Once again, the Dems disappoint

I can’t decide what is more discouraging today. That roughly half of the Senate Democrats voted to condemn MoveOn.org’s NYTimes ad rather than hammering the right wing with the fact that General Petraeus’s data was cherry picked? Or that Majority Leader Reid even let it come up for a vote in the first place? Or that it even made it out of the Senate Armed Services Committee?

My hat is off to Sen. Obama–he at least called the stupid resolution for what it was, a cheap political stunt, and refused to even vote.

These idiot Dems never learn: when the Repubs start attacking MoveOn.org’s ad as being “anti-military,” you don’t cower and think “oh, we’d better go along with this or we’ll get killed.” You pivot and attack: “General Petraeus’s report called for more of the same failed policy, and thank God someone outside Washington is willing to say it. Our troops should come home now.” Two simple sentences containing only three clauses. A 3.7 second sound bite.

But no, even when these boobs are in the majority, they still act like victims of abuse and they’ll do anything the right wing wants them to do.

Yeah, Harry, you fools have time to vote on these stupid resolutions, but apparently not enough time to get the real job done.

Don’t even get me started on how the Dems don’t call out the Repubs on their hypocrisy: using the filibuster to prevent a vote on bringing the troops home, requiring that they be allowed to spend some time with their families before being rotated back to Iraq, etc., after they screamed about how the filibuster is “unconstitutional” and thwarting the will of the majority.

Bah. We need to get some people with real backbone into the Congress.

Look out–he’s going to do it again!

The British media have reported on the Bush Administration’s intent to launch a military strike against Iran.

Will the Congress stand up to this madman at last?

What’s the big deal about Linux?

I need some help here. I was playing around today using virtual machine software on my iMac to install Ubuntu, a free and downloadable version of Linux. It was a simple thing to do and it looks nice and appears to be stable. Other than the fact that Linux is free, why should I use that instead of Mac OS X? I’m not trying to be antagonistic, I’m just trying to figure out what the draw is when it comes to Linux. What can I do with Linux that I can’t do with Mac OS X?If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.  

Refreshing podcast

Blast the Right is a terrific podcast for the progressive-minded folks, and even those who aren’t progressive. (If you’re not progressive, does that mean you’re regressive?) If you don’t get Air America Radio, this is a great remedy for the Limbaugh-O’Reilly-Hannity overdose on the airwaves.

Apple’s iPhone price drop

The blogosphere and other parts of the ‘net are atwitter with people upset with Apple’s $200 price drop on the iPhone. The iPhone, you’ll recall, was released just a little over two months ago.

Forgive me, please, but people need to stop whining.

Technology prices drop all the time. Whenever you buy something, you have to realize that in a short time, a newer, better, and possibly less expensive version is going to be released. The iPhone is no different. You got swept up in the mania, understandably so, and have been able to walk around for two months with the coolest phone on the planet while the rest of us wait for our cell contracts to run out. Don’t complain to me now about the price drop. You could have waited, you know–and some of us will still be waiting for our cell contracts to run out!

And while I’m at it, people need to stop, yes freaking stop looking for the lowest damn price they can find. Let me tell you what bottom feeding does by giving you a solid example.

Back in the 1980s, the Walt Disney Company came up with the idea of opening stores in shopping malls around the country. The Disney Store was born. Disney fanatics could acquire souvenirs, collectibles, clothes, and so on–a lot of the same stuff they could buy at a Disney theme park, without the added expense of travel and accommodations. For a long time, the Disney Store was successful.

Like any other retail operation, the Disney Store had sales in order to move slow moving merchandise. These sales would occur quarterly.

Then some genius figured out that if they had sales more often, they’d sell more stuff. The genius forgot the part about the lower price. But this practice–frequent sales–created an expectation in Disney Store customers that they could “wait and buy it when it goes on sale.”

Revenues took a nice nose dive.

The Disney Store wasn’t profitable, so Disney ended up selling it to Children’s Place.

Yes, that’s right–your local Disney Store is not owned by Disney.

This “I gotta buy it cheap” mentality leads to economic disaster. When you shop at Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club, you may think you’re saving a few bucks, but you’re also putting the local business owner out of business. The small guy who paid his employees $9/hour is now working alongside them at Wal-Mart for $6/hour. All because so many people wanted to save a few bucks by buying their crap at Wal-Mart.

While I’m on the rant, people should take a good look at what property tax breaks your local Wal-Mart received from your local government. Not only is Wal-Mart sucking the lifeblood out of local economies, but we tax payers are giving them a smaller tax bill to do so!