The Most Hated Family in America

On April 8, 2007 By Rick McIn bad news, government, philosophyLeave a comment

Not Muslims. Not even close.

That would be the homophobic, anti-semitic religious lunatics of Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. (Independent Baptist church not affiliated with any known Baptist conventions or associations.) They are mostly one family.

These adults are as foul as any lunatic fanatics anywhere.

Sick, sick, sick.

I wonder how they celebrate Easter Sunday.

You need a strong stomach to watch this BBC documentary on YouTube called The Most Hated Family in America.

PrezVid rates Presidential candidates

On April 4, 2007 By Rick McIn government, internetLeave a comment

Will the 2008 American election be won or lost on-line?

I’m not sure.

Initially I felt Obama might be swept to power by the internet. But he still has plenty of time to blow it.

In this week’s PrezVid Show, I grade the latest YouTube videos from each of the candidates. It’s a sorry lot. As a group, they are still blowing the opportunity to use YouTube to connect with voters in new ways: more personal, direct, informative, fun. The grades:

John Edwards — Best of the bunch. He, like Barack Obama, posts a speech to a labor convention and I expect them both to pull out hard hats and lunch pails. But he’s passionate and the video is well-organized, giving us his stump-speech stands on Iraq, the environment, and health care. And he even snarks at Barack Obama. Grade: B

Barack Obama — He keeps making Sally Field videos: They love him, they really love him. At another union confab, Obama shouts to the choir but still says little. Grade: C

Hillary Clinton — She was the teacher’s pet with her early videos. But lately, Clinton has been sloughing it off. He latest show just hauls out the hubby to beg for money (and considering her record-blasting take so far, money is the least of her concerns. Grade: C-

Dennis Kucinich — Grade: B

Chris Dodd — Grade: C-

Joe Biden — Grade: C

John McCain — Grade: C

Mitt Romney — Grade: D

Rudy Giuliani — Grade: D-

Ron Paul — Grade: F

Bill Richardson — Grade: C-

Duncan Hunter — Grade: D

Tommy Thompson — Grade: F

Chuck Hagel — Grade: D-

Sam Brownback — Grade: F

PrezVid

Obama is President of MySpace

On March 25, 2007 By Rick McIn government, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I threw my support blind behind Barack Obama on Dec. 26th, 2006.

The main reason was the overwhelming support he was getting on the internet.

Here is who the MySpacers are supporting.

Data Mining: Text Mining, Visualization and Social Media: ObamaSpace

But will they vote?

Hillary’s page is not getting much love:

March 23, 2007 – I made a strange new friend today on MySpace. Her name is Hillary Clinton. Frankly, we don’t have a lot in common.

Newsweek

movie – The Fog of War

On March 24, 2007 By Rick McIn government, Islam, movies, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I only knew “McNamara” from the reference in the Simon and Garfunkle song:

I been Norman Mailered, Maxwell Taylored.
I been John O’Hara’d, McNamara’d.
I been Rolling Stoned and Beatled till I’m blind.
I been Ayn Randed, nearly branded
Communist, ’cause I’m left-handed.
That’s the hand I use, well, never mind!

source

The first album I ever bought was Simon and Garfunkle.

Though I grew up in the Vietnam era, I was never a vocal protester. My mind was on local things. Sport. School. Friends.

Later I became strongly anti-war. (that’s a separate post)

I’d heard great things about a documentary called The Fog of War and finally got around to downloading it.

It’s fantastic.

Robert Strange McNamara is one of the most interesting and compelling figures in modern history.

He was hand-picked by President Kennedy to become Secretary of Defense in 1961 and was a senior advisor on US policy through until he was fired (or quit) in 1968.

McNamara recommended the Bay of Pigs invasion and was at the table during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Three times the USA came close to using nuclear weapons.

McNamara has said that the Domino Theory was the main reason for entering Vietnam. His resolve to “win” the war waned, especially after protester Norman Morrison set himself on fire Nov. 2, 1965, dousing himself in gasoline, holding his baby girl, in front of McNamara’s office. (The baby was saved.)

Though McNamara was “the chief architect of the Vietnam war”, he eventually came to believe it a mistake. LBJ lost confidence and let him go.

Film maker Errol Morris had a fantastic story. And did a fantastic job of editing. I recommend it to one and all.

Though many of the “lessons learned” could be applied to Iraq, McNamara has consistently refused to comment. And he has never apologized.

The Fog of War – Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

The Fog of War – Wikipedia

You can watch the movie free in a tiny window with streamed video.

GOOD NEWS – arms makers going GREEN

On March 19, 2007 By Rick McIn bad news, economics, government, health & fitnessLeave a comment

You, me, every politician.

Why not the arms industry?

I want to THANK bomb makers for THINKING OF THE CHILDREN.

