Captain Digital

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

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Archives for 2008

What does “American-Made” mean?

The Big Three schlep back up on Capitol Hill, hats in hand, massaging the road sores they got from actually driving from Detroit to D.C., where they will beg for bucks once again. They are in hopes that their performance will be a lot more convincing – not to mention, vastly less tone-deaf – than their last appearence. In the meantime, we’re treated to a parade of concerned Senators and Representatives who wail that, without an immediate bailout, The American Automobile Industry Will Come To An End As We Know It.™

Hogwash.

In order to understand why, you have to grok that there are really TWO American automobile industries – the traditional one in Detroit, and the one that exists everywhere else. [Read more…] about What does “American-Made” mean?

Living in the Age of Tivo

When I was a kid, there were three channels where I lived – CBS, ABC, and NBC. Because our entertainment options were limited, everybody in my “social circle” watched the same programs at the same time. God help you if you missed The Green Hornet or The Time Tunnel the next day at school…you’d have nothing to talk about.

Today, things are a lot different. Our satellite system delivers hundreds of channels. (Sadly, there’s still nothing on TV really worth watching.) Even better, my digital video recorder makes it possible for me to watch the shows I like when I want to watch them – and skip over the commercial breaks.

That rocks.

Still, even with a system I would have given an arm, a leg, and probably several other appendages for when I was a kit, there are still problems. For instance, if a station or network decides to delay the start of a program due to some event running over it’s allotted time, you’ll record only a portion of your program, and miss at least the last few minutes. This has happened to me more than once. It’s annoying. It’s frustrating. It’s aggravating. Still, if this is my biggest problem in life, I think I can learn how to Cowboy up. Besides…I can always go watch the episode online if I miss something…

The Paradox Effect.

This perception versus reality thing is rearing it’s ugly head again in regards to the Presidency. Just about every conservative pundit and blogger out there (myself included) looked at Obama’s record in the Illinois legislature and U.S. Senate (what record there was) and assumed that he would immediately make good on his campaign promise to bring our troops home from Iraq immediately. He promised to be a different kind of politician, putting together an administration that did not represent Washington insiders, but outsiders, with new, fresh, progressive ideas. 

I don’t know that I’ve ever been more comforted to discover that Obama is the same old kind of mendacious, obfuscating, say-anything-to-get-elected-and-then-do-what-you-have-to-no-matter-what-you-promised brand of politician. In short, Obama lied. He gave every indication that he was going to tilt our defense and homeland security hard to the left. In fact, if we can judge future performance by his cabinet nominees, he’s going straight to the center, bypassing a main course of “dove” with a healthy serving of “hawk.”

Thank God. [Read more…] about The Paradox Effect.

A little housekeeping…

Well, campers, the readership of Captain Digital Speaks! is growing by leaps and bounds. That’s good. Unfortunately, along with that growth comes a bunch of associated problems – mostly of the spam variety. At first, it was enough to simply delete entries that were obviously spam. That worked for a while, but as you would expect, spammers have gotten increasingly more aggressive, not to mention crafty. Whereas before, I’d get a comment that was obviously spam (my favorite had to be the Viagra ad that was posted in reply to a piece I wrote about the Episcopal schism). But recently, the spammers have gotten sneaky – they’ll actually reply with some text that looks as if it’s a real comment…but then link back to a bogus website that either attempts to sell you the latest in sexual dysfunction products, or (even worse in my book) attempts to infect your computer with a variety of virus code. Not fun.

So with something of a deep breath and a great deal of trepidation, I’ve reconfigured the blog to require everyone to register before commenting. Furthermore, I’ve implemented a WordPress plugin that is designed to detect bots and gently discourage them from registering…or posting.

Frankly, I’m a bit fed up with idiots trying to spam this blog. I’m trying to share what I know with a larger audience. It’s a lot of work to post on a daily basis. While I enjoy all the “real” feedback I get, having to deal with a bunch of second-raters who parasitically glom onto creative work and then use it to spread their useless snake oil wares is a colossal waste of time. I’m in hopes that I can eliminate the spammers from the site, and get back to spending my time talking about marketing.

If you have any problems with the registration process, please let me know.

Ayn Rand was Right.

I think most people go through life paying attention to their own specific interests, all the while blotting out what’s happening around them. They only wake up when something dramatic happens, or when it’s too late to do something about whatever it is that’s suddenly captured their attention.

9/11 is a case in point.

