COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, January 21, 2011

Friday Night at the EB

Hattip: Mel, our muse.

146 comments:

  1. Uggh, Rufus Paul.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That was a buzz kill!!! >:(

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. He's no uglier than that guitar player.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Guess I was in the wrong thread. You need to warn me of these things.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It doesn't matter. It's all good!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

    Hattip: Trish. (I think this is the song she heard)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fred Thompson: "FBI arrests 127 mobsters. This must be that staff shake-up Obama was talking about after the elections"

    ReplyDelete
  9. Keith Olbermann fired from MSNBC

    (hee hee!)

    ReplyDelete
  10. But I do like Rachel Maddow. Same softball team, you know.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Here there and everywhere, I go ride almost everyday.

    Putting together a deal with some real cowboys. I feel the need to save a couple of hundred wild American Mustangs from slaughter, each year.

    Whether you all approve of how the BLM manages those herds, it is a reality. Either we train them buggers, or they die.

    Found some real hands that can handle the program. But it is both labor and management intense.

    A dawn to dark kind of a deal.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Not only is my left brain thinking on hiatus these days but I'm already on my third drink so the rules for Friday night at the bar when my pathetic ass can't get off the couch to go out and do something productive is absolutely no politics.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Awe…Are you a Jimmy Buffet fan?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Let me tell you about my Jimmy Buffet experience.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Got the first eight
    We can cycle 'em through, every two weeks.

    Should be just shy of 200 in a year.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Well, I'm glad you're saving some of them, but I wish the Government would just let'em be.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Jimmy and I go back to 1977.

    Played that tune on a boom box, in a little bar, with a balcony over the bay, in Porto Bello.

    Wore out the tape, the patience of the Julios in the place, but there wer four of us, and we spent a lot of money on beer, rum and smoke.

    More than some went to the local girls, too, as I recall.

    Take Another Road

    ReplyDelete
  18. Never gonna happen, rufus.

    The Federal Forest Service is trying to circumvent the Judges' order, attempting to transfer the Heber herd to AZ Fish and Game, so they can be hunted.

    Killed for sport.

    ReplyDelete
  19. What kind of smoke?

    ReplyDelete
  20. My sister is a big fan, as for me not so much. So, I agreed to go to his concert. It was 98 fucking degrees. I didn't realize the dedication the fans had for this man until I almost got my ass kicked for playing Nickelback during our three hour tailgating party.

    Once we were in the concert the skies decided to open up and pour profusely for the entire concert for which I spent most of the time in the gut-wrinching bathroom.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Oh yeah, I knew that guy. Back in the day.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Good riddance. He is a nasty piece of work.

    ReplyDelete
  23. oh my God you are a fan. I never even heard of that song. Don't even tell me you own a parrot head.

    ReplyDelete
  24. No, whit.

    That wasn't it.




    This evening when I got in the Jeep it was Comfortably Numb.

    And I asked myself, "Am I comfortably numb?"

    Not yet. Not quite.

    And wouldn't it be a really, really bad thing to be comfortably numb?

    Yes, it would.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Whit, you have a new avatar. Which is fabulous but what should I call you now elephant man?


    I'll stick with chief. It better suits you.

    ReplyDelete
  26. "And wouldn't it be a really, really bad thing to be comfortably numb? Yes, it would"

    Well, that depends on your definition and the circumstances.

    ReplyDelete
  27. And the worst thing is that when I sit down with my mother and tell her this story she's going to say, "That's interesting."

    She might add, "Sounds like something you'd hear on Coast To Coast." Or, "Sounds like something you'd hear on one of those weird late-night radio programs." Because I don't think she knows about Coast-to-Coast. "You know, with all those nutty people."

    Which would be funny.

    ReplyDelete
  28. "Well, that depends on your definition and the circumstances."

    Presently, it would be a bad thing.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I guess for your sake that's a good thing that you're not there yet.

    ReplyDelete
  30. In a manner of speaking I've seen people there. It's not a nice place.


    How long of a drive is it to your moms.

    ReplyDelete
  31. That scene from Young Frankenstein keeps popping into my head.

    "Destiny! Destiny! No escaping! That's for me! Destiny! Destiny!"




    ("Doctor! Doctor! Wake up!"

    "What? What is it? What's the matter?"

    "You were having a nachtmare.")

    ReplyDelete
  32. There is no escaping destiny. You know that. It is what it is.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I liked that, Whit. Kind of a "Rufus" song. :)

    ReplyDelete
  34. I like driving…Alone. Long distance. It's relaxing…Rejuvenating.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Kind of a Rufus song….I thought the same thing.

    ReplyDelete
  36. "You know that. It is what it is."

    : )

    I'm not so sure though.

    There are sooooo many things I don't know.

    I blame it on the public education system.




    You like long drives alone?

