White House spokesman Robert Gibbs in response to a question from a reporter about comments made by President Obama’s recess appointment to be director of Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Donald Berwick, sure has the ringing sound of someone trying to be a Class A Asshole.
Instead of evading the question being asked, Mr. Gibbs trotts out a quote he has at the ready by Republican Congressman Paul Ryan. The quote goes, “rationing happens today; the question is who will do it”. The image Mr. Gibbs tried to portray is that a Republican Congressman, one known particularly for opposing President Obama’s health care plan, also talks about rationing health care as if this is something common and no big deal.
The book on Rush Limbaugh, the book about Zappos, and the book about social networking by AmberMac are now on the book shelf. A few more steps on the road to knowledge. Each of those books were very quick and easy reads and each provided me with insights I didn’t possess before. Particularly Tony Hsieh’s book on Zappos and the Zappos culture. Truly unique and truly fascinating.
In my efforts to be a more well read person I came across this next author and I can’t for the life of me remember how. His name is E. Phillips Oppenheim and the book I just cracked open is “The Great Impersonation”. With what I’ve read so far it seems to me there are many movies based on this book as it was written in 1920 prior to any movie that I’ve ever seen. So far so good and I can’t wait to get to the end.
Hahahahaha! This is hilarious. All this hype and all of Steve Jobs’ proclamations of magic and wonder. All the talk of the genius of making the phone frame the antenna. All for naught it seems since you can’t hold the phone in your left hand. Hahahaha!!!!
They are either the authors or the subject of books I’m currently reading. I’ve neglected to update the books I’ve picked up for early summer reading. These are:
I’ve finished the book on Limbaugh.Whether you’re a fan of Limbaugh or not will find this book informative and entertaining. You can take that last sentence with a grain of salt since I’m a Limbaugh fan.
I’m almost finished with Delivering Happiness and if you like business books this is the most different business book you’ll ever read. This gives you a glimpse into what it takes to be an entrepreneur in the 21st century. The story of Zappos.com is an amazing one. I just wish I was part of a company with people like this. Who knew business could be fun!
I’ve cracked open For the Win and Power Friending and I expect to get through both of those in the coming weeks. I’ll give an update on those when they are ready to stay on the shelf.
Sad to say I became bored with the Kitty Kelly Oprah book and Karl Rove’s book. Rove is a little dry and boring and I found I just don’t dislike Oprah enough to keep reading it. I’m sure I’ll finish them at some point.
I was listening to This Week in Tech (TWiT) this morning and, after watching the USA vs. England soccer match over the weekend, Leo Laporte provided more vuvuzela action than I ever wanted to hear again.
In case you don’t know, or more likely don’t care (because I don’t care about soccer either I just watched because I’m a jingoistic fool), there is something called the World Cup happening in South Africa. While the matches are being played people in the crowd are blowing a horn called a vuvuzela. What exactly is a vuvuzela and what does it sound like? Well, imagine what it would sound like to stick your head inside a bee hive. It’s annoying. Especially if you’re trying to watch this on TV and listen to the announcers.
To get back to Leo, TWiT, and the vuvuzela… Leo was playing clips of this annoying sound at various times throughout the show. At about the 1:10:00 mark or so he played a clip that I found exceptionally funny and thought it would make a great ring tone for anyone who is a World Cup fan or an anti-vuvuzela activist. Here it is, enjoy!:
I have seen the video posted on several blogs. I deeply and profoundly regret my reaction and I apologize to all involved. Throughout my many years of service to the people of North Carolina, I have always tried to treat people from all viewpoints with respect. No matter how intrusive and partisan our politics can become, this does not justify a poor response. I have and I will always work to promote a civil public discourse.
Original post:
Here’s the question:
“Congressman… do you fully support the Obama agenda”
Here’s the response:
Congressman Etheridge grabs a hold of the student’s arm and says, “who’re you!… who’re you!…”
The stunned students tell him they are just students doing a project but the crazed Congressman continues his “who’re you” response. What’s wrong with this guy?
A lot of pundits have been beating up on Google and Android saying there is no way it can beat Apple and the iPhone OS. I say this is a replay of what happened in the PC space when the Mac OS went up against Windows and quite obviously Windows won this battle hands down.
The main differences between the PC OS war and this current mobile OS war is that consumers rather than geeks are involved, Apple is dominant in the application space this time around, and Android is given away free from Google. I’m putting forth the notion that the last issue in my list will be the defining issue.
My first point of consumers being involved rather than geeks is important because consumers don’t give a damn about whether or not Apple runs Adobe’s Flash, they don’t give a damn what processor it runs, they don’t care about the details of the screen’s resolution, and they don’t care about whether the platform is open or closed. The only thing they care about is whether or not it makes a call and can do what they want when they want. Read the rest of this entry »
I disagree that this is Obama’s Katrina. First off Katrina was a hurricane. A natural disaster. And while I believe all the blame placed on the Bush Administration was misplaced because disaster relief and assistance in the United States is supposed to be a bottom up process. Meaning that first to respond is the local government (Cities and towns), then the state, and assistance should only rise to the federal level when requested. All that being said, I’m not defending the Bush Administration and any mistakes they made during that disaster but instead I’m trying to put it in perspective.
In this Gulf of Mexico oil disaster President Obama and those in his administration have treated British Petroleum (“BP”) as if they are an enemy that must be defeated. This is odd given that Obama is perhaps the largest recipient of political donations from BP employees and the BP PAC (Political Action Committee, a lobbying group). Take a look at the video below. Pay close attention at the 1:13 mark when Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, pronounces that the administration will “keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum”.
Really? “Boot on the neck of British Petroleum”? Have we EVER heard this type of rhetoric from any President’s Administration? Not that I can recall at least. Add to this the announcement yesterday by U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, that the Justice Department is launching a criminal investigation into what happened leading to this disaster. Read the rest of this entry »
HOLY WAR: A protester last night interrupts a Community Board 1 meeting, where the proposed site for a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero won overwhelming support, in a 29-1 vote.
I’m not sure whether this is right or wrong. This still is a country where we are free to practice a religion of our choosing. But, something just doesn’t feel right with the idea of a Mosque being erected on the former site of the World Trade Center in NYC.
Angry relatives of 9/11 victims last night clashed with supporters of a planned mosque near Ground Zero at a raucous community-board hearing in Manhattan.
After four hours of public debate, members of Community Board 1 finally voted 29-1 in support of the project. Nine members abstained, arguing that they wanted to table the issue and vote at a later date.
The board has no official say over whether the estimated $100 million mosque and community center gets built. But the panel’s support, or lack of it, is considered important in influencing public opinion.
What I wanted is for bigger buildings to be erected at the site in defiance of what was trying to be destroyed. Larger, bigger, more audacious as a slap at those trying to destroy our way of life. But instead we’re going to get a memorial and perhaps a mosque. Sad.
A lot of pundits have been beating up on Google and Android saying there is no way it can beat Apple and the iPhone OS. I say this is a replay of what happened in the PC space when the Mac OS went up against Windows and quite obviously Windows won this battle hands down.
I disagree that this is Obama’s Katrina. First off Katrina was a hurricane. A natural disaster. And while I believe all the blame placed on the Bush Administration was misplaced because disaster relief and assistance in the United States is supposed to be a bottom up process. Meaning that first to respond is the local government (Cities and towns), then the state, and assistance should only rise to the federal level when requested. All that being said, I’m not defending the Bush Administration and any mistakes they made during that disaster but instead I’m trying to put it in perspective.
