Word on the street is that the TARP money has dwindled down to a few pennies. How long does it take to spend 700 billion dollars? It appears it takes just about six months. I wonder if Paris Hilton goes through cash that fast?
Add to that the Über-spending-stimulus fiasco, and I can see that very shortly, it will be time to pay the piper, and that dude isn't cheap.
It’s curious that the cyclical nature of the beast rouses from its wintertime slumber during the week of April 15, or our IRS tax deadline. Spring has truly sprung!
Me and my teabags will be heading up to Lansing for the gala party on Wednesday. I’m sure it won’t lessen the tax burden, but hey, Joe the Plumber is scheduled to make an appearance. It might be cool to meet the working stiff who knocked a presidential candidate off balance, albeit temporarily.
Listen up, America! Prepare to be taxed! You didn’t think you’d get away Scott free, did you? You thought that businesses big and small would absorb the costs of righting the economic boat and for the social(ist) engineering in our near future? You should have listened to your parents: there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Look for new and creative ways for the Man to stick it to anyone with a couple of nickels to rub together. (I always knew the penny would come back into vogue. Good thing I never spend them.)
Let’s get out the Crystal Ball and see what’s coming down the pike:
Everyone Makes the Same Amount of Money
In the New World Order, the playing field will be leveled so we can all be slugs if we so desire. (Or overachievers, heh...) Actually, I’ve been desiring this for years, ever since my husband came up with a five-year plan for retirement. Unfortunately for me, it’s been 18 years since the five-year plan was first unveiled, and retirement seems to be a pinpoint speck of light down a very long tunnel and getting smaller and more faint by the minute.
Since Congress wishes to legislate how executives are paid, I say let them. I’m thinking that people like me who are just scraping past the middle class mark (and those far below) would love to have the same amount of money. I would gladly give up my profits, measly as they are, in order to make what a US senator makes. Throw in those benefits, too. Giving every man, woman and child the same income for doing different things would be humbling and exalting at the same time. After all, we want to be fair, don’t we? Why shouldn’t Oprah/Sean Penn/Big CEO [fill in the blank] make what I/a congressman/a ditch digger [fill in the blank] makes? As a side benefit, if we all bring home what our elected officials make, there will be a decrease in anger directed toward them.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Doug Hunter
Some cities already have fees for police response to vehicle accidents, etc.
2 - Baritone
Please excuse me Joanne for starting the comments off thread, but I thought anyone stopping by might get a lift out of this. Don't be put off by the fact that it's schlock TV. The lady rocks. Just put up your feet for a few minutes and enjoy.
B :)
3 - roger nowosielski
B-man,
What a find! She made my day and I love that song. Unbelievable.
Thanks for posting it. It makes want to play Les Mis all over again.
ROger
4 - Cindy
Awww B,
Should I spare you? Nah. I couldn't sleep anyway, and now those rotten people have annoyed me. So those creeps have found something they think worthwhile and now she's redeemed in their eyes? I only wondered how they would have treated her had she not had such a lovely voice. What a horrible show that is.
Sorry for the rant B. She was wonderful.
5 - roger nowosielski
Isn't she great? What a treat!
6 - roger nowosielski
Why? I think those panelists were fine.
7 - Joanne Huspek
Thanks, B for hijacking my article, but hey, it was worth it...
:-)
8 - roger nowosielski
Joanne. That's exactly what he did.
A heck of a way to shut somebody down when you disagree with them. A real clever maneuver.
9 - Baritone
Well, I may well disagree with Joanne, but it wasn't my goal to shut her down. It was simply one of the first articles up and was ripe for a lot of comments, so I figured a lot of you would see the link. I'm sure the comments will go forward actually dealing with her article.
The panel's response to Ms. Boyle was perhaps the most genuine I've ever seen likely owing to how delightfully unexpected her performance was.
I picked up on this via CNN's AC360 last nite. It was truly great to see. I also harkened back to the "Where the Hell is Matt" video on Youtube that Cindy enlightened us with a few months back. It, too, is in its own way delightful.
BTW - Thanks to whoever who "hreffed" my link. I just forgot to do that in my zeal to communicate.
B:%#)
10 - Baronius
Great voice. Speaking of voices, Joanne, have you ever considered running for office?
11 - roger nowosielski
"The panel's response to Ms. Boyle was perhaps the most genuine I've ever seen likely owing to how delightfully unexpected her performance was."
Exactly. The entire clip was a delightful thing to watch.
12 - Joanne Huspek
Hmm... run for office? No. There are too many skeletons in my closet, and besides that, I'm a bi-atch. But if you know of a good literary agent, I'm in the process of trolling for queries.
I thought there was plenty of fuel for the proverbial fire in my post, but I guess I wasn't politically incorrect enough to cause a conflagration.
13 - Cindy
My reaction was to both panelists and the audience.
The panel's response to Ms. Boyle was perhaps the most genuine I've ever seen likely owing to how delightfully unexpected her performance was.
Why unexpected? Based on what? The way she looks? The way she dresses? Where she lives? The way she speaks?
It doesn't warm my heart to see a bunch of shallow people be delighted in finding something the deem acceptable in a person they have prejudged as an incompetent based on the most superficial qualities.
