I have to let you in on a very paranoid idea I have been harboring for quite some time. I know that Republicans are evil bastards that will sacrifice fairness for results at the drop of a hat. I also know they would steal the pennies from their mothers' eyes.
So when the economy took a big shit, and it coincidentally coincided with Obama's impending victory, I couldn't help but wonder, "what is going on in the mind of the millionaire"?
I have a limited knowledge of these people I guess, but I have met a few, seen stories on television and news outlets on them, and just happen to work for one, so in that case I get quite an intimate and demonstrative display of the decisions they make, why they make them, and what their likes and dislikes may happen to be.
In the case of my boss, it all started when Obama's victory looked not only possible, but quite probable. As the election grew closer and the economy got more unstable he was quite loud about "if Obama wins the election I'm going to have to close shop". What the fuck? This seemed a rather defeatist attitude for someone who not only is known to fight tooth and nail to get his own way, but also lives in an a 50 to 80-million-dollar fantasy bubble where if he declares that hot are sinks and cool air rises, it is so. No - I detected something else brewing at the base of this hasty declaration of defeat on his part.
The man hated Obama so much that he refused to go out to lunch with his own son because he had the audacity to wear an Obama T-shirt in this country.
The next indication that something was wrong in the neurosis department was the soda machine he stuck in the break room. This was a soda machine he acquired himself and proceeded to buy twelve packs of soda from Walmart and fill it up with them, charging 65 cents-a-can. Everyone thought 65 cents a reasonable price and we all proceeded to buy cans religiously, especially at lunch time.
One day, Dan, a kid that works with me here in the art department, was upset that he had not received the 35 cents change from the pop machine for his can of Mr.Pibb. It was no malfunction - Apparently the boss had decided that he needed to jack the price up for a single can of soda to a whole dollar! Well, needless to say, everyone pretty much stopped plugging any cash into that abomination. He then declared loudly that the money collected from that machine went towards company picnics and , get this - "bonuses"! As if we can't open up an extra bank account and set a little aside for our own "bonuses".
The fact that people weren't dutifully plugging dollar bills into that machine pissed him off to no end, but hey - It isn't a fucking gas pump, now is it?
So then one Friday before Christmas we received a letter in our paychecks stating that we would not be getting paid for the Friday after Christmas, but we had to take it off unpaid.
A couple weeks after that we got another letter on Friday in our checks stating that the economy sucks and that either layoffs and/or terminations would be taking place soon.
We finally got word on Tuesday after the Friday we received notice of the cuts, Needless to say that Monday everyone came in looking like they had just done three months at Trablinka.
Two artists, who the boss didn't care for were let go altogether, and the rest of the art department was reduced to Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only. Only the art department received these cuts.
So we all immediately went down and filed for partial unemployment, a concept I was sure the boss was not familiar with.
Once he discovered there was indeed such a thing as partial unemployment, he displayed his ass feathers like a peacock and declared that he was going "to fight these unemployment claims" - Problem is, A: With eight people all filing at the same time stating their hours were cut, there isn't anything to contest. B: the forms sent back to the Iowa Workforce Development center had been turned in marked "we choose not to contest these claims" because the HR department knew you can't make sausage out of sawdust. C: the closest this buffoon will ever get to wearing a crown is driving through a Burger King and ordering a kids' meal.
Apparently he apologized to the IWFD and said it was all just a "mistake", even though we all got word that when he first discovered we were collecting unemployment, he threw a tantrum like a three-year-old out in the warehouse in California.
He cut the art department's hours because he figured we all voted for Obama. I have no proof, but he is that kind of a cock. So now that he is out of options to torture us, he will either let us go altogether or put us back on five days a week. I'm sure the thought of us getting what basically amounts to two paid vacation days every week will gnaw at him like a bad case of the crabs. It will be announced that we suddenly had a "big sale" go through and he can now afford to hire us back full time - OR it will be "the economy sucks so I have to let you all go".
Seeing as how he couldn't make a color copy on the machine himself, let alone design packaging and deal with box design, he may realize he sort of might need an art department in the toy business and all. By the way - We make the Big Wheel here. Remember that thing? It's still going strong, and as a matter of fact - Sales were nearly double what they were for us last year, so go figure.
Now - My views of the over-all "recession" are as follows: Imagine tens of thousands of these cock suckers, all bitter and pissed off that they may have to choose between a yacht or a second home - not both because they might have to pay the full 35% in CG tax are all taking their collective bat, ball, and glove home and pouting. They are merely pretending they are having a tough time because of "those damn Democrats raising my taxes".
I'm dead serious about this. The people working and having jobs is what makes the economy move - Not bloated millionaires building ridiculous gaudy mansions and having their kitchen painted and re-painted 7 times or more to get the color "just right". Hoarding their fortunes in offshore bank accounts does not move the economy. When the "little people"
don't have cash and can't spend it, it is the millionaire CEO's that will feel the brunt of the economic slowdown. So you all should feel good every time the stock market gets another knee in the nuts. It means some bloated, arrogant, gasbag Republican has lost another two-hundred grand to some suite that lied to them. Picture the infamous "penis landscape" poster that was included in that Dead Kennedy's album in the 80's that got so much press for being so shocking. It showed rectums and cocks - all screwing each other up the ass. That is Wall street - that is the world that nurtures and makes it possible for abominations like Bernie Madoff or Jack Abramoff to make billions at the expense of those who can less afford it. It is the rich stealing from the poor. Well that world is having its rules regulated now, and it just isn't as much fun these days for these crooks to thrive and survive like they used to like back in the "good old days" of junk bonds. They deserve this recession, and the same attitude of "if Obama wins I'm going to have to close up shop" actually helps to screw themselves in the ass too, but they are much too stubborn to let it go. They KNOW they're screwing themselves too, but they think that it will choke off the regular people, effectively "punishing" them for voting for a Democrat - and a black one at that!
Even though the company I work for has experienced nearly double the sales of last year, we are having our hours cut - Just the art department though mind you. The boss, in the face of this economic "downturn" has not slowed down construction of his gaudy clownish mansion that he will share with his wife and toy poodle. They'll need a GPS system to find each other in the place. The irony of that house is there are twenty or so rooms - all with fireplaces that I assume are for his friends when they visit, but the problem is, one would actually need a few FRIENDS to fill the rooms. He has one or two I think. One of them was involved in the sewer gate scandal here in Cedar Rapids. He took payoffs to look the other way when they were dumping this solvent shit right into the water supply. He's a hump-backed mess too.
these guys will spend an eternity sucking each others' dicks in Hell I'm sure. Money fucks up a person worse than syphilis, which may well also be at play here. Anyone interested in seeing pictures of the Midwest's own Graceland mansion can e-mail me at kip,jlloyd@hotmail.com and I will be glad to show you some of the ridiculous lavishness in there like the marble slab his bed will rest upon. He will look like a damn walrus sunning himself on a rock on that thing. Same at the indoor swimming pool.
He is also a big Bible-thumper. Aren't they all. Republicans are so into God - I think it is either they feel guilt and shame and the pastors are more than willing to tell them they can get into Heaven or anything else they want to hear, just so long as they make a generous love-gift donation to the church, or let the church hold millions in the form of "donations" which his ex-wife tried but was told by the divorce judge that it was not allowed any longer. Forget what God himself would tell these people. I know he mentioned something about it being easier for a rich man to ride a camel through the eye of a needle than it was for him to enter the kingdom of Heaven. I'm surprised this guy hasn't erected a gigantic sewing needle where he can charge $20,000.00-a-saddle camel rides through it's gigantic eye.

