Sanity for Dummies

ConvenienceSoftware.com

2007-07-15T18:25:00.000-05:00

I just started a MicroISV called Convenience Software. You should come check it out. I am not blogging here. The main site (its got some cool flash animations) is here.

Blue Angels Crash

2007-04-21T15:32:00.000-05:00

I was just watching CNN, and apparently at least one of the famed Blue Angels planes has crashed during an airshow in Beaufort South Carolina. Multiple houses are on fire. Let me just say, in a such a hectic week filled with so many tragedies...this sucks.
Here is a corroborating story from NBC news:

CNN reported that at least one plane crashed into a Beaufort, S.C., neighborhood. Several homes were reported to be on fire, according to CNN.A man who said he was a witness told CNN that he was watching the show and there were six planes, then one vanished before he saw a black plume of smoke. He said he had watched the show for about 30 minutes before the crash.

Imus

2007-04-13T21:14:00.000-05:00

I don't think I have to recap the whole Don Imus debacle as I'm sure even Paris Hilton could tell you every detail. What I am going to do, is try to extract a lesson. What Imus said was terrible. What other people say are worse. Comparisons between Don Imus's slip and rap music have been made from the start so I'm not going to get into that. The reason Imus lost his job, isn't just because of what he said this time. It is because of what hes been saying the entire time he's been on the air. He has made fun of a pointed fingers at everybody. He has made enemies everywhere he goes and nobody really liked him. That, is why when he screwed up, nobody had his back. And that is why he got canned.
End of moral lesson.

Governor of New Jersey in Serious Car Accident

2007-04-12T17:57:00.000-05:00

I was listening to the radio just now it said that the Governor of New Jersey John Corzine was in a serious car accident minutes ago. Apparently his motorcade was cut off by another driver and the Governor and a state trooper are injured and are being Medivac-ed out.
A spokesman said that his injuries are not life threatening.
Here

Governor Jon Corzine was injured in an auto accident on the Garden State Parkway late this afternoon, his spokesman said.

"The governor sustained injuries. They were not life-threatening," said spokesman Anthony Coley.

Coley said there are reports that a trooper also was injured in the accident at about 5:45 p.m. near milepost 43 in Galloway Township, Atlantic County. The governor was traveling in a two-car motorcade.
An administration official said Corzine suffered a broken leg and was taken from the scene by helicopter. He was flown to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, an operator at the hospital said.

Cheney on Iran: "All Options are on the table"

2007-02-23T20:18:00.000-05:00

Bloomberg:

Vice President Dick Cheney said the U.S. is committed to a diplomatic course to resolve a nuclear dispute with Iran and warned that "all options are still on the table'' to halt the country's atomic aspirations.

Shut up. Cheney may think, in his little twisted fantasy of a political situation, that "all options are still on the table" but that's like saying that Britney Spears could get in to politics. Possible, but highly unlikely. In reality, the Bush-Cheney administration is pinned up against a wall, by the angry mob of America brandishing torches and Baby Einstein DVDs. Short of handing out free chocolate popsicles to Congress, there is no way that it (being Democratic) would approve of going to war with Iran, or general bombardment of military targets. The Dems are too worried about how that would affect their upcoming presidential bid to do a stupid thing like that, and thank God!
Bombardment of military targets is a bad idea a) because it puts our fighter pilots in harms way and b) because it can be used by the government to turn the mostly moderate Iranian people against us
War is such a bad idea that it makes me puke thinking about it.

P.S sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been really busy

Return to Politics

2007-02-20T16:44:00.000-05:00

The last couple of posts I have made have mostly been on technology so I'm going to go back to politics for a little while.

So Mike McConnell got sworn in as intelligence director of the CIA and President Bush said that the American intelligence community must implement more reforms in order to meet the challenges of the war on terrorism.

That sounds like the pot calling the tea kettle black. Maybe before he pins his invasion of privacy woes on poor old Mike he should stop backing the PATRIOT ACT and wipe the smirk off of his face because he knows he can legally search someones house without a warrant and send them off to Guantanamo Bay at a whim, after labeling them enemy combatants.

How Technology Will Forever Influence Politics Part 4

2007-02-19T10:16:00.000-05:00

Ok so you've heard the good, of how technology is going to influence politics, but what about the bad.

With the advent of e-voting machines without proper security, it becomes easier to rig elections and tamper with the evidence as there is no paper trail. It is easier for a politician to get into your living room than ever before, with internet, email, tv, telephone, and radio ads at their disposal. It will be easier for people with power, to stay in power, and personal battles between politicians including smear campaigns, will be wide spread.

So that my friends is a four part series on how Technology, will forever influence politics.

Comments?

If you want a Wii Go to Sams Club...They have lots of them....high five!

2007-02-18T12:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I went on a mission to find a Wii. I went to CompUSA, Best Buy, EB Games, Gamestop, Walmart, Tar-jey (Target for the uninformed), etc. etc. By the end of the day, I was on my last legs, and had almost given up hope for being able to throw my Wii-mote through a window because the wrist straps broke and then be able to sue Nintendo. Just kidding. The last store I visited EB Games, had a bored looking clerk, who looked like he knew what I was going to ask him before I even said it, and say "No, and I don't know when the next shipment is coming in you ignorant little twat," but he held his breath until I actually did ask him, and then replied "No, and I don't know when the next shipment is coming in." (He said the "ignorant little twat" part with his eyes...it's much more effective).
Being extremely frustrated I asked him if he knew where I could find one, and he replied "Sam's Club" before going back to his game of Guitar Hero. Seeing as there was a Sam's club right across from where I was, I figured, "what the hell" and decided to go check it out.
For those of you who don't know, Sam's Club is actually club. You have to have a membership to get into it, and when you do you get low prices on everything from stone crab to dish washer detergent, all in huge bulk quantities. Seeing as I didn't have a membership, I walked in and went to go sign up. A half hour, and 40 bucks later I had a nice shiny new Sams Club card, and went to go find a Wii.
How Sam's Club does it, is they have a little sign that says the product, and then under it they have these little pieces of paper with a scanner code on it, that you take to the cash register when you check out. Elated that there were little Wii slips left I took one and went over to the cash register to check out. Once I did, a woman came over to look at what slip I had and get my product. This is the part where I get pissed.
She said "Oh, we just sold the last one of those about a minute before you got here."
So the little slips don't correspond to a Wii in the inventory, and I got screwed.

So go get your Wii's and Sam's Club...they have lots of them....HIGH FIVE!

How Technology will Forever Influence Politics Part 3

2007-02-17T11:24:00.000-05:00

Technology will bring further political accountability, from the politician to his voters. With so many forms of contact, as well as a scrutinizing media, politicians will have no where to run. If they don't do what the voters want, they won't get elected anymore. In essence, technology will allow the people to run the country, as long as it is properly used.

Either Raise the Draft Age, Or Lower the Drinking Age...You Can't Have Both

2007-02-16T08:09:00.000-05:00

Today wha tI want to talk about, is something that has been sort of bothering me for the last couple of weeks.

