God is: OUT. Please leave a message.

This is interesting - how the super rich think: We are the Super Rich

2010-09-20T21:03:00.007-07:00

"The rhetoric in Washington about taxes is about millionaires and the super rich, but the relevant dividing line between millionaires and the middle class is pegged at family income of $250,000. (I’m not a math professor, but last time I checked $250,000 is less than $1 million.) That makes me super rich and subject to a big tax hike if the president has his way.

I’m the president’s neighbor in Chicago, but we’ve never met. I wish we could, because I would introduce him to my family and our lifestyle, one he believes is capable of financing the vast expansion of government he is planning. A quick look at our family budget, which I will happily share with the White House, will show him that like many Americans, we are just getting by despite seeming to be rich. We aren’t.

I, like the president before me, am a law professor at the University of Chicago Law School, and my wife, like the first lady before her, works at the University of Chicago Hospitals, where she is a doctor who treats children with cancer. Our combined income exceeds the $250,000 threshold for the super rich (but not by that much), and the president plans on raising my taxes. After all, we can afford it, and the world we are now living in has that familiar Marxian tone of those who need take and those who can afford it pay. The problem is, we can’t afford it. Here is why.

The biggest expense for us is financing government. Last year, my wife and I paid nearly $100,000 in federal and state taxes, not even including sales and other taxes. This amount is so high because we can’t afford fancy accountants and lawyers to help us evade taxes and we are penalized by the tax code because we choose to be married and we both work outside the home. (If my wife and I divorced or were never married, the government would write us a check for tens of thousands of dollars. Talk about perverse incentives.)

Our next biggest expense, like most people, is our mortgage. Homes near our work in Chicago aren’t cheap and we do not have friends who were willing to help us finance the deal. We chose to invest in the University community and renovate and old property, but we did so at an inopportune time.

We pay about $15,000 in property taxes, about half of which goes to fund public education in Chicago. Since we care the education of our three children, this means we also have to pay to send them to private school. My wife has school loans of nearly $250,000 and I do too, although becoming a lawyer is significantly cheaper. We try to invest in our retirement by putting some money in the stock market, something that these days sounds like a patriotic act. Our account isn’t worth much, and is worth a lot less than it used to be.

Like most working Americans, insurance, doctors’ bills, utilities, two cars, daycare, groceries, gasoline, cell phones, and cable TV (no movie channels) round out our monthly expenses. We also have someone who cuts our grass, cleans our house, and watches our new baby so we can both work outside the home. At the end of all this, we have less than a few hundred dollars per month of discretionary income. We occasionally eat out but with a baby sitter, these nights take a toll on our budget. Life in America is wonderful, but expensive.

If our taxes rise significantly, as they seem likely to, we can cut back on some things. The (legal) immigrant from Mexico who owns the lawn service we employ will suffer, as will the (legal) immigrant from Poland who cleans our house a few times a month. We can cancel our cell phones and some cable channels, as well as take our daughter from her art class at the community art center, but these are only a few hundred dollars per month in total. But more importantly, what is the theory under which collecting this money in taxes and deciding in Washington how to spend it is superior to our decisions? Ask the entrepreneurs we employ and the new arrivals they employ in turn whether they prefer to work for us or get a government handout.

If these cuts don’t work, we will sell our house – into an already spiraling market of declining asset values – and our cars, assuming someone will buy them. The irony here, of course, is that the government is working to save both of these industries despite the impact that increasing taxes will have.

The problem with the president’s plan is that the super rich don’t pay taxes – they hide in the Cayman Islands or use fancy investment vehicles to shelter their income. We aren’t rich enough to afford this – I use Turbo Tax. But we are rich enough to be hurt by the president’s plan. The next time the president comes home to Chicago, he has a standing invitation to come to my house (two blocks from his) and judge for himself whether the Hendersons are as rich as he thinks."

I heard today that Obama said at a rally "we're all hurting..." "We" are not all hurting. The income disparity in this country has increased over the past 30 years, and the top income bracket is definitely not hurting; they're loving what's going on, and encouraging it.

When someone in a $1,000,000 home and with an income of $450.000 starts whining about how tough it is, think The Princess And The Pea.

This jexter guy really ought to post more often...

