Does Reynolds Show His Hand? A Good Question.
We knew Glenn Reynolds would one day reach the end of this journey, and imagined correctly that it would be on a circus train, but there was no predicting the screech of ruined brakes, the concussion like a million shopping carts colliding, the greasy steam, the elephant parts and clown paste.
FAIRNESS: CBO: Top 1% Earned 19% of Income, Paid 28% of All Taxes. And got 1% of the vote.
Posted at 8:49 am by Glenn Reynolds
Just as every anarchist is in a way a failed dictator, give a libertarian1 some success and a bit of social capital (and in Glenn’s case we’re talking Internet dollars in the upgrade-to-Häagen-Dazs range, and a fan base roughly proportional, and significantly coextensive, with the market for signed Boris Vallejo prints2), and watch him revert to the naive and pre-theorized form that he held before discovering the Kurt Vonnegut story Harrison Bergeron and/or “Red Barchetta” by Rush, and thence falling into the arms, or rather hands, of Ayn Rand. That is, behold an aspiring aristocrat, the eternal petit bourgeois.
“And got 1% of the vote,” the man added astringently, suggesting unfairness to the wealthy not only in the progressive income tax, but in the principle of allowing non-wealthy people to outvote them simply by casting more votes. For what is this but government regulation of politics, set up specifically to punish success and reward failure?
In Glenn’s favor, the top 1% have freedom systematically expropriated from them under the current system, because if they gain any numerical advantage at all, the 1% is instantly recalculated.
Who is responsible for making the percents get recalculated? Heh. An interesting question.
In Glenn’s disfavor, this strain of political philosophy used to be called ‘feudalism,’ and was significantly unsettled by what we have come to call the Enlightenment, i.e. the end of what were afterward called the Dark Ages. Since then it has been forced to parasitize other political philosophies.
But no, it’s almost impossible even adequately to make fun of this mindset.2 1/2 The 1% nugget above came not from some Dwight Schrute guy sitting next to you in some unpromising local bar you thought you’d give a chance to, but from a law professor familiar at least with the term, ‘Three-Fifths Compromise,’ if not with the term, ‘Prussian Three-Stage Enfranchisement.’ That’s the name of a system in which — we’re a liberal comedy blog here, by the way — votes were weighted according to the amount of tax a citizen paid. Not entirely a success in its purpose of preserving the monarchy, it was abolished when a democratic revolution overthrew the government, following two historic tests of Prussian upper-class governance and aristocratic decision-making:
- Starting the First World War
- Losing
But sure, let’s throw off these chains of history and roll naked in the grass. Hi, fellow libertarian. Say, I have thought about our philosophy’s stick-on precepts about natural human rights and ‘initiation of force,’ and I must say: Wouldn’t the Free Market regulate those things naturally, if they were real?
Here’s one. How about taking some non-superior-rich-people and paying them like $100,000 each to breed children, okay? And then before those future children get conceived, and then become actual babies with legal rights, bla-bla-bla, the parents sign them over to us as property.
And then we breed those children and get more, see, and then we’re really in business.
Or what, should government step in and handicap success, granting additional rights to hypothetical people? If a parent is to be prevented from deciding a child’s initial level of success, then should government seize inheritances too? If we are to interfere with the rights of parents for the ‘common good,’ shouldn’t children be delivered to communal education camps and raised equally by the state?
But perhaps we go too far.
It’s not that we’re alone: Like many of his colleagues, Reynolds has given in to the kook urge over the past year. His Instapundit persona still tries to distance himself from the appearance of irrationalism, of conspiracy thinking, racialism, and the other endemic weaknesses of the right, but like a lot of his colleagues, it seems Reynolds himself is increasingly unable to distinguish fringe thinking, thinking driven by fantasy and childish urges, by paranoia, by absolutism, from the kind that reasonable people try to cultivate, and must compromise with. The right has adopted a policy of no-compromise.
What happens lately is that I’ll start writing one of these posts, chop the top off it just to have something done and posted, and add the rest to the large and accumulating wad of paragraphs loosely classified as Erick Erickson/Wingnut Psychology. And here we are again, except I can’t let this one link go by unappreciated. Whatever else I end up saying with all those paragraphs, this is what I’m talking about.
2 We’re talking Frank Frazetta, tops; not some Patrick Woodroffe-type guy whose art you could conceivably hang in a dwelling shared with a woman, and certainly not one of the greats like Jean “Moebius” Giraud, the market for whose signed prints is coextensive with whimsical and attractive people who have to go to the bathroom.
