Comments on: Horror master King sez “Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake!”

By: Perpetua

Perpetua — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:59:58 +0000

I’m going to be giggling about the pope’s balls all morning. It makes me think that some day I’ll need to tell my students about the pre-modern ritual checking of the pope’s balls (to make sure he has some, and is not secretly a woman).

By: LadyProf

LadyProf — Tue, 01 May 2012 06:58:35 +0000

King fan here. He works really hard on his writing: call it flop sweat if you want, but the ethic impresses me. Think of how many elderly readers of his, Hollywood dudes, and fellow rich people he risked offending with this piece. People who agree with what he wrote aren’t in a position to enrich him.

Will it change the world? Probably not, but we have another articulate spokesman to mention every time someone says taxation is too hard on the fee-fees of rich men, or too burdensome to pay.

By: undine

undine — Tue, 01 May 2012 04:01:00 +0000

This is the best thing Stephen King ever wrote.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Tue, 01 May 2012 02:54:07 +0000

Koshary: I agree. I don’t read his books, nor have I ever seen one of his movies. He published a decent couple of stories in the New Yorker in the last decade, which I read. But, yeah: excellent invective, which could only be credibly delivered by another rich, older guy (esp. the prostate cancer/balls falling off the pope bit. At least I would hesitate to make those points in precisely the same fashion.)

Indyanna: King’s diagnosis of the groupies of the megarich (Ryan, McConnell, and their ilk) was excellent, I thought, but I was already almost in danger of a plagiarism accusation in reproducing even these choice bits here on my blog!

By: koshembos

koshembos — Tue, 01 May 2012 02:42:35 +0000

Sadly, King’s outpouring will make absolutely no difference. Mitt and Barack will continue to buy the gate to the presidency helped by the super rich who get the best deal ever.

It’s getting close to using drones to rescue our country.

By: Dr. Koshary

Dr. Koshary — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:50:11 +0000

It’s so odd: I generally hate Stephen King’s writing style in his books. I could hardly get through them, when I used to go to the beach and could consider packing a beach read. I don’t care for either his prose style or his literary conceits.

And yet I am deeply impressed by his screed about taxation and rich guys, in form and content. That bit about Warren Buffet’s cancer in the news outshines everything else that King has ever written, for my money.

By: Liz

Liz — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:17:25 +0000

King was my commencement speaker, just over a decade ago, and after asking us just exactly what we were thinking for inviting him, he challenged our class to double a donation to a local (local to the college) charity that he made in our name and to remember that with much privilege comes much responsibility. He ruffled some feathers that morning, which I think means he did well.

By: Indyanna

Indyanna — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:10:04 +0000

King was born on the Aroostook frontier on exactly the same day, probably within hours, of when I was, far closer to the metaphorical heart of the American empire and the American Century–if the Borough of Queens counts for anything. So I can use him as a sort of perpetual measuring stick for mobility prospects with regard to both fame and fortune. Conclusion? My phone interview on the “Rambling with Gambling” show on WOR after a big research triumph was the closest I was ever going to get to “owning” a radio station. And when I took a (non)-scheduled hiatus from grad school to clerk in a law firm for a while to earn a few bucks I should have written up the horror story of that big civil trial up in Anthraxtonia, PA over a busted radio station sale deal instead of going back to finish up the diss. and hope for a movie deal. The article in the NYT today about Paul Ryan and his literally enthralled little band of acolytes in the House gym makes it clear how directly many of this generation of politicians are working for the plutocrats. Either the whole sordid scheme will topple soon or we’ll live to see the day when donors to the mega-PACs send their footmen to Congress in livery. The latter might be almost amusing enough to tolerate. Cut a check, indeed!

Cool story about the endowed chair in Orono, though; I didn’t know that last detail about it. It’s well-filled, I will say.

By: Comradde PhysioProffe

Comradde PhysioProffe — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:50:05 +0000

I totally own the nail-hammered flaming dicke meme.