From: Brenda Connolly
Don't you just wish actors would just act and STFU about everything else? I do. I don't need them to shape my opinions. In one sense it's too bad their guy won. With so many of them promising to leave the country if he didn't, the air quality in LA would have improved immensely if they had. Spare me from celebrity activists.
yah god sure, i sure hate it when americans - AMERICANS, i tell you! ;0 - the couple handfuls-and-toesful of them, so appreciately paid more than your average kitchen-party discussion of 'market value,' far more than the simple honest folk they entertain, fer sure... all the rest underneath the "A-list" paid far less than your average 'regional manager' or business-school major charming their way up to the 'big leagues'... constantly chased by paparazi and journalists, =constantly being asked what they think about real life, =actually say= what they think about horrid real-life things like politics and politicians and shtuff... i just =hate= it when they speak their minds!!
(oh, post-DISCLAIMER: i'm not a 'celeb'/rockstar/whatever - i do this and this only now, and still currently live below the poverty line - not unaccustomed to that, unfortunately ;0. 'poor and american' is not at all in the minority in this country, and hasn't been for a long time now. i just wish it known that i am not one of 'who i speak for' here, hubris that it is, but the usual u.s. right-wing 'celebs should shut their f*cking mouths' statement p*sses me off more than ever. like they are any reason that things are so screwed up right now... stop it. just f*cking stop it, you dumb-asses. if that precious one-third is under their influence, then they are under your influence, and 'fair game'. those who are unable to formulate an opinion on their own are fair game, period, by your own rules. so shut the f*ck up about it!)
britney spears: "Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision he makes and should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens."
http://tinyurl.com/y2nn4v (sidebar: bush: "What is it about Britney Spears -- no -- I don't have a thing," Bush said with a chuckle. "Isn't she rare?" Clooney responded. "I know," Bush said, "I'm not going to bring up her underwear. I'm too old for that kind of situation."
http://tinyurl.com/6saqw5 david zucker (one of the ZAZ team from 'airplane!/naked gun' fame, recently responsible for the miserable box-office failure 'an american carol'): "Well, you know, I've been listening to talk radio too much, I guess, and you know, you guys have been working on me, you know, you, Dennis Prager..."
http://tinyurl.com/6z6kwp (wow. sure takes a lot to convince these people sometimes don't it? ;0 personally i think of him like many a turn-a-talking-head lately... they smell some sorta writing on the wall, and are trying their best to capitalize upon it... wanna bet his next movie is an ode to michael moore? ;0)
stephen baldwin: "If Obama Wins, I'll Leave The Country."
http://tinyurl.com/3hzxl7 that's fair; as a free american with the freedom to think and do what i want, i've often considered whether or not to leave the country - if i could ever afford to, that is. ;0 (i'm not 'rich', as explained at the beginning of this note.) but funny that to move from one country to another takes at least so much to get there, doesn't it? no one can ever 'just move', not even from one side of the country to another; certainly not in a 'normal american/non-first-world' sense. i'm not crossing the border carrying all my stuff, let alone my computer, on my back!! ;0 (lou dobbs should be made to ride the epcot 'mexican experience' ride until he goes - quite - mad... ;0 and i have worked alongside mexicans with valid visas obtained during valid american administrations, in american restaurants, so f*ck any'y'all wanna say otherwise... ;0 like all the illegal lettuce-harvesters or kennebunkport maids added up could have that much impact over a single average ceo's total income... ;0 they are providing a vital backbone to our economy, and any/all bullsh*t falling upon us, falls upon them too. they have no 'upper hand' in all this. let alone the world economies taking their hits too...)
(and hey, where is the 'second world' anyways?? maybe that's the position 'second life' gets to co-opt, just for being 'second' ;0)
yah. well sure, those evil, evil actors. freakin' whores, every one of them, just like my turn-of-last-LAST-century now grand-grand-parents railed about... they aren't normal people, those folk. don't listen to 'em. ;0 gosh are they even allowed to =vote=?? god forbid!! ;0 we need a 'prop 9' and keep those SAC-member socialists out of america's business!!!! ;0
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meanwhile, we have these upstanding americans we =must=, =must= pay attention to!!!
ABC News - Big Three CEOs Flew Private Jets to Plead for Public Funds - Auto Industry Close to Bankruptcy But They Get Pricey Perk
The CEOs of the big three automakers flew to the nation's capital yesterday in private luxurious jets to make their case to Washington that the auto industry is running out of cash and needs $25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy. The CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler may have told Congress that they will likely go out of business without a bailout yet that has not stopped them from traveling in style, not even First Class is good enough. All three CEOs - Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler - exercised their perks Tuesday by flying in corporate jets to DC. Wagoner flew in GM's $36 million luxury aircraft to tell members of Congress that the company is burning through cash, asking for $10-12 billion for GM alone.
