Monday, June 23, 2008

Doha Development Agenda (DDA)

Barrack Obama: I’m not listening. Don’t want to, can’t make me. Nyah, Nyah!!!!!

I’ve got news for the Senator from Illinois: free trade works, protectionism doesn’t. The global opinion of the DDA agrees. But obviously Obama Knows Better!

Monday, June 9, 2008

The Scene

What a rainy, rainy weekend. Practically everything I wanted to do this past weekend was rained out. What to do? Read and blog, of course!

I typically enjoy reading The Scene and I usually read all the articles and columns even if I have no particular interest in the topic. A big disappointment though was the latest edition. Good God, what horrible writing from Gavin Schmitt and Will Stahl! What are they trying to accomplish with their respective pieces? Are they trying to report? No, they make too many style and reporting errors for their pieces to be considered ‘news reports’. Ah, they must be ‘op-ed’ pieces or persuasive essays. Again, no! They make far too many errors to fall into an ‘op-ed’ category particularly by repeatedly stating opinion as fact. They fail to adequately support their opinions which is the cardinal sin on an ‘op-ed' piece, no matter how worthy the opinions are.

What are they trying to do with their pieces? To me, they are written as poor examples of an opinionated undergrad desperately trying to fill required space in a blue-book thinking that the sheer mass of words, no matter how poorly strung together, will equal a better grade.

To The Scene: start editing for style and content!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Carolyn "Biddy" Martin

Did anyone catch Frederica Freyberg's interview of Biddy Martin on WI Public TV. How and why will she be running our flagship UW?

Very uninspiring and not very polished in this interview, one wonders what leadership abilities she has. Was she the best applicant? If she was, that truly was a sorry lot!

I imagine her term in office will be both short and unproductive.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Why Does This Feel Creepy?

I've had either good fortune or bad fortune lately to find two music artists that I really, really like. It is great these days because you can find these websites and on-line radio stations playing all different types of music and geared to unique musical tastes. For example, I'm sure if one looked hard enough one could probably find a website featuring ska-polka bands!

But here is my dilemma: two recent artists that I've found and like are dead! They weren't old when they died and both tragically died of cancer. In both cases, I heard them a few times on-line and they grew on me. Zip out to eBay and pick up some CD's, google the artists and BAM----they're dead and have been for several years.

It feels weird to really enjoy their work and to know that their body of work is finite. I can't really look forward to that new release 'cause there isn't going to be one. That is what feels creepy: I enjoy their music but unfortunately they met an early death and there is nothing to look forward to, it is just this finite body of work.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

NY Times & McCain

Hmmm….

The New York Times, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23263742/?GT1=10856, is running an expose on the premise that Sen John McCain was friendly with a lobbyist. It takes great pains to point out that while some of his staff have said there was no illicit romantic affair, they wanted to make sure that one didn’t happen. And nothing happened either, but they just wanted to make sure the public didn’t get the wrong idea. Mind you this was all eight years ago.

Elsewhere we find Sen Barrack Obama completing a sweetheart deal in 2005 with the now indicted Tony Rezko to buy his multi-million dollar house. There was no appearance of impropriety in the deal, there was actual impropriety. For what ever reason, The Trib is the only real media outlet that is covering this saga in depth, http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-rezko-arrested_webjan29,0,6857272.story.

Which one is the bigger story, the one about McCain not having an affair but gasp, looking like he might have an affair or the one about Obama doing a real estate deal with a now indicted lobbyist?

Yep, I guess we know the answer!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Radio Obama

If I hear one more Obama radio spot……

Ya know the one, the one with “CEO’s who earn more in 10 minutes than the average worker earns in 1 year. Yep, that one!

Let’s do the math shall we:

$48,201 Average annual salary per US Census Bureau 2006
x 6 1 hour divided by 10 minutes
x 2,080 Annual hours worked
$601,548,000 Obama’s mythical CEO Salary

Exactly how many corporate CEO’s are earning this? Pretty much none. Look at the Fortune or Forbes data. To be sure, some CEO’s have cashed out stock options and retirement benefits that are mind-boggling but these folks are an exception rather than the rule. By the same token I’ve known some individuals who worked in R&D at a local consumer products company (guess who, they are out of Texas but used to be headquartered here until taxes made them flee south) who retired with about $2 million between 401(k) plans and other retirement money. They’ve worked hard for a 30+ year career and became successful. Want to nail them, too?

This Obama ad is pandering to the “stick it to the rich” segment and the “all corporations are evil” mentality.

It is going to be interesting to say the least.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Dick Clark

A post about Dick Clark? You've got to be kidding, right?

Mrs Glib Replies and me-self are at that age where New Years Eve is spent watching TV with a bottle of cold duck and a bag of beer nuts wondering and worrying where/what the little Glib Repliers are doing. That said, we happened upon Dick Clark tonight.

If you are a certain age you will remember Dick Clark and American Bandstand as something you watched on TV but didn't want to admit it to your friends. Kind of like Tony Palmeri watching Bill O'Reilly. We know it happens but it is best not talked about.

Anyway, let me be the first to congratulate him on coming back. He is a prime example, and this had been noted in the media extensively, of an aphasic stroke survivor. That is to say the stroke largely affected his ability to speak but fortunately, not much else.

I suspect there will be a few in the entertainment media who will say, as a result of his broadcast, that he should've packed it in. Screw 'em I say! Courage to come New Years TV? Ya, you betcha! You could see and hear him warm up and his delivery get better during his broadcast.

The broadcast media should be more representative of the general population and having Dick Clark on TV, during one of the most watched shows, with his aphasia is step towards that goal.