|
Gone, But Not Forgotten? What The Internet Will Look Like Under SOPA Fearsgiving Week Jesus Approves of Waterboarding Beware of Asteroids 
All links are current as of the date of publication. All content created by the author is copyrighted 2005-2010, except where held by the owners/publishers of parent works and/or subject materials. Any infringement of another's work is wholly unintentional. If you see something here that is yours, a polite request for removal or credit will be honored. |
� |
Staying FocusedFriday, Jan. 26, 2007 4:23 PMIs there anyone wondering why ABC is all tits-a-flutter about their Gray's Anatomy star needing to apologize for his homophobic remark and possibly seek counseling? Or why Rosie O'Donnell had to apologize on The View for mocking Asian speech patterns? That is, in light of ABC filing a cease-and-desist lawsuit against the blogger known as Spocko, because he sampled broadcasts and posted examples of certain on-air radio personalities' less salubrious moments. If the anti-gay and bigoted comments by the actor and comedienne are out of bounds, why not those of your radio folk? Yes, the new Democratic majority on the Hill is exciting and wonderful. But I'm already sick and goddamned tired of hearing how everyone is jockeying for the 2008 nomination. Talk about short attention span theater! Good Lord, we are in the midst of debating (hopefully) whether or not to continue a bungled foreign policy by sending more troops to fight and die on the streets of Iraq in the hopes that the al-Maliki government will pick up its share of the load. Excuse me � it's all their load, unless someone wants to propose a permanent military presence there just so al-Maliki doesn't feel too pressured to achieve. And, as others have pointed out, do we really want to have a string of Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton? (And then Jeb runs, making it Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton-Bush �) Surely there are others out there with the necessary leadership skills and vision? In the same vein, let's have three cheers for Sen. Chuck Hagel and his rebuke of his Congressional colleagues over the Iraq business. Most notably, he challenged everyone to look right in that camera over there and take a stand. But does that mean our assembled representatives haven't taken a stand before? It's all been hot air and posing for pretty pictures? Yes, I'm aware there's an awful lot of politics that involves baby-kissing and shaking hands, but we're talking about our national security and a war that has cost us over 3,000 lives and trillions of dollars. Imagine if the 100 Hours momentum could be sustained, what could be achieved? Take every lukewarm point that President Bush made in his speech on Tuesday, and elevate it to practical, sensible policy � not ten years down the line, but something achieveable, as if we were launching the Manhattan Project, or the Project Apollo. We can do these things. We shouldn't only be exporting freedom, we should export the byproducts of a society that is free to create and invent and aspire. And I ain't talking video games and Hooters Restaurants, folks. And, quite frankly, if we don't get a jump start on alternative energy technologies, China's going to pop up with a surprise, and our energy future will bear a label reading, "Made in China" instead of "Fueled by Saudi Arabia." That's not racist, incidentally � it's simple business sense. If you don't get your product, your brand out on the shelves and established in the consumer's mind, someone else will. We have an opportunity to do all this pioneering and innovating that big business likes to huff and puff about. We, as a nation, need to make the next quantum jump in energy technology and make sure it bears the label, "Made in America".
|
