tragedy and heartbreak, and, nearly equally on all fronts too. we can't afford any more and we're already damned to a long and painful struggle to recapture any bits and chunks of what's always made this country both a great place to be and, respected by the rest of the world.

Let's make this brief. We cannot let down our guard and allow another series of errors and missteps to allow such a shortsighted and dangerous man to take over the helm. None of us can afford it and we sure the hell won't survive it.

Many of you who'll read this might say to me "No shit, Sherlock". Let's not forget though, that obvious as this all might seem, there is still somewhere damn near half of the electorate who might actually be a) stupid enough, b) paranoid enough, c) racist or bigoted enough, d) psychotically sadistic enough to actually cast their vote for this guy.

we might also be thinking "Yeah, but unlike last time, we have a viable candidate in Mr. Obama; we needn't be concerned; McCain can't possibly win".

Don't you believe it for a second....

(if we do screw this up and McCain does somehow get elected, at the very least, we'd all damn well better have our passports up to snuff...and I'll seeya's at the airport...)

ART'S STATE OF THE ART - BAD JUJU? ME THINKEE NOT!!

As many of you know, ThirdStone's primary business over the past thirteen years, has been the selling of art. Um, well, I mean that's still my primary biz? Isn't it? Huh? What's that you say - ThirdStone is now merely an "entertainment" business? Bullshit!

Oh, but wait; yes, I do have to agree that under the pummeling of our current economic trauma, art sales have, for most of the general public, and throughout much of the country, been rendered more-or-less irrelevant in their daily scheme of things.

Nor can I loftily proclaim their "importance" just because that happens to be my main business and source of income. Certainly not when nearly everyone I talk to has at least something to say about the astronomic costs of, not just fuel, but basic truly essential things like feeding their families and a variety of other crucial needs. And no surprise of course that buying art is rarely, if ever, on most people's needs of "basics"...

So while there are surely a few 'high horses' I could yet saddle up and mount, what's the point? Besides, truth be told, feeding those particular 'horses' is a budget strain I can't currently afford. (Hey, I mean, I like groceries too, y'know!)

I know it's been difficult for the wonderfully talented artists I represent to stand by and see plenty of excited visitors pass thru the portals of ThirdStone (in fact, seemingly more than ever) to be amazed and amused and thrilled by what they see and then realize that those same folks are so often leaving emptyhanded. Since I know most of the artists well, I know they're as economically challenged as the rest of us and often, even more so.

So what's my point here then with alla this whinyprattle?

Okay, here it is... Artmaking is fine. The art that's being made is finer than ever. The "market" is not. And won't be fine for some time to come. So will artists then cease making art? The good ones won't.

And then what does that mean for purveyors of art? The good ones, the ones who actually believe in the intrinsic value of what they show, will struggle to keep on keepin' on. and then do it some more.

And the rest of 'em? Do we actually care much?

PRESIDENTIAL CAM"PAIN", 2008

special post-april-fool's day edition
WHY YOU NITWITS!!! I OUGHTTA...

(Barack "Moe"bama, "Curley" McCain & Hil"Larry" Clinton in a
rare public appearance together this week)
(illustration courtesy of David Dees. see http://deesillustration.com/).

Okay, here's the deal, folks. I'm askeered. If we take into account the levels of ludicrosity, rancor and absurdity we've seen so far (and it is only April after all), imagine if you dare where things are headed from here.

Yup. The phrase "To Hell inna tugboat" may barely cover it.

It should be obvious that there's no way we can possibly elect "Curley" McCain. Aside from the fact that even his own party doesn't like or trust him, he's made it clear that continuing to spend gazillions in Iraq is okeydoke. Besides, we just simply cannot and will not abide another Republican in the White House at this time.

As for Ms. Hil-"Larry" Clinton, I dunno. Early on, I had her pegged for the "Great White Hope" (and yes, before anyone gets any ideas, the "racial" pun IS intended). In recent months she's compromised her positions on various whatevers, her campaigners have played some dirty pool, and she's no longer demonstrating her genuine intelligence. I admit I was infatuated primarily with the notion of finally having a woman for president but, for a significant chunk of time, I also believed she had the grace and poise AND intelligence to present us with an irresistible no-brainer type of choice; I believed she could fit the bill. Yes, she's still intelligent. But we need more; we require strong vision coupled with strong leadership AND absolute integrity. In recent weeks her marks are slipping and her slips are showing

That brings us to Barack "Moe"bama. Basically I like the guy or at least want to. He too is obviously highly intelligent. So far, his integrity remains reasonably intact (though, there are a number of months before we'll see how well that holds up). We like his apparently genuine passion and we all resonate with a call for significant change. Before we can embrace that concept though, we're going to need to know quite a bit more about what the specifics of that sweeping wave of change actually promise. And then, we'll still need to determine what it can actually manifest. Still a tough call as I see it.

