Liveblogging: State of the Union

Roughly 8:45 PM: Cindy Sheehan detained in the Capitol for protesting. I'm sure she was holding vigil for her son.
9:11 PM (ironic?): Speech Begins
9:14 PM: "State of the Union is strong"
9:15 PM: He said "doodie"
9:16 PM: Democracy makes the world safer (i.e., we are probably going to war with Iran)
9:17 PM: Women voting in Afganistan, Iraqis voting.
9:17 PM: Bush pronounces African country names....correctly!
9:17 PM: Radical Islam sucks. Take terrorism seriously.
9:18 PM: Terrorists' weapon is fear....(and Cindy Sheehan).
9:18 PM: (Fox News shows lonely Muslim guy in Capitol)
9:19 PM: Radical Islam has pretty much been sucking for the past two minutes.
9:20 PM: "We will never surrender to evil."
9:20 PM: Europe owes us, bigtime.
9:21 PM: Marginalized????
9:21 PM: Iraqis ain't skeered!
9:22 PM: Radical Islam Suckometer reaches 5 minutes.
9:23 PM: Two roads diverged in a yellow desert. We took the one less traveled by.
9:23 PM: Only Republicans stand and clap. (Bloggers Note: Bush should say something crazy like "we should increase welfare spending", just to see if the Dems are paying attention.)
9:24 PM: "Second-guessing is not a strategy". Yeah, you, John Kerry!
9:25 PM: The Senators are sleepy from all the Alito stuff.

........

9:26 PM: Sad story about death of a soldier. Nothing really to joke about.
9:27 PM: One minute of clapping.
9:28 PM: More clapping.
9:28 PM: "Alternity"? We were doing so well with that whole word thingy.
9:29 PM: Stick THAT in your RPG, Hamas!
9:30 PM: "Liberty is the right and hope of all humanity"....since 1865.
9:30 PM: AAARGH! Nucular! This has obviously turned into a gimick.
9:31 PM: Dear Iran: Go suck an egg.

........

9:32 PM: We are compassionate....don't you forget it!
9:32 PM: "The United States is a partner for a better life"
9:33 PM: Bush thanks the PoPo.
9:34 PM: "Reauthorize the Patriot Act" Because I KNOW you've been talking about voting against it.
9:35 PM: Don't talk to Al Kida. He's bad.

........

9:36 PM: Without us, the world sucks.
9:36 PM: Congress!!! Helllllp!!!
9:37 PM: Bloggers Note: Barbara McKulskey (sp?) is the most tragic looking Member of Congress, bar none.
9:38 PM: "We cannot afford to be complacent" I'd like to buy a vowel. Can we afford that?
9:40 PM: Tax cuts rock.
9:41 PM: Silly Congress, taxes are for Europeans.
9:41 PM: "Non-security discretionary spending". Someone's been hanging out with ol' Greenspan again.

........

9:42 PM: Fox News shows Hillary Clinton. Blogger shivers. "Stand by Your Man" plays in the background.
9:44 PM: (I'm getting sleepy.)
9:45 PM: (Verrrry sleepy.)
9:46 PM: We can all agree on healthcare.
9:47 PM: 1500 American counties without OB-GYNs. That's a lot of babies born in backs of pickup trucks.
9:48 PM: Might as well face it, your addicted to oil.
9:48 PM: Again with the "nucular".

........

9:49 PM: "Wood chips" are the new fuel? That sounds like a step backwards to me.
9:50 PM: We don't need no stinking Middle Eastern oil! (Just kidding Saudi Arabia.)
9:51 PM: (I think I want the job of naming the "initiatives" and "programs" that the President gets to announce at this stuff. THAT would be cool.)
9:51 PM: NanotechWHAT?
9:52 PM: 70,000 new high school teachers.
9:53 PM: America is compassionate, decent, and hopeful.
9:54 PM: Bush gives credit to Democrats for something. I wasn't paying attention.

........

9:55 PM: Shout out to Alito....HOLLER!
9:56 PM: Sandra Day O'Connor is a special lady....but is NOT a holla back girl.
9:57 PM: Every sperm is sacred.
9:58 PM: Democrats act like they've never been in ethics trouble before. That's cute.
9:59 PM: "Helping America's Youth Initiative" See, I would have totally given that a better name. Like "Laura Bush Whips Some Lazy Kids Into Shape....Initiative"
9:59 PM: One BILLION Dollars! (Think Dr. Evil)
10:00 PM: It is now 10:00 PM.

........

10:01 PM: Church is the solution for AIDS. Well DUH!
10:01 PM: During conversation about AIDS, Fox News shows John Kerry. That was pretty tactless.
10:02 PM: FRREEEEDOM!
10:03 PM: "May God Bless America"

THE END

The Proctor Post will not be covering the Tim Kaine rebuttal speech. NOT because he's a Democrat, but because he's a huge goober, who is only Governor because he was the SECOND hugest goober in the race. And I'm sleepy.

Variety Hour

Well, there are a lot of things I want to blog about, but no coherent link between them. So, in the spirit of Nick and Jessica (minus Splitsville), I'll approach it as a virtual cornucopia of entertainment.

1. Cindy Sheehan Potentially Running for U.S. Senate - I am not surprised. This just proves how misplaced her rage is. If she truly wanted to have an impact, she would translate her 15 minutes of fame into a successful career as an anti-war lobbyist in DC. But no, since this is clearly about her, the Senate will have to do. I am dissapointed.

