I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve decided that we, as a society, should do away with the whole dating ritual. I mean, honestly, each and every one of us has a need… no, a right to be loved, don’t we?

Instead of the current dating ritual and the whole “revolving door marriage” we’ve got now, individuals who’re looking to get married should fill out an resume that includes a complete history of everyone we’ve ever dated (and for those of you who are more promiscuous, yes, that includes people you had sex with even if you weren’t dating), as well as experiences, interests, and references. Applicants’ resumes will be reviewed, and after a short interview process (no more than three interviews), the reviewer and the applicant will be married.

The reviewer, once the marriage has taken place, will find that it is nearly impossible to get a divorce. Divorce proceedings will require that a very high standard of “wrongdoing” must be met (and all of it must be properly documented) before the divorce will be granted. Though the applicant is allowed to dissolve the marriage at will, any reviewer who purposefully abuses or neglects the applicant for the purposes of encouraging the applicant to leave will be subject to prosecution.

It sounds kind of insane, doesn’t it? The applicant obviously holds all the power in that system, and a reviewer would have to be insane to ever marry anyone.

So, why the heck do the French think that it sounds like a good system for establishing employer-employee relationships? God forbid that any Frenchman should be required to find job security by doing his job well so that he’s actually valuable to his employer. No, the system owes them a job.

To be fair, that’s better than some Americans, who think that the government owes them money to cover food, rent, and cell phones.

Does anyone know what the plan is for CAB 4? Is it still scheduled for this Friday at lunch time, assuming that Rick’s studio is free?

It’d probably be easier to get answers if I’d just start e-mailing people (or at least going to comment on their individual blogs), but I’m lazy.

[UPDATE: Rick was one step ahead of me, announcing his one year blog anniversary and CAB 4's time and place.]

From The Goddess:

On Wednesday of this week,
at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning,
the time and date will be
01:02:03 04/05/06

That won’t ever happen again.

How cool is that?!

I’m assuming, from the Goddess’s tagline (“A Republican’s Worst Nightmare”) that she’s liberal, and therefore, not big on those pesky little things that most of us call facts. Like these, for example:

• Unless you hold to the theory that crossing time zones is actually time travel (One of my ex-girlfriends claimed that if you called England, you were talking to the future and that the Brit you were speaking with was, in turn, talking to the past.), then 01:02:03 04/05/06 will occur at least 24 times, thanks to the miracle of time zones.
• Most people will claim that the 01:02:03 04/05/06 thing will happen twice on April 5th. If you don’t hold to a 24-hour clock, that’s arguably true. I wouldn’t argue it, because I do hold to the 24 hour clock, but still, I thought I should mention that.
• On May 4th, 2006, at 01:02:03, most Europeans will tell you that the date is 01:02:03 04/05/06.
• Finally (and least nitpicking-ly), what about 01:02:03 on the morning of April 5, 3006? Or even 2106? I’m pretty sure that “never” would exclude those, as well.

Still, I suppose it’s always possible that whoever originally came up with the “never happen again” was being more philosophical. Every instant is unique and will never occur again, but if that’s the case, I see nothing special in pointing out that 01:02:03 04/05/06 will never occur again.

I’ve never understood the idea that certain jobs are beneath certain people. I can’t imagine being comfortable living off the “charity” of the government, especially since government “charity” is simply a nice way of saying that the government steals from people who work for a living to give money to people who won’t work.

From Mostly Cajun, “Jobs Beneath My Dignity“:

It is a sad commentary on the way we’ve let things go that we as a people will allow some of our citizens to sit around and do no more that procreate while drawing government largesse while at the same time there are honorable jobs which go begging or are readily filled with people who enter this country illegally.

We need to return the idea of “honorable labor” to the American scene. Welfare for the able should be denigrated in the media and in daily conversation in every quarter.

I’ve got nothing to add to that except “Amen.” Go read the whole thing.