This is in addition to a social networking “friend” purge I did a couple months ago. There too I realized I was spending completely unnecesary time being updating on the lives of people that I had had zero contact with for years, or who I had only fleeting contact with but had ended up in the perpetual internet connection. There again, I said, no more deleted 100-150 “friends” and have been all the happier since. I am not wasting the time I was before, and I am less distracted in dealing with the people I actual know and care about.

Let see what productive things I can do now.

Add to this the fact that with their need to fill air time, news of outrage and terrible things have to be basically created from nothing, and sometimes from less than that. One person makes some comment. It is then taken out of context and twisted and then anchors around the country can get all up in a tivy and demand apologies from everyone and their mother. The newest example of this is based on a Wesley Clark statement. You need to just watch the video which plays his original comment, and then shows the media reaction to it. The media was trying to say we should be outraged by him, but in fact I found myself quite mad at them for completely misleading the American people. The condensed version of the video is that Wesley Clark, who is a retired general, actually praised McCain’s military service, but then, correctly in my mind, said that his military service is not automatically a qualification for being president. From this, we see anchor after anchor wondering, “How dare Clark belittle McCain’s service to the country?” To top this off, they then try to push this outrange on do Obama. Why is it that presidential candidates are now responsible for any and everything their supporters say? Clark is in no way connected with the Obama campaign, and there is no reason for his comments to be connected with Obama, as Clark himself said in his response.

Now that I have thought about it, I have seen this sort of political situation before. The race for American president has almost completely devolved to the level of high school class president elections. We have been divided into our cliches by the media so we can do our voting as a group. We just have older women, and middle class white men, and southern evangelicals instead of jocks, and nerds, and goths. And we are doing our best to ignore actual issues and instead go with the basis of class elections where all we hear is “I totally heard from the girlfriend of my best friends brother, that candidate A said that blah blah blah.”

May the most popular guy with the least controversal supporters win.

Today, one of South Carolina’s representatives to US Congress, Lindsey Graham, vowed to do anything needed, including amending the constitution, to change the Supreme Court’s ruling. His exact quote from the linked article was,

“The American people are going to wake up tomorrow and be shocked to hear that a member of Al Qaeda has the same constitutional rights as an American citizen,” said Graham.

“[Even] the Nazis never had that right.”

This is a false statement on several accounts. First, we aren’t talking about giving them all the same rights. They aren’t getting a right to vote, or even necessarily a trial by jury. We are talking about them having a right to eventually end up on trial. You might recall that some pretty bad stuff has gone down at the expense of the Guatanamo Bay detainees. Without habeas corpus, they have no way of seeking escape from what is essentially torture. Keep in mind, that since they have never been to trial, they could possibly be innocent. It is interesting that, Graham brings up the Nazis, because they give us the perfect example of why this should matter to us, even if the affected individuals are members of a terrorist organization. All rational people today condemn the Nazis for the state they got their country to, but that didn’t happen overnight. I am sure you have all heard the poem that starts with “When they came for the Communists, I remained silent. I was not a communist.” and ends with “When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.” Do we really want to end up with a new version of that poem that starts with “First they came for Al Qaeda. I remained silent.”

I am certainly not trying to call Senator Graham a nazi or that he is intentinally doing anything wrong, but during all the years of education that I receieved, I was told that the real reason to learn history was best summed up by George Santayana “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” By all means, let Senator Graham know a right first afforded to people in the Magna Carta hundreds and hundreds of years ago should apply to everyone, or don’t be surprised when find yourself in a similar situtation.

If we abandon loyalty to an established political party, we must look to the individuals, their ideas, their merits, and decide on the best individual. That certainly does not guaruntee that we will agree with all of their ideas and beliefs, but that is the way of things. With that in mind, if you haven’t heard Barrach Obama’s recent speech on race issues in our country, do yourself a favor and listen to it. It is, all around, a brilliant speech. Here is an actual presidental candidate who is not only actually standing up for a change from our current failing situation, but who is intelligent enough to bring the country together and lead. Did I mention that this speech is completely the work of Obama? This was not created by a committee of writers with the polls in one hand and a thesaurus in the other. It was the result of a single politician alone for two and a half days articulately writing his actual thoughts and opinions. When was the last time a president gave a major speech without the help of a writer? Nixon in 1969.

November 1st I walked into a Wendy’s that was playing Christmas music. There is a Christmas tree in the main lobby of my office building. I have seen no less than 3 Christmas shopping guides popping up here and there. Any Thanksgiving is still over two weeks away. When will it ever end (or rather, begin) (or maybe it is end to begin before it began before) (did you get that?)?

/end rant

So I realize I have not been here for awhile. I have been doing other things: like meeting people, buying used furniture, going to work, and building large wooden frames in my living room. Speaking of working, today marks three months in a real job. That is both 1/4 of a year and approx. 1/100 of my entire life, which I have spent in a real full time job.

According to webster:

new: having existed or having been made but a short time

improve: to make useful additions or amendments

These terms, especially as it applies to advertising are completely contradictory. If something is new, then there is no older version to which improvements could have been added. If it is improved, then an older version of the same thing existed and thus the item is not new.

There are some phrases that irk me. People use them, and I dislike them for it. Actually that isn’t true, but I really don’t like these phrases.

1) “s Best Kept Secret” – This can currently be seen on a sign outside of a building I pass every time I go to Anderson. Is it really a valid advertising method to promote your chosen establishment as a well kept secret? Is it, in fact, still a “secret” if you advertise it as such? Surely someone in Anderson has a secret that is slightly more hidden than the secrecy that is found on a public display.

2) “I could care less.” – This is simply wrong. You should examine your speech and realize that what you really mean is “I couldn’t care less.” This form expresses that you are totally lacking concern for whatever is under discussion, while the former form only indicates that you have yet to reach that total apathy. You could, in fact, be highly concerned.

3) “Up the creek without a paddle” – I know this is a well used expression (I have been know to use it), but I just don’t understand it. As it would seem to me, being UP a creek would not be the problem as the water would propel you downward. The problem would be being DOWN the creek without a paddle, as you would then have a complete disparity of locomotion options.

If I were you, I would expect more of these in the future. I know they are out there, but right now I believe they have run for cover and I must find them cowering behind some forgotten thought within my brain.