I'll miss the Rudy ads, anyway

I can't help but kick just a little more dirt on the political grave of America's Profiteer. (By the way, can someone let me know where that grave is, so I can go relieve myself on it?)

Anyway, Giuliani's Reagan fetish knows no bounds. Of all the political ads we will see between now and November, this one has got to make any list of the dumbest of this presidential campaign, and maybe ever.

Ads like the one above have got to be the reason why this jackass will never be president. So, let's get this straight - the Iranian hostages were released an hour after Reagan took office because of anything Reagan did? Riiiight. Reagan did precisely nothing to get them released; the Iranians waited to release the hostages until after Carter left office for no other reason than to make him look bad.

Of course, Giuliani assumes that voters are stupid and lazy and won't check on the facts. Well, those of us who were alive and remember what happened back then know that this line of reasoning is fit for Comedy Central.

I never cease to get a kick out of the lionization of Reagan, either, and last night 9iu11iani didn't disappoint:

Rudy: The party of Lincoln and Reagan and Bush...

Bad-Dum-Bump! Tip your servers!

Well, one out of three ain't bad. As Bill Maher once most sagely noted, the Republican-led Congress renamed National Airport in Washington, D.C. after Reagan so they could say, "I'm coooooming into Reagan!" (And the irony that an airport is named after Reagan at all, after he fired the air-traffic controllers in the early 1980s is, to say the least, ironic.)

Ted Kennedy asked if he fears Obama possibly being a target

Following Ted Kennedy's highly publicized endorsement of Barack Obama, Kennedy appeared on CBS This Morning yesterday to discuss it. I still can't believe that anyone would ask Kennedy this question, but the boob from CBS asks him if he fears for Obama's assassination (in so many words), and then proceeds to mention that Kennedy is familiar with "agents of change" being "targets."

Unbelievable.

Our society occasionally veers off the tracks of reasoned debate by being overly politically correct, but to say that to the brother of President Kennedy is absurd. And implying that Obama could be a target is even more ridiculous.

Yet another example of fine American journalism.

The political death of 9iu11ani - sweet!

The Florida primary results are in, and all I can say is this: Two down, one to go.

Fred Thompson
Rudy Giuliani

Next up: Judas John McCain

Mike Huckabee is a political lightweight who has no hope of becoming president, and his religious fundamentalism is the last thing we need in the White House right now. I also have issues with Mitt Romney, but I'd take Romney or Huckabee over (Gasp!) President McCain.

However, I'm thrilled to death that the arrogant, disgusting and despicable 9-11 profiteer is out of the race. Not since Newt Gingrich, uh, Rick Santorum have I been so delighted at someone's political demise.

Here's hoping that McCain gets his political comeuppance, and soon. I heard him on Meet the Press over the weekend, and his hubris was breathtaking, specifically regarding the War in Iraq. He did everything but say "I told you so," regarding the surge escalation in Iraq. McCain would have licked himself all over if he could, which would no doubt have delighted Tim Russert.

As if the war in Iraq wasn't a big enough lie, now we have to endure warmongers like McCain declaring that victory in Iraq is not only possible, but probable. I hate trot out the Vietnam cliché, but it's apropos - McCain is merely another politician who is putting his political future and that of his party over the best interests of our country. I'm so sick to death of politicians like McCain and Joe Lieberman unwilling to accept the obvious - that we will not win in Iraq, and we are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into a hole in the desert - all for the oil and to try and prove a political point.

Long after McCain is dead, we will be paying off Bush's War. And the last thing we need is a Bush clone in the White House, refusing to admit the obvious - that the costs of the war far outweigh any benefit.

Florida Primary graphic via C&L

Bush State of the Union Word Cloud

I got a kick out of this this morning - I found it on The Huffington Post. I'll cop to not watching much of his speech; the mere sight or sound of Bush makes me so infuriated anymore, I just refuse to ruin my evening by watching and listening to our national embarrassment. It's just as easy to read about it and watch a few video clips the next day.

Anyway, the one thing that amazed me about Bush's speech is the fact that he only mentioned terrorists 17 times. Wow, Bush really is slipping in the last year of his presidency. Then again, he has plenty of time to try to scare the living daylights out of the electorate before the '08 election. Even if Bush fails to do so, undoubtedly Mitt Romney and John McCain will fill the politics of fear vacuum if Bush slips up a little this year. More on McCain in a bit.

TMW on the state of the Democrats

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Tom Tomorrow pretty much nailed this one - this is precisely the state of the Democratic Party right now. Hopefully all of the in-fighting between Obama, Clinton and Edwards doesn't cause the party to self destruct this fall. Quite honestly, though - if the Democrats cannot prevail over the Republicans this time around, the Democrats might just be a minority party for the foreseeable future.

Target considers blogosphere meaningless

I'm rarely forgiving of arrogant companies who make it pretty clear that they don't give a damn about offending large swaths of people, including members of the blogosphere. Whenever a company or an individual acts like one of the newest mediums through which people get their news and share their views doesn't matter, I don't get mad, I just won't do business with them. And that includes watching their movies or shows, or spending my money in any way associated with the offenders.

The latest company to draw the ire of many bloggers is Target. From today's New York Times:

Target to the blogosphere: you're irrelevant.