I suppose that is why this show is a big hit. I can't say I've watched it, but I have seen enough bits to understand what it's based on. I read an article that explained how poor performers are intentionally selected so they can be humiliated. This is apparently seen as great fun by the viewers.
If a person they considered physically attractive and sophisticated came out instead--would they doubt her competence?
I have to say I am pretty surprised no one even understands my reaction. Do people really just so completely take for granted that it's okay to humiliate people they find superficially unattractive or to judge them as lacking?
14 - roger nowosielski
Well, it just goes to show, Cindy, how people's perceptions different. I may grant you your general point in principle, but in viewing and reviewing this short seven-minute clip - and I had, I loved her voice and delivery so - I haven't seen anything inappropriate, nothing (to say the least) that would justify (in my eyes) your negative reaction. I think the panelists were most professionals in their responses before and after; and the same goes for the audience. In short, I haven't seen any discrimination at all on a/c of her looks.
Sure, skeptical they were, because it was a high claim. But other than that, it was the most delightful viewing I have seen in years.
So in my mind, everybody behaved immaculately, considering the nature of the show. I find no fault whatever.
15 - Baritone
I understand what you are saying Cindy, and I agree. I've not watched this particular program as it is a British show. I have watched the American versions which are basically the same.
In watching one does have to deal with a certain amount of disgust regarding how many of the people are humiliated. However, these people go out of their way to put themselves in a position to be humiliated. It's obvious that many of those hapless souls know full well that they couldn't sing their way out of a paper bag, yet they stand up before the limelight and embarrass themselves, usually for whatever portion of their respective "15 minutes" doing so may bring them. They could have stayed home - remained content with singing in the shower or in their cars on the way to work. But no.
I have also been involved in performing, and Cindy, you know of my son's involvement. A great deal of the entertainment industry makes judgments based primarily upon appearance. It is simply a fact of life in the business. Certainly, Ms. Boyle was unfairly judged before she ever sang a note. It was part of my point in providing the link that she proved them all very wrong.
Boyle will no doubt do well in the upcoming weeks, having made quite an initial splash. She may even win the competition. But down the road and regardless of her talents, she may well prove to be a hard sell.
Personally, I fell in love with her from the get go. But the money people in the entertainment world may not be so inclined.
What I embraced was the fact that she not only sang the song well, but she "owned" it. She could play the part (Fonteyn) in Les Mis. Her performance was great. I've watched it half a dozen times and will watch it again.
B
16 - Joanne Huspek
I can see Cindy's point and it's a valid one; however, it's true that people DO judge a book by its cover. It's unfortunate, but true. Especially if you're an artist or creative, you have to present an entire "package" that's easy to sell. At least all three judges admitted to their shallow preconceptions and gave her a thumbs up.
17 - roger nowosielski
B-man,
I feel you're falling into the same trap as Cindy is. Forget about the entertainment industry and making points IN GENERAL. Watch this particular clip and tell me whether there's anything offensive in there. That's my whole point. Forget f . ing generalities. One case at a time.
18 - roger nowosielski
I haven't seen any shallow preconception, Joanne. None whatever. Just the usual skepticism concerning talent.
I find it rather amazing that you and Cindy seem to associate it with looks. I have not from the very get-go. We all know that talent and looks don't match. So unless you're simply rebelling against the Hollywood idea and the concept of the image - and I have no problem with that - your criticism of this particular clip (and I stress the word "particular") then you're standing on thin ground.
Both of you have got to be able to get away from the general critique of society so as not to cloud your judgment in individual case.
19 - Dr Dreadful
Hmm... run for office? No. There are too many skeletons in my closet, and besides that, I'm a bi-atch.
Ummmmm... Since when were those disqualifiers?
:-)
20 - roger nowosielski
She didn't say that? You're pulling my leg.
21 - Silas Kain
Susan Boyle brought tears to my eyes. I've watched that damned video at least 50 times in the last 12 hours and I love it. We are a culture preoccupied with appearance which (like it or not) lessened our expectations on what we would hear. When I saw Ms. Boyle come on stage, I saw a plain version of Mimi Bobeck and what I got was a modern day Eileen Farrell.
22 - roger nowosielski
Same here, Silas. Yes, I was f . crying and watched it only ten or twenty. I still disagree with the general assessment that either the panel or the audience were in any way at fault. Which has got nothing to do with the general critique of society. But in this case, the two are separate.
The only thing I'm kind of surprised: they ought to have offered her a contract rather than sending her back to her "village." So that, if anything, was in a manner of speaking, a cheap shot and a statement on the industry in general. Other than that, if was perfect in every sense of the way.
23 - Clavos
Cindy #13:
Dead on.
I was disgusted at the attitudes, not only of the panel (particularly that smarmy Simon Cowell), but also the general audience's.
24 - roger nowosielski
It's in the eye of the beholder, Clav.
I'd love to see you in that seat and see how you'd project.
25 - Baronius
I don't think the first reaction was to her looks, so much as to her look. There's a certain British type, the saucy middle-aged eccentric, that we don't really have in the US. She looked the part.