I’m on vacation this week, so to provide content in my absence, I’ll be reading/making fun of parts of Mitt Romney’s book the rest of the week (then if I’m up to it, the rest of the book when I’m home). For Monday, here are some general thoughts and the intro.
The book is called “No Apology Believe in America.” I feel like you can make apologies for the bad things America has done in the past — and continues to do — and still believe in it. You can say, people we enslaved, sorry about that, it won’t happen again. People we went to war with who maybe we shouldn’t have, including the native people we took the land from: our bad. Hey Mormons and others we’ve persecuted for your religion: We’ll try to do better next time.
In fact apologizing when we fail to live up to our ideals is something we do because we believe in those ideals. You know who doesn’t apologize when they fuck up? A goddamn sociopath! I may have stepped on your toe, but fuck you for having a toe in the first place: That’s how Mitt Romney’s book title reads to me. But perhaps that’s reading too much into a title.
So, we’ll start off with the intro. Or I think it’s an intro. On the front cover of the book it says, “FEATURING A NEW INTRODUCTION FOR THIS EDITION” and this is before chapter 1. But it’s called “Believe in America” and isn’t actually called an intro in either the table of contents or the chapter head where all of the other chapters are numbered. So maybe just call it chapter 0, or chapter “Believe in America.” It starts off with a story about going to Walmart.*
Sam Walton was all around me.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Bear hug. OK, sorry it’s a metaphor. It’s also possibly the shittiest opening line I’ve read. Anyway, I swear I’m not going to quote every sentence, but here’s the next paragraph.
It was a few days before the Christmas of 2008. I was standing in the checkout line at Walmart, waiting to purchase the Tonka trucks and Buzz Lightyear action figures I has selected for my grandsons. As I looked around the store, I had to chuckle to myself. Somehow, that Walmart reminded me of Sam Walton himself. I’d never met the founder of Walmart, but I had read and heard a good deal about him over the years. People who knew him mentioned his attention to detail, his near maniacal passion about low prices, his plan to carry every single item a customer might want, and that he tended to be a spur-of-the-moment–almost impetuous–manager. I saw these very traits reflected in his store: low prices blazed** from signage, everything from tires to toothpaste were available for purchase, and, well, the store was not as organized and buttoned-down as those of other retailers I know. At target, for example, the aisles are wider and shelves are stocked and segregated like the Swiss might have done it. At Walmart, things look a bit more helter-skelter, more jumbled and maybe a little more entertaining. Yes, Walmart today is a reflection of its founder.
Wait. What about the Swiss? Is that a reference to cantons? Is that just casual racism that I don’t understand — the Swiss stock their aisles like this, but Americans stock their aisles like this. Is this some reference to his time in Europe? I know he spent a good deal of time in France, but has he ever been to Switzerland? I mean I know his money has, but has he? Target is an American store.
Anyway, then there’s a long discussion about how various companies reflect their CEO’s and founders. Microsoft and Apple reflect Gates and Jobs. Disney, reflects Walt Disney. Going to the Disney parks reflects on Walt years after he’s died. Between the Buzz Lightyear and the paragraph about how amazing Disneyland is, I think this intro might be sponsored by Disney.*** Anyway, lots of CEO’s are great. Oddly, he fails to mention that any of the employees at any of those companies might shine through when he’s visiting them. And then he transitions awkwardly from companies to all sorts of institutions, “schools, universities, charities, churches, even religions.” I’m not sure he needed to say “schools” and “universities” or “churches” and “religions.” But are those the only institutions? Please fill me in.
And it’s also true of nations. Nations are shaped by their founders, often for many generations and centuries after those founders are gone. The culture and character of America reflects the nature and convictions of the men and women who founded it.
Italics his. I’m actually going to go out on a limb and say America is better than it was at the founding. We don’t have slavery and we assume that women and people of all races and social classes are fully human. While we still have horrible wars, we’re more or less done with the stealing land phase of the country. I’m looking out my window right now and people are passing on cars and bikes and on foot. Men and women, and people of all races. This city in a place where the founding generation barely knew existed with technology they couldn’t have imagined is really better than they would have dreamed for it. Hell, just the fact that Romney felt he had to tack on “and women” is something the founding generation wouldn’t have thought to do.
