( 12:46 PM )
Media manipulation
If anyone has any doubts as to the effect the media has on American public opinion, simply watch CNN over the next few days. CNN has turned on Howard Dean like an old girlfriend who just got asked out by the high school quarterback.
Two weeks ago it looked like CNN had bet all their chips on Howard Dean and were leading the parade to the Democratic nomination. This week, they changed the sign on the door to read “Dean Season” and have opened both barrels on him, while fondly stroking their new boyfriend and Iowa star quarterback, John Kerry.
It’s a shameless display of American journalism, if you can call it that. The American public is so unbelievably susceptible to the influence of the media, I’m surprised Wolf Blitzer doesn’t run for President.
This morning I saw two political analysts – who I swear I saw two weeks ago singing the praises of Howard Dean’s qualifications to run this country better than Bush – that are now talking about how Dean isn’t Presidential material. These people are like the financial analysts telling the public to sell their Enron stock, the day after it plummeted.
Do yourselves a favor – don’t listen to anybody on television. There are about a dozen things a TV reporter or network anchor or political analyst are concerned about before they go on the air – none of which is whether they are reporting things accurately. Their hair, their clothes, their teeth, their named spelled correctly underneath their face and whether any executives at the competing network are watching them – are their top concerns.
I don’t care who you vote for in this presidential primary or election. But know why you’re voting for someone and do it in an informed way – not because those talking heads at CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, or Rush Limbaugh or Imus told you to.
( 9:53 AM )
Cold in New England
It's been a bit cold up here in New England, and I came across this "Temperature Conversion Chart" on the internet, so I thought I'd share:
60 degrees F: Southern Californians shiver uncontrollably. People in New England sunbathe.
50 F: New Yorkers try to turn on the heat. People in New England plant gardens.
40 F: Italian & English cars won't start. People in New England drive with the windows down.
32 F: Distilled water freezes. The water at Moosehead Lake in Maine starts getting cooler.
20 F: Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats. People in New England throw on a flannel shirt, buttons open.
15 F: New York City landlords finally turn up the heat. People in New England have the last cookout before it gets cold.
0 F: All the people in Miami die. New Englanders close the windows.
10 below zero: Californians escape en masse to Mexico. Girl Scouts in New England sell cookies door to door.
25 below zero: Las Vegas disintegrates. People in New England rummage around the attic to find some winter coats.
40 below zero: Washington DC runs out of hot air. People in New England let the dogs sleep indoors.
100 below zero: Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.Some New Englanders are frustrated when they can't start their "kahs".
460 below zero (absolute zero on the Kelvin Scale): All atomic motion stops. People in New England start saying . . . "Cold 'nuff for ya?"
500 below zero: Hell freezes over. Red Sox win World Series.
( 1:29 PM )
This morning
My 3 year son Joseph is having a bad month and every night lately he’s been sneaking into bed with my wife and I. It’s not really a problem, except that it’s not really a good habit to encourage. Plus, I have to be extra quiet in the morning so I don’t wake him up.
I’m already bummed out about the new year as well as other things on my mind, but my son this morning really put something into perspective for me. As I was getting out of bed at 5:58am, as I’ve been doing on weekdays for 3 years now, Joseph woke up and said, “Where are you going daddy?”
I said, “Ssshh…I’m going to work. Go back to sleep.”
“Work?” he said. “Why? It’s still dark outside.”
Why indeed. I’ve been trying to figure out the answer to that all day.
( 1:41 PM )
It’s a New Year
It’s a new year. Great.
I don’t know. Maybe I’m getting old, but these “new years” depress me. I just looked at a list of all of my New Year’s Resolutions from last year, and I accomplished none of them. I’m not even gonna make a list this year.
I think the problem is, the year goes too fast. I focus all of my energy on “getting through” something before I’ll start something else. Like, “Let me just get through this winter, then I’ll start working on that.” Before I know it, it’s summer, and weekends are getting snatched up on my calendar faster than I can plan some time for those “things” I wanted to do. Summer comes and goes, nothing got done, all of those weekends left me unfulfilled, and now I’m preparing for winter again.
So, I’m trying something new this year. No expectations. No plans. No goals. This way I can’t be disappointed come New Years next year.
Shifting gears here – how does Dick Clark do it? How does he do that frickin’ rockin’ New Year’s Eve thing, EVERY YEAR, without looking like he could give two shits. Dude, it’s only another year! It’s not like it’s the Olympics or something (the old Olympics, where it only came around every four years). In 365 days, in 52 weeks, in 12 short months – it will be another year.
I guess since the new millennium New Years in 2000, everything else is just a let down. In fact the millennium New Year’s was a bit of a let down. Admit it, we we’re all hoping the world was gonna end on Y2K. At least for the weekend. Something to spice things up. Something to jolt us out of our tediously, repetitive, boring lives. I know I was. But I knew nothing was gonna happen. I didn’t even stock pile cold cuts and bagels. I wouldn’t have made it through the weekend.
Anyway, I’m regressing. This New Years, we stayed home, rented a movie (Tomb Raider II) and flipped over to Dick Clark around 11:58pm, mostly just to check that the world hadn’t ended while we watched Angelina Jolie strut around in tightly padded outfits and kick the shit out of bad guys trying to destroy the world.
Happy New Year.
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