How come an 18 year old, can be conscripted by the government, to take a rifle, and go kill people in a war that he might not eve agree with, but he can't have a beer at a local bar to celebrate

Some people might say that it is because alcohol is a dangerous substance for a growing mind, and that when you are 18 you are not responsible enough to know how to use properly.

Well let me tell you something. War is a much more dangerous substance for the growing mind, because you can get dead. Or you can be screwed up for life. And why would be sending 18 year olds to fight for us if they weren't responsible? That seems pretty irresponsible to me.

So either raise the draft age, or lower the drinking age. You can't have it both ways.

How Technology Will Forever Influence Politics Part 2

2007-02-14T18:19:00.000-05:00

In my last post in this series, I described how technology would allow the average person to not only have a say in how their government is run, but actually run it themselves. In other words, the average politician now-a-days will be a dinosaur in the future.
This point for me was fully proven when I saw this article today about how Al Franken, SNL writer and star turned political humorist and author is running for the U.S Senate. Franken himself says that he is "not the typical politician" and this is the first step towards the change that is going to come. Fifty years ago, a comedian running for president would be ludicrous. Today, it's just starting to be acceptable.
(And probably 90% of the college students of America would vote for John Stewart of the Daily Show if he ran for president.)

Bush: "Iraq Plan is Beginning to Take Shape"

2007-02-14T12:22:00.000-05:00

Original Article:

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush said the Iraqi government is keeping its promise to deploy more of its forces in Baghdad and his strategy to help secure the Iraqi capital is ``beginning to take shape.''

Bush, in a White House news conference today, gave an assessment of the initial phase of his plan, which includes sending 21,500 more soldiers and Marines to Iraq. The troops are starting to arrive as Congress debates on a resolution opposing the additional deployments.

``The Iraqi government is following through on its commitment'' to deploy more of its forces in Baghdad, Bush said in opening remarks of his first news conference since Dec. 20. The additional U.S. and Iraqi troops will give the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ``political breathing space.''

Yeah it's beginning to take shape...in the form of a mushroom cloud. Throwing troops at Iraq is being part of the problem, not the solution. You can't just put our men and women on the ground and hope the issue resolves itself. There is a problem here or perceived one, that has to be addressed before Iraq can heal itself and the insurgency dies down. I've said it before and I'll say it again, escalation didn't work in Vietnam, and it isn't working here.

The Politics of Camping

2007-02-13T18:05:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to point you guys to an interesting site I found recently from a comment left on this blog.

He makes some valuable points, and gets a laugh or two while doing it. And it's called the Politics of Camping so I can directly justify the fact that it's on this blog because the title has the word Politics in it.

Anyway, my manifesto on how technology is changing politics is coming right along.
I'll post part two tomorrow as promised.

How Technology will Forever Influence Politics Part 1

2007-02-13T17:12:00.000-05:00

NOTE: I am going to break this series into parts, because I'm too lazy to type everything tonight, I have a lot of work to do.

Technology is forever going to change politics. In some ways for the better, and in some ways for the worse. On the good side, it will increase political accountability, and it will give the average man a chance to be heard and even to run for office. For the worse, with the advent of electronic voting machines and other sources of media smear campaigns can more easily be run, and elections can more easily be rigged.

Political accountability is the best part about this new political stage created by technology. The public can easily scrutinize every move a politician makes, making it harder to slip votes that were bought under the noses of the people. Technology also brings a platform for the politician to be heard more easily about every issue facing us today using online mediums from podcasts, to blogs to YouTube.

Part Two Coming tommorow.

Pinkus Names Fleisher as the Man Behind the Valerie Plame Leak Case

2007-02-12T16:23:00.000-05:00

A Washington Post report today stated that one of its reporters Walter Pinkus, during courtroom testimony, named Ari Fleisher as the first person to tell him that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

Pinkus appeared as the first defense witness in the trial he gave testimony that he was at his desk when he received a telephone call from a source, and had a discussion with said source about a trip Joe was taking to Niger to explore a possible uranium connection between that country and Iraq.

This from the WaPo story:

"The person I was calling suddenly swerved off and said . . . 'Don't you know, in effect, his wife works at the CIA, is an analyst on weapons of mass destruction?' " Pincus testified. He told the court that the source said, "That's why people aren't paying attention" to Wilson's findings that the Iraq reports were unfounded, because he had been sent on the mission by his wife.
Asked by defense attorney William Jeffress Jr. whether his source had been Libby, Pincus replied that he had not. Asked who the source was, Pincus replied: "Ari Fleischer."

And he let the prosecution make a case against Scooter Libby and stir the whole country into an uproar when actually it was Ari Fleisher who leaked it because?

Seems a little strange to me.

EDIT:
I'm sorry I need to make a little redaction, Scooter Libby is only charged with lying to police about his conversations with reporters regarding Valerie Plame, not the leak itself.

Tentative Deal in N. Korea Nuclear Talks-Ha I Told You So

2007-02-12T16:05:00.000-05:00

Looks like there's been a tentative deal between North Korea and the world about nuclear rearmament. Do I dare say I told you so? Looks like Kim Jong Il decided that being a nuclear country wasn't as much fun as kidnapping the occasional South Korean actress and that having a nuke didn't give him any more self-confidence about his height.

So what does this mean for the world? For now Iran doesn't have an aspiring nuclear buddy to lean on for technology and support meaning that they are going to be forced to negotiate more openly with the U.S. This also takes a little weight off of poor Georgy's boggled mind (he can only concentrate on .5 of an issue at once before he needs a Bud Light).

More soon.

Libby

2007-02-11T21:07:00.000-05:00

I wish people like Scooter Libby and Tim Russert would stop play the "I can't recall the specific incident" game and start owning up to the fact that yes, Dick Cheney, was instrumental in the outing of Valerie Wilson to deflect criticism away from the war in Iraq and discourage Joe Wilson from all his trouble making. Dick Cheney is a ghost, and a second term vice president who should step down before he makes things worse than they are.

Ahmadenijad: “We are rapidly becoming a superpower, the language of sanctions belongs to the past.”

2007-02-11T16:27:00.000-05:00

Here's an excerpt from a The Week piece on Ahmadinejad:

International inspectors this week confirmed that Iran has begun installing 3,000 uranium-gas centrifuges, bringing the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran closer than ever. Iran continues to insist its goal is peaceful nuclear power, not nuclear weapons, as the U.S. charges. Either way, the installation of centrifuges—which spin uranium into a grade suitable for energy or weaponry—is a flagrant violation of a U.N. resolution that gives Iran until Feb. 23 to suspend enrichment or face a new round of sanctions. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shrugged off the impending deadline. “We are rapidly becoming a superpower,” he said. “The language of sanctions belongs to the past.”

It seems as though average Iranian does not want to become a super power, as there is growing pressure on Ahmedinejad to step down his radical goals for the emerging country. In a rare, and Hitler-esque move, many Western figures of influence from reporters to diplomats were invited to tour on of Iran's nuclear facilities which was frowned upon by Washington. “Suspending [nuclear activities] would build confidence,” said Gregory Schulte, U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “Showcasing them does not.”