    You can't get your ass up off the couch.

    You can't be a productive human being.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I, on the other hand, feel oddly productive.

    For the first time in a long time.

    ReplyDelete
  38. I didn't' say I wan't a productive human being. Maybe not productive lately but if I could get in my car tomorrow and drive south I would.



    And what would you blame on the public education system. That they didn't prepare you for life's obstacles. That there wasn't a text on what do if…

    That's a cop out.

    ReplyDelete
  39. What have I produced?

    Well, yes. That's a good question.

    My own ability to laugh in circumstances so horrendous that they defy adequate description.

    If the Bible were written differently maybe it would say, "Jesus laughed."

    ReplyDelete
  40. "I didn't' say I wan't a productive human being."

    You also didn't say you can spell or punctuate.

    This is true.

    ReplyDelete
  41. ...circumstances so horrendous...

    really?

    ReplyDelete
  42. Say "goodnight", Mel.

    ReplyDelete
  43. But notice I was kind about the horoscope.

    If you have a job, or ever had one, I assume it didn't involve writing.

    ReplyDelete
  44. I believe laughing is part of a cure all.

    My humor is out of the norm. As you can tell. What I think is humorous others don't. But that is okay as long as I snort laughter at least once a day whether it is alone or with a friend I know I'm heading in the right direction.

    ReplyDelete
  45. I think Melody writes pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Nope. I can't spell or punctuate. But that's no secret since you remind us all every time there is a mistake.

    ReplyDelete
  47. "My humor is out of the norm."

    Also, I feel oddly superior.

    For the first time in a long time.

    ReplyDelete
  48. John Prine, another American, heck of a singer.

    Please don't bury me

    ReplyDelete
  49. Actually, I do have a job. It doesn't involve writing or punctuation. I'm a people person.

    ReplyDelete
  50. "But that's no secret since you remind us all every time there is a mistake."

    Well, shit, who's got time like that?

    ReplyDelete
  51. That's a good step in the right direction, Trish.

    Because with me? Whether I can write or use proper grammar or even remember what I did yesterday, I always feel superior.

    There was a time when I didn't.

    ReplyDelete
  52. "I'm a people person."

    That I'd wager.

    ReplyDelete
  53. You would lose. Believe it or not.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Do you feel left out, DR?

    Would it make you feel better if I said that I will look you up when I visit Tucson.

    ReplyDelete
  55. "I always feel superior."

    I always wanted to be one of those people.

    (No. That's not true. And I don't know anyone personally who always does feel that way.)

    I don't think I've ever actually wanted that.

    To feel equal, yes.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Tucson? Don't get that far south much, any more.

    Crazies with guns, down that way.

    ReplyDelete
  57. "You would lose."

    Luck of the Irish.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Yeah, right my girlfriend lives five minute from that shooting.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Network that ran "Crossfire" for 20 years apologizes for using "crosshairs" in a sentence.

    ReplyDelete
  60. I have that kind of luck, too.

    ReplyDelete
  61. And stop analyzing every word I write.

    Always…Sometimes…Most of the time…Does it matter? Well, maybe to you it does.

    I always feel superior. I always walk with my head held high. I feel good about myself.

    ReplyDelete
  62. .


    Home With The Armadillo

    Good stuff rat.

    Reminds me of a bar I used to go to a long time ago. It was near Selfridge Air Force Base on Lake St. Clair.

    They had 'Go-Go' girls, but all they had on the juke box was country/western music.

    An interesting place.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  63. "I always feel superior. I always walk with my head held high. I feel good about myself."

    Um. This just sounds like Rat.

    Or Doug.

    Or Quirk.

    Or Blue.

    Or She Who Delights In Frequent Name Changes.

    ReplyDelete
  64. And you're not?

    What makes you stand out from the rest of us. Your profound knowledge of grammar or that you hand your head despair.

    ReplyDelete
  65. If hair is such an awful word, just use the Olde English standby:

    "'He got me by the short and curlies'"

    ReplyDelete
  66. Hang your head in despair.


    I fucked that one up.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Well, how pleasant, I wake to an ordinary, civil Friday night at the bar. Seems that I missed a fine party.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Well you just keep fucking them up with your head high. It seems to suit you.

    ReplyDelete
  69. You can only imagine what suits me.

    ReplyDelete
  70. And it was, actually, civil for a Friday night.

    ReplyDelete
  71. .

    Bloggers Rip Obama's Choice of Immelt to Lead the Panel of Economic Advisors


    ...* In a speech to the Detroit Economic Club in 2009, Immelt berated “Buy American” policies while acknowledging that GE lived under domestic preference regimes in China, France, and other nations. In Immelt’s mind, it is fine for China and France to require to GE to make what it sells in their nations, but it’s not OK for America to do the same.