2010-09-16T18:28:00.003-07:00

...because God is starting to get pissed off.

Dude, Where's My Change? A haiku.

2010-09-14T17:20:00.002-07:00

Change might have happened
G.O.P. filibustered
And shat upon it.

PAYPAL IS THE WORST COMPANY IN THE WORLD

2010-08-30T21:17:00.002-07:00

Yup. Once you get crossways with them, they're like a seized engine. Nothin' to do but get a new one. They might want to hire some actual human beings...

Joe the Plumber is no fool.

2008-10-27T17:56:00.002-07:00

I can understand why Joe wants no part of a tax break paid for by higher taxes on the top wage earners - those fuckers are POWERFUL! For instance, someone making $2.87 million, the bracket where Obama's maximum tax rate kicks in, works 71 times harder than someone making $40,405 (2007 average U.S. wage, and roughly what Joe earns).

Hercules had the strength of ten men; any one of these fuckers could kick Hercules' ass up and down the street without breaking a sweat. And that's just the poorest of them!!! A CEO making $100 million a year works 247 TIMES AS HARD as Joe the Plumber. Can you even imagine him running into Joe in the supermarket, knowing that Joe took some of his hard-earned cash?

Joe would be fucked.

I'm no puss, but I'm with Joe.

Hai-fuckin'-ku

2008-01-23T21:38:00.000-08:00

"habeas corpus"
a sweet sound for colonists!
what the fuck happened?

Wheeeeeeeee!

2007-04-02T23:48:00.000-07:00

No shit, you have really got to try this Republicanism! I’m telling you honestly that it’s the best shit EVER!!! It makes everything so CLEAR!

For instance, I thought when Bush allegedly said that the U.S. constitution was “just a piece of paper”, he was being disrespectful of the very foundation of our country. Boy was I wrong!!! As a Republican, I see clearly that our constitution is actually like one of those magnetic refrigerator word games! It’s the funnest thing ever – swap parts the 5th and 18th amendments, and you don't have to testify because you're drunk!

Just a little taste...

2007-04-02T21:43:00.001-07:00

Having a somewhat addictive personality, as you all know, I’ve often gotten the urge to "experiment" with Republicanism - (just once. really) - just to feel what it’s like. Oh sure, I know it's more addictive than a cocaine/heroin/nicotine/sex speedball with an OxyContin chaser - but that’s obvious when you realize that anyone who manages to kick the Republican habit is a major news item.

But damn, imagine the rush! Omniscient and infallible, your every thought brilliant; your debating skills simultaneously elegant and eviscerating! Any evidence threatening to refute your position crumbles to dust with your merest hint of distain. And the attention, the love, the adoration! – every word you utter, every public appearance is NEWS, propagated around the world at the speed of light – my God, it must be sweet...
Oh Jesus, help me! I’ve got a voter registration form in front of me, and I’ve checked “Republican”!
I’m weak – I know I can’t handle it.. stop me.....

[HMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Well now, this feels GOOD! Everyone around me seems to be a lowly worm when compared to my towering intellect. I just had a little chat with Jerry Falwell, and he is very intelligent man. When I explained how much better I felt since becoming a Republican, he gave his characteristic little chuckle and said “you ain’t seen nothin’ ‘till you get right with with your maker, boy!” He assured me that although Republicanism was indeed a righteous buzz, it’s got nothing on Conservative Christian Republicanism. All the buzz of Republicanism, plus everything you think and say is God’s word! Jerry likened it to a number of different feelings, but the one that really resonated with me was “it’s like running the Nürburgring at 250 kph in a Porche 930 while smoking an enormous doob and being blown by Lindsay Lohan!”

And if anyone would know about that, it's Jerry Falwell.

aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Frankly, I see no reason not to try it.

Little dude.

2007-02-19T20:08:00.000-08:00

What a fine little dude.

