Always Look On The Bright Side of Life: The Year End Edition, 2007

It happens in every generation in every era of humanity. There is a school of thought that says the current situation is The End. The End of Everything. Civilization is in its last throes before Doom arrives. And every so often, the thinkers get it right. Someone had to be predicting it when Rome was sacked. Someone called it in each of the Chinese dynasties. And many times it is often called wrong: World War I seemed to spell the end of all things but somehow humanity pulled through...only to experience World War II. The Cold War was the great 50 year panic but that somehow did not result in the world blowing up. Now, truth be told, that bastard T.S. Eliot may go down as the one who got it right...this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends...not with a bang but with a whimper.

The whimper may actually be a bang but it's a whimper of a bang. Mushroom clouds and/or dirty bombs as a parting shot from that 50 year panic, but in the form of a deranged religious maniac. It was much more tolerable when the threat of The End came from a cynical escalation of power between economic and political forces, not from some sexually confused mental case who thinks an invisible super-being talked to him and told him that women cannot be allowed to show off some skin. What a drag.

When someone asked me why I wouldn't join an atheist organization, I said the most true line ever uttered anywhere before: "I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member."

When someone asked me why I abandoned liberalism, I said "I didn't abandon liberalism, I abandoned the human race." It's more important now to be a libertarian as much as it is to be a liberal. Libertarian Liberalism is the last and only valid political ideology but that's only relevant in a society that had the ability to understand it. But if you subscribe to it, you'll be OK as everything else crumbles.

As you can see , the general mood around here is disgust, despondency, but also a glimmer of hope if only a cynical hope at that. Western Civilization is on its knees, and the only remedy is to go down in a blaze of glory. Here in New York, we are partying like its the Roaring 20's but with the knowledge that the Great Depression is coming. It's not a bad way to live, once you accept that you cannot change the world.

Sum up 2007 in a name: Cormac McCarthy

Keep your enemies close, your friends closer, and your frienemies in between. They are the most fun people you know.

In 2008, there is only one thing that matters: it's a trifecta that equals something called growing up. That may be depressing to some, righteous to others but either way, make it fun. And the best way to make it fun: get a monkey. And of course by monkey, I mean a chimpanzee. But it's funnier to call them a monkey, innit?

Caught this at OneGoodMove.

Here it is here:

You believe in freedom of speech, until someone says something that offends you.
You suddenly give a damn about border integrity, because the automated voice system at your pharmacy asked you to press 9 for Spanish.
You cling to every scrap of bullshit you can find to support your ludicrous belief system, and reject all empirical evidence to the contrary.
You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism -- it's nationalism when foreigners do it.
You hate anyone who seems smarter than you.
You care more about zygotes than actual people.
You love to blame people for their misfortunes, even if it means screwing yourself over.
You still think Republicans favor limited government.
Your knowledge of politics and government are dwarfed by your concern for Britney Spears' children.
You think buying Chinese goods stimulates our economy.
You think you're going to get universal health care.
You tolerate the phrase "enhanced interrogation techniques."
You think the government is actually trying to improve education.
You think watching CNN makes you smarter.
You think two parties is enough.
You can't spell.
You think $9 trillion in debt is manageable.
You believe in an afterlife for the sole reason that you don't want to die.
You think lowering taxes raises revenue.
You think the economy's doing well.
You're an idiot.

There is no God but there were the Replacements so it can't be all bad news (turn this shit up LOUD):

Cheers mate.

The final word of 2007 belongs to Ricky Gervais, though you may not want to watch this out of context.