Don’t get me wrong, we got a great legacy from this country’s founders. I can’t imagine anyone in the 1770’s and 1780’s anywhere in the world who would have been better to start the country. The notions of fundamental freedom they left us are important. But we also have a more difficult legacy because they were flawed people from a flawed time. This intro doesn’t deal with that beyond one aside in one sentence. “That first choice of freedom by the Founders–incomplete and only perfected by Lincoln four score years later–has made all the difference.” Yes, he thinks Lincoln solved all of our problems in 1856.
So that was cool until the 2006 and 2008 elections. Without naming names, the people who won those elections hate freedom. Then a long quote by Tony Blair, who apparently loves America more than Nancy Pelosi?
And we’re now to sub chapters (sub intros?) that start “Believing in America Means…” First Believing in America Means Believing in Freedom. He tells the story of his mother’s doctor who “hid in the coal bin of a ship that made it to America.” Since he’s a professional and white (a Russian Jew) Mitt doesn’t demand that he self deport. Instead he’s an example of freedom. And also Joe The Plumber was right. Also, Democrats passing laws they promised to pass is anti-freedom. Then he talks about checks and balances, never realizing that getting legislation through those checks might mean the laws they pass are compatible with freedom.
On to sub chapter (sub intro?) Believing in America Means Believing in Free Enterprise. You’ll be shocked to learn that there’s no mention of how large economic players use their power to distort free enterprise, despite that being something the founders knew quite well (hence all that East India Company tea in Boston Harbor). Nor is there any discussion of corporate responsibility generally to the community or to the state or to America. Freedom is letting corporations do whatever they want. Letting corporations devastate communities only increases freedom is what I get from his lack of addressing those things.
So what does he talk about? Why how Obama hates free enterprise. This feels a bit like the gentleman with a silk hat. Obama, you see, is a secret socialist. Then he says because in North Korea unlike South Korea, “citizens are nearly**** starved so that government and the military can be amply fed” any government jobs are inherently bad.
So, what are the awful things that are making us like North Korea? Using TARP money “for bailouts” instead of for saving the financial system, the fact that some unnamed trade talks haven’t been completed, health care, investing in green energy, “the rule of law was ignored in order to reward the auto workers union at General Motors” meaning that it’s different than the bailouts thing, the fact that there are boards and commissions in government, and that business people are being demonized in speeches. You know, socialism. He quotes a friend thinking about moving to France because at least those socialists have “really good food” because America love it or leave it, amirite? Also, if you’re privileged enough that you can seriously consider moving to France, you can get great food in America.
Then he quotes Thatcher, and I suddenly wonder if he meant to call it “Believe in the United Kingdom.” Then he half complains that rich people give “a lot more money” to Democrats than Republicans. I can’t write the infinity question marks to respond to that, so I’ll just write this instead (?*∞). Finally, he gets our history vis-a-vis Europe with the size government exactly backwards, claiming that our system was no government in the market place and not that we rebelled against that in England. So instead of the American System that brought us prosperity versus the rest of the world, he wants to go back to how economics was in England when we rebelled.
And so we’re on to Believing in America Means Believing in Opportunity. Sure, but guess if he points out that some people in America have less opportunity because of the circumstances of their birth? If you guessed “no” give yourself 0 points because that question is too easy. Maybe he would have mentioned it if he wrote the book before Lincoln solved our only problem in 1856.
Now in fairness to Romney, he does mention that at some point in the past there wasn’t equal opportunity, what with slavery and Jim Crow. Also, policies that harmed the Native Americans are mentioned vaguely. But he doesn’t seem to understand that there’s a legacy of those things in the here and now. He mentions rising above the situation of your birth, and that’s great for individuals. But he doesn’t seem to see that that situation of birth can be a problem if anyone can rise above it. The rest of the chapter is dedicated to how the Democrats are ruining everything, so:
Government can promote opportunity or it can crush it. Laws and regulations that govern business practices are essential for markets to function efficiently, fostering economic opportunity.
And you’ll be surprised to learn that elites (people wanting a level playing field are the definition of elites, no doy) who were elected in 2008***** are destroying free enterprise. He lies about tax increases on business and complains that financial regulations, without mentioning those regulations, are “not only depressing opportunity in that sector but also making it more difficult for businesses and entrepreneurs in other sectors to obtain necessary financing.” You’ll be shocked to your core to learn that he doesn’t mention that people weren’t lending before those regulations were enacted.
