#4:

Same here. I read it as "crow dripping" and thought, "Crap. I just figured out 'rickrolled' and now there's this."

Han, Han, make-cheesay. Pa'sa tah ono caulky malia. Ee youngee d'emperolo teesaw. Twa spastika awahl no. Yanee dah poo noo.

*bang bang bang bang bang*

Hm, I've found the following things on youtube from the kids in our military:

1. Nasty video of some soldiers helping a fellow soldier pop a huge zit.

2. Soldiers making a spider and scorpion fight in a glass jar.

3. Soldiers paying Iraqi children a dollar to chant "F* Iraq."

Yeah, you know what? I'm not sure we're losing anything from their inability to blog.

Study some of the artists of the 19th century, and you'll find a disturbing notion that masturbating and orgasm robbed you of "essence": your life force and your creativity. Many famous artists totally obsessed that if they played a little pocket pool, they would never produce good art and possibly endangered their health. And these were the liberals of the period...

I don't know if these devices were mainstream, but they seem like very plausible artifacts for a culture that was (and still is) obsessed with repressing sexuality.

Ha ha, no more comments. Someone should take a screenshot of the page before it is sanitized by the new TSA 3-1-1 blogging rule (all comments must be 3 words or less. 1 words must be "TSA." 1 other word must be "wonderful.")

Please remove shoes before posting comments.

I work for an educational publisher. The pay schedule for the position is influenced by the level of education. People with advanced degrees earn more. And since my degree is in creative writing, I'm the senior editor for the reading/language arts material and I usually get first shot at revising manuscript (for any content area) if the freelance writer is unavailable or determined not to be up to snuff for the project. So the degree is also applicable.

I'm not arguing that a master's degree makes anyone better than anyone else, just refuting the claim that it's useless. I think MFA programs can be highly valuable for the exact reasons Eileen listed above and that a degree can do more than a certificate from Clarion/West can in many situations. Having said that, I have issues with how many MFA programs are run, including the bais against "genre" fiction. I am extremely supportive of programs like Clarion/West.

Wanting to be a writer is a frustrating and often unrewarding desire. However people want to go down that road--whether it's through a university, an intensive writing seminar, or just reading everything you can get your hands on--is equally valid.

Writing degrees are not useless. Having a master's degree in creative writing can be lucrative in a number of fields, not the least of which is publishing (my field). I earn about $10k more a year than I did prior to getting my "useless" degree as a senior editor. If I ever decide to return to teaching, I can apply for any job, not just adjunct, since mine is the terminal degree in the field. I was also able to spend three years writing, teaching, and dodging a cube--and that experience was priceless.

The sad fact is, no matter what you do, the likelihood of making it as a successful writer living off your work is ridiculously slim. And yes, some writing advice is simple, but some people need/want the time and encouragement that a two- or three-year program offers to work it out.

The people who spent more time partying and less time writing and walked away without a solid start to a project or a clear idea as to what they wanted to do next might consider their degree to be "useless," but to me, such a description would be more apt about the person holding said degree.

This applies to anything, whether it's the writing program at Iowa or Clarion or some community college correspondence course. It's not accurate to call academic writing programs "useless." You get back what you put in.

Having earned an MFA at a respected program, I can say that a name carries some weight, maybe opens a couple of doors for you, but it ultimately does come down to the writing. Working with other writers can point out what's working and not working with your material in ways that maybe you can't see, and it can add the outside pressure of a deadline to help you gain the discipline of treating writing as work and something you have to do and do and do.
However, many people who graduated from all kinds of writing programs speak about "writing to the group," meaning you can fall into the pit of writing for your readers. I think a program like Clarion, being short and focused, sounds like a great opportunity.

"Apart from the cost, why is this a bad thing?"

Well, first and foremost, cost is the number one reason it's a bad idea, so don't dismiss it. Who will pay for this? Will it be subsidized by tax dollars or will farmers pay and then pass on the cost to consumers? Do we really need another reason to make meat more expensive?

2. Who's going to monitor this? Looks like it will be creating more bureaucracy in a system already overrun with it. How and where will this information be stored? Who will have access to it?

3. Why is agribusiness excluded? What would be a more effective terrorist attack, wiping out Farmer Brown's 5000 chickens or on Tyson's 50 million?

4. Why are pigs excluded? Wouldn't it make sense for certain terrorist groups--perhaps terrorist groups who don't eat pork--to attack... um... pork? Good way to filter out the "believers" from the "non-believers." Not to mention that I, personally, want my bacon protected before my chicken. There should be some sort of "taste heirarchy" for which meats get protected first.

