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Archive for July, 2009

New York, NY (API) Sheldon Wainwright III, 80-year-old wealthy scion of a large industrial-logistics fortune and vehement opponent of the so-called “death tax,” said Friday that he’s leaving his entire net worth, valued at $130 million, to multiple charities, the Episcopal Church, a stripper and his dog, and not to his “worthless” children his attorneys reported.

“The estate tax is an abomination,” Wainwright is reported to have said in a statement made through his attorneys. “It’s taxing a person’s dollar of earnings twice as it tries to circulate. It’s just wrong.

“But don’t get me wrong: I’m not giving those little bastards, my children Reginald, Littleton, Brooks, Mercedes and Reese, one cent of my money because they are all ingrates and s***-for-brains who have squandered their trusts and my good name in various displays of profligate dissolution.”

“They’re disinherited,” he said. “Screw ’em.”

Littleton said his father had been a staunch estate tax opponent all his life.

“Dad said that a person’s wealth should be a legacy for his children … or, if you don’t like your children, for the bimbo at the strip club outside Houston.”

Wainwright said that the most basic tenet of wealth preservation was that people save and invest so they can pass money on. “The estate tax penalizes such good people and robs them of those incentives for small business investment and other things that are their legacy to the world,” he said.

“But let’s be clear. Most of the money you give to your ingrate children they squander because they never developed the god damned discipline of a may fly,” Wainwright spat as he started to foam at the mouth. “Everybody knows that your personal business barely survives a first-generation transfer much less a second-generation transfer. Children who just get their money for free stay children forever, which is why my stupid kids have all turned into drug addicts, perverts and members of the Ringling Brothers circus. Every time you give your money to your children, it mostly just ends up going to one of their crack-addict ex-wives. I’m looking your way, Littleton.”

“Dad’s got very profound, deeply held convictions,” said Mercedes, who, now that she’s disinherited, lives in a “Gray Gardens” type mansion overgrown with weeds and teeming with jaundiced cats. “He never liked my first, second, third or fourth husbands, all of whom are now living in houses he indirectly paid for. So I guess he thinks he’s done enough for me. But let’s be clear. He doesn’t want the government to get any of his money either. I think if he could he’d rather just have it all buried with him in a big vault of gold bars like Tutankhamun.”

“I’m quite sick from morphine addiction,” she added.

Psychologist Dana Hiller with the University of Rochester, said that it’s often the case that old money families try to get their children involved in philanthropy and not give them too much money early in their lives without letting them know what it’s like to work.

“But that idea seems to have completely slipped by this family,” said Hiller. “Sounds like the old guy is just a bit pennywise and pound foolish. Frankly, I’d just give the money to the feds and not get an ulcer over it. He’s going to make himself sick.”

Reese Secord, often considered the most level-headed of the Wainwright children for her relatively minimal number of ex-husbands, asked her father repeatedly if she could leave something in the codicil of the will for her daughter Rebecca.

“No way,” said Wainwright in a letter faxed to his attorney. “I’m giving it to Bunny at the Bare Elegance cabaret lounge. I love my 12-year-old granddaughter Rebecca, but I’d rather see her rot in hell then Reese get one red cent of my money.”

“Damn Obama trying to take my money,” Wainwright said through an oxygen mask. “That money’s mine. And Bunny’s. Damn socialists.”

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Philosopher Karl Popper said that for an assertion to be scientific, it must be “falsifiable.” In other words, some evidence could appear at some point to prove the assertion untrue. When someone says that Diet Coke erases your memory, it might be stupid gossip, but it’s at least falsifiable, which is why those kinds of arguments tend to die quickly.

On the other hand, when someone makes the kind of argument that can’t be proved or disproved, they’re not simply being dishonest but their assertion tends to spread like cancer among those who can’t employ simple insight to stop it.

The main thing is to avoid the arguments by calling bullshit on whoever uses them. So steer clear of anybody who ever says stuff like this:

–*The current economic crisis was caused by homosexuality and abortion

–*Human wickedness, particularly sex and violence on television, caused 9/11

–*The ice caps are melting because we offended God by not honoring Him daily*

–*Our whole synagogue is being punished because somebody dropped the Torah*

–*Nazism was caused by all of us being less Christian

–*The Rodney King riots were caused by the legalization of abortion

–*The Kennedys are cursed because their family patriarch made his money dishonestly

–*The United States is a fascist theocracy

–*9/11 was a conspiracy

–*JFK’s murder was a conspiracy involving lots of people who are now dead and who can’t confirm it, so we just have to assume it’s true

–*Strawberry Shortcake is a demon from hell*

–*Tinky Winky is gay

*With the exception of those things in asterisks (which I got from literature or from flight of fancy) all of these things I have plucked right out of the media by various dunderheads, blockheads and mouth-breathers. Most, but not all, are right wingers, natch.