Or, fine, really anyone with….hi, I’m back. Really, or anyone with clean draftsmanship and a sense of line, who doesn’t just draw a bunch of muscles and a face going “raaah!” and shade it as if there were some Photoshop ‘Shade Fantasy Art’ filter that makes things look like rubber bath toys extruding out of a flat background. A background, by the way, with a flat picture of a Lovecraftian monster on one side and one of a hot chick with a katana on the other, and since we’re going there, a distant spaceship flying around in the corner all like, “Check it out, I’m fantasy and science fiction.” Also, barring an incidence of the puzzling and apparently chilly fantasy convention, ‘the armored bikini,’ the chick has two huge, apparently radar-enabled handguns strapped to her thighs with crossed leather strappy things, above her fur or patent leather bikini, as though someone were familiar with Tomb Raider but naïve to handgun safety. Her head is unique among visual elements in the composition in that it is drawn in anime style, with three dots in each of the large, arch-shaped eyes, and a hang glider of blue hair framing what can only be described as torpedo tits.
As is taught at the Joe Kubert school, apparently.
3 There used to be a third footnote here, but let’s be reasonable.
2 1/2 But okay, it’s necessary to add: A reader sent Reynolds a correction noting that ‘all taxes’ actually only includes Federal taxes, and Reynolds added, “Good point, though I don’t know how much it changes things.” We’re too lazy to look it up too, but probably more important is the additional fact, noted in comments below, that ‘income’ doesn’t seem to include capital gains.
Sometimes, Gavin, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Fn. 2 is one of those times.
P.S. This is not an insult. I’m pretty sure you’re just smarter than me.
Aside: Will we be hearing howls about how Obama is a stealth Jew now?
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562942442&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
f2 is a scream. Thanx.
Once Comrade Obama completes the work of the People’s Glorious Revolution, the top 1% will earn 1% of the income (just like the bottom 1%), and will pay 1% of the taxes (just like the bottom 1%), and will have 1% of the vote (just like… you get teh picture).
Then, and ONLY then, will Glenn’s sense of fairness and justice be satisfied!
Say it with me – Glenn Reynolds is a Bolshevik. Who knew?
Dammit, I like Frazzeta, own a truck, listen to Rush on occasion, and am not put off by projectile weaponry. Perhaps, I should rethink my surprisingly extreme left political philosophy…
Actually, I think a truck bed full of nekkid torpedo-titted wimmins would be ok with males across the political spectrum, even with Geddy Lee’s screams bursting nearby eardrums. But I’ve been wrong before.
Nah. Reynolds is too much of a douche.
There used to be a third footnote here, but let’s be reasonable.
Extremism in mockery of whingnuttery is no vice!
Gavin is definitely smarter than me.
But I’m also a little frightened for him, because I read Teh Putz’s post a couple of times over and still had no clue what he was talking about. “Somebody received 1% of some vote, somewhere?” I thought, dully, in my dull fashion.
It wasn’t until I got into the snark that I understood that the “idea” was that rich folks aren’t getting extra votes even though they are paying extra taxes. I like to think that I didn’t get this because (a) I don’t read Reynolds regularly and (b) I’m not an asshole.
Now you’ve got me thinking I need to check out the market for original Frazettas. Just a few pen and ink drawings.
And why no love for Kelly Freas?
Remember, only right wing market fundamentalist freaks get to talk about the word “liberty” and define what freedom means.
Taking Reynolds’ philosophy to its logical conclusion, the poorest people should get no vote because they pay no taxes.
Truly, Reynolds understands justice and fairness.
I totally left out a paragraph before… It’s pasted in, but here it is again in case you’ve been here for a few minutes, so you don’t have to reload or anything:
Like many of his colleagues, Reynolds has given in to the kook urge over the past year. His Instapundit persona still tries to distance himself from the appearance of irrationalism, of conspiracy thinking, racialism, and the other endemic weaknesses of the right, but like a lot of his colleagues, it seems Reynolds himself is increasingly unable to distinguish fringe thinking, thinking driven by fantasy and childish urges, by paranoia, by absolutism, from the kind that reasonable people try to cultivate, and must compromise with. The right has adopted a policy of no-compromise.
Question: Is he allergic to anything that can even loosely be labelled as “progressive”?
I wonder if Reynolds realizes that, back in feudal Europe, nobility used to tithe to the church AND give much more to the king, for a total much higher than 28%?
Probably not. Probably doesn’t care. Probably an asshole.
