From our West Coast Simian Correspondent Bill: Where Is Michael Jackson's Beloved Pet Chimp?

Bubbles is alive and thriving at the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, Florida, according to the center's Web site.

The center reports that Bubbles was born in 1983 in a biomedical laboratory, and purchased as a young chimp by an entertainment trainer. The chimp was later acquired by Jackson and accompanied the superstar on his world travels.

That's certainly a load off of my mind.

OK, the headline probably is a bit tasteless. But it appears to be true.

And day-ahm . . . I'm about to turn 50. Michael Jackson was 50. Day-ahm. Where's that exercise bike?

Richard Fernandez, writing about George Orwell:

The most frightening thing about Orwell’s life is that it took a man as inquiring and perceptive as he was so long to understand his world. It took years for him to grasp that power was only interested in itself. He had reached the middle of his life before understanding that outwardly commonplace things like the Party were devoted only to their own ends. Once he recognized this he spent the rest of his life warning of the great danger which was upon us. Yet the miracle was that he understood it at all. The “obvious” idea that freedom is a meme that must daily struggle for its existence was not so evident after all. Some — the countless numbers who went to their deaths still praising Stalin or thinking that the “Revolution had been betrayed” — never realized the truth at all. They never realized that they were experiencing the Revolution: the revolution in which Power ruled forever. But to understand that concept would have been to know too much. Only O’Brien and finally Winston Smith understood the truth. For the rest, there is Victory Gin. Hitler once remarked that the bulk of humanity is easily mislead and any leader worthy of the name would take advantage of the fact.

The ability to recognize the face of tyranny is a fragile skill which cannot really be passed on, except as a critical attitude. As the twentieth century recedes into the past, a kind of antiquity has descended over the prophets of the past, who speak to us now only through old, cloth-covered books from second-hand bookshops or lying in corners at garage sales or lending libraries. Even 1984 is set in a time so long ago that it can only be portrayed in film as steampunk. We can no longer imagine “a boot in a human face forever” in a world where the Croc sandal may be the preferred footwear of militants. ‘A Croc sandal stamping on a human face forever?’ Who could credit such a tyranny, even if it were true? But the face of evil ever renews itself. When Moses returned from Mount Sinai he discovered that it had taken a new shape.

I'm surrounded by people, and by an entire culture, who not only think "it can't happen here" but are actively engaged in the soft and gentle (and sometimes not so soft or gentle), mocking, condescending suppression anyone who thinks "you know, human nature hasn't fundamentally changed in the past 100 years, let alone the past 10,000."

So, I'm afraid. I'm afraid that Jefferson was right when he said that liberty was a tree that required the watering of the blood of tyrants and patriots. I don't want to live through a civil war. I don't want to live through Kristallnacht, either, but I have the feeling that that's what is quietly happening, while everybody distractedly obsesses about everything else, from Michael Jackson to global warming. I'm not afraid for myself, but for everybody else who have no clue what's coming. And I think it is coming.

The looters are in power, and they're doing what comes naturally to human beings who have power without check or responsibility. They loot.

Exhibit 1: Mark Sanford, Governor, South Carolina. Skips out on his job, his wife, his family for a junket to Argentina to bang his lover.

Fire his ass. Now.

Exhibit 2: The 219 cretins who laughingly call themselves "United States Representatives" who passed--sight-unseen--a 1,200-page bill to outlaw basically the entire economy of the United States, while most of you were out mourning over Michael frickin' Jackson. Nice.

They did not read the bill. They couldn't have. At the time they voted on it, the bill didn't actually exist in its final form. Who knows, it might never. But that's OK, isn't it? Isn't it?

These 219 pinheads, having proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are a danger to themselves and--especially--others, should be detained by lawful authority, given a fair trial, and institutionalized in a mental institution for the remainder of their intellectually impotent lives.

These people don't give a rat's ass about you, your household budget, your job, or basically anything about your life. Because they know better than you how you should spend your money. They know this because you keep foolishly wanting to do things like heat your house in the winter, and cool it in the summer.

They know this because you insist on exhaling that dangerous pollutant--carbon dioxide, instead of just going and dying like a good little prole.

To you people who voted for anyone who voted for or advocated this bill--from Obama on down--I hope you're *censored*ing happy today.

Why would you want to put a dagger in the heart of the national economy, when unemployment figures continue to come in "over economists' estimates?" Because you're a Democrat (or one of the eight even more idiotic Republican), of course!