And now we’re to the penultimate subintro: Believing in America Means Providing for a Better Future. It starts off with a bold declaration that he completely fails to live up to. “I know how John Adams felt.” It goes on to talk about the hardships he suffered being away from his wife and children during the American Revolution to make this country what it would become. And yes, that was tough. But Romney fails to show how he has sacrificed anything at all to provide a better future.
Piggybacking onto Adams’ hardships wasn’t enough though. He then praises the sacrifice of the military. And God bless them, but they aren’t Romney. He doesn’t get to reflect their glory just because he writes a few paragraphs about them. Then he tries to tie them together, “In ways as different as our many occupations, we all make sacrifices for our children, and for the generations of descendents to come.” This would probably be better if he mentioned any of the sacrifices he has made. But he can’t because he has lived a life so privileged that he hasn’t really ever had to make sacrifices.
The rest of the subintro is about how Democrats are ruining everything. Borrowing is bad, blah blah teachers unions. You know who hates children? Teachers! Clearly.
And the final subintro is called The Choice for America. It’s more or less the same arguments he’s already made. The founders all agreed that we should have equal opportunity but that same “liberal elite” want equal outcomes. Again, he doesn’t mention how financial regulation or moderate tax increase on the wealthy or regulations would lead to equal outcomes: it’s just a given.
And finally (finally!) the last couple paragraphs.
They are also highly suspicious of free enterprise because it offers unparalleled opportunity for individual success and reward, and thus enables inequality. They endeavor to grow the scale of government, to empower it to guide the economy and make better choices for the people. While few of the liberal elite would ever openly advocate for the diminution of freedom and opportunity, that is the inevitable product of their policies.
OK player. A tax rate well below what it was for decades in the postwar period and regulation that you don’t like are going to destroy freedom and opportunity. This is logical.
These fellow Americans fail to appreciate the power of the choice that was made by the Founders—theirs was the creed of the pioneer, the innovator, the striver who expects no guarantee of success but asks only to live and work in freedom. This liberating inventing, creating, independent, current now runs from coast to coast. It has produced not only the renown, like Bill Gates. It also accounts for the men and women of every occupation who strive, who explore, who go beyond what is expected of them to reach for breakthrough and accomplishment. It is the engineer who tries to get one more mile from a gallon of gasoline, the chef who creates new recipes, the salesperson who goes off-script to make the sale, the educator who works with a child after school, the programmer who can’t rest until she has eliminated every excess line of code, the entrepreneur who starts his own business, the kid who launches a commercial site on the Internet, the person who edits an entry on Wikipedia, the farmer who plants a new variety—the list is endless. The pursuit of achievement, of discovery, of greatness, is what has made America the powerhouse of the world. And it has made us happy as well. Smother this spirit with the weight of government and America ceases to be America. That is what Washington is doing, and we must not allow it. Washington believes in itself. The American people believe in America.
Holy balls was that a long paragraph. And yet, I’m guessing the list isn’t as endless as Mitt thinks if editing Wikipedia part of what he mentions. That feels like he’s padding it. But does he not understand that that list can apply to pretty much every country? My God, if the marginal tax rate goes up, nobody will teach children or edit Wikipedia! Also, that engineer is probably striving to meet government standards to increase efficiency, so government regulation didn’t diminish that. Look, the entrepreneurial spirit is great. But whatever Mitt Romney’s straw man attacks mean for America, it isn’t what Democrats are doing to the country.
OK, this chapter took a lot longer to write than I’d thought when I started it (the only other thing I’ve tried was Lou Guzzo’s gigantic font, tiny chapter nonsense, and I just breezed through those). And this post is too long. So I think I’m going to break up the chapters for the rest of the book. The beginning of chapter 1 tomorrow.
* I’m totally sure he’s always going to Walmart and didn’t just include this story so he could imply how downhome he is.
** Do prices blaze? This is a strange metaphor. It’s been well over a decade since I’ve been in a Walmart, but I don’t remember any signs on fire with low prices. If so, maybe go to the fire extinguisher aisle. It’s also possible that Mitt Romney was on drugs, and just thought it was on fire: I don’t want to discount this possibility.
