When you thought that we are moving rapidly away from paper products and paper in all its incarnations including the papier mache dolls (whatever that is - but seem to be in all ethnic stores in some shape and form) we are harshly reminded about much work still being done or wanting to be done with paper.
Take for example the subject of Obama's birth. Republicans are up in arms (another blog on what that exactly means especially since normally arms are 'up' and legs are down - not sure what the heck someone is trying to say - whose arms are we talking? wives, cousins never mind) in trying to verify over and over that he indeed is he and confirm he was a citizen by birth and not naturalized (like say yours truly) or pasteurized.
To prove said postulate there was a need for the original (you guessed it) paper certificate showing the place of Obama's birth. This document was tantamount to proving that there was a declaration of independence because without it there would not be an independent USA and no el presidente.
Then the dems did a one up. They too asked for paper. Romney's tax returns. Ah ha! Not electronic mumbo jumbo but show me the paper...with the signature and all that. Romney denied and the Dems got mad. Return your returns they insisted countering that he had avoided doing the right thing and scammed the citizenry whom he chose to represent as a leader.
This paper fiasco continues to unravel as they prepare for the presidential election whence suddenly there is talk of a cliffhanger in congress. Not a Sly Stallone kind although if viewed as a comedy it comes close. While neither party seems to acknowledge that we are broke and going broker (not unlike the wall street kind) some wiseass threw a new fangled politispeak term out there. Whether Obama gets a second term or not new terms are always getting coined - Fiscal Cliff being the latest.
What is this you ask? It is an imaginary line drawn outside the White House that stretches to the Capitol at a 45 degree angle to the Mall as laid out by L'Enfant - who is credited as the architect of Washington DC. There is even a train station by his name. But I digress off the rails so to speak.
I made that up. Fiscal cliff is an even more abstract idea of what might happen to the US economy in the absence of tax breaks to the masses. If there is no tax break then the country will break. Something like that. But the country needs revenue to pay for all the lines and cliffs and it needs it yesterday. Because remember we are broke.
Hence it sounds more like a Catch 22 that would make Obama crazy although he is not.
I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language. Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds. The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic. Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'. This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...
Comments
Post a Comment