The Truth:

2006-10-30T19:31:00.000-08:00

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

--AZ-01: Rick Renzi

--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

--CA-04: John Doolittle

--CA-11: Richard Pombo

--CA-50: Brian Bilbray

--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave

--CO-05: Doug Lamborn

--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell

--CT-04: Christopher Shays

--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

--FL-16: Joe Negron

--FL-22: Clay Shaw

--ID-01: Bill Sali

--IL-06: Peter Roskam

--IL-10: Mark Kirk

--IL-14: Dennis Hastert

--IN-02: Chris Chocola

--IN-08: John Hostettler

--IA-01: Mike Whalen

--KS-02: Jim Ryun

--KY-03: Anne Northup

--KY-04: Geoff Davis

--MD-Sen: Michael Steele

--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

--MN-06: Michele Bachmann

--MO-Sen: Jim Talent

--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

--NV-03: Jon Porter

--NH-02: Charlie Bass

--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

--NM-01: Heather Wilson

--NY-03: Peter King

--NY-20: John Sweeney

--NY-26: Tom Reynolds

--NY-29: Randy Kuhl

--NC-08: Robin Hayes

--NC-11: Charles Taylor

--OH-01: Steve Chabot

--OH-02: Jean Schmidt

--OH-15: Deborah Pryce

--OH-18: Joy Padgett

--PA-04: Melissa Hart

--PA-07: Curt Weldon

--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

--PA-10: Don Sherwood

--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee

--TN-Sen: Bob Corker

--VA-Sen: George Allen

--VA-10: Frank Wolf

--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

--WA-08: Dave Reichert

I'm tired.

2006-08-12T00:38:00.000-07:00

CJR Home » Issues » 2004 » Issue 6: November/December

Columbia Journalism Review
Voices
A Soldier's Story
How we write about the dead

By Robert W. Snyder

It was hard to recognize my friend in the news photograph of the ambush that took his life in Baghdad on June 4. He and another man lay sprawled on the ground in front of a burning Humvee, their faces turned away from the camera in the awkward postures that bodies assume when the life is drained from them. His name was Frank Carvill, a sergeant in the New Jersey National Guard, and it wasn’t any easier to see him in the first wave of stories that followed his death.

The articles confused his biography, garbled his family’s history, and misrepresented his political views. A New York Times report, citing unnamed National Guard officials, described this ardent Democrat as a man of no “strong political leanings.” A piece in the Newark Star-Ledger confused his father’s death in a fall with his brother’s death from cancer and contradicted itself on Frank’s length of service in the Guard. It also portrayed Frank as a participant in Ground Zero recovery efforts and a soldier who was “very proud to be going to Iraq.” In fact, Frank visited Ground Zero only once after a narrow escape there on September 11, and was repelled by the souvenir stands. And he went to Iraq believing the U.S. invasion had been a mistake. Where the stories were factually accurate — Frank’s military service, his loving family, and his escapes from both World Trade Center attacks, in 1993 and 2001 — they too often seemed formulaic variations on a theme: patriotic Irish American dies doing the job he loved.

His sister Peggy Carvill-Liguori said later that reporters had decided what story they wanted to write even before they spoke to her. All their questions were designed to confirm their prior assumptions.

The truth is so much more interesting. Frank, a political activist with a big heart and inquiring mind, was fifty-one, single with a steady girlfriend, and approaching retirement from the National Guard when he was called up. He responded with resignation, loyalty to his outfit, and a determination to meet this obligation rather than ask for a deferment. He would not ask someone else to stand in his place. As always, he saved doubts and questions for his private life. In public he was cheerful and resolute.

In Baghdad he followed international news with a hand-cranked short-wave radio. He set down his thoughts in an extraordinary series of letters and e-mails, describing the tension of combat, the beauty of the skyline, and the complexities of his mission. He had supported the war in Afghanistan, and although he opposed the invasion of Iraq, he thought the United States was obligated to repair Iraq before leaving.

Stories of slain soldiers are usually painted in bold colors that obscure subtleties and avoid complex political questions. I stood in Frank’s mother’s kitchen in Carlstadt, New Jersey, two days after he died, listening to friends’ and family’s sorrows and complaints. I was frustrated that the press was adding to the pain, and missing an important story to boot. Peggy and her family, feeling invaded and devastated, were not in a position to get a fuller, truer picture of Frank into the news. As a historian and a professor of journalism, I was reluctant to step into a public-relations role, but I was disturbed by the coverage and wanted to set it straight.