*** Full disclosure, I own about 60 shares of Disney stock.
**** Nearly???? Do I think North Korea is worse than Romney does?
*****Not 2006 this time, so I guess it doesn’t apply to Nancy Pelosi? Seriously, someone get Mitt Romney’s ghost writer a proof reader.
Geez, Carl, are you trying to psychoanalyze a Republican? Good luck with that.
“*** Full disclosure, I own about 60 shares of Disney stock.”
I thik you should sell it and buy 65 shares of Aflac. Disney is overvalued. It has a P/E of 18.2 and yields 1.2%. Movies and theme parks are a discretionary product that consumers can easily cut back on when money is tight.
Aflac is undervalued. It has a P/E of 8.1 and yields 3.0%. It’s not exposed to the risky p & c (property and casualty) market; it sells life, health, and cancer polices, and three-fourths of its revenue is generated in Japan, where its policies are sold by banks, and which is insulated from the U.S. economy; also, Aflac has already unloaded and written off its losses in European bonds and isn’t exposed to Europe anymore.
Let’s look at what you get for your money. At today’s closing market prices, with Disney you’re paying $49.65 a share for $3.02 of trailing earnings and an annual dividend of 60 cents. With Aflac you’re paying $44.94 a share for $6.52 of trailing earnings and an annual dividend of $1.32 — more than twice the earnings and dividend for $5 less a share.
Investing is all about numbers, Carl.
(Disclosure: Roger Rabbit doesn’t own any Disney or Aflac, but is considering buying Aflac. Roger Rabbit has owned Disney in the past but paid only $28 for it and took profit on it at $42. For that price, the suckers can have it!
WTF??? Seriously, WTF??? Does that even make sense?
“Italics his. I’m actually going to go out on a limb and say America is better than it was at the founding. We don’t have slavery and we assume that women and people of all races and social classes are fully human.”
And don’t forget the Founding Fathers (there were no Founding Mothers) didn’t think wimmin should be allowed to vote. Or people who didn’t own property. The Founding Fathers were a bunch of slave-owning rich landholders.
“Then he says because in North Korea unlike South Korea, ‘citizens are nearly**** starved so that government and the military can be amply fed’ any government jobs are inherently bad.”
Does he mention Camp 22? If he doesn’t know about Camp 22, he doesn’t understand North Korea. In North Korea, nobody talks about Camp 22 (because talking about it can get you sent there), but everyone knows about it.
Camp 22 is essential to the North Korean regime’s ability to stay in power and control the North Korean people. Every Stalinist pig of a dictator needs a Camp 22, and Kim Jung Un has one.
Here in America, we have something approximating Camp 22, too. It’s called Joe Arpaio’s Jail, and it’s used to control Hooligans, Mexicans, and other undesirables. You live in tents, are fed prison loaf, and make gravel for the highway department. But Joe would argue his jail is a resort compared to the real Camp 22, and he’d be right about that. The real Camp 22 is unique.
“business people are being demonized in speeches”
Did he forget to mention they’re being demonized in indictments, too? You know: Insider trading, LIBOR rigging, fraudulent mortgages, etc.
” … moving to France because at least those socialists have ‘really good food’ … ”
Click here for photo of French restaurant:
http://coolgreenfrog.com/ourtr.....cdrive.jpg
Every presidential candidate writes a book. It’s de rigeur. Or, I should say, has a book put out with his name on it, because we all know these things are ghost written.
Ghost writing a candidate’s book is a tricky job. It has to be done a certain way. First of all, it has to be upbeat and patriotic. You also need to understand the demographic the candidate must appeal to. In this country, we have Democrats and Republicans, and you don’t write for them the same way; for Republican audiences, you must use shorter words. It’s okay to put in some ideas, as long as they’re unspecific and don’t commit the candidate to anything. Being in favor of “moms” and “apple pie” and “babies” is good. You don’t want to get much more adventurous than that. Finally, to succeed as a political ghost writer, you need good judgment and sensitivity about character issues. You don’t put in things like the candidate’s DUI arrest record, for example, or his draft dodging during the war. Keep it positive, except when explaining why the opponent is wrong about everything. That’s basically it.
You don’t need much polishing because nobody reads these books and they end up in landfills anyway. Their only purpose is to decorate coffee tables so unwanted guests will leave and make money for the candidate and publisher. And, of course, for the ghost writer.
