85 people own half the world

conservatives in the u.s. constantly point to the 99% movement and say that they are trying to start a class war. but when the 85 wealthiest people literally own as much as the 3.5 billion poorest people (yes, that's billion with a 'b'), it's clear that the war is already well under way. the real question is, how do you turn it around so that the deck isn't stacked against those who don't have access to drafting their own legislation, health care, lawyers, members of the supreme court, members of congress, the media, and on and on?

especially when you have 1 percenters like this fellow who think it's just great?

some suggestions:
1. update the tax code for individuals and corporations to better reflect their ability to pay.
2. don't let companies sell products in the u.s. if they don't pay taxes here for those sales.
3. don't let companies bid for government contracts if they don't pay taxes for income earned as a result of that work.
4. bar all lobbyists from making contributions to members of congress, judges on the supreme court, or any regulatory agency members, including meals, trips, fund-raisers, etc., directly or through pacs or tax-exempt fronts.
5. do not allow any member of congress to take a job with any company that they regulated while in congress for a period of at least 15 years.
6. evenly distribute public education funds across the country, including locally collected taxes.
7. institute a national curriculum and national testing for all public schools.
8. fire any teachers whose students do not meet minimum standards.
9. increase individual teacher pay based on student outcomes.
10. set national standards for executive pay based on a company's size and earnings.
11. make every media outlet and journalist cite their sources for every story. especially television personalities.
12. raise the minimum wage. the wealthiest people on the planet complaining about making sure that their employees can eat is monstrous.

it's not everything, but it's a start. what would you change?

mow the lawn

i love uk commercials. if the us media - and audience - would just loosen up a bit, following in their footsteps might help bolster declining ad revenue.

fabulous, ill-fated firefly

we're not saying joss whedon is a genius. buffy - except for the funny bits - struck us as melodramatic more often than not, and angel always seemed overly contrived. but perhaps they were just teething rings. because firefly is the real deal.

terrific cast, great (and deep) backstories, believable world, engaging characters and top-notch scripts (thanks in part to the sublime ben edlund, creator of the tick). if you search in vain for quality tv, the crew of serenity waits to provide it.

only one problem: like hbo's carnivale, it was canceled before its time. whedon managed to pull a good feature film out of the wreckage, but it's hard to knock tv execs for canceling terrific shows like this that draw small, fanatical audiences while crap like american idol draws millions of pairs of eyes and, subsequently, advertising dollars. that's what tv is all about.

but we don't have to like it.

(it might have been the name. we mean, come on, joss - we'll buy the wild west culture, the bits of multi-language slang, the c.h.u.d. reavers - but firefly? what were you thinking?)

does liking kathy griffin make us gay?

personally, we doubt it, other than our disturbing tendency to write in the first person plural (otherwise known as 'the royal we'). and woz likes her, too, so we're in good company.

honestly, it would be worth it to suddenly have the ability to dress ouselves in colors that didn't clash (well, the color blindness would probably still get in the way a bit) in order to continue to watch my life on the d list.

i mean, doesn't kgriff remind you of the pretty girl in your high school/college circle that had a mouth on her but that every guy in the group secretly wanted to f*ck, only they were too intimidated to ask her out, so she always had to be the one to make the first move? and so all the girls in the group kinda resented her because she got all the attention and they really had to work at getting dates, so they kinda thought of her as a slut, when she was really just kinda lonely and needed a safe place, and you were prefectly willing to pretend to be that if it meant that you got to see her fabulous boobs?

or was that just me?