Simon’s an idiot

Just at the end of American Idol tonight, an episode which was taped in Kansas City, Simon looked into the camera and said, “So I’m now in love with Kansas.” He was in Kansas City, MISSOURI.

 

The next four years

This morning we awaken to an election day all but certain to end in victory for Barack Obama.  Two years ago, the certainty for today was that Hillary Clinton would be receiving the congratulatory call at the end of the evening from the vanquished Republican.  Sen. Obama had entered the race most likely to build upon the name recognition that he had achieved from his speech at the 2004 Democratic convention, with his eye set upon a future campaign and a future victory.  A combination of factors, including a superior campaign organization,  a well timed but vacuous promise of Hope and Change, a national press so eager to defeat a Republican that they would utterly fail to discharge their duty to fairly and evenly find and report the news, a Republican candidate who refused to point the finger of blame for the economic disaster we are enduring at the Democrats responsible and who further refused to discuss the effect of sitting for 20 years under the hate-America-first preaching of the Black Liberation Theologist Rev. Wright and who refused to  discuss Sen. Obama’s antipathy for Second Amendment rights have, among other things, brought us to this point.

Somehow, the United States of America, the nation which became the greatest on earth based on principles of personal, economic and political freedoms is turning to a man who believes that all of those should be curtailed and limited because freedom produces inequality.  He ignores the benefits of inequality – the incentive to self-improve and the trickle down of economic improvement.  Freedom and prosperity are partners.  One cannot advance too far beyond the other.

But, we cannot change the inevitable.  Today, I will be at my local polling place at 8:00 a.m. to cast my vote.  I hope that it and all legally cast votes are counted fairly.  They won’t be.  Voter fraud and election machine errors will mar this election, creating a clinghold for those who will spend years shouting that their candidate was unfairly deprived of the office he deserved.  Unfortunately, some of those wll be right.  Having a black man, or more accurately a half black man, in the White House will fire up the hate groups.  As much as i oppose his policies and decry his vision of America, I fervently hope he remains safe and healthy throughout his tenure.  America does not need tragedy and the race war that his assassination would bring.  And while I would wish my political opponents from the stage, I do not wish them dead.

The economy will improve, but it will take a year or two.  The military will be weakened.  Our ability and desire to bring freedom to millions around the world will wane.  Government will expand.  Health care will become more and more a government function leading to a decrease in quality and to unnecessary rationing.  Taxes and regulation will strangle businesses and stymy economic progress in ways reminiscent of overburdened European economies, economies now trying to throw off those limitations and grow free again.  The nation will not get the needed energy plan that exploits currently available resources while pursuing new forms and sources of energy.  Instead, we will leave oil in the ground and refuse to build new nuclear energy plants in hopes that some as yet unknown fuel will power our future.

Gay rights will continue their halting steps forward, not because of support from the administration but because attitudes change.  As gay people become more visible in daily life, we become less of a threat and more accepted.  Straights will reaize that we are more like them than they previously thought and we will change from an oddity to neighbors and co-workers and friends.

I wish I could be more optimistic.  I wish I could believe that freedom and prosperity will flourish and democracy and capitalism will spread.  Even more so, I wish that Barack Obama wanted those things.  He doesn’t.

 

Raising millions to solve crisises, at least in part, government created

Tonight, the 3 1/2 hour event American Idol Gives Back raised millions for people in need around the world. Sadly, much of that money could be diverted to other needs if our government would get out of the way. In a message about the Children’s Defense Fund, we learned that every 4 minutes, a child is arrested for a drug offense. Throughout the evening, we heard about the horrors of malaria.

Two solutions: return to the use of DDT and end the war on drugs.

 

Project Runway moves to Lifetime, bleh

Lifetime (the weepy housewife’s network) has wooed Project Runway away from Bravo (the working gay’s network) in a $150 million, 5 year deal. I suspect this means the show will be restructured to allow the judges 30 minutes to discuss their feelings about having to kick out one of the contestants and Heidi Klum will shed a tear and pop a Prozac as she tells a suicidially despondent contestant that they “are out.” Up coming projects for the designers can be expected to include: outfits for abused spouses that hide their injuries, clothes to wear to divorce court that will maximize alimony and for the one obligatory men’s clothing show, materials that lipstick won’t stick to and which won’t hold perfumes other than your wife’s.