The situation in Iran, is extremely delicate. We cannot anger Iran lest we endanger our ally Israel and turn the entire Muslim world even more against us than it already is. I don't really know what to say about this one, its an extremely difficult issue. So I'm going to turn it to you. What do you think?

Iraq: Worse and Worserer

2007-02-11T11:57:00.000-05:00

In Iraq, all is not lost. But sending 20,000 additional troops to Baghdad is kind of like drinking a slushy faster and faster to get rid of your brain freeze, pointless and stupid. Sending in more troops is a bad idea. It didn't work in Vietnam, and it certainly isn't going to work here.

Having more troops, is just giving insurgents more of a reason to fight, and a better way to recruit. By increasing our presence we are giving them an advantage, and putting more of our sons and daughters in harms way, while exposing ourselves to the possibility of a draft.

The way to peace in Iraq, as I stipulated here, is (I quote):

The first thing to do is turn public opinion away from terrorism, specifically in the young person demographic. We set up charities, and massive food drops. We emblazon our name on everything and hire an experienced PR firm to help.

The second thing to do is set up schools to correct misconceptions about the West that many young people are brought up with in the Arab world today.

We make it seem ridiculous to be a terrorist, show the people Islam as it was intended, as a peaceful religion.

More troops = more death = certain failure in Iraq, and a tarnished worldwide reputation. If we can fix Iraq, the future looks a little bit more bright for the U.S of A

How in the Very Near Future Your Trash Will be Making Your Fuel

2007-02-10T18:04:00.000-05:00

It seems like a throwback to Back to the Future, but a man named Joseph Longo and his company, Startech Environmental Corporation, have found a way to bring Hollywood to real life.

The Plasma Converter as it is called, can consume nearly any type of waste (save radioactive) and it uses a process called plasma gasification to make your waste into glass, and ethanol, natural gas, and hydrogen.

It works in this way, (this is a quote from my Popular Science issue from this month):

It works like a little like the big bang, only backwards (you get nothing from something). Inside a sealed vessel made of stainless steel and filled with a stable gas-either pure nitrogen or, as in this case, ordinary air-a 650 volt current passing between two electrodes rips electrons from the air, converting the gas into plasma. Current flows continuously through this newly formed plasma, creating a field of extremely intense energy very much like lighting. The radiant energy of the plasma arc is so powerful, it disintegrates trash into its constituent elements by tearing apart molecular bonds. The system is capable of breaking down pretty much anything except nuclear waste, the isotopes of which are indestructible. The only by-products are an obsidian-like glass...[used for bathroom tiles etc.]...Perhaps the most amazing part of the process is that it's self sustaining. Just like your toaster, Startech's Plasma Converter draws its power from the electrical grid to get started. The initial voltage is about equal to the zap from a police stun-gun. But once the cycle is under way, the 2,2000 F [the resulting gaseous waste] is fed into a cooling system, generating steam that drives turbines to produce electricity...A Startech machine that costs roughly $250 million dollars could handle 2,000 tons of waste a day, approximately what a city of a million people amasses in the time span...[the] converter could pay for itself in about 10 years, and that without factoring in the money made from selling the excess electricity and [gas]. After that break-even point, it's pure profit.

I think that that's the coolest thing I've heard about in a long time, and its very promising for the future.

Social Site for Obamanerds

2007-02-10T15:42:00.000-05:00

On his site, Barack Obama recently introduced a social networking feature for all the Obamanerds out there. You can find Obama supporters near you, plan and attend Obama related events, become a fund raiser, and even make your own blog.

This may actually elect him. He wins the inceased support of the young population and encourages them to raise awareness and money for his campaign.

Obama Will Announce His Candidacy Today But...

2007-02-10T10:05:00.000-05:00

Barack Obama will announce his candidacy for President today but is he actually electable as a President?

He contends that his thin resume,is his main strength for the candidacy, but can an inexperienced Senator of the people become President? The answer for now, I think is no. Unless Mr. Obama pulls something incredible out of his bag of tricks like propose an Iraq strategy that actually makes sense, I think that Hillary will win the Dems nomination, and will name Barack as her Vice President. Then I think that they will face off with McCain and Rudy,who are probably not going to win, Giuliani has too much baggage.

So President for 2008? Hillary Clinton
Vice President? Barack Obama
I'm not saying I don't like Barack, I'd probably vote for him, but I don't know how many other people would.

Why North Korea Will in the End Cease It's Troublemaking

2007-02-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

Kim Jong Il, is not stupid. He may be a sick, twisted, bastard, but he is not stupid. He knows that his regime is ruthless and cruel, and that half of his country is starving while he is the number one consumer of cognac in the world. He knows that there are plenty of countries, the U.S included, that just need one more excuse to go in there and kick his ass. And that is the last thing he wants to happen.

That is why he is going to cease a relationship with Iran that will only further anger the Western countries, stop his nuclear program in exchange for financial aide, and go back to directing "art" movies that would make even his mother throw up.

Iran on the other hand. Well, why don't we give it a little time to see how the situation develops.

See you soon.

Bush Sr. Gives a Little Love

2007-02-09T16:52:00.000-05:00

Bush Senior giving a love tap to Terri Hatcher. Apparently Terri Hatcher and Georget Senior had lunch in LA and were spotted having a hug and kiss good-bye as well as a love tap. Long-time good friends. Shhh, don't tell Barbara.

Was Anna Nicole Murdered?

2007-02-08T17:19:00.000-05:00

Let me just first start off by saying, that this is not a conspiracy theory. I hate conspiracy theories. I remember I while back watching Nancy Grace interview the mother of Anna Nicole, Virgie Mae Tabers Hogan, and Nancy asked Virgie what she would say to her daughter (they are not speaking). Ms. Hogan who was a law enforcement officer for 28 years replied, (I'm paraphrasing here), Anna, you better watch your step, because Danny did not die of an overdose and you might be next.
And here we are.

I'm probably wrong, who knows?

Here's a corroborating story that I just found with some actual quotes.

Anna Nicole Smith Has Died

2007-02-08T15:51:00.001-05:00

I was just watching MSNBC and Anna Nicole Smith's attorney announced that Anna Nicole Smith is dead. Apparently she was suffering flu-like symptoms and woosy. Probable cause is cardiac arrest possibly related to drugs. More info soon.

Anna Nicole Smith Has Died

2007-02-08T15:51:00.000-05:00

I was just watching MSNBC and Anna Nicole Smith's attorney announced that Anna Nicole Smith is dead. More info soon.

Why Iraq Refuses to Heal Years After the American Invasion

2007-02-07T21:38:00.000-05:00

There is a famous quote that is sometimes attributed to Edmund Burke that goes:

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing."

