Truth be told

Too Cynical?

No new posts in a year? Have we all become too cynical to post?

"Why bother? No one will read it anyway."

Well Eyeore, someone might stumble over here and might be too tired to click away and might actually read something so I'll post something new anyway.

BTW, I miss you all, my cynical friends. I've met a new cynic at my new job. He's hilarious. No one else seems to get him and he's worked at this company for 7 years. Lonely little cynic. The nice thing is....he's not only a cynic, but a cynic who is quick to say "WTF?" so he's also a bullshit detector. I might eventually invite him to the blog but I suspect he'd say, "Post on a blog? Why bother? No one will read it. And if they do, what do I care if they do read what I wrote?"

Exactly.

Why Obama is failing

"Yes we can". This was the battle cry for change. For hope. For...more extremely vague concepts. President Obama promised the citizens of the United States that a vote for him would be a vote for righting all the wrongs of the Bush presidency. So what happened? Well, to paraphrase President Obama himself from his recent appearance on Jon Stewart's program, it's still 'yes we can.' But...everything takes time.

The biggest problems facing this new administration were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the spiraling economy and the negative perception of this country around the world. To think that any one administration could clear all that up in a short amount of time would be ludicrous. As a matter of thought, the public would have given Obama all the time he needed to get the country turned around, provided he was obviously putting forth the effort. So what happened?

The universal health care bill. That is what happened. I mean, yes...there are many factors that lead to the decline in popularity of this president, but I believe this is the main reason. The concept of health care for the needy itself should actually to be applauded. Whether you think health care should be a right or priviledge doesn't matter. Here's a president who's doing something he believes will benefit the average citizen rather than the upper class. Okay...that's pretty cool.

The problem is that he did not clean the dishes before he started cooking. There was a mess and Obama went ahead with a new agenda rather than clean Bush's mess. Rather than awkwardly push health care onto a perplexed country, Obama should have pulled the troops out of Iraq and refocused the mission on hunting down those responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Bush's attempt to finish his father's war was a huge mistake. The world was with us when we vowed to go to war on terror. Then, all of a sudden...Iraq! Nearly 10 years after the attack, bin Laden isn't even trying to run anymore. I digress.

With his election, favor for the US rebounded nicely around the world. 2 years later? More apathy than anything else. Corporations and celebrities from the US are the real news, the real power. And with ending the Iraq war and going after bin Laden, confidence that this president was righting the wrongs of his predecessor? That would have, most likely, boosted confidence in the economy and national pride.

President Obama is an intelligent man. Nice change after the previous administration. But Obama needs to understand that people are more influenced by what he does rather than what he says. When he was a candidate, people listened...because they had hope through his rhetoric. Now people have been watching and are asking when will "yes we can" actually begin? Yes, we don't expect to have change overnight. We do, however, want to see the course of the nation be set towards the change we hope for.

She's hot? Really?

The media says she's the hottest model/woman out there. Really? Personally, I'd rather go to bed alone rather than wake up next to that.

You can say the photo isn't flattering (because it isn't). But I have yet to find any photos that are.

Weigh in guys, even if you do so anonymously.

seeing a ghost

I watched Michael Douglas on Letterman last night. 2 things immediately occurred to me, followed by a third one.

1) WOW, he looks just like his dad

2) I am watching a ghost. Stage IV throat cancer, one week into chemo and radiation and he already has that look.

3) Zeta-Jones had a plan, after all. Shortly, she'll own everything. Plus, his other kid is out of the mix, cooling his heels in federal prison so her kids will clean up too.

Poor guy. At least Letterman was nice to him and even gave him a hug.

Stop and Ponder

Facebook users:

If there was no Facebook, what would you be doing with your time?

What is it that Facebook gives you that real life is not?

Are your connections to Facebook friends more real than your physically present friends?

Where do all the things you put on Facebook end up?

Do you wonder how many servers it takes to house all the stuff on Facebook?

Do you consider how much electricity it takes to run those server arrays and storage devices?

Do you think the cost of that energy expense should be added to your personal carbon footprint?

What did you do with your time and your life before Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot and the trend of over sharing on the Internet?

sign me,

Not judging, Just wondering and guilty of having blogs too

Scott Brown and what Obama should do

So I did not win the Mass Senatorial election. More's the pity. But looking at who did win, Martha Coa...wait a minute. Scott Brown won the race?! What in the hell is going on, Massachusetts? Isn't this a red state through and through? No. It's not. The constituents of the commonwealth can transcend party lines when the needs arise. And what was the need in this case? Well, it was the need to shoot down a candidate who took this election for granted.

Here in Massachusetts, we hate being talked down to. We get annoyed very easily when we are told how we should act, think, behave and vote. Then we raise our middle finger and do the opposite. Boston Tea Party started it all, and we continue that attitude to this very day. When Coakley figured she had the election wrapped up from day one, she got our heckles up. As she was vying for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat with Obama in office, this was like shooting whales in a barrel. Not so much. Camelot II has ended for the president, and his efforts to push through a National Healthcare Bill is bringing down his stock considerably. Brown getting elected put a halt to that healthcare train. This is a good thing. Universal Healthcare is a fine concept, but it should be done properly, with bipartisan participation.

If Mr. Obama might listen to me for a moment, I have a method for getting his approval ratings up:
1) Put healthcare on the backburner for the moment. Clinton realized that it's a huge uphill battle when he tried to push it through. Take a lesson from Mr. Clinton and relax on UHC.
2) Remove our troops from Iraq. It was a mistake to be there in the first place. The war was a bad move. Time to end our occupation.
3) Take one-third of those troops to aid in the war we should be fighting: hunting down Bin Laden and his organization. Get him. If he's really still alive, that is.

