Michael Mehl

• This is a nation of immigrants. Any notion to the contrary is benightedly delusional.

• There’s a thing for everything.

• In societies that allow utopian constructs, intellect tends to be untethered by context. In dystopian formulations of society, context is what drives intellectual conceits. In both cases, the outcomes are extreme and fallible. Yet, of both, it is only dystopia that allows random quirks, fancies, and foibles, into its equational sequences.

• It is when ignorance colors judgement, that judgement can only distinguish black or white.

• Yo no niego la cruz de mi parroquia. Pero de hecho tengo muchas parroquias y no veo razón alguna para guardarle devoción a solo una.

• In the absence of grand gestures there are no magnificent failures, just the periodic petering-out of ineptitude.

• It’s surprising how general theories so frequently apply only to the most specific of circumstances.

• Celebrity for a cause invariably subjects any cause to the vagaries of celebrity.

• On its own, fortuitous circumstance is a weak foundation for sustainable enterprise.

• At the intersection of art and non-profit is where art becomes diminished.

For those who have never lived in a country –as citizens of that country–where legal rights do not include Habeas Corpus; and where the rule of the law dictates that a suspect is guilty until proven innocent; where dictatorship takes on many forms, some outright and some nuanced; where the individual ownership of firearms is prohibited or restricted as a manner of state oppression; for those people it will always be difficult to understand or appreciate the magnificent gift that is given to a citizenry, when the law of the land includes and protects a constitutional, fundamental right to bear arms.

If you are not a city, state, or federal employee, odds are these days, you stand a good chance of losing your job, your home, or your pension; or all three. If you are a retiree, you probably don’t have a job -yet, your home is paid for, and your nest egg has become catfish batter. If you are a city, state, or federal employee, odds are you get to keep your job and whether you keep your home or not depends on your credit card habits. But regarding your pension plan, I suggest you take a good look at it because odds are, thanks to the convoluted investments in which city, state and federal pension managers have placed your cash, the affordability of your retirement is not a safe bet anymore; not by a long shot. By this reckoning many livelihoods are up against significant statistical odds of being wiped out.
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Air Guitar Heroes rejoice! One of yours is now on a presidential ticket to, maybe, somewhere.

Sarah Palin is here to take up your cause. There is no longer need to wallow in nerdy resignation because you really, truly, have no talent whatsoever; as much as you try to make up for it by going all silly, breaking into a sweat with fake guitar chops ripped off from old videos of Stairway To Heaven.

It’s OK to pretend now. It’s legit. It’s cool. So long as you have an audience.
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