This why, years after the invasion, Iraq is still a battle ground tearing itself apart from within. I was watching Tucker today, and he said that an estimated 50,000 Iraqi's flee the country every month. Why are they fleeing? Because they are being driven out by terrorist groups who see that they have ties to America, or are against the sectarian violence, and threaten to kill them. Iraq in the past few years, has been flushed of all protesters. There is now no one resisting these young men who are brainwashed into believing that they are fighting for Islam, when they are actually fighting for a few radical Muslim clerics who are too wrapped up in creating an
Islamic world, that they go against the very principals that their faith is founded upon.

Iraq refuses to heal, because good men do nothing. I'm not talking about American soldiers, I'm talking about Iraqi citizens who stand up and protest the violent and heinous act's being committed by their sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives and cousins. They are the only ones that can end this, and a troop surge will only worsen the problem.

Why Barack Obama is Forever Indebted to Joe Biden

2007-02-07T20:43:00.000-05:00

Let me just start off with this by now famous quote from Senator Joe Biden:

"I mean you've got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Before Joe Biden said this, Barack Obama had a good chance of being a serious contender in the 2008 election. Now, he is guaranteed a spot. Why is this? Before this quote Obama was an outspoken yet untested junior senator, who didn't really have any sort of experience. People liked him because he was charismatic and his ideas were refreshing, now they like him because he can deal with adversity like a pro, without any of the debilitating affects of being an arthritic 60 year old white guy. Where Al Sharpton's response was funny, saying that he in fact does take a bath every day, Obama's elegant remarks of forgiveness and friendship speak of a true Presidential candidates. Humour, does not necessarily a President make. Dealing with
situations correctly and defusing potentially damaging feud's with ease does.

Now, I don't think Barack Obama will be President. I think Hillary will win the nomination, but I do think that he will be the Vice President, and Joe Biden just brought him one step closer.

Why God Exists, From an Atheist

2007-02-06T09:12:00.000-05:00

I don't believe in God. I don't believe that there's some old guy sitting up in a cloud looking down on us and deciding who to kill and who to rain gifts on. But God exists. Why? Because people believe in him. By people believing in him, and using his ideals to motivate them to do great good and great evil, God exists. He exists as an idea in the mind of the religious, and causes them to act. God, an unreal thing, has shaped human existence for the past 5,000 years and counting. If that does not make him real than what does?

Here's a little food for thought about God, that proves he doesn't exist beyond an idea:
If God is all powerful, can he make a rock so big, that he can't lift it?

Comment back.

Bush Lies in the State of the Union...Surprise Surprise

2007-01-28T12:15:00.000-05:00

Today I was reading through the Sunday Edition of the New York Times and I came across a very interesting article called the Budget Illusion.

Now it is no surprise that President Bush lied in the State of the Union, as he has done so about Iraq, the War on Terror and Social Security among others but I just wanted to bring to light this little fib to add to his list of aspersions.

In this most recent State of the Union, Bushy said that we had cut the budget deficit in half from 2004-2006. This is a lie. The deficit fell from $412 billion to$248 billion and if you measure it as a percentage of the economy he was off by an amount equal to about $15 billion. (Thank you New York Times for the figures)

Let me quote for you a little bit more of the rest of the article:

"Mr. Bush greatly compounded his otherwise modest exaggeration by taking credit for the reduction, when the deficit really fell despite his policies, not because of them...The drop in deficit over the past few years was due largely to the cyclical recovery from the earlier recession, and to a boost in revenue when temporary business tax cuts expired after 2004. Mr. Bush, meanwhile, has pursued a single-minded strategy of spending more while slashing taxes. That is the opposite of deficit reduction; it has made the budget hole deeper than it would have been. Still, Mr. Bush wants you to believe that tax cuts caused the economic recovery, and thus the budget improvement.

That was the speech, and then there is reality, which came knocking within days when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released its annual 10-year budget outlook. The outlook is for a cumulative deficit of $2.9 trillion to $3.4 trillion - about $300 billion a year - if, as Mr. Bush wishes, the tax cuts are extended beyond their scheduled expiration in 2010 and tax relief continues for Americans wrongly afflicted by the alternative minimum tax. In arriving at its estimate, the budget agency also assumed that costs for the war in Iraq would start going down next year, an assumption that, if proved wrong, would result in even higher deficits."

Now you may be saying, it's $15 billion dollars, what's the big deal? The big deal is this is our President, and this is not his first little lie. If he is willing to lie about this among other things, what else is he willing to lie about.

Why the Scooter Libby Debacle Will Be the Last Political Mistake Dick Cheney Will Ever Make

2007-01-25T23:18:00.001-05:00

Nobody really liked Dick Cheney in the first place. They tolerated him because he was an experienced business man, who had appeal to the Republican party.

Then, he became a staunch supporter of an increasingly unpopular Iraq war, and attacked Wolf Blitzer on CNN.

Then when Scooter Libby was arrested and held on charges of perjury Dick Cheney must have known that it was over. In an article published a few hours ago, the LA Times said this about a White House aide who recently testified in Libby's trial:

"Vice President Dick Cheney and his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were personally and actively involved in an effort to spin news coverage and discredit a critic of the Iraq war even before the fact that his wife was a CIA operative became public, a senior White House official testified Thursday.

Martin testified as a prosecution witness at Libby's trial on charges of obstructing an investigation into how the name of a CIA operative became public. The operative, Valerie Plame, is the wife of former U.S. envoy Joseph C. Wilson IV. Wilson, who had written a government report questioning White House claims that Iraq had sought nuclear weapons material from the government of Niger -- a report that the White House sought to discredit."

So what does this mean for Dick Cheney?

He is a second term Vice-President, who is rarely seen in public, has a scandalous trial in the works and is supportive of a war that even members of his own party are trying to distance themselves from. I'm pretty sure that we're going to be seeing the resignation of Dick Cheney in the months or weeks to come.

6 Reasons Why We Will Be Out of Iraq in Two Years

2007-01-24T22:15:00.000-05:00

Here are a number of reasons why we will be out of Iraq in the next two years:

1. Support levels are low for the war
2. Reactions have been mostly negative for the "troop surge"
3. Bush will try to save his legacy by making amends
4. The Republican party will put pressure on Bush to pull out to save their chances for the Presidential election
5. New recruits are scarcely found, and instituting a draft for an already lowly supported war would be suicide
6. The Go Army commercials are getting pretty annoying

Bush Uses the Word "Iraq" Only 16 Times in the State of the Union

2007-01-24T20:40:00.000-05:00

In this year's State of the Union address, President Bush used the word "Iraq" only 16 times in his speech. This compared with 27 times last year. He also used the word "Terrorism" only 20 times, as apposed to 27 times last year. Which words were on the rise? The word "World" was used 26 times as opposed to 15 last year and "Iran" was used 6 times as opposed to 3 last year and 1 in 2004.

So what does this mean? It means that we are shifting to the focus from Iraq to Iran, and looking at global issues more carefully. Why is this important? I don't know, you tell me.'

Source

See you soon.

My Market Theory

2007-01-23T22:44:00.000-05:00

Well, lately I have been thinking a lot about the stock market. It seems like an easy way to make a lot of money very quickly, or lose a lot of money very quickly. But I think I found a strategy that over time when well applied virtually guarantees at least some gain from money invested.

