Open Mind, Insert Thought

Today, on their second try, the House voted for a four-month (voluntary) delay in the switch-over to digital TV. My inclination was to react snarkily (is that a word?) to this. This switch-over has been coming for a long time, good riddance to the old airwaves, hello brave new world, why are you needlessly slowing progress, etc., etc., etc.

But then, I started reading an article that stated that the delay was a victory for the new administration. What? Reading further, I learned that the organization responsible for handing out the coupons for the digital converter boxes had run out of money. The Obama Administration asked Congress to delay in hopes that funds from a stimulus package would flow to that initiative. Apparently 3.3 Million American households are on a waiting list for these coupons. Further, the organizations that purchased the soon-to-be-available frequencies said that the one-time delay will not hurt their plans. And, lastly, the delay is voluntary, and many broadcasters plan to go ahead with the switch-off as planned.

Reading that, I felt informed. I also, surprisingly, thought that a rational decision had been made. That backed me all the way off the cliff, from snarky to merely shruggy (meh, I say).

Nice job to the new administration. It’s been so rare in the past eight years that I’ve actually felt better after learning more about legislation.


see Sarah Palin pictures

Some days it is just so cool to be an American.

This is an actual ad for Aston Martin. ‘Nuff said.

Tomorrow, I’m going to do something that I have never done in my adult life: pass up the opportunity to vote.  I’m certain I could find many excuses – seven-month old at home kept so busy I didn’t look into my absentee ballot, I’m crazy busy at work right now, I thought I’d vote in person but my day got booked…  But none of that would be true.  The God’s honest truth is that I do not care which candidate wins the primary.  I’m a Democrat, and I believe that both Clinton and Obama are flawed candidates for our party.

The more I listen to Clinton, the harder a time I have rallying behind her.  She seems to have the depth and experience necessary for the job, but I’m not as passionate about her vision for america as I was for Bill’s.  That’s an unfair comparison, though, because Bill Clinton was the only presidential candidate I actually voted *for* (rather than voting *against* the Republican candidate).

Obama would be a strong candidate, but without knowing who his running mate will be, I’m not voting for him alone.  I assume he’ll do what Kennedy and even Bush II did and bring on an elder statesman for a running mate.  That move would give his campaign the gravitas needed to win while still attracting the young vote.

I actually am fine with just about any of the four front-runners (and this is a wacko liberal speaking).  McCain would probably make Jon Stewart press secretary and we’d all have a ball with a surprisingly socially liberal Republican in the White House (kind of like what we have here in California).  And Romney doesn’t really scare me.  Huckabee, on the other hand, that one would get me right out to the polls.

Add to all of this the fact that I have literally no opinion on the local initiatives (though I can’t tell which set of Indian tribes are flat out lying to me in their point-coutnerpoint advertisements, but one side or the other is clearly fibbing), and I’m just staying out of this one.

So, to those of you who are voting tomorrow, I hope you vote your convictions.  I just don’t feel the love this time around.

Do not name my daughter’s teddy bear "Jesus H. Christ," or else protesters will take to the streets and demand my death.  Ah, wait, they probably won’t.  Nasty phone calls, maybe a burning cross on my lawn, but not a full-scale riot.  Hmmm…life in Sudan is different from life in the US.