Comics Collector in Deep Water

As a comics collector, I worry about stories like this.  This sounds to me like a collector who gathered everything within a series or a type of comic without knowing what was in every frame on every page. 

Look, I’m as against kiddie porn as the next guy, but I’m also a First Amendment supporter and don’t understand how the 2003 Protect Act can be fairly enforced.  According to the article, it “outlaws cartoons, drawings, sculptures or paintings depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and which lack “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.””  As with most speech cases, the question I must ask is, what constitutes value?

As a comic book collector, I seriously believe that most comics have literary and artistic value. Even Manga from Japan.

Where’s My Bonus?

So, just a brief post on the bonus fiasco.  While I wish I could get a bonus for being the worst employee or executive ever, I’m worried about the knee-jerk reaction we’re having.  These bonuses, for better or worse, are contractual.  That means they are subject to the law.  Instead of reacting, shouldn’t Congress have told these companies that in order to pay out bailout money, they would need to change their bonus structure or at least renegotiate it?

At the end of the day, I worry that all of this hand wringing and suggestions of suicide (one Congressman told execs to consider suicide… CLASSY) will lead to the government or other parties ripping up binding agreements or laws just because they’re pissed off.  If I were to follow that logic, there should be a lot I should get to do because I get pissed off a lot, including:

• Not pay restaurant bills because the waitress was too slow
• Pay less for products at department stores because I think they’re ripping me off
• Round up slow, fat people at the mall and send them to fat camps
• Outlaw the Boston Red Sox, Washington Redskins, and New York Islanders
• Throw eggs at Matt Lauer while he is tied naked to a post in a public square
• Prank call the Octomom constantly when I know the Octo-kids have just dozed off

See, allowing controlled chaos because you’re pissed might not always work out too well.

The Economy

So the other day I started writing a rant about generations and the economy and what was wrong with the world.  Overall, I think the biggest point to make is that many of my Gen X friends have done ok for themselves in this economy.  They never overspent, didn’t buy houses 8 times more expensive than they should have, and lived within their means.  That being said, at this point they’re worried about the economy imploding and hurting them, but they haven’t done anything to put themselves in a bad situation.

That being said, I realized what might help fix the housing crisis.  The 50 year mortgage.  Those who are in over their heads should be allowed to refinance their mortgage at a fair rate (maybe 7%) for 50 years.  It would likely significantly lower their payments and let them stay in their homes until values stabilize.  They may never make 3x profits in a short time frame, but it might let them stay in their house now.  Additionally it avoids putting more and more homes in foreclosure.  That protects the value of my home.

Another benefit is that no one is rewarded for bad behavior.  Those who bought houses that are too big still need to pay them off.  The banks who wrote bad loans in the first place have to sit with them.  In the long run, maybe it brings some sobriety back to the out of control spending of the last few years.  You get to keep your home but not continue spending money you don’t have on $300 jeans, big screen televisions, new cars every two years, etc.

Why Won’t Sarah Palin Go Away?

I’m still alive, I’m still here!  Not that anyone actually cares.  I’ve been writing a bit more over at my travel blog, and while I’ve been taking pictures I should be posting them on Fixed My Life, but I’ve been quite lazy.

Most importantly, living in a swing state, the election was kicking my ass.  When Obama won, I was overcome with joy because I thought I would never see Sarah Palin again. Oh, just imagine the news without her homespun idiot ways. No more Joe Sixpack this, Joe Sixpack that. No more hearing about her bear killing, snowmobile driving husband. No more of her horrible bullshit. It sounds like heaven and rainbows all combined, doesn’t it?

Well it hasn’t come true. She’s been on the fucking news everyday since she lost. Apologizing for costing John McCain votes, dodging questions about if she’ll run for the Senate, still not knowing that Africa isn’t a country. So I implore you news media, please let her go back to her igloo and never speak of her again. She is NOT a rising star in the GOP. She’s a brain-addled, self-centered baby boomer mom who thinks she can boss the rest of the world around.

Though, she did spawn this awesome video.

Miley Cyrus: Shitty Role Model Part Deux

Again, I have to ask what America is thinking considering this creature from the 1980s child to be a role model?? Does seriously believe that Miley Cyrus, inbred creature from the Black Lagoon, is going to be anything but an overly-sexed teenager? Her father’s mullet along should tell you all you need to know.

Get over it people, she’s a white trash teenager who is bound to make poor decisions. If you don’t explain that to your kids and they follow her like the second coming of Jim Jones you’re getting what you deserve. Maybe you shouldn’t have allowed this cult in your house in the first place.   These two should have never made it past Celebrity Fit Club 12.

Another Sign NPR is Totally Out of Touch

I used to listen to NPR and stopped because, in part, I bought Sirius and I realized I could, forever, dump local FM radio. Another reason I am glad I could stop listening to NPR is that it’s totally out of touch with reality. Now, I’m not talking in terms of politics or coverage. I don’t think they’re biased towards Israel or the PLO. I don’t think they’re left wing. I’m not one of those nuts.

I think NPR has no idea what people under the age of 55 think about anything. Case in point, NPR published an article on cursing lately. You can read that article here. Go ahead, I’ll wait…

Done? Ok, since when is suck or stupid a curse word? Suck hasn’t been considered a bad word since 1965. Piss, damn, and hell were barely considered curse words when I was a teenager in the 1980s. Is NPR programming for my grandma? Apparently they think that “stupid butt” is a curse! It’s not like someone saying motherfucker or asshole. Come on NPR, get your shit together. The only other person who thinks suck is a curse word is that mutant Katie Couric.

Laundry Quotas?

I recently read an article in my college’s newspaper that apparently they’re having problems with some students doing too much laundry. Now I remember college and I remember hating doing laundry. HATING it. You had to drag it down there, sit bored, scrounge for quarters, and then STILL your laundry was wet. So I was thinking, why the hell would the college care if certain masocists did it more often? Well, I figured out why… they don’t have to pay for it anymore. It’s included. Talk about overprotecting college students. Make them pay for their own laundry with quarters. It teaches valuable skills for the future. What will they do when faced with parking meters?