Restive State

I figured I would update, just a bit. End of semester is coming, so I won't be updating as frequently as before. Here and there and Five for Friday will be back.

Until later...

Interesting news out today, some things I found.

1st:
When I first moved to Flagstaff I watched a lot of TechTV and kind of got addicted. But then G4 came in basically ran the channel into the ground. Now there are even more changes at the channel. Basically what they have done is taken a great source for all things tech related and ran it into the ground of video game mediocrity. All they show now beisde the sole holdover (The Screen Savers) is video game crap. Not being a 13 year with a single minded obsession with video games I find that I can't stand the channel anynore. It was once a place for decent tech related programming but now it's just another marketing platform for the video game industry.

2nd:
I work in telesales (incoming calls, I don't call anyone) and we have seom fraud that happens but this caught my eye as I was browsing today. Seems fraud related to e-commerce is sky-rocketing and the holiday season is possibly the worst of it. One reason I checked this out is that I had a couple of fraud calls this week and was a little peeved about it.

3rd:
They're watching you...yes, you, the one in the front of the theater with the camcorder, you're now screwed. In the ever vigilant arena of anti-piracy comes the newest and greatest system that scans the audience looking for reflections off of lenses. My solution: charge less. People are more apt to actually go to the movies if it doesn't cost the proverbial arm & leg (last time it cost my wife and I $11 for admission, on a matinee...).

Oh yeah, Five for Friday is still on hiatus, but will be back soon!

Have a good weekend!

So it's been a week. I'm not going to say the W. won or anything like that, but we all know the outcome. Luckily I've had the time to digest it all and think things through. So here's a couple of things I see W. and crew pulling during the next 4 years...

• Reforming tax code even more to benefit the wealthy and tax the poor.
• more legislation about our personal lives, y'know things allowing the feds into our bedrooms, behind the closed doors the typical American citizen treasures
• social engineering through legislation
• futile attempts to keep the economy moving in a positive direction
• appointment of the most conservative Supreme Court...ever
• further erosions of environmental, workplace and economic safeguards
• more spending, bigger deficits and even more national debt
• more persecution of those willing to speak out in guise of "Homeland Security"
• preemptive strikes on either Iran or North Korea...maybe California
• reinstatement of the draft, or complete implementation of the stop-loss program

So yeah, the picture looks real good. The majority of Americans that voted for W. on the pretenses of security, both national and economic, tax relief and moral issues are going to be in for a fun ride in the next 48 months. Remember, y'all voted for the guy. You will reap what you sow.

My $.02

Add... oh yeah, as of today, politics will be back to low-key again and not consuming my thoughts anymore.

Just wanted to say that I did vote, and voted for Kerry. So now at least I can say, "Don't blame me, I voted for the other guy!" Now it is just a waiting game.

A missive on choice.

So it's Election Day. The day of reckoning and choice for the American people. But does it really matter? Is the choice of one guy over the other a futile desperate attempt at choice? What really is the difference between Kerry and Bush? Here at Restive State I say not much.

While I admit to being a member of the A.B.B. club, it doesn't make me feel empowered or like I am really choosing. Jerry Garcia once said, "Choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil." Is that what the grand ideal of democracy has been reduced to, or has it just fully manifested its true roots? 200 years ago it was a battle between 2 rich white men for the presidency. And in that time it has not changed one bit. Sure the methods may be different, but it is still the same.

Now before everyone calls me cynical let me mention that I'm pointing out the obvious. We have not had a real choice in America. Ever. 2 years ago no one knew the senator from Massachusetts, much less thought he would be the challenger to the throne. He was manufactured, groomed, and created for us. Bland, centrist, no skeletons, a war hero with a long record of public service, who went to Yale (and along GW, was in Skull &Bones...just tidbit for all the conspiracy buffs), and is partially heir to the Heinz fortune. Yes, he sure is the common guy, average Joe 6-pack and I am sure he represents the interests of the average American, because he's "just like us." But he's not. Not anymore than George W. Bush is. And that is really why neither represents a real choice. It's the same entree, just prepared differently, which it can be argued is a choice. But chicken, no matter how it's cooked is still chicken.

Restive State will be covering the election as best as I can, between work and school there is that possbility. Maybe though, something will change, and then again, it might not. Time will tell. But at least I'm doing my part and voting. And though it makes me feel wrong, kind of like a sellout, I'm going to cast my vote for Kerry and the hope that things might change.

The revoltution starts tommorrow, and it will be televised...