Granted, I could be totally off the mark on this one, and if I am I would love to hear your theories, but I thought this was worth writing about. (That and I couldn't think of anything else, ;) .)

The first thing that you have to do is to pick a reliable stock. Something that isn't going away any time soon, and is traded in high volume. Make sure it's E/P is fairly low too, it needs to be a well valued stock.

Second, buy a some shares in that stock lets say 15.

Now comes the weird part.

If the stock goes down by two dollars, buy 15 more shares. If it goes down another two dollars buy another 15. (Obviously you have to set a limit for yourself i.e if it goes down buy 40 dollars you shouldn't still be buying, unless you think it is grossly undervalued.)

If the stock goes up by two dollars, sell 15 shares. If the stock keeps going up, and you have no more shares to sell, look at the E/P and if it is extremely high and the stock goes down by two dollars, don't buy more shares. Wait until you get a reasonable E/P before you start the cycle over again.

If you test this theory either with a fake portfolio or with the real deal, I would be very interested to hear about it.

The Roots of Hatred: How the Terrorist Problem Began and What to Do

2007-01-18T16:11:00.000-05:00

Terrorism itself has been around for centuries. It has arisen in many cultures from Hinduism, to Judaism. It has been dealt with (and not dealt with) in the past in a variety of ways. What I want to talk about today is the roots of the terrorist problem in the Arab nations of the world, and what we can do about it.

To fully understand the terrorism problem, we need not look to the past 3,000 years as I and other have previously suggested, but to the past 30. This is because it is in this time period that the thriving cultures of the Arab nations, from Iraq to Lebanon, have gone from forward thinking and prosperous, to war ravaged and poor.

The problem starts in the 1950's and 60's. Here, Americanism was revered and many Arab nations attempted to mimic America's success and forward thinking policies. With leaders like Gamal Nasser of Egypt, the Arab world was trying to take the step forward into modernism. Republics were formed, civil liberties instituted and everything was on course for success. Then everything fell apart. Nothing was implemented correctly and suddenly these American ideals poorly utilized led to dictator's and a step backward in Arab culture. Women's rights were stripped, fundamentalist Islam was born and the beginnings of the Arab problem began.

This failure of the Arab regimes lead to a disillusionment with America, something which is exploited by terrorist movements. Youth's looking up to America, wanting to study in America, and wanting their countries to be like America felt like America was looking down on them, like they weren't good enough. This fact is exploited by terrorists in a specific demographic: young, impressionable, angry young men.

But perhaps most shocking of all is that many of the young people who choose to become terrorists are not poor and uneducated. Consider this, Mohammed Atta the lead terrorist on American Airlines Flight 11 grew up in a home that was not particularly religious and where studies were put first. He got good grades, and then went to Cairo University where he received a degree in architecture. At this point, he was still not very religious. Then he went went to Germany to earn his master's degree, and everything changed. Mohammed Atta the well schooled student became Mohammed Atta the terrorist.

It seems that this is a pattern. Previously un-religious young Arab men who move to foreign countries to study, are looked down upon by the western inhabitants. They then move back to the more conservative ways that make them feel at home and safe. From there they get into militant Islam, and there is no turning back.

So a disillusionment with the west created by feeling like an outsider, prompts young men who are angry at being treated as inferior to terrorist groups lead by charismatic leaders who twist the words of an inherently peaceful religion to spew fire at their perceived "oppressors."

Great, so what do we do about it?

We take a multilateral and multifront approach to correct misconceptions, turn public opinion and cut the knee's off the terrorist groups who are a threat to our way of life.

The first thing to do is turn public opinion away from terrorism, specifically in the young person demographic. We set up charities, and massive food drops. We emblazon our name on everything and hire an experienced PR firm to help.

The second thing to do is set up schools to correct misconceptions about the West that many young people are brought up with in the Arab world today.

We make it seem ridiculous to be a terrorist, show the people Islam as it was intended, as a peaceful religion.

Then, we take care of the existing terrorists. We find them where they are hiding, and we kill them with covert operations. No invasions. Nice and clean.

Now if we cut their heads off with covert ops, they can't regrow because their source for recruits has been turned against them.

Then we pull out of Iraq, do something that doesn't involve an invasion about Iran, and deal with China, North Korea and Russia.

See you soon.

Blog

2007-01-04T16:13:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I've been doing some thinking, and this blog is now going to be totally about politics. And some technology. Technolitics I believe is the best term. See you later.

North Korea and Iran: Part Two

2006-12-28T13:25:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to my multi-part series on Iran and North Korea. There are just around three options to eliminate the problems posed by these countries that I outlined in the last post.

1. Going to war.

Personally, I don't think that there is really an option of going to war with these two countries. I think it would be like Iraq, but worse. We don't have the troop levels, the international support or the domestic support. It would cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides and really just wouldn't be worth it at all.

2. Sending in specialized strike teams to eliminate the enemies nuclear facilities.

To me, this doesn't particularly solve anything in the long run. First of all, anything that we destroy can and will be rebuilt, so it is not a long term solution. Secondly, destroying something on North Korean or Iranian soil will just give these leaders more of an opportunity to turn the population against up, and bring about hatred in the form of national unity.

3. Eliminating the leaders of these countries.

This is against U.S policy, and would have to be done very sneakily so as to make it look like an accident. This is because if it does not look like an accident or natural causes, it could unite the country under an extremist successor and we would be worse off than when we started.

I think that in the long run, a combination of the second and third courses of action are what is best for U.S interests. If we destroy their nuclear facilities, and eliminate their leaders, either through intimidation, taking away their porn collections or killing them in a mock accident, and then line up a successor that is actually fit to rule, everybody would be much better and we would only have to China and Russia to deal with and oh yeah Osama bin Laden. But seriously, any sort of assassination or "shock and awing" out of power should only be used as a last resort when peaceful negotiations fail, and a threat to U.S interests seems very imminent.

North Korea and Iran: Part One

2006-12-28T12:54:00.000-05:00

In this multi-part series, I am going to be exploring the many facets of the problems posed towards America by North Korea and Iran. You may ask, why am I doing this? And I would tell you, because I can!

From my standpoint, the way things are looking right now, an alliance between a nuclear North Korea, and a wanna-be nuclear Iran is potentially hazardous to our country. This is for a few reasons.

Both dictators have no regard for their people's well being, and run a state of ultra-security, meaning no information about the state goes in or out unless it is smuggled.
Their propaganda machine can pin all of their problems on the U.S and its allies, meaning that it could stir its people into a war frenzy against the "rorld", or the "infidels."
North Korea is nuclear, and Iran is a nuclear wanna-be.
North Korea has ties to Russia and China, both of whom have uneasy relations with the U.S.
Iran has ties to a Muslim world that openly does not like the U.S (for the most part).
These leaders do not really have a sense for the impact that some of their actions may have on their county and the rest of the world, i.e they are somewhat irresponsible towards their peoples needs.