Aside from CIA, FBI, and NSA people, most people living in the pre-9/11 world had no concept of the danger we face from Islamic fascism.

That’s human nature, I suppose. We tune out most things that happen around us, because, frankly, we just don’t have the bandwidth. But that’s a dangerous habit when it comes to personal safety/homeland security. I’ve also come to believe that it’s equally dangerous when it comes to society and culture – specifically pop culture. [Read more…] about Ayn Rand was Right.

Giving Thanks.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. No cards. No gifts. No rampant commercialism. Just good food, good fellowship, and your family.

This year, I’d like to give thanks for a  lot of things.

  • My wife
  • My daughter
  • My family
  • My home
  • My job
  • My country
  • My faith
  • My church
  • Our friends
  • Our customers
  • My readers (that would be you)
  • Our military

I’m sure there are a bunch of things I’m thankful for that I didn’t list here, but I’ve got to go wolf down some pumpkin pie.

Godspeed.

Thoughts on Barbara Bush.

Former First Lady Barbara Bush
Former First Lady Barbara Bush

Before there was a “W” in the White House, and before there was even a “President Bush” there was a campaign where Ronald Reagan ran for the White House against 1-term President Jimmy Carter. Reagan’s running mate was George Herebert Walker Bush, U.S. Congressman, U.N. Ambassador and director of the CIA. I was living in Shreveport, Louisiana at the time. As was the custom, the candidates and their wives spent virtually every day on the road, campaigning. For the opening of the Reagan-Bush/GOP headquarters, the campaign sent Barbara Bush to cut the ribbon and say a few words. I was a fledgling radio guy – the News Director for my college radio station, and the appearance of a candidate’s wife was newsworthy. So I hopped in my ’65 Galaxie 500 and motored downtown to check things out. Had little idea of what I was doing, mind you – just thought it would be cool to attend an opening.

When I arrived, a couple of people recognized me…my father was fairly well-known as a local musician, and some of his friends were movers and shakers in the local GOP. As the event was winding down, one of them asked me if I’d like to ride with Mrs. Bush in the limo taking her out to the airport. No idea why – they could have had any number of “real” reporters there do a story on her, and get some quality time with the candidate’s wife. But they picked me. [Read more…] about Thoughts on Barbara Bush.

Defining what’s “essential.”

Barack Obama, from his podium deep inside The Office of the President-Elect (?!), announced today that his administration would conduct a full and complete review of every government program, determine which ones we need – and which ones we don’t – and then cut funding to everything that’s not essential.

Bravo!

I’ve frankly been waiting for someone in power to do that for years. I’ve advocated a zero-based budget process since the Clinton years. It’s encouraging to hear the President-Elect talk about doing just that.

There’s just one, teensie, tiny little ol’ problem.

Who defines what’s “essential,” and what’s not? [Read more…] about Defining what’s “essential.”

How to Hijack a Religious Denomination.

 

The Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer

I’m an Anglican, nee: “Episcopalian.” At one time, those two words described the same thing. Not today. As I’ve previously recounted on these pages, in the late 60’s and early 70’s, a new breed of Episcopal priests – all of whom espoused theology that was far to the left of the mainstream – infiltrated the Episcopal Church hierarchy and eventually took over. They subsequently enacted changes to our denomination such as the ordination of women, followed by the ordination of openly homosexual priests, culminating in the ordination of a practicing homosexual bishop and support for homosexual marriage with the blessings of the church. This has resulted in a cataclysmic schism within the largest group of Episcopal churches in North America, and the virtual excommunication of those that support this group, by Anglicans in the rest of the world. That much is fact. In the last week or so, another large diocese – this time in Fort Worth – has chosen to leave the mothership (a.k.a. “The Episcopal Church” or “TEC”) and align themselves with other Anglicans who cannot stomach this endorsement of theological liberalism. Predictions are now that, within the next year, there will be a new organization of affiliated Anglican/Episcopal churches in the U.S.A. – a group that will have the blessings of the worldwide Anglican community, and one that will offer an alternative for communion to the liberal TEC bunch. 

 

The larger question is, “what happened?” How did one group – the secular/progressive/liberals – stage what amounted to a very quiet coup, and hijack an entire denomination? I’ve wondered about that for years. And now, thanks to the Reverend Dr. Peter Toon of the Prayer Book Society, I have the answer. 

They rewrote the Book of Common Prayer – and used it as a tool to attempt to remake our faith. [Read more…] about How to Hijack a Religious Denomination.