Standard Mischief

One of the bands I like is NOFX, which is a California Punk band with metal and SKA influences. IMHO they have the best ?corporate rock still sucks? song out there, Dinosaurs will Die.

By some strange coincidence, I stumbled upon their tour dates. They’re gonna be in my area on the fifteenth of June. I guess it makes sense that they could fill a large venue like Merriweather Post Pavillion after 20+ years of albums and touring especially since they are touring with something called ?Vans Warped Tour?.

The Vans website seems to imply that there will be 81 bands in the tour for 30 bux, but I know that can’t be right, as the show only runs one day.

As you can see from the promotional pics I stole from Vans’ website, besides the Vans skate shoes, the ?2006 Vans Warped Tour? is sponsored by Cingular and Anarchy

Sorry NOFX, although I’m not going to parrot the standard ?selling out? drivel, I have to say I swore off large venue shows over a decade ago, and Merriweather counts as large, even with general admission. I’ve been to those smoky, crappy little hellholes where you get to stand 3 feet from the band while leaning against the stage and getting your eardrums blasted out. It does not scale.

Related Tags: NOFX, Warped Tour, Vans Warped Tour, Merriweather Post Pavillion, Merriweather, Cingular, Anarchy

Seeing as this is tax day for many people in the USA, I thought this picture was particularly appropriate. It’s a picture of two sculptures that are in place before the IRS building in New Carrollton, Maryland. In the foreground you see some silent sentinels, standing guard against terrorists with truckbombs, and off to the left, you see a very nice taxpayer funded pedestrian bridge that goes from this building to the New Carrollton Metro stop. It’s just about right here, (zoom out as needed) if you want to see a Google maps overhead version.

(Click on the picture for hi-rez 539 KB, as a pop-up if you allow javascript)

One statue is an outstretched hand, the other one holds an upraised finger. It’s not the correct finger, but I suppose the correct finger would never get past the censors. The huge symbolic hands of the government have even been placed on top of pedestals.

I can think of no better statue or symbol of this department of our government then what was placed here before me.

Related Tags: IRS, 1040, 1040a, 1040ez, tax day, tax return, Internal Revenue Service, Infernal Revenooer Service, Infernal Revenue Dis-Service, Infernal Robbery Service, Infernal Ripoff Service

I’ve created a silly amendment to the Constitution, just to spark some debate.

Go check it out for yourself over at wikocracy.com

Forty Second Amendment

Talk:US_Constitution, Forty Second Amendment

I’d appreciate a vote on the talk page to keep this.

Since we are talking about revising laws…

…What happens when “We the People” take a stab at it?

I mean, it can’t get any worst then our crummy Rep-o-crats and the damn Dem-o-publcans, can it?

Wikocracy is a experiment in free-for-all law revisions. Everything is up for grabs here, laws, regulations, judgments, legislation from the bench, from the executive branch, or from congress. Even the very mother documents that birthed this great county are up for revisions. Nothing is sacred.

This is a test…

To see what happens when everyone can write and revise the law. It may sound like a free-for-all. But that’s exactly the point– to make the process of law-making free for all.

On this platform, you can freely edit the USA PATRIOT Act, The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, your State’s law on gay marriage, your city’s zoning ordinances. If you’d like to change a law that is not yet on this platform, you can easily create a page and import the text you want to change. You can also write your own laws, post blogs, collaborate and spar with other users. Check out our FAQ if you have specific questions.

Although there are some suggested guidelines and tips that will facilitate this experiment, there are no rules. Nothing on this platform is legally binding. One person’s changes can be revised or reversed by the next. Over time, this platform could reflect a collaborative statement of what we think the law should be. Or it could reflect a moment-by-moment statement of the most recent editor’s views. This will be as bloody or as civil as you make it…

This is only a test.

I predict this will get ugly real fast. Might be fun to watch though.

(Thanks Claire)