Captain Digital

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

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Archives for October 2008

Feedback.

Hi. Got a minute? I’ve got some questions for you, and I hope you’ll take the time to read this and let me know what you think. 

I’ve been a writer for a long time. Wrote a couple of books a few years back, on Flash and animation. Plan to write more in the future (although probably not more tech books – turns out they have a shelf life measured in months…not years). In the meantime, I blog, not just because I’d like to keep my writing chops up, but because I have to. I don’t mean someone’s holding a gun to my head…I mean I feel compelled to write, and it seems pretty stupid to write stuff and never have it read. Blogging allows me to share my thoughts with others, and it costs nothing (other than my time) to do so. [Read more…] about Feedback.

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.

The (Un)fairness Doctrine.

While I still believe McCain is gonna win this thing, if the Democrats should prove victorious, one of the first things I expect to see them do, come January, will be to attempt to mute the voice of conservatives on talk radio and television by way of a return to the “Fairness Doctrine.” I suspect they will try to expand it’s reach to include the online world – blogs in particular, likely by allowing lawsuits against bloggers for saying anything that cannot be legally verified in court.

Now before you get your knickers in a twist, consider this. While I believe the Fairness Doctrine to have been ironically named, completely UNfair, and a stupid waste of the government’s time, the truth is, the Return of the Fairness Doctrine (coming soon to a House of Representatives near YOU!) could completely blow up in their faces. Here’s why: Liberals OWN the mainstream media. Even the mainstream press has acknowledged that MSNBC is in the tank for Obama. We have enough judges on the Supreme Court to make some very interesting rulings. What would happen if the Fairness Doctrine came before the highest court in the land? I could see a ruling whereby they say, “Fine. You want the fairness doctrine? You have to make it REALLY fair this time around. That means, we include all the media – Hollywood, TV, the nightly news, et cetera. No hiding behind the ridiculous claim of news versus opinion…everything gets counted.”

What a bombshell THAT would be. [Read more…] about The (Un)fairness Doctrine.

Karmageddon.


Wanna see something REALLY scarry? If you think things are dicey regarding the economy this week, imagine working in the auto industry. Unless your company’s product burns rice for fuel, before the economic meltdown, you were likely in bad shape, financially. Since the meltdown, your company is basically Dead Corporation Walking. Double that, if you’re one of the Big Three automakers. 

Lo, how the mighty have fallen. 

At one time (say, circa 1960), GM, Ford, and Chrysler were the crown jewels of American manufacturing. Those three companies were the envy of the world. Americans made things. We built cars that were not just transportation – nay, they were objects of desire, status symbols, and tangible proof that the U.S. of A. was the Greatest Nation on Earth. But the times, they are a-changin.’ [Read more…] about Karmageddon.

Crystal Balls.

I’m not much on modern-day prophesies. It’s hard to live up to the Bible’s standards for who is a prophet (and who’s not): 100% accuracy. Still, it’s tempting to try and read the tea leaves on the election and predict who will win. Unlike most of the pundits, I’m gonna take a stab at it. (Note to pundits: making informed “guesstimates” is what you’re paid to do. Saying “too close to call” is to punditry what voting “present” is to Senators. Ahem.)

I think McCain will pull it out in a squeaker. Here’s why…

[Read more…] about Crystal Balls.

No Reason for Treason

The problem with Campaign ’08 is that you’ve got people on one side that look at their candidate as the next best thing to the Messiah, and people on the other side that are lukewarm (at best) about theirs. (On the other hand, we can’t WAIT to pull the lever for Palin!) Combine this with the polarization of both sides and you have a recipe for problems – neither side wants to see problems with their own camp, and both are only interested in pointing out the flaws in the other’s candidates. 

Fair enough. I get it. No big. But wait…what if the other guy does something really, really bad? Can anyone recognize and admit to a fatal flaw in their own candidate? I don’t know. But we’re about to find out. [Read more…] about No Reason for Treason

What I WISH they’d tell us.

Are you tired of hearing the same old, tired promises from candidates, along with proposals you know just will NOT work, no matter what they say? Tired of politicians pandering to special interest groups, telling us what they think we want to hear? Tired of choosing between the lesser of two weasels come November. Me too. I’m not a candidate, but if I were, I think I’d throw caution to the wind and try honesty for a change. Instead of making a bunch of empty promises I couldn’t keep if I wanted to, I’d tell people the truth, as painful as that might be. This is not a short post, in fact, printed out, it runs to ten pages. I hope you’ll agree it’s worth the time it takes to read it.

My address would go something like this…

— • —

My fellow Americans:

We face some huge challenges in America. We are the greatest nation on the face of the Earth, but that does not mean we are without problems, nor are we always right in the way that we deal with them. We’ve made some mistakes – not because (as some say) that America is “evil” or “misguided,” but because everybody makes mistakes now and then. One of the great things about America, however, is that we have a history of admitting where we’ve gone wrong, and then fixing it. Your next President needs to deal with our problems in an intelligent, forthright manner. In that light, here’s what I plan to do if you elect me as your next President… [Read more…] about What I WISH they’d tell us.

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.

Does the ACORN fall far from the Tree?

Or in this case, does ACORN’s operation fall far from their former corporate counsel, Senator Barack Obama?

Here’s the deal: ACORN is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Inc. They are one of the credits Obama cites when he makes his much-vaunted claims to be a “community organizer.” Who is ACORN, and more importantly, why should you care? [Read more…] about Does the ACORN fall far from the Tree?