Tea Partiers! Conservatives in disguise. Tea Partiers! More than meets the eye.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/04/47-of-tea-partiers-pay-no-federal-income-taxes/38924/

"Taxed Enough Already? Or not taxed at all?

One of the striking ironies of Fox News running with the statistic that 47% of Americans might not owe federal income taxes is that Fox News also moonlights as the unofficial station of the Tea Party movement, which clamors for lower taxes. You might ask: half of the country pays no income tax, how much lower do you want? Here's a more troubling point: if the Tea Party movement has a similar share of Americans making under $50,000 as the broader population (as a recent Gallup poll suggests), then why is this movement rallying under the banner "Taxed Enough Already!" when half of them aren't taxed at all?

Forty-five percent of self-identified "Tea Partiers" make less than $50,000 per year, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll. Similarly, 50% of the total population makes less than $50,000 in the same poll. Despite this author's lack of direct access to the tax returns of the Tea Party movement, it seems safe to assume that if about half the country avoids federal income taxes, a similar percentage of the Tea Party movement gets away with the same even as they march and scream about their tax burden."

They're not a political party. They're not rational. They're conservatives who went, "Hmm, this Republicanism is too cold. And this Libertarianism is too confusing! But this Tea Party is just right!" 

I'm beginning to think that the Tea Party is the political barrel that everyone who doesn't have an opinion falls into. It's nice and convenient for them to get upset about income taxes, after all, because hey I want more money cause I'm underprivelaged! It reminds me of how recording artists ten years ago couldn't tell you why piracy or Napster affects their incomes, but goddamn it it does and they know it and shut up, ugly!

Ignorant Shit Teenagers Say

"To me, Republicans and Democrats are both just trying to screw me out of my money, and I don't see a difference between them."

This is one of those things you say when you're 16 and know everything, even though you've never looked at the tangled mess of insanity that is the political system and Congress and Senate and the electoral college and you just wanna sound so goddamn smart, you throw out a saying like this that makes you sound sensible, tough, and wise beyond your years.

Except this is the dumbest statement in the world because 

A- If you can honestly consider Republicans - the same ones who enstated tax cuts to privelaged white people - identical to Democrats - the ones who are fighting to stop such selfish, greedy actions like these - you obviously are utterly fucking ignorant to the entire political system (which is why you say the prior statement), and 

B- this kind of pluralistic ignorance that assumes every aspect of politics is just an act to 'screw you out of your money' is pretty much 100% a Republican mantra, as Republicans are the ones obsessed with squabbling over every fucking penny they can find, therefore ironically placing you on their side by burying your head in the sand. By saying both sides want your money, you're placing more power in rich white conservatives taking more from the underprivelaged.

The worst thing about it is that those who aren't teenagers usually fall into the lower class, and this results in more circular logic. Both sides are screwing me over because I refused to pick a side and therefore Republicans did what they wanted, signed more tax cuts for the filthy fucking rich, so I'm not going to bother with politics because they're just going to screw me over. 

So when someone says ""To me, Republicans and Democrats are both just trying to screw me out of my money, and I don't see a difference between them.""

What they mean is, "I don't like politics because it makes me think - just do what you want, leave me out of it, I'm too busy prepping my head to be buried to notice what the most financially powerful and rich people in the world are deciding what's best for me. So instead of a political opinion I'm just going to throw this easy phrase at you that makes me sound smart."

A comic I wrote

This is a four-page comic I had Zack Finfrock draw a while ago. It's the first couple of pages of a superhero comic I've been brainstorming for a while, called "Six." Figure this is as good a place as any to display some of my writing. Maybe I'll put some prose on here.  

Ehhh.

(Note: His shirt is supposed to be black and have a "6" on the front. Zack kind of ducked out of finishing the comic at the last minute.)

"Gun Loco" is like the best game idea ever

That is, if Square-Enix didn't buy the name.

I mean I would play the fuck out of any FPS where you can shoot trains at your enemies. Why the fuck hasn't anyone done this yet is beyond me. Instead we're gonna get a Japanese-beaten third person action game with sloppy gameplay and some ridiculous gimmick, if Neir or anything else SE makes is any indication. 

Joystiq can be pretty hilarious at times. Glad I dropped that supermarket tabloid that is Kotaku for these dudes. 

One Moment In Time

Why do I get the feeling that this is just going to be their way of gradually bringing Parker and MJ back together while filling in the blanks of what happened with Mephisto's stupid fucking barter? 

The big set up is oh hey we're explaining shit. And pretty much any mystery that gets explained very quickly turns into destroying any compelling reason to keep going in the story. So if you remove the mystery you need a new hook, something new and crazy, something like...

A surprise relationship! Our readers would never expect that!

Including more colored characters

Was thinking about this in my writing. 

Like, in the world I'm trying to put together - fantasy novel world, Telrin - I need to work on including multiple races beyond just Elves and Dwarves and shit. I mean I've even got Eastlands, a desert-region of the main continent Hioren, and it only struck me recently to make them darker skinned. It feels extraordinarily racist to not even think about including variants of skin color, especially when it's actually would be otherwise appropriate. 

Most of the inclusions I'd be doing to my writing wouldn't be adding in exactly one character here and there, otherwise it's just stupid tokenism. I'm not looking to after-the-fact edit in oh hey here's a black guy, here's a mexican woman, asian guy, etc etc etc. otherwise I'd just be throwing in whatever I feel would get me past the Politically Correct Committee and there'd be a wheelchair bound guy who's got to have exactly one worthwhile moment to make everyone feel better about the situation. The reason I'm making this post is to think, hey, from now on let me think about character concepts in-development and build being black, asian, or yes even handicapped as a facet of their personality rather than super-gluing it onto their completed profile after-the-fact. 

It isn't "Oh, hey, I need to include a black guy." *hasty after-edit*

What I'm talking about is more like this - "Hmm, I need a supporting character here for this superhero concept. He'd be...a cop, young, relatively new on the force. Good guy, really tough, but he's soft spoken. Has faith in people and things turning out okay. He's an active participant in improving things. Sorta like Jim Gordon channeling Morpehous. Hey...he could be black. It actually fits pretty well, especially since the city is supposed to be a big mix of races as it's a hot immigration spot. He's got...a brother, too, but he's not in the force, he's...an artist who lives elsewhere." etc etc etc

I suppose the only reason I bring this up is because in the delicate politics of racism there's about a million incorrect places to stand and only about three correct ones, and I feel like I just noticed I was standing on one of the former. 

Why Cowboy Bebop is awesome

They never made any more after the series and the movie,

And,

The characters got shit on and went through a serious maturing character arc with each successive episode that let the development build upon itself until they all reached their conclusive finale that wrapped up their individual stories without resorting to telling you anything but the complete truth with no sugar-coating to prevent you from learning what each person's life led to.

I mean this is seriously the only anime I've watched front-to-back and I know this without a doubt.