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It’s a small accomplishment, but Stephanie and I have been trying to get “The Retributioners” onto the Internet Movie Database for some time, and now we’ve finally done it. You can see our page here.

Of course, we need to flesh it out a bit, but mostly we’re happy just to have it up. The IMDb has very high standards and they make you jump through a few hoops before they’ll allow you to put your film work up. Yet again, we feel validated by the God-like Web powers that be.

In other news, I’m also fleshing out the WordPress version of my blog Beauty Is Imperfection with some snazzier layouts, and lately, I’ve been routing people here rather than linking them to the MySpace version of my blog. Eventually, faithful reader, I’m going to ask if you’ll take this journey with me and move to WordPress. I haven’t decided whether to continue cross-posting my blogs on MySpace, now that I’m using the site less and less. I still have a fondness for MySpace, because I found a lot of friends on it and it got me into social networking in the first place. Also, it’s still the only place where you can find my rarefied and solipsistic musical work with all its cultish appeal. But having said that, MySpace has been very difficult to use for a long time. The security there is ass, and its junk apps seem to somehow slow down my very powerful computer to Commodore 64 speed. Furthermore, I’m thinking of using this blog as a way to keep fresh daily content on “The Retributioners” main site, and I don’t know if it is necessary to keep my ramblings in three places.

Let me know what you think. Fran? Mel? Gene? Jen? Lori? Nat? Gummo? Squeaky? If I go to WordPress, will you follow?

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A new Yahoo! article says that in today’s competitive environment, job hunters need to avoid routine, hackneyed and cliched language in their resumes, especially phrases that show you to be uninspired and “vocabulary challenged.”

What are some declasse phrases you should avoid in your resume?

–*”Proven track record”

–*”Team player”

–*”Leverage my people skills”

–*”Leverage other people’s skills”

–*”Communicate with extreme prejudice”

–*”Machiavellian instincts”

–*”Ethics minded”

–*”Take much umbrage”

–*”Ethics obsessed”

–*”A friend to dogs and squirrels”

–*”Enjoy worker’s compensation lawsuits”

–*”Never learned to read”

–*”Stupid is as stupid does”

–*”Kill the hostages”

–*”Got a gun aimed at your belly”

–*”Inflexible dedication to ethics”

–*”Got my eye on the prize”

–*”Would you like happy ending?”

–*”I dissolve easily in lipids”

–*”I kill frogs”

–*”Won’t move unless inspired”

–*”Borderline personality disorder-type inflexible dedication to ethics”

–*”Cleavage”

–*”Gash”

–*”Dirty Sanchez”

–*”Donkey punch”

–*”I’d like to thank the academy”

–*”Filching fiend”

–*”Two girls one cup”

–*”Kill unethical people”

–*”Antichrist”

–*”Satan”

–*”Organized company picnic”

–*”Enjoy extracurricular activities such as piano”

–*”Work is everything”

–*”Work is not everything”

–*”Work well with others”

–*”Works well with ‘The Other'”

–*”Don’t have to explain myself to anyone”

–*”I don’t have to explain myself to you

–*”Lick this resume, see what happens”

–*”I was sent here from the workfare office. Please do not really give me this job.”

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2 CBS

48 Hours Mystery: Michael Jackson is autopsied for the ninth time and 48 Hours makes a startling discovery: He had a heart attack. Jermaine Jackson sings to Katie Couric.

4 NBC

Dateline: We interrupt the Fourth of July to ask where Debbie Rowe is and why she isn’t demanding custody of her children from Diana Ross. Jermaine Jackson sings to Matt Lauer.

5 ABC

20/20: A time-lapse photograph examination of Michael Jackson’s collapsing nasal septum. Jermaine Jackson sings “Ben” to two of Diane Sawyer’s interns.

10 CNN

Larry King Live: Was Michael Jackson’s death caused by a powerful drug? We ask a waiter at T.G.I. Friday’s.

11 WGN

Jermaine Jackson reads the Michael Jackson inquest at a press conference by singing it in a 2/4 bossa nova number.

13 PBS

The News Hour: As nation mourns Michael Jackson, North Korea annihilates Hawaii

14 History

History is written by the winners, and the biggest winner was the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

15 ABC Family

How your sexually active pre-teen killed Farrah Fawcett

15 ABC Family

How demons will anally rape you in hell and other Bible stories on “The 700 Club.”

16 Animal Planet

“I Killed Master Jackson For My Freedom”: Bubbles’ shocking confession

16 Animal Planet

The joyless and horrifying act of cat sex

17 Logo

A new show for part-time Lesbians: “Half Saph”

18 BET

“You Ain’t Shit,” Kanye West’s new talent show

19 CNBC

A round-table discussion among today’s business leaders about how, if ever, we can fool people into the shell game of capitalism again.

20 Public Access

An Hour With The Dark Lord Satan (taped in Betamax)

21 MTV

An old interview with Michael Jackson, the one in which he claims repeatedly that sometimes when black people grow older they turn into white people.