2. Chinese New Year - Thanks to Ann and Andy for hosting our wild party. Nothing like a little hot pot to ring in the New Year. It was great!

3. Making Problems Out of Nothing - don't. Simplify. Jeffucious say: He who takes self too seriously, gets seriously taken, too.

4. Super Bowl - Shout out to Dave. If the Seahawks win, it will be tough to decide which is better, the ring or the bride...won't it?....honestly? Some may say "isn't a Seahawk not even a real bird?" I say, you'll find out on Sunday....just like the Redskins did. (Oh no, he didn't.) ((Oh yes, he did.))



There could, indeed, be more.

Conservative Canada?

Yesterday's Canadian elections have provided me an opportunity to make comments I've been just dying to make. For those who don't know, Canada "went conservative" yesterday by voting in new leadership from the Conservative party. (This post will not address the differences between US and Canadian definitions of "conversative" and "liberal", but suffice it to say that they are, indeed, different.) The purpose of this post is to talk about how rank-and-file citizens view politics.

My political views aren't secret from too many people. I love me some conservatives. Living in the DC-area has clouded my beliefs on something that I used to overwhelmingly believe. That is: "people don't care about politics". In fact, they care much more about politicians than politics. And they don't care much about THEM.

Let me explain. Canada "went conservative" because of scandal within the Liberal party. From my understanding, the scandal up there makes Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay look like nuns (try to avoid the visual there). This provides the perfect case study for my viewpoint. The way they voted yesterday proves that people, at least those people, don't care whether or not their political views are inacted in the form of legislation. If I am a Canadian "liberal", and I voted Conservative, I have basically given the next X-number of years over to the decision-making of those who disagree with me. Does that make sense?

Now, I think corruption should be dealt with (first, it must be proven, but that's a whole other story). I really just hope that, come November, American conservatives will remember that dealing with corruption and surrendering your political views are two widely different things. If you believe Tom Delay is a crook (I'm talking to you TX-22), vote him out! But if you believe in conservative political ideals, replace him with a conservative, not a liberal who tells you that he'll be better simply by not taking dirty money.

Face it. Canada is a liberal place. I'd venture a guess that the average Canadian will regret their vote over the next few years. From their viewpoint, they voted for the right reason but the wrong person. (From my viewpoint, and Canadian conservative is still better than a Canadian liberal....although I'd probably still rather have John Kerry running Canada.....or not.)

In the end, I doubt this article will get as much play as my epic treatise "iHate", but I had fun writing it anyway. It baffles me how anyone can claim to be conservative or liberal and EVER vote for someone who is on the opposite side. The opponent might be a nicer guy, better looking, have kissed your baby, gone to your church, or whatever...but if you truly feel strongly about the issues that comprise your political viewpoint, you aren't doing yourself any favors by voting against it for the sake of something superficial.

iHate

For some reason, the topic of my feelings toward Apple has come up a lot lately. I know this is unpopular in my "circle", but when have I been known to pull the fuel away from a fire?

For the past few years, I've really sought to put my feelings about Apple (specifically Macs) into words. I think I cam close this week with the following quote:

"I grew up a computer geek, and I liked it. Then, Apple came along (technically, came BACK) and made computer technology into something that normal people talked about and even obsessed over!"

You see, when I talked about computers, I talked processor speeds, RAM, bus, baud rates, and so on. Now, I hear people talking about which color of computer to buy or how slim and sleek the new iMac looks (I use this iMac at work).

This is the part of the story where I give "props" to Apple. I truly do applaud them for turning something as geeky as personal computing (notice the lowercase "p" and "c") into a cultural phenomenon. It's the USERS that I think got completely snowed. Steve Jobs told you that you would be an enlightened elite member of the computing public if you used his pretty box AND YOU BOUGHT IT!

Here's the technical part of the topic. In my opinion, all of the "advantages" of Macs are only present because of current market conditions that, if Apple and it's users have their way (thus, the world is converted), those conditions will disappear. What, you say? Let's itemize.

1. No (or fewer) viruses - if macs had the market share that PC's have, all viruses would be for Macs. Therefore, Macs are only "virus-safe(r)" because of their market share.

2. Multimedia - yes, macs ROCK for graphics/web/video and so on. However, as more non-multimedia users adopt the platform, what incentive for staying multimedia-friendly will Apple have? The answer: the same incentive that Microsoft has now. Remember, Apple likes money just as much as the evil Microsoft does.

3. Usability/Interface Design - this is an arguable topic. I appreciate the work that Apple does in this area. I still, however, don't see Macs being that much more "intuitive" than PCs. I certainly don't believe that the drive/folder interface is fully appropriate for the 21st century, and both operating systems are still based on that model. Apple has made what they call improvements, but unless they are the first to truly move beyond the current metaphor, they're in the same bucket as MSFT in my book.

4. Not a Big, Bad Monopoly - yet. Let's look at the iPod. Don't think for a moment that the good folks at Apple won't slit a few throats to stay on top. Microsoft got punished because they were smarter than everyone esle, first.

I never EVER thought I'd have to say this, but if your computer makes you feel cooler or in any way feel better about yourself as a person, you have been snowed by the manufacturer. The same goes for your political affiliation, personal philosophy, intellect, and a variety of other things.

So, let the flaming begin!