Foolish Curiosity

I never made a post about this story, but it is likely that most people who read this blog received the link from me at some point. For those of you who did not, here is a quick summary.

There is a guy in Marietta, GA (near Atlanta), who decided it was a good a idea to sell T-shirts depicting Curious George eating a banana and the words “Obama in 08.” When asked to respond to protesters, he actually said “If that offends them, they are hunting a reason to be offended.” Furthermore he suggests that the only similarities he intended to suggest were in the character’s and Senator Obama’s hairlines and ears. What’s even more disturbing is that orders for the t-shirts have apparently come from as far away as New Jersey, and demand was such that he sold out of the t-shirts.

Needless to say, that was a discouraging story, but today someone sent me a follow up that made me smile. This story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the owners of the rights to Curious George are considering legal action against the vendor.

I am very glad that of all the countless simian images he could have chosen for his blatantly offensive shirt, he chose one that was copyrighted. Perhaps this is too vindictive, and would accomplish nothing as far as inspiring meaningful dialogue on race relations, and it might even make me a mean person, but I sincerely hope that publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is able to take the maker of the t-shirt for everything he has!

Overwhelming indeed

So last night Hillary Clinton called her West Virginia primary win “overwhelming.”  I started reading quotes by West Virginians and I was indeed “overwhelmed,” but I don’t think HRC and I were using the word in the same way.  Here are the first couple quotes I found.  Then I had to stop because it was actually quite discouraging.  Reminds me just how difficult this general election process is going to be.

The first one. And this guy was completely serious. Like he really believed what he was saying made sense.

“They won’t go for a black man, that’s just it,” R.K. Horton, a retired heating and air conditioning business owner, said of his neighbors. “I don’t think it’s being racist necessarily, they just don’t like black people that well.”

Seriously, Mr. Horton?  I can only imagine what it takes to cross his threshold of racism.

Tax on Millionaires

Democrats are proposing benefits to veterans which I whole heartedly support, but I disagree with how they propose to pay for it. Instead of taxing millionaires why not tax families/individuals that are not sacrificing for the war effort? Increase the tax on all individuals that are not directly related to someone who has served our country since 2001. Or to make things really complicated (as if our tax system is not complicated enough) do a graduated tax for how far removed someone is from the war. For example if someone has served in the Global War on Terrorism then they get no tax increase (should actually get a tax break), then if someone is directly related to someone then they get a less tax increase, all the way to where if someone has no relation to anyone serving then they get the largest tax increase. For the Global War on Terrorism, only a few Americans are sacrificing anything for. It is time that the rest of America begin to support the war effort by supporting the brave men and women who serve.

*this post is still a draft, and will probably change as I think about it more

Please note, that I am against the national income tax in general and support a national sales tax but that is another post.

Mother Nature being Mom

Various reports and alarm are surfacing on whether global warming and the “human footprint” are causing changed weather patterns (which they are), leading to a greater number of natural disasters (which they may not be). In the past 35 years, reported natural disasters worldwide have risen nearly 500 percent. But much of that is attributed to a huge influx of people living in more disaster-prone areas of the world (the west coast of the United States, Pacific Islands and south Asia, etc.) coupled with better accountability of what’s going on in underdeveloped countries. It is not necessarily the result of more natural disasters happening; that is merely one contributing factor.

No excuse

You are paid millions of dollars to play a sport, at no point should you make such a stupid mistake.

Barr runs for President!

Great news for America! A third party candidate is running.  Hopefully more will run, we need to get rid of the two party system.

Weather Predictions?

I was in Pittsburgh this past weekend for an air show, and the morning before the show we checked the local weather to figure out what type of day it would be. The weather forecaster predicted low 60’s and rain. Which meant it would be cold and the air show might be canceled. The weathermen could not have been more wrong. The actual weather was high 70’s and partly cloudy. A gorgeous day that allowed the air show to go on with its high-altitude performance. Realizing that the weather forecaster could not predict accurately 12 hours in advance made me wonder if anyone had done a study on the accuracy of forecasts. Luckily someone had, and found out that the accuracy of a forecaster could not be trusted beyond 2 days out.

If we cannot trust a weather forecaster greater than two days out, then how are we suppose to trust any weather predictions a week from today. Let alone a week how are we suppose to trust any weather prediction in the next year and beyond? In other words how are we suppose to trust any of the crap being fed to us about the next 50 years and how we will all die and be cannibals due to global warming? Now don’t get me wrong, I view polluting as bad, and should be minimized, but disagree with burning SUVs. I am also against the environmental hypocrites out there. We should all follow the lead of Bush and not Gore and worry about ourselves before criticizing others

Myanmar, 8 days, and a strong case for democracy

I figure we should talk about Myanmar, so here we go.

So far, the UN estimates that between 69,290 to 101,682 people have died from the May 3 cyclone. Even the state-run Myanmar television acknowledges a death toll of 28,458. These numbers are simply tragic and astounding.

The Nobel-prize winning Economist Amartya Sen claimed that famines only occur in authoritarian regimes but not in democracies. In well-functioning democracies, the government is held directly accountable by the people through elections and therefore the government has strong incentives to protect the people. However with authoritarian regimes like the Myanmar military junta, the government has less incentive to respond to the people’s needs, there are no direct links between the people’s welfare and government power. Their only interest is in maintaining control.

Unfortunately, Sen’s theory is being proven again. 8 DAYS later and significant foreign aid has still not been allowed into the country. 8 DAYS while thousands upon thousands of people are starving and dying of thirst and could have been easily saved by the foreign aid right at the country’s doorstep (tons of aid has been sitting to rot at the Myanmar airport and in Thailand). 8 DAYS while less than FIVE foreign doctors and aid workers have been allowed to treat the sick and dying. 8 DAYS because the ruling military junta wants to maintain absolute control and to ward off foreign influence. 8 DAYS that has turned a natural disaster into a bona fide crime against humanity.

It’s great to finish first, but it’s really really great to not finish last

Today was the final day of the English Premier League season. As was expected there was a lot of excitement at the top of the table. Chelsea needed a victory to possibly finish in first, but could only manage to draw after giving up a late goal to Bolton two minutes into injury time. That meant that with its 2-0 victory over Wigan, Manchester United claimed its 17th Premier League title.

But that’s not what this post is about. See, the great thing about European soccer is that as exciting and consequential as the fight at the top standings is, the competition at the bottom of the league is every bit as exciting with the results meaning just as much if not more. And unlike in American professional leagues, the drama at the lower end of the league has nothing to do with teams tanking games to get higher draft picks. No no no. In Europe, if your record is bad, you have every incentive to win. If you don’t you won’t be around to play next year.

What if Obama just ignored Clinton from now on?

One of the first mistakes the Clinton campaign made was that long before votes had been cast, the campaign and all the talking heads on TV anointed her the nominee.  She bought into it and behaved as such.  She spent money like the primary season would be over before February and looked past her democratic opponents as little more than insignificant annoyances she would casually disperse with some early wins.  Even though that thinking got Clinton in a heap of trouble, that is exactly what I think Obama should do now.

Obama should behave as though the nomination process is complete, look past Clinton, and begin to focus only on McCain.  There are some indications that he is already doing this. There is a NY Times story this morning suggesting that McCain and Obama are already in negotiations for forums and unmoderated debates to be held throughout the summer.