So how do we deal with these problems?

You can find Part Two here.

5 Reasons Hillary Clinton Will Get the Democratic Nomination in 2008

2006-12-27T20:48:00.000-05:00

Here are 5 Reasons why Hillary will Get the Dems Presidential Nomination in '08

1. Her husband is Bill Clinton which gives her star power

2. John Edwards already lost a nomination, and didn't win on the Vice Presidential ballot

3. Barrack Obama, though he is extremely popular, is too young to be President this time around, but look for a vice presidential nomination for him

4. She is an experienced and well liked Senator, who is at the top of the heap in terms of Democratic candidacy

5. She is a woman. (I know this one sounds more like a disadvantage to many people, but I believe that the democratic party is looking for a change from stuffy old white men)

This is not to say that she will win the Presidency, which I think is likely, but after getting the nomination she may have some tough opponents on the Republican side like John McCain.

Why Illegal Immigration May Be Good for America

2006-12-27T19:47:00.000-05:00

Everybody is complaining about outsourcing. But what is the cause of outsourcing? Labor is much cheaper in other countries where the standard of living is less and minimum wage is either less regulated, less, or non-exist. Everybody wants to bring these jobs back to the U.S and U.S citizens, but how can we do this when a companies sole purpose in life is to make as much money as it can as quickly as it can? The answer, lies in our own backyard, or rather our neighbors backyard.
Cheap labor is available readily in our country through working passes issued to Mexican citizens who cannot otherwise support their families. So why not use it? American corporations could then bring back jobs from places like India and China, and help these Mexican families attain a better quality of life. And after a while who knows, these jobs could go back to the Americans who need them most.
At least the jobs come back onto American soil, and hey, it's a start.

Google Notebook

2006-12-27T18:11:00.000-05:00

Looks like people have been posting their sensitive information online...on Google of all places. If people sue Google and win. It's kind of like getting drunk, and walking around in your underwear, and then suing Jimmy Bean.

Saddam's Last Message

2006-12-27T13:54:00.000-05:00

This just in from the murderer of countless Iraqi citizens: "Do not hate"
Apparently after learning that he will soon become a martyr, or a cadaver depending on your viewpoint, Saddam wrote a final sob letter to a world that never really understood him. Tear, tear. That being said, I'm not sure that executing him is the right way to go.

"some Hussein loyalists threatened to retaliate if the ousted Iraqi leader is executed, warning in a posting on the same Baath Party Web site that carried the former leader's letter they would target U.S. interests anywhere."

By executing Saddam, we are just putting ourselves on the hit list of so many more extremists who are willing to die for their cause. Eventually, if enough people hate us something bad is going to happen.

Now I'm not saying that Saddam should be given a full pardon, but just be kept in life imprisonment and maybe executed later. Executing him now is like rubbing dirt in the wounds of the extremist movement, and is not a wise decision at this point.

What do you guys think?

Christmas Decorations

2006-12-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

Something that bothers me a little bit, is when people leave their Christmas decorations up until Easter. Yes, we understand that you like Christmas, and you wish everyday was Christmas, but could you please take your decorations down its already been like a month. Anyway thats besides the point. I was driving past I don't know where, and I saw these decorations on the lawn.
And I bet you anything, they will be up for at least another month.

A Solution to Waiting for Support Over the Phone

2006-12-27T11:36:00.000-05:00

It seems that almost every month or so, I have to call tech support for one reason or another. And every time it happens, I take a phone, dial the number, put it on speakerphone and surf the web until somebody picks up. I can wait for hours sometimes, and then I just get transferred. So I came up with a solution.

Why can't they call us back? Why can't it be like this:

You dial the number. A computer picks up and tells you that all operators are busy, but if you could please enter your phone number as soon as one becomes available he will call you back. Thank you for your time.

This means no more waiting on hold for hours on end. I don't know how much it costs for a company to call you from Mumbai, but it seems like it would be cheap enough.

Now I Can Have Directions Read to Me as I Drive

2006-12-26T22:45:00.000-05:00

As someone who uses Cingular's EDGE mobile wireless network, this announcement from Google's blog is exciting. Now I can be in the car, and have directions to my location read out to me as I drive. Very, very, very cool.

Subscriptions

2006-12-26T21:24:00.000-05:00

Hits to this site have been very satisfying for its first few days of operation, but subscriptions to the feed are quite low. I was wondering if that was because of something that I have done, like this is not interesting enough, or if it was because how to subscribe (to where) was not obvious enough?

Why Vista is Doomed

2006-12-26T21:03:00.000-05:00

Vista is doomed. At least for its first year.

Let's let that sink in.

Microsoft, the biggest software corporation in the world, led for now by the richest man in the world, has just released a piece of software that it has spent years and millions upon millions of dollars on, that is doomed for failure. Why?

Around a year ago, I bought an Alienware laptop for about $1500. Today, I ran the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor, and guess what? I failed. That means that I can't run Vista on my computer. Which mean, that I'm not going to upgrade until I get a new computer. If I just bought an relatively expensive Alienware laptop a year ago and it can't run Vista, I'm betting that most consumers and business' can't afford the kind of graphics intensive system that Vista requires. Which means less of an incentive to upgrade to Vista, especially since its heralded unparalleled security seems pretty much the same as XP. Here too. So basically, there is no incentive to upgrade until I upgrade my computer anyway.

Sorry Microsoft, but you couldn't quite pull off the copy cat job this time.

Should Trans Fats Be Banned?

2006-12-26T20:00:00.000-05:00

In about 18 months, every restaurant in New York City will have fazed out trans fats (except for the ones that want to get arrested, or worse fined ;) ). Personally I think that this is almost outrageous, not quite though. I understand the reasoning behind it. It is to protect consumers from the evils of trans fats, and to curb the obesity epidemic facing New York and America. But let us take a step back. How come a restaurant can serve alcohol, a potentially lethal drink, that alters the consciousness of the consumer to the point where he loses his inhibitions and leads to countless car accidents a year, but that same restaurant cannot serve a dish that can, over time in large quantities, lead to heart disease among other things. That is one thing I don't understand. There are others.

What ever happened to consumer responsibility. Shouldn't consumers be able to make informed choices about what they eat. Why can't we choose for ourselves. I don't think as an American citizen that I shouldn't be allowed to eat something that I want to as long as I understand the potential health risks after a few decades of frequent ingestion. That's just me.

What do you think? Comment back.

Sorry

2006-12-26T16:47:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't post all day, I was after-Christmas shopping (read returning) and was away from my computer. I'll hopefully get a few posts up tonight after dinner.

Hits Christmas!

2006-12-25T18:43:00.000-05:00

Well, 8:30 is on its way, and I'm looking forward to a nice healthy dose of Chad Pennington to finish off my monday night. But before I do that, I just want to thank you for all of the hits I've had lately, and show you how many people from around the world have visited so far. Again, Merry Christmas.

Note: each dot is a hit
If you want to see a map of where people are visting from, Google Analytics can help, and its free.