"We want to continue the vital role we've played for Americans for the past 100 years, but we can't do it alone," Wagoner told the Senate Banking Committee. While Wagoner testified, his G4 private jet was parked at Dulles airport. It is just one of a fleet of luxury jets owned by GM that continues to ferry executives around the world despite the company's dire financial straits.
"This is a slap in the face of taxpayers," said Tom Schatz, President of Citizens Against Government Waste. "To come to Washington on a corporate jet, and asking for a hand out is outrageous." Wagoner's private jet trip to Washington cost his ailing company an estimated $20,000 roundtrip. In comparison, seats on Northwest Airlines flight 2364 from Detroit to Washington were going online for $288 coach and $837 first class. After the hearing, Wagoner declined to answer questions about his travel.
Ford CEO Mulally's corporate jet is a perk included for both he and his wife as part of his employment contract along with a $28 million salary last year. Mulally actually lives in Seattle, not Detroit. The company jet takes him home and back on weekends.
Mulally made his case Tuesday before the committee saying he's cut expenses, laid-off workers and closed 17 plants. "We have also reduced our work force by 51,000 employees in the past three years," Mulally said. Yet Ford continues to operate a fleet of eight private jets for its executives. Just Tuesday, one jet was taking Ford brass to Los Angeles, another on a trip to Nebraska, and of course Mulally needed to fly to Washington to testify. He did not address questions following the hearing.
"Now's not the time to do that sort of thing," said John McElroy of the television program "Autoline Detroit." "Now's the time to be humble and show that you're sharing equally in the sacrifice," McElroy said. GM and Ford say that it is a corporate decision to have their CEOs fly on private jets and that is non-negotiable, even as the companies say they are running out of cash. Private jet travel is perhaps the greatest perk of all for CEOs, who say it allows them to travel more efficiently and safely, even in a recession.
AIG, despite the $150 billion bailout, still operates a fleet of corporate jets. The company says it has put two out of its seven jets up for sale and is reviewing the use of others. Though there are no such plans by GM or Ford. "It appears that the senior management of the automakers simply don't get it," said Schatz.
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bernie marcus (cofounder and former CEO of The Home Depot): "If a retailer has not gotten involved with this [topic: labor unions], if he has not spent money on this election, if he has not sent money to Norm Coleman and these other guys," Mr. Marcus said, apparently referring to Republican senators facing tough re-election fights, then those retailers "should be shot; should be thrown out of their goddamn jobs."
http://tinyurl.com/5jkpx6 (we americans just luuuuvzzz our gunnnzzz!!! whoo-hoo!! shoot or threaten to shoot what we don't like, wheeeeeee!!! f#ck the 2nd amendment; f#ck protecting ourselves from our own corrupt government - now we like to threaten to shoot rebels and dissenters of a fully corporatized world!! BOW TO MY CREDIT RATING OR DIEEEEEEEE!!! wheeee!! strange, 'cuz it's usually only impoverished people who feel 'empowered' by such statements to go out and commit atrocities against strangers, themselves most likely impoverished... often it's white-against-white anymore in our country. :\)
(*guns alone would have to be a topic for another day, but suffice to say, there are many other self-defense methods for women other than guns. it's like saying no woman in any other country is not protected. i'm positive that mace has had some protective effect in countries that otherwise do not allow guns. ;0 in other words, do not hide behind the self-defense of women, when the party you truly represent is otherwise for the subjugation of women and 'their place in society'.)
... 'k, that wasn't a celeb, but when you're a money-worshipping scoundrel, you don't turn to celebrities - you turn to the folks really makin' the big bucks!!! 'cuz we worship money, really. maybe more than god. nah, definitely more than god. (god's only for the stupid marks.)
mike huckabee (lost in the recent republican running): [regarding gay rights] "It’s a different set of rights. People who are homosexuals should have every right in terms of their civil rights [hey, marriage?? ;0 -ed], to be employed [hey, benefits? ;0 -ed again], to do anything they want [BUUUUUT... what??? -ed] ... But here is the difference. Bull Connor was hosing people down in the streets of Alabama. John Lewis got his skull cracked on the Selma bridge."
http://tinyurl.com/5qbrmg (hmmm. nope, no never no dead gay people... no one's ever gotten beaten up or killed because they were gay... completely diff from being black in america, huh? ;0 /sadsnark)
dick cheney: "Four hundred thousand people make some money trading on eBay."