With Peggy’s permission, I spent the next few days giving telephone interviews and scrambling to get phone numbers, letters, e-mails, and photographs to reporters. At Frank’s wake I alternated between talking with Jimmy Breslin and shepherding my dazed children and niece past the coffin of a close family friend. The funeral at Saint Joseph Church in East Rutherford — a place Breslin later described as “a church of broken hearts” — was a massive outpouring, with bagpipes, hymns, and National Guard pallbearers.

The next day, a second round of stories began to appear. In The New York Times, the columnist Peter Applebome told how Frank’s letters from Baghdad depicted a world that was “half ‘Black Hawk Down’ and half ‘Catch-22.’” He described a man who was equally at home in jazz clubs, boatyards, legal libraries, and the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. It was Applebome’s great insight to recognize that Frank was “a man able to distill so many disparate elements into his reassuring, transcendently stand-up personality, that he could be one familiar person in many different guises at the same time.” Applebome’s column ended with Frank’s own words:

“Our occupation is not intended to be forever,” he wrote in one letter. “I don't know how we can get out in the short run. We as a nation are going to have to absorb huge costs both in money and in lives for several more years. It will not be easy. I’m trying to make the best of this. It has been a unique experience, but one I would not want to repeat. Looking forward to having dinner with you guys when I get home. Thanks for everything. God bless. Frank”

In Newsday, Breslin meditated on how Frank “came to war as a soldier out of all the Irish literature,” the son of a mason from County Armagh and a live-in maid on Park Avenue from County Cork who met at a dance in the Bronx. How Frank had written Cody McCone from overseas to say, “It looks like Kerry for November. It is very important for the Irish-American community to get on board.” In the Irish Voice, Tom Deignan wrote about Frank’s eager reading of Irish newspapers forwarded to him in Iraq.

The Star-Ledger, though, said the most. On Sunday June 13 more than half of its front page, and a page and a half inside, were given over to a beautifully written and carefully reported piece by Tom Feeney, which included reprints of Frank’s letters and e-mails from Iraq. If the letters allowed Frank to speak for himself, Feeney’s article wove connections between his life, his words, and the thoughts of his friends. He concluded with a detail that no single recipient of Frank’s letters could know until the letters were assembled: nearly all of them ended with his heartfelt desire to come home.

In July, a memorial mass for Frank was held at the Holy Trinity Church on the West Side of Manhattan. The reception was in the church basement, whose walls were covered in newspaper clippings about my friend. In columns of newsprint and photographs, it was now possible to grasp the passions, commitments, and complexities that made him unique.

The stories written with the aid of Frank’s letters suggest a lesson for reporters, who will inevitably have to write about more casualties in the days and months to come. Too much of the coverage of our military dead relies on euphemism, formula, and abstraction to make the cost of war bearable. Letters from soldiers, especially letters like Frank’s, get closer to the truths of combat. And so does real digging about the quirks and traits and habits of the dead.

In a nation of citizen soldiers, journalists should pay full attention to both the military and the civilian lives of our casualties — including, when it matters, as it certainly did with Frank, their politics. To do less is to paint an incomplete picture. In the words and memories that he or she leaves behind, every soldier passes on a bigger story than we imagine.

Robert W. Snyder, the former editor of Media Studies Journal, is the director of the journalism and media studies program at Rutgers-Newark.

Happy HNT!

2006-07-06T21:02:00.000-07:00

My big brown eye...

German Efficiency

2006-07-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

Clearly if you want an efficiently run free email account, you should probably steer clear of the Swedes. No discipline. No sense of order.

Now the Germans, on the other hand, know how to "git 'er done", so to speak. And have a little fun as well.

Mach mach mach!!!!1!

jexter@unicum.de.

Friday Cat Blogging

2006-06-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

Meet Moose, a felinofascist:

New Pastime:

2006-06-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

A new way to kill time: creating free email accounts in countries whose language I don't understand. You can now email me through my Swedish Spray account: jexter@spray.se. Not really a productive use of time, but a fun puzzle nonetheless. (And if you're going to try this, be forewarned: cheating with Babelfish is a SIN!)

-jexter

Preemptive self-outing.

2006-06-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I was sure it would happen eventually, and now that "Armando" at DailyKos has had his true identity revealed, I knew I would probably be next. In truth, because of my importance, I should have come before Armando, but one allows for a certain amount randomness in these things before one gets too worked up.