There’s something called “From those who receive the most, much will be asked.”
It’s in The Bible, Glenn. Find it. Learn it. Deal with it.
In Burma the rich guys have 100% of the vote and I don’t see any bitching about that.
*wistful sigh* It’s so hard being disgustingly rich. What’s the point of earning millions and millions of dollars if you have to pay taxes on some of it? And then I have to spend some of that money to buy influence?
I’m going Galt. I’ve already started hoarding top hats and monocles, which are sure to be in high demand in our underwater dystopian colony.
Yeah those fancy leather tac holsters the chix wear with the big autos rawk my world.
Remember in that Angelina Jolie flick she even had some kind of built in magazine-dispenser pistol-loader thingie built into the rig.
Or what about that cross-draw rig that val kilmer as doc holiday wore in tombstone – that was cool enough to make we wanna buy single action colts.
Or, or, didja see the new Punisher flick where he had these regular modern autos but some kind of hard plastic/fiberglass special holster thingies he couldn’t get them out of any faster, but the man was greased lightening putting them away.
Huh? I’m sorry, what was the topic?
mikey
Glenn Reynolds: The Balki Bartachamus of political philosophy.
OK…I get it. The only fair way to levy taxes is to take the proposed spending in the budget, divide it up by the population of the U.S., and send each citizen a tax bill for their share. Thanks for clearing that up, Glenn. That’s probably also the way we should handle the national debt.
The right has adopted a policy of no-compromise.
Bullshit. They haven’t adopted anything. They used to adopt things, back when their tactics seemed to have effect. Now, they’ve just gone further out of their minds and now live full time in fantasyland. They’re Col. Kurtz but without an army. As in, they’re loons, kooks, in need of medication or something. One can *almost* feel pity. Almost.
By the way, do I get to calculate my tax responsibility based on my share of the national income? ‘Cause, I’d like that.
You leave Joe Kubert’s name out of this.
Libertarians, in the words of Kim Stanley Robinson, are anarchists who want police protection from their own slaves.
The cluelessness of the idiots commenting at Stalkin’ Malkin’s site is incredible, as is the Stalker herself.
It’s a full-on laugh riot reading all their outrage over the taxes that their repig heroes caused.
One more thing – a BIG thing.
Is the Reynolds Wrap wrapped idiot Reynolds including capital gains as income? The 1% rich he is so happy to fellate gets a large percentage of their income from capital gains.
Even if he is including capital gains, any tax attorney will tell you myriad ways to hide billions in net positive income using corporate tax loopholes, as long as you make sure it stays on Schedule D or on Corporate Tax schedules.
The whole “tax outrage” and tea-bagger things are just another example of that age-old phenomena of conservative tools and fools blaming Liberals for the problems caused by their repig idols.
I suspect most of the bottom 99% would gladly trade places with someone in the top 1%, despite the rampant unfairness.
I had a wingnut glibertarian here tell me that since I work for a public university, I don’t have a real job.
So when is Glenzilla going to get a real job?
You’re right, you’re right, you’re right. The hot dog, the Brooklyn Dodgers, Mom’s apple pie. That’s what everyone’s fighting for. But who’s fighting for the decent folk? Who’s fighting for more votes for the decent folk? There’s no patriotism, that’s what it is. And no matriotism, either.
No, Reynolds was pointing out a simple fact. The system works, man. Sure, the top quintile’s pretax income exceeded that of all the other quintiles combined, but they didn’t get extra votes; it’s not like they have any influence outside the voting booth amirite? So hey, everything’s hunky dory in this democracy, I-tell-you-what. Nothing wrong that a little deregulation and capital-gains tax slashing won’t fix. Heh fuckin’ indeed.
The unfairness is made worse by the fact the top 1% only saw their income go up 228% since 1979.
Over the same period, they let the middle quintile somehow increase their pay by 15%, but they are working hard to reverse that troubling trend and get the median worker back to 1979 levels.
The Germans didn’t start World War I. Pretty much every European nation was responsible for its outbreak.
But hey, Imperial Germany had “universal” health care, social(ist) security, and all kinds of other “progressive” sacred cows. I’m surprised you don’t regard Bismarck as a lib saint!
What’s also horrible is that a quite a few in that top 1% are recent arrivists who have made money fortuitously instead of having in the family for several generations.
Didn’t Imperial Germany have “universal” healthcare, social(ist) security?
It seems to me Bismarck was quite the “progressive”!
Reynolds may not show his hand, but he is definitely smelling his finger.