Politicians, in general, are people with little to no contact with reality. It is our obligation as citizens of this country to re-acquaint them.

Vote against an incumbent--regardless of party. Do it while you still can--assuming Obama and ACORN won't make it too late already in 2010.

Next up, an intricate, hard-to-understand, and utterly un-read bill intended to destroy the American health care system. I'm so PROUD to be an American.

HOPE! CHANGE!

Oh, I forgot:

Exhibit 3: Barney Frank. Special lifetime achievement Disgusting Turd of Politics award, for destroying the entire housing and banking industries with ill-conceived regulations, then blaming the victim afterwards.

Further Update: Why, yes, I have been reading quite a lot of Ace of Spades HQ and Protein Wisdom lately. How did you know?

that Farah Fawcett or Michael Jackson are dead. Sorry. Neither one impacted my life overmuch (although I was indeed an impressionable young boy when Farah was HOT!!!)

People really need to get a grip. Go talk to your FAMILIES for crying out loud, rather than pining over the demise of celebrity actors and entertainers who never, ever even knew you existed.

Will henceforth be known as the Suckage Channel . . . er . . . SyFy.

Styupyd.

Here's an idea that I've been bouncing around in my head:

It's a variation on the theme of "medical spending accounts."

The idea is that people can put as much money as they want into the account, and all of that money (less some small amount for administration) is available to them for health care. Anything over can be used for other people's health care--and the "donor" gets a tax deduction or some other economic incentive for donating.

The clearinghouse organization doesn't make decisions regarding health care--the doctor and the patient do.

Doctors, as part of the moral obligation of "informed consent," will have to reveal to their patients the cost of the procedures the doctor is ordering. The clearinghouse organization can help with that, keeping track of what's being charged for those services over time.

As I mentioned before, if a person doesn't have enough in his or her account to afford the service, then there are choices to be made. First, the doctor (or other health care provider) can lower their price. The patient can decide that the service is too expensive. OR, the other people who have put money into the program can decide to help the patient out, financially.

This used to be called "charity" and was generally considered to be a Good Thing For People To Do.

The thing is, that this charity would be voluntary. Nobody would force you to do a good thing. But since it's human nature to need the occasional prod towards doing that right thing, there needs to be some kind of additional economic incentive for people to do this.

What I would do is take every dollar volunteered for charity straight off the top--make it a 1-for-1 deduction on taxes owed. So, basically, people could choose to fund the government, or to fund other people's health care expenses.

This seems to me to be much more straightforward and honest than anything being talked about in Washington right now.

Simple. Doctor. Patient. Bare-bones clearinghouse to track prices, and to match needy patients with people who have the money to help them.

No guns, no coercion.

Voluntary. (Except for passing the laws that would make this system legal, of course.)

The condensed version:

1. Target a relatively free industry;

2. Enact onerous regulations to “fix” trumped-up “problems” in the industry;

3. Criticize the industry constantly as it struggles unsuccessfully to deal with the onerous regulations;

4. Cluck knowingly about the “market failure” that explains the difficulties of the industry, and pass even more draconian regulations.

5. Repeat process until total economic collapse.

That’s the game plan. Over and over again. Unfortunately, it works.

someone who agrees with me about a movie--in this case, Crash:

My opinion: I hate this movie. Crash was an unrealistic, melodramatic depiction of racism in this country. Of course racism exists, but it’s not as black and white cut and dry as Crash would have you believe. The film suffers from finding itself quite clever, linking together its characters (a technique that was executed properly and brilliantly in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia) in an unbelievable, far-fetched manner. Plus, presenting the scenes in slow motion coupled with an overly dramatic score doesn’t make the movie good. It makes it pretentious, and the social message about racism is delivered with the subtlety of a jackhammer.

Man, I hated that movie. Not quite as much as "Million Dollar Baby" which I don't just hate, I loathe, but "Crash" sucked. Hard.

Via Michael Totten writing at Commentary cites a Huffington Post entry, citing an e-mail from an Iranian (is that trail tenuous or what?):

Nico Pitney published an email at the Huffington Post that indicates at least some of the demonstrators are willing to take casualties.

I spoke with my father last night who is [in Iran]… [He] told me the common sentiment among the protestors is that of incredible resolve. He said that from what he’s heard, this will not stop until the Ayatollah himself is overthrown. As he put it, “Even if a million people (Moussavi supporters) die, they will not back down”.

Brave words. Ominous words. God help and protect the freedom-loving Iranians.