When visiting this site, I'm sure many of you have thought: "Who is this brilliant person posting so very brilliantly???" Or likely you thought: "There can only be a handful of people in the entire universe with such incredible understanding and brain power!!!! He must be an extremely important man of science, and probably a SUPER-GENIUS to boot!!!" And so I realize now that by allowing my brilliance to flow so freely, and not dumbing down my posts to the level of at least above-average human beings, I've made it almost impossible for someone with even the slightest knowledge of the greatest achievements in science not to put two and two together and recognize my true identity.

So rather than wait for some troll at Science or Nature to out me, I'll do it myself.

That's right, it's true: I'm David Baltimore.

Well, that's a relief not to have to hide behind a pseudonym anymore!

All the best,

GOD

2006-06-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

'Zup?

O.K., I see now that that was lame...

2006-06-05T23:33:00.000-07:00

...but I'm against, in general, deleting lame shit from your blog after you've had a chance to think it over, or sober up, or re-medicate, or God forbid, spell check.

So that last haiku is just another piece of crap I'm gonna have to discuss with St. Peter.

He's gonna be all: "Dude, come'on. You were fucked up. Don't bullshit me, I've heard it from the best."
And I'll be like: "No, really man, I was being totally poetic! Can't you see the lighthearted, carefree humor?"
An' St. Peter's gonna be all: " I see you were toasted, dude. NEXT!"

Sheeee-it. What an asshole. Fuck St. Peter.

Numerical Haiku

2006-06-05T22:21:00.000-07:00

One two three four five;
Two three four five six seven...
Eight seven six five!

Republican "Meritocracy" Haiku

2006-06-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

Excuse me, a job?
But Daddy left me Billions.
Piss on you peasants!

Paris Hilton's Farm Haiku

2006-06-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

I’m sorry, “Death Tax”?
Our farm fell to ConAgra.
Paris has no farm.

Estate Tax Haiku

2006-06-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

BMW?
Daddy said it's my birthright!
How dare you tax me...

Why "National Guard to Mexican Border!" Won't Play

2006-05-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

So we're going to send our National Guard troops to "protect us" from the South-of-the-Border Hoard? Here's why Bush's latest knee-jerk attempt to rally his xenophobic base won't play on Main Street:

Most policy announcements of these sort have no direct impact on the vast majority of Americans. By this I don't mean they may not have profound hidden effects, but the general perception is likely to be a sort of distracted "well, that sounds like a good idea..." . So although border issues are probably scrutinized much more carefully by Americans living close to our borders, for most of the country it's an abstract issue. Spend tax money on this, keep tax money from going to that, disaster assistance in some other state; all kind of abstract.

But the National Guard might be your son or daughter; it's also likely to be your next door neighbor; it's one or more of the guys you work with. And unlike the active military, the Guard is made up of people living and working in your community, often professionals, and normally used to spending one weekend a month and two weeks a year on active duty. they're not sequestered on big military bases and the communities surrounding them; they come from every corner of the U.S.

Both the active military and the National Guard are both currently stretched to the breaking point, and their recruiting goals are routinely not met even as the eligibilty standards are routinely lowered. So when people in the Guard hear that Bush is going to have the National Guard patrol our southern border, they're naturally going to assume he means them. And so will their boss, and so will their freinds, and so will their families.

And then, they're going to learn that Bush, and the Republicans that control congress, cut 9,700 border patrol jobs from the 2006 budget! That's right, in 2005, when they where ramrodding their budget through congress, they thought it was a good idea to cut the number of border patrol agents protecting our borders this year! Agents who's job is protecting our borders. Agents who are actually trained to PATROL OUR BORDERS (which is why their job title is particularly appropriate). To be replaced with: your mechanic, your Sherriff's deputy, your IT guy at work, your next-door-neighbor, your daughter, your husband, your mom.

And all this not to keep out terrorists, but to keep the gentle people who harvest your food and mow your lawn from entering the country?

This shit ain't gonna fly.

The Premier of TKNF!!1!

2006-05-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

That's right, it's the premiere of Tree-Kawters-Nekkid-Friday.

As you know, I'm very sensitive, so please be gentle in your comments.