Prof Poopypants has hot stones aplently, it cannot be denied. That’s why he’s a success, because he’s brave enough to say “Sure, America’s rich are safer, healthier, longer-lived, better-protected, and enjoy a higher standard of material well-being and military, political, and social power than anyone else in human history, but they don’t get extra votes!” It’s a courageous fucker who risks a hanging by saying America made a great step towards freedom when its millionaires first became billionaires, but as long as there are no trillionaires, we might as well all be slaves.
Here’s my favorite thing from the Naughty Girl’s rundown of Teabag Tax Protests:
Yes, for your truly radicalized Chad and Trixie, there is no better way to display your solidarity with the criminally overtaxed working stiff than to have a huge party at a tourist trap restaurant in a shopping mall, and then go out for a cruise on the lake in the nation’s largest sailboat. Boston Tea Party, nothing — shades of the Bonnot Gang!
reynolds is not including capital gains. of course not. there are so many ways where his numbers don’t add up i can’t even enumerate them all.
but suffice it to say that the top one percent are squeaking by, if just.
and craig, that’s an awesome quote from an awesome writer. i’ve always wanted to make “the gold coast” as a movie. maybe after i get the rights to cryptinomicon…
Rephrase the comment to be more accurate:
1% of Americans manage to grab, steal, and cheat out of the rest of America, at a minimum, 28% of the Country’s wealth. Probably more. Certainly they *control* a lot more. And they pay some taxes. Poor, poor babies!
I would like to see a short animated feature showing the history of the United States as envisioned by your average right wing pundit.
I just noticed this on Reynolds’ site:
“Glenn also has a rather dry sense of humour, which I’m guessing not enough people pick up on.” — Andrea See
O those wing-nuts: even their blurbs are saturated in self-pity.
A “dry” sense of humor! I don’t think so! More like a desiccated, withered sense of humor, with brown spots and an “off” smell.
The Reynolds quote gets my vote for Conservative Quote of the Year 2009.
If only I was wealthy enough to give it my votes, plural.
The entire problem can be solved w/ a “poll tax.” (A clever idea I thought of all by myself.)
Of course, it’s only fair if it’s a “flat” tax, so let’s start the bidding at, say, $1,000.00 per vote.
You know that Bismarck was sociali2d healthcare, right?
Greenwald has linked to this on his Twitter feed:
http://utdocuments.blogspot.com/2009/04/blog-post.html
And, he says: “This really is the intro screen for Pajamas TV – done without any irony at all.”
Classic.
I’m starting a clock on when Reynolds will point out the unfairness of small state’s electoral votes having more electoral votes per-capita than large states.
And another clock to measure when SN stops being so damn slow!
Of course, it’s only fair if it’s a “flat” tax
Sure, that’s those elite 3Ders would have you believe.
including an adventure onto Lake Michigan with the Tall Ship
And thus is born “Protest Yachting.” Canapes for tax relief will be served and an inferior champagne will be ceremonially dumped.
WELL HERE COME THE LIBS TRASHING GLEN RENOLDS AGAIN, AND OF COARSE THEY MIS-UNDERSTAND HIS LOGIC. WHAT THE INSTA-PUNDIT IS SAYING IS THAT IF ALL THE WELATH RE-DISTRIBUTERS HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE TOP 1% WELL YOU KNOW WHAT THEY CAN JUST VOTE THEM OUT.
THE FOUNDING FATHER’S INSURED THAT WE ARE ALL EQUAL BEFORE THE VOTE, WELL LET ME GUESS YOU SAY “I DO’NT THINK SO I WO’NT TO VOTE FOR JIMMIE CARTER,” UH WELL YOU BETTER THINK TWICE! ABOUT IT
And another clock to measure when SN stops being so damn slow!
Seems like you can use a sundial for that.
Or perhaps an Antikythera mechanism if you’ve got one laying around.
I’ve got a couple in my sock drawer if you want. Right there next to the large chunk of Hadrisaur pelvis with the petrified .375 H&H slug embedded in it, right behind the magnetic monopoles.
Help yourself…
mikey
Wipe up the spittle when you go, there’s a good chap.
I wonder if insta idjut realises how many extra votes Soros will get?
We liberal wealth re-distributors are not apparently doing too well at our sworn cause.
I thought you might be going all salty-talk with the line about “with crossed leather strappy things, above her fur or…” until my eyeballs readjusted to the new line and read the rest -“…patent leather bikini…”
Kind of like Captain Hammer saying, “I hate the homeless…
…ness problem.”