The amount of money that we would save by not being in Iraq could be pumped into the economy or used to pay off the National Debt (or a fraction, anyway).

Today's topic: United States Senate special election in Massachusetts, 2010.

When Senator Ted Kennedy died, the weight of the influence the democrats had in the Senate dropped significantly. Whether you agreed with him or not, Kennedy was a remarkable senator and definitely had the voice of the people of his constituency heard on a national level. So who could possibly fill his shoes? No-one, really. A junior senator holds a vote but not much influence. But there is considerable nationwide interest in this campaign. The GOP are hoping to upset many applecarts with the election of Republican Scott Brown. The Obama administration really needs a democrat, so Martha Coakley is getting a lot of attention. And there's liberatarian party candidate Joe Kennedy (no relation to Ted) who could be a force for good in the Senate, but is most likely going to be a vote sucker for the other two. Let's look at the candidates in a very, very brief summation.

Martha Coakley (D): a liberal candidate, she basically fulfills the very definition of an Obama Democrat. Coakley supports the healthcare reform, ending the war in Afghanistan, supports gay marriage rights and strengthening hate crime laws.

Scott Brown (R): very much a staunch republican, he supports what you would expect from a republican candidate. Brown positions himself as a fiscally conservative candidate, supporting lower taxes and is against wasteful spending. He is against late-term abortions, same-sex marriage and is in favor of gun rights.

Joseph L. Kennedy (I): born Joseph Lewis Rodriguez and placed in the foster care system early in life, he is a true outsider to the political realm. He is against healthcare reform, the wars in Irag and Afghanistan, further taxation, supports gay marriage, wants to abolish Federal Dept. of Education and in favor or Ron Paul's "Free Competition in Currency Act".

and finally:

Mulderjoe (I): a cynical candidate, is pretty much going to call a horse a horse and will not B.S. you. I will take Washington by storm and will be very vocal in voicing the opinions of the citizens of the commonwealth. I will do my best to bring our troops back home as soon as possible and put all of the money spent on these ridiculous wars into getting our country back to a fiscally viable superpower. Once the country is financially stable, I will commission a military task force to hunt down the architects of 9/11 and will not rest until Osama Bin Laden is captured...which is what we should have been doing since the Twin Towers fell. I support gay marriage, mostly because this whole political unrest about it is absurd. If two people want to marry and be legally responsible for their partner, that's fine. Why anyone would want to marry is beyond me, but that's okay. I am completely against wasteful spending, and there's a lot of it. I will call out idiocy wherever I see it in the government and I will hold myself accountable for the will of the people under my constituency.

Thank you and vote on Tuesday the 19th of 2010.

2009: A year in review. Big whoopdeedoo.

I know I haven't written in a while. Sue me. Been too busy doing utterly mundane activities. I'm writing now, so get over it. Or don't...either way is fine.

As 2009 comes to a close, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back and show that hindsight is 20/20. Or something.

President Obama Takes Office
Ding Dong, Bush is gone. I cannot tell you how happy that made me. Mr. Obama's first full year in office has been tumultous, but overall not too bad. I mean, the economy's recovered, we're no longer occupying any countries in the Middle East and Osama Bin Loser is safely behind bars. Cough.

Michael Jackson Passes On
The world mourned the passing of an undeniably talented friggin weirdo.

Windows 7
Microsoft released it's apology for Vista. Mac owners could care less. XP users are still giggling.

National Health Care Reform
Another way to not reduce the National Deficit. I found it extremely interesting that Mr. Obama decided that this was the number one priority for the country instead of repairing the economy or getting the troops back home. I'm thrilled that millions without health care will have access. After all, it's a right not a priviledge. Right?

War
Somehow, we're still at war with several countries. Does anyone remember that? No. We're more concerned about the winner of "American Idol"'s album sales. Why on Earth are we still in Iraq? Someone explain that to me. And at the same time, why haven't I heard anything about hunting down the Taliban? Priorities, people. We could reduce the National Debt tremendously if we were not waging some moron's war in Iraq.

H1N1: a flu of swine
Does anyone else think that the rampant use of hand sanitizers is going to make the population inevitably sicker? We'll find out sooner than later, I expect.

Twitter me this
Social networking sites Twitter and Facebook are so massive that they are not only infringing on popular culture, but also business; companies are trying hard to capitalize on their employees' time wasting. (yes, I will be posting a link to this post on Twitter and FB. If for only the irony).

Miracle on the Hudson
Not really a miracle. Captain Sully is just one of those rare people who prepares for all eventualities. Keeping cool under pressure, though, that should be applauded. As well as his non-fame-seeking attitude. That's the miracle: a humble hero.

Madoff
This dude made off with billions and ended up destroying many people's lives. He and Dick Cheney should have lunch.

Obama Family Dog
This was an amazing news story. Amazing that it was considered news. My doggie died last Christmas...call Oprah.

A-Rod uses steroids?!
Who gives a crap.

Tiger Woods
Mr. Woods is perhaps the greatest golfer of all time. AND he can have the seemingly boundless energy for all of these affairs?! Damn. I expect to see him running for President in 2016.

That's all for now. I wish you and yours a Happy New Year. 2010 should be interesting. Maybe even interesting enough to "blog" about.

Toodle pip.

Nike Resumes Relationship with Vick

You know where I'm going with this so read on or don't. Don't care. But, for what's it's worth....as a newish parent who is trying to teach the relationship between actions and consequences and ethics and values....this kind of thing makes me burn like the pilot light on an oil rig. I might release a bit less CO2 but I'm still full of anger.

I'll keep it short...we'll no longer be buying or supporting Nike in our house. You want to use a serial killer of animals for your product spokesperson. Fine. Go ahead.

Seacrest out.