Artifice

Umm... "I Saw Lightning" sounds like the song Adam Sandler sang on the airplane in the Wedding Singer. I don't mean that as a compliment.

I hope you guys are right. I really hated that first leaked single, and the title track is the classic sound, but not quite amazing. Also, I'd almost be scared if I liked all of it right away. First impressions rarely hold up for me. The good ones fade fast and the dislikes I often come around on. If its a first impression record, I'm afraid its not gonna have any substance. Can you tell that I'm invested in this band? Gheez.

I'm routinely blown away by bands whose live shows I discount ahead of time as pop fluff lacking any ass kicking ability, only to be promptly educated at the subsequent show. I could rattle off dozens of examples, but here's a random one just for fun: Lush - Lollapalooza '92. Took the stage right before Pearl Jam. Felt like about 1% of the crowd knew their material, but they rocked as hard as anyone else at that show until Ministry literally burned half the place down several hours later. Studio pop sounds altogether different on a festival stage with the amps on 11. Another good examp

Phoenix - 1901 Booty shaker!! :dancing New album May 25th!!

But how is he being hypocritical here? I agree with your theory, but what has DS done that is irresponsible? That's always been Stewart's beef. It's the root of why he was pissed on Crossfire. These shows that represent themselves as legitimate news and opinion, but don't want any accountability, are hurting America. Crossfire was promoting partisanship over real issues and political discourse (and they were hardly alone); Cramer is dispensing one size fits all financial advice; the Daily Show is... mocking the news and the newsmakers? Is that really the same?

Merill had 36,000 employees when they paid out that $3.6 Billion in bonuses in December. That's $100k per employee. Except, they paid a select 700 of them $1 million each.

Matt, seriously - he only did that after he was exposed. That's why I said asked, and to hear my friends at BofA tell it, he didn't ask nicely, he DEMANDED it, until the public outcry made him back down. And aren't you overlooking that the officers of the company bled the thing dry to the tune of $3.6 BILLION at the 11th hour? Some heads are gonna roll for that. I'd love to see an itemized breakdown of that $3.6 billion. I guaranty some of the numbers would be staggering.

I'm sorry, but this was just too timely: ML's John Thain asked for a $40 million bonus Not $10M as previously reported. FORTY. Long term careers and lifetime savings of thousands being obliterated, and this guy asks for FORTY MILLION as his firm dies. What a douchebag. Also on point, this little gem that has opened up an investigation: Yep, accountability.

Yep. Try having to deal with real people that listen to him. I wouldn't give a rat's ass what he says but it ends up affecting family. He's in his element with a Dem President. He has a golden baby seal of a scapegoat for his brand of hate - a fuggin uppity liberal muslim negro* * That would be how he portrays him. And obviously, W/Cheney was a golden target for the Daily Show crowd.

A repost of a really tired meme full of faulty logic is your response? oh boy.

it takes two to tango bob. he is ultimately responsible for what he puts out there as well.

He and Boortz and the majority of Fox News have made both my father and my father in law paranoid to the point where their own conservative, christian wives have told them to turn it off because they have both become unbearable people to be around. They have no sense of humor about anything, and see the worst possible in everyone who is the least, and I mean the very least, bit different than themselves. I miss hanging out with both of them. More than 10 minutes and you're assured of some kind of rant about some brownskinnedislamofascistcomunistatheistsocialistamericahater's latest plot to

Honestly, that nails it. Well, you left out opportunistic hypocrite, but I'm nitpicking. /thread

I think there is too much blurring of the line between responsibility and accountability. Supposedly, a CEO's pay should be justified and regulated by accountability, and it is not. And day to day mid level managers down to indiviudal employees may not steer the ship, but they fix problems and patch leaks that would otherwise cause the ship to sink. What this comes down to is a "market will bear" or "because they can" justification. The free market is an amoral mechanism also devoid of ethics and long term foresight. Using it as a moral/ethical/"right" justification for anything is logically

Responsibility /= accountability. And everyone in a company is equally responsible for its viability. Again, what do they do in a day, what is their actual labor. Be specific.

They are depedent upon one another. That doesn't validate the cronyism and lack of accountability at the top, which is achieved via an enabling system and lots of back scratching that doesn't really exist at the lower levels unless you count the unions, and we all know how those are viewed by those who approve of the top end. It's hypocritical, really.

Your reasoning is they should make that much "because you can". I can kill a man, steal from him. I can build a carcinogenic smokestack on my property or play metallica at maximum volume on a 400 decibel soundsystem aimed at my neighbors window. I can do all of these things too. Does that make them right? Why should that be an adequate reason for annually making 30, 40, 50, or 100 times the average working person's lifetime income? I asked you numerous times in my post to prove the case in the positive, and you ignored it. I gave you a concrete example of Exxon's last CEO - please just

"because you can" - apply that rationale to any other moral dilemma. And BTW, don't duck the rest of my post. Please justify the money those goons pulled down. I'm not talking about a six figure professional workaholic who can afford a luxury car and a vacation home. I'm talking about obscene amounts of income.

My father was President of a manufacturing company for a number of years.

what is it that you do that is so special or unique that no one else could do the job? That, in a single year, is worth the lifetime earnings of at least 30 well educated/trained people? I can think of a few things, but they tend to sound more comic booky - Dr Manhatten curing cancer on a person by person basis or building renewable energy sources all around the globe. I can't think of a single thing anyone that has made that kind of money has done that warrants that kid of ridiculous income. What did this guy personally do, besides sport the ultimate turkey neck, in any given day to earn

Really flat, especially the end. Not a bad movie, but not very memorable. I have some strong opinions about this one, including the new ending that changes both the superficial and the deeper morality questions. Dunno if this is the right thread for it. I will say that Snyder should have concentrated more on the story and less on making 300 pt 2 (gorefest). Understatement. You kinda know what you're getting into, but man, it's just awful. There is nothing redeeming about it at all. I'll admit I chuckled a couple of times, but overall yeah, it's not enough to really hold your

You are trying to argue for a commodity based currency, whether you realize it or not. Ours is a fiat currency. Debt = money.

Stereogum via Pitchfork So, are all these bands really pricks or does Wayne just need to chill?

Revisiting this. Still a little slow in places. Two Kinds is great though. May be a little cliche, but I love the sound.

Wow. An entire post that missed the point, quoted things not said, and failed to contradict anything I said with factual information, yet denounced me all the same. Rush posts on VC?