But, yeah, Bill Griffith kind of covered this territory for me with his ranting about Richard Corben a few decades back. As to Rush; I recently discovered I don’t even like instrumental “jazz” versions of their music! The Bad Plus tackle “Tom Sawyer” on “Prog”. Sure is a funny world, ain’t it?
Like Thorlac, I, too, still like Frazetta (at least) after all these years. But not Rush (**shudder**).
You’re right, though, Gavin. I live in a dwelling shared with a woman, so the Frazetta (along with my own youthful not-too-bad-for-an-amateur fantasy — never fanatasy and science fiction — drawings) stays in the drawer.
I did have one of those Brothers Hillebrandt LOTR calendars hanging on the kitchen wall for a while back in the seventies in our first apartment. Didn’t stay there long though, much like my shag haircut (again I **shudder**).
those poor rich guys. I suppose that having multiple homes, yachts, private jets and solid gold shower curtains makes up for the pain of having only one vote each.
Goddamnit.
I’m so sick of this shit. For chrissakes, why the fuck doesn’t ANYONE in the government, the media, whatever stand up and point out that if we just went ahead and did what the Republicans want, and gave ALL the money to the richest 1%, it would only make the fuckers POORER? Because there would be no economy and therefore they would have nothing to invest in or earn income from.
When the fuck is the message that this depression (yes, I’ll go there) is the DIRECT RESULT of a gross maldistribution of wealth going to even be WHISPERED about in public?
Fucking DUH.
I remember learning from and enjoying this 2007 Unfogged discussion (post, comments) on “When did you realize Glenn Reynolds was a right-wing hack.”
Prof Poopypants has…
Reynolds wishes he were Professor Pippy P. Poopypants.
Then there was the educated Texan from Texas who looked like someone in Technicolor and felt, patriotically, that people of means — decent folk should be given more votes than drifters, whores, criminals, degenerates, atheists and indecent folk — people without means.
…
Dunbar sat up like a shot. “That’s it,” he cried excitedly. “There was something missing — all the time I knew there was something missing — and now I know what it is.” He banged his fist down into his palm. “No patriotism,” he declared.
“You’re right,” Yossarian shouted back. “You’re right, you’re right, you’re right. The hot dog, the Brooklyn Dodgers. Mom’s apple pie. That’s what everyone’s fighting for. But who’s fighting for the decent folk? Who’s fighting for more votes for the decent folk? There’s no patriotism, that’s what it is. And no matriotism, either.”
The warrant officer on Yossarian’s left was unimpressed. “Who gives a shit?” he asked tiredly, and turned over on his side to go to sleep. The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous and likable. In three days no one could stand him.
— Catch-22
They get 28% of the vote by proxy from all the wingnut dittoheads who do their bidding.
Because they would have a LOT of money RIGHT NOW, and that’s all they care about. RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY HA HA GIMME MONEY…
You think any of ’em gave a sh*t that they risked everyone’s future and their future earnings by destabilizing the financial system with ripping down banking / investment regulations and blocking off any regulation of derivatives and credit default swaps?
No, because they were able to make hundreds of billions then.
And all it cost them was about $5 billion in lobbying for a decade to pay off in hundreds of billions in fake profits.
But, oh, right, I forgot, the poor dears only have 1 vote, so none of that actually happened and they’re all suffering and oppressed.
Ok, everybody mentally add a /blockquote after that first line.
Tonight, we whine in hell!
I was, of course, referring to the shouting man in terms of wiping up spittle.
Not to Mikey. However with the delay in posting at the moment, lord knows when it got in the queue.
Okay, Lolly, /blockquote mentally added.
Another Kiwi: it was certainly clear to me that the shoutin’ guy ought to clean up, not Mikey, although if Mikey will do it, we would give him a Tip o’ the Hat.
Steerpike: “Tonight, we whine in hell!” Okay, so why exactly is this night different from all other nights of the year? Four answers will do nicely.
per the graph, look @ the comparison w/soc-sec, the amount employees paid vs corporate taxes, and the amout paid by the bottom 4/5th compared to the top 1/5, all else being equal, shouldn’t that be flat accross the board ?? no, because soc-sec and excise taxes are regressive, those go up time and time again and republicans clamor for income taxes to go down down down, shifting the burden to the left
That malkin link is just precious, this little quote caught my eye:
And on the ground, the tax-subsidized and Soros-subsidized troops are going to try and wreak havoc every way they can. Many readers and fellow bloggers have seen signs that ACORN may send in ringers and saboteurs to usurp the anti-tax, anti-reckless spending, anti-bailout message
I assume that you US based SadlyNoes will be circulating the Soros slush fund to help, I don’t know, buy the beers?