@4
They also restricted gun ownership to free white (no gun owning indentured servants) males who swore a loyalty oath to the government and pledged to come to defense of the government when the government called.
Former VP Dick sez, “I think he’s been a terrible president,” he said on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” in an interview to air later Monday, adding that he “fundamentally” disagreed with him.
Cheney seems really upset with our president for doing terrible things, like killing Osama and saving GM. Why does Dick Cheney love Bin Laden and why on earth does he hate ’57 Chevys? That strikes me as being decidely un-American, even treasonous. Only a Nazi could hate a ’57 Chevy.
Like Bob, Cheney can’t explain why President Obama is so “terrible”. And when wingnuts do try, they always make stuff up like there’s nothing Obama actually has done that they can complain about, except being black.
Like Bob, Cheney can’t explain why a Romney prseidency would be good for America. Other than eliminating taxation on rich people (dividends, capital gains, inheritance) and jacking it to the poor and middle class, just what is Mitt’s plan? Mitt ain’t saying. Neither is Bob.
Here is some interesting data from a Gallup Poll–
Plus Obama will unlikely get the turnout he did in 2008. It shapes up to be real close.
“He then praises the sacrifice of the military. … He doesn’t get to reflect their glory just because he writes a few paragraphs about them.”
I don’t remember any glory. All I remember is heat, rain, bugs, malaria, bad food, worse drinking water, more heat, slow mail, shit burning details, fence stringing details, sandbag details, KP, guard duty, getting stoned, and constant gunfire and explosions. Once, I went to the PX and asked if they had any glory, but they were all out and never restocked it.
Oh, one more thing, I don’t remember seeing Romney there. I think
he was doing missionary work out of an opulent French chateau or something like that while us working class shmucks were getting all the glory, such as it was.
Only communists and metro-sexuals hate ’57 Chevys….
and perhaps girly-men like Tenderhands-YLB…
@12
very true.
By the way, Carl, this …
He then praises the sacrifice of the military. And God bless them, but they aren’t Romney. He doesn’t get to reflect their glory just because he writes a few paragraphs about them.
… is a superb bit of writing. Possibly your best work ever. It captures so much feeling in so few words. It really speaks to me. It makes me want to cry for my buddies who didn’t make it.
“the salesperson who goes off-script to make the sale”
In most companies today — you know, free enterprise — that gets you fired.
What’s more, if you get fired for this, you won’t get unemployment benefits because you deliberately violated the employer’s rules by not following the script. And God help you if you try to give anyone decent customer service. Your job is to get rid of complaining customers, not solve their problem, because the latter involves costs that cut into profits.
“The pursuit of achievement, of discovery, of greatness, is what has made America the powerhouse of the world. And it has made us happy as well.”
Wow! Look at all the happy people 30 years of Republican policies produced!
http://tinyurl.com/9c2ek5j
Frankly, Carl, I don’t know how you got through that whole nauseating chapter without barfing all over your keyboard. And you’re going to read another chapter tomorrow? Doesn’t that violate the Geneva Convention Against Torture?
@10 Yeah, it would be more understandable if he hated Volkswagens. I owned several Volkswagens, and I hated them all. Nothing is worse than a cheap German car, except maybe a German government or a German bank. Their beer is good, though.
This is going too far. Really. Printing a presidential candidate’s high school report card in a newspaper. Who (snicker) cares (chuckle) what kind of student (laughter) he was in (howls) fucking high school for godsakes??! (Uncontrollable peals of hilarity)
I mean, look at this, why do we need to know this about the possible next POTUS?
“English 3 – Doing fine work. He can do a lot better too.
“Elementary Algebra – Mitt started the course with ‘A’ grades. He tended to let up on time spent studying and had a low mark on his last test. He wastes much time in class.
“Biology – Mitt shows originality and imagination. He has had some trouble with Genetics.
“French 1 – He was averaging honors work on short tests, and this fact may have lulled him into a false sense of knowledge which prevented his reviewing adequately for the quarterly. His effort and interest are admirable; he can easily work up to honors.
“Art 3 – Mitt has real ability in painting but he is not as industrious or responsible as he might be.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....48140.html
How can you fuck up art class for godsakes?? But I digress. It’s just not fair to publish a presidential candidate’s high school report card. That’s too long ago and doesn’t really tell us anything about the man. What are we supposed to do with this, laugh at it? It’s … it’s … (snicker) …
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
Willard (R-Money) is caught LYING AGAIN!!!