([ed.] LET THEM EAT CAKE OR DIEEEEE!)
http://tinyurl.com/5m8ymh warren buffet: Renewing his criticism of the dividend tax cut laid out by the Senate last week, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett called the proposal "voodoo economics" that uses "Enron-style accounting."
http://tinyurl.com/2qt2c (oops!! how did that get in there?? ;0 oh yeah - he's the richest american. and a liberal, even if he doesn't say so - instead of investing in arming third-world nations, he invested in dairy queen. mmmm, DQ treats!! ;0 one of these days i'm gonna perform some 'sl corporatizing evil' and try to propose to warren to make a free sl 'DQ treat' machine...
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look, speaking from the liberal/democratic side, i'm just as disenchanted with the 'tim robbinsez' of the crowd - i have lots of friends like that too; ones whose heads are screwed on just a lil' too tight. imho, those who won't at least vote in terms of their own beliefs in the years where they haven't wanted to (/me holds hand up, 'guilty!!' :\ in 2k... lol i just couldn't believe another bush would get voted in, but i 'misunderestimated' the short-memory capacity of the general populace, or generation gap, whichever came first ;0)... even if only for 'lip service', are at a disadvantage to the republicans. they aren't empowering the process in the least, and hence a 'truly smart person' (democratic politician - at least in this modern age ;\) won't undertake a battle they don't have support for, end-of-line period.
so =show= your support, doggammit, no matter what!! ;0 dems vs. repubs isn't just 'coke vs. pepsi' here - it =is= a battle of basic morals and beliefs. i do believe democratic causes are better suited to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'. of course, encouraging any preferred vote is much too late this round - but that isn't what i personally felt like doing here in sl; i just don't believe anymore in dragging politics too far into the grid... however, it seems it's not like that is going to be a 'reasonable assumption' to take with politics+grid... a typical 'reasonable liberal' trait. those that bother to do so, whatever their ilk, have all my support. ;0 i believe that in such an abstract landscape, the issues become clearer and more 'streamlined'... what =really= matters, what =really= works, and what does not, becomes clearer in our environment.
every political party is susceptible to corruption, but you do not 'backgrade software' unless necessary in an extreme imbalance (unless something else truly viable is an available option). one side =is= more ready for the future than the other, =period.= one side does =not= equal the other.
honestly one questions if this country still honors the precipts of our forefathers... i hear so much bluster from the other side; surely you have questioned this much yourself too?? all those people craving freedom and justice out there... why does it get on your nerves so?? that's what =we= want to know. you can come to our parties... just don't bring your guns. ;0 that's not your freedom of speech; you can bring that and bitch all you want about how you weren't allowed to bring your guns. then guess what - you probably won't get invited to the next party. that's just how un-fun you feel to us. feeling marginalized?? s'how many of us have felt, not wanting to attend parties where the americans were always showing off their guns. show me the defense of =your= right, of =my= rights, in a truly viable 'medium' - one that doesn't involve killing so many people, except those who may truly deserve it. cut down on your 'error rate', just like software... and you'll have your place here. thing is, it seems only third-world countries decide how to do things the other way - =your= way - anymore. ;0
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and for that matter, a number of americans choose to ex-patriate, whether or not it is simply a matter of beliefs... like one friend of mine, it was for love (and probably many more, vicariously via sl ;0) ... but for some extremely rich bastards - well, saving themselves a whole lotta tax money that way, i hear. ;0 (cayman islands -
http://tinyurl.com/6ggaut - well so much for offshore sl gambling ;0) obama certainly didn't enable all this bullsh*t; why you all getting so pre-emptive for - force of habit?? no 'swift-boating' available, gosh-darn f*cker is too young for that huh? was that your only dependance upon mccain? that 'vietnam' card was gonna run out eventually, you know. (hmm, just like oil.)