Roger L. Simon, following Malkin’s lead in preparation for the big tax day protests, chimes in from purported experience:
And thus Simon shows he was completely blind to the real FBI agents at these events. But he does add to the murmur that says all teabaggery embarrassments will be perpetrated by infiltrators, so I guess preparatory mission accomplished.
I would like my Soros and ACORN subsidy now please instead of forever working in small businesses struggling to meet paychecks.
I personally could do with some of that Soros/Acorn slush fund, as I got P45ed (pink slipped) yesterday. My days of real Pho are sadly numbered……
As it happens, I found a paperback copy of Vonnegut’s Welcome To The Monkey House the other day and re-read a few of the stories in it, including “Harrison Bergeron”. My immediate reaction: “How did anyone, anywhere, ever think this was a serious story?” At about the point when Harrison tears off straps capable of withstanding five thousand pounds of force and then defies the law of gravity with his newfound bride, you’d think somebody would suspect a slight touch of satirical intent.
To put it simply, if the rich are so ripped off why don’t any of them want to be at the bottom where people, apparently, have it made.
I’d gladly trade places with any of the 1%, and pay even more tax.
Here is a link a kind gentleman forwarded me. You’ll probably have to cut and paste to make it work.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/33289_Bush_Bowed_Too/comments/#ctop
Anyway, apart from the baffling content at the top, in comment 960 Charles Johnson opens up a can of Obama Derangement Syndrome whupass.
ACORN may send in ringers and saboteurs to usurp the anti-tax, anti-reckless spending, anti-bailout message
…..
Usually we thought he was the most extreme character
Be very suspicious of extreme teabaggers.
Fuck! You libitards are so fucking useless.
And fuck you too PZM.
Goddam. That’s REAL power.
Myers get’s a fuckyou shoutout on a website that isn’t even HIS.
I’m flat out jealous…
mikey
Eric’s off the meds again……
wow, i’ve learned a lot here.
a libertarian
just kidding
“I don’t know how much it changes things” is a big fat tell.
Chances are he DOES know it makes him look (more) like a fool – so he belittles it. It’s precisely the same terminology I’ve heard from grumpy aging hipsters stoically dick-waving their nihilism & wisdom to & fro to pass the time.
Naturally Instabandit can’t be arsed to “look it up” because by & large, the sycophantic fanboyz have no intention of venturing into the sick twisted world of fact-checking (after hearing that it causes sexual deviance & mange).
From Reynolds’ phoning it in, to Limbaugh’s sudden octave-shifted sqealing, to Teh Attack Of Teh Budget-Bubbles, it’s a right shit time to be a Tru-Amer’kin(TM) … eight years in a row of fail-stench just won’t wash out, not even with Woolite – the fix is in, & they’re boned.
Another Breitbart cameo (a newsclip on TDS?), & the poor giddy tit looked even WORSE. As in massively deep-ending worse … man, whoever’s getting the premium cut from their pharmaceutical bill is raking it in big right now, that’s for damn sure.
Now, I remember back in the day, when the Frazetta/Vallejo fandom rift made the East Coast/West Coast “rap war” seem tame by comparison. For every Tupac or Biggie, a score of LARPers lay bruised and battered, gasping on the steam tunnel floors of our nation.
Actually, that never happened… and I never did get that airbrushed van with the mattress and shag carpeting.
*sigh*
Okay, let’s do it the Insty way, where how much you pay in taxes determines the amount of votes you get.
I suspect that Perfesser’s Hayseed’s $150k p.a. from the STATE OF TENNESSEE, combined with his internets money, gets him about 0.2 of a vote. What a fucking maroon. But Those People get 0.0001 of a vote, and that’s all that matters to the Instatwat.
“a fan base roughly proportional, and significantly coextensive, with the market for signed Boris Vallejo prints”
“Reynolds may not show his hand, but he is definitely smelling his finger.”
I can’t stop laughing. I may shit myself.
This is the funniest stuff since SJ Perelman. O jesus.
I thought right-wingers like Libertarians and many Republicans were against taxation altogether, so what are they doing ranking themselves in relation to other people based on how much tax they pay? That top 1% they keep going on about is notorious for finding ways to completely avoid paying taxes anyway.