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_n.....oters?lite
It’s Official: Bush Was A Fuckup
“The State Department and the Pentagon are jointly working on plans for a post-President Bashar al-Assad Syria. They hope to avoid the kind of implosion they believe occurred because of a lack of planning for post-Saddam Iraq. The Bush administration’s decision to disband Iraqi security forces, made shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, was a catalyst for the bloody civil war that followed. Critics said that decision … set loose tens of thousands of armed, disaffected young men.”
[Emphasis added]
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_.....ntact?lite
Roger Rabbit Commentary: It matters who wins elections. We can’t afford another stupid-jerk Republican in the White House. Human lives are at stake.
This is my favorite bit:
Two things. First, anyone know knows jack about American history in that period knows that Adams was a widely reviled outcast among his Founding Father peers, not because of any hardships, but because he was an asshole.
Second: That said, the Romneybot 2.0 doesn’t know how anyone felt. That software is not included in its programming. And he never clicks on the updates they keep sending.
@11 You’re overlooking the fact that only electoral votes count, and in compiling the 270 EVs need to win, most states and most voters aren’t in play and don’t matter.
Romney has to run the table on the big EV-rich eastern swing states — Ohio, Virginia, Florida, and North Carolina — but has only a slim lead in NC and trails in the rest.
At this point, with only 3 1/2 months to go, it’s difficult to see a path to 270 EVs for Romney.
I must apologize Carl. I could only get about halfway through that post. It’s bad enough having to read such a mish-mash of literary diarea (a professer once wrote that critique on a friend’s paper), without having to then go through an analysis of WHY it’s muddled garbage.
As RR commented earlier, it’s all about key buzz words which rally the base. No undecided voters are going to read Romney’s book, only a few of the die-hard Romney supporters would. The only real purpose is to give Romney a chance to say “See! I wrote a book! I’m just as capable of winning a Pulitzer as Kennedy!”. It also allows him to deflect tough questions by saying it’s all discussed in his book.
Interesting that despite all obama’s spending and efforts to demonize Romney, obama sits at 47.6% in both Job Approval & vs. Romney in todays RealClearPolitics poll of polls.
http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....-1171.html
Now Romney has the VP Nomination, the Convention and tens of millions more than obama in the bank..plus Romney is outraising obama by nearly 40% last month and 3 months in a row.
This is called Rope-A-Dope and the dope is obama/biden and you idiots.
I read obama’s book which is part truth and lots of fiction. It helped me understand what a sick bastard he really is.
We just sold Disney at $49.85. I agree it’s overpriced…as are lots of other stocks.
I was tempted to go all out this AM. I have been all in. Did sell off a bunch of others including 50% of my Apple holdings.
The sick fucks are Raw-Money the vulture capitalist and rat-bastards who apologize for him.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....-the-plant
She was just a dumb, sick, old lady anyway. Not a real person…
…not a “corporation”…eh, Willard?
http://thinkprogress.org/elect.....wing-base/
Yeah…this is the guy this “Jody” character thinks is gonna stand up to China, Iran or “the Soviet Union” (duh).
Mr. Cynical and Rujax,
Copying a big chunk of someone else’s writing is not fair use and goes against the comment policy.
Please…more comment and less copying.
OK D, thx.
@32, Darryl: Um, Klynical has his hand up Jody’s ass?
@34 And up Ev’s, I’d bet. The way Ev went overboard the other day denying that he was the Klown was a tell. A Klown can change screen names but he’ll never be able to hide teh stupid.
Our trolls. Mr. Klynical, Dr. Butt and the moronic asshat “little maxie”.
Zotz,
“Darryl: Um, Klynical has his hand up Jody’s ass?”
I didn’t actually check, but the style is so similar I am assuming Jody is Cynical.
Mr. Cynical is back? Did the goats kick him out of the shed? Is Jody the Klynikal Klown?
@37 Could be. “Jody” seems to know a little bit about stocks (see #28), as the Klown does. Or maybe Jody is one of Mr. C’s goats …?
I thought Mr. C was into doing his neighbor’s sheep…
@40: He has his own, but they’re onto him now. He can’t get near ’em.