Unlike actors and actresses who came from humble roots, had no inside connections in the industry and who had to pay their dues (i.e. no "Mouseketeer" easy route to fame), Gwynnie was born to acting royalty with a silver spoon in her mouth.

Then she did a couple movies and inexplicably won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love...

So who's to blame her for celebrating the good life?

You and I will lose ur jobs, homes and rely on food stamps for Ramen we can cook over campfires under bridges...and Ms. Paltrow will still be feastin' on her poussins.

And thanks to an American police-state that has revolution-proofed the country, Gwynnie will never, ever suffer the Marie Antoinette fate she so 'richly' deserves.

That, my friends, is the way things are. Any questions?

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I do nurture one secret hope, though...

That the spawn of Paltrow and her castrated, Bono-wannabe, very-poor-man's Radiohead wuss-rock husband Chris Martin - yes, I'm talking about little "Apple" - one day rebels against her mommy and daddy.

I hope that Apple ends up eating Mickey D's fries, loving 50-cent Vienna sausages, cherry Coke and other non-macrobiotic, non-vegan, non-organic, non-smug-rich-hipster junk food.

I hope Apple buys a PC with Vista, a Samsung instead of an iPhone, ends up driving an F-350 dually that gets 0.9 miles per gallon...and grows to love listening to Motorhead, Sabbath, Floyd and Judas Priest - and automatically puking every time she hears Coldplay.

C'mon, Apple. Grow up to flip the proverbial finger at your annoying 'rents. Get a tattoo at 14, give your first BJ with the Pixies playing in the background at 15, slap your mom in her statuesque face at 16 and call your dad out as a limp-dick hack at 17.

Rock on with your bad self. Become Angelina 2.0. =)

a society not so concentrated in cities because of corporate agriculture and the decimation of small towns and small farms;

I am a city-slicker, and that much happier for it. My time in small towns & rural farming devolves my mood and sentiments into:

a.) Absolute boredom. Give me theater, cinema (that plays independent films and not just Adam Sandler crap), museums, art galleries, Irish pubs, various ethnic eateries (good luck finding Chinese food...or even, umm, people...in a small town), interesting curio stores and emporiums that reflect individual thinking...

Do NOT give me just one restaurant in town - a fuckin' Applebees or Perkins at that - and a friggin' Wal-Mart SuperCenter.

b.) Fear. As a brown-skinned person, I have never been so uncomfortable, anxious and isolated in my life as I have been in American small towns.

Yes, I understand they don't see many non-evangelical, non-whites in these parts.

But the hostile glares, and stares trying to pinpoint what I am (Is he Mexican = illegalito? A-rab = terrorist? Native American = drunk, homeless beggar? Their stereotypes, mind ya...not mine!) give me the creeps.

Small towns and farms are the kinda places people can lynch you, and bury you amongst the corn...and the outside world would never find out.

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So you find happiness in small towns? All power to you.

Same to any white evangelical heterosexual conservative person out there.

But the rest of us find our happiness in the multiculti mix of the city.

And I for one will put up with higher crime, traffic and other social warts of city life to feel safe in my ethnicity, enjoy the interesting, vibrant arts and stores...and the occasional pad thai or Moo Shu chicken. =)

She-Ra, Princess of Power!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quzY7ONePM4

(This comment brought to you by Mattel, Inc. =)

Step 1. Let go of your childhood.

How? Follow Step 2.

Step 2. Read the book "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz. It is neither self-help dogma nor religious instruction; it simply suggests a worldview where we can be free from the "agreements" conditioned in us from the time we are born.

Step 3. If nothing else, heed - and really think about - the first new Agreement: Be impeccable with your Word.

Step 4. Become gracious and giving.

Cheers,

Lonewolfy

life stays Epic all damn week long!!! ;-)

(The weekends, though? Brutal, hombre. Brutal.)

Firstly, any responsible dog owner - and there are millions of us - would not "flame" you for your stance on leashes, cleaning up poop or barking.

That being said...

"Don't think for a moment that it deserves to be valued as a human."

I get your basic point: because a person can treat a dog like a slave, dogs are lower than humans.

But DO YOU actually GET WHAT YOU ARE SAYING?

You are justifying enslavement by denigrating the victim.

Which is how white Christian ministers justified slavery back in the day: because you can own Negroes as slaves, they are an inferior race to 'humans' (read: whites).

Good grief, man! I'm assuming your unfortunate analogy was well-intended (unless you're from the Deep South, perhaps)...but think about your argument a little better next time, maybe?

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Oh, and in case you didn't read my other post in this thread:

My stance is that humans are capable of malice, hatred, bloodlust and evil that would make even the most rabid, distempered mutt cower in horror and fear.

So don't think for a moment that humans deserve to be valued as a dog.

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PS I'm a loving, generous, thoughtful husband and father, adored by his family

Good for you. I'm a childless adult male who can't stand undisciplined, misbehaving, screaming, pampered spoilt little human brats - and adores / is adored by animals and adult friends.

To each his own.

(That sound you hear? Around the world little boys' heads are exploding.)

True, indeed...but the "heads" which are exploding are not the ones of which you're thinking.

And it's happening to big boys, too. =)

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Now, show me a butch lesbian superhero who fights crime in practical shoes...

She already exists in real life!

Not sure what shoes she wears - but her name is Rachel Maddow.