I’ve also heard Libertarians say that only those with private property should have any voice in public affairs or governance; the more private property owned, the greater the influence, is how they think it should be. That sure goes against the emphasis on freedom that their name implies, but by liberty Libertarians mean liberty only for those with money and property.
Hmmmm. If I were to infiltrate a tea-bag thingy to make them look “bad” what *would* I do? What would I do?
Dress up in a costume? (not Frazetta or Vallejo: too chilly) Wear a giant tea-bag? I don’t think they had tea-bags in the 1770’s. Dress in a giant basket-tea-strainer? Or maybe just come as a teapot, short & stout.
Carry a provocative senseless and badly spelled placard?
“No blud for tee!” “Tacks the pour, not the Ritch!” “Git a brane LIB-er-teas!”
Eh- too much effort for too little.
Learn to write.
How about dangling a sack filled with two inflated balloons from your pants, with no explanation, and carrying a sign reading:
“WHO IS PAUL BLART?”
So by my calculations, if they wanted to trade their 19% of the money for 19% of the vote we would each get 9k.
Then they could all live on welfare and we could hate them for having it so easy, living on welfare. Maybe Tom Wolfe could even write a book about how they use mob intimidation to control the government and ruin the lives of practically innocent people.
Just as every anarchist is in a way a failed dictator…
I’ve been reading up on the Spanish Civil War lately, and was surprised to discover that the anarchists really mattered as a political force then and there. At the start of the war they were the strongest anti-fascist faction. Unfortunately, being anarchists, they were not very concerned with forming a strong central government even in wartime, and noticed far too late that the Communists were quietly taking over.
Way off topic, but this gorgeously bizarre political movement deserves credit for the firmness of its commitment to individual and local-communal self determination.
In fact, it’s mission accomplished!
The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy [tm] has already infiltrated and disrupted their teabaggery, before it’s even happened!
I think increasing their paranoia level is all to the good. Anything that we can do except for actually “infiltrating” or “disrupting” their weenie roasts. Can we spread some more rumors? Or show up in a black trenchcoat, sunglasses and a bluetooth ear piece, walk around the periphery and just watch them.
Then sit back and wait for the embarrassing YouTube videos. It’ll be the biggest hit since the Sarah Palin crowd videos.
I clicked on the map at Malkin’s place, looking for a tebagging event near S.F. that I could infiltrate and possibly disrupt, when I came across this:
Poor Cesar is rolling in his grave.
Excellent takedown, Gavin. But don’t go harshing on Frank Frazetta — at least
it’s an ethoshe knew how the torpedoes attached to the human anatomy, and had a pretty good sense of form. Boris Vallejo was a jonny-mop-come-lately, but if you want the true ne plus ultra of crappy skiffy Art.t.t., there is but one name: Michael Whelan. A man who deeply deserves to have his drawing fingers smashed with a thousand lead inkwells, before his body is dipped in resin, plastinated, and airbrushed — much like all his figures. The only chronologically adult person I ever met who genuinely admired Whelan’s ‘artwork’ was also a proud Amway salesperson.On the other hand, until I just consulted Wikipedia, I had no idea that the other great flesh-modeller of the Frazetta period is now known as Jeffrey *Catherine* Jones…
19% of all EARNED income you say? ‘Cause everyone knows that the top 1% get their dough from their paychecks. Moreover, also too, as I’m sure you’re aware after I’ve told you, look, rich people are such “by their own bootstraps” kind of folk that they are able to get their modest mountains, large hills really, of cash without the participation of anyone else in the free market temple. So stop your class warmongering and enjoy owning your own home (which you hardly deserve) well at least until the sherrif lockout at the end of this month.
Yeah, lobbey, that bit of Malkinalia struck me, too, especially as it comes right after the bit where she decries the “false and illogical rumors” and “unreality-based smears” by “left-wing conspiracy theorists” and “clueless pundits” that the teabag parties are largely an astroturf operation. I’m surprised that sort of obvious compartmentalization doesn’t cause wit-lash; hells, I think I sprained something just skimming it.
DFH no.6, let me shudder right along with you. Had the same calendar, my fantasy art stays hidden from polite folk, and I can’t even strap on my renfest kilt without getting a raised brow. What’s the world coming to?! I take consolation in my repeated listenings of Caress of Steel.
Even though I hate guns, there’s still something about a pair of gunbelts crossed low on a woman’s hips that just sort of does something for me. I tried to talk Catwoman into strapping on a couple of holsters full of Batarangs, but she insists on sticking with the whip. Frankly, I can’t complain about that, either.
