Captain Digital

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

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Politics

Post-ObamaCare…what’s next?

I’ve got a lot of friends from all parts of the political spectrum. Some agree with me. Some don’t. I’ve got one friend who’s rich (the dot.com boom was very, very good to him), liberal/Progressive, (he’s one of the founders of MoveOn.org) and (naturally) disagrees with me over health care reform. He responded to a post I made on my wall, claiming I was regurgitating right-wing talking points and “worshiping at the altar of the paid lobbyist, Norquist.” I responded by answering him, but instead of simply getting into an argument over the merits of ObamaCare, I turned my attention to what comes next (since it looks like ObamaCare will be repealed, courtesy of the Supreme Court, this summer). It makes little sense to beat a dead horse. What we should ALL be thinking about now is, once ObamaCare is repealed, what replaces it? [Read more…] about Post-ObamaCare…what’s next?


In this post-April 15th funk in which we find ourselves every year, I think it’s a useful exercise to speculate on not so much on why we are in the fix we’re in, but to focus on what to do to fix it. Instead of admiring the problem, it’s time for bold solutions. And I stumbled on one this evening. It’s radical. It’s fresh. It’s new. It’s never been even so much as proposed before. And it could work. I propose we shut down Washington.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “This guy’s not been paying attention…the [insert name of the opposition party] just threatened to shut down Washington, and they averted that crisis. And everybody agreed, that would be catastrophic! The End Of The World As We Know It! A death-knell to the economy!” Puh-leeze. But that’s NOT what I’m talking about. At all. [Read more…] about

https://captaindigital.net/2011/04/19/end_washington/

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.

Parliament Bunk-adelic.

Recently, a friend of mine (who usually exhibits a much higher degree of common sense) proposed that we stage a Constitutional Convention for the purposes of throwing out our current form of government and replacing it with a Parliamentary system, much as they have in the UK.

Pause with me for a nanosecond, whilst we ponder just how screamingly bad an idea this would be.

For those of you that slept through 8th grade Civics or Freshman History class, let me provide you with a soupcon of background on the way things evolved over the pond, and you’ll see why I hold this idea with the same esteem that I usually reserve for things I scrape off the bottom of my shoe, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi… [Read more…] about Parliament Bunk-adelic.

I’m still here. Um…there.

If you’d asked me three months ago if I’d still be in Shreveport, taking care of my dad, I would have said something like “hie thee to an asylum…you must be mad.” Yet, here I sit.

Taking care of an aging parent is a lot of things – a responsibility. A challenge. A privilege. But a burden it is not. I love my dad, and he needs my help. Unfortunately, It’s played havoc with my family, and for circumstances beyond my control, there’s little I can do about that, at least for now.

If you’re reading this blog, thanks for stopping by. I don’t really have time to post right now – soon, I hope. but let me encourage you to follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/captaindigital, natch). Since it’s just 140 characters at a time, and I can do it from my iPhone, I do seem to be able to fit that into my day.

Thanks, and talk to you soon.

– The Captain

The UN-candidate.

Gov. Palin: You say Goodbye...I say Hello!
Gov. Palin: You say "Goodbye"...I say "Hello!"

We are all, at one level or another, creatures of habit. That’s a good thing, most of the time. I mean, if we woke up to a world everyday where we had to figure out how to feed and clothe ourselves, with no idea of what would come next, none of us would leave very productive lives. But there’s a dark side to habit – that being the phenomena whereby we attempt to pigeonhole everything that happens, so we can process it, understand it (in terms of previous experiences) and move on. This system of shorthand evaluations doesn’t work at all, however, when you run smack dab up against something new. New is…different. It doesn’t fit the mold. It doesn’t lend itself to snap analyzes, or fitting into patterns. But “new” is where innovation comes from. It’s where solutions come from. And it’s where our future lies.

Consider (soon-to-be former) Gov. Sarah Palin. [Read more…] about The UN-candidate.

A Call to Arms. And Legs.

The Spirit of 1776 lives!
The Spirit of 1776 lives!

Do you love your country? I do. What are you willing to do to save it? For it needs saving. Seriously.

Understand, this is not a Democrat versus Republican, or Liberal versus Conservative issue. It’s a Right versus Wrong issue. Our country, our values, our freedoms and our inalienable human rights are under attack. From where I sit, we each have but two choices – ignore the problem and hope it goes away, or do something about it.

So what do we do?

I think the answer are the many Tea Parties that will take place across the country on July 4th.

I am against the idea of armed insurrection. To take up arms against your own country is a contradiction of the very reason to fight – how can you protect the Constitution by violating it? (Answer: you really can’t.) Until and unless the Federal Government ignores the Constitution on a wholesale basis, taking up arms is NOT the answer. And, frankly, we’re a long way from that. Unfortunately, the American people are in the position of the proverbial “frog in the pot,” with the Progressives, Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists turning up the heat, gradually. Ignore the threats to the Constitution at your own peril. [Read more…] about A Call to Arms. And Legs.

A Guide to Making Apologies.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you might have heard about the current troubles of David Letterman, and his serial apologies he’s made regarding the “joke”(s) he told regarding Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin and her daughters. Last night, Letterman made yet again another attempt at contrition. Color me “unimpressed.” You see, when you apologize, there are a couple of things you must do – and at least one that you must not do:

  1. Say “I’m sorry.”
  2. Say “I was wrong.”
  3. Say “It’s my fault…I accept responsibility for the mistake.”
  4. Say “I beg your forgiveness.”
  5. Say “I will do my best to do better, and not make the same mistake again.”
  6. Do NOT say “I’m sorry, but…” and then go on to offer any excuse.

When you offer an excuse, you’re essentially saying “what I did wasn’t that bad,” “it wasn’t really my fault,” or other weasel-words that attempt to deflect responsibility. [Read more…] about A Guide to Making Apologies.

Frame of Reference.

Something dawned on me the other day. I was talking with a friend last night and brought this up, and when I’d explained my point, he said that he’d never thought of things in that way before, and it was an idea that explained a lot. Now I’d like to share it with you.

Few people are alive today that are old enough to remember what life was like in America before Progressivism changed our country, and therefore it’s difficult to appreciate the difference in the way things were before, say 1920, and now.

Think about that for a minute. I was born in the late 50s, and grew up in the 60s and 70s. I have never known a time when Senators were appointed by State legislatures. I’ve never known a time without the IRS. As long as I’ve been politically aware, we’ve had Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, et cetera. In short, every year I’ve lived on this Earth, the United States has existed under a Federal government that is perceived as all-powerful, with the perception that the States report to/work for the Feds, and the people essentially work for the government.

Talk about bassakwards. [Read more…] about Frame of Reference.

The Origins of the Feces.

Everybody’s wired differently. Some people just want the facts. Others, like me, want to know what caused things. For me, it’s not enough to know what’s going on…I want to know how we got here.

If you’re a Glenn Beck listener (and if you’re not, you should be) he’s identified the Progressive Movement of the early 20th Century as the point at which politicians began remaking our government and diverting it away from our core Constitutional principles (essentially, the smallest government possible to do the job) to one that features Big Government, Big Taxes, and a trend towards treating the Constitution as a quaint document that really has little bearing on life today. [Read more…] about The Origins of the Feces.