That was the message the cheap-chic retailer seemed to convey in an abrupt e-mail message to ShapingYouth.org, a blog about the impact of marketing on children. Early this month, the blog's founder, Amy Jussel, called Target, complaining about a new advertising campaign that depicted a woman splayed across a big target pattern — the retailer’s emblem — with the bull’s-eye at her crotch.

"Targeting crotches with a bull's-eye is not the message we should be putting out there," she said in an e-mail interview.

Target offered an e-mail response:

"Unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets," a public relations person wrote to ShapingYouth.

"This practice," the public relations person added, "is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest," as Target refers to its shoppers.

Word of the exchange quickly spread and the blogosphere did not appreciate the slight. "Target doesn't participate in new media channels?" asked the Web site for the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. Target "dismisses bloggers" commented the blog for Parents for Ethical Marketing. "Ahem! So bloggers don't count!" Ms. Jussel chimed in on ShapingYouth.

Could Target, the ever-hip, contemporary retailer, really have such a low opinion of blogs, the ever-hip, contemporary media channel?

Yes, at least for now. "We do not work with bloggers currently," said a company spokeswoman, Amy von Walter, who agreed to speak with this traditional media outlet.

"But we have made exceptions," Ms. von Walter said. "And we are reviewing the policy and may adjust it."

What arrogance. It's public relations 101 in today's super competitive economy - do all you can to attract customers, and don't stupidly and mindlessly offend people who patronize or who could potentially patronize your retail establishments. (Oh, and people who shop in a store are not freakin' guests - how stupid is that? Someone who stays in a hotel is a guest, not someone who goes to Target to purchase Chinese-made crapola for a bargain.)

Nice job being stupid, Target. My money's going elsewhere.

Going green to save the planet

I've been waiting for this - the first major food retailer in the United States is doing away with plastic bags, and I'm thrilled for a number of reasons. Whole Foods is the world's largest retailer of organic and natural foods, so this is no small announcement. What makes me even happier is that other retailers are sure to follow this long overdue announcement. You can read more about Whole Foods' announcement Here. What I really loved about WF's announcement is that they "aren't trying to settle the 'paper versus plastic' debate," either; they are openly encouraging the use of reusable cloth bags. I even heard from someone that they will charge 2¢ per bag to customers who need bags at the checkout.

Through several sources, I've gathered a few stats that really illustrate the dramatic impact that recycling and conservation can have...

• Speaking of plastic bags, about 100 billion of them are thrown out each year in the United States. That's about 274 million a day. The craziness doesn't end there, either; it can take more than a thousand years for a disposable plastic bag to break down in a landfill.

• It really pays to reuse cardboard and and paper whenever possible, and to always recycle what you can't reuse. In 2006, over 100 million pounds of paper products were used in the US. That's 666 pounds per person, which is no coincidence - using that much paper is flat-out evil.

I recycle all magazines that I subscribe to (and that's a lot), but I'm even cutting down on those, including subscribing digitally. Any box I get in the mail from shopping gets saved and reused. Scrap paper I'm not saving to print on the other side. As much as I love Post-It notes, I'm going to cut scrap paper into squares and use them for notes.

• It is well worthwhile to recycle glass and aluminum. In almost every place, it's pretty easy to do at home, but what about in the car and at work? I commute a great deal, so I bring home whatever plastic, glass and aluminum I use at work and in my car to recycle.

Typically, glass containers go from the recycling bin to the store shelf in as little as 30 days.

And all that aluminum is a valuable resource indeed - recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a light bulb for 20 hours.

• Plastic is not fantastic - 2.5 million plastic bottles are consumed in the US per hour, and less than 1/4 are recycled. I'll have plenty more to say about why it's downright stupid to consume bottled water in a separate post very soon.

• Recycling inkjet and toner cartridges is quick and easy, too. I'm a bit cynical about this one, because it's a way for companies to save money and rape the consumer at the cash register. It galls me to know that companies are getting old cartridges back, shooting more ink inside, repackaging them, and I still have to pay $40 for a cartridge at the store. Having said that, I still hold my nose and recycle my cartridges - the average ink cartridge can be reused 3-7 times before it's no good. Bonus - Dell, HP and Lexmark cartridges (and maybe a few other brands?) can be returned to Staples for a $3 credit off your next purchase.

Recycle - we only have one planet, and we haven't done a great job of taking care of it.

A very funny commercial

Of all the commercials I've been subjected to during this football season, this is one of the funniest. I guess because it's so dumb, it comes all the way around to being funny. Hey, you can't tell me that it's any worse than the commercials that McDonald's ad agency is creating for it. However, I'm also not gullible enough to believe that this was submitted - it's probably just made to look that way.

Anyway, it's funny.

TMW's great '07 review, part one

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I like this one - a pretty good round-up of '07 b.s. by the GOP that went virtually totally unchecked by our feckless Democratically controlled Congress. I'm looking forward to part two next week.

I'll be having my Best of 2007 awards later this week and weekend, when we return to Philadelphia and I have time to gather them all up. (Admittedly, some of my best of will inevitably include a few of the topics that Tomorrow covers above.)

Stay tuned.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! It's been a quite a relaxing two weeks in California - we are headed home tomorrow. I've been doings lots and lots of reading, but not so much writing. However, I will be catching up on writing very soon.

My New Year's Resolutions are coming soon.

More to come...