Why Does Jesus Hate America? (And I don't mean your gardener)

2006-05-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

Wassup with Jesus?!? It's occurs to me that Jesus is probably all weepy about our wanting to kick the illegals back to their South American gutter, but of course he's already got a pretty sweet gig. Me, I'd probably be sitting in an endowed chair by now if it wasn't for Juan and Pepe undercutting my future with their cheap labor.

And why isn't he laying some rightous Old Testament Wrath on the A-rabs, instead of hanging back and boo-hooing from the sidelines?!?

I'll tell you why: JESUS HATES AMERICA.

That's right, after all the praying and cross burning and heathen whipping we've done for that asshole, this is the thanks we get.

Sheeee-it.

Don't that just fucking tear it?!?

Damn. Now what the fuck we gonna do...

FeeER ME pewwwNY HOO-mooNS!!!!

2005-12-30T18:02:00.000-08:00

I Am KAC teH KIllEr AnDroyyD ChIPMunK!!! FerST I WilL SmITe jEXter. THen wITH My laAAAzzzeR Beeem i i i -s aND mY Whored OF iMPlaCAbLE NaNObOts I wiLL CrUSh yU aND TakE OveR TeH InTERnets!!! SoON TEH HOle Wurld WiLl Be RUUULLd bY SmalL RoDEnT MAmmmles!!!!

BwWAAAA Hhhhaa [chipchip] haHAHHHAHHH [chip] BwaHHHHAHAAA!!! [chip]

YOOorrs trewlY,

KAC and teh Implacables

Waking Up On The Couch With A Cat On My Head Haiku

2005-11-29T22:39:00.000-08:00

Your sandpaper tongue
rips off my epidermis.
I need a beer.

Bumped, so as not to be lost in the copious comments...

2005-11-29T02:27:00.000-08:00

...a truly awesome Cat Haiku from teh l4m3:

Little tortoiseshell,
Cool-eyed, with claws like needles,
Gophers are your job.

Manly Cat Lover Haiku

2005-11-26T14:35:00.000-08:00

Your bowl is empty
and you stare daggers at me.
You should get a job.

Papers, please! (yet another haiku)

2005-11-26T13:49:00.000-08:00

Show your papers please!
You must prove that you fear me
for us to be free.

Haiku to a Kitten

2005-11-22T17:12:00.000-08:00

It would be quite nice
if you would not bite my toes.
It's fucking painful.

To my furry friend Trinidad:

2005-11-19T16:10:00.000-08:00

You think you're pretty fancy
with those see-in-the-dark eyes,
but I know what you're up to;
don't give me your kitty-cat lies.

Blame Game? I feel sick.

2005-09-06T22:19:00.000-07:00

Blame game?

blame game

blame game

blame game

Blame game.

Who is jexter?

2005-07-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

Alright, let me get this out of the way before it snowballs. Remember I said I rarely talk directly to people? jexter just happens to be someone I talk through. Don't get the idea that he's something special, or mystically plugged in. I chose him because he's so vacant and drug addled he barely knows the difference when I take control. And he can type. You really think GOD is gonna type his own posts? Please.

A Few Quick Thoughts:

2005-07-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

O.K. I'm in and out a lot, so don't be whining about lack of posts. I'm a busy omniscient omnipotent gender-neutral being. If you show up here and don't see any new posts, go out and smell a flower or something. You think I created them for my health?

Don't come here looking for advice on how to live your life. Try the self-help section at Borders.

I very rarely talk to people directly. Pretty much everybody who thinks they're hearing from me directly is actually picking up radio signals through their fillings; most of the people I've actually talked to end up in asylums or getting stoned to death, so I've been cutting way back on that.

I'm not real particular about what you call me; I know I've accumulated a bunch of nicknames over the eons. I gotta admit though, Anselm's "That Being Greater Than Which None Can Be Conceived" has always tickled me. I mean, doesn't that sound heavy?!? I don't let it go to my head, though; I just think it sounds cool. (You can shorten it to T.B. if you want.)

I really do have a sense of humor, despite what most religions seem to think. (One of my favorite omniscient-being one-liners: "I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken." Hah! I never get tired of that one.)

Finally: spelling mistakes? Give me a break. Everything I do is, by definition, correct. (Except for maybe Andy Rooney...Hah! Sense of humor again! I kid Andy.