Promoted. Originally posted 2009-01-24 16:09:45 -0500. -- GH

When I was a young, broke but care-free philosopher in the University of Arkansas, hanging out with poets, working at a red-neck bar for beer money, and fancying myself a writer, I worried a lot. The bar had a big red button behind the counter, right above a double-barrel, twelve gage shot gun. I was told it was loaded with rock salt. Pressing the red button killed the juke box and called the cops. I only had to use those bar-back tools once, then promptly quit.

I'm so happy I found this haven for lost diaries... Again, I posted this at the KOS and watched it slide down the great orange slopes. Again, it was rescued, and praised by a few diligent readers there. And, again, I bring it to you. Thank you for being here.

"I guess it depends if you're a half-glass empty guy or a half-glass full guy."
—George W. Bush

Ever get a parking ticket when you were a half-glass empty guy? Or maybe you were a full-glass full guy, in Bernie Madoff's old neighborhood, and you've had some million dollar months? A $100 equals a tenth of a grand a month, one ten-thousandth of a million. If you make $50,000 a year (a little above the median), that ticket is 0.024% of your monthly income. If you make $12 million  per year, it's 0.0001%, approximately 240 times less than the median American's unhappiness over the same violation.

A flat tax would be more fair than a flat fine. At least with flat income taxes, we'd all be paying the same percentage of our income.

Dwindling tax revenues force governments to look for ways to balance their budgets. Draconian nose amputations are showing up in emergency rooms all over America. More are on their way. Regressive taxes are just worsening the pain on the lowest earners.

Cross-posted from Unbossed. A team of psychologists, retired intelligence professionals, and ethicists are preparing a casebook on interrogation ethics and have asked for help in getting out the word to anyone who might be willing to contribute information about military interrogations, including the role played by psychologists. The Interrogation Ethics Casebook is a project of the End Torture Committee of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, and a really important step in the process of eliminating torture.

One of those working on the project is Dr. Donald Soeken. Dr. Soeken is well-known for his efforts to stop a government practice of orchestrating abusive psychiatric examinations as retaliation against whistleblowers. Below, with his permission is a more detailed description of the casebook project, along with contact information, from the Integrity International website.

"Climate" is a word with several definitions. From Answer.com, here's the dictionary definition:

1. The meteorological conditions, including temperature, precipitation, and wind, that characteristically prevail in a particular region.
2. A region of the earth having particular meteorological conditions: lives in a cold climate.
3. A prevailing condition or set of attitudes in human affairs: a climate of unrest.

For additional clarity (at risk of exceeding "fair use" restrictions), here's the thesaurus listing:

1. The totality of surrounding conditions and circumstances affecting growth or development: ambiance, atmosphere, environment, medium, milieu, mise en scène, surroundings, world.
2. A prevailing quality, as of thought, behavior, or attitude: mood, spirit, temper, tone.

So, to truly address "climate change" in today's world, should we not address both functional definitions -- namely, not just the meteorological but also the social/political?

"Gaeity" is a term denoting joyful exuberance or merriment, but in the hands of today's Republican party, I would not be surprised to find it reinterpreted to a bastion of misleading and negative connotations almost as confusing as the definition and use of the word gay. The "Party of Moral clarity" has demonized the use of any word, term or action that could even hint at homosexuality in order to key into the knee-jerk prejudice of millions of "Christian" voters everywhere. (Note that I put quotes around "Christian" -- I can't duly insult those who actually practice the teachings attributed to Christ, when I'm only targeting those who simply claim to.) Whenever I hear GOP leaders or pundits screech about a "homosexual agenda" and accuse someone of being gay as though it is a crime against humanity (unlike torture, or melting the flesh off children), I wonder why nobody asks them to clarify.