when it comes to the wellbeing of the economy, and all who subsist from it (yeah i'm talking to all you 'trickle-downers' ;0 ) - whatcha gonna do about that really, huh? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT TAXATION SO SKEWED AS TO UNDERMINE THE ENTIRE WORKING ECONOMY?? get real. to quote 'close encounters', 'you can't fool us by agreeing with us.' the tea is ripe for the harbor on that one. stop 'foresting for the trees' upon subjects of civil discourse; neighborhoods will organize themselves. stop fixating upon the completely unrealized falacy about not being allowed to go to the churches or to own guns... =BECAUSE YOU ARE ALREADY ALLOWED, BY CONSTITUTION, TO ATTEND WHATEVER CHURCH OR FAITH YOU WANT, or HOLD ARMS IF YOU SO CHOOSE TO.=
american 'conservatives' in the past best sense were fiscally and morally responsbile than they are now; however it is obvious that they have become what they have long painted the democratic party to be - wasteful and irresponsible in the face of their own gross pig-fattened hubris. i'm hopeful that, as republicans have done to democrats for so long (we have only had carter and clinton in the past forty years, so bite on your own record), liberals will =manage= and =marginalize= the 'conservatives' of our country. or at least, i am very hopeful that we will... somehow manage and marginalize the hateful, bigoted rednecks of our country. funny, they talk as if no one else is in the room - they frequently speak to me, once knowing that i am american, as if i would agree with their hateful rhetoric and 'bomb bomb iran' rallying bullshit. (i know, must be my misanthropic side that they think they recognize, but they never realize who they are talking to... ;0)
remember that the american revolutio, back in the 1700's, only needed a third of the colonists on its side. the other two-thirds, 'loyalists' and 'couldn't care less about sh*t'. so it's generally always 'one-third vs. one-third'. stupidly, this is a tough scenario to manage. but i'm hopeful... =all of our thirds - every nation - more than outnumbers our individual thirds.= the sum equals more than the individual parts. as even-minded and forgiving as we (american liberals) have been, every time they push us to the line, =WE PUSH BACK, HARD.= every cataclysmic event in history... =we= have prevailed, the more enlightened ones. there has never been an all-out 'liberal fascism', there is no such thing. hitler, mussoleni, pol pot - the great fascists, all of them, who has been truly =liberal=?? (and none of 'em ever won, by the way.)
sure, that =is= prideful - elitist even, but i've gotten a bellyful of pride from every other person in my life, so here's mine. other than that, i take a pretty humble stance in life, about humanity and one's way about it. if this is the case for me, then my hard-working american grandparents were 'prideful' too... and i'm proud of them for that (and they never sat around the thanksgiving table idly discussing about 'who should be shot'). i take things in stride - it's all evolution, it's all a way to working to something =better= - i had no responsibility over my family's past actions but i can comprehend it, for better or for worse; i can take responsibility for everything from here forward... that's about as realistic and 'reality-based' as anyone could get, i think.
to try to finalize: the CRUX OF YOUR ARGUMENT is the DENIAL OF FREE SPEECH TO AN AMERICAN. let alone, that this is an expected and predicated =RIGHT= of =every person in the world=, from the standpoint of our founding fathers. (leaving out linden labs and their forums from the argument, other than to cover this very argument! ;0 any other discussion upon that topic must take its own thread, so go right ahead.) it is continually unbelievable to me that anyone who wants to be 'credible' in the worldsphere would espouse such a belief as 'our f*cking actors should f*cking shut up'. what kind of example do you think you are setting? not =my= america, 'friend.'
if you want to 'spread democracy' (or do you just wanna get mc'ds and wendy's serving cheap beef to hinduists in india? ;0) - then you would really comprehend what you espouse to believe in. the hypocrisy of corporate american business (and corporate american mouthpieces) is just too obvious here, in this world. so basically, you believe that the rest of the world is just as 'stupid' as americans are? turns out, they have the advantage of natural suspicion of 'non-natives' too, just like you do - so they are protected at least that much from insensitive corporate interests. whatcha gonna do about that? nothing. absolutely nothing you can do to surpass other's ingrained culture, smartypants... s'why i never even bothered going into marketing, although that seemed to be what i was awfully good at 'way back when'.
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btw, we're already seeing an incredible amount of 'bullsh*t' useless items alredady, based offa joking over simply and stupidly 'who's the next president' haw haw - yah, 'pre-emptive', as usual this century. ;0 and he's =black!!= ;0 (or half-black, but god that just doesn't matter here... he might as well be 'prince coal-black' as far as some of our more rural friends would consider him. :\ it reminds me that back in the early ninties, just as clinton got to office - barely time to 'do anything' - certainly nothing as horrendous as this administration's done, ignoring warnings of '9/11' and such ;0 - i remember this commercial well from comedy central back then, as we were avid 'mst3k' fans at the time... ;0
1990's: commercial: 'hyuk hyuk, it's a clinton wristwatch [like a 'mickey mouse' watch] - and it runs BACKWARDS!! hyuk hyuk!!'
2000's: [no 'bush running backwards' watch, although very appropriate, even pre-9/11 when bush went on his 'f*ck kyoto; world hate us' world tour that spring and summer...]
y'know why there are never those kindsa products in the '00s??
BECAUSE SMART PEOPLE DON'T BUY STUPID SH*T!!!!
end of f*cking line... ;0 take care; have fun!!
It annoys me when Brenda does it (she rarely misses an opportunity to inject her stance I've noticed), and, really, when anyone does it. How is a poster in an SL forum different from an actor stating their opinion? Nope, no difference. You like the opinion, you agree, you don't: you get all huffy. Essentially you are preaching to your choir -- so save your breath and take the politics elsewhere. Please.