Captain Digital

Random musings on politics, society, and pop culture from the Internet's marketing curmudgeon.

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McCain

Finance THIS.

Recently, the Supreme Court wisely overturned as unconstitutional the vaunted “McCain/Feingold Campaign Finance Law” that restricted the ability of corporations to make contributions to campaigns.

Why is this a good thing?

First of all, the way the law was written, it tied the hands of business, while giving unions the opportunity to spend with virtually no restrictions. Given that unions (over the last 20 years, anyway) have given over 90% of their contributions to Democrats, this has created a lop-sided playing field. [Read more…] about Finance THIS.

Voting Early.

Vote as if your life depends on it.
Vote as if your life depends on it.

Yep. I did it. I cast my vote, as early voting runs through October 31 here in Amarillo. Mrs. Digital and I headed over to the mall and cast our votes for President, Senator, Representative, and a slew of local offices.

You might expect, given that I am a proud conservative, that I voted the straight Republican ticket.

And you’d be wrong. [Read more…] about Voting Early.

Groupthink.

groupthink (grūp’thĭngk’) n. The act or practice of reasoning or decision-making by a group, especially when characterized by uncritical acceptance or conformity to prevailing points of view.

It is a part of human nature to want to belong. Belonging takes many forms – families, clubs, schools, sports teams and their fans, and even politics. In society, many of us classify themselves by labels that indicate to which group we belong. Conservative. Liberal. Republican. Democrat. But where things get weird is when one group takes hold of the idea that their ideas and beliefs are not only superior to the other groups, but that the other groups are stupid, wrong, and even dangerous.

Welcome to politics in 2008. [Read more…] about Groupthink.

What’s going on here?

This election has me baffled. I see the polls – one has the race tied, and the others give Obama a ten or eleven-point lead. Yet, everybody I talk to – Liberal and Conservative alike – are talking about Joe the Plumber and are debating the question of if Obama’s plans are Socialism by another name. (They are.) I think the election is gonna be way closer than everybody seems to think – and I still believe, in my heart of hearts – that McCain’s gonna win. [Read more…] about What’s going on here?

The Morning After Debate.

The insatiable appetite of the 24/7 news cycles has begat an unfortunate dividend – an explosion in the demand for pundits. They are all over Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS – you name it. Now the media keeps blurring the lines between job descriptions, but for the sake of this argument, allow me to clairfy the titles and job descriptions of what you’re supposed to be seeing on TV: [Read more…] about The Morning After Debate.

McCain Steps Up.

I was expecting another snooze-fest at this evening’s final debate. I anticipated a bunch of talking points, wrapped in some dialog suitable as a cure for insomnia. Listening to their minions on the news shows, I figured we’d get more of the same, especially from McCain. I believed he would do exactly what he’d done before – keep to his one-man-revival of a Midwestern version of The Importance of Being Earnest.

I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong. [Read more…] about McCain Steps Up.

Taxing Our Intelligence.

Like taxes? We all pay them. Come election time, every politician claims we pay too many. It’s just, the parties like to play with just who “we” is. To the right, “we” is everybody. To the left, “we” is comprised of the “middle class” and “the poor.” In the interest of truth, justice, and the American Way, I’d like to try and dispel some myths about taxes.

Let’s start with the biggest myth of all – that you can tax one group without affecting another. The guys on the Left would have you believe that the Bush tax cuts benefited only “the rich” or as they like to say “the top 2% of Americans.” Obama says he wants to lower the taxes on two-thirds of Americans – a “middle class” tax cut. He wants to raise taxes on the “richest Americans” to make them pay their “fair share,” and to raise corporate taxes, so that by sticking it to the corporations, he can fund his entitlement programs. [Read more…] about Taxing Our Intelligence.

None of the Above.

That’s not just the title of this post, it’s my vote for who won, and who’d I’d LIKE to vote for in November (given that I can’t vote for Sarah Palin for President – or Fred Thompson, for that matter). 

After this debate, I don’t want EITHER of these idiots in the White House. Obama has ALWAYS scared the Hell out of me, because almost every answer drags us down the path of socialism. McCain wasn’t much better – he apparently thinks the government should get into the business of guaranteeing the value of homes by having the Feds buy mortgages and allowing homeowners to refinance them based on their current, diminished value. 

What in the HELL is going on here? [Read more…] about None of the Above.

Palin Rocks!

Well, the VP debate is over. Whew! I can breathe again. From where I sit, Palin came, she saw, and she conquered. Flat out, she rocked. Biden was able to avoid putting his foot in his mouth verbally, but he did set a record for smirking, and another for forced smiles. Advantage: Palin. 

If we were to use the mainstream media standard, Palin made no mistakes (they would have judged her survival on the basis her not making more than one or two gaffes), and therefore “survived.” So if you’re a conservative, you’re going to say “Palin Won.” If you are a liberal, you’ll probably say something like “Palin acquitted herself adequately [sniff], but Biden enunciated his positions, where Palin made a base appeal to middle America.” [Read more…] about Palin Rocks!