Class, That's What's Missing!

I've been thinking a lot lately about the direction of political discourse in this country. It's bad isn't it? Name calling is the ultimate example of this. From Republicans calling Democrats Un-American, to liberals accusing everyone who doesn't agree with them of being a racist, it seems to get worse and worse with every passing news cycle. But the most egregious event has to be George Clooney's comments at the Golden Globe Awards.

I don't know why. Who would name their kid Jack with the last words 'off' at the end of your last name? No wonder that guy is screwed up. Ahh-alright I just got bleeped. Thank you very much...

Boy, George, that's creative and clever. You're sooo smart. He must be guilty, his name is funny sounding. Next I expect things like "You're a poopie head" or "You smell like ca ca" to be considered compelling arguments.

Take a look at Jack Abramoff's dad's response to Clooney's childish, inane, foolish, classless comments.

These comments are intended to belittle, and hurt. This from a well-known democrat. Yea, that's the party of sensitivity. That's the "enlightened" party. There's three things we could do to stem the tide.

1. Boycott every entertainer that shows such lack of class and write to their representatives.
   
2. Vote out every politician that calls someone a Nazi or racist.
3. Refuse to buy products from advertisers that support shows that are offensive and write a letter to them telling them why.
   

If you don't do that you're a booger-picker.

Hatred Makes You Do Funny Things

I had to laugh as I've followed the Ted Kennedy's "questioning" of Samuel Alito. Kennedy read a satire as if true, as a way to imply that Alito is a racist. A good synopsis of the story can be seen here. There's really three truths that leap to mind when watching Teddy:

1. If you're filled with prejudice and hatred (in this case pre-judging of any conservative as racist and hatred of anyone who has an opinion other than yours) you've relinquished your ability to analyze the truth of statements handed to you by like-minded people.
2. An excessive amount of time living and working in D.C. corrupts and corrodes the mind.
3. The two-party system is problematic. There has got to be at least one other party to play the foil against the other two.

When you think about it, we don't have a Republican and Democratic party. We have an Anti-Democrat and an Anti-Republican party. They are more interested in being the opposite to their opponent than seeking the best for the country. While is doesn't help us, the citizens very much, it certainly does make for some entertainment.

Sorry Google...

Okay, I'm sick of it. I don't mean to complain but I just spent the last 30 minutes or so browsing through Google Video. I will never buy video from Google until they do two things:

Hire an actual interface designer. Their site sucks so bad it's almost laughable. You can't find anything. Guys, the user experience matters. Quit being a bunch of pompous nerds and admit you need help.

Support Mac: I don't give a flying flip that the Mac users represent 5-7% of the market. We buy videos. So far Apple has sold 8 million videos through their store. Saying you can't buy unless you're using a particular platform is a joke. The promise of the web was that it would be platform agnostic. Some of us prefer to spend our time using our computers instead of defending them from viruses. Get a clue.

Thus endeth my rant. I'm sure I'll have to deal with hateful messages from Windows lemmings, but I can deal with that.

Left Speechless

Why can't I blog everyday. It takes only minutes, can be done from anywhere, I'm in front of a 'puter all day, why don't I blog? The answer came to me today.

By the time I start getting my thoughts together on one topic, I'm outraged by another. I'm experiencing what could be called "outrage overload."

We've moved beyond information overload to the point where every politician and pundit is pissed about something and feels compelled to spew their vitriol all over us. The Colbert Report does an awesome job of spoofing this trend.

I think the only answer for bloggers is to get down a few sentences about what's upper most in their minds, publish and move on. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to relax and laugh a little.

Inside stuff on Steve Jobs...

This is an interesting article written by Mike Evengelist. It gives great insight into how Steve Jobs approaches those famous (or maybe infamous) keynote presentations.

You may also want to visit his blog Writer's Block Live.