What This Blog Would Look Like as Soup

2006-12-25T15:12:00.000-05:00

What this blog would look like as soup:
I couldn't get the text exactly right, but you get the idea. Maybe I should have done something more in the holidy spirit, like what it would look like as mint jelly.

My Top 10 Time-Wasting Online Games (In no Particular Order)

2006-12-25T13:49:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas. These are my Top 10 Time-Wasting Games that I have played this year, in no particular order:
1. Line Rider
This is a little bit predictable, but seriously this is possibly the most timewasting game I have ever played. I can go for hours and hours without getting tired. (That's what she said)
2. Two Minute Football
I like football, and I play this on Sunday while I'm waiting for the game to start. I can't get past All-Pro, what about you?
3. Top Dog
I played this all the time earlier in the year. The trick is to fly upside down close to the ground and don't let the other plane get on the ground. My highest is 34? What's yours?
4. Escapa!
This is a very difficult game. It's good for a warm up session before a nice game of Halo. Gets the reflexes up.
5. BMX Backflips 2
I played the wheely level constantly from morning to night for about a month. Truly an addicting game.
6. Frat Boy Beer Pong
Fun......
7. Ice Breakout
This year was the year of the penguin, and this is the game of the penguin. Dont push me, cause I'm close to the edge.
8. Red Line Rumble
Good street racing game. It's the poor mans NFS.
9. Drivers Ed
This should be the standard government driving test. Beats going to the DMV.
10. Hell of Falling Sand Game
Very addicting. Limitless possibilities for destruction.

I don't know what this post has to do with restoring sanity, but I thought it would be fun to do. What are your favorite games? I'd love to find new ways to waste time. Post your comments and see you soon.

Why Helmets Actually Put You at Risk When You Ride your Bike

2006-12-24T22:08:00.000-05:00

It's true, and the reason makes sense. A psychologist at the University of Bath, who is an avid biker (he probably even shaves his legs), did a study where he rigged his bike with an ultrasonic sensor, helping him detect how far away cars were passing him. Then all he did was ride his bike to work for the next two months, with and without helmets. The study shows that drivers passed him about 3.35 inches closer when he was wearing a helmet than without. Apparently the study shows, most drivers would rather hit a guy with a helmet than without one. And yes, he did get hit during his study. Once by a bus, and once by a truck. Both times while he was wearing a helmet. (I think he did on purpose). Until tommorow....

Snap

2006-12-24T17:39:00.000-05:00

I was reading through a few blogs, and I found something called Snap. Here is an example:
Google
Run your mouse over that and what pops up? A cached image of Google thats what. So in your egnog infused stupor, you should probably skip on over to Snap and put image infused links under your tree for free.
Just thought I might let you guys know, because it just definitely made my day. Tommorow I'm going to have a real post for you guys, just sort of taking a little break right now, you know Holiday spirit.

By the Way

2006-12-24T15:12:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you guys have a healthy year and look forward to seeing you in the times to come. I'll probably post something later today.

Gridiron Gripe

2006-12-24T10:41:00.000-05:00

I think I may be starting a new tradition for this blog. I think I am going to be doing one post every Sunday concerning football. That isn't to say that this blog is soley about football, it's just something that I am interested in and you quite possibly are as well. If you're not, then go read something else on Sundays.

Personally, I am a fan of the Jets. My family has had season tickets since 1969, and it's sort of a tradition. Now watching the Jets for so many years, they have really introduced me to the joy of either narrowly losing, or narrowly winning in the NFL. This is because, almost every game the Jets play is a nail biter. Save for games against Green Bay, Houston and the Vikings, we have won almost every game by a touchdown or less this season. And I wouldn't want the Jets any other way. It makes things much more interesting. But the Jets aren't what I want this post to be about, well, not directly.

My question, is why, without Direct T.V, or a Slingbox, I can't watch a Jets game unless I'm in the Tri-State area. I mean if I was in Russia I could, because anybody outside of the U.S can watch a live streaming broadcast right on their laptops, or tricked out Ak-47s as the case may be. Take for example, the fact that last week I was on vacation, and in order to watch the game, I had to go on Yahoo and refresh a page every five seconds, to see what was happening during the game in text. Yes, text. It would say, C. Pennington 2 yard touchdown pass to C. Baker. Then I would furiously refresh to see if Mike Nugent had made the PAT, which of course with the Jets is something that is cast into doubt. He might make it, he might not. But still, can't the NFL screw the networks, and stream me my Jets game as long as I am outside of the Tri-State area? Pretty please? With a cherry?

Wii Seeker

2006-12-24T10:38:00.000-05:00

I was reading through some blogs, and I came across a story about the Wii Seeker. It uses Google Maps technology to pin point where Wii's may be in your area. All you have to do is enter your zip code. But what I noticed that was odd about the link, is that the site was actually intended as a PS3 tracker because the URL is http://www.ps3seeker.com, I guess nobody was interested in finding a PS3, which is fitting because people can barely give them away on Ebay. Take that Norad Santa Tracker.

I'm So Glad My Tax Dollars Aren't Going to Waste

2006-12-23T19:59:00.000-05:00

The last time I checked, seperation of church and state, was a key part of our government. But when I saw, Norad Tracks Santa, that seperation was cast into doubt. As someone who has to pay taxes every year, I am shall we say, "shocked and awed" that my tax dollars have gone to this. The site looks expensive, and the "tracking tools" probably cost a lot to keep in operation, not to mention people answering the phones for "Santa sightings." I thought that the North American Aerospace Defense Command "is a joint organization of the United States and Canada which provides aerospace warning and control for North America," not to help 10 year olds with serious gullibility issues track a fantastical obese man in a red suit who gets pulled across the U.S by flying reindeers with noses that glow red, delivering presents down every chimney along the way. Come on. Leave that sort of crap for Reagan's Star Wars project. Either that or Google

Technorati Registration Crap
Technorati Profile

Iraq-"What do you want from me, I'm just a voter"

2006-12-23T18:27:00.001-05:00

Ahh yes, the Iraq war. There are so many opinions on it, I knew that I had to contribute my 10 cents, or uhh 10 new dinars. Ok so here we go…..

How dumb do you have to be to commit the world’s largest and most powerful nation ever to a no win venture in Iraq. Lets face it when shock and awe started it all seemed pretty exciting, sort of like the fun you have when you are going to best buy to play the latest guitar hero package, even though you know you’re never going to buy it because Playstation 2 is for losers. But what were they thinking! Maybe we the population were naive enough to be optimistic about democracy for a country that was carved out of the desert by a colonial power without regard to the three seperate groups, Shia Sunni and Kurds that lived within the borders, but we weren’t elected nor paid to think about this stuff.

The governement is paid, and it seems they didn’t give it a second thought.