Way back in 1983, I was chosen over every other mush-brained highschool art student in the country to receive the president's scholarship, which is the top scholarship of the "big eight" institutions that are considered the top art schools in the U.S.. Anyway - I blew that because I was anything but a dedicated student. I did, however, meet some very interesting people, and had more than my share of enriching experiences. One such person was Stretch - He came from Phillidelphia, and lived in the dorms as well as me. We were not the best students, and at the time Stretch, as far as I could tell, worked in the medium of scotch tape, paper, and string. Stretch was rather short and stocky, and was always smiling. He could cheer up the most grim of faces. We worked on a project together last term and actually got into a full-blown fist fight over it (I still have the scar over my right eye). Anyway - Thanks to Myspace, I discovered that Stretch has made quite a name for himself in the world of sculpture. He travels the globe installing his works and lecturing, etc... He also became a business owner in Kansas City. After completing his classes at the art institute in Kansas City, he finished up in Virginia. Anyway - He couldn't believe that it was me e-mailing him, and we kept in touch for nearly a year, then, last weekend, who should appear at my front door? You guessed it. It had been 23 years since I last saw him face to face. He was installing a peice in his Des Moines gallery and went four hours out of his way to drop in on me. We talked at the house, went to dinner at the Happy Chef, then talked a bit more, then he went on his way. It was great. It sort of made me realize that art school really happened and the Kansas City Art Institute hosted me, indeed, for a year. He had not changed at all. Still Stretch after all this time. It made me feel good. Although my school experience was not the best, I still feel special that I got in in the first place. I was put on academic probation and maintained a 1.58 GPA there, but I still get a little glow of sunshine when I think back to my art school days. I learned, if anything, that all of our life experiences are both good and bad, but in the end - The good prevails, man. The good prevails.

I worked for four years at a toy company.At least that is what it started out to be. Unfortunately the couple who owned it went through a horrible divorce, the longest in Iowa's history, and the toy production end of things slowed way down. They had an H.R. representative that made it her business to bully people by writing up disciplinary forms left and right. I also worked under an "art director" who had the literacy of a kindergardner, and could not draw or paint to save his life. I just could take no more of this nightmare and retired out of the blue. I remember the weight-lifting caveman art director telling me, "good luck", as I drove off. Part of the problem was a non-compete agreement that everyone signed under duress. Well - I broke it when the ex-husband, who built up the original toy company, called me up to work for his new toy company. Well, the other company got all pissed and threatened to take me to court, so I basically told them to, "come and get me". They never took me to court and last Friday the company finally had to shut its doors.This happened because they did everything BUT make toys. They spent money and time on lawyers and paranoia, but never spent a penny to actually manufacture toys. So they went out of business - imagine that. After this was announced to everyone, I saw the caveman art director leaving the building (the other company is only two buildings away), so I swung in to the parking lot and said to him, "good luck, man", and laughed my ass off and drove away. The angry little troll of a woman in H.R. got a piece of a few peoples' minds as well. She even tried to fire one of the artists there AFTER they were laid off. That is how spiteful this bitch is. Anyway - yesterday, I walked by the old building at break with another employee here, and the mongloid son of the owner was out in front of the building yelling something at me. He was beet-red with rage. It is a beautiful week. I was tempted to yell at him to hurry up and get out of that building because I have dibs on his office. You see - The ex-wife owes the ex-husband so much cash that she has hid in Hong Kong, that she now has to hand over her property assets. I am nearly orgasmically filled with joy this week. This will pass, but not after a little more gloating - well deserved gloating if I may say so myself. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn.

My attempt at Asian cartoon music:

ETERNITY

 

Everyone has sex at concert pitch:

HEART R

 

Although digital, this piece features the guitar stylings of Dr. Faustus:

HOMEMADE

 

Concert pitch - everyone:

Pop Cult 02

 

The music you hear on the background of my page is a remix of Korean Pop group Baby Vox.