...this guy, even from an anaesthetic-induced post-operative haze, thinks your plan is so illegal that he'd rather resign and take half the DOJ with him than sign off on it.

But seeing as how "24" is almost over for this year, I may as well link to the 20-minute epilogue of the little hospital scene from 2004's season.

"You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."
- Morpheus, The Matrix.

No moral high-horse here, I took the red pill.  I'll buy into any political system from Libertarian Utopia to Corporate Police State to Socialist Paradise to Soviet Russia, so long as I can make a buck off it (OK, in the case of the latter two, I'll also want to get my ass...ets out of the country before capital controls are instituted and it becomes illegal to protect myself) :), but I gotta admit I spent more time gawking at the live video feed of today's testimony than I did anything on the business news today.  Crazy stuff. Reassuring to know  that nothing will come of it, nor of the episodes that haven't aired yet.

"Ask not what you can do for your country - ask what your country did to you."
  - Nicole Blackman, Dogma, 1996, via KMFDM.

And as long as I'm in a KMFDM kind of mood tonight, Comey, if you or your handlers are reading this or correlating my posts here to my  anonymous-to-everyone-but-NSA podcast, you might also get a kick out of Adios, which I've sent out on your behalf. Well-played, Sir. 

Why are these dirtbags still on office?

What would a bush administration official have to do to get canned? have intimate relations with a farmyard animal? use a baby as an oven mitt? go on a rampage through a nursing home with a flamethrower? openly praise satan at press conferences? accidentally nuke australia? get caught erotically hanging himself while wearing women's clothing? poo in his own hands and fling it at people like a monkey?

What would a bush administration official have to do to get canned? have intimate relations with a farmyard animal? use a baby as an oven mitt? go on a rampage through a nursing home with a flamethrower? openly praise satan at press conferences? accidentally nuke australia? get caught erotically hanging himself while wearing women's clothing? poo in his own hands and fling it at people like a monkey?
Nah, it's actually pretty easy. All you gotta do to get fired from the Bush administration is just openly disagree with The Decider (whoever that may be), you'll be outta there in no time.

Well, i spoke too soon. wolfie's a goner. but i think that's more the world bank's doing than the administration's. turns out international institutions still have accountability.

man, i need to get the eff outta dodge! this country's gone totally bananas. :o

Well, i spoke too soon. wolfie's a goner. but i think that's more the world bank's doing than the administration's. turns out international institutions still have accountability.

man, i need to get the eff outta dodge! this country's gone totally bananas. :o


Dude.. you couldn't afford to live anywhere else. You think the IRS is harsh!  ;D ;D ;D

Dude.. you couldn't afford to live anywhere else. You think the IRS is harsh!  ;D ;D ;D
well, the UK's effed up expenses wise, i'll definitely give you that.

well, the UK's effed up expenses wise, i'll definitely give you that.


As is most of Europe. You really ought to stay up and talk Tax Law with people when I do.

well, of course you also get something for your tax dollars besides cruise missiles over baghdad.

well, of course you also get something for your tax dollars besides cruise missiles over baghdad.


MMmHmmm, a crumbling public transport system and a health service that has unintentionally created super-virus's that it can't cure due to years of under-funding, filthy hospitals and little to no research.. but that's not really the point we're discussing here.  ;)

holy crap, you shoulda had the experience i had on the metro last weekend. i was actually howling with rage at a metro employee, the system completely broke down. bad as the london underground might seem, it works, which is more than i can say for the metro. when they start with the single-tracking, you pretty much just have to accept that they took your money, will not get you where you're going no matter how many hours you wait, and will not refund your money and might actually press charges if you complain. i never had any problems like that with the london underground, if they couldn't do something, they'd at least tell you, the circle line is down. don't get on it. here, they let you on and then screw you.

and in europe at least there IS health care. for about a quarter of the country in america, you get sick, you're just plain screwed. there's no reason to pay ANY taxes at all if the government is just going to leave you to die if you get sick.

holy crap, you shoulda had the experience i had on the metro last weekend. i was actually howling with rage at a metro employee, the system completely broke down. bad as the london underground might seem, it works, which is more than i can say for the metro. when they start with the single-tracking, you pretty much just have to accept that they took your money, will not get you where you're going no matter how many hours you wait, and will not refund your money and might actually press charges if you complain. i never had any problems like that with the london underground, if they couldn't do something, they'd at least tell you, the circle line is down. don't get on it. here, they let you on and then screw you.

and in europe at least there IS health care. for about a quarter of the country in america, you get sick, you're just plain screwed. there's no reason to pay ANY taxes at all if the government is just going to leave you to die if you get sick.



The Underground is great, I love it. It's filthy, the carriages are falling apart, they close parts of it every day.. it's wonderful.. and I'm not being sarcastic, it really does all run perfectly, you can get anywhere you want, it's simply fabulous.

Well.. there is health care now, they're moving further and further away from socialised medicine.

The Underground is great, I love it. It's filthy, the carriages are falling apart, they close parts of it every day.. it's wonderful.. and I'm not being sarcastic, it really does all run perfectly, you can get anywhere you want, it's simply fabulous.

Well.. there is health care now, they're moving further and further away from socialised medicine.
hey! my dad works for the underground!

actually, he does. ;D

well, london's a city of 11 million some odd people. washington's like, a million and some odd. it's really embarrassing how badly it runs.

hey! my dad works for the underground!

actually, he does. ;D

well, london's a city of 11 million some odd people. washington's like, a million and some odd. it's really embarrassing how badly it runs.


I know he does.. I'm saying, it's great. There's no denying that it's filthy and falling apart, but it just runs, almost through symbiosis with the rest of the city, it's great.

I thought D.C was closer to about 4,000,000 - but regardless, I always found the DC system to be excellent, but I've only used it a dozen or so times.