For us, it was just John Wayne swagerring in, beating up an oppressive dictator with a penchant for Cuban cigars and chemical weapons, and then turning control back over to the abundantly thankful Iraqi populace, who didn’t seem to mind that we had barged in and shocked and awed their cities into burnt and crisped. But when the Iraqis started ripping the toilet seats out of the governement ministries, even I knew something was wrong. Since then its all been downhill. Sure we can point to an election or two when we want to feel like the $600 billion and 3,000 lives we spent on this war was worth something, but lets face it. Things stink and are just going to get worse. Remeber when we were going to have the Iraqui’s pay for the war, I sure do and it sounded pretty good at the time.

When you read a bit about the history of Sunni and Shia, you quickly realize that they hate eachother. It all goes back a couple of thousand years, just before Brett Favre was drafted, to Muhammeds death and the fight over which Caliphs were supposed to be in charge. For my money, all religious wars are simply nuts but to these guys, “victory” is something worth having. Don’t the neocons read history and didn’t Bush at least have one conversation about this. He reports that he didn ‘t ask his father his opinion about whether to go to war. Well thats just great. There is one guy in the whole world who has done this before, I stand corrected, done this before to near perfection, including an exit strategy. He figured that if we threw out Sadam, what would happen next would resemble a hyena. Ugly. Since he couldn’t figre it out, he went home instead. Turns out it was good thinking. His son; though his very father was probably the best person in the world to ask about taking America to war in Iraq, (him and his generals) decided that he knew better, and brought us into Iraq without a workable strategy. Which brings us back to the toilets seats. Once a nation rips apart its government buildings we should have been smart enough to realize that they didn’t want them anymore. It turns out they were giving us a big signal that we missed. So now what?

I say that there is no reason to suspect that 1,000 years of religious war are going to end by election, so if we are going to be unsuccessful, I say be unsuccessful sooner rather than later. Lets go home. On the way out of Iraq, we ought to apoplogize and tell everyone we made a big mistake, that way maybe they won’t follow us home.

Decision 2007: Wii Want Consoles

2006-12-23T18:26:00.000-05:00

Hello. Since this is my first post, I wanted to tell you a little bit about who I am, and then we can get into the topic of this blog. I am Fox. This is my blog. I are here to give you some insight into issues that need “insighting”. I know that isn’t a word, but I feel like it best conveys what I am trying to do. I was thinking about a topic that I thought could really kick off this series, and I thought what better way to start than with the thing that is leaving every single American who still breaks out from a hamburger and who hasn’t emerged from their parents basement since 1997, totally and completely unsure of themselves. Decisions, decisions, decisions. In fact, Decision 2007. You may want to lock yourself in your room, and stop looping Lost (or is it Heroes) for the next 15 minutes while I help you make the biggest decision of the year. Whether to buy the Playstation, the Xbox or the Wii.

The first question that the would-be next generation gamer should ask himself (or herself, or itself as the case may be) is whether or not an upgrade is the right thing to do. I know my dad would be more than happy to play Mario Karts on the N64, but Halo makes him break out in a cold sweat. Sometimes better graphics, a next generation global gaming network and more games than women at the Playboy mansion isn’t the right way to go. If you’re a noob! But there’s also another way to look at it. In about two years there’s going to be an Xbox 720, a Playstation 4 and a Nintendo Wii Wii with next-next-generation everything, and people are going to lining the streets awaiting the revolution in gaming. So why buy Halo 3, when you can buy Halo 4? I have compiled a list of personal attributes that I think best describes the group of people who would most benefit from a console upgrade:

* The number of people on your Xbox Live Friends list outnumbers the average number of people you see in a day.
* Your skin looks like it has been bleached.
* You are still living with your parents.
* You spend more time on the Internet than doing any other activity.
* You have read anything by Charles Petzold or Andre Lamothe.
* The penguin is your favorite animal.

If you fit any of these criteria, you should definitely get into this round of next-generation consoles. If you don’t, then wait another couple of years, because Super Mario is just fine for you.

First let’s start with the Playstation. If you are looking to buy a console for this winter season, the Playstation is not the way to go. Though it is sleek, its graphics are excellent, it has a Blu-Ray player and its PlaystationNETWORK is free, getting a Playstation is like giving a xenophobe a board game that requires 16 players; it’s basically useless and expensive. For me the part of the game that keeps on giving, or gaming, is the online multiplayer. Once the campaign is done, I can play online for months and months without tiring, but with nobody else online but the 300 Sony diehards with frostbitten thumbs, and a gullibility that rivals Jessica Simpson, who waited outside Walmart for hours on end, amid gang fights, yes gang fights, just to shell out $600 for console that is basically useless. It has about five launch titles, none of which utilize its graphical capabilities, it is expensive, its in short supply which means that instead of $600 dollars at BestBuy, you have to spend $1200 on BesterBuy, otherwise known as EBay and to top that all off, the controllers don’t even have a rumble pad. My Nintendo 64 had a rumble pad for Christ’s sakes. But, all that is not to say that in a few months when supply is up, costs are down and games start to come out, that the Playstation will not be a viable contender, but for now, unless you are a diehard fan or you just have a lot of money to waste, the Playstation is definitely not the way to go.

With the Playstation out of the running, that leaves two viable contenders each with their specific strengths and weaknesses. One console is not right for everybody, depending on what type of gamer you are either the Wii or the Xbox will suit your fancy.

The Xbox. Let us go over its strengths: It is nicely designed, it has over 100 games out, it is HD ready out of the box, and Xbox Live makes World of Warcraft look like a MUD game from the early 90’s especially now that it offers movie and T.V downloads. It has a rumble pad, yes I know a rumble pad, such high technology, as well as basically the same graphical capability of the PS3. Also, the Halo series is only playable on the Xbox, and don’t pretend like it didn’t influence your decision to buy one, because it did. With all of these pros, there are only three main cons that I can see for the Xbox: it doesn’t come with an adapter to hook up with your wireless network, (the last I checked to buy one it was $100), the controllers are not motion sensitive, and the big one, the games are not accessible to people of all skill levels. Games like Halo and Madden, may seem like simple conquests for Junior, but for Senior, though they may be fun after he learns how to play, most do not want to invest the time into a video game. Memorizing controller layouts for a game that your kid is only going to want to play for maybe a month is not at the top of a parents to-do list, especially now that there is Viagra.

And now onto the last item for Santa’s list of good boys and girls: the Wii. Besides the fact that an unobservant and uninformed person could mistake the Wii for an external hard drive, or an alien space ship for that matter, the Wii provides accessibility for everyone not just the people who can spend $600 and don’t need an ED pill. It is relatively cheap at $250, and it comes with Wii Sports, a graphically lacking but still incredibly fun assortment of sports games. Wii sports, coupled with the innovative motion sensitive wireless controller package, provides good clean fun for the entire family, and though the hard core World of Warcraft junkie of the clan may scoff at its deficiency of graphical capability, he may yet crack a metal filled smile while playing with his ‘rents.

In closing, I believe that the Wii hit the nail on the head in terms of appealing to the widest range of consumers, while Xbox will satisfy the demanding gamer with Xbox Live and a plethora of games to tickle his fancy. As for the Playstation 3? I would say wait a few months, the prices will drop, shipments will come in, and the Playstation will again become a contender.