    * Immelt essentially rules out any enforcement of our trade laws in his Washington Post op-ed today through a spurious claim that distorts the issue...


    Is What's Good for GE What's Good for America?

    .

    ReplyDelete
  72. Q: So, how were you sucked into this most wicked, fateful enterprise?

    A: They couldn't punctuate.

    Q: No, really. What was it?

    A: A need to converse.



    Irritated the hell out of me when Allen Bloom wrote at the conclusion of The Closing Of The American Mind that in the end, when all's said and done, it's all about the dialogue, not landing upon any particular truth.

    And that struck me as wrong.

    The dialogue has to serve a purpose other than itself.

    There has to be some truth to land upon.

    Or it's all a circle-jerk. A lot of stupid nonsense.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Just taking you at your word.

    That Norah Jones is amazing. I doubt I heard of her until you posted her here.

    ReplyDelete
  74. We seem to have arrived at that moment of a lot of stupid nonsense.

    ReplyDelete
  75. It is the ultimate cosmic joke Red, the closer you get to the truth the less time you have to keep it.

    Two converging lines to discovery, one giving, one taking away.

    Shout it out to share and you may get a nod or two, but everyone is too consumed with their own convergence.

    Just enjoy the ride.

    ReplyDelete
  76. ...but I'm just passing through.

    ReplyDelete
  77. I was advised in boot camp, all 17 years of me by a man far older and wiser, probably 23, "don't sweat the chicken shit" and oh by the way, "everything is chicken shit."

    ReplyDelete
  78. There are some Cosmic Truths.

    Saving those wild horses definitely is one.

    ReplyDelete
  79. "It is the ultimate cosmic joke Red, the closer you get to the truth the less time you have to keep it."

    Except I'm not so sure.

    And I'm especially not so sure precisely because I've already had this thought.

    Well. It doesn't matter really. I'm no closer to the truth now than I was eight years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  80. In fact, I could be a helluva lot farther away.

    ReplyDelete
  81. Nobody said allen can't drive in the wrong direction.

    And I'd like to interview his former road buddies.

    ReplyDelete
  82. I think we were in the middle of an insurgency.

    I thought I knew everything about an obviously horrendous and regrettable situation.

    I thought I had the answers.

    Along with every other outraged individual.

    ReplyDelete
  83. There is always truth in dialogue. It doesn't have to be grammatically correct in order to have meaning or truth. This is the Internet for God sake.

    Don't you ever get out. Talk to real people.

    ReplyDelete
  84. One of greatest surprises from my dad was when he said about that situation in Iraq, "Sometimes there's no obvious solution. You just have to do something. And just doing something gets you moving."

    Or where you need to go.

    It's been awhile.

    ReplyDelete
  85. "Talk to real people."

    That is awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Or She Who Delights In Frequent Name Changes.

    Actually Teresita is my real name.

    I even post real pictures here of the real me hiking and stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  87. So, the problem is…That you don't have all the answers? That you thought you knew everything and you don't? That you thought you had everything figured out and it's not really what it's all cracked up to be?

    C'mon Trish?

    ReplyDelete
  88. Fed prints 25% more dollars in one month.

    Oil prices rise 25% in one month.

    Hmm....

    ReplyDelete
  89. Mmmmmm.

    Well, look.

    There's this part near the end of Arsenic and Old Lace when Cary Grant is sitting on the stairs, the entire house in mad chaos, and he just raises his eyebrows and puts his head into his hand and resigns himself to all going on around him.

    ReplyDelete
  90. "That you thought you had everything figured out and it's not really what it's all cracked up to be?"

    How much wine do I have left?

    ReplyDelete
  91. I grabbed a Cary Grant movie off the You Tube today. They used to post movies in 10 minute bites. This was the whole thing.

    ReplyDelete
  92. More and more I notice that hhhhhhhhhh from the computer.

    ReplyDelete
  93. I am drinking wine.

    A nice, crisp, light white.

    ReplyDelete
  94. So, you're just going to hang your head in your hands and give up?

    ReplyDelete
  95. Why did you come here, Melody?

    ReplyDelete
  96. I'm just trying to figure out a) why you're drinking white wine and b) what has your panties in and uproar.

    ReplyDelete
  97. I was invited.

    Why are you here Trish?

    ReplyDelete
  98. Is there a reason why i shouldn't.

    ReplyDelete
  99. I do not think, among the many things that panties may do, that they ever get in an uproar.

    It's just not, you, pantie-like.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Is there a reason why you're still up?

    ReplyDelete
  101. You're right I don't wear any.


    So, then what's the problem?

    ReplyDelete
  102. Am I disrupting your midnight oil?

    ReplyDelete
  103. If you have better things to do at 2 am I'd be more than happy to let you tend to them.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Melody, I do not give a dman.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Then why the fuck do you keep asking?

    ReplyDelete