So.... "where the heck DOES that all lead us then?? " we might ask.

And I might answer "at the present moment, damned if I know, Buckaroos!"

Guess we'll have to wait it out a few weeks or so and then revisit this when (or IF) the time comes when we can better discern what the kids have been up to 'twixt now and then. Stay Tuna-ed - itza gonna be an interesting (and likely plenty smelly) kettle of fish.
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Meanderthalism may be just the tip of the iceberg...

Yup; apparently so.

In a recent post to this blog, I cited an excerpt of a conversation in which I tried to explain what I refer to as my "Meanderthal-ish" traits.

And now, according to a just-published article, "Mess For Success" (http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/juggle/0,,155,00.html)

by writer Debra Wierenga on Jugglezine), "meanderthalism" is at least one of the components of how creative productivity can often be fueled by a certain amount of "non-linearity" or, what some might refer to as disorder or even dysfunction.

Ahh, sweet vindication at last... "Amen", I say to thee, brethren. (And thanks, Debra).

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure" - Telpo Lendolotoproj
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Going Dutch (oughtta be some kinda award...)

Okay, I admit to having become pretty jaded about web-design over the last decade. I've (in my secret identity - shhhh!) designed a couple hundred websites for various clients over the last 11 years. I'm frequently been accused of being a purist or minimalist (and occasionally even a design nazi of sorts) for my insistence on sticking to straight, clean HTML, and avoiding such "niceties" as Flash, scripts and clever mouseover "winkie-blinkies" even as I explain to those clients that the search engine rankings they so desperately covet tend to improve when things are kept simple.

From a different, user-oriented viewpoint though, I'm also somewhat bored with most sites that've invest copious amounts of design-time/money in creating pointless 'Bling' (ie: Flash doohickeys) that don't really have anything to say. They generally strike me as the mutant offspring of designers who've managed to sell their clients on how "essential" and "compelling" those sites would be if only the site owner would fork over the extra design time $$ to have them thoroughly "enhanced" (encrappinated) with majick fairy-dust blingification.

Okay, I admit, I'm in a crankier than usual mood today. Or at least I was until a few moments ago when my bro' Brian forwarded me a link to a site (>http://producten.hema.nl/) that made me both take notice with regard to my rant points above and, more importantly, laugh my fool ass off.

I'm not gonna spoil the surprise so, if you'd like to know why, you'll have to visit the site. Not only is it a wackily brilliant Flash hack; it's clever and noisy and silly-as-heck and even a bit anarchistic all at the same time. (in that you can't click any links to go anywhere on the site until it's completed its little meta bombast; you just have to wait 'til it's had it's way with you).

I should point out that I cannot read a word of Dutch but I'd still like to give these folks some kinda prize, whatever the heck the rest of their site might accomplish...I think Rube Goldberg would be proud of these folks!
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TRUTH IN ADVERTISING REVISITED (& questioned yet again)

To wit:

a recent example (above) and it's"target"
(click button below to see)

As you can plainly see from following the above 'link' button, there is clearly no reasonable correlation between the highly seductive (and yes, admittedly, incomprehensible) 'bait' image above and the actual products to be ordered.

And yet, in the modern world of commerce, similar stratagems are foisted upon us incessantly, wasting our precious time, overloading our already overtaxed ability to cope with an ever-burgeoning onslaught of "come-ons", scurrilous pitches for meta-doodads and pseudo-necessities, and an endless spate of snake-oil and sacrilege.

