The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

Blog Posts

Sign Here: Obama Haters for Obama

Yeah, I'm rising from disrespect to contempt to despise.

Perhaps it's people telling me what I should do, but I think it's mostly his actions.

I woke up with one piece of judicial news and a non-finger-pointing assessment of our Supreme Court problem, and I was convinced: vote Obama, reverse Supreme Court.

A couple articles later, I revise equation: hold nose, sneer, vote Obama, pray the Supreme Court is enough.

Rmoney: Love in Bain

Sorry, couldn't resist.

9 out of 12 people haven't heard of Bain.

And you can be sure that of the remaining, a lot just think it was about downsizing companies in trouble, not gutting stealing the pensions & dumping the carcasses on the taxpayer (who didn't cover all the shortfall)

What a wasted opportunity.

Proof of Genetic Gender Difference

Recent scientific polling has shown differences between the sexes that can't be explained away by "nurture" vs. "nature" justifications or social upbringing. As this scores new technology that's never been used before, for entirely different benign effect, the resistance of women to its charms lends credence to a fully genetic model of inherited differences between the sexes.

As prelude (or foreplay, if you insist) to the rest of the analysis, the results first:

Timeline: 87,000 in Afghanistan

                Timeline

The President's going to end the war.

End of 2014, 2014.

13 years fixing stucco to a wall.

Still it all falls down, all falls down.

I remember when it was a little war,

Just 4 years ago

30,000 foolish souls

There to make a difference.

The only difference is 50,000 more souls

And a few who art in heaven.

But soon we'll have an end to this,

A newfound peace, newfound peace

Only drones remote controlled

And military police.

As they stand up, we can stand down,

Hair: Obama Punches a Hippie on Memorial Day

Ah yes, trotting out those tired old lines:

”You were often blamed for a war you didn’t start, when you should have been commended for serving your country with valor. You were sometimes blamed for misdeeds of a few, when the honorable service of the many should have been praised. You came home and sometimes were denigrated, when you should have been celebrated

No matter how many times someone points out the myth of hippies spitting on vets just didn't happen in any numbers, that the protests were aimed at the Pentagon, not G.I. Joe, the story just won't die.

Apparently Obama missed one of the major vibes of the period, trying to end the war, trying to keep our neighbors from dying for no good reason. Are the kids at Kent State included in the remembrance of Memorial Day?

Canada's Got Talent!

Jenna Talackova becomes the first transgender woman to compete in the Miss Universe contest after Donald Trump reverses the decision to ban her.

Her argument, that she knew she was female at 4, is rather convincing. That part of her conversion involved hormones has its implications for sports parallels, as the Olympics is already trying to find a balance. But apparently female hormones remove any advantages in body strength from male crossovers.

Counting Saverin's Lucky Stars (and Tax Obligations)

As Saverin seems to have gone off into tax haven lala-land, preferring some ex-British seat of imperialism for home of the brave and free, it's important he understand the continuing benefits he should be paying for. Such as:

When Corporations Renounce Citizenship...

If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, who brings it a pillow?

Eduardo Saverin seems to have upset some in Congress, who have put down their bribes and chit sheets long enough to grasp patriotism by both lapels, screaming:

"someone's trying to avoid taxes!!!"

Of course even the President says his goal is to lower taxes, so you'd think this would be a shared national priority, kinda like watching "Dancing With the Stars".

I thought loopholes were written to be used - how else would accountants support themselves? 

Hollande's dilemma: Austerity vs. Insolvency

The wave of anti-austerity swept Hollande into power in France, and for good reason - Merkel's austerity program, while sounding nice and grownup, doesn't work.

Nor has Greek tax evasion and profligacy - relying on economic statism.

With half the country avoiding taxes, 30% of income and 1/4 of GDP off the books, and about 60 billion € owed to the leisurely tax authorities, the responsibility spreads far and wide.

One touted effort at accountability showed 17,000 swimming pools around Athens with only a few hundred declared. But when a businessman confronted with a 600K € tax debt gets away with paying 11,000 €? Good luck to all that.

Even on the international scale, Greece carried 2 sets of books, the public one with 2% lopped off of debts thanks to some tricky Goldman Sachs moves - moves that cost the Greeks dearly in the long run. Though allowing her to get more loans from EU sources at better rates, plunging her further into debt.

[Refuted] Egypt Highlights the Peril of Democracy

[Note: there is *NO* real source for claims about this law in Egypt - be careful with spreading - likely highly exaggerated urban myth]

With Egyptian politicians considering a 6-hour window on necrophilia, and lowering the marriage age to 14, we're left considering whether they were better off with Mubarak.

Ok, they haven't passed the law yet, and to their credit, many (including seemingly most women) oppose the changes, but it exemplifies issues of authoritarianism vs. liberal democracy in places (like the US?) where the populace as a whole seems to be veering off into insanity or cruelty or just backwardsness.

Mubarak's wife Suzanne helped push through changes in divorce law, which once took 10-15 years for a woman to obtain (but now comes much quicker if she gives up financial rights).

40% of marriages end in divorce, and there's a push to return to the old system. As if the causes for divorce weren't the issue more than the results. 

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