Just when you think businesses had no clue left to lose….
Dell is now selling new computers with Windows XP– _if_ you pay a $99 *downgrade* fee.
Hey, Microsoft– How can it be a *downgrade* if it costs *more*? If people are _paying_ this fee, doesn’t that mean it’s actually an *upgrade*– that Vista isn’t as good as XP?
Hey, Dell– If “downgrades” are $99, why can’t I buy a system, *upgrade* from Vista to Linux, and get $99 *back*?
Tonight I ate at a popular national restaurant– never mind which one, but it rhymes with “Fracker Carol”– and in the adjoining store, I noticed that there were Hallowe’en objects mixed in with all of the normal year-round fare.
That was all right, but here we are just getting October well under way, and they’ve already rolled out their Christmas merchandise, and it’s already starting to shoulder its way in among the other seasonal merchandise.
Needless to say, *that* juxtaposition is *not* graceful. Not at all.
I am fraught with the image of the three Wise Men delivering their gifts of gold, myrrh, and Frankenstein.
A friend of mine noted recently that he despised the “professional politicians” running amok in our system today.
I countered that an actual professional politician would be an incredibly good idea, but I’ve never seen one.
He asked for clarification, which I’m sure you would like to hear as well, gentle soul that you are.
We spend endless hours asking our candidates what they believe on hundreds of topics. A professional politician would ask in return, “What does it matter? As a professional, my job is to communicate with my constituents and find out how *they* want me to vote. If they ask me to vote in a way I personally find reprehensible, it’s my job to hold my nose, cast the vote as they told me, and then resign in protest.”
A professional politician would also craft bills with clearly-stated objectives and metrics for success, as well as a plan to roll back the law if it didn’t meet those metrics. In other words, the bill would contain language such as, “This bill is designed to reduce gun crime. If, in the span of two years after this bill’s enactment, the rate of gun-related crime has not been reduced by at least 20 percent, this law shall become null and void, unless continuation is approved by a simple majority in a public referendum.”
I’ve said for years that if programmers wrote programs the way our lawmakers write laws, we’d still be poking the guts of ENIAC with the tip of a cigar and saying, “Lookit all them wires in there!”
Yes, a political system full of actual professional politicians would be a great idea, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. It would require attributes such as “integrity” to be restored to importance.
My friend noted that his definition of “professional politician” referred to the lowbrows we now have in office, who are beholden to special interests and are more concerened with getting reelected or increasing their party influence than they are interested in representing their constituents.
I told him he had the term “professional politician” confused with the term “carpetbagger” and he seemed okay with that.
To a motorcyclist, visibility suffers indignity quite well.
Any variation of “Look at that fool!” trumps any equivalent version of “What did we just hit?”
“We hold these truths to be self-evident”, sure, but you’ll notice they wrote them down anyway.
When a large number of people differ with a liberal’s viewpoint, the liberal immediately begins speaking of “outreach programs” and “educating the public”.
The concept that their own position might need to be reevaluated honestly never occurs to them. I see this disconnect as a glaring weakness in the liberal thought process, as well as an annoying elitist tiara.
On the other hand, in a disagreement a conservative tends to simply say, “I think you’re wrong”– which at least opens the door for the possibility of discussion.
I think highly of the person who can place their argument on the table and respond to disagreement with “Tell me your thoughts. Convince me.”
Continually testing one’s point of view in the harsh light of public evaluation is the mark of someone who values truth above ego.
This post wasn’t funny at all. I should have followed Dave Barry’s advice and inserted the word “weasel” somewhere.
… what would the naming convention be if two named storms collided and merged?
Not saying that will happen, but Hanna *is* sashaying around aimlessly and Ike is headed full steam westward.
Hannike?
Ikena?
Hike?
Oops?