British arms manufacturer BAE Systems is designing “environmentally friendly” weapons, including “reduced lead” bullets, “reduced smoke” grenades and rockets with fewer toxins, The Sunday Times said.

Other initiatives include developing armoured vehicles with lower carbon emissions, safer and more sustainable artillery and even recycling or composting waste explosives, the newspaper added.

“Weapons are going to be used and when they are, we try to make them as safe for the user as possible, to limit the collateral damage and to impact as little as possible on the environment,” Debbie Allen, BAE Systems’ director of corporate social responsibility, was quoted as saying.

‘Green’ arms the new killing trend « Terryorisms

Arms Industry – Wikipedia

daylight savings time – good or bad?

On March 11, 2007 By Rick McIn government, miscellaneousLeave a comment

Being an “evening person”, a golfer and a Canadian — I’ve always liked Daylight Savings Time.

(For 10 years I lived in Saskatchewan where we did not have DST and suffered some confusion because everyone else in the country was.)

On the internet, however, the consensus seems to be that the benefits are not worth the bother.

For example:

… assuming you use the same amount of lighting in the morning that you normally do, how much can you expect to save thanks to an extra hour of evening daylight for four weeks? Not much. Let’s do the math, assuming you have five 60-watt light bulbs you regularly use every evening:

28 days * 1 hour * 5 light bulbs * 60 watts = 8.4 kilowatt-hours (kWh)

Using the average residential cost per kilowatt-hour of 10.22 cents from November 2006, here’s how much you’d save:

8.4 kWh * $0.1022/kWh = $0.86

So after an act of Congress, millions spent in computer reprogramming and schedule adjusting, and kids waiting for buses in pitch dark, you can expect to save 86 cents a year thanks to the extension of Daylight Saving Time. And if your house already made the switch to energy-saving CFL bulbs like we did, cut that savings to 19 cents.

How Much Will You Save With the Longer Daylight Saving Time? About 86 Cents. | Punny Money

has your country abolished the death penalty?

On January 8, 2007 By Rick McIn government, philosophyLeave a comment

A map of the world showing countries that use the death penalty and those that have abolished it.

(via A Welsh View)

Of course I am for the abolishment of the death penalty everywhere. Except in very unique situations. Saddam Hussein’s trial was bungled, I understand, but I have no quarrel with him being put to death.

Stephen Colbert – 2006 Media Person of the Year

On December 31, 2006 By Rick McIn government, humour, miscellaneous, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I’m agree.

Colbert hits the nail on the head night after night with rarely a misstep.

He has far surpassed mentor Jon Stewart.

Stephen Colbert, the host of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central, is the 2006 Media Person of the Year, according to the annual online poll held by I Want Media.

… The winner last year was CNN newsman Anderson Cooper, who followed Jon Stewart, Colbert’s partner in “fake news,” in 2004.

The popularity of Colbert’s spot-on, satirical cable-news pundit character already led him to be honored as of one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2006.

The Comedy Central star sent shock waves through the news media early in the year when he keynoted the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and skewered President Bush to his face: “I believe in this president. Guys like us … know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in ‘reality.’ And reality has a well-known liberal bias.”

Colbert’s routine “unplugged the Bush myth machine — and left the clueless D.C. press corps gaping,” wrote Michael Scherer of Salon.com.

A clip of Colbert’s speech instantly became a viral video hit on the Web. New York Times columnist Frank Rich later described Colbert’s performance as the “defining moment” of the 2006 midterm elections.

Stephen Colbert – 2006 Media Person of the Year

Representative Press thought Colbert should have been Time magazine Person of the Year, as well. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Obama/Clinton Race On

On December 26, 2006 By Rick McIn government, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Hillary could be good, I think.

But this blog is throwing it’s support behind Barack Obama despite knowing almost nothing about him.

Sheer bandwagoneering.

I like the groundswell of popular support. Reminds me of Nehru in 1947. India’s first Prime Minister also thought he got too popular, too fast. With too little experience.

I haven’t liked a politician since Roy Romanow. Obama seems a guy I could like.

Certainly the Democrats need a candidate that can win. Worst case scenario would be to have another Republican. It’s time that dirty Party cleaned house.

According to a new Concord Monitor poll, Senator Hillary Clinton is leading Senator Barack Obama by a slight margin among likely voters in the state’s 2008 Democratic presidential primary.

The poll found Clinton leading Obama 22 to 21 percent in New Hampshire. Last month, Clinton was leading the Illinois Democrat by 23 points in a Monitor poll.

But Obama has quickly made up ground in the polls since speaking to a Manchester crowd two weeks ago. And, a Democratic activist said he is not surprised with the new poll since Obama got five days of intense media coverage in New Hampshire.
…

On the Republican side, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Senator John McCain are about even, while Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is at 10 percent.

Obama/Clinton Race On