22 Vh-1

“Daisy of Love,” brought to you by Trojan condoms and Ocean Spray cranberry juice

23 Fox News

In a special Fourth of July tribute, Fox News says goodbye to America as it slides irretrievably into European socialism.

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The following is a rough transcript of Sarah Palin’s speech in Wasilla, Alaska on Friday, July 3, in which she announced that she would be resigning as governor.

I appreciate you all being here on the shores of Lake Lucille, which has served as a source of inspiration for my family for years, and not just because it’s a dead lake running over with oil, antifreeze, de-icing solvents and leaching sewage. Some people call Lake Lucille a “dead lake,” but I like to think a lake is more than just a place where fish have enough oxygen to live.

I wanted to thank my husband Todd for coming in from the commercial fishing grounds in Bristol Bay where he was called away from his ling cod and kelp perch so that he and I could speak to you on the eve of our Independence Day. It’s a day to remember how our forefathers gave up so much—gave everything—so that we could live in peace, something we should remember as we wage war in Central Asia.

Now, I love Alaska. As you remember, Alaska was one of the last states admitted to the union. It was purchased when Secretary of State Seward bought it from Russia in 1867 only because the short-sighted Russian tsar saw it as a remote ice box that was difficult to defend and would be easier to sell than to lose in two seconds to some aggressor. And while it was long-known as Seward’s Folly by tut-tutting critics, we resilient Alaskans have proved them all wrong by creating a glorious Republican welfare state where sewer pipes run five feet above ground over the permafrost.

Alaska has been blessed by God with clean air and natural resources and fresh water. God gave us power. By God, he gave it us. Drill baby drill.

Four years ago, I promised to be a different kind of governor four years ago. Now you may be asking, didn’t I only become governor two and a half years ago? Maybe. But I don’t stick to rules; I told you I would be anything but conventional.

Together, you and I, we pushed through the largest private sector energy project ever: the AGIA gas line. We became energy independent by making sure energy was in the hands of the energy companies that make the profits that go to America’s companies. We built a prison to be filled up with prisoners. We protected states’ rights in the Supreme Court, even though I am not on that illustrious bench.

We did everything we needed to do and then I reached the national spotlight. I am not a quitter. Thus, I am passing the torch.

As you know, life is short. One can’t waste time and resources by compromising and staying in one’s job until it is finished.

I hate apathy. And by that I mean, just going on day in and day out working in a job I was hired for after actively lobbying for it with millions of dollars of campaign contributions. Just going along and doing what you are told because it’s your job—that’s not what we Alaskans are about. If you doubt me, look at the oil company rebate checks we have to prove it. We can’t be apathetic when we quit our jobs. No, when we quit, we must do it with the full force of our convictions.

When Alaskans began drilling, we showed our mettle and took whatever money was given to us and kept our heads down. And now we have more freedom and more prosperity. It’s a good day for America.

I’ve always said no more politics as usual, and that I am a fisherman. The national press won’t tell you what is a fisherman, but we here in Wasilla can tell you: a fisherman does not float downstream dead. Nor will I.

There’s nothing worse than a quitter. I hate quitting and that’s why I’m leaving office. The national press might tell you that I’m a quitter only because they’re going by the dictionary definition: “Someone who quits a job.” How true that is. But in Alaska, quitting has another meaning. Staying in your job.

Being a public figure is about self-sacrifice and being a point guard and not not keeping your eye on the basket. Did you see what I did there? That was a double negative there to make you realize I was talking about the opposite thing. And by that I mean you do want to keep your eye on the basket.

I have always said that I’m about small government and protecting the land and drilling for resources and exploiting the minerals as we protect the environment. And now we have shown that we are as good as we walk the walk.

I don’t want to waste Alaska’s money and time by being a lame duck. If I were here as governor, I promise you I would have in just a few months wasted all of your money in scurrilous and monumentally dishonest ways. So I had no choice but to do the right thing and remove myself from politics so that we would not have politics as usual. I play a different way. Some people might have said: “Finish the term you ran for, Sarah.” But I won’t play their game.

I think often of a saying on a refrigerator magnet in my parents’ house: “It’s not my business what anybody thinks of me.” And I can’t. I have to do the right thing and I just can’t if I am given the job of overseeing your tax money and building roads and hiring policeman. Of course, I have a special needs child, and people are cruel.

Now, we still need people to fight the good fight and not believe the national media with their scurrilous questions about where Africa is and whether it is a sovereign country or not. That is me calling an audible and passing the ball in hopes that next time, someone else will be asked whether Africa is a continent or not. But for me personally, I don’t need a title like “governor of Alaska” to answer or not answer direct questions. I can work for you or not work for you in other ways.

At times like these, I like to take these words from General Douglas MacArthur: people who need people are the luckiest people. The luckiest people in the world. Please welcome our new governor Sean Parnell and I am seceding from the union.

Goodnight.

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