This man was true change but we ignored him
Ron Paul
Published by: ian on November 5th, 2008 | Filed under General
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Happy Election Day
Published by: ian on November 4th, 2008 | Filed under General
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Real Time Election Results
This is a good site for real time updates to exit polling data.
Oh, wait. I forgot. After 2000 we all learned that exit polls are unreliable, right? Right.
Published by: ian on November 4th, 2008 | Filed under General
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Ah, yes, more goodness…
I’m glad MTV finally woke up and put all of their video archives online so we can view gems like this one from 1983.
Published by: ian on October 31st, 2008 | Filed under General
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Ah yes, going all the way back… And it still sounds so good…
Published by: ian on October 28th, 2008 | Filed under General
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Unfortunately, there are more people like this than you’d think
Published by: ian on October 23rd, 2008 | Filed under General
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This is important and I can’t stress that enough
I know we live in a culture that doesn’t like to read anything longer than can be read during the average bathroom break but this rather long story in the New York Times is probably the most profound summary of the current state of our food system to date. He not only sums up not just what’s wrong and why, but also how to fix it. It’s written as an open letter to the next president but, unfortunately, I’m sure the next president won’t really care or do anything about this. People forget that General Mills, Monsanto, ADM and Cargill are all also big lobbyists as well.
Published by: ian on October 15th, 2008 | Filed under General
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I think I’ve finally found Chicago’s umbrella
This amazing umbrella is engineered to stay aerodynamic in high wind and always turn to face the right direction. Very cool. Thanks to the folks at 37 Signals for pointing this one out.
Published by: ian on October 9th, 2008 | Filed under General
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Can you say Martial Law?
Before anyone declares me as an America-hating, unpatriotic, flag burner, let me just point out that I have nothing but admiration for those who server in our volunteer military and have had many close family members serve in our military including, but not limited to, both parents, three grandparents, multiple uncles and my cousin.
But… This is a slippery slope, folks. Especially given how our civil liberties have been eroded over the last decade.
Published by: ian on October 8th, 2008 | Filed under General
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The Debate about the Debate
Well I must admit that Sarah Palin did much better than we had all been led to believe. Perhaps this is the George W. Bush technique of setting the bar so low with the initial interviews that anything beyond that would seem genuinely good. I was actually very surprised at how well she handled herself. My opinion from the two previous interviews (I’m only counting interviews with journalists here so her fluff piece with Sean Hannity on Fox doesn’t count) was that she was woefully unqualified to be in the position she’s in. I’m still not sure she is. Perhaps this was just a good showing after weeks of intense coaching. She was coherent on stage in a way that was the complete opposite of many of her answers to Katie Couric’s rather straightforward questions.
Do I believe she’d do a good job? No. Do I believe Obama/Biden would do a better job? Probably not, but we’ll see. You see, I happen to think that both parties are full of shit. The idea that we have two separate political parties in the country is ludicrous. What we have is the illusion of choice. We don’t have choice, we have, in the words of the late George Carlin, “Fucking Owners”. They own our asses and know that we’ll do whatever they want as long as they put some folksy charm up there with a few “Nuculer’s” and “You Betcha’s”. They parade this phoney down-home charm up there because we fall for it every single time. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to figure out why we base our votes upon who we’d most like to have a beer with as opposed to who we think would do the best job.
Our nation, I hate to say it, has become a nation of dim-witted fools utterly convinced of their own entitlement and completely xenophobic towards anything not positively dripping with false Americana. From the grotesque displays of 10 mile per gallon Hummer’s parading as domestic vehicles in the midst of an energy crisis to the empty gestures of the flag stickers afixed to them, we have truly embraced patriotism and politics exactly as we embrace celebrity gossip and reality television. We are spectators in our own democracy.
Published by: ian on October 2nd, 2008 | Filed under General
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This is too funny.
Published by: ian on October 1st, 2008 | Filed under General
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This is very important - Sorry about the length
Published by: ian on September 30th, 2008 | Filed under General
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Two Parties - More like One
Published by: ian on September 30th, 2008 | Filed under General
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I’m not really an Obama Or McCain supporter… But Damn!
Didn’t someone tell her to maybe prepare for one of the only 3 interviews she’d have to do? Is the McCain campaign going to just let her keep trying to bluff her way through these things? I mean, come on! It’s obvious she doesn’t have the faintest idea what in the hell she’s talking about and looks like a fool trying to stumble her way through the talking points. You’d think the McCain campaign would give her some kind of coach so she doesn’t keep looking like an idiot every time she’s in front of an interviewer that’s not on Fox News.
Published by: ian on September 25th, 2008 | Filed under General
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Looking forward to WindyCityRails tomorrow!
Published by: ian on September 19th, 2008 | Filed under General
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Did it occur to anyone what happened here?
So the government took over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae due to their almost certain collapse. Now, one could argue about the merits of such a deal but the fact remains that they were quasi-government entities that had special privileges. Yes, they were technically private companies but they were also exempt from registering their securities with the Fed as well as being shielded from having to pay state and local taxes. Their implied government backing also gave them an aura of invincibility to investors so although they were private companies they had an implicit government guarantee behind them. I personally think we should have let them fail so the market could correct itself, but that’s another story.
What has really shocked the hell out of me is the Fed takeover of AIG. This is a private company with no government relationship or guarantees. This isn’t even a securities or financial organization but an insurance company. And the Fed, as backed by our government, took it over. Does that shock anyone? The Fed, another quasi-government, quasi-private entity, has taken over a private company to prevent it from failing. We have essentially nationalized a private insurance company for no other reason than to keep it from going under. What?!!
When I heard this my jaw dropped. I know our government is completely unaccountable to the people but I certainly never thought it would actually nationalize a private institution. This is insane. I think this is probably one of the greatest examples of our system being rigged from the inside. If we truly had a free market then companies would be allowed to perform well or poorly based upon their own guidance and market forces. Instead we have the Fed artificially manipulating the market via interest rates and money supply and then wonder how this could have happened.
And now we’ve nationalized a private corporation. The only difference between this and Soviet Russia is that the Soviets didn’t use taxpayer money to take over a company, they just took it.
Published by: ian on September 19th, 2008 | Filed under General
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And they call him “Un-Electable”
When will the people of this country wake up and realize that your choice of candidate shouldn’t be based upon who you’d most like to have a beer with. I voted for Ron Paul in the Primary and I’d vote for him again; any time and any race.
Published by: ian on September 17th, 2008 | Filed under General
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Shine On Richard Wright 1943-2008
Another death. Richard Wright, keyboardist and founding member of Pink Floyd has died from cancer.
Here he is as a young man:
Published by: ian on September 15th, 2008 | Filed under General
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David Foster Wallace 1962-2008
One of my favorite authors, and probably one of the great modern philosophers of our time, David Foster Wallace, has died. He hanged himself in his house and was found by his wife. He will be missed.
I’ll leave with you with the text of the Kenyon University commencement address he gave. This address, along with his novel, Infinite Jest, was a profound influence on my outlook on life. Read his commencement text Here.
Published by: ian on September 15th, 2008 | Filed under General
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Even NIN loves the Blue Screen of Death