 

What’s different about this photo?

Here is a Reuters photo taken yesterday during the speech given by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University as part of it’s World Leaders Forum:

Here are others taken at speeches given by other world leaders as part of the same series:

President Kagame, Rwanda

President Halonen, Republic of Finland

President Yudhoyono, Indonesia

Funny how Columbia chose to have only a black backdrop and podium, with the name of the university covered, for Iran’s President. Flipping through the other photos on the Columbia website did not turn up other leaders given the same treatment.

 

Do judging shows affect my behavior?

So You Think You Can Dance, Design Star, Next Food Network Star, Iron Chef, Dancing with the Stars, Top Chef, Project Runway, Food Network Challenge, Throw Down with Bobby Flay. These are the judging/talent contest shows that I watch on a fairly regular basis. I don’t cook unless it involves a microwave and can be finished in 2 minutes or less. I only dance when I’m drinking. And my decorating would be judged as less than competent.

Yet, after watching all these shows, I find myself being more critical in certain areas, particularly in design and cooking. When I go out to eat, I now pay far more attention to all aspects of the experience. I used to pay more attention to the details of the service than I did the details of the food. With the food, I either liked it or I didn’t. Now, I notice pairings, flavor profiles, presentation, proper cooking, etc.

For example, I my last two experiences at Germantown Cafe have been problematic because my expectations were raised. The first of these times, I talked them into giving me a salad with a grilled, sliced chicken breast on top, an item that is not on the dinner menu. The salad was fine, but the chicken was moist on the thick end and quite dry on the thin end.  The next time I went, I had the herb-crusted skate with sweet potato risotto. The risotto was cold and the skate was very dry. (In GTC’s defense, when I mentioned the problem, they immediately removed the dish, and offered to replace it with anything on the menu, all at no charge to me. I repeatedly offered to pay half of the original entree or all of the replacement. They declined both.)

Would I have been as picky if I hadn’t spent so much time watching judged cooking shows? I’ve had several experiences lately where I have focused more on the food details in the past and not been impressed. (I haven’t sent anything else back.) My thinking seems to have been similarly affected in seeing how places decorate and what people wear, particularly on television. (Cat Deely has worn the worst dresses known to man all this season!)

Has anyone else noticed this in themselves or others? Wait staff, have people gotten more finicky about their meals? Is it just me?

 

Prince Harry is hot!

 

40% is big, right?

The CNN lede:

 Using marijuana seems to increase the chance of becoming psychotic, researchers report in an analysis of past research that reignites the issue of whether pot is dangerous.

The new review suggests that even infrequent use could raise the small but real risk of this serious mental illness by 40 percent.

Always watch out  for those stories of “increases risk by x%.”  You first need to know what the original risk was then calculate the new, alleged risk.  But, before we get there, note:

The researchers said they couldn’t prove that marijuana use itself increases the risk of psychosis, a category of several disorders with schizophrenia being the most commonly known.

So why are we even talking about this?  Oh yeah, the popular “all drugs are bad” meme needs constant feeding and watering.  But, the numbers are tough to get worked up about.

 The prevalence of schizophrenia is believed to be about five in 1,000 people.

In other words, you have a .5% chance of developing schizophrenia.  Even though pot smoking hasn’t been shown to cause any psychosis, your post toke risk of developing schizophrenia sky rockets to .7%  Dude, that’s making me nervous.  I think I could use a . . .

 

Al Gore, arrgghh!!

Al Gore is a charlatan showman pandering for cash.  But, his camp handled the Chilean Sea Bass Dinnergate non-scandal just right.  The fish was from “one of the world’s few well-managed, sustainable populations of toothfish, and caught and documented in compliance with Marine Stewardship Council regulations.”  And rather than heap scorn on the person from the Humane Society International who had attacked them, they issued an entirely appropriate statement:

“The Gores absolutely agree with this humane society and the rest of the environmental community about illegally caught Chilean sea bass.

“The problem is huge. This is unfortunate, we have been in touch with the society today. The really important thing is that people become more aware of this issue.”

 

I am so beneath Whoopi

Whoopi Goldberg on The View just told Perez Hilton that now that he is becoming a celebrity he is “ascending to another sphere.” Ascending to another sphere!! That’s right. Once you become a famous entertainer, you are superior to the rest of us.

We bow to our has-been celebrity overlords!