Don't you think? Or don't you? Inquiring mimes wanna know....
(this important message has been provided & funded by the Ecclesiastical Absurdities Foundation for your protection. If you'd like to help us continue our importantly ridiculous work, consider sending us a large cash donation to further fuel our quest for abject luicrosity. Thank you and may Dog speed).
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THE MYSTERY OF INFATUATION...

per esempio:

sometimes, there's just not much more to say...
WARNING:childish, idiotic images such as these have been observed to contribute to brain atrophy and acid reflux disease. Please consume responsibly...Remember (not to forget to remember), the brain you melt might be your own. And while it's highly improbable, you may in fact need it someday
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MEANDERTHALISM AND AMBIVERSIA

EXCERPT FROM A RECENT DIALOGUE WITH AN AUTHOR FRIEND

...anyway, glad you enjoyed the 'meanderthal' and 'ambivert' concepts... Peculiar notions that they be, they are kinda useful somewhat. And yes, certainly, feel free to use them or quote them or whatever. It's always funnish to have a role in introducing new words to the language!

As Elodiah likely explained, the definition occurred during a conversation with my sister some months back when she referred to us both as meanderthals. The word basically describes a weirdfunky sort of 'non-linear' (I prefer to think of it as an "integral") approach in day-to-day routine; much gets accomplished overall, though in what would appear to the outside observer as a randomly chaotic, disjointed (some would say dysfunctional) fashion. A friend visiting me for a couple days seemed quite distraught when observing the order in which I 'ordered' the various tasks of my day (wash two dishes, answer 3 emails, frame two paintings, was another dish, start a load of laundry, hang some art in gallery, return two phone calls, shop for a dinner that was two days away, answer 3 more emails and return two more phone calls and various other etceteras)...Then, said friend was equally flummoxed when she realized the magnitude of what had gotten done during my 'meanderthal-ings".

As for "ambivert" that's another strange but useful one and even kind of a weird double-entendre of sorts. It relates primarily to my own confusion. I think of myself as strongly introverted in having a substantial need for plenty of 'alone' time; time to create, time to work, time to ponder/meditate/whatever. And yet I apparently have sufficient gregarious/extroverted tendencies that come into play in conducting my business. And when that occurs, it's genuine enough (rather than "put-on" by necessity). Hence the "ambiversion" (ambivertigo? ambivertosis?). And to further confound the already dodgy-enough conundrum, I'm not even sure whether I'm "ambivalent" about my "vert"-ed-ness or if whether it's just too "ambiguous" for me to fathom (and hence the "double-entendre" aspect of the whole mess).

Good grief... Likely this is FAR more then you'd ever wanna know about such ludicrous matters but, there we have it, Hope this wasn't too loopy to follow.

If any further clarification might be in order, I trust you will advise accordionly,

Sincerely,

Armando Cuacuazah
Your Parenthetically-challenged Iceman in ThirdStone-land
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NEW VERSION OF PAINTING DISCOVERED

ThirdStone exclusive news flash:

A photo of a second, previously unknown version of a well-known family portrait painting by Flemish Renaissance Painter, Michel Sittow was released today by ThirdStone Associate International Curator, Telpo Lendolotoproj... Mr. Lendolotoproj's speculation is that it was made by the artist as a sarcastic lampoon of what might be assumed to have been 'difficult' clients. Decidedly NOT 'tongue-in-cheek' by any means.

The painting was discovered in a root cellar in the basement of a flower shop located in a several hundred year old building in Istanbul. Found by workmen who had been called to fix a leaking gas pipe when one of the men lost his footing and slipped on the wet floor, subsequently falling against a rotted wood panel covering a long-unused alcove in the basement wall.
(info provided by ThirdStone international Curator, Telpo Lendolotoproj)
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WATCH THIS HERE SPACE (DAMMIT!)

howdy hey, friends and neighbors... an' welcome to ThirdStone-land!!


There's a whole heapabunchalotta info, rantin', ravin, beepin', squawkin', an' screedscreech a'comin' at all y'all right here right soon! Yup; jes' y'all wait n'see!

I'll be screechin' n'rantin' right here on this page 'bout art, creative spirit, sea-monkeys, religion, politics, music, books, the human condition, consciousness, integral theory, toaster strudel an' jes' 'bout any an' ev'ry other gatdam thang a fukkedup mind like mine could possibly conceivify.

So, be sure'n visitate this here bloggie-dawg now n'ag'in fer alla the latest arfin', okay?

ver hassestak orta, n'ciao-bow-wow

yerpal,

Admiral Pluto Krozabeeep
Prime Minister of eternal combustion & Executroid Director pro-tem, Ecclesiastical Absurdities Foundation, Dogma Division