Hey, that's cheating!!!!

I know the blog's free and all that... so Google's got a right to place ads and all... but "Bush Cheney 2004 buttons from www.politicalshop.com" - that is dirty pool.

Or, maybe, it's just ironic.

Chicken Hawk.
What an elegantly descriptive word.

Mr. President, you're a Chicken Hawk.

I like that.

Anyone need further proof that Microsoft doesn't play fair?
Anyone?

Here's an example... say you have your screen saver set at 1 minute.
Play a DVD or an AVI file with Real, Divx or some other player.
Wait 1 minute, don't touch a thing, what you got?
The screensaver goes on and interrupts your viewing pleasure.
Do the same thing with Windows Media Player.
Wait 1 minute... nothing happens.

I ask, again, does anyone need further proof that Microsoft doesn't play fair?

Any bets on whether Kerry's got the balls to get up there and call Bush a stone cold liar during the Presidential debates? (Assuming, of course, that he wins the nomination....)

More Recommended Reading:

1. "The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad" - Fareed Zakaria (April 2003)

2. "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" - Toby Young (June 2003)

Strange bed-fellows, you might think.

(Indeed they are. One is a serious work of scholarship. The other the rants of a failed New Yorker.)

What on earth do they have in common?

I'll tell you -

Look beyond Toby's rants, focus on his frequent philosophic digressions on the nature of American society, then meld it with Zakaria's own message concerning the role elites (should) play in shaping that same society... and, strange as it may sound, you get perfectly good --

Synthesis.

So, the President finally proposed his new budget.
And what a budget it is... vodoo all around.

Bush's mantra isn't "what have I done for America today?"
It's "what have I done for the upper 1% of America today?"
(which is OK if you happen to belong to that 1%....)

President of all Americans? Hardly.
President for the upper 1% of Americans making over a hundred grand a year? That's nearer to the truth.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the United States, the President's a con artist....
He's a modern day Robin Hood-- except that he robs from the poor to give to the rich.

If you want that kind of President, fine....

Just remember though that, at the end of the day, you reap what you sow.

Been reading from "Good to Great" by Jim Collins.

Very insightful book.

I was especially struck by the Stockdale Paradox... retain faith that you'll prevail in the end but never, ever avoid confronting the brutal reality facing you in the here and now. There's an imense power in that.

And the Hedgehog Principle....
I can't say I fully comprehend it, yet.

Anyways, the book's worth a read, if you're interested.