5. Do you really want to freak out the Menonites with the "mark of the beast" stuff? They're gentle folk. They didn't ask for this.

This is just stupid. I really can't wait for that idiot to leave office.

"So Kucinich can't even have a Krusty partially gelatinated non-dairy gum-based beverage because of the gelatin? Poor guy."

Well, it depends. Does "gelatinated" mean it's "made from gelatin" or is it "in a gelatinous style"? The gum base would make me think it might not need gelatin to have that Krusty-approved thickness. He might be okay.

Though Kucinich should probably look into getting some meat in his system, being half-troll and all. His troll peoples are probably upset about his lack of goat-eating or bridge-living-under.

I think Cory's point is well taken; however, I also believe that companies like Amazon and Google are not so much interested in the actions of an individual as much as they are interested in the acts of a group of users. They want to find trends in order to market product better. It seems a stretch to make the case that a marketing group can create a police state. If the technology is there to be abused, it must be bolstered by dangerous legislation to have any real impact on individuals.
Unfortunately, with national security being such a knee-jerk issue right now, it seems unlikely that any politician will want to stand in the way of government-sponsored "spyware" programs that are designed to "protect" us.

I'm just thankful I'm not a genetically engineered pop star...

Reminds me of the "It's like a mini mall" guy from Montgomery. They should team up to do a Saturday morning kids' show with a low-budget Pee-Wee's Playhouse theme. Bring on overweight, easily excitable kids and have them do the Family Man dance or Mini Mall shuffle.

I'm pretty sure that a disaster will not trigger some inner-caveman-warrior powers among the general population. Unless it's a disaster caused by a meteorite from space, maybe. I think the majority of people will be fighting over Snickers bars from some burned out Exxon and not making bows from sapling trees in order to breakfast on the haunches of roast squirrel. Having some soy milk on hand is a pretty good idea, vegetarian or no.

"It was the most embarrassing incident in my life."

To me, this is the whole reason for the crusade to get compensated. This guy's rights weren't violated. He was embarrassed in public. It's funny how mortified some people get when someone calls them out. Even if it wasn't deserved and even if Roger was a jerk, the guy was simply embarrassed and now thinks he deserves all manner of compensation, including having Roger disciplined. I can just imagine this guy stewing about it the whole trip, plotting several revenge fantasies in his head.

You wrote your letter, you made good on your fey threats about posting to the interweb. Guess what? Your feelings aren't worth a free ticket. In fact, they're not even worth a free cookie.

These practices are not out of line for a developing nation. The U.S. during the 18th and 19th century condoned marriages that were very similar in the age discrepancy, and they also had God on their side to bless those unions. Is this disgusting? Absolutely. Is this girl's life ruined? You bet, just as it would have been if she waited until she was 14 or 16 (like Britney's sister) to get married and have bebes in such a wrecked country. And it's disturbing that the culture condones it, just as ours did 200 hundred years ago.

But instead of jumping on these people's cultural practices and religious beliefs, why not address the elephant in the room? The parents said, "We needed the money." From a guy with dirty pants. How can a culture evolve if the people don't have the resources to take care of their basic needs? I'm pretty sure they didn't marry off their daughter so that they could upgrade to HBO on their cable package.

Poverty and hunger are terrible, and powerful, things. If this really disgusts you, send the family some money to call off the wedding. I'm sure you and your office mates could pool together more than Mr. Crappy Pants there.

Go to the UNICEF website and donate. I just put up $50 bucks. Customs like thse are in place to help these poor people deal with a lack of resources. This particular guy may be a monster, but he's not representative of the whole culture. If you want to stop people like him, get off your butt and do so. But don't be ignorant or hypocritical and slam the whole culture or their religious beliefs based on one facet. God forbid we get judged as a culture based on what Britney Spears and her trailer trash family does. Americans, cast in a certain light, are a bigger blight on humanity than anyone.

Since it's obvious that inner-city youths will modify their behavior based upon the name of their junk food, perhaps Comrie should market Upwardly Mobile, Educated, and Professional Baked Snack Crisps. If aiming for the snack-food stars seems impossible, there's always Law Abiding, Vocational Job Blue Collar Blue Corn Chips or Junior College and Then Manager of a Blockbuster Popcorn.

This bill is going to pass. If the telecom lawsuits are allowed to go forward, there's a likelihood they'll turn around and sue the government, which is why so few legislators are trying to block the bill. Dems will rattle swords about "immunity" and then roll over. Again.

This is such a critical issue, and it's disheartening but not surprising to see our "representatives" doing so very little to protect our rights or carry out our will. Can someone tell me again why we can't just fire all these clowns?