After having suffered through a few weeks of public wrangling over the federal economic stimulus package, I’d just like to say that although it is a good and useful thing for the party in opposition to attempt to point out and rein in waste, the GOP’s recent posturing is laughable. I mean, suddenly the Republicans are the great defenders of fiscal responsibility? Fuck you.

This is the party that squandered a budget surplus during an economic bubble. A party that not only blew approximately $638,778,000,000 on ill-considered military adventurism, but didn’t even have the honesty to put the costs of it in the goddamned budget; no, instead, all we got was a bunch of smoke and mirrors, supplemented by “emergency spending” bills, as if our extended military presence overseas was a completely unforseen event, two, three, four, and five years into the operation.

And where was the GOP then? Busy cutting taxes, defunding regulatory oversight, and generally locked in a feverish embrace of Dick Cheney’s nether bits. Yeah. Cutting taxes. During a war. And yet, when a Democratic government wants to throw money around within our own borders for at least ostensibly constructive purposes, a hue and cry is raised. “It’s too expensive!” “We can’t afford it!” they moan. Which, I suppose, is true, considering that these idiots spent the last five years pouring the contents of our Treasury into the sands of Iraq.

I’m sorry, but where fiscal restraint is concerned, the GOP has all the moral authority of a Maenad at a WCTU meeting.

My first inclination, when I saw this 1969 “home computer system of the future” clip was to chuckle condescendingly about the quaint naiveté that is the hallmark of yesteryear’s speculative boosterism. When I gave it more thought, though, I realized that it’s actually spot on; the archaic interface notwithstanding, that future is here. It took 40 years, but it’s basically all available now—though admittedly not many of us have a triple-monitor rig.

Some of you will get this; most won’t. Here it is anyway.

I’ve been in something of a funk lately, and expected the recent rainy weather to help keep me depressed. A couple of hours ago it started really raining; a right proper deluge, it was. Suddenly, I found my mood lifting in direct proportion to the volume of the deluge’s roar against the rooftop.

I suppose some reference to rain’s cleansing properties is in order, because although the rain has ended, I feel inexplicably sociable. Don’t worry; I’m sure it’ll pass.