Knights in White Satin said,
April 9, 2009 at 7:24
Stand in sight of the news cameras, and offer silent support as the speakers bloviate. Tip your head back, and slowly, sensuously, dip two tea bags into and out of your open mouth. Wear the properly ecstatic look.
I have no idea what would happen. I know I’m too chicken to do it.
Oh geeze, how brilliant. Another idiot generally trashes libertarian ideas based on lack of comprehension, innuendo, and straw-manning what he obviously just doesn’t like – ALL BASED ON A MERE SIX-WORD SENTENCE.
WELL HERE COME THE LIBS TRASHING GLEN RENOLDS AGAIN, AND OF COARSE THEY MIS-UNDERSTAND HIS LOGIC. WHAT THE INSTA-PUNDIT IS SAYING IS THAT IF ALL THE WELATH RE-DISTRIBUTERS HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE TOP 1% WELL YOU KNOW WHAT THEY CAN JUST VOTE THEM OUT.
THE FOUNDING FATHER’S INSURED THAT WE ARE ALL EQUAL BEFORE THE VOTE, WELL LET ME GUESS YOU SAY “I DO’NT THINK SO I WO’NT TO VOTE FOR JIMMIE CARTER,” UH WELL YOU BETTER THINK TWICE! ABOUT IT
Please tell me this is a joke…
I suspect that Perfesser’s Hayseed’s $150k p.a. from the STATE OF TENNESSEE, combined with his internets money, gets him about 0.2 of a vote. What a fucking maroon
You’re too generous. I think the fact that Instahack receives $150k annually, plus benefits, and will someday receive a pension from the STATE OF TENNESSEE should preclude him from ever voting again. And also cancel out the votes of everyone in his household.
Didn’t bother to read the footnotes, did we Todd?
Oh geeze, how brilliant. Another idiot generally trashes libertarian ideas based on lack of comprehension, innuendo, and straw-manning what he obviously just doesn’t like – ALL BASED ON A MERE SIX-WORD SENTENCE.
Libertarian ideas have already been well and thoroughly trashed; this is a trashing of Glenn Reynolds. (There was a clue in the title.) But thanks for playing.
P.S. It’s “geez”, shortened from “geez us”.
P.P.S. “1%” is two words, and the conjunction at the start of that “sentence” is another clue that you seem to have missed.
DFH no.6 said,
You’re right, though, Gavin. I live in a dwelling shared with a woman, so the Frazetta (along with my own youthful not-too-bad-for-an-amateur fantasy — never fanatasy and science fiction — drawings) stays in the drawer.
Real Men have framed Loius Royo hanging up.
Which their girlfriend bought them.
What, someone wouldn’t want an original Corben painting in the living room? I would, and I’m a woman.
WELL MIKE B I AM NO JOKESTER, LIKE I ALL WAYSSAY I AM JUST A NORMAL GUY LIVING IN AMERICA, TRYING TO GET THE BRASS RING JUST LIKE EVERY BODY ELSE. NOT LOOKING FOR ANY HAND-OUT’S JUST KEEPING MY HEAD TO THE GRIND-STONE.
BUT ANY WAYS IF YOU GUYS WO’NT TO RE-ELECT JIMMIE CARTER WELL MAY BE BETTER TO ELECT DIXIE CARTER SHE’LL GET-R-DUN!!!
JUST A NORMAL GUY said
I think I spotted this guy in Barrens chat once. QQ MORE LIBTARDZ!
Reynolds may talk libertarian from time to time and wear libertarian clothing but that that hardly hides his true conservative statist colors.
It takes only a few minutes reading through his posts to to figure this out….
And another clock to measure when SN stops being so damn slow!
Not to feel too bad, Malkin’s countdown clock to teabag day appears to be off by 12 hours. I suppose it will be mildly ammusing when all 32 of here readers are a half day late for thier tea party.
And another clock to measure when SN stops being so damn slow!
Not to feel too bad, Malkin’s countdown clock to teabag day appears to be off by 12 hours. I suppose it will be mildly ammusing when all 32 of her readers are a half day late for thier tea party.
It’s “Bergeron” not “Begeron”
http://www.google.com/search?q=“Harrison+Bergeron”
It was a tyop.
[Fxied; thakns!]
Gavin, You are truly and idiot.
Gavin, You are truly an idiot.
Lots of love for Kelly Freas! We helped him pack his stuff up when he moved from Virginia, and he gave me his second copy of Night of the Hunter and some valuable art tips. Plus he’s an illustrational god. (Yes, is. Death does not remove him from the pantheon.)