Captain Digital

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

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Current Events, Society & the Law

Nothing like a little unbiased polling…

A week or so ago, one of the special-interests sites (for professional animators, if you must know) sent me a request to participate in a poll regarding how artists plan to vote in November. I responded, as it looked as if it was legitimate, and trying to get an honest sample from a specific demographic. 

They lied. 

What this was, in fact, was an agenda-driven poll, taken so that the person behind the poll, could spew his far, far left, Liberal point-of-view, and use the (very unscientific) poll results to justify his own hate-filled B.S. 

In case you think I’m exaggerating, here’s the link to the article in question: [Read more…] about Nothing like a little unbiased polling…

Saturday Night Comatose

Apparently like most of America, I was suckered into watching Saturday Night Live for the much ballyhooed Sarah Palin appearance. It had been hyped (by just about everybody) for so long, perhaps my expectations were too high. For the record, I thought that, in both her bits, Governor Palin was gracious, a good sport, and looked like the only adult in the room. Everybody else looked like what they were – entertainers who weren’t that entertaining, more spoiled kids riffing on a throwaway joke as if it were the next “Who’s On First” routine. And I’m not just talking about the Palin sketches. I’m talking about the entire show. (You know the show’s a dog when the best – and most memorable – thing on it is the musical guest. Where are the Muppets when they need them?) [Read more…] about Saturday Night Comatose

Cause and Effect.

I think I’ve figured out what the problem is.

Of course, to understand that, we must first agree on what problem we’re discussing.

I’m speaking of pretty much every problem we’ve got in society today, from child-rearing to the economy, from taxes to personal relationships. Look at any conflict, and then boil it down to the essentials, and I think you’ll find the same root cause.

We are, in virtually every case, denying how cause and effect are inexorably linked. Case(s) in point: [Read more…] about Cause and Effect.

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.

A Plumber’s Little “Helper”

As it turns out, not every blue-collar worker wants to see us turned into the People’s Republik of Amerika. At a recent political rally in Ohio, a plumber quizzed Obama on his tax plan. Turns out the plumber is a self-made man, starting at the bottom, struggling, then eventually working his way up to earning over $280,000 per year. Obama’s answers were…revealing, to say the least. Here’s a quote of the exchange, taken from an article at FoxNews.com: [Read more